Chapter Ten: The Lower Stance

"Too slow! Faster! Be more decisive! Did you skip breakfast? Put some strength into it!"

In the morning, after finishing breakfast, Kay stood on the Knights' training grounds for the first time in a decade, educating his younger brother, Arthur.

Just like ten years ago, a younger brother remained a younger brother; the grown-up Arthur still had no way to fight back against Kay. Since the sparring began, his wooden sword hadn't even grazed Kay once. Even with Kay wearing armor, his agile movements and footwork made Arthur look like a clumsy bear unable to catch a bee. Arthur could only swing his longsword awkwardly, watching as Kay nimbly dodged and then struck him hard with his own wooden sword.

Although Kay held back, making the blows more painful than truly damaging, the repeated hits inflicted tons of emotional damage on Arthur.

Kay was Arthur's first mentor; Arthur's swordsmanship was taught by him. Back then, Arthur was small and couldn't beat Kay, so being disciplined by him daily was the norm. But ten years had passed, and Arthur had imagined the gap between them would have shrunk—he had even fantasized about surpassing Kay. After all, Arthur's talent was evident to everyone, and over the years, he had become virtually undefeated within the Knights, which had made him a bit arrogant.

As it turned out, our young Arthur was being ruthlessly beaten by reality.

Just like ten years ago, he remained defenseless. And this was while Kay wasn't even taking it seriously.

"Footwork! Footwork! I told you time and again, your stance must be steady! You can be slow, but you must be steady! If you can't even stand properly, how can you fight anyone?" After dodging another of Arthur's attacks, Kay flicked his wooden sword lightly against the back of Arthur's knee. With just that slight touch, Arthur lost his balance and stumbled forward.

This left Kay very dissatisfied. Before becoming a soldier in his past life, Kay had graduated from a martial arts school. He had formally apprenticed under a master—not a world-renowned expert, but a legitimate disciple of the Tianjin Tian-style Baji Quan.

Limited by his own talent, he had only managed to get by at the martial arts school, but he was trained in a proper lineage, so the requirements for basics were strict. Since Kay had formally apprenticed, his master hadn't gone easy on him.

In his previous life, while studying, he hadn't felt the significance of these basics, as both his master and his family forbade him from fighting. He was just physically stronger than the average person. It wasn't until he became a soldier that he realized how vital those foundations were. In the army, it was his solid foundation that allowed him to excel in daily training, progressing much faster than his peers—which was why he was eventually selected to be a scout.

Among all the basics, the lower body was paramount. An unstable stance leads to floating, unsteady footwork. One appears weak and lethargic, drifting about, easily swept off their feet.

The logic of power generation in martial arts starts from the lower body, relying primarily on the waist. For example: standing still, twisting the waist, rotating the hips, and thrusting the fist—that is how power is unleashed.

Without a firm base, one cannot leverage strength, and the punch becomes empty and powerless. If the base is firm, stability increases, allowing one to maintain balance while shifting and dodging, making one faster and more powerful in combat.

Kay's master once told him: when evaluating a martial artist, look at their legs first. See if their movement is strong and stable. If their footwork is weak, they are just for show; they might look good, but in a real fight, the difference is immediately clear.

Kay had kept this principle his whole life, never skipping his horse stance training. Naturally, he had taught Arthur the same way. Yet, after ten years apart, Arthur had seemingly forgotten all his teachings.

Perhaps this was a common flaw of Celtic knights. They were accustomed to training strength first, then swordsmanship, without any specific training for their lower body beyond squatting while holding stone weights. Honestly, Kay's methods probably looked ridiculous to others; the horse stance was not exactly an elegant posture.

But Kay never expected that his once-obedient brother would have forgotten his instructions.

This made Kay very unhappy.

This was Arthur! He was destined to be a King! In this era, a King must possess power, because this world was not safe. Like the griffin from the other day—could anyone believe there was only one griffin in the entire world?

What a joke! Monsters like that were everywhere outside human territory! In such a dangerous age, only power could ensure survival.

Again, this was Arthur! The title "King Arthur" was no joke. Even though Kay had little knowledge of Western lore in his past life, he knew a few stories about the Knight King. After seeing so many ancient mythological figures appear before him, Kay was no longer sure if Arthur's name was just a coincidence.

After all, if Zeus, Gilgamesh, and Odin could appear, why couldn't there be a King Arthur?

"Get up!"

Kay decided to give Arthur a profound lesson, to make him realize the cost of complacency. Arthur was King Arthur! If he were truly this weak, how could he change the legendary ending? If Kay didn't know Arthur, it would be one thing, but now that Arthur was his brother, he would never let him meet such a tragic fate.

Although Kay's knowledge of the King Arthur legend was limited to "he was cool, he was cheated on, he was betrayed, and then he croaked," he didn't know the specifics of how he met his end. In his past life, Kay had no special interest in such things; he was from a traditional Chinese family, and aside from listening to foreign music or watching blockbusters, he rarely sought out foreign culture.

But Kay held a simple belief: as long as Arthur became stronger than the legend, he would surely be able to change his fate.

Arthur was no longer a child; he wouldn't cry after a fall. He stood up quickly and raised his sword again. The education he had received didn't allow him to surrender easily.

Seeing Arthur's determined expression, Kay felt a bit of relief.

"That's more like it. Otherwise, I would have wondered what you've been doing for the last ten years." With that, Kay picked up another wooden sword from the rack. He hadn't mentioned it, but he preferred dual-wielding over the sword-and-shield style favored by most knights.

Kay performed a flourish, holding his right-hand sword in a reverse grip while pointing the left-hand sword straight at Arthur.

"Start!" Following Kay's sharp shout, he slid forward, his right-hand sword executing a diagonal strike aimed straight at Arthur's head.