Chapter 62: Jack and Renault

“Ah!” With a furious roar, Reynold swung his thick arm, unleashing a vicious punch at the shadowy figure beside him.

The figure, a full head shorter than Reynold, bent slightly, his body dipping and twisting to neatly dodge Reynold’s wild sweep. In a blink, he slid to Reynold’s flank and rear. His hands shaped into claws, fingers hooked like talons—one seized Reynold’s waist, the other gripped the hollow behind Reynold’s right knee, poised to yank and throw him down. Yet just as he grasped Reynold’s flesh, he discovered that the skin, normally tough as leather, now yielded like mud! Alarmed, he tried to let go, but before he could, Reynold’s muscles surged, the seized spots hardening instantly to steel. The sudden force not only pried his hands away but sent him stumbling back.

Reynold chuckled darkly and lifted his leg for a side kick. Twice already, his opponent had thrown him down this way. Each time he tried to grab and counter, he missed—the opponent’s speed was as swift as the wind, his strength astonishing, and, most confounding, he seemed to anticipate every move, exploiting every gap and weakness in Reynold’s attacks, leaving Reynold unable to muster half his might. This was deeply frustrating. Now, employing the secret technique of the Ox Stance, Reynold had finally forced a flaw in his opponent’s defense—and he would not let it slip.

His kick landed true, but his opponent did not fly as expected. Instead, at the moment of impact, the opponent’s hands clamped onto Reynold’s muscular calf, using the momentum to leap backward. Landing lightly, he retreated swiftly, hands and feet working together, and in an instant had withdrawn fifteen meters.

“That’s enough!” Victor called out, halting the two men poised to pounce. Behind him stood four others, two tall and two short.

“Jack, are you all right?” Victor addressed the short man who had just fought Reynold.

“I’m fine, sir.”

Jack straightened, clasping his hands above his head. His body stretched taut, twisting like a giant serpent. Muscles knotted and popped with a series of muffled cracks, then relaxed.

“Sir, when Reynold used the secret Ox Stance just now, it made my muscles spasm a bit, but now I’m recovered.”

Victor nodded slightly. He had observed closely; Reynold’s kick hadn’t inflicted much damage. Rather, it was the shock from the muscle rebound that Jack had endured. Though it seemed only a moment of muscle tension, Reynold had harnessed the strength of his entire muscle group. An ordinary man would have suffered snapped tendons and broken bones—seventeen points of physique was no trivial matter.

But Jack was no ordinary man. He was an alchemical militiaman augmented with the Spirit Monkey Stance!

Jack, alchemical militiaman, height 173 centimeters, physique 12, spirit 10, perception 15, life 3; trained in farming, mastery of short weapons, proficiency with ranged weapons, and loaded with the Spirit Monkey Stance. Lifespan: fifteen years.

A few weeks earlier, Victor had ordered the production of alchemical militiamen with the Spirit Monkey Stance. During the process, a mutation occurred, and Jack was the result.

This mutation gave Victor new insight into the value of secret stances, and subsequent tests of Jack left him elated.

The Spirit Monkey Stance derived from the Spirit Monkey Posture—a method combining stillness and movement, training the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, stressing the connection between inner and outer senses, attunement with the world. In the context of the stance, "world" means external information: visual signals, auditory signals, taste, even changes in temperature and humidity. The Spirit Monkey Posture sharpens the five senses, fostering keen perception, much like Victor’s X-3 overclocking, though not as powerful. But it emphasizes the unity of inner and outer senses—what is heard becomes seen, where the eye goes the hand follows, touch brings clarity, clarity brings action. Ultimately, it makes the practitioner agile and coordinated as a monkey, able to traverse rooftops and walls as if walking on level ground.

It is said that masters of the Spirit Monkey Posture can catch flies blindfolded with one hand, evade gunfire within twenty meters, and respond to the slightest force with natural reflexes—borrowing force, disrupting the enemy’s power transmission, even, upon contact, discerning the opponent’s energy flow and breaking it, the so-called “listening to force.”

The stance also strengthens the muscles and bones, though not as intensely as the Ox Stance, but far superior to ordinary training. It can even trigger bone contraction through muscle undulation—at advanced levels, if the head can fit through a hole, so can the body.

Of course, Jack could not yet achieve this; his physique was robust, reaching twelve points—a level surpassing human limits.

Do not underestimate twelve points of physique. Victor’s tests confirmed it matched the strength of a silverback gorilla on Earth. In fact, Jack could easily perform the “single-handed ox restraint” described in the Ox Stance. Ultimately, people in this world were simply more powerful than those of Earth.

After several tests, Victor found: first, Jack’s maximum speed reached twenty-two meters per second. Second, he could cross ten meters in a second and shoot three arrows from a heavy bow, each piercing the ironwood target forty meters away. Third, Victor had Jack demonstrate fruit slicing with a short knife—though the “fruit” was actually an ironwood target. When Reynold tossed the target, Jack’s blade flashed like snow, splitting the target in midair into fragments; Victor calculated he had struck eleven times in a second.

Thus, Jack was a special operative with high agility, evasion, speed, and skill—and his smaller stature made him blend in more easily than Reynold.

Now, Victor was convinced: with weapons, Reynold was truly no match for Jack. Of course, this did not mean the Ox Stance militiamen were worthless.

Jack had an advantage over Reynold, but against a knight, he would be crushed. The savage gnoll leader Victor had faced was a typical case of high strength and high agility, but its crude use of power led to defeat in just two moves before Esker. Victor still remembered Esker’s dazzling reverse thrust—a sword strike delivered after a sudden 180-degree change of direction during a charge. It was incredible! Victor was certain Esker had used elemental power, proving he, like Bruce, had reached the threshold of the Silver rank.

Victor was certain neither Reynold nor Jack could best Nelson, though Reynold might hold out briefly. Jack, however, would be finished immediately—unable to use any tricks. This was the crushing disparity of power. Nelson’s perception had also broken limits, reaching twelve points. Neither could win against him—let alone against knights who had achieved unity of mind and body.

However, Victor was also certain that alchemical militiamen loaded with secret stances could already defeat apprentice knights—perhaps easily. With further training, their abilities would surely grow; in time, they might even contend with knights.

So Victor produced two more Spirit Monkey militiamen and two more Ox Stance militiamen—a complementary group. One could wield heavy polearms for direct combat, the other could use strong bows or crossbows for precise ranged attacks, and both could fight hand-to-hand.

Victor originally ordered the production of an alchemical militiaman loaded with the Golden Toad Stance, curious about the results. Strangely, the king informed him that it was impossible to load the Golden Toad Stance onto alchemical militiamen or auxiliary troops.

The Golden Toad Stance was the most mysterious, according to X-3’s records—a posture training the vital organs and blood, focusing on breath and meditation. The effects were unclear, only stating it granted immunity to all diseases and longevity. After training, Victor discovered it was the only stance that increased the life attribute, though once training ceased, the attribute reverted—no lasting increase.

This time, the Alchemy Tower generated the Golden Toad Stance, but it could not be loaded! This puzzled Victor further. If alchemical life was repelled by Water element and could not load the Golden Toad Stance, why did the tower generate the skill at all?

Victor suspected the secret stances had vast potential but were not yet fully compatible with this world—the key lay with the Golden Toad Stance. If it could break its limits, the secret stances might become a new power system.

“Sir! It’s done! Here is the sugar you requested.” A voice interrupted Victor’s train of thought—it was Busso.

Victor turned to see Busso approaching, carrying a tray.

“Let me see!” Victor strode over, excitement in his voice.

The tray was piled with pale white crystals, each tinged with a faint green, sparkling and fragrant—a pleasing sight.

Victor picked up a grain of sugar and popped it into his mouth. Sweetness blossomed on his tongue, delighting his taste buds and making him crave another morsel.

Eyes closed, savoring the flavor, Victor smiled at Busso. “Excellent! This is exactly the sugar I wanted. You’ve done well!”

“The sugar granules are a bit large—they can be ground finer.”

Victor laughed aloud. With sugar, he finally had a foundation, a steady source of funds for alchemical production. The world was vast—nowhere would be beyond his reach.

The absorption crystal acquired from Nicole proved effective for decolorizing cane sugar. Yet, the process of making sugar was not smooth, and Victor had nearly despaired.

He had dropped the absorption crystal into filtered cane juice; impurities vanished before his eyes, absorbed by the crystal, and Victor rejoiced. But in the end, the cane juice turned completely to water, and the crystal’s absorbed impurities became raw sugar!

This was frustrating. Victor tried many experiments, but found to his despair that sugar and impurities were absorbed together—meaning he could not use timing to extract pure sugar.

For this reason, Victor had not sent alchemical militiamen into the marshes to collect absorption crystals, and instead produced three auxiliary troops.

Two days ago, as Victor was about to give up, Busso casually told him he recognized the crystal—it was a purification crystal, commonly used in the Alchemical Empire to cleanse water, easy to carry and convenient for wilderness use.

Victor immediately asked Busso about its properties. Busso rattled off a list, and Victor noted that while the crystal purified quickly by day, at night it restored impurities slowly—restoring salts first, then other impurities.

Victor berated Busso for not mentioning this sooner, but Busso replied earnestly that he didn’t know what “lime,” “adsorbent,” “purple cane,” or “cane sugar” meant, and Victor had never asked him about the purification crystal...

Victor was speechless. Such was the flaw of alchemical beings—they possessed skill and knowledge, but their thinking was rigid, unable to extrapolate from what they knew. The king assured him, however, that alchemical humans could learn and would grow more flexible over time.

Victor then explained the sugar-making process to Busso, instructing them to monitor the restoration of sugar into water at night, and to remove the purification crystal at the right moment to obtain pure cane juice. Thus came today’s success.

Now, it was time to venture into the Great Marsh to collect purification crystals!

“Jack! You and the others climb over the fence from here. Black Feather will guide you to a gathering point. When I arrive, I’ll assign tasks.” Victor instructed the alchemical militiamen.

They had not yet integrated with the freedmen, so to avoid attention, they had to scale the fence. Though the outer side was steep, it posed no obstacle—Victor had tested it days ago, and even if an alchemical being fell, it was of little consequence.

The three Spirit Monkey militiamen, carrying hemp ropes, climbed swiftly, perching atop the fence and lowering ropes for the Ox Stance militiamen, who followed with some difficulty; though their perception was high, the nine-meter fence was still a challenge.

Seeing their nimble teamwork, Victor nodded slightly. The alchemical militiamen lacked the clumsiness of the auxiliary troops—perhaps they could oversee some freedmen.

But when Victor saw Reynold climbing up as well, he was exasperated.

“Reynold! What are you doing?”

“Sir! I’m climbing up.”

“You can use the main gate. Besides, I didn’t ask you to go!”

“Oh!”

Perhaps I should install a secret door here, Victor mused, stroking his chin.