The Old Mage's Operations

The Old Mage's Operations

The rain last night continued until five in the morning before finally stopping. Cheng Yun had left the window open, letting quite a bit of rain blow into the room, but the natural breeze kept the room cool all night.

Although the air conditioner kept the room from getting hot, the natural breeze was always much more comfortable.

He had gotten off work at two in the morning, then been tormented by Old Mage until the rain stopped. Only then did he return to his room and fall asleep to the sound of the wind.

He had no dreams that night.

It was past eleven when Cheng Yun woke up. After getting out of bed and washing up, he prepared to cook. It had already become part of his daily routine.

His phone kept chiming with text notifications. When Cheng Yun opened it, he found that they were all from Alipay, uniformly saying things like, "You have paid ** yuan for Cheng Yan through Close Payment..."

Cheng Yan also looked rather pale today. She had probably stayed up late last night choosing products.

It was as if the rainstorm the previous night had never happened. The water that had filled the roads had vanished without a trace, the ground was dry as ever, and the sun hung high in the sky. It seemed to foretell another fine day—one hot enough to kill!

At three in the afternoon, Heroine Yin finished her work and met him on the rooftop.

"In that case, let's practice techniques and temper your body at the same time!" Heroine Yin carried her hands behind her back like a master, but her brows furrowed. "As for the equipment needed to temper your body... Since you paid me so much, I ought to provide these external tools myself..."

"What equipment?" Cheng Yun asked, staring at her in confusion.

"Stone locks and sandbags, of course!" After saying this, Heroine Yin frowned and fell silent for a moment before continuing, "How about this? I won't make you pay. Find me a chisel and a hammer, then point me toward somewhere with plenty of stones. I'll spend a few days making you a set!"

Cheng Yun was left dumbfounded. After a moment of silence, he said, "I think it would be better if I spent half an hour getting a gym membership."

"???"

"There's a place in our world called a gym. Its purpose is to let you exercise. You pay it, and it provides you with over a hundred kinds of exercise equipment. It has everything." As he spoke, Cheng Yun suddenly shook his head. "No, it wouldn't be suitable to go to a gym in the short term, and we don't need to go there anyway. Let's just find somewhere to train for now. We can go to a gym after you've gotten used to it."

"Such a place actually exists!" Heroine Yin was stunned.

"Mm." Cheng Yun nodded. "But don't rush just yet. Old Mage hasn't finished setting me up, so it'll be at least a few days before I can endure you ravaging my body. And even if you go to a gym, you'll have to restrain yourself. You can't casually reveal your superhuman physical abilities!"

"Good!" Heroine Yin nodded decisively.

Heroine Yin then began her lesson.

"If you represent the majority of the people in your world, then the people of your world must be rather fragile. I think that strengthening you in any one aspect of technique would be enough to make you stand out." Heroine Yin continued pacing with her hands behind her back. "Let's strengthen your offensive awareness and methods first. Those two will show the fastest results in the short term."

"Good!" Cheng Yun nodded.

"Mm." Heroine Yin nodded, then looked at him solemnly. She actually bent deeply at the waist and said, "I'm about to offend you, Station Master!"

"Please don't put it that way, Heroine."

"No, no, it has to be this way. You're my provider now, after all." Heroine was insistent.

"Then let's begin."

"No problem!" Heroine nodded at him, paused, and continued, "Let me first explain offensive awareness. This is one of the main things that distinguishes us from beasts and wild animals. To some extent, offensive awareness determines your position—for example, your attitude when you get into a conflict with someone and the methods you use during a fight. It also determines your momentum. It's extremely important!"

"Your will to fight is equally important."

"As for offensive methods, they're actually very simple when you put it bluntly." Heroine Yin smiled faintly. "In the shortest possible time, move every part of your body at the fastest speed and attack the enemy's weakest points. Remember, when launching an attack, you must mobilize as many parts of your body as possible to gather tremendous force! For example, when throwing a punch, you can't just swing your arm. You need to bring the strength of your waist, back, and even legs into the punch. All those parts are much thicker than your arm..."

"I understand the reasoning." Cheng Yun said awkwardly, "Our world has a discipline called combat arts too."

"Hmm, all right." Heroine Yin nodded with her hands behind her back. "Then I'll teach you directly... Let's call it Nameless Divine Fist. It doesn't have a name anyway. My parents taught it to me when I was little. It's a standing combat technique."

"Uh..." Cheng Yun looked slightly embarrassed. Is this another martial art on the same level as that Basic Meditation Method?

"Although people in our world learn this fist technique when they're young, the difference between your body and ours means that you can't learn some combinations and special movements. You either can't perform them, or they won't have the intended effect. Learning them would be pointless. So, while teaching you, I skipped those combinations and movements. Is that all right?"

"Hmm?" Cheng Yun froze. He suddenly remembered that the Basic Meditation Method Old Mage had taught him also seemed to be some kind of simplified and optimized version. Could it have been simplified and optimized in the same way?

Seeing that he had not spoken, Heroine frowned and asked again, "Is that all right?"

Cheng Yun hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, that's fine."

"Then I'll start with the simplest punch. People in your world can't exactly carry swords and blades outside, anyway." Heroine Yin adopted the bearing of a strict teacher. "I discussed it with Old Mage this morning. He said that there isn't much difference between your body structure and mine—the bones and joints, and so on—so many of our simple techniques can be used by both of us."

"Oh, oh."

"Since you're at a child's level, I'll first teach you the punching stance and let you know which parts and muscles to use for exerting force. Once you've increased the power of your punches, we'll practice speed." As she spoke, Heroine Yin finally lowered her hands from behind her back. "I'll demonstrate it once, from fast to slow. Watch carefully. If you don't pay attention, you'll be punished!"

Bang!

She thrust out a straight punch, and it seemed to leave the barrel of a cannon.

The afternoon passed quickly, and Cheng Yun felt that he had learned quite a lot.

It was probably because Heroine Yin thought so little of his physical abilities and treated him entirely like a rookie. Most of what she taught him was "how to quickly overcome strength with weakness" and "how to swiftly deprive an opponent of the ability to move or resist." Cheng Yun felt as though he were learning how to defend himself against sexual assault.

That evening, while Cheng Yun was on duty,

Old Mage slowly came down from upstairs, leaning on a cane that no one knew where he had found. He smiled faintly at Cheng Yun and actually addressed him using Heroine Yin's form of address: "Station Master, I'd like to go out for a walk tomorrow."

Cheng Yun looked him up and down. Old Mage was wearing a loose gray shirt and straight black pants. The fabric was quite ordinary, and on his feet was a pair of cheap, round-toed leather shoes. He looked exactly like an old man in casual clothes. His gray-white hair and beard gave him a kindly appearance, while the cane and calm smile completed the picture.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Just around. I'll be gone for several days."

"Several days?" Cheng Yun said in surprise.

"Yes. I'd like to learn more about the culture of your world and this country." Old Mage smiled. "I've finished designing the rune program for you. I can complete the engraving tonight."

"Okay... all right." Cheng Yun nodded. After hesitating, he opened the drawer beneath the counter, rummaged around, took out a card, and handed it to Old Mage. "You'll definitely need money when you go out, right? And with your personality, you certainly wouldn't steal or cheat. Take this card. The password is 000415. I'll give you some cash as well. If you see anything you want to buy and examine while you're out, you shouldn't have to worry about running short of money!"

"No need." Old Mage's smile grew even more benevolent, but he shook his head. "I don't need to take a vehicle, or pay for food or lodging. There are very few places where I'll need to spend money. Besides... I'm not short of money."

As he spoke, he flipped his hand and somehow produced a yellow-gold metal ingot, which he displayed to Cheng Yun.

Cheng Yun stared blankly for a moment, then withdrew the card and cash. "All right. In that case, I was worrying too much."

"I should be thanking you for your concern." Old Mage smiled. He flipped his hand again, and the gold ingot in his palm abruptly became two cards. "Besides, I feel rather embarrassed. I knew from the start that staying at your inn required registration, and that failing to register my identity might cause trouble for you. But I didn't find the time to deal with it until last night."

Cheng Yun stared in surprise, took the two cards from his palm, and said, "I... identification cards?"

"Yes." Old Mage nodded. "I went out to get them last night. Since I was already there, I obtained one for Heroine as well."

"Where did you get them? Under an overpass?"

"..." Old Mage's expression stiffened. After a pause, he tapped his cane and said, "I'm certainly not so foolish."

"You're a man of great supernatural ability." Cheng Yun stopped asking questions. In any case, Old Mage was not a wizard from the feudal magical worlds in novels. He was a visitor from a highly advanced energy civilization. In theory, his intelligence should be just as unimaginable to Cheng Yun as his strength.

"I'm going upstairs." After saying this, Old Mage slowly made his way upstairs with his cane.

Only then did Cheng Yun pick up the two identity cards and examine them.

Old Mage's card bore his portrait. His date of birth was unexpectedly several years ago, while his address was listed as a certain prefecture-level city under Jizhou Province.

"How did this old mage even think of this place?" Cheng Yun tugged at the corner of his mouth, then picked up Heroine's identity card.

Heroine's photo was quite attractive. The scar looked fainter than it did in person, her face appeared younger than it did now, and she had short hair. Her date of birth was also several years ago, while her address was in the same place as Cheng Yun's hometown. Cheng Yun had no idea whether to say Old Mage had too much free time or had really put thought into it...

Cheng Yun took out his own identity card and compared them. The texture and details were exactly the same. He then used their identity cards to register them. As before, everything went smoothly.

Old Mage... was truly incredible!