Chapter 214: 57 (1/2)
”Haha! Boy, you sure are an eager one. How many times do you want to lose?”
Heckle laughed uproariously as Leonel suffered another punch to the jaw. The latter felt his world spin as he was forced to take several steps back. It was only after he shook his head multiple times that he finally recovered.
It had already been a week since Leonel had come to this world. According to the dictionary, this Zone had an even greater time dilation than the Joan Zone at 1:50. This meant that about a year needed to pass here for a week to pass in the outside world. Apparently, Mythological Zones tended to have the largest time dilations compared to other Zones of a similar rank.
At the moment, the moon hung high in the skies and they had set up camp for the night. A large fire sent billowing smoke upward at the center of an arrangement of tent.
Leonel was sparring with Heckle once again. In fact, this wasn't just the second time. Leonel had already lost count.
After losing the first time, he had been fascinated by the man's skill. He felt he was learning quite a lot though he continued to lose.
The journey to their destination was a bit of a trial as well. The wilderness wasn't safe by any means. Setting aside bandits and rogues, just the wild beasts were truly troublesome to deal with. Much like this people of this Zone, the beasts were also more powerful than they should be. So, this wasn't easy by any stretch of the imagination.
So, it wasn't surprising that the other recruits were dead tired. Leonel was the only one who would use such valuable rest time to torture himself some more.
How could they know that this so-called trial was nothing more than a joke to Leonel?
”Again.”
Leonel wiped the blood from his lips. Of course, if he didn't want to be hurt, he only had to activate his Metal Synergy Runes. But, what would be the point of that?
He brandished his fists once more. This time, it was clear that his stance was much more refined. His right fist hung by his chin, allowing his left to take the lead. He narrowed the target Heckle had to attack by extending his left foot and rolling his shoulder.
In a flash, he took a step forward, sending two jabs in quick succession.
Heckle smiled, entering a similar stance as though mirroring Leonel perfectly. It was rare to find someone so interested in his boxing style. Usually, these brats only wanted to pick up a sword or spear as quickly as possible.
Of course, he had no idea that Leonel was less interested in the style itself and more so just wanted to win. He found trying to defeat Heckle while keeping a cap on his stats was nearly impossible.
It was likely that he could grasp the technique much faster if he used his Dream World and Dream Clone ability. But, he was spending all his time at night calculating for the formation of his Ninth and Tenth Node, he wouldn't spend it on this.
However… He was still making progress.
Heckle used his footwork to dip just outside the range of Leonel's jabs. He followed up quickly, wanting to take advantage of Leonel overextending himself to wrap around his side.
But, Leonel had learned quite a lot in the past few days. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward as Heckle tried to sweep to his left side. With a single pivot of his hips, he and Heckle faced each other once more.
”Hoho.” Heckle grinned. ”It seems your footwork got a bit better. That's right, always stay square to your opponent.”
Leonel and Heckle's match became a spar of movement. Around the fire, the jeers of the other soldiers could be heard.
”Captain, the kid's gonna beat you this time!”
”HAHA! I'm never gonna let you live this one down!”
Heckle grinned hearing his men, not minding as all. He felt quite gratified seeing Leonel's progress.
Of course, while there those who were happy, there would always be those who were gloomy. The youths of the town Barony had gotten tired of hearing praise for Leonel over these few days. But, they still had to admit they were no match for him. His performance during their daily marches was more than enough to prove this without a shred of doubt.
”Oof…”
Leonel suffered a fist to his chest and fell to the ground, feeling that the air had been knocked out of him once again. He couldn't help but sigh, it seemed he had lost again.