At five o'clock in the morning, when the sky was just beginning to lighten, Luo Feng made his way to the Extreme Martial Arts Gym.
Since he hadn't received his Provisional Warrior certificate yet, Luo Feng still used his "Senior Student of the Martial Arts Gym" student ID to enter the gym.
"Senior Brother."
"Good morning, Senior Brother."
Inside the Extreme Martial Arts Gym, there were many students doing morning exercises on the grassy paths. Luo Feng smiled and nodded in response, then headed straight for the third floor of the senior student teaching building. Since he hadn't obtained the Provisional Warrior certificate, he could only enter the senior student martial arts training hall and didn't have the right to enter the instructor area on the fourth floor.
"Hah, ha!" Shouts and exhalations could be heard coming from the martial arts training hall.
Luo Feng looked inside and saw a young man in a white robe holding an iron spear, continuously twirling and thrusting it.
"Brother Tie," Luo Feng called out with a smile. "You're here practicing the spear so early in the morning? That's quite rare."
"Fengzi," the young man in the white robe stopped and looked at Luo Feng in surprise, his face beaming. "Why are you here? Haha, right, I have to congratulate you first. Congratulations on passing the Provisional Warrior assessment, Fengzi."
"How did you know?" Luo Feng asked in astonishment.
The news of his passing the Provisional Warrior assessment should be known to very few people.
"Last night, when the instructor was giving us a class, he mentioned this. He said that among the senior students of our martial arts gym, you and Brother Yang have both passed the Provisional Warrior assessment," the young man in the white robe said, scratching his head helplessly. "Seeing that both of you passed, I didn't dare to slack off, so I came here early this morning to practice the spear."
Luo Feng nodded.
So it was the instructor who had spread the word. Although the Extreme Martial Arts Gym had more than thirty thousand students, there were only six instructors in total! And there was only one coach! When the instructors gave lectures, they usually did so in a large lecture hall, allowing thousands of students to attend the class simultaneously.
Of course, there was no need for such large classes when teaching senior students, as there were only a small number of senior students in the entire gym.
"Fengzi, you've already passed the assessment. What are you doing here so early in the morning?" the young man in the white robe asked with a laugh.
"On August 1st, there's the warrior combat assessment. I need to prepare for it," Luo Feng replied with a smile and then walked towards the weapon room next to the martial arts training hall. The door of the weapon room was open.
Entering the weapon room, Luo Feng saw a large number of weapons placed on the weapon cabinets. There were various types of weapons, such as knives, spears, staves, clubs, axes, hammers, swords, and lances, among others. And each major type of weapon had many subcategories. For example, among knives, there were single-handed knives and two-handed knives. And the single-handed knives also came in many different varieties.
"The Blood Shadow series," Luo Feng said as he opened one of the weapon cabinets. Inside, there were a large number of battle blades of the same style. Of course, these battle blades were all "simulated." The model, center of gravity, and weight of the battle blades were exactly the same as those of real knives. However, the materials were vastly different. A real knife capable of slaying monsters might cost hundreds of thousands of yuan, but this kind of simulated knife only cost a few hundred yuan, which was much cheaper.
Whoosh!
Luo Feng pulled out one of the blades. It was a Blood Shadow Series 2 battle blade. The blade was 78 centimeters long, the entire knife was 101 centimeters long, the blade was 5.2 centimeters wide, the back of the blade was relatively thick, and the tip of the blade was sharp and suitable for thrusting.
"Hmm?" Luo Feng casually swung the blade twice and frowned. "I've been using this Blood Shadow battle blade for a long time. But... it feels too light."
The battle blade that he was used to swinging in the past now felt flimsy in his hand.
"Now that my strength has increased, the weight of the knife I need to use should also increase for me to feel comfortable," Luo Feng said. He took out another Blood Shadow Series 2 battle blade and swung it twice, creating a sharp whistling sound in the air. "No, it's still too light."
"This one isn't heavy enough either."
"It's too light, much too light."
Luo Feng took out the heaviest simulated Blood Shadow Series 2 battle blade and couldn't help but shake his head and laugh. "It seems that my strength has really increased a great deal. There isn't a single battle blade in the senior student weapon room that suits me." Luo Feng had no choice but to leave the third floor and head up the stairs to the fourth floor.
"The fourth floor is where the instructors and the coach often go," Luo Feng knew. There was also a martial arts training hall and a weapon room on the fourth floor. "Provisional Warriors are eligible to enter the fourth floor. However, since I haven't received my Provisional Warrior certificate yet, I'm not sure if I can enter the fourth floor."
Next to the staircase on the fourth floor, there was a small room where an old man was on duty.
"Hmm? What are you doing here? Students aren't allowed in this area," the old man on duty stood up. Suddenly, his expression changed to one of surprise, and he smiled. "It's Luo Feng. I heard from Director Jiang that you passed the Provisional Warrior assessment. Haha, come on in."
"Thank you, Uncle Li," Luo Feng let out a sigh of relief.
If Uncle Li had been strict and insisted on seeing Luo Feng's Provisional Warrior certificate, Luo Feng wouldn't have been able to enter. After all, legally speaking, Luo Feng wasn't a Provisional Warrior yet.
The martial arts training hall on the fourth floor was much more elaborately decorated, and the various equipment and facilities were of a much higher grade.
At the moment, Luo Feng was the only one in the martial arts training hall on the fourth floor.
"What a waste, such a waste. It's really a shame," Luo Feng couldn't help but shake his head and sigh. "This martial arts gym only has six instructors in total. Besides giving lectures, the six instructors usually spend most of their time training at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall. Such a nice place is just left empty, and hardly anyone comes here."
Shaking his head, Luo Feng entered the weapon room next to it.
The weapons in this weapon room were also simulated, but they looked much better than the ones on the third floor.
"The Blood Shadow Series 2. Hmm, the battle blades here are indeed much heavier," Luo Feng said as he pulled out one and swung it twice. Then he replaced it with another one. After five attempts, he finally selected one that was suitable for him. Upon closer inspection of the marking on it, he saw the weight of the blade engraved on the edge of the blade - 101 kilograms.
"What? 101 kilograms?" Luo Feng was shocked himself. "Such a heavy blade, and I actually feel comfortable and at ease using it?"
It should be known that the Blood Shadow battle blade was originally a type of battle blade with a fast swinging speed and relatively light weight.
To feel comfortable using a blade of this type that weighed 101 kilograms, just how much had his strength increased?
"My physical fitness has improved significantly. I should test my punch strength and speed later," Luo Feng said, feeling a bit excited. "Now, I should first practice the basics." After choosing the battle blade, he also picked up a hexagonal shield.
...
In the martial arts training hall, Luo Feng put his left forearm through the shield and held the Blood Shadow battle blade in his right hand.
"Hah!"
"Ha!"
Luo Feng stood in place and performed the basic knife techniques very standardly - horizontal slashes, upward sweeps, vertical chops, continuous slashes... Each move was extremely standard, and his body's center of gravity wasn't affected by each chop. He kept practicing like this and making adjustments.
"My strength is too great now. I don't have fine control over the force of my slashes," Luo Feng knew his own problem.
"Having good physical fitness is one thing, but being able to fully utilize it is another," Luo Feng was well aware.
Having better physical fitness than an opponent didn't necessarily mean having stronger strength than the opponent.
Some people could only exert 30% of their physical strength.
While others could exert 50%, 60%, 70%, and there were even those who could exert 100% of their strength. There were some master knife practitioners who could even use their relatively weak strength to slay opponents whose strength was ten times greater than theirs. This was the importance of skills and experience.
Of course -
If the difference in physical fitness was too great, skills alone couldn't make up for it. In general, in any case, one must seriously hone their skills to fully utilize their physical strength.
××××××
"Director," Uncle Li, who was on duty on the fourth floor, called out respectfully.
"Who's in there?" Coach Jiang Nian asked. He clearly heard the continuous sharp whistling sounds coming from the martial arts training hall next door. These whistling sounds were obviously the sounds produced when weapons such as knives and swords reached astonishing speeds and sliced through the air. Just by listening to these sounds, one could tell that it must be someone at the warrior level.
"It's Luo Feng," Uncle Li said with a smile.
"Luo Feng?" Coach Jiang Nian smiled slightly and walked towards the martial arts training hall.
Standing at the entrance of the martial arts training hall, Coach Jiang Nian watched as Luo Feng inside was performing the basic knife techniques one by one, as if following a textbook. Sometimes he would swing the blade in place, and sometimes he would run at high speed, dodge, and retreat while swinging the Blood Shadow battle blade. His moves were very smooth and coherent.
"Hmm, his basics are really solid," Coach Jiang Nian couldn't help but nod and secretly praised in his heart. "With a good foundation, his knife technique cultivation will be better in the future. There are no obvious weaknesses. This is really good."
The more he watched, the more satisfied he became.
"Ah, Coach," Luo Feng only noticed Coach Jiang Nian when he turned around and immediately stopped.
Coach Jiang Nian walked in with a smile. "Luo Feng, your knife technique is good. You must have started practicing it since you were a child, right?"
"Yeah, when I was young and hadn't entered the martial arts gym yet, I would just swing the knife for fun at home," Luo Feng replied with a smile. Coach Jiang Nian nodded in satisfaction, but the smile on his face suddenly froze. He stared blankly at the Blood Shadow battle blade in Luo Feng's hand, his eyes wide open.
"Coach, Coach?" Luo Feng was startled by the coach's expression.
"You, you..." Coach Jiang Nian stared at Luo Feng in shock. "You just swung that 101-kilogram Blood Shadow battle blade?"
"Yes, that's right," Luo Feng was a bit frightened.
Coach Jiang Nian quickly shook his head. "Impossible, it's impossible... How could it be..." But then, his eyes lit up, and he stared at Luo Feng as if looking at a peerless treasure. "Luo Feng, go to the punch strength testing machine over there. Hurry up and throw a punch for me to see. Let me see just how much your punch strength is now!"