The Bald Man's agility was higher than his, and his technique utterly crushed him. His only chance lay in comparing strength. Although The Bald Man was stronger, Harrot had Level 4 Power Strike, which gave him a 32% strength bonus when attacking.
Moreover, Harrot wielded a two-handed weapon, allowing him to exert far more strength than The Bald Man, who used a one-handed sword and shield!
Having made up his mind, Harrot steadied his footing and attacked The Bald Man with simple, unadorned slashes. Though The Bald Man still dodged and blocked with ease, at least Harrot was no longer being instantly countered and defeated in a single move.
The Bald Man did not use his left hand, fighting Harrot with only a one-handed sword in his right. This way, he could suppress Harrot while still feeling enough pressure himself to avoid becoming too bored.
But as the fight continued, The Bald Man completely figured out Harrot's monotonous, straightforward attacks. He could easily crush Harrot with one hand.
At first, Harrot had wanted to rely on his "+10 armor" and system health bar to endure a few of The Bald Man's attacks, then trade injury for injury and land a hit or two on him.
But after taking several beatings for nothing, Harrot finally found an opening. He took one of The Bald Man's attacks with his body and knocked aside his one-handed sword with an elbow. Before Harrot could launch the counterattack he had envisioned, The Bald Man swiftly closed in and sent him flying with a direct shoulder charge.
Yes, The Bald Man's instantaneous explosive power was practically invincible. Without even taking a run-up, he had sent Harrot, who weighed over 240 jin, flying.
Harrot lay on the ground in dejection. That impact had been brutally powerful, taking ten points off his health. That was only because Harrot's physique was so robust; someone at Scarface's level would probably have been knocked out cold.
Getting beaten constantly and being utterly dominated was truly devastating to one's fighting spirit. Even though Harrot knew The Bald Man was an anomaly and that he still had plenty of room to improve, he was still deeply frustrated.
But just as Harrot was feeling miserable, he suddenly heard the system notification: "Ding, gained 20 experience points." He was instantly thrilled.
In the game, players could increase their soldiers' experience through sparring at the Training Ground. Wasn't he now the equivalent of a soldier, gaining experience and growing stronger each time The Bald Man defeated him?
Getting beaten for nothing was painful, but if it earned him experience, then it was pain mixed with joy. Harrot immediately pulled himself together and charged at The Bald Man again with renewed vigor.
As The Bald Man continued to thrash Harrot, he could not help feeling some admiration. If it were him being relentlessly beaten, even if he did not give up, he would still feel somewhat miserable. Yet Harrot remained completely unmoved. This tenacious will and spirit made The Bald Man think even more highly of him.
Moved by Harrot's spirit, The Bald Man became even more earnest and meticulous in explaining the key points of combat.
"Don't hold your sword so high. You're strong enough that you don't need such a long windup. Speed matters more!"
"Plant your feet more firmly. When swinging a greatsword, your stance must be stable. If your body coordination is poor, you might as well stand still!"
"..."
The training process was exceedingly painful. Harrot's full 51 health points were beaten down to just 20, but the system's enhancements gave him an absurdly powerful semi-datafied body. Even after losing more than half his health, he remained lively and unaffected.
A normal person would have long since become weak and powerless after losing half their life. Someone more fragile might even have fainted outright. Only elite soldiers with unwavering will and exceptional physiques could keep fighting.
This clearly demonstrated the system's power. Even a game system like Mount & Blade, whose upper limit of strength was not especially high, could grant terrifying power far beyond reality. A product of the Transmigrator Association was bound to be top quality!
Back in training, although Harrot was constantly being thrashed, his improvement was obvious. He had once known only crude peasant tricks, but now he had reached the level of Cheng Yaojin's three axe strokes. At the very least, his movements had become far more refined and concise.
Furthermore, throughout the training, the system kept notifying him that he had gained +20, +20 experience. Counting the experience from defeating Stone during the day, he soon reached Level 2, and his experience toward Level 3 had already passed the halfway mark.
Finally, after The Bald Man knocked Harrot to the ground once again, he truly lacked the strength to get back up. He still had health remaining, but his stamina was completely depleted.
The Bald Man still stood perfectly straight, showing no signs of fatigue whatsoever. He truly was a monster.
Seeing that Harrot genuinely could not get up, The Bald Man reached out and helped him to his feet.
"Today's training ends here. Your foundation is truly terrible. From now on, train more at the Training Ground during the day as well. If there's anything you don't understand, ask Hark. His strength is average, but he has a keen eye."
"I understand. Thank you, Boss!" Harrot hurriedly thanked him. With The Bald Man's training, his strength had improved noticeably.
"Heh. As long as you stay alive and make that bastard's plan fail, that'll be the greatest thanks you can give me. I'll come find you again tomorrow."
Harrot returned to his cell with The Bald Man supporting him. Before leaving, The Bald Man reminded him to rest well and not delay his daytime training.
Harrot had already slept enough. Although his body was exhausted now, his mind remained quite alert.
He felt that he had underestimated the Mount & Blade system before. Though this system could not give him heaven-defying strength, its various miraculous functions left Harrot full of praise.
The previous near-death revival and health recovery had already delighted Harrot greatly. During today's training, he had discovered two more extremely important advantages.
The first was his body's semi-datafication, which allowed Harrot to remain in perfect condition even after suffering massive loss of vitality.
The second was his body's extremely high adaptability. Harrot had only seen Stone use a move once during the day, yet he could use it skillfully during training that night. He also effortlessly mastered all the techniques and details The Bald Man taught him.
The reason The Bald Man had not noticed this was because he thought Harrot had simply never received professional training before. His foundation was actually decent, and after receiving guidance, he could quickly understand and correct his bad habits. How could he have known that Harrot was a complete novice through and through?
Harrot believed that with the system's help, his future would surely be boundlessly bright. All he needed to do now was find a way to escape the Gladiatorial Arena. He no longer needed to worry about whether he could gain a foothold in this world and fulfill Harrot's wish: to live happily.
Dawn was still far away, so Harrot took out the Sword Fighting Manual and continued reading. The book did not merely grant skill points upon completion; he also gained a great deal from reading it.
Leveling up had given him one attribute point and one skill point. Harrot did not intend to assign them immediately, planning to wait until tomorrow's training. He also decided to allocate all 90 Weapon Proficiency points at once. He was certain that he would use a two-handed greatsword, so there was no need to save those Weapon Proficiency points.
Harrot read until dawn. When he put the book back into his inventory, its reading progress showed 45%. It seemed he would finish it in another day or two.
After breakfast, Harrot hurriedly applied to train at the Training Ground. The guard was fairly cooperative and immediately took Harrot there.
Following The Bald Man's guidance from yesterday, Harrot began training. None of the other gladiators came to disturb him. They only chatted and laughed when resting after tiring themselves out. No one slacked off in training; that would be treating their life as a joke.
Before you continue