"Understood," Casio responded.
"As long as you know. Now I'm leaving." Lixia turned around and took a step, her gaze sweeping past the edge of the distant warehouse. A smile flicked across her face, then she hastened her pace and left.
Casio watched as Lixia's figure retreated into the distance, then turned his head towards the corner of the warehouse. "Sis, come out. The instructor has left…"
In the twilight, from within the shadow of a building, a pale and lovely face peered out, scanning the sports field before cautiously stepping out. Her movements were as careful as a cat's.
"Little Wei, maybe we shouldn't do this anymore. Would Lixia be unfair to you if she found out I was secretly learning from her..."
"Actually, she knew all along."
"Huh?" Li Chu's worried expression turned into one of surprise, she was taken aback by Casio's words.
"On your first day here, instructor Lixia already suspected it. She's been tacitly allowing us to continue."
Casio rolled up his sleeve and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Don't worry about this anymore, Sis. I will practice actual combat with you for another half an hour. It would be best if we could make it into the top fifty in the Youth Training Camp tomorrow."
"Uh... Okay." Li Chu was still shocked that instructor Lixia had known she was learning in secret, and it took her a while to respond.
Under the dusk, the shadows of the two people were continuously engaged in fisticuffs.
The next day on the sports field that had been heated somewhat by the sun.
There were five squares in total, and each group of students sat around the edge of a square. In the middle, there was a designated area for actual combat.
At this moment, two people were standing in the center of the square.
Lixia, wearing a beige uniform, shouted to start.
Both students, who had been practicing the Wind Elephant Basic Combat Technique for three months, lunged at each other. Whether it was a straight fist or a swing punch, their moves were quick and efficient.
During the tussle, their eyes sought out each other's weak points. After a standoff, they lifted their arms to either clash or strike.
It was clear that after three months of formal combat training, the students at the Youth Training Camp were no longer relying solely on their instinctive fighting experience; they had incorporated martial arts routines and fighting techniques.
They had built a rudimentary combat structure.
Even though their movements still looked novice-like, their blows were too stiff and difficult. But compared with the earlier scene of brawls like hooligan fights, the progress of many students was undoubtedly significant.
The battles on the field continued. After a while, a victor emerged. A taller student managed to defeat his opponent by a slight margin. Both of them left the battlefield and sat back in their places.
"Next group – Ruoze, Li Wei."
The teaching assistant stepped forward and announced loudly.
"Damn it." The brown-haired teenager sitting in the corner cursed to himself. The last time they had actual combat rankings, Li Wei was fifth.
He was also the one with the best performance in their group of four.
Having to fight against Li Wei, Ruoze could only admit to his bad luck.
On the sports field, the opponents took their positions on the left and right.
The sunlight was intense, causing Ruoze to squint towards his opponent.
Everyone at the Youth Training Camp knew Crazy Li Wei. From the beginning of the training, he had severely beaten Finn, Instructor Marne's nephew, on two occasions. He was ruthless, unfazed by being ganged up on. When fighting, he could injure his opponents more severely by relying on his craziness.
Moreover, he seemed to be obsessed with martial arts. Even though his double training punishment period had passed, he still insisted on working extra-hard every day. Whether it was heavy rain, strong winds, or scorching sun, they could always see his silhouette on the sports field. He was often so battered that he ran out of potions.
As a fellow student, Ruoze admired Li Wei a little. But as an opponent, the admiration was not so pleasant.
The sunlight shone intensely on Casio's head, each strand of his hair resembling a steel needle. His expression was serious, his posture upright. His two robust, bare arm muscles, tanned to a bronze hue, were prominent.
An inexplicable aura emanated from Casio.
"Begin!"
The moment Instructor Lixia's voice fell, Casio dashed out like a cheetah, his feet rapidly tapping the ground.
Ruoze hesitated inside and waved his hands to defend hurriedly.
"Bam, bam, bam!"
After a few muffled collisions, Casio's fist cut through the gap in Ruoze's defense like lightning, striking his shoulder sharply.
"Tap, tap, tap..." Ruoze continued to retreat after being jabbed, stumbling out of the battlefield boundary with a pained expression on his face.
He touched his right shoulder lightly, which had started to bruise.
"Li Wei wins. Next group..."
The sunlight gradually intensified, but thankfully, there were white clouds floating in the sky. At intervals, the clouds would completely block the burning sun.
"Julio wins. Next group, Li Chu, Masha."
Whether it was a coincidence or not, two girls were paired together.
After the assistant finished announcing, Li Chu and a girl who dressed and looked a bit masculine stepped into the field, both bowing in respect.
At this moment, Casio also looked up to watch.
In the field, the two had already started fighting. It was clear that Li Chu was overpowering her opponent in terms of momentum. Her moves and reflexes were quite sophisticated and excellent.
Before long, Masha was forced to retreat under a punch. She wanted to adjust her tactics, but she ultimately lost.
Casio nodded, Li Chu would probably make it into the top fifty this time.
With each pair of students stepping forward for actual combat, approximations of everyone's group rankings began to become clear. Next, more than a hundred students from the five groups at the Youth Training Camp all gathered together.
What followed was a random shuffle of the groups for ranking.
Casio was familiar with all these steps from previous experiences. The only surprise this time was that he unexpectedly faced Finn as his third opponent. They ended up paired together.
As the teaching assistant called out their names, Finn and Casio each walked to the battlefield.
"Now Finn is screwed, as they ended up together. Crazy Li Wei will definitely take this opportunity to beat him up again," a student said.
"Yeah, this is going to be interesting."
In the field, after completing his bow, Casio looked up towards the sky.
At the corner of his mouth, a cold smile was discernable.
Clasping his fist, his knuckles cracked.
"Begin!" The instructor's voice echoed.
In an instant, Casio charged out, swinging his arm like a whip.
"I surrender!" Finn quickly raised his right hand.
The fist full of calluses stopped just inches away from his chest.
A look of stunned surprise came over Casio's face.
But a smirk was on Finn's face: "Wanting to take the opportunity of combat practice to hit me again, I won't let you have that satisfaction."
Since Finn surrendered, the instructor quickly came forward and announced Casio's victory. The assistant teacher also began to call out the names of the next group of participants.
Casio furrowed his brows and walked a few steps towards his spot.
He couldn't help but turned his head and looked at Finn's retreating silhouette. "Why is it that even though he surrendered, he seems so arrogant..."
"As if he's the victorious one."