Teaching

"Big Brother Doham."

Linley was a little surprised. Even after learning that Beibei had reached the eighth level, Doham still wanted to spar with him.

"Haha, Linley, don't worry."

Ever since recovering the Tiger-striped Secret Manual and cultivating battle qi, Doham had grown more and more confident.

An ordinary Eighth-level Warrior would have a hard time defeating a Magical Beast of the same level. But Doham wasn't worried in the slightest. Even without transforming, he was confident he wouldn't lose to an eighth-level Magical Beast. That was the confidence of an Ultimate Warrior.

"Boss, let me have a good spar with him. Don't worry, I'll be careful with my strength."

Beibei sent the message directly.

Seeing that both Doham and Beibei felt the same way, Linley could only agree. Still, he reminded Beibei, "Don't hurt Big Brother Doham."

"Don't worry, Boss."

Beibei was quite confident, too.

It would be easy for him to deal with a seventh-level Warrior.

"You two go into the valley first. I'll go clear out a few pests. We can spar when I get back."

Doham smiled, then said, "There have been more and more people coming to the Magical Beast Mountain Range lately."

As he spoke, Doham headed straight toward a spot not far away.

Linley also noticed that some of the men in black had already snuck closer. With his abilities, he couldn't be followed by one of them without noticing. But this was Stone Sculpture Valley, where a Saint-level expert lived, so Linley naturally wouldn't use Wind of Perception around the valley. Doing so would show disrespect to the Saint-level expert.

That was why Linley hadn't noticed at first that one of the men in black had secretly followed them.

A man in black stood on a large tree, holding a black dagger and keeping his eyes on the entrance to Stone Sculpture Valley. He had spotted Linley and Doham long ago, but he hadn't acted rashly. He was waiting for an opportunity.

Their trial had a simple requirement: obtain a certain number of Magic Beast Cores in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. They could hunt the beasts themselves, but as assassins, they naturally chose to take the cores from other people.

Before long, however, he noticed one of the burly men heading toward the tree he was in.

An opportunity!

Like a leopard poised to spring, the man in black fixed his gaze on Doham without making a sound.

To be an assassin, one had to be good at hiding.

As soon as Doham reached the spot beneath the tree, the man in black dropped swiftly from above, slashing at Doham's neck with his black dagger. An ordinary fifth- or sixth-level Warrior taken by surprise like this might well have died from that single strike.

But the man in black had clearly underestimated Doham's strength. Doham was an Eighth-level Warrior even in human form, and he had spotted the man in black in advance. The attack was naturally doomed to fail.

"You're asking for death."

Doham gave a cold snort and casually sidestepped, reaching out with his right hand to grab the man in black by the wrist.

The moment Doham moved aside, the man in black knew his ambush had failed. With no time to think, he tried to retreat. An assassin who fought head-on was a fool.

But against Doham, an eighth-level Warrior, that was clearly impossible. Just as he tried to escape, his wrist was caught as if in an iron vise. He couldn't move at all.

The man in black's expression changed dramatically. From that strength alone, he knew the burly man before him was far beyond his own level. Even Number One, who was leading them, was probably no match for this man!

How could there be such a powerful expert on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range?

With no time to think, the man in black swung his other hand at the arm Doham had grabbed.

Even Doham hadn't expected this. He had never seen someone like this, not even on the battlefield.

In that split second of surprise, the man in black cut off his own arm and rushed toward a distant tree. But with one arm gone, not only had his strength fallen sharply, his speed had slowed considerably too. Even someone weaker than him could probably catch up.

"You're decisive, but it won't help."

Doham grunted, then hurled the severed hand at the man in black with all his strength.

The hand flew like a hidden weapon, plunging straight into the man's back and passing through his body until it protruded from his chest.

The man in black grunted and stared at his chest in disbelief. He opened his mouth, but only a flood of blood poured out. Then he fell to the ground, lifeless.

Doham stepped forward and searched the man in black, finding a small pouch with quite a few Magic Beast Cores inside, along with two unmarked bottles that probably held poison or something else. Apart from those, all the man had was the black dagger in his hand.

"His control over his strength is incredible."

Linley's eyes lit up as he watched Doham kill the man in black with the thrown arm.

An ordinary expert might also have been able to kill the man with the severed arm, but more likely, he would have simply crushed him with brute force. To send it through the man's body like a spear took more than strength. It required precise control.

He had to concentrate his strength into a single point.

That alone meant an ordinary seventh-level Warrior probably wouldn't be a match for Doham.

"Doham has excellent control over his own body. I suspect that even against an Eighth-level Warrior, he'd be able to fight back."

Doehring Cowart suddenly sent a message. "Linley, you need to understand that whether you're a mage or a Warrior, the difference between levels isn't always insurmountable. Take an ordinary Eighth-level Warrior who focuses only on strength. If he runs into a sixth-level assassin skilled in stealth or poison, he could easily be killed."

"Level is only one part of strength; it isn't everything. For example, now that you have the Violet Blood Soft Sword, your strength has increased considerably. An ordinary Level Seven Mage would be no match for you."

Doehring Cowart instructed Linley.

Linley's strength had improved quickly over the past two years. Doehring needed to make him understand that even against someone weaker, he still had to give his all. On the Yulan Continent, plenty of powerful experts had been killed by weaker opponents.

"Grandpa Doehring, I understand."

Linley's eyes gleamed. "Like Beibei. He's only an eighth-level Magical Beast, but his speed and defense are impressive. He can even stand up to some slow-moving Level Nine Magical Beasts."

Linley was beginning to see things more clearly. Even two experts at the same level could differ in strength for all sorts of reasons.

Level wasn't the only measure of strength.

A lower level didn't mean less strength.

Doehring Cowart replied, "Magical Beasts with powerful bloodlines are stronger than ordinary Magical Beasts. But likewise, although there isn't much difference between ordinary human bodies, that doesn't mean they can't display greater strength. Take Doham, for example. He spent many years at the seventh level, has a wealth of combat experience, and has excellent control over his strength. So even with the same amount of strength, his attacks are more powerful than those of other seventh-level Warriors."

"It's like two people with equal strength chopping at a tree with long sabers. One strikes with the back of the blade, while the other uses the edge. The results are naturally different. Strength alone isn't enough. You also have to learn to use it as efficiently as possible."

"The same goes for mages. When you competed in the Grade Tournament, why were you able to defeat other second-level mages so easily? Because your control and use of spiritual energy far surpassed theirs."

Listening to Doehring Cowart, Linley nodded. He understood now: if an Eighth-level Warrior had eight hundred pounds of strength, his attacks might only use six hundred pounds of it. A skilled seventh-level Warrior might have only seven hundred pounds of strength, but if he could bring six hundred and fifty pounds to bear, he could defeat the Eighth-level Warrior.

Linley took the lesson to heart. His strength might be decent among his peers, but he would surely be at a disadvantage against veteran experts at the same level.

He still had a long road ahead of him.