Mercenaries and Adventurers

Zhao Ji's attack just now is very spiritual from the perspective of Nickton. Generally, novices who receive training for the first time will be defeated in one-on-one competitions. And Zhao Ji was able to master the newly learned tricks at one time, and can use them directly.

After Zhao Ji's first attack was thwarted just now, he was not confused by Nikton's counterattack, and he was able to fight swords with him. This operation exceeded Nikton's expectations. Not to mention that he was able to see the flaws in Nikton's offense later, and came back with a defensive counterattack.

Zhao Ji scratched his waist and said with a smile what he had just thought. When he was training with Nickon just now, he actually didn't think that much at all, he just thought about finding a way to defeat his opponent.

Afterwards, the two practiced the second set of sword and shield hands-on training a few times.

Obviously, Zhao Ji himself is more used to the combat environment and the second set of starting moves, which is more open-ended, compared to the first set of starting moves that pays more attention to actual combat routines on the battlefield. Nickton discovered this and explained it to Zhao Ji.

Nickton encouraged Zhao Ji to focus more on what he was good at, so that he could improve his martial arts in this area faster.

After resting for a while again, the two continued to teach the third set of sword and shield starting gestures.

Zhao Ji was holding his shield and wooden sword while watching Nekton's demonstration.

After preparing for a while, Nickon raised the shield facing the wooden dummy. The shield was raised higher than before, while his right hand held the wooden sword against the edge of the shield, pointing the sword point forward at the dummy, and lowering the center of the body. , and the legs are lunging forward.

Then Nickton kept the movement of the upper body unchanged, and stepped forward with both legs.

After quickly approaching the wooden dummy, Nikton used his shield to block the dummy's right hand, and the wooden sword in his left hand directly touched the wooden dummy's neck.

Nickton asked Zhao Ji to get closer, so that he could carefully explain some possible changes of this style.

Nickton took a step back, and then moved forward again to imitate his action just now, so that Zhao Ji could see clearly. His move is to rush into the defender quickly, and then take the initiative to use his shield to resist the possible counterattack of the opponent's right hand. Then at the same time, use the wooden sword in your right hand to dodge the opponent's shield to block, and look for possible vital points in an instant to attack.

Zhao Ji also imitated Nikton's action, using the shield to actively create obstacles for the dummy's right hand, and then stabbed the dummy's vital position with the wooden sword in his right hand.

Nickton explained from the side. This starting move is a quick way to deal with the opponent, and it is a one-and-a-half move taught by their guard captain, Knight Crow. This starting move is suitable for all kinds of combat situations. It is a combat method that can greatly reduce the attack and defense time when the strength of the attacker is stronger than that of the defender.

Afterwards, Nickon asked Zhao Ji to train according to the starting movement of his starting gesture just now, and he was on the sidelines to guide.

Zhao Ji came to a place seven or eight steps away from the dummy, and imitated Nickton's opening gesture just now. The shield is stretched forward, the wooden sword is leaning against the right edge of the shield, and the legs are placed in a posture of running forward at any time.

Nickton poked Zhao Ji's shield and wooden sword a few times with the wooden sword, and asked Zhao Ji to stretch out the shield and wooden sword as far as possible. Zhao Ji was puzzled, stretching the shield and wooden sword forward like this, didn't he give up the opportunity to use the shield and wooden sword?

Nickton explained that the opening gesture is somewhat unconventional. Ordinary weapons require a distance to exert force. Shields must have a movement of lifting the shield and shaking left and right to resist the opponent's attack, and weapons also need an attack process of swaying from back to front to accelerate.

And this starting move does not need these basic rules. The acceleration process of the shield and the weapon is completed when the attacker quickly advances with the acceleration of the body. The shield is a proactive role in this attack. It must actively suppress the possibility of the defender's counterattack. It is best It is best to directly shoot off the defender's weapons.

The wooden sword has to use high speed to dodge the opponent's shield defense at the same time, and pick and stab at places that the opponent has not defended.

Listening to Nickon's explanation, Zhao Ji felt that the wooden sword was stabbing at the defender at high speed, and the defender had to use a shield to resist the wooden sword's attack. The whole process was like a football penalty in the previous life. The shooter kicks the football towards the goal, and the goalkeeper has to choose the direction to block the football.

The attacker is the shooter who takes the penalty kick, the football is the wooden sword, the entire goal is the body of the defender, and the goalkeeper is like a shield for the defender.

After Zhao Ji had this idea, he understood the meaning of the whole starting gesture, and wanted to ask Nickon to train with him.

Nickton shook his hand with a smile, saying that because this starting move is too dangerous, one-on-one confrontation training cannot be performed. If you are not careful, you will get hurt. When their guards were practicing this movement before, some people were often injured during the sparring, so no one practiced this movement anymore.

Nickton gave Zhao Ji this move because he felt that Zhao Ji had a talent for using swords and shields, and he already had his own fighting style. Shield starting gesture.

Hearing the compliment, Zhao Ji touched his chin happily.

Since this movement is powerful, Zhao Ji practiced more with a wooden dummy. Nickton was on the sidelines correcting Zhao Ji's irregular movements.

Zhao Ji rushed towards the wooden dummy again and again, simulating the possible counter-attack actions of the dummy in his mind, and the shield took the initiative to attack to destroy the possibility of counter-attack of the dummy, and then stabbed the dummy's face with the wooden sword in an instant, Throat, heart, liver, lower body and other vital organs.

Taking advantage of Zhao Ji's attack, Nickon called out the defensive direction of the dummy shield with his mouth, and Zhao Ji had to avoid the place where Nickon shouted in an instant.

After practicing like this for a while, Nickton saw that it was time for the weather, and turned to Zhao Ji to express that today's martial arts training had come to an end. Zhao Ji nodded, and took out the coins that had been prepared from an inner pocket of his clothes and handed them to the Nekton guards.

The Nekton guards who took the coins roughly counted them, put them away happily, and said that today they can go fooling around in the tavern. He then told Zhao Ji that Zhao Ji is still very talented in sword and shield, and he can quickly learn several starting moves taught by him. During the one-month rest day, Zhao Ji will be taught various combat methods of one-handed shields.

And the other guard will rest next week. That guard is good at using one-handed swords, that is, the same sword and shield are not suitable for shields. I hope Zhao Ji can practice the use of one-handed swords in advance, so that he can learn more in the limited time. useful skills.

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After sending off the Nekton guards, Zhao Ji returned both sets of training equipment to his house. Lunch in the restaurant had already started. Zhao Ji came to the restaurant of the chamber of commerce and ordered a big bowl of thick soup after it was convenient. He also asked Aunt Di Lu for an extra coarse bread made of new wheat. In order to hunt more slime monsters and reduce the danger of the farmers, Aunt Dilu gave Kiel a freshly made bread.

Due to the morning's martial arts training, Zhao Ji was already hungry, so he picked up the bread and ate it with thick soup. After snorting and eating all the food, Zhao Ji received the money from the slime monster from President Foxtail again.

A little while later, he's off to hunt slime monsters. So Zhao Ji took advantage of this moment to prepare the equipment to be used in his room.

The newly acquired coins are placed in a small wooden box under the bed. Inside were all Zhao Ji's savings. After the small box was hung with a brass lock, Zhao Ji took some sundries to cover it and put it into the innermost part under the bed. The key to the brass lock is stored in the safest and strongest inner pocket of the clothes.

Pack and tie up the quilts used at night with ropes, put some fragmentary daily necessities into a strong bag, tie the opening firmly, and hang it next to the quilt ball. The newly purchased and refitted wooden helmet was also taken from the windowsill and hung on the other side of the bedding.

As for the weapon, he hung the dagger on the right side of his belt, and he didn't bring the spear. After all, he didn't have to kill the slime monster. He fastened his long sword to the left side of his belt. The shield was also taken, and hung on the front of the quilt, against the back.

Zhao Ji checked it, and there was no problem. Punika craftsmen will fully prepare other things needed for capture, so Zhao Ji doesn't have to prepare them himself.

Set off!

This is another chance to make a fortune.

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Before coming to the leather shop in the artisan area, Zhao Ji went to the table corner tavern to buy two ready-made barbecue steaks. This is his food for today, and he will not return to the city at dusk. Both steaks were wrapped in thick leaves and tied securely with straw.

Putting the barbecue steak into the bag, Zhao Ji asked Todd if there was any container that he could carry. He wanted to bring some beer to drink in the wild.

The bartender Todd said yes, but Keel had to return it after using it up. And the container must not be damaged again, otherwise compensation will be required.

Zhao Ji immediately expressed excitedly that he would bring one, no, two freshly brewed beers. Compared with beer that has been brewed for a period of time, new brewed beer has more freshness, although it lacks the body and foam of old brew.

Todd, the bartender, was quick to fetch two carrying containers. This is an oval container made of animal skin. It is not big, but it can just hold a large drink. Todd unscrewed the stopper on the top of the container, rinsed the inside with clean water, and then slowly poured a large glass of fresh beer.

After a while, Zhao Ji hung the two containers on top of the bedding to prevent them from being damaged.

After solving the food and drinking water after today, Zhao Ji left the Table Corner Tavern.

Next to the leather shop in the artisan area, two donkey carts and several wheelbarrows were parked. A portion of supplies and wooden pottery containers are prepared on it. Several sturdy craftsman apprentices are standing by.

As soon as Zhao Ji came, the Punika craftsman at the door of the leather shop called Zhao Ji to come over quickly. When they came to the shop, everyone who was going to take part in the action was ready. There are roughly ten people. According to the introduction of the Punika craftsman, these are the manpower of their family and are very reliable.

Then, the Punica craftsman introduced the captain of this operation to Zhao Ji. This action captain has a burly figure, a pair of rough big hands are very eye-catching, and the two single-edged axes behind him show that he is not easy to mess with. Introduced by the craftsman of Punica, this fierce man is the cousin of the craftsman of Punica, named Proka-Fik. Fick is the surname of the family of Punica craftsmen, and this Proka seems to be really his cousin.

The Punica artisan also introduced Keel to his cousin. This fierce Captain Proka did not expect to speak very politely, which surprised Zhao Ji.

After getting to know each other, craftsman Punica explained today's work to his apprentices, and then set off with the capture team.

Zhao Ji walked at the forefront of the team, leading the way. Since it was not a long journey, but to catch slime monsters in the swamp south of the city, most of the team members walked forward. People from the Fick family followed behind with a donkey cart, followed by a wheelbarrow pushed by some Fick family members in front, and in front of them were the craftsman Punica and his cousin Captain Proka.

When passing through the city gate, a young city gate guard gave Zhao Ji yesterday's wild wolf bounty, and agreed, eighty copper coins. The guard still looked embarrassed, thinking that he took Kiel's money for nothing and just did a little thing.

Zhao Ji patted his arm, saying that it doesn't matter, as long as he can show more skills to teach him in the future martial arts training.

The craftsman Punika and Captain Proka seem to have greeted the guards here. When leaving the city, the city gate guards simply checked the list and let them go.

After leaving the city, Zhao Ji led everyone along the south wall of the city to the south, and then to the west.

They quickly crossed the drainage outlet and the sewage outlet, and walked to the west of the swamp in the south of the city.

At a suitable distance from the woods to the west and the swamp to the east, the group stopped here.

"This is a good place for us to camp. To the west is the woods, and some small trees that are not thick can be cut down to lay and strengthen the road going deep into the swamp. To the east is the swamp, and our distance will not be attacked by monsters in the swamp at night. And The terrain here is relatively open." Zhao Ji told Captain Proka why he chose this place.

Captain Proka nodded, looked left and right, said yes, then waved and directed everyone to unload everything.

While unloading, the idlers pulled out the weeds in the area of ​​the camp under their feet, and chopped down the bushes with axes. Donkey carts and carts surrounded the camp in a circle. Leave an entrance and exit of the swamp facing directly, and other places are blocked with unloaded materials.

Captain Proka arranged for several people to follow the craftsman Punica to cut wood in the nearby woods. The felled trees were first dragged to the edge of the swamp, and then the campfire was directed to raise the campfire, using the shrubs and weeds that had just been cleared.

Zhao Ji also chose an empty seat and unloaded all his belongings. The quilt was untied and spread out on the floor, the bag of things was stuffed in the dog-skin quilt, the shield was hung on the back with a rope, and the new helmet was hung together.

Rubbing his shoulders, Zhao Ji found Captain Proka who was busy directing. Take him to the exit of the camp, pointing to the trails of trees that can be vaguely seen in the muddy water in the west of the swamp and some dry islands in the swamp that emerge from the water, and introduce to him the hunting foundation left by him when he hunted slime monsters before .