Koji Fights The World - Chapter 38 Special Training

After finishing his meal, Koji joined his mother-in-law in her garden. He sat and listened to her music for approximately ten minutes. Then Koji excused himself and departed for the private courtyard at the back of the palace. As much as he enjoyed the queen’s music, Koji wished to return to his saber practice ASAP.

Koji checked with his Qi Perception and confirmed that no one was spying on him. Even though Koji was the Prince Consort, his status did not merit guards following him around the palace. Thus, he took comfort in the unguarded entrance. Koji pulled out his saber from its sword case and began to practice with his weapon in earnest.

The practitioner performed the eight angles of attack with his right hand, and then he switched to his left side to practice the same swings. Next, he practiced changing hands until he felt comfortable making the switch on the fly. Occasionally, his grip failed, and the weapon flew out of his hand.

Koji laughed at his mistakes and continued practicing his hand switch. But he began to increase the difficulty of his practice by attacking while alternating his hand. After Koji performed a hundred swings while switching sides, he stopped this exercise and started something else–sword dancing.

In the past, Koji came across youtube videos of sword dancing, but he declined to pursue this interest due to a lack of time. Now, he decided to practice sword dancing because he felt it would help stabilize his saber style. Instead of swinging with the entire arm, sword dance primarily consisted of twisting and turning of the wrists while positioning the body in various poses. Thus, Koji began his practice by twisting his wrist back and forth, from side-to-side while loosening his wrist but keeping a firm grip of the weapon. The practitioner visualized himself as a cheerleader twirling a baton during an official game.

At first, Koji lost his grip, and the saber flew out of his right hand frequently. But after a half-hour of practice, he eventually developed the muscle memory to hold his weapon with the right amount of force while keeping his wrist and arm flexible. Next, he started the exercise from the beginning with his left hand. But this time, it took him an hour before his muscle memory developed adequately.

When Koji pushed ahead and tried to sword dance while switching hands on the fly, he failed to make the hand-off more than half the time. In one instance, the errant weapon cut his cheek!

Koji felt his frustration mounting and decided to stop the exercise. Instead, he spent the rest of the morning cultivating.

At midday, a servant girl called out from the entrance, “Prince Consort, it’s time for lunch!”

The young man returned to his feet, picked up his weapon, and followed her back to the banquet hall. To his surprise, only the king and queen showed up!

Queen Herecia noticed the look of concern on his face. “Zelea is having lunch in the city with Daethix,” she explained. The queen was secretly pleased, though, by Koji’s discomfort because this meant that he missed his wife.

King Aphraphus observed this interaction and grinned. “Koji, my daughters will be joining us for dinner. You will see them tonight,” he promised.

Koji became embarrassed. “It’s fine,” he shook his head. “I’m sure they have many things to do. it’s unfair for me to take up so much of Zelea’s time.”

The king laughed and pounded the table with his fist. BAM! “Spoken like a real man,” he remarked with open admiration for the young man. Abruptly, King Aphraphus’ expression changed. “How was your practice this morning?” he inquired with curiosity.

The son-in-law looked directly at the questioner. “I practiced swinging the saber with my offhand, and then I tried to sword dance,” Koji reported.

“And how successful were you in sword dancing?” the king asked with a chuckle. He imagined scantily-clad women dancing to music while theatrically flipping their swords in the air. He remembered a small group of desert nomads who performed sword dancing as a tradition.

Koji frowned at the question. “It has been difficult,” he admitted with a shrug.

“You just started today. I’m sure you sword dancing will improve with more practice,” the queen said reassuringly.

The son-in-law smiled in appreciation of her encouraging words.

The servants returned with lunch for the patrons. Koji received a platter of steamed dumplings and a bowl of bone broth soup on the side. He discovered that half of the dumplings had seafood filings while the other half comprised of poultry. He finished his lunch quickly and excused himself to return to the back courtyard for his afternoon practice.

Koji began the afternoon session by sword dancing with his right hand and then with his left. The first time he switched between hands, he pulled off the maneuver without any problem. Buoyed by his success, Koji did it four more times before he encountered his first failure, and the sword slammed into a wall.

Koji jogged over to pick up his weapon and practiced the switch over and over again until he managed to switch hands successfully fifty times in a row. Finally, the young man stopped and sat on the ground to take a break. He had practiced for two hours straight, and his wrists felt sore now.

Koji decided to stop his sword dance practice; he spent the rest of the afternoon cultivating. With his mind’s eye, Koji checked his Lower, Middle, and Upper Dantian. Back on Earth, only his Lower Dantian was open. When he crossed over through the wormhole, his body received a bombardment of cosmic energy, which somehow opened his other dantians and allowed his Qi to refine into Qi Stones. These openings, in turn, led to his accelerated growth. Koji was truly lucky to open all three dantians without facing any backlash or injury to his body.

When Koji checked his Qi Stones, he discovered that the rock sitting in the Lower Dantian had grown to the size of a fist! However, other stones were tiny in comparison, and Koji felt disappointed.

The afternoon passed by in a flash, and a servant called out from the entrance to draw his attention. “Prince Consort! It’s time for dinner!” she shouted.

Koji climbed to his feet, picked up his weapon, and followed the girl back to the banquet hall. He saw the rest of the Royal Family already sitting at the table. “Sorry, I’m late,” he apologized sheepishly.

“We know you’ve been busy,” the queen excused his lateness adroitly. She secretly wished that her children would notice Koji’s work ethic and feel pressured to work harder. In particular, Queen Herecia felt that her second son, Cyreas, was too lazy in his attitude toward his royal responsibilities as the kingdom’s assistant treasurer.

King Aphraphus began to open his mouth to question Koji’s practice, but a pinch on his thigh from his wife forced his mouth shut immediately and the king looked down instead.

Koji turned toward his wife to gauge her mood. He knew that she was less guarded in her feelings than the other people sitting at the table.

Zelea returned Koji’s gaze with a shy smile.

Her reaction bewildered him, but Koji didn’t wish to pursue the matter in front of the family.

The servants returned with steamed fish and shrimp for everyone.

Koji winced at the sight because he often swallowed tiny bones by accident. “Can I get noodles and dumplings instead?” he requested.

The king gave a sharp look at a nearby servant, who bowed and quickly left for the kitchen to relay the order.

Zelea used her telekinetic power to push Koji’s unwanted food to her dad, who happily accepted the fish but distributed the shrimp to Heretrios, who sat next to King Aphraphus.

Koji drank tea while waiting for his meal to arrive about ten minutes later. Once he finished eating, the king spoke up. “Koji, go to the private courtyard. Your new instructor is waiting.”

Koji noticed the big grin on his father-in-law’s face, and the young man became suspicious. Nonetheless, he gave proper respect to the man with a deep bow. “Thank you, Your Highness!”

“I know you’re anxious to get started. You may leave now,” the king said and waved his hand dismissively.

Zelea looked up at Koji, who had risen from his seat. She exchanged glances with big sister Daethix, who offered a small shrug at the lack of opportunity tonight to discuss their resolution with the Bonder.

Koji hurriedly departed from the banquet hall and soon reached the private courtyard. He saw a middle-aged, Asian man standing inside already. The person wore a gold-colored tan jacket and a white shirt over black pants and black shoes. The man had a top knot, and his long, braided hair reached his waist. He exuded strength and confidence. His back faced Koji, and his hands clasped behind him.

The stranger slowly turned around to face Koji directly. The man wore a neatly trimmed mustache and a small soul patch on his chin. His dark eyes exuded intelligence as he looked Koji up and down. “Hello, Prince Consort. I am Huang Rougang, your Body Refinement instructor,” the man introduced himself. Power radiated from his voice, with a bit of Yang Qi infused with the sound.

Koji relied on his Indominable Spirit to disperse the hidden force striking his body. The young man cupped his hands and bowed. “Koji Adalwin Becker awaits Sifu Huang’s instructions,” Koji said politely.

“Take off your shirt and jacket,” the teacher ordered.

The pupil stripped the garments and laid them neatly folded on a rock.

“Take the horse stance,” Sifu Huang commanded.

Koji quickly obeyed, spreading his feet apart and bending his knees. The pupil set his fists next to his hips as if Koji was preparing to strike!

“Excellent form,” the instructor praised. He pulled out a set of charms and tied one each to Koji’s wrists and ankles.

The student looked at his right hip and saw a red string with a jade talisman tied to his wrist. He felt a strange aura emanating from each stone.

“Maintain this stance until I tell you to stop,” the teacher commanded. Sifu Huang closed his eyes and activated the talismans, which infused with a unique blend of elemental energies and Qi.

Koji’s eyes widened as he felt his body turn heavy–twice his natural weight, to be exact!

The instructor smiled at the young man’s reaction. “This is a special charm set lent out by King Aphraphus; they are the only set in the kingdom and passed down from the king to his successor,” Sifu Huang explained. “What you’re feeling now is double the normal gravity. Once your body has become accustomed to the extra weight, I will set the effective even higher. Using these talismans is a secret training method of the Royal Family, and you cannot disclose this information to another person. Violation of this rule will result in punishment by the king himself,” the teacher warned.

“Yes, Sifu!” Koji answered while gritting his teeth. He had already seen this training by Goku in Dragon Ball Z anime show. Thus, Koji understood the theory behind this training method and appreciated its effectiveness.

“You need to circulate your Qi throughout your body. Or else, your tendons, bones, and muscles will break under the additional pressure from the charms,” the teacher warned.

Koji nodded. He closed his eyes and circulated his Yang Qi throughout his meridian lines. His body steadily became stronger and more able to resist the sudden change in gravity.

Sifu Huang smiled. Abruptly, he pulled out the wooden stick tucked in his waist belt and struck Koji across the chest. Whack!

Koji sucked his teeth but resisted the blow.

“Excellent!” the teacher praised. “Your body is the mountain itself. You will resist all blows and not give an inch!” He struck Koji from behind. Whack! Sifu attacked Koji’s left arm and leg. Whack-whack! Seeing that Koji made no deviation from his horse stance, Sifu Huang dropped his reservation and hit the student over and over again.

The student gritted his teeth and resisted all the blows despite being hit continually.

Finally, Sifu Huang stopped hitting Koji. “Sit down and cultivate,” he ordered. When the pupil obeyed, the teacher removed the four talismans from Koji’s limbs. Then he sat behind Koji and pressed his palm on the young man’s back. Sifu Huang sent his energy into his student’s body.

Koji suddenly opened his eyes in surprise; he identified the foreign energy circulating through his body. “You possess wood affinity?” he asked.

The teacher smiled. “Yes. The king selected me to train you partly because I can circulate my wood elemental energy through your body to help you recover faster,” Sifu Huang explained. “Now shut up and cultivate!” he barked.

Koji obeyed and continued his cultivation. The foreign energy smelled like mint.

After an hour of cultivation, Sifu Huang ordered, “Get up and check your Body Refinement!”

Koji returned to his feet and called up his menu report. He saw the following: “Body Refinement Tier 6 (1/10).” He broke through to the next tier in just one training session with his new teacher! Koji calmed down and read the line aloud.

“Excellent! I will report to his Majesty. Return to your room and rest,” Sifu Huang ordered.

“Yes, Sifu!” Koji replied with a respectful bow; he soon departed, leaving a smiling teacher behind.