Legends Rise - Chapter 21 Skill

“Ah! Its you!” Li Ming exclaimed! Li Ming was so shocked that he even dropped the braised fish ball skewer that he was holding onto as he got up and pointed at the old man in surprise.

“Oho! Indeed, it is I!” the old man chuckled as he stroked his scruffy beard.

“Thank you so much for teaching me the spear!” Li Ming bowed in gratitude remembered that he vowed to thank the old man if he ever met him again, “Because of that, I was able to get recruited to a professional team!”

“Don’t’cha worry ’bout it!” the old man laughed, “It is the duty of the older generation to teach the younger generation! But with just the basic forms of the spear, you were able to join a team? How is that possible? Wouldn’t every youngster come running to me at this point?”

The old man chuckled to himself proudly, as if he was anticipating having an army of students under him.

“Oh, actually, I was able to combine your pointers on the spear as well as my previous experience as a mage in the game to become a versatile assassin!” Li Ming explained, “A mage is like a magician that can shoot out projectiles like balls of fire and blades of wind.”

The old man suddenly looked very interested.

“Hm? If mages can perform such feats, why would you or anyone use melee weapons?”

“Well,” Li Ming was worried. He didn’t know if he wanted to dive too deeply into this topic. “To cast a powerful spell, a mage would need time to chant and set up the spell. For me, I use very weak spells that require little to no time to chant in combination with the spear. I use the spells to disrupt the enemy’s pace and form while my spear cuts through them.”

Li Ming thought that this explanation was enough. After all, he explained it quite well. He wasn’t lying either. his “Shunpo” and “On the Hunt” abilities were definitely used to interrupt the enemy’s pacing, but they definitely weren’t spells that people normally thought of when they thought of a mage.

However, the old man grew more interested.

“Tell me more!” he demanded.

But instead of telling him, Li Ming instead pulled out his phone and pulled up a recording of the match he had against MeiChie. This was a third person view point, in which he could see the health of both parties as well as all their abilities and resources. He could also see them when they were in stealth, as they appeared as faded images of themselves when they were in stealth.

“So the chara-”

“Shush!” the old man said as he repositioned the phone to see better.

The old man watched the replay in silence with a look of interest about him the whole time. After the video was done, he closed his eyes while as he sat in deep thought. When he opened them again, Li Ming was expecting him to talk about his spearmanship or for the old man to ask about the game. Instead, the old man just pressed on the replay button.

This time, he paused the video from time to time. He was carefully eyeing Li Ming’s character. He was paying attention to Li Ming’s spear. Every time he paused the video, he would close his eyes, as if he was trying to picture Li Ming’s spear in action in his mind. Finally, he was finished with the video.

“You are truly skilled, young man.” He concluded.

“Huh?”

“In this video, your spear was extremely vicious and persistent.” the old man explained, “It is like the ocean’s waves as it comes crashing down while your ‘spells’ are like the rising waves that unsettles a ship. This style is truly a work of art.”

“…” Li Ming had no response to this. He knew that this old man was skilled in martial arts, but he didn’t expect to be complimented from him just watching a single video. However, before he could thank him, the old man continued on.

“However, this is not the style of a dragon. A dragon is domineering and unyielding. A dragon will never be suppressed and will always have the upper hand.” the old man shook his head, “What you displayed here was more akin to a phoenix. Even when you are at the lowest point you will still rise again. Truly a magnificent sight.”

Although Li Ming was surprised, the old man’s explanation did make sense. If he had the old man’s expertise with the spear, he would have probably never been suppressed by MeiChie’s rifle in the fight.

“How about this,” the old man suggested, “I’ll teach you my ‘Dragon Ascends the Heavens’ spear style. However, you’ll have to adapt it on your own for the game. I’m not a gamer after all.”

Li Ming couldn’t hold back from smiling when he heard this. A while back, the old man had refused to teach Li Ming his spear style because he deemed that Li Ming was “too young and naive” to learn it, as well as being too weak to inherit it. However, he would now have a chance at gaining that skill. from the old man.

More importantly, his swordmage character will be able to achieve new heights!

But then Li Ming remembered something. This would mean that he would have to constantly visit the old man to improve his spearmanship. Visiting once or twice a week probably wouldn’t be enough. When he was learning the basics, he had to put in quite a few hours just to achieve a mediocre level.

This meant that Li Ming wouldn’t be able to go to the university. Of course, he could visit the man once a week. But he would be so flooded with homework and studies that he wouldn’t have the time adequately learn on both ends.

“But… This probably means I won’t be able to go to the university…” Li Ming mumbled.

“Hm? University? Didn’t you say that you ‘got an option’ to go?” the old man asked.

“Yeah… My counselor said there would probably be a way for me to get in despite by sub-par grades…”

“Hah?!?!?” the old man exclaimed with agitation, “How is that even an option?”

“???” Li Ming was taken aback by this sudden outburst.

“When you said that you had an option, I thought you meant that you had found an interesting college that was willing to accept you!” the old man harrumphed, “Not that you found a backdoor in which to sneak in. How absolutely disgraceful!”

Li Ming hung his head. He didn’t really have an answer for that, nor could he refute the man’s words.

“In my opinion, that backdoor option of yours shouldn’t even be taken into consideration! Your counselor is the one who found it, but YOU are the one who earned your place on a team with your own ‘SKILL’. You rightfully earned your spot through a demonstration of raw talent, yet you’re still considering some kind of nefarious scheme to enter a college. Absolutely disappointing.”

“…I understand…” Li Ming managed, “I won’t use a backdoor method…”

“Good.” the old man said tersely. He placed another bowl of oden in front of Li Ming while taking away the other one. “this one got cold. Have this one on the house.”

Li Ming silently ate the rest of his oden while thinking about the old man’s words. He would definitely be more proud of a place on the team in which he earned rather than a place in a college in which he had to snake his way into.

“Here,” the old man said as he placed a small rough piece of paper in front of Li Ming, “This is my estate. I will train you here in the courtyard if you come by in the morning.”

Li Ming looked at the paper and saw that the old man had given him an address as well as a phone number. Li Ming pocketed the rough piece of paper carefully before thanking the old man and finally finishing his oden.

He was actually quite glad that the old man had scolded him earlier. Deep down inside, he felt that entering the college in the way that the counselor had suggested wasn’t the way that he wanted to get in. In comparison to proudly earning a spot on a team, using a back door was certainly less appealing by a large margin.

Unbeknownst to him, Li Ming’s pride grew a little on that evening.