Many of the boys practicing would steal glances at her from time to time, and some of them seemed to hit the wooden stakes with even more effort.

One male student deliberately made a mistake and was caught by Sarah Cooper, who laughed and scolded him, giving the kid a knock on the head.

“As expected, having Sarah Cooper as our instructor is the best treatment we could ask for…” Two male students nearby whispered to each other.

George Miller was speechless: “I worked so hard to save up money to practice combat, and it’s not just to look at pretty girls…”

“All right, pick two people to start one-on-one sparring, then rank everyone as usual. The bottom five will be responsible for cleaning the training ground.” Sarah Cooper’s voice suddenly grew louder.

George Miller’s movements also slowly came to a stop, one hand resting on the soft rubber wooden stake.

In the martial arts school, they had to do sparring rankings every day. George Miller’s usual results always landed him among those who had to clean the training ground, and only occasionally did he manage to win and get a break. Among their group of twenty students, he was considered one of the worst.

As soon as George Miller heard that sparring rankings were about to begin, his gaze immediately fell on a silver-haired girl. Last time, he had lost to her and ended up in the cleaning group again.

The girl didn’t notice his gaze, just focused on chatting with her female companion, occasionally laughing lightly.

Sarah Cooper swept her eyes over all the students, noticing how everyone’s eyes were gradually lighting up, and unconsciously nodded slightly: “The basic combat training at my Baiyun Martial Arts School is very simple, but the results are pretty good. Once you’ve mastered it, an ordinary person can instantly unleash up to 1.5 times their usual explosive strength. But looking at these students, only five of them have really mastered the basics. I’ll observe for a while longer, and if no one else stands out, I’ll just pick two from these five to teach more advanced techniques and make them the elite representatives of the school.”

She knew very well that no matter how much you practiced basic combat, the explosive force technique could at most increase your power by 1.5 times, and the training effect was quite limited. It was also difficult to master, and only those who truly loved martial arts and had a strong will would put in the effort. The rest were just people without a firm martial arts mindset. Most martial arts schools used this method to identify promising students and then nurture them further.

George Miller continued to review the basic combat techniques, loosening up his body, and while things hadn’t started yet, he focused his attention on the five attribute symbols at the bottom of his field of vision.

“I can totally use basic combat training to strengthen my body, and with the help of attribute boosts, I’ll grow even faster. With these two effects stacked, I bet no one can catch up to me! I just don’t know how much of a boost the attribute points actually give.”

He carefully sensed each symbol in his vision. Strength 0.31, Agility 0.22, Constitution 0.27, Intelligence 0.32. Potential 100%. His attention flowed over each of the five options, but still, no information or memories were activated. George Miller stopped, a bit disappointed.

“All right, get ready to spar.” Sarah Cooper’s voice came over.

4

The martial arts training in this world, and the various martial arts schools, were just like taekwondo dojos on Earth—mainly a way to cultivate oneself and exercise. Although there were ranking levels, except for the higher ones, most were just for show, with little real lethality, and were mainly for fitness and aesthetics.

For parents and families, these things were like music or dance—just part of a well-rounded education, helping kids become more versatile.

George Miller, like all the other students, split off into pairs according to their rankings. Standing in front of him was the same girl as last time.

The girl looked average, with a slender waist, a rather flat chest, and short silver hair that looked a bit reddish in the sunset. “Number 15, Doris Clark.”

“Number 16, George Miller.”

The two stood face to face, reporting their numbers and names to each other.

“Begin!” Sarah Cooper called out.

George Miller and the girl immediately ignored everyone else, focusing intently on each other’s movements.

The basic combat training didn’t teach any fighting moves, just a simple training stance and explosive force technique. In George Miller’s memory, there were no set routines or moves. So-called sparring was just two people relying on their past fighting experience to go at it, and thanks to the explosive force technique, their strength seemed much greater. In fact, that was the school’s goal—to have students compete in strength.

Thinking of this, George Miller stopped overthinking and simply lunged forward, throwing a punch at Doris Clark’s left shoulder. He still hadn’t added any attribute points—he wanted to see exactly what his body was capable of.

Before his fist was halfway there, Doris Clark dodged to the right, then slammed her shoulder hard into George Miller.

Both of them moved slowly enough that George Miller could react in time, turning his body and ramming his shoulder back at her.

With a thud, they both staggered back two steps, then charged at each other again. This time, they were completely tangled up, just like before—trading punches and kicks, back and forth, with no real technique or pattern.

Last time, George Miller had struggled for a while, run out of stamina, and ultimately lost to Doris Clark, a girl.