Anfey took out a three-meter-long, white wax stick from behind the tree. He stepped forward and thrust at Ernest without any hesitation. That thrust was called Golden Rooster’s Three Nods. The white stick was shaking so hard and so fast that it created three imaginary shadows.
Anfey’s ancestors used to practice the spear. Later, in modern times, spears were replaced by knives and short swords, with which Anfey’s great-grandpa had developed a new set of thrusting techniques. They did not totally ditch spear techniques that were the origin of his family’s martial arts skills. Instead, they first learned the spear techniques, which made learning other skills much easier.
Ernest had never seen any martial art like this. He stepped back fast enough to be out of Anfey’s attack range.
When the momentum of Anfey’s last move stopped, he lifted his left hand and pressed against the white wax stick with his right hand. The pointy stick thrust towards Ernest’s right foot. The stick moved so quickly that it looked like a serpent’s tongue.
Ernest finally took out his sword and parried the stick with the edge of his sword. Then he immediately stepped forward.
Anfey pushed the stick down with his left hand and lifted the front of the stick with his right hand, thrusting towards Ernest’s cheek with lightning speed.
Ernest moved backwards, barely dodging away from Anfey’s strike. He could feel the stick swiping against his cheek. Ernest was astonished.
Anfey took the upper hand first in the battle. Of course, he would continue to have the upper hand as he attacked more. He moved the stick a little to point at Ernest’s chest and thrust it forward.
If a sword was considered a gentleman, then a knife would be a knight, and a spear would be the king amongst all weapons. Anfey moved his stick like a "dragon" in an agile and accurate way. His attacks were so intense that it looked like a storm and strong wind were centered on Ernest. Anfey did not use one hundred percent of his power to attack Ernest, but Ernest already felt the threat and was forced to step back continuously.
The longer they fought, the more shocked Ernest felt. The agile movements, abnormally angled and dangerous moves, and the agreement they made that Ernest was not allowed to use any combat power to block Anfey’s weapon forced Ernest to continuously move backwards. Anfey was greatly shocked as well. He had tried to constrain Ernest’s power with an agreement. He thought he would win without a doubt, but he could not hit Ernest with the stick even though he tried his best. At each critical point, Ernest was able to dodge away from his seemingly dangerous strikes or move backwards out of his attacking area. These failures at the verge of success made Anfey frustrated and upset.
When Anfey thrust from the left towards the area below Ernest’s ribs, Ernest did not move to the right to dodge but took the risk of "losing the battle" and moved diagonally to the left. Anfey did not have time to think about the reason for Ernest’s move, instead he quickly thrust again towards Ernest’s chest.
Ernest crouched down, causing the stick to pass over his head and fall into the bushes behind him. Anfey was shocked for a second. The key to striking with a spear was to "thrust." When one strike did not work, the spear should be pulled back or swept sideways. It was a strategy of defense by forcing the opponent to move backwards to defend. Anfey seemed to have lost the ability to continue the fight, since his stick fell into the bushes. He immediately realized that he had fallen into Ernest’s trap and quickly moved backwards.
Ernest was so experienced in all kinds of battles that he definitely would not let this opportunity go. He ran towards Anfey and thrust his sword towards Anfey’s shoulder.
Anfey slid to the side, away from Ernest’s sword. He shook both his hands and picked the stick up from the bushes. Before Anfey could get into position to resume fighting, Ernest flicked Anfey’s head with his left hand with just the right amount of force.
"Alas…" Anfey was upset and tossed away his stick.
"Anfey, what weapon was that? Did the old man teach you that?"
"Yes." Anfey nodded. "This is a spear, Uncle Ernest. How was it?"
"Very nice!" Ernest said seriously, "Someday, when you have the same level of combat power as me, I bet very few people will be able to beat you."
Anfey smiled grimly. Practicing and actually fighting were quite different. He saw what Ernest could do with his combat power in the Rose House Hotel. Ernest didn’t even use his sword to fight. He had rushed into the battle with mere combat power. He had fought in such an uncontrolled manner that stones, walls, and trees were crushed into powder beneath his combat power.
Anfey knew himself. If he could not beat Ernest with a white wax stick, he would not even be able to cause damage to Ernest with a long steel spear. Ernest could have easily broken his long spear in half with his combat power.
Anfey had been deep in thought until breakfast. He figured that he could easily kill entry-level mages, and maybe some powerful ones with surprise attacks. He would not have any chance to fight back if he met a really powerful mage.
Ernest signaled everyone not to bother Anfey. Anfey walked out of Saul’s house without any breakfast. He had gained a lot of confidence by posing a threat to Ernest when he got the chance to fight with Ernest for the first time. He thought he could defend himself with his attacking techniques. Even if his opponents had strong combat power, he still would be able to fight against them with his dodging skills. As long as he was able to consistently leave some wounds on his enemies and defend himself well, victory would eventually be his.
But today’s battle was mind-blowing for Anfey. He realized there was a huge difference between being a threat and attacking his enemies. Besides holding back a little on the speed and power, Anfey had put a hundred percent into that fight but wasn’t even able to touch Ernest at all. With a huge difference in power, techniques became something ridiculous. The reason Ernest focused on techniques was that they were the deciding factors in battle when his rivals had the same level of power.
After turning into another alley, Anfey saw more people on the street. Saul’s house was located on a street where reclusiveness was not allowed. The street across from the Mage Academy was a public street, open to civilians.
Sacred City, as the capital, was very prosperous. The stores on both sides of the street were mainly selling magic tools, since the Mage Academy was not far away. Besides the magic stores, there were also some hotels, jewelry stores, entertainment facilities, and luxury stores.
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