Chapter 30 Ethan Faces Reality: Ethan is sent flying hundreds of times...

After being sent flying hundreds of times, even Starfall was starting to get bored.

Ethan was knocked away again. After standing up, he took out an energy potion and gulped it down. His depleted strength quickly returned, and his tired face regained its radiance.

Xingyun felt like a parent playing with a child. Although it was repetitive and boring, she felt no emotion, only the child happily repeating the same thing.

Starfall felt mentally exhausted. While sighing, he mercilessly sent Ethan flying, wondering if he should change his training method.

As Ethan charged at him again, he made a stop gesture. Ethan braked suddenly and almost fell, barely stopping in front of Starfall. Starfall instinctively reached out to help, but relaxed when he saw that Ethan could stand up on his own.

That was close! I almost thought he was going to fall into my arms. I'm still not used to being so close. Sometimes I wonder if Ethan can't even walk properly.

“Let’s fight hand-to-hand,” Starfall said, taking off his suit jacket. “No magic, just pure physical combat.”

Ethan looked at the nearly two-meter-tall meteorite, then at himself who was only 1.7 meters tall. After a brief silence, he chose to abandon his thoughts.

Haha, whether it's magic or hand-to-hand combat, he doesn't seem to have a chance of winning by even a little bit; he'll only get beaten up. He should get used to it, shouldn't he? After all, he's just a noob.

Ethan noticed that Starfall was taking off his clothes very quickly, revealing a black fitted vest and a white shirt underneath. He slowly rolled up the shirt to his upper arm, revealing the smooth muscle lines that were previously hidden by the clothes.

Ethan rubbed his limp arms, secretly envious, and thought he would train to be like Starfall someday.

Wait a minute, the most important thing now is to get beaten up! Ethan snapped back to reality. Since he wasn't wearing a cloak in the space and was dressed in loose, combat-appropriate clothes, he really didn't know what he needed to prepare.

After looking around, Ethan conjured up a hair tie and tied his long hair into a small bun at the back of his head.

Don't damage his hair when you're doing it. He's dead and his hair can't grow back. You'd have to find some special materials to make hair. Natural hair is the best.

Ethan had just finished tying his hair when Starfall announced the start of the attack. Before he could finish speaking, a punch was about to land on Ethan.

Ethan swore he really heard a whooshing sound, staring in horror at the fist hovering near his ear, cold sweat pouring down his back. He was terrified of turning into mincemeat, even though Starfall would resurrect him, he was still scared.

Starfall withdrew his fist: "You've already died once. If I hadn't changed direction, your brains would have been smashed out."

Ethan felt he could see and foresee how grueling this training would be, with him brushing with death multiple times, only because his beloved City Will showed mercy.

Ethan began his training of getting beaten up and running away with his head in his hands.

As the embodiment of the city's will, whose existence is unknown, Starfall possesses a wealth of combat experience, honed through past battles against the gradually weakening Sunfire. Even without magic, his melee combat is so formidable that it makes one's legs go weak.

Ethan was really ready to give up. Starfall had spared his life several times, but he had also held back when beating him. Even without magic, Starfall's physique was worlds apart from his.

As the meteor passed over Ethan, he could clearly feel a chill on his neck. He was so frightened that he thought the meteor had cut his neck open, but when he looked down and touched it, he found it was a water-soluble pen. His hands were sweating, and he rubbed it off in an instant.

“Just now, you died again.” Xingyun’s well-defined knuckles held a water-soluble pen, which he pulled out from somewhere. “Every place I draw from now on will prove that I have killed you once. Of course, if I want, this pen can indeed become my weapon.”

Thank goodness, it was just a water-soluble pen, not a real knife, although Ethan did believe that in Starfall's hands anything could become the sharpest weapon.

Starfall has started again, easily weaving around Ethan. Every attack Ethan makes misses. Once Starfall is activated, his attacks are as simple as breathing.

After each time he dodged his attack, he would draw some marks on him, more or less. Ethan had lost count of how many times he had been drawn on, but it was definitely a terrible number. Starfall's gaze towards him was no longer friendly.

The water-soluble pen was thrown into the air by a meteorite, and it easily caught itself in the place it had expected, and then drew another stroke.

The pen tip leaps, light, elegant, and nimble like a falling star.

Ethan believes that if he hadn't been the one drawn, he would have praised Starfall for being able to create so many creative designs with just a pen, adding to his coolness.

After an unknown amount of time, Starfall, as if tired of playing, capped the water-soluble pen and casually tossed it into a magical rift torn open by Starfall.

"Now let's explain." Starfall's sharp eyes looked at the panting Ethan. Ethan even thought he should wear glasses; pushing them up at this moment would make him look even more terrifying.

The mist formed and slowly condensed into a large mirror, taller and wider than Ethan, a mirror created by Starfall using magic.

You wouldn't know unless you looked, but when you did, you were shocked to see that Ethan's exposed skin was covered with dense black marks.

There are more than five black lines above the scar on his neck. They extend from the small turtle on his cheek, behind his ear, his eyelids, and the black lines around his forehead, down to his shoulder, arm, and palm.

Ethan flipped open his clothes and discovered that his legs had been drawn on at some point.

"Do you know where this is?" Starfall's icy fingers tapped Ethan's head, her tone gentle yet chillingly cold.

Ethan looked at himself in the mirror, hesitating for a moment: "Sunburn?"

“You got it right, but there’s no reward.” Xingyun said without a smile, his fingers moving as he explained, “This is one time, and here, and here and here, are all places where you can kill with a single blow.”

“Here—” The fingertip lingered on Ethan’s eyelid, causing his uncomfortable eyes to tremble, but Starfall remained calm: “It can hurt your eyes and make you lose a lot of your fighting ability, you know? From the moment I said I was starting, you had so many openings that I could kill you many times in a minute.”

Ethan shrank back, not daring to speak; everyone could see Starfall's anger.

“Here, I can cut in from here and sever your tongue.” Starfall’s fingers slid to the side of his cheek.

“Here, I can cut off your ear. Although it may not cause you much actual damage, it will make you panic.” Starfall tapped the back of the ear lightly.

“I can cut your trachea here, and I can cut your carotid artery here,” Starfall said, pointing to the dark line on his neck.

“A cut here will weaken your arm, leaving you powerless to resist. And here, it will damage the nerves in your hand, making it impossible to even grip a weapon.” Starfall stroked his arm, pinching the soft flesh.

"The area around your heart, and this spot is close to vital organs. If I accidentally break your ribs, it could pierce your lungs. Oh, and of course, this is an angle that could easily slice you in half." Starfall patiently explained Ethan's torso. Although he was wearing clothes, some water-soluble pen marks were still visible due to the different colors.

“Make a cut here, over here, and you'll never be able to walk again…”

Starfall recounted the story from beginning to end, his smile growing ever gentler, making Ethan tremble uncontrollably. He no longer dared to ask about the little turtle on his face.

How terrifying! The angry Starfall Lord! Even when he's smiling, he's still terrifying. Ethan feels like he's being dissected by Starfall, and he's patiently learning how to dissect himself.

“Even without a weapon, I can easily kill you with my bare hands.” Starfall’s smile vanished instantly, and killing intent spread out. Ethan was so shocked that he retreated repeatedly.

Xingyun ran a few steps, and because of his height advantage, he ran very fast, overtaking Ethan in no time.

Starfall circled behind Ethan and used his left arm to strangle Ethan's neck, leaving Ethan suspended in mid-air.

Suffocation, a painful feeling of suffocation overwhelmed him. He was being strangled, and the unpleasant sensation in his carotid artery sent waves of discomfort through him, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

It was so painful; my consciousness was fading. Unlike the time when my scumbag father accidentally slashed my neck and blood kept gushing out, along with the strange sound of air leaking from my trachea, this feeling was clearer and more painful.

Ethan had already seen the flashing lights.

I saw Selene in his youth, when he was much younger and more energetic, unlike now, when he is dulled by the hardships of life.

Young Selene turned around, and Ethan couldn't quite make out her face, only seeing his mother's faint smile and gentle call: "Ethan."

Before Ethan completely lost consciousness, Starfall released him and watched as he knelt on the ground, clutching his neck and coughing for a while before finally recovering by breathing in large gulps of fresh air.

"Your practical experience is terrible, extremely terrible." This was the fair assessment of his mentor, who was also the embodiment of his city's will, regarding the lesson.

Ethan struggled to open his eyes to look at him. Starfall was expressionless, just as unapproachable as when they first met. He looked down at him, his deep black eyes reflecting his disheveled appearance.

“You need to learn some medical skills, or at least some anatomy.” Starfall used magic to control several books to fly over and land in front of Ethan. “Otherwise, you will have a hard time gaining the upper hand in battle. You also need to understand animals. For example, you recently defeated that octopus monster, but you still couldn’t find a way to kill it with one blow by the end of the battle.”

Ethan was speechless for a while before managing to squeeze out a hoarse voice from his throat: "...Yes, Lord Starfall."

Seeing Ethan's frustration, Starfall had no intention of softening his stance now; he was getting angrier and angrier during this class.

It's full of flaws. Not to mention him, if you threw Ethan, who has no magic, into Starfall City, Starfall doesn't think Ethan could survive there, especially if they knew he was a guardian, he would die even faster.

Becoming a Guardian and possessing power is not just about that. What Starfall needs is an exceptional Guardian like Ethan, who is capable even without magic. It's not just about surviving, but about perfectly completing the mission without magic.

What about Ethan now? He can't do it, it's cruel, but he really can't.

Ethan has so much to learn, and Starfall has so much to worry about how to teach him.

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Author's Note: Starfall stole my pen! I originally wanted to end this chapter with a perfect hand-to-hand combat, buddy, what happened? How did it turn into Ethan, excited about his first battle, being forced to face reality and realize he's no good?

Oh, and I think I forgot to mention earlier, there was another mage guardian, Gaza, who was actually a necromancer who could summon undead. Ethan's identity as a necromancer stemmed from the fact that he was dead.

The future colleagues couldn't help but marvel at how fiercely they fought.

Ethan: Handsome, right? I really want to learn this; I'm so sick of studying anatomy.

Mini-theater:

Ethan: Lord Starfall, if I become a weak and empty-headed person in the future, will you abandon me?

Xingyun patted his head affectionately: Don't worry, stop with the "what ifs". Right now, you are a little idiot.