Chapter 172: The Day Before 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After correcting Corinne’s and Simon’s mistakes as well as answering their questions, Garen started cleaning up the mess that was White Cloud Gate after his departure.
His sister’s exams were already over. Garen visited his family for a bit, asked a little about his sister’s result. Ying Er scored normally, one subject wasn’t that great, another she did wonderfully, cancelling each other out.
Ying Er planned to apply to Shengying University, which is the direct pathway from Shengying Academy.
Under the influence of Golden Hoop, Huaishan and other surrounding districts were like metal buckets, safe and secure. The only thing Golden Hoop lacks was the presence of a high-powered individual, otherwise they were equally matched to other influences in the world. They can even take care of his sister slightly under the name of Shengying University.
Garen also arranged for Second Senior Brother Joshua to take care of most of the properties of White Cloud Gate.
Garen also modified some misconceptions in the Mammoth Secret Technique, choosing nuggets of better fleshed out methods in other secret martial arts and modifying it. Even though, at the highest level, other people will still not be able to use the secret technique like he does, it was much better than the regular third-rate secret technique, approaching a second-rate secret technique like the Red Jade Palm.
He also asked Corinne to talk to Ying Er as a fellow woman to gauge if she’s willing to join White Cloud Gate to learn secret martial arts.
Ying Er’s talent in learning secret martial arts was average, however, she does have a great understanding of bowmanship, so she’s not willing to waste time on secret martial arts.
She had enough training to protect herself without a weapon. To raise her level, she’ll need to spend her time mainly on martial arts, which she’s not willing to do. After all, no one can be like Garen with his abnormal special abilities.
Any discipline will need focus to allow oneself to achieve better results. Stronger secret martial arts would mean one would need to spend more time in maintaining their training, otherwise it would be like rowing a boat against the current, the boat would reverse even if one doesn’t move.
The adaptability of human body would make any fighter forget their training.
Garen, however, is different. His special ability has completely eliminated his body’s ability to forget, solidifying his physical attributes. In other words, he would not have bad days, but he would also not be able to perform beyond his standard. That’s because his progression and regression of power all depend on his physical attributes.
With sloth and self-indulgence, the body will naturally think it doesn’t need to maintain the physical conditions anymore, and will slowly decrease nutritional supply and finally degenerate,
With high pressure, the body will keep requiring more power to adapt to the situation and solve the threat from the outside world.
This is Darwin’s Theory of Evolution*, it is a natural instinct of every living being.
Garen have always known that. Hence, his special ability is his biggest secret, no one else other than him knew about it. Ever since his attributes grew stronger, he can no longer improve his physique with just training, it’s as if he was in a perfectly stable condition.
For every gain, there will be a loss. He knew that. His special ability disabled his ability to forget, making him stronger, but at the same time losing his adapting mechanism.
He finally realized, this special ability takes root in the world view and the limitless knowledge he had access to from Earth. His subconscious used these knowledge to create a reflection of his special ability in a way that’s most suitable for him, by becoming a game-esque status bar.
After tying up loose ends, he left Huaishan City with going to University as an excuse, and took the train straight to Harmony City, planning to go to Skylark Mountain Waterfall from there.
The Confederation and Weisman’s conflict has already started, as reflected by the small clashes at the border. The newspaper from both ends had already evolved into a medium for the war of words.
Even on the train he would see Confederate soldiers being mobilized to conduct training exercises.
The normal train service in Confederate was not luxurious, there were no beds in those. Only special trains will have this service. Garen was on normal trains the last few times he took them, but as of now, he managed to get on a special train, utilizing Golden Hoop’s special power. The train had only five compartments for a dozen people to rest in.
There were food, drinks, magazines, and newspapers, all available for free. As a special train, it takes priority over other trains, hence it was fast traveling in it. The whole trip to Harmony City spent only about a day.
By now, his fame has already spread past the whole of the South, even Northerners have heard about him.
During the battle at Crimson Sand Sword Gate main branch, he single-handedly defended a joint attack from Behemoth Gate and Black Mark Association, which included the hunting team from Weisman. Compared to the battle with Andrela, this battle is far more dangerous.
Alighting the train, Garen led Cynthia and Jack into a special passage, and exited the train station under the protection of marshals.
The sky was still dim.
The street was littered with a few cars and carriages. There was a silver car in the midst of it, doors wide open, a young girl holding the door with a smile.
The girl was dressed in a purple gown and wore a black crystal earring, looking graceful and delicate.
"Hi master, it’s been a while."
Garen walked onto the street and saw this girl waving at him, smiling.
"Aris, how are you here?"
Su Lin’s sister Aris approached him with a cheeky smile, her arms wrapping around Garen naturally.
"Why can’t I be here? Let’s go, rest for a bit at my place. When you’re in Harmony City, you’ve got to let me be a good host! I have already booked a large room at Rose’s Whisper, a lot of my girlfriends couldn’t wait to meet you!"
"Stop that, I have business to attend to, I won’t be here for long." Garen felt a slight helplessness.
"But all my friends really wanted to meet you, master, come with Rissy~~~" Aris immediately pressed her bust against Garen’s arm in a coquettish way, her aristocratic elegance completely missing from her behavior.
"I really do have things to do. Maybe next time. Tell your dad I said hello." Garen declined decisively.
The battle with White Bird Holy Fist Palosa is what he have been looking forward to. Even now, he’s slightly excited just thinking about it, not wanting to do anything else.
Aris’ intention of introducing him to her friends may not be that simple. Her resorting to acting coquettishly, it must be some other reasons.
Garen gave it a thought, "Let’s do it this way. Vanhatten."
A man in black stepped forward.
"Yes sir, is there anything I can do?"
"Help Aris with whatever she needs help with." Garen didn’t hesitate utilizing this subordinate Golden Hoop has assigned him.
"Consider it done." Vanhatten smiled gently, "Miss Aris, you need not trouble Master Garen with the issue with Felicia Sisterhood, your brother could’ve solved it himself."
"You knew?" Aris was slightly taken aback, and looked at the black haired youth.
Aris herself banded together with a few friends to found a sisterhood and gained some influence in the Eliza Province. Recently, they got into a row with some other groups with some other princelings and princesslings*. She wanted to get Garen to show up at her party so she could take advantage of his fame to suppress their arrogance.
From her father, she found out about the extent of Garen’s influence. The authorities were also shocked at Garen’s battle record. He was almost like a humanoid beast. Even the Weisman Hunting Team barely scratched him, as if he’s more durable than the armor of a tank.
Anyone who offended Garen would be hard-pressed to fight back without a cannon. Only by fleeing early on can they be safe.
"Hm, that’s also fine. I only needed master’s fame on my side." Aris grinned this time.
"What’s the matter?" Garen was slightly curious.
The black haired youth Vanhatten started explaining.
The Felicia Sisterhood hosted an underground fighting tournament in Harmony City. It was pretty prominent, and had recruited a batch of underground boxers to fight in a death match, at the same time, they opened bets to earn a huge profit. Recently however, an outsider organization from another area brought their boxers to fight in the tournament. The boxers were so strong, Felicia Sisterhood’s boxers kept losing, almost to the point of them losing all their money. It is then that Aris wanted to borrow Garen’s fame to warn the other party.
"Underground boxers? Are they strong?" Garen’s interest was piqued.
"It’s hard to say, some of them have some martial arts experience, some are descendents of fallen martial arts family. Some of them were even martial artists who led a poor life, you can find any kind of people in there. Some fighters also did that before their breakthrough." Vanhatten explained.
The three people stood in front of the car but didn’t get in. Garen shifted, holding the car door for support.
"Leo should be nearby, isn’t he? How is he?" He looked at Cynthia behind him.
Cynthia was attempting to blow bubble with her bubblegum. Hearing the question, she sucked the bubblegum back in.
"He’s alright. He injured his opponent quite badly. His opponent struggled a little, so he got slightly injured as well."
Garen nodded satisfactorily. To shrug off his past, King of Fist Leo attacked another King of Fist from Black Mark Association, heavily injuring him from the back. The only other King of Fist was not hurt, so he drove off Leo as he tended to the injured one and damaged Leo a little.
"You got their location?"
"Yeah, we’re following them, but there were people obstructing."
Kings of Fist from Black Mark Association were also Grandmasters of Combat. They were also looking forward to Garen’s challenge against White Bird Holy Fist Palosa before they were surprised by Leo.
It was also a pledge of Leo’s loyalty toward Garen. That man is a fanatic who would disregard everything for his ideals.
"Let’s check him out. We can let Leo do something about Aris’ problems."
Garen also wanted to whittle down the power of Black Mark Association. Their interference with White Cloud Gate was still fresh in his mind.
"What are you talking about?" Aris was confused, "Is this Leo strong?"
There are so many Leos on this world, it isn’t strange that she doesn’t know.
"Stop worrying, someone will take care of your problems really soon." Garen smiled, "Let’s go. I need to borrow your car. Jack, you’ll drive."
"Of course!" Jack opened the door from the driver seat like a pro.
Translator's Thoughts
J_Squared J_Squared
1. It’s actually Classical Conditioning by Pavlov. Author has not done his research.
2. 太子党 lit. Party's Crown Princes, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior officials in the country. It is not a political party, but an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefiting from nepotism and cronyism, by analogy with crown princes in hereditary monarchies. “Princesslings” is the female variant.