Chapter Thirty-Two: Basic Footwork

  "Really? What a coincidence!"

  Someone patted him on the shoulder from behind, and Hu Siming subconsciously turned his head. After seeing the person's face clearly, Hu Siming couldn't help but feel a little surprised. In the comprehensive building of District D, where there were so many large halls, the two people coincidentally happened to be randomly transported to the same one, which was really a bit of a coincidence.

  "Haha, I was also surprised when I just heard your shout, who would have thought we'd run into each other."

  Yan Shao Ou squeezed over from the crowd with some difficulty and asked loudly, "How's it going? Have you decided on the elective courses you want to take?" Because of the surrounding noise, he intentionally raised his voice, which allowed Hu Si Ming to hear clearly.

  Hu Si Ming glanced around at the crowd and said to him: "Forget it, this isn't a place for talking. Follow me."

  Two people squeezed out from the middle of the hall, one in front and one behind, all the way to the edge near the door. It was finally a bit more spacious here, but the noise was still deafening.

  "I've temporarily chosen two subjects, I'm preparing to take Basic Close Combat and Basic Footwork."

  Hu Shiming continued with what he had said before, since it wasn't a secret, he didn't hide it either.

  "It seems you're going for the close combat route." Yan Shao instinctively pushed up the nonexistent glasses on his nose and started talking about his own situation: "I've signed up for three courses, Basic Footwork, Basic Meditation, and Basic Long-range Attack. In the real world, I used to play games where I liked playing as a cannon mage. So, I'll definitely focus on practicing Basic Meditation and Basic Long-range Attack, and probably just learn a bit of Basic Footwork."

  "You're not planning on learning a secondary job either."

  "Being a deputy sounds good, but it's too time-consuming and requires collecting various resources on your own. Unless you can practice to an extremely high level, it's just earning some hard-earned money. Moreover, for consumables like potions, the academy isn't without subsidies."

  "That's also true."

  "So, now that we understand each other's needs, can't we make an exchange?"

  Yu Shao's smiling words made Hu Si Ming pause: "Exchange what?"

  "Didn't you just shout that you wanted to exchange the apprentice's staff for an iron sword?" Yan Shao was almost mistaken, and he confirmed, "We all have what we need in our hands, isn't it just right?"

  "Oh, you're talking about this?" Hu Siming was suddenly enlightened, but immediately followed by a hint of doubt: "You don't like the mage profession, why did you choose a close combat weapon?"

  Yan Shao shrugged and retorted, "Aren't you the same? You were preparing for close combat, yet you chose to use an apprentice's staff?"

  It's okay, after he said that, Hu Shiming also let it go. I guess everyone has their own thoughts, and it's possible that Xian Ye didn't notice at the time and just casually chose one, so he didn't ask again.

  After taking out the universal weapon from the tenth grid storage compartment, the two reached a swap agreement.

  Rusted Iron Sword

  General accessories, weapons, and miscellaneous items.

  A rusty ordinary longsword, Attack +2 points.

  Note: This is clearly an axe!

  "This attribute is simply..."

  "It's still as rotten as ever!"

  As they obtained the required weapons, Hu Shiming and Yan Shao Ou almost exclaimed at the same time. The apprentice staff came with a charging bullet equivalent to a normal attack, but the attack interval was too long and there were no additional effects. This iron sword had no restrictions, but it only increased the attack by 2 points.

  It's no wonder they're both novice weapons, looking like two peas in a pod.

  "Alright, never mind how it was said, in any case there is something that can be used to make do." Saying this, Yan Shao tried waving the staff a bit and felt it was still quite handy, only then did he put it away.

  Hu Si Ming also held a sword and made several slashing movements, but unfortunately, before practicing, the posture was really a bit unbearable. Yan Shao Ou's mouth twitched twice, and finally managed to hold back his smile, suggesting: "After the elective class starts in the afternoon, you really need to practice your posture... By the way, it's also fate that we met here, shall we exchange our student numbers?"

  In college, this is another way of saying "making friends".

  Hu Siming didn't have any negative impressions of Yan Shaoye, and after he obtained the hidden reward in the entrance exam, Yan Shaoye was one of the only two or three people who didn't show a rejecting attitude towards him. Faced with Yan's kind intentions, Hu Siming agreed to exchange student numbers.

  Because of the different courses chosen, after waving goodbye, Hu Siming came to classroom 000486 in F district alone according to the provided schedule and public classroom number. It seems that large classrooms with numbers below one thousand are used as venues for elective courses. Of course, compared to the small classrooms for required courses, this public classroom is too big, it can accommodate at least a few hundred people. However, there was no teaching assistant lecturing.

  As classes began, freshmen were automatically transported into the battlefield space.

  It's said to be a battlefield, but the environment here is no different from an arena. The flat ground, the ancient-style hall filled with the character for "martial" on the central screen, all give off a solemn feeling. Before long, just like when they first entered school and received information overload, the academy poured basic moves, routines, and techniques into their minds in one go.

  The school emblem gives a hint: Mastered Basic Close Combat LV1.

  Close Quarters Combat

  Current level LV1, 0/1000 training points needed for next promotion.

  Basic attack power +3 points, hit rate +1%.

  After receiving the indoctrination of the Academy, Hu Siming directly obtained a 1st-level foundation in close combat. He clearly felt that one after another battle scenes appeared in his mind. However, these retrievable information only represented what he remembered, and whether he could perfectly apply them in actual combat was another matter altogether. The purpose of elective courses lay here - when would he be able to train to the point where he could perfectly display these skills, at which point he would have truly succeeded!

  He didn't know what the other students thought, but after accepting the indoctrination, he took out his own iron sword and found a corner in the martial arts hall to start practicing hard.

  One elective class lasts for two hours, and there is only one elective per day.

  Because of the extreme physical and mental exhaustion, Hu Siming, even with his attribute-enhanced body, was still extremely tired after completing this one lesson. However, his training progress had only increased by less than twenty points, which was related to the initial rapid growth rate. At this efficiency, it would take at least two months for Hu Siming to raise his basic close combat skills to LV2.

  This long period of time dispelled the idea of quick success that had been in Hu Si Ming's mind.

  No wonder the academy's prompt says that elective courses will also consume a lot of energy and resources in the end. This is just the first level, which requires two months of effort, and it's unknown how long it will take to fully master it.

  However, tedious training is hard but worthwhile.

  Adding the 2-point attack boost from Iron Sword, plus the 3-point attack power brought by LV1 melee, Hu Si Ming's basic attack has now been increased to 21-23 points. Although it is still pathetic, at least in terms of attack power, he can finally match up with ordinary melee soldiers in Blade Tower.

  That day after returning home, he was so exhausted that he slept soundly for the first time until dawn.

  Because only two courses were reported, the elective course every day was basic close combat and footwork rotation. On the second day at the same time, Hu Siming started the training of basic footwork on schedule.

  Basic Footwork

  Current level LV1, 0/1000 training points needed for next promotion.

  Basic movement speed + 5 points, dodge rate + 1%, damage from high falls within 20 meters reduced by 50%!

  There was a 10-point increase in movement speed from the previous novice student title promotion, plus the permanent boost to basic footwork, Hu Siming's movement speed increased to 255 points.

  Compared to close combat training, footwork training is even more boring. Two hours in, the boredom can wear away a person's patience. Many enthusiastic freshmen who came rushing over, after being trained for only half an hour according to the required points, were already impatient, and some even left early. However, Hu Sui Ming was very clear that only by putting in effort could he possibly gain something. After one class, his footwork training degree had risen a full 32 points.

  Having high agility is somewhat beneficial.

  Buried in such training, the speed of time seems to have accelerated suddenly. Two weeks passed unknowingly. It wasn't until Hu Si Ming completed his elective course again with a big sweat that he inadvertently discovered it was already late September.

  The unified exam mentioned by Avin Tutor is just around the corner!