Chapter 373: Chapter 272: Eh? Can’t Beat Them?
"So, Sergeant Fitch, can you help me?" Long Yi immediately stated his request and Fitch finally understood that Long Yi was asking for help with training.
It’s known that Long Yi is an acclaimed national hero, training with him can be greatly advantageous!
"Sure! Absolutely! We’ve been waiting for this! How many of us do you need? Thirty? Fifty? Or even a hundred?" Fitch looked anxiously forward to testing Long Yi’s strength.
"No, no, you’ve misunderstood. It’s not me, but them."
As he spoke, Long Yi stepped back, revealing the three people behind him.
Wesley looked confused at Long Yi, while the Chef and Mosquito started to wiggle their heads in confusion.
"Brother Long, you screwed us over! You said you were going to find a place to train! It’s okay if you train yourself, why are you throwing us into this!" The Chef cried out loudly.
"Brother, don’t be like this, it’s embarrassing, we should just admit defeat. Shouting out like this affects our image!" Mosquito quickly said.
"Fine, let’s go for special training then!" Long Yi said with a laugh.
Suddenly, the Chef and Mosquito grabbed the still confused Wesley and strutted up to Long Yi.
"Brother Long, just give us your orders! Who would you like us to defeat today!"
The brothers said in unison.
Long Yi turned directly to Fitch: "Let’s start with five brothers, how’s that?"
On hearing that Long Yi had arranged five opponents for them, the Chef immediately felt slighted.
"Brother Long, you’re underestimating us! You arranged for twenty people when it was Ai Lin’s first time. There’re three of us and we’re only challenging five? Are you looking down on us?"
Long Yi chuckled, saying, "I’m not looking down on you, I just don’t think you can beat these five."
Mosquito scoffed, "How is that possible! We still have Wesley!"
Then, five dragons took off, and on this side, three dragons rose.
Not long after, the three returned to Long Yi’s side, their faces ashen.
No surprise there.
They lost.
At the start, Wesley was quickly controlled by the opposition and swiftly defeated, leaving the Chef and Mosquito to rapidly lose under the onslaught of five opponents.
"See, it wasn’t that easy, was it?" Long Yi said with a smile.
"This... this can’t be!" The Chef couldn’t believe it, whilst Mosquito looked gloomy. Wesley looked at Long Yi, deep in thought.
"Then, let’s try again. This time, you’ll fight against four."
Long Yi said.
The three of them lasted a bit longer against four, but ultimately, they were defeated again.
"Damn! This can’t be happening!"
The Chef let out a dramatic cry.
"Again!" Mosquito still wouldn’t admit defeat.
"Okay, this time, just three people." Long Yi said.
No one said anything, but both the Chef and Mosquito were quietly competitive. They thought their skill levels were quite high, but why did they feel so inadequate in the face of the opposition?
It was three against three, and they were very cautious this time. Despite managing to put off defeat for quite some time, they inevitably ended up losing!
Fitch wasn’t very satisfied. They were official military personnel, training with high-end players like Long Yi and Ai Lin was one thing, but the last three people’s abilities were too abnormal. Despite being trained in the Dragon Rider Academy, they had little actual combat experience. Their teamwork had obvious faults, which could easily be exploited.
Especially that wide-eyed Wesley. His combat ability was extremely low, and most of the breaches came from him. The fat and thin brothers didn’t cooperate very well. The fat one had unique advantages with the Giant Swallow Dragon and the Hive Dragon, but he wasted these advantages constantly without turning them into a win. The thin one had a rare Nine Mosquito Dragon, a miniature dragon that couldn’t carry a Dragon Rider into battle. He mostly stood behind the fat brother and once he struck, if he didn’t take control, he might never be able to return.
It can be said that these three were not conventional Dragon Riders and were very unorthodox. They had difficulty gaining an advantage when facing the steady tactics of the regular Dragon Riders around them.
Looking at the three who were depressed, confused or resentful after losing three games, Long Yi laughed. He walked over and stood in front of them.
"Brothers, how does it feel?" Long Yi asked.
"It feels so frustrating."
The usually cheerful Chef sported a displeased expression on his face.
"It feels like we can’t attack or defend." Mosquito said. Compared to the Chef, Mosquito was more level-headed, thinking hard about where exactly they had failed.
"So, Wesley, how do you feel?" Long Yi asked the silent Wesley.
"I’m wondering, Brother Long, what’s your purpose for doing this." Wesley said.
"There’s no need to overthink it, I can just tell you directly." Long Yi laughed.
Immediately, all eyes focused on Long Yi, including Fitch and Sweel. After Ai Lin’s incredible victory, everyone thought that the three people Long Yi sent out must have even more unbelievable strength. However, they didn’t expect them to fail in a fair three against three fights. Seemingly, every time they lost, Long Yi appeared even happier.
No one likes failure, so if he’s happy because of it, he must have a purpose.
As Long Yi looked at their expressions, he slowly spoke.
"I just wanted you all to understand your own strength." Long Yi said.
"Hey, Brother Long, that’s a bit harsh..." Chef said discontentedly.
"No, no, let me finish." Long Yi waved his hand, signaling Chef not to misunderstand.
"Have you ever felt during the fight, that you were unable to unleash your full power, or even when you did, it was suppressed halfway?" Long Yi asked.
"Well!"
"Yes!"
The three of them nodded in agreement. It truly was like that. No matter how hard they fought, it always felt like someone was hindering them during the battle.
"Exactly, actually, this is my fault." Long Yi scratched his head.
"All this while, all the real fights you’ve been in were with me. I’ve shown you a terrible example--"
"That’s because you’re too strong." Wesley finished Long Yi’s sentence.
Chef and Mosquito exchanged a glance as if they just understood something.
Wesley continued: "All along, Brother Long’s fighting and working styles have influenced us. Especially in battle, his dominant fighting style allows us to deal our damage without reservation, particularly because we have no concerns. Because we know, we have the strongest support behind us. We’ve always been influenced. Most of the time, Brother Long has attracted the enemy’s attention. However, we haven’t thought about what happens if Brother Long isn’t with us, or if he is but can’t help us."
"Actually, I should be blamed. I should have noticed this earlier." Wesley said somewhat regretfully.
"Hey hey, you two, why are you so infuriating?" Chef gritted his teeth.
"Huh?" Wesley stared puzzledly at Chef.
Mosquito also nodded, saying: "That’s right... I get Brother Long, that jerk has never been humble since we first met him. But now you come up and say that this is your fault, what are we supposed to do?"
"Right! It’s our fault!" Chef yelled, but then his expression turned helpless, "Actually, we brothers noticed it long ago."
"We also wanted to change." Mosquito said.
"But how is it that easy? It’s a habit now!" Chef said bitterly.
However, Long Yi just laughed.
"It’s okay, we have one summer break."
Summer vacation, a forty-five-day holiday. After half a year of study and training, most students will enjoy a summer break. But this doesn’t apply to Wesley and the others.
Wesley, Chef, and Mosquito took this matter seriously, even asking for leave from their families and staying in the barracks. Long Yi entrusted Sweel to take care of the three of them. Seeing Long Yi’s meaningful smile, Sweel immediately understood how to do it.
Of course, Long Yi wasn’t idle either.
Long Yi and Ai Lin were in the Imperial Palace, watching the Emperor test the newly armored soldiers. Long Yi frowned as he watched the entire testing process, looking at the Emperor’s expectant eyes, he poured cold water without hesitation.
"Who taught you your swordsmanship?" Long Yi asked.
"It was me, Lord Long Yi." From a side door, an old man squinting his eyes walked out.
"Gav?" Long Yi hadn’t even noticed him. Since the previous emperor’s death, this old attendant of the emperor had suddenly disappeared without a trace. Long Yi didn’t see a sign of him even in his several visits to the palace afterwards. Gav carried the strong aura of the Dragon Clan, and Long Yi did not doubt his identity.
"Your swordsmanship is elegant and practical, but inappropriate." Long Yi told him candidly.
"Why?" Gav asked in return.
"Because, they are armored warriors, they don’t need any defense." Long Yi said, "These battle armors already have exceptional defense, and most of their enemies don’t have an effective means to penetrate their armor. Especially in large-scale battles, those sophisticated defenses and flashy disarming skills in your swordsmanship can hardly be of any use."
Gav listened, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but asked: "So, Lord Long Yi, what do you think should be done?"
"Swap those sissy weapons for something bigger." Long Yi said, pulling out a ridiculously huge two-handed sword from his personal space.
The sword was entirely black, two meters long, nearly forty centimeters wide, and ten centimeters thick. The blade was covered with sharp serrations, and the body of the sword had a series of round hollow-outs for weight reduction. The half-meter-long hilt had a huge metal skull at the end for decoration and to provide balance.
"This..." Kirei took one look at the sword and felt that it was only two things, big, and cumbersome.
"Come, warrior, drop your sword and try this one."
