Wiggins settled on a couch and muttered, “...I think I’m dying.”

Bang Jin-Hun muttered back, “I’m already dead, though.”

Wiggins dazedly stared at the ceiling.

‘How did things end up this way?’

He leaned against the couch to relax and organize his thoughts, but when his balance slightly went out of whack… The intense pain akin to every bone in his body shattering slammed into Wiggins' senses.

“Kkeuh…!”

Wiggins’ body began shivering pitifully.

Unsurprisingly, the one responsible for ‘gifting’ this bone-breaking pain was none other than Kang Jin-Ho.

Just recalling the smirking mug of Kang Jin-Ho as he beat Wiggins up sent a dreadful chill down the spine of the former Knight of the Round Table.

‘Why did you have to smile like that, though! As if you've finally got to vent your stress!’

That man had become so… "weird" lately!

How was Wiggins supposed to explain this? In a way… Kang Jin-Ho's expression was kind of like this: a tooth that had been aching like hell for days suddenly fell out, or constipation lasting for the last two weeks was suddenly flushed out!

Without an example as extreme as that, a person would not be able to make such a refreshed face. The refreshed feeling must've been indescribably satisfying since that was the only way anyone could ever hope to explain Kang Jin-Ho's happy laughter as he beat people up! What he did was so creepy and unsettling!

‘At least, couldn’t he have been gentler about beating us up?’

Craaack…

“Ouch…!”

Martial artists were fated to be familiar with pain and agony. Unlike in the surface world where combat arts had morphed into a form of sport, techniques of the martial world required one to abuse their body repeatedly to reach a higher realm. That was the accepted norm.

Even if the Western martial arts Wiggins was familiar with were comparatively less punishing to one's body than the Eastern counterparts, regular non-martial artists would still view the training regime as pure torture.

As such, Wiggins was rather familiar with pain, but this…!

“What's the secret of hurting people so much with simple punches?” Wiggins absentmindedly asked no one in particular.

Bang Jin-Hun groaned loudly. “...From the way the Assembly Master hit us, I thought he knew exactly what he was doing.”

“I’m sure that’s the case…”

Kang Jin-Ho must’ve beaten up countless people until now. Wiggins could acutely sense that while getting beaten up himself!

Obviously, Wiggins and others had experienced countless battles before. They could confidently say they wouldn’t go down without putting up a fight. However, they still had to raise the flag of surrender at how proficient Kang Jin-Ho was at beating people up!

‘Just how many battles has he fought in his life?’

While Vator sparred with Kang Jin-Ho whenever the fancy took them, and they also had fought each other in a life-or-death battle in the past, Wiggins and Bang Jin-Hun never had a reason to exchange moves with Kang Jin-Ho.

Only after experiencing the horrifying one-sided beating did they finally realize the painful truth: that man was very proficient at fighting!

‘So, this is that efficiency my lord has talked about?’

Wiggins finally got to understand what Kang Jin-Ho meant by 'fine-tuning' and 'little refinements.' After experiencing countless battles, Kang Jin-Ho had acquired intimate know-how on something as simple as punching an opponent efficiently in the face!

“We can’t even dare to imitate my lord, then.”

This was all a matter of one's battle instincts, something that was impossible to pass down as knowledge. Even if one had piled up all the experience necessary, one would still not achieve the same level of mastery. Just like how learning everything from a master chef didn't mean you could produce the signature dish boasting the exact same flavor!

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

This hard-to-describe battle instinct was something that one's body, not the head, naturally learned on its own.

Bang Jin-Hun tutted. “Assembly Master wasn’t this thuggish in the past, though…!”

“...No. It’s possible that my lord has always been like this.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“My lord, he… He had been holding himself back,” said Wiggins with a deep groan.

Anyone who observed Kang Jin-Ho for any amount of time would know he was not the most patient man in the world. Even if he was seemingly in the middle of an agonizing deliberation, Kang Jin-Ho would suddenly shoot up to his feet and flip everything on its head. That was his type.

‘In that case, maybe this event was inevitable?’

The longer the time wasted agonizing over something, the worse the flipping everything would become. If Wiggins interpreted this situation as Kang Jin-Ho rebounding from his recent worries… It all made sense.

Bang Jin-Hun also groaned loudly. “I’m happy about sparring and getting stronger. But we’re gonna develop serious health problems at this rate! What will be the point if that happens?”

“Yes, I agree…”

Thunk!

That was when the door to the office was shoved open, and a massive hulking frame tried to squeeze through the doorway.

The owner of the hulking frame grumbled unhappily. “Bloody hell, why is the doorway so small?!”

Bang Jin-Hun almost blurted out, "

You are the one who's abnormally large, though?!"

Only one person in this world could criticize a doorway for being too small when said doorway could accommodate two strapping young men walking abreast!

Vator finally squeezed through the doorway and entered, and his expression crumpled unhappily in all sorts of ways. “Still running your mouths like little girls, I see. And you are supposed to be grown-up men!”

Wiggins tutted softly. “...But Sir Vator, today seems perfect for running our mouths, wouldn’t you say?”

“I totally agree,” Bang Jin-Hun weightily nodded.

Vator’s brows quivered ominously. “My master has decided to grace us with his favor, yet instead of being grateful, you’re all busy whining?”

“His favor?”

“Gratefuuuul?!”

Wiggins and Bang Jin-Hun stared at Vator in stupefaction and dismay.

Of course, Kang Jin-Ho sparring with them was something to be thankful for. After all, where would they find a sparring partner on the level of Kang Jin-Ho?

One of the biggest headaches for a martial artist, after they improved their strength, was that it got progressively harder and harder to fight someone stronger than them.

Martial arts were not something one could learn in isolation. Even in something as relatively straightforward as mastering the middle kick, there was a world of difference between kicking a sandbag and kicking an actual human being. That was why sparring sessions or real duels were absolutely necessary.

However, finding suitable opponents as you grew more powerful became progressively harder. First of all, there weren't that many high-level experts around. Secondly, these experts had far too many things they couldn't afford to lose, so they naturally avoided unnecessary duels.

As such, you’d end up image training or beating up an innocent sandbag instead.

That should be the story for someone like Wiggins, yet a powerful expert with unrivaled attainment in martial arts went out of his way to spar with him. Most people would have kowtowed on the floor to express their gratitude.

Weaker martial artists could figure out the areas they were lacking in and improve themselves by sparring with stronger experts. On the other hand, said stronger experts would have earned nothing other than wasting their time and energy for their troubles.

So, everyone should be grateful that Kang Jin-Ho would exchange moves with them at the cost of his valuable time.

‘...If what we did even counts as sparring, that is!’

What did it even mean for martial artists to spar? It meant they would exchange various moves as practiced and gauge each other's skill level. However, what Kang Jin-Ho did was more like a one-sided physical abuse!

They all got punched straight in the face before they could do anything. What could they even learn in a situation like that?!

The only piece of knowledge they gained was,

‘Aha. So that dude is a rotten-to-the-core thug, isn’t it?’

And that was about it!

If Wiggins were to get technical about it, he and everyone learned a valuable lesson that defending was nothing more than a pipe dream in a fight against an expert who was too fast to be seen or perceived through qi.

Unfortunately, the price for learning something so insignificant was too steep.

“Urgh, ouch…” Wiggins groaned while gingerly standing up. He could hear all of his joints creaking noisily, proving that the beating had been too merciless. He glanced at Vator and grumbled. “How could you chide us for whining after seeing our state?”

Vator shook his head. “That is exactly why I’m scolding you all.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Tsk, tsk…” Vator tutted in disapproval, then narrowed his eyes at Wiggins. “You. Inspect your body.”

“...Inspect, you say?”

“Stop wasting time and do it.”

Wiggins tilted his head. Although he couldn't see the point, he also knew Vator wasn't a fool who would make useless suggestions for fun. Without wasting any more time, Wiggins began scanning his own body. Bang Jin-Hun also began inspecting the state of his body while tilting his head a little.

“...Huh?” Wiggins gasped, his eyes growing wider.

‘What is going on here?’

A phenomenon he couldn’t understand had happened without him noticing it.

Wiggins’ body was currently damaged from the beating earlier. Although none of the injuries could be called severe, his whole body was still wrecked quite thoroughly.

A wounded body naturally led to the weakening of one's qi. Separating those two—body and qi—was impossible. No patient could emit an incredible amount of energy as injuries usually interfered with the flow of qi. That was supposed to be the case, but now…!

The energy flowing in Wiggins right now was far more vigorous than before. So much so that he began wondering if his body had always possessed such an amount of energy!

Wiggins utilized external mana instead of relying on what was stored inside his body. As such, his mana reserve was much smaller compared to an Eastern martial artist. So, for him to sense this much power flowing inside him?

“W-what is going on here?” Bang Jin-Ho jumped up to his feet in surprise. He also had sensed the mass of power flowing through his meridians. “I-is this…?”

Vator nodded weightily. “Your pressure points have been struck.”

“…?”

“Or you can say your acupoints have been stimulated. I’m sure it’s an alien concept to you, though,” Vator muttered while pointing at Wiggins with his chin.

Wiggins frowned while nodding. “I've heard about the concepts in passing while studying Eastern martial arts, but…”

Bang Jin-Hun's understanding of Eastern martial arts was higher than Wiggins', so his reaction was noticeably more pronounced. “H-hold on for a minute. T-that thing is even real?”

Vator tutted. “You’re still asking me that after personally experiencing it?”

“Heol…!” Bang Jin-Hun clamped his mouth shut and resumed inspecting his body.

‘Holy moly… It’s for real!’

His head couldn’t accept this situation, but his body was the proof. In that case, how was he supposed to argue back now?

“Even so, holy cow…! Acupuncture point stimulation?”

The legendary acupoint stimulation, also known as acupressure point striking method…! This was the method where a martial artist directly injected qi into another person to invigorate the latter’s inner energy reserve.

This concept had existed since ancient times. It was just that no one dared to attempt this method before in the modern era. The reason for that was simple enough.

The act of injecting qi into another person while hitting them was often referred to as… landing blows. In other words, it was the act of beating them up!

This acupoint stimulation was an act of beating someone up to make that person’s physical body

better

than before. Obviously, that didn’t sound logically possible.

‘But it was possible?!'

Bang Jin-Hun could only chuckle hollowly. “...Wow. So the legend wasn’t just a legend, eh?”

“Yes, my thoughts exactly…” Wiggins muttered quietly after agreeing with Bang Jin-Hun’s sentiment.

Why did it feel like words such as ‘legends’ or ‘mythical’ were being thrown around so casually lately? With how far things have progressed these days, Wiggins would not be surprised to see qilins prancing around in the front lawn of the Martial Assembly while its skies were filled with leisurely flying dragons!

Even if Kang Jin-Ho commuted on a Pegasus’s back instead of his Lamborghini, Wiggins would probably chuckle helplessly and accept it as the new normal.

“Acupoint stimulation exhausts a large amount of accumulated qi of the initiator. I'm sure you can already guess how incredibly challenging this endeavor is. The number of people capable of doing this must be extremely few, and even fewer should be willing to perform it. Why would a higher-realm expert spend their qi for their juniors?”

“...No, they wouldn’t.”

Bang Jin-Hun already could guess how gobsmackingly difficult the acupoint stimulation must be. Even someone like him, who had raised many disciples over the years, found it difficult to willingly spend his accumulated qi and time for those disciples’ sake.

After all, he should prioritize himself first, no?

“Hold on, Sir Vator. Are you implying that this… This improvement isn’t temporary?” Wiggins asked incredulously.

Vator immediately shook his head. “It is temporary. However, it’s also permanent.”

“Permanent? How so?”

Vator casually shrugged. “The concept of acupoint stimulation is simpler than you think. The initiator is forcibly causing injuries to you.”

“I don’t follow?” Wiggins tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand it.

Vator smacked his lips. Even he found it challenging to adequately explain this situation. “Mm… When you’re hurt, new flesh will eventually grow over your wounds, yes?”

“Yes.”

“And all the new flesh will bulge even more than the original skin, right?”

“...Oh!” Wiggins immediately figured out what Vator was trying to say. “So, it’s the repeating cycle of injuries and recovery. Basically, it’s the same as building up your muscles.”

“Good. You’re quick to catch on.”

When you built up your muscles, what you were actually doing was injuring your muscle fibers and then healing them before repeating the cycle over and over again.

The once-damaged muscle fibers would grow larger than before. Repeat this cycle enough times, and the resulting muscles would be larger, tougher, and much stronger.

“It's the same story for your qi. If you forcibly suppress your inner qi and attack it, it will fight back. That naturally invigorates your qi. On top of that, now you're injuring your body as well. While your flesh recovers, your qi flows even more livelier.”

Vator sighed loudly.

“Of course, it’s easier said than done. Finding that fine line between too little and too much and then safely initiating acupoint stimulation is no longer in the realm of what a human being can do.”

Only then did Wiggins and Bang Jin-Hun realize what Kang Jin-Ho had done to them, and their jaws slowly fell to the floor.