My slow journey to infinity

Chapter 18 Practice from scratch! But without a mentor…

Beside the dim campfire at night, the battle continues.

After more than a dozen battles, the one who has made the most obvious progress is Shino. She is no longer frightened by Wang Shui's feint attacks, and can also easily judge which attacks can be blocked and which ones need to be avoided.

And Aqua Regia has also adapted to the feel of a short sword (dagger).

"Yes, for a straight-line attack, the expected hit position must be moved backward, because retreating is the enemy's most common way of evasion."

When Shui Wang leaned back to dodge, Sinon's dagger rushed towards his eyebrows, forcing him to lower his waist first and then twist his body to the right.

At this time, the dagger in Shino's hand rotated 180 degrees with the movement of her fingers, changing from a reverse grip to an upright grip. She pressed her steps forward to bring up her sword skills, and fired [Through Armor] towards Wang Shui, who turned his back to her. .

The damage figure exploded, and this kidney shot from behind was a perfect hit. Sinon, who had caused damage to aqua regia for the first time, was naturally happy in her heart, but she did not stop attacking.

Sinon raised her dagger and immediately judged her sword skills, preparing to compensate for the damage from behind.

Wang Shui leaned over and twisted his body in a low posture to drive his legs. He kicked Sinon's right arm with a small whip kick, which not only broke Sinon's body balance, but also interrupted her sword skills.

"I didn't expect that with my strength, I could survive until now without being injured. I'm just too strong."

Wang Shui immediately praised himself after standing firm, and was glad that it was just a game, otherwise he would not have the strength to turn around and kick back from the kidney blow just now.

Shino did not speak, but held the dagger in his right hand, his arms drooping naturally, his body straightened and slightly swaying back and forth, and his arms swayed naturally like willows, making it difficult for people to understand his movements.

This is the style of a calm assassin.

This stance was naturally taught by Wang Shui, and Wang Shui saw it from the information. However, the information was not a professional dagger attack tutorial, but a tutorial on how to look handsome for ordinary people who use daggers to exercise.

But Wang Shui feels that this kind of unconventional movement is quite practical in the game, because the game does not place special emphasis on power postures. As long as you can use sword skills, the power of the attack will not be small, so this kind of good-looking Techniques that are not practical can actually conceal your intentions in the game.

Moreover, Sinon, with her short ice-blue hair and eyes, looks even more handsome when she poses like this.

During the shaking, Sinon leaned forward and took steps. The dagger in her hand was still hanging down, but it was inexplicably heart-stopping.

Faced with Sinon's charge without using sword skills, Wang Shui also stepped forward to meet him with a dagger in hand. The moment of contact, Sinon suddenly gathered his sword skills and bit down on his wrist.

It stands to reason that with the blessing of sword skills, the power of attacks will become very large, and charging and thrusting skills can even send people flying away, but Wang Shui still used his wrists to hold Sinon's attacking wrists, and he used both hands. On the shelves, he progressed into a horse and took root on the ground.

Huge force came along his arms. Wang Shui stabilized his body and resisted with all his strength. His muscles all over his body felt sore and exhausted, and his bones seemed to be broken.

But, he resisted!

The light effect of the sword skill slowly dimmed, and Sinon was surprised that his arm was weak. Wang Shui took the opportunity to wrap his left hand around Sinon's right arm, pin her attacking hand, and at the same time passed the dagger to Sinon's collarbone with his right hand.

The sword blade stopped, and after Sinon was released, she said lightly to continue, then turned around and prepared to distance herself.

At this time Wang Shui spoke:

"That's enough for tonight. Fighting requires thinking, not just muscle memory."

After speaking, Wang Shui walked back to the fire pit, put the meat on the stone slab that had been burned, and while grilling the meat, he took out a pile of scattered manuscript papers and read the contents on them by the light of the fire.

"What is this?" Shino walked to stand behind Wang Shui. Seeing that Wang Shui didn't stop him, she looked over his shoulder at the manuscript paper.

"These are some boxing records and an outline of boxing techniques. I suddenly had an inspiration just now. I always feel that all fighting techniques seem to be like boxing, especially when using daggers. The closer the attack distance, the more like boxing logic. .”

Shino didn't understand it, nor did she understand it, because the manuscript paper in Wang Shuiwen's hand was full of Chinese characters. She could recognize a lot of individual characters, but when the pure Chinese characters were connected together, the meaning was much different from what she thought.

"Zuo... Tianshujun, are these Chinese characters?"

"No, these are Chinese characters."

Although the advanced Kanji vocabulary used for "borrow" in Japanese is also called Kanji, the pronunciation and meaning have changed more or less, and the grammar is completely different. People who have not studied it cannot rely on it to recognize it. Guess the meaning of the word.

Seeing that Wang Shui had no desire to explain too much, Shino was just a little surprised, and then sat by the fire pond to rest her mind. The dozen or so battles just now had taken a huge toll on her spirit.

"Practice fists and kicks first, then grapple, five weapons in one. So that's it!"

With an exclamation, Wang Shui finally found the sense of déjà vu that gave him a flash of inspiration. He always remembered where he had experienced this kind of thinking.

He has indeed memorized all the words, but this does not mean that he has understood all the contents. He can only memorize and does not understand the meaning and coherence, and he is far from being able to fully comprehend it.

Just like memorizing thousands of ancient poems, facing similar beautiful scenery, I can only vaguely feel the poetic meaning. At most, I can only recall the original sentence, and it is even more difficult to imitate one by myself.

It seems like I really have to learn from scratch...

However, Wang Shui's interest was being aroused. He quickly reorganized all the information on combat and martial arts on hand, and then separated out the basic fists and kicks to read. Of course, this did not affect his barbecue.

For more than an hour, the two of them finished two more rounds in silence. Wang Shui turned over and read the text and illustrations several times before he put away the manuscript paper.

Then, under Shino's puzzled gaze, Wang Shui walked to the open space in front of the camp and kicked his legs and hips seriously.

[Basics of martial arts, stretching muscles and pulling bones]

It was easier than expected. Wang Shui made the one-line horse very easily, and it didn’t take much effort to press the legs and fold the body. There was resistance and strange feeling at the extreme position. Wang Shui felt that it was SAO’s system that eliminated the pain of such large movements. Feeling weakened.

Wang Shui didn't know if this was a good thing, but he could feel that as he continued to stretch and twist, the strange feeling would gradually become lighter. However, after standing quietly for a while, the strange feeling remained when he stretched again. Will rebound.

It seems to be something that takes time to work through, but in terms of strength and agility, with Wang Shui's current ability value, even without training, his physical fitness far exceeds that of martial arts masters in the ordinary world.

With the support of unreasonable core strength, it was not difficult to perform static or dynamic exercises, so it did not bring any special experience. Just when aqua regia was relatively confused, a strange heat came from the muscles.

oh! Yes!

The muscles will not hurt, but they will be tired. When this state reaches the limit, the senses will be very clear and the body will have memory!

There was a slight feeling of soreness and swelling. Aqua regia persisted for a while but the effect was not obvious, even if he put on the heaviest equipment, it was still not obvious.

Having no choice but to find a large stone over one meter high, he held it in his arms and pricked it. Sure enough, he soon felt soreness, swelling and fever, and it became more and more obvious.

Wang Shui said nothing and calmed down, carefully feeling the consumption of every ounce of strength in his body, every change in body soreness and swelling, controlling his constant rapid breathing, and at the same time suppressing the emotion of giving up that was constantly arising in his brain.

He wanted to know the limits of this body.

A few hours passed. Shino, who was standing next to the fire pit, picked up the wooden cup on the stone floor and drank warm water quietly. She also watched the aqua regia exercise without saying a word.

Every once in a while, Aqua Regia would stop to rest for a while, and then start squatting again. It was a few minutes at first, and with constant attempts, the time that aqua regia was able to last gradually became longer.

Shino didn't know what Wang Shui had discovered, but she could understand that Wang Shui was looking for a way to become stronger. If Wang Shui wanted to tell her, he would naturally speak at length to show off his abilities; if Wang Shui didn't want to tell her, she wouldn't bother to ask.

As the night got darker, Wang Shui put down the stone and returned to the firepit tremblingly. This was the first time in nearly a month of playing SAO that he had felt so weak, physically and mentally weak.

Different from the negative state of [Part Destruction], Aqua Regia's current status bar is extremely clean and has no negative effects. However, he can hardly even lift his arms, and his whole body is sore and swollen.

Looking at Shino's eyes that seemed to ask "Are you okay?", Wang Shui struggled to pick up his cup and drank some hot water before saying:

"I am almost certain that this direction is correct. Even if it is wrong, there is no harm to me. What I am learning is basic boxing, which comes from Chinese martial arts foundation. Systematic martial arts skills are of great help to the battles in the game. If you want to learn, I can teach you, but you have to be prepared to endure hardship."

After Wang Shui's calm narration, Sinon just sat there with one hand supporting her chin and nodded seemingly casually.

She was originally a quiet and calm girl.

This sentence came to Wang Shui's mind and he nodded.

"You're here to stay for half the night today. In fact, no one will come here, especially at night. You can just rest."

After speaking, Aqua Regia stood up and quickly stretched, got into the sleeping bag, and finally added with a smile: "But if you want to sleep, you can only sleep on the ground."

Yes, there is only one sleeping bag for two people, which I bought when I was mining in Aqua Regia. Most players don’t camp in the wild, so they basically don’t bring camping items.

Wang Shui's reply was Shino's silent smile. It seemed that she was no longer interested in talking.

Wang Shui quickly fell asleep. I don't know if he was too tired or if he was assisted by SAO to sleep.

The night without the light pollution of modern cities was extremely quiet. Shino leaned on a big rock and looked at the unchanging darkness above her head.

The wind is very cool, and the fire pit brings real warmth. It has been more than 20 days in this game, and this is the first time that Shino has completely calmed down, even quieter than when she is alone in real life.

I don't know if it was because of the deaths of teammates and enemies she had experienced, but Sinon felt as if she had grown up in some places - she had always felt that she was very mature, but now she felt strange to herself, like...

Just like the guy next to him, Shino looked at Aqua Regia, who only had his face exposed in the sleeping bag.

Sometimes this guy behaves extremely mature, with a cold and indifferent thinking that is scary, and sometimes he shows the innocence and naivety of a middle school student, doing things recklessly and taking action immediately when he thinks of it.

Shino didn't think she had the reckless side, but she seemed to have mastered the indifferent feeling a long time ago.

The sense of security he brought was so insubstantial that even if he disappeared from her sight tomorrow, Shino would not be surprised.

But I don't crave your protection, you just need to help me become stronger.

Shino said this to Wang Shui in his heart, and at the same time he said this to himself.

…

…

In the dark morning of the next day, the two of them did not set out early to kill monsters.

"Thighs are level with the ground, and your back is straight. Feel the movement of your buttocks as you sit down. Imagine that there is a shorter chair below. You want to sit down, but you must use the strength of your legs and waist and abdomen to control your ability to sit down. Sink your shoulders. , relax your arms and feel the vibrations in your muscles.”

Wang Shui kept talking about the simple points of Sipingma, while using a short wooden stick to correct Shino's posture.

Sinon's attribute values ​​are not low either. Her hip, leg and arm muscles are very strong thanks to the game bonus, and her core muscles are also very strong, so the horse stance is not difficult for her.

Wang Shui taught quickly. He first took Shino to open her hips, press her legs, stretch her muscles and pull out her bones. Then he started teaching static and moving stances and basic footwork. Questions about boxing and rhythm were more complicated, so he had to wait until the evening. While looking at the information, he explained it carefully. After all, Wang Shui himself only knew a little bit about it.

Wang Shui was also exercising next to him. He was still holding a big stone and had removed all his equipment, except for the special jewelry [Supernatural Instinct].

The description of [Double Self-Exercise Effect] of Jewelry Effect 2 is very vague, but Wang Shui guessed that it is a bonus to attribute training, and at most it counts skill proficiency.

Aqua Regia is now in a high load-bearing state, and adding gems can improve the attribute training effect.

The two-hour morning training ended quickly. The two took a short rest before going to attract monsters. The effect of the training was not obvious now, but last night's PVP battle made Sinon's offensive more flexible.

Calmly advancing and retreating, and managing things efficiently, when Sinon began to gain confidence in her own skills, she was reprimanded by Wang Shui for being greedy with the sword.

Generally speaking, both of them were extremely silent today. Wang Shui's mind was full of all kinds of martial arts knowledge, while Sinon was in a normal state. She was always so quiet whether in reality or when she was teaming up with five teammates. .

As they continued to get familiar with each other, three more days passed. The two of them were spawning monsters at high intensity, and the buoy above their heads had returned to green.

The evidence of killing three people was just wiped away. Life was horribly cheap.

According to Shino's wishes, they could continue to enjoy this undisturbed leveling ground here, but Wang Shui felt that it was almost time to defeat the maze BOSS, and even if he was not going to do it himself, he still had to keep an eye on it.

Shino is not a person without opinions. The reason why she needs to leave, Wang Shui can only explain, is that they already have the ability to attack the monsters in the maze, and have restored their green status. There is no need to suffer here. It is too long to grow like this. slow.

The reason passed, the two of them entered the valley directly, and it took a long time to return to the town of [Torbana], the last supply point before the maze, and the largest town supply point on the first level besides the initial town.

Returning to a familiar yet unfamiliar town, both of them were suddenly at a loss. Wang Shui has been mining before, and the place he is most familiar with is the blacksmith. Oh, by the way, there are still a batch of metal ingots that have not been recovered.

Shino had only been here for two days before the team was wiped out, but she was obviously better than Aqua Regia.

"Our team before... When we first arrived here, the hotel was already full. The captain found a house rented by NPC on the outskirts of the town. The price was slightly higher but there was a lot of space for activities. Some houses also had unlimited milk supply. .”

There was a hint of nostalgia in Shino's voice.

They were very lucky and soon found a separate hut. Although the hut was on the most remote outskirts of the town, almost outside the "circle", it had a very spacious space, with a living room, three rooms and a bathroom. , other than that, there are no other bonuses.

The rent of 50 kels a day is five times higher than that of a cheap hotel, but it is much cheaper for two or more people to share a room.

Wang Shui paid the rent for ten days, tidied up briefly in silence, put on home clothes - a simple T-shirt and shorts, and then began to prepare food in a state of being lost.

Shino also put on thin and light home clothes. She leaned on the comfortable sofa and looked at Wang Shui busy with a smile.

I didn't expect that this complicated monster who likes to play tricks on people is actually a single-threaded person. When he has one thing in his mind, he will become so slow to respond to external feedback.

The strange contrast is cute.

In this case, not disturbing was the best option. Sinon went to the bathroom and took a long bath. She had to admit that the feeling of being soaked in warm water was really relaxing.

When she came out, the small coffee table was filled with simple and rich food, and Aqua Regia seemed to have finished eating. He was standing on the side of the living room with his legs spread apart and slightly bent, with his hands clasped in front of his lower abdomen, looking very much like he was exercising , but missing his signature boulder.

After Sinon finished eating, she also started her stance and boxing training. Unlike in the wild, she slowed down her movements in the limited space and focused more on finding the starting and ending points of exerting force. Of course, this It was also taught by Wang Shui.

There was another single-thread in the room. When Shino came to his senses, he saw Wang Shui walking out of the bathroom. His eyes were more solid this time.

"Get some rest. There will be no leveling tomorrow. I just got information about defeating the BOSS from an information dealer. There will be a combat mobilization meeting at the central fountain square at four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Let's go and take a look."

Shino didn't raise any objection this time, just waved his hand and said goodbye to Wang Shui, and entered his room.

This is a very simple room. The main body is made of stone, and the furniture is decorated with rough logs. The only good thing is that the rough wooden bed is stable enough and the quilt is very soft.

Much more comfortable than sleeping on a rock.

Sinon recalled the time when she and Wang Shui took turns keeping vigil over the past few days, and also took turns using a sleeping bag. Although each time the sleeping bag was used, it was in a completely new state, leaving no smell or temperature behind, but Sinon always felt a little strange. .

Looking at the simple lights outside the window, Shino suddenly remembered some scenes in TV dramas: characters in a quiet environment often silently express their feelings and thoughts to their family or loved ones in such loneliness, but Shino was very confused.

After she fell into the death game, the grandparents in the countryside should be very sad, but the mother should not know what happened. After all, her spirit has regressed to the state of elementary school - she experienced the death of her father in a car accident and saw Shino shooting someone. , her spirit has been very poor.

Shino left her hometown forcefully. All her former classmates knew that she had killed someone, some of them stayed away from her, and some started calling her a murderer. Under the increasing pressure, the grandparents chose to let go, and Shino also rejected their proposal to move out together.

The last time she felt homesick was a year ago. For a long time after that, Shino's thinking gradually became mature, and she even thought she was used to being alone.

But now it seems that she doesn't. The homesickness has gradually faded away after many convenient trips home. Now she is imprisoned in this fantasy cage, and may never see her only relatives.

Loneliness and homesickness mixed and fermented, and the little poem fell asleep in the light of tears.