Chapter 18 - Corrective Measures
Benton stepped to the side. The tip of a spear—well, a sharpened stick, anyway—slid past him a fraction of an inch from his robe.
The stick retracted and plunged toward him again, aimed at his chest. To his senses, the thrust might as well have been moving through molasses.
He infused qi in microbursts throughout his torso and twisted. Again, the attack missed by less than an inch.
His opponent withdrew the stick once more and lunged forward right at his face. That blow was even easier to dodge, not even requiring qi.
Yang Ru sank to the ground, his qi and his stamina exhausted.
“The power contained in your strikes was excellent,” Benton said. “If any of those had landed, I would have been in a world of hurt, especially if you’d been using a real weapon.”
“But none hit you, Senior Brother Chao.”
“Exactly! Strength is a necessary component of your fighting style, but it comes easy to you. The three attempts you managed used up all your qi, and I easily dodged each of them because it took far too long for you to move the qi to your muscles, slowing down your strike. Speed and efficiency are where you need to focus.”
“Yes, Senior Brother Chao.”
The kid was coming along nicely, progressing much faster than Su had in a similar situation. A lot of times, lava users eschewed weapons altogether, depending on their bare fists, but the spear seemed more well adapted to Yang Ru’s qi aspect than Benton would have expected.
That development was a nice one. At the Qi Gathering stage, the kid’s body just wasn’t up to taking punishment from even weak spirit beasts. The spear was necessary for him to keep claws and jaws at a distance, allowing him to effectively hunt. Reaching the Foundation Establishment stage would toughen him up some, but to really shine, he’d be best off with access to a body cultivation technique.
Benton sighed. He could easily get all the beast cores he needed for that, but he was limited in options for alchemical ingredients. It was tempting to create the necessary technique and spend time gathering what he’d need.