Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 443: Are You Ready To Call Me, Master? [Part 1]

Renard looked up at the pure white ceiling while trying to recall his fight with Evangeline.

It had taken him quite a few minutes after waking up to realize that he was in the infirmary.

While he was deep in thought, the door opened. And in came a young man whom he didn’t want to see.

"I’m glad to see that you are awake," Alex said with a bright smile.

"Have you come to laugh at me?" Renard asked.

He was feeling bitter because he hadn’t been able to secure a single win.

At first, he consoled himself that the match-up had been unfair from the start.

Alex had delayed the match for Nessia, resulting in a one-sided... encounter. Resentful as Renard was, he knew that calling it a fight would be too generous.

The match had proven that the young lady could dominate the battlefield as long as she had been given enough time to prepare.

Renard wasn’t really upset about the third and fourth matches. Facing two opponents alone had placed him at a disadvantage, but he had agreed to participate all the same.

Since he had already known that none of his peers were pushovers, his defeats had not surprised him. In fact, they had been quite easy for him to accept.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the other matches.

He had no way to excuse his defeats by Lavinia and Evangeline.

This made him wonder if Alex had intentionally arranged the matches so that they would all end in his loss.

Miserable about his consecutive losses, Renard assumed that his "rival" had come to gloat.

"Do you know why you lost?" Alex asked despite knowing the answer.

He didn’t care if the young man was feeling butthurt or salty.

All he wanted to know was whether Renard could bounce back from this experience and become a better version of himself.

"I’m sure you’re going to tell me why I lost," Renard answered. "Well then, let me hear it."

His relationship with Alex had always been like this. For reasons only known to them, they were like oil and water.

"First, let’s talk about your fight against Nessia," Alex said. "When you find yourself fighting against someone with a geographical advantage, it means that you have to rely on something other than your punches and kicks if you want to overcome them.

"I know that you only rely on your physical prowess and prefer to bulldoze your way through such challenges. But this won’t work all the time. Sometimes you need the right equipment and artifacts to help you fight in ways that you can’t on your own.

"Since you already know how effective Nessia’s rune magic is, you should ask her if she can craft you some items to use in battle. For example, a ball that creates white mist when you throw it on the ground."

Renard looked incredulously at Alex. "What good will that do?"

"Smokescreen."

"Ah."

"Even something so simple can help you in more ways than one," Alex continued. "You know, I wasn’t really strong or anything when I first started my journey. I relied on brittle vials filled with pepper and chili powder in order to disorient my enemies so that I could attack them freely."

Renard wanted to snort, but he remembered Dim Dim using brittle vials. Maybe Alex was really telling the truth.

"Now let’s talk about your fight with Princess Xenia, and Mary," Alex went on. "There will come a time when we can’t expect to fight only one enemy. If you are fighting opponents that are weaker than you, then there’s no problem.

"But what if you are facing opponents who are as strong as you or stronger? Situational awareness is incredibly important. There is always a chance that those nobles will gang up on you. Worse, some of them may sneak up on you when you’re already battling one of them."

Renard bit his lower lip, unable to refute Alex’s words. It would be naive to believe that nobles had the honor to tell him how many of them he was up against.

Seeing that Renard was really listening to his advice, Alex crossed his arms and smiled faintly.

"Then let’s talk about your fight against Chuck and Charles. Did you feel helpless when Chuck kept on targeting your feet? Although you managed to land a few punches, Charles was able to easily shrug them off because they were so weak."

Renard nodded because this was the truth. Without a proper foundation, he could not concentrate his power into his blows.

His fight with Chuck had made him painfully aware of how crucial it was to be able to move freely. While this was commonsensical, he had taken his mobility for granted.

Alex narrowed his eyes before moving to the crux of the issue. "Your fight with Lavinia also demonstrated that you are missing one important thing. Without this, your fighting style is full of openings that your opponents can exploit."

"And what is that?"

"Renard, you lack technique. Your fighting style is self-taught. That is nice and all, but against those who have been trained to fight from young, you fall far too short. They have a systematic way of dealing against enemies. You don’t."

While Alex might sound condescending, this was something he had personally experienced. During his time on Earth, he had gotten into his fair share of street fights.

That was why he had gone to the gym and looked for a boxing trainer.

Boxing was nowhere as fancy or eye-catching as many other martial arts, but it was one of the most practical fighting styles in the world.

Amateurs only swung their fists against each other, but boxing taught you how to effectively block those punches and counter with your own. It didn’t just teach you how to punch, it taught you where to punch.

In addition, Alex had learnt some combination attacks that could literally knock out his opponent if he pulled them off successfully.

Renard didn’t have those abilities, so even the current Alex could defeat him in a weaponless fight.

"Then what about Evangeline?" Renard asked. "I don’t really know what went on during that match."

"Ah, about that." Alex smiled faintly. "You were under an illusion spell."

Renard widened his eyes so much he started looking like a goldfish. "Huh?! You mean my punches didn’t land? It was all a trick of the mind?"

"Yeah," Alex replied. "Just illusions. So you didn’t really hit her and got hit by her counterattack instead."

Alex then tapped the side of his head, making Renard frown.

"Instead of attacking you physically, she attacked you mentally," Alex stated. "You’re not trained to fight against those who specialize in mental attacks, so they are very effective against you."

Renard knew that Alex was right, but the realization that he had been "toyed" with still didn’t sit well with him.

"Now, do you wish to become strong?" Alex asked. "Do you wish to overcome your weaknesses? If yes, then you should buy these two Skill Books."

The young man took out two Skill Books from his storage ring and showed them to Renard.

"This blue book contains the Martial Skill called Berserker Dragon Barrage [EX]," Alex said like a shady business man. "This is a Unique Martial Skill that I have bought from the Black Market."

Of course, Alex hadn’t really bought it from the Black Market. He had bought it in the Arcana Shop for 5,000 Arcana Points!

The young man believed that this was a necessary sacrifice because he was looking at the bigger picture.

A future when one of the Heroes would treat him as a treasured friend and not an annoying enemy who kept getting into people’s ways.