Chapter 35: Verification

With a “click” sound, George was seen making an empty grasp with his right hand and moving it upwards. A tree stump in front was pulled straight up, and its roots buried in the soil snapped at the sound. George steadied his mind and body, controlling the Great Grappling to seize the tree stump and make various changes in the sky.

Then George clenched his fist, and the tree stump let out a “creak—creak—” groan. On George’s forehead, sweat slowly overflowed; while on the tree stump, cracks kept appearing.

“Snap—” Accompanying this loud noise, the wooden stake was squeezed into several large wooden blocks. The small wooden blocks produced by the bursting scattered like bullets; some smashed directly downwards into the grass, some flew into the distance and landed in places George could not confirm, and others were completely shattered by collision with the rocks. The white powder produced between the wooden blocks during the squeezing process initially formed white smoke under the effect of the wood bursting, and soon dissipated in the dry autumn wind.

“Phew—” George, who exhaled deeply, reached out to wipe the fine sweat on his forehead. As it looked currently, the consumption to activate this divine ability was not large, but maintaining its operation consumed quite a lot of mental energy. Of course, this was the only way to truly bring out its full effect; more practice from the host and the growth of the Essence Spirit itself would accelerate this process. Eventually, it would become like moving one’s own arm.

After resting for a short while, George activated the divine ability again and performed a few punching and sweeping movements. This time, the force displayed by the Great Grappling was very satisfying. No, not just satisfying; this power was surprisingly great. Looking at a huge stone lifted from the ground and a corner shattered by the impact, in terms of impact force alone, these two strikes were already comparable to an ordinary Bronze Rank without using special abilities.

After some experiments, George found that it was just like human hands. The pushing and striking power of the Primordial Qi Great Grappling was the greatest, the grasping and swinging power was next, and the pinching power was the smallest. So the best way to use it was to apply force violently, directly throwing the enemy into the air and letting him fall to his death. Or use one enemy as a throwing weapon to throw at other enemies. For the former, one should consider the influence of spells like the Falling Feather Spell; for the latter, it depended on whether the opponent had the ability to catch people or possessed abilities like an Inertial Force Field. As for directly snapping the enemy’s neck or crushing the opponent’s head, George did not yet have such good control.

“Really good force, and more importantly, it can do work over a long distance,” George could not help but sigh in his heart. “Is this the power of mystery? It is clearly a laborious lever yet requires no extra energy. It would be very useful for moving items, but how to integrate it into combat still needs more thought.”

“Sure enough, just as written in the scrolls, using it requires high concentration of the mind. In this situation, let alone fighting with a sword, I can’t even take large strides to run, and as for dodging, that’s even more out of the question.” Although he was mentally prepared, George still frowned tightly after getting confirmation.

“It seems I need to find a way to practice doing two things at once,” George touched his chin and muttered to himself.

More practice might allow George to more or less attend to other things while using this divine ability. But to solve this problem fundamentally, unless he could cultivate the Primordial Qi Great Grappling to the Mind Intent stage. Or only by enabling himself to do two things at once to maintain focus while fighting.

Looking at the messy grass around him, George felt that this could serve as a practice ground. It was time to use the current environment to see the effect of Qi and Blood Separation.

One exhale, one inhale; one exhale, one inhale. Slowly, George’s heart beat with his breathing. Under the squeeze of the powerful heart muscle, a large amount of blood was pumped to all parts of the body. Accompanied by the heat flow produced by the blood, all the muscles in George’s body were vibrating non-stop. Those slightly wriggling muscles seemed like greedy beasts constantly drawing nutrients from the blood, while the pores on the skin all over the body locked tightly to prevent any loss of heat.

George stamped his right foot and suddenly leaped into the air, turning and swinging his arm in mid-air. When he landed with a loud bang, a stone on the ground was smashed into several pieces. Then he leaped forward and stepped on the huge stone that had been turned over earlier, and like a butterfly threading through flowers, he used the many stones around him as plum blossom piles. He practiced his body movement techniques, including leaping, jumping, soaring, and dodging.

The whistling wind in his ears did not affect him at all. Amidst this series of actions, George felt the changes in his body’s various abilities before and after using the Secret Art. He mobilized his potential and completely controlled this explosive state in his own hands.

Except for the initial discomfort where a few stones were stepped on too deeply, George managed to grasp the connection between the activation and use of this Secret Art and the maintenance control of the body after the power surge quite easily.

“Ha—” Accompanied by a long roar, George stood steadily on the grass. Immediately after, George closed his lips tightly and only used his nose: exhale, inhale, breathe, inhale.

George was currently using abdominal breathing, imagining his lungs were like a water bag. The air poured in from the nostrils first, filling from the bottom to the chest, until the entire lungs were filled, then he held his breath. Then he raised his right hand to the right, keeping it level with his shoulder, and used his right fingers to barely press his right nostril, exhaling forcefully from the left nostril, imagining all the turbid air in his body leaving from the left side. Then he switched to his left hand, pressed the left nostril, and exhaled slowly from the right nostril, doing this three times on each the left and right. Finally, he released his hands, inhaled through his nose, imagining clean air entering, and then exhaled, imagining unclean energy leaving.

A total of nine times. It took less than a minute for George to expel all the waste gas accumulated in his body after tightening his pores earlier. The heat was also released slowly and effectively, and the heart, which had been beating rapidly just now, gradually slowed down to one beat every five breaths.

Feeling the condition after using the Secret Art, George felt a bit more excited in his heart. “The situation is far better than imagined, perhaps because I have been using Golden Liquid to wash my physical body for a long time. The impact of this Secret Art on me is far less than what is recorded in the secret manual. Judging from the current situation, if I use it for no more than one minute at a time, I can use it again within 10 to 20 minutes depending on subsequent movement and recovery, without any hidden dangers. Of course, the large amount of physical strength consumed still needs to be replenished properly from the subsequent diet.”

More importantly, as George’s physical body became stronger. The usage time of this Secret Art would gradually increase, and the interval would gradually shorten. However, after reaching a certain level, the effect of this Secret Art would slowly weaken until it finally became ineffective. Therefore, George only regarded it as a method to be used during this transition period and did not give up the desire to find similar techniques. Whether replacing it or improving it, he ultimately had to ensure he had the ability to strengthen his explosive power.

Looking at the grass in front of him that looked like it had been plowed, George touched his nose in embarrassment. If a passing Druid saw this scene, there was an eighty percent chance they would grab George and lecture him. After all, it was not a formal training ground, and it had become unrecognizable under George’s drill. However, there was no truly unowned land in this world. Although it was not certain that anyone would cause trouble, George still consciously cleaned up the place a little.

As the saying goes, joy puts spring in one’s step; on the way back, George felt as if his steps were much lighter. Of course, this was just an illusion. Guided by the dry and cool autumn wind, the golden wheat fields raised waves after waves. And George, walking among them, seemed to be treading on waves in this golden ocean.

Walking through the wheat field and crossing the vegetable field, George quickly returned to the road in front of the small town. Along this tightly pressed dirt road, he headed towards the entrance of the town.

“Stop, who are you?” A voice that seemed to have a bit of a ruffian tone but was also routine made George, who was approaching the sentry post, stop.

George looked at the sentry post. Although those Guards were not wearing uniform uniforms, their colors and styles were similar. This was very different from the town’s Militia before. More importantly, they did not have the laziness of the Militia before the disaster, nor the nervous paranoia afterwards. Could it be that new reinforcements had arrived?

“Don’t shout randomly, that is the Lord.” The Tax Collector’s voice interrupted George’s train of thought and made the Guard who spoke shudder.

Simpson quickly ran in front of George and said with a fawning voice: “My Lord, you are back. They are Private Troops from Sir Stark’s Manor, and they haven’t met you before. I’m really sorry about just now, but considering they came all the way here to aid our town, I hope you won’t hold it against them.”

“No! They actually did very well. They correctly fulfilled the duties a Guard should perform.” George waved his hand to indicate he wouldn’t mind such things. Then he passed through the sentry post and entered the town.

When they saw George’s figure disappear around the corner, both Simpson and the Guards breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, he is a Military Merit Noble, so he won’t fuss about this aspect.” A middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader among the Guards took off his helmet and said.

“Military Merit Nobles are understanding of people like us. If it were those Court Nobility, they would definitely have a sour face and look down on us with their nostrils.” The soldier who had spoken earlier seemed to remember something and started cursing.

Another middle-aged man next to him slapped him on the head and said: “You’d better watch your mouth. If you don’t always speak in that tone, you won’t get into trouble. Last time you had a full three months’ salary deducted. If the Knight hadn’t pushed back against the other party, you would never have had the chance to take the regular army assessment.”

“Thank you for what happened just now! Simpson,” the leading middle-aged man said.

The Tax Collector wiped his sweat: “No matter what, you are all here to help. It is best if there is no conflict with the other party.”

“Thanks are still in order; speaking up for Jerry in front of a Noble was a risk.”

“If you really want to thank me, buy me a drink tonight.”

“Alright! Just wait until I drink you under the table.”