Genius

"David, did you really memorize all of it?" Gallen asked, equally incredulous.

He had seen many geniuses in his time, but the Storm Hammer Technique was not some ordinary, basic technique. Although David's physique met the requirements for practicing it, given the complexity of the Storm Hammer Technique and the various techniques for applying and transitioning power, even someone who had studied basic hammer techniques would find it difficult to memorize everything.

As far as Gallen knew, David, like Myron, had never studied how to use a war hammer before this.

"Uncle Gallen, I memorized it all!" David replied with certainty.

"Then practice it once!" Hearing David's confirmation, Gallen remained skeptical and issued a direct command.

David nodded and took the war hammer from Gallen's hands.

The moment he took hold of the war hammer, David's aura shifted, and a spirit of indomitable resolve erupted from him.

Gallen was stunned as he felt this aura from David; the war hammer was a weapon of pure offense, and it was precisely this kind of indomitable spirit that it required.

If he didn't know for a fact that David had never studied the use of a war hammer before, he would have assumed David had been practicing with one since childhood.

But who had ever seen a war hammer practitioner who didn't even own a war hammer at home? Was he supposed to practice with the longsword hanging on the wall?

David ignored Gallen's probing gaze and Myron's expectant expression. As he picked up the war hammer, he became one with it; the weapon felt as if it had become a part of his own body.

Although this war hammer wasn't the style he preferred, with his 82% proficiency in War Hammer Mastery, having any war hammer was enough.

As he began to practice the Storm Hammer Technique, he realized the importance of his proficient-level Body Technique. It was precisely because he had mastered the control of his bones and muscles while practicing that technique that he found the Storm Hammer Technique much easier than he had imagined.

Myron stared with wide eyes as David performed the Storm Hammer Technique, move by move, in its entirety. He began to doubt his own intelligence.

Why was it that two people learning together—where he even surpassed David in physical fitness—resulted in him only remembering the first six moves, while David practiced move after move without a single pause or sign of hesitation?

Unlike Myron, Gallen saw much more.

David wasn't just mimicking the Storm Hammer Technique he had just demonstrated; he was incorporating his own insights. To Gallen, it felt as if David were a veteran Armored Warrior who had spent years immersed in the use of a war hammer.

As David practiced, a trace of grim, murderous intent began to mingle with his indomitable aura.

Although this murderous intent was very unstable, Gallen couldn't fathom how David was capable of it at all.

There was only one possibility: David was a genius, an incomparable genius in both Body Technique and the use of the war hammer.

In truth, David's ability to use the war hammer so proficiently so quickly was entirely due to Gallen's instruction. The method of demonstrating a powerful technique slowly, revealing every detail, was exactly what David needed most for his growth.

If David had tried to find videos himself or had been taught by someone of lower skill, he would never have reached this level on his first attempt at using a war hammer.

"Myron, you demonstrate the first six moves you learned as well!" Gallen grabbed a war hammer and handed it to Myron.

Myron glanced at David, who had finished his demonstration. He didn't want to be compared to David at a time like this, but he had to follow Gallen's instructions.

"Start quickly. Don't compare yourself to David; just do your best!" Gallen said in a deep voice.

Myron picked up the war hammer and prepared to perform, but Gallen interrupted him before he could even begin.

"Your grip on the war hammer is wrong. It should be like this!" Gallen said, correcting Myron's mistake.

After the correction, Myron performed the first move, and Gallen immediately spotted an error. This time, however, he didn't offer a reminder, choosing instead to watch as Myron continued.

It wasn't until Myron finished the six moves he had memorized that Gallen was certain: Myron's situation was the normal one, and what David had done was something only a true genius could achieve.

"David, take that war hammer to the side and practice on your own. I'm going to instruct Myron for a while!" Gallen said, waving his hand at David.

While a good student makes a teacher's life easier, a student who is too much of a genius can also leave a teacher feeling deeply helpless.

Gallen's skill was more than enough to teach David, but it was impossible to teach someone the basics of a war hammer when they had already reached near-proficient levels on their first try. Beyond the proficient level, it was no longer a matter of teacher instruction; it required the student to experience various battles and form their own style of using the war hammer.

David acknowledged him, picked up the war hammer, and went to the side to practice by himself.

He was like a child with a new toy. Starting from the first move of the Storm Hammer Technique he had just performed, he continuously improved his familiarity with the war hammer. Practice was exactly what he needed right now.

Gallen had Myron start from the first move, correcting his errors bit by bit. Fortunately, Myron wasn't a fool; Mayor Bernard wouldn't have gone to such lengths to send him here if he didn't have enough confidence in Myron's talent.

Myron was slowly moving from his first contact with the war hammer into a stage of understanding.

Gallen didn't need him to reach the entry level immediately; he just wanted to give Myron the correct method of practice. By mastering the Storm Hammer Technique without errors, Myron's mastery of the war hammer would naturally improve as long as he worked hard in the future.

Gallen had initially held the same thought for David, but David's talent had caught him off guard, and his planned schedule had gone awry.

Myron focused on learning from Gallen. Both the Storm Hammer Technique and Gallen's guidance were incredibly rare, and he didn't want to waste a single moment.

But just as Myron was focusing on his studies, David, who was practicing on his own nearby, kept distracting him.

Of course, this wasn't David's intention; it was just that as David's practice deepened, his Storm Hammer Technique became increasingly compatible with his 82% proficient War Hammer Mastery.

As Myron practiced, he would occasionally feel a chilling sensation coming from David's direction. Myron was only a student, and despite his significant background in Peilan City, he couldn't comprehend that kind of grim intent.

Gallen's eyes, however, were filled with shock. In less than two hours of practice, David had intensified that faint trace of murderous intent to the point where it was now palpable.

It could be said that while David was not yet an Armored Warrior, his mastery of the war hammer had effectively reached the level of an experienced Armored Warrior who used the war hammer as his primary weapon.

Gallen looked at David, then at Myron, and felt the vast gap between them.

Myron saw the look in Gallen's eyes and felt a deep sense of defeat.

Myron had always considered himself a genius. In school and within his social circles, he was a standout among the younger generation.

But today, compared to David, he felt like a fool.

"Myron, watch from the side!" Gallen grabbed the war hammer from Myron's hand and said, then turned to David with a smile: "David, let's spar!"

As he spoke, Gallen gripped his warhammer and swung it toward David's chest; naturally, with his level of control, he would never let David get hurt, as he was capable of pulling back the hammer the moment it made contact with David's body.

He did this to put a little pressure on David, for if such a genius had too smooth a path, it would be detrimental to his personal growth.

Only with a sense of fear could one grow better.

Gallen assumed that David would be flustered, perhaps even unable to deal with such a simple strike.

After all, no matter how much of a genius he was, this was David's first time handling a warhammer, and he had only just learned the methods of using it; no matter how well he had grasped the theory, there was still a massive gap between that and actual combat.

Yet, David's reaction caught him completely by surprise: the warhammer in David's hand traced an arc, and by leveraging that momentum, David's body sidestepped Gallen's hammer perfectly, while at the same time, David's own hammer spun in the air and struck toward Gallen's arm.

Although Gallen was surprised, his own strength was far superior to David's; he shifted his hand slightly, and as his warhammer flipped over, he parried David's strike.

"Good!" Gallen shouted, and having brought out a bit of his true skill, he began to unleash a flurry of attacks against David.