Chapter 50: Sparring
After a full month of training,
Ryan’s martial arts had improved tremendously.
Because Healing Magic existed in this world,
when Ryan sparred with Marcus, every blow landed with real force.
He truly bled and got injured.
That was also Alfred’s requirement.
On a real battlefield,
the enemy would not give you a chance to catch your breath.
Since Ryan wanted to learn martial arts, then he had to treat this place like a real battlefield.
He had to train with the intention of killing his enemy.
To put it simply, this was practical combat training.
The Jurgen Family’s martial arts had been refined by powerful experts across generations, making them far superior to many martial arts styles on the market.
Ryan had gained a great deal from it.
At the very beginning of their training matches,
Ryan still could not fully let loose.
That could not really be blamed on him.
After all, in his previous life on Blue Star, he had almost never had any reason to use force.
For someone like Ryan, who had never had any martial arts foundation, to improve to this extent in only one month,
the Jurgen Family’s martial arts deserved much of the credit.
After being harshly taught lesson after lesson by Marcus, Ryan became ruthless.
But there was simply too great a gap between their strengths.
Every time, Ryan was the one getting beaten.
Whenever Marcus sparred with Ryan, his gaze would often drift toward Isabella in the distance, where she was practicing her marksmanship.
Ryan had heard that Marcus had already been with the Jurgen Family for more than ten years.
From time to time, Marcus would also ask Ryan about the Desert Eagle.
Ryan only told Marcus that he had bought the Desert Eagle from someone else.
He did not tell Marcus that he himself was the creator of the Desert Eagle.
He only gave Marcus some basic information about it,
such as the number of bullets in one magazine, its power, its range, and so on.
Ryan noticed that Marcus’s expression was sometimes very complicated.
It was the sort of look that was full of memories.
Even with a mental age far beyond eighteen, Ryan still could not understand what that complicated look meant.
He had once asked Marcus about it.
But Marcus had only brushed it off.
“Now that your martial arts have improved this much, Ryan, you should more or less be able to fight a C-rank Mage.”
During a break, Marcus looked at Ryan and said this.
“A C-rank Mage?”
Ryan fell into thought.
“If I remember correctly, Mr. Marcus, you are a B-rank Mage, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am a B-rank Mage.”
“If I wanted to reach a level like yours, Mr. Marcus, about how long would it take?”
“At your current rate of improvement, Ryan, one year would definitely be enough.”
“One year...”
Ryan murmured under his breath.
One year to gain strength comparable to a B-rank Mage.
That sounded fairly good.
Of course, that was under the condition that Ryan did not use firearms.
“All right. Then I’ll look forward to reaching B-rank strength as soon as possible. If the strength of a B-rank Mage like you is already this formidable, then I can hardly imagine how powerful an A-rank Mage must be.”
“If you want to know how strong an A-rank Mage is, that’s simple. Just fight one once. As it happens, the Master is an A-rank Mage. I’m sure he’d be quite willing to spar with you.”
Marcus smiled as he spoke.
“Mr. Alfred?”
Ryan gave a bitter smile.
When he had first started training, Alfred had beaten him so badly it had been miserable.
Thinking back on it now felt like a nightmare.
Ryan was honestly a little surprised that he had managed to endure it.
“Look, the Master just happens to be coming over.”
Marcus glanced into the distance as he spoke.
Ryan turned and looked, only to find Alfred walking toward them.
“Ryan, you’ve been training for a month now. How does it feel?”
Alfred asked.
“I’ve gained a lot.”
Ryan paused, then continued, “Mr. Marcus is very strong. Every time I spar with him, I learn quite a bit.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Alfred raised a brow.
“Master, Mr. Ryan wants to spar with an A-rank Mage.”
Marcus lowered his head and said this after stepping over to Alfred’s side.
“Hahaha, that works out perfectly. I happen to have time, so I’ll spar with Ryan. Let me see how much he’s improved during this period.”
Alfred laughed loudly and stepped in front of Ryan.
Ryan looked at Marcus helplessly.
Why was Marcus’s mouth so quick?
He was not even ready to get beaten yet, and Alfred was already standing right in front of him.
There was no helping it. It looked like he was definitely going to take a beating.
The instant Alfred stood before him,
Ryan felt as though he were facing a ferocious monster.
This was the first time Ryan had directly faced Alfred’s aura head-on.
It was powerful and terrifying.
Just standing there, Alfred had no openings anywhere on his body.
“Ryan, don’t hold back. Come at me with everything you have.”
Alfred shouted.
Ryan curled his lips.
How could he possibly hold back against Alfred?
It was just that he could not find a single opening.
In that case, then he would strike first and seize the initiative.
Ryan took a deep breath, stepped forward with his left foot, and gripped his sword in his right hand, slashing diagonally toward Alfred’s shoulder.
The movement was broad and forceful, carrying a sharp sound through the air.
Alfred shifted slightly to the right, then turned his wrist and blocked horizontally with his wooden sword.
The two swords collided.
Bang!
Ryan felt a surge of force travel into him. His arm went numb, and the wooden sword nearly flew from his hand.
“Your wrist is too stiff. You don’t know how to redirect force.” Alfred released the block and stepped back half a step. “Try again. Pay attention to the changes in your wrist.”
Ryan adjusted his stance and struck again. This time he moved a little slower and deliberately relaxed his wrist.
Alfred still blocked with ease. Then he pressed his wrist downward, letting his wooden sword slide along Ryan’s blade until the tip stopped two inches in front of Ryan’s chest.
“Too slow!”
Alfred withdrew his sword.
After resting for half an hour,
Ryan began sparring with Alfred in fist techniques.
Alfred took off his outer garment, revealing his sturdy arms and clearly defined muscles.
He assumed an opening stance, both fists raised in front of his chest with the palms facing inward.
“Hah!”
Ryan clenched his fist and threw a right punch toward Alfred’s abdomen.
Alfred turned sideways to evade it, caught Ryan’s wrist with his left hand, and struck Ryan’s left shoulder with his right palm.
Ryan lost his balance and staggered back two steps.
Ryan threw another punch, this time deliberately holding back some force.
Alfred neither dodged nor retreated. He blocked with his left arm and lightly struck Ryan’s right ribs with his right fist.
Ryan tried twisting his waist into the next punch, and the power increased somewhat, but the trajectory went off, and the blow landed on Alfred’s arm instead.
Taking advantage of the opening, Alfred grabbed Ryan’s arm and threw him to the ground with a shoulder throw.
“Urgh!!”
Ryan’s expression twisted in pain.
At that moment, his eyelids felt as heavy as lead, as though he were falling into an abyss.
Only in the instant before he lost consciousness did Ryan truly understand just how powerful Alfred really was.
Twenty minutes later, Ryan woke up.
“You’re awake?”
Alfred said flatly.
“Hiss! That hurts! Mr. Alfred, you really didn’t hold back!”
Ryan sucked in a breath.
“This is for your own good. When you face a real enemy, they won’t go easy on you.”
Alfred smiled.
“All right. Since you’re awake, let’s test your footwork.”
“All right.”
At the center of the field was a square grid measuring ten meters on each side, with each individual square half a meter wide.
Ryan performed the footwork Alfred had taught him within the grid.
Sliding step, shuffle step, and cross step—every movement landed within the grid lines.
“You’ve grasped the footwork well. What remains now is to integrate it into actual combat.”
Alfred nodded slightly.
“Hoo...”
Ryan let out a long breath.
Sparring with Alfred was simply too tormenting.
How could this even be called sparring?
It was completely one-sided.
Alfred soon left.
Nika had watched everything from the side.
She knew Ryan wanted to improve his strength.
But after seeing him get beaten so badly, she could not help feeling heartbroken.
She had no good way to stop Ryan. All she could do was learn more massage techniques from the other maids so that Ryan could fully relax at night.
That was the only thing she could do for him.
In the distance, Isabella saw what had happened on Ryan’s side and sighed in admiration. “Mr. Ryan is amazing.”
“Miss is absolutely right. Mr. Ryan is the first person like this I’ve ever seen.”
Nila agreed with a smile.
Recently, Isabella had been changing more and more.
She talked more every day, smiled more, and spent more time outside as well.
All of it proved that Isabella’s personality was gradually improving.
And every bit of it had started only after Ryan arrived.
A strange look flashed through Nila’s eyes as she looked toward Ryan.
What a remarkable man.
When she saw Nika again, she was deeply grateful to Ryan.
Grateful that he had taken such good care of Nika.
Especially since Nika had told her before that Ryan’s goal was to travel and adventure.
That was deeply appealing to her as well.
But she was still worried about Isabella.
Before she repaid the kindness Isabella had shown her, she could not leave.
But now it seemed
that it might not be long before Isabella fully recovered.
And when that day came, she would be able to leave.
As for after that?
Naturally, she would reunite with Nika.
Especially because Nika had told her before that serving Ryan at night was becoming more and more exhausting, and that she really needed someone to help her.
At that thought, Nila’s cheeks instantly flushed red.
Could he really be that strong?
She had heard that men usually only lasted a few minutes.
Could it be that Ryan was unusually gifted in that regard too?
“Nila, why is your face red? Are you sick?”
Isabella asked.
“N-No, it’s nothing, Miss. I’m not sick.”
Nila waved her hands in a panic.
She had nearly let the young lady discover what she had been thinking.
After a full day of training, Ryan and Nika returned to the guest room.
Feeling sorry for Ryan, Nika used the massage techniques she had learned from the other maids to help ease his pain.
But not only did Ryan’s pain not lessen much, his desire only grew stronger.
Ryan did not restrain himself. He directly pulled Nika into his arms and pressed her down.
......