Or at least that's what Arthur thought he said. He couldn't hear Taylor clearly because of his ringing ears and the unruly dog barking in the background.
Arthur shook his head and said, "It's okay."
Then he called out to Ruff, "Down boy. I'm fine."
When Ruff became silent again, the two of them stood aside and waited for more instructions.
Instructor Canes said, "Arthur, good job not exhaling and losing your air after that throwdown. It looks like I haven't wasted the past three months on you."
Then she said to Taylor, "Good job with that throwdown, Taylor. I see that you used his lunge and weight against him. You also didn't punch him and break his neck because of that reckless action. It must have been difficult for you."
Arthur could already imagine how bad things would have been if he had been punched in the head just as he was lunging for Taylor. He felt so much phantom pain imagining it that he winced.
After Instructor Canes was done with compliments, she began pointing out the errors they had made and correcting them. It is what she usually does after a fight.
She started with Author, "Your movements were clumsy. You didn't look like you were fighting at all. You looked as if you were falling down when you lunged for him. It was painful to watch."
"I won't waste much time telling you what you did wrong because you don't know what to do right. You will learn more when you begin the exercise technique. It will teach you how to move properly without wasting so much energy and making so many superfluous movements."
"As for you, Taylor, you did well. Good job. You may return."
Taylor bowed and cupped his hands to her. Then he returned to his seat, leaving Arthur inwardly complaining about being the only one to be criticized.
Instructor Canes seemed to have seen through his thoughts. She asked him, "Are you unreconciled? You can fight someone else again to prove your point. I'll pick someone weaker this time. A loss to a fourth transformation body forger should do the trick."
He shook his head quickly and said, "I have no disagreements with what you said. I'll try again when I know more about the exercise and fighting techniques."
She nodded and said, "You may return."
He performed his due etiquette and returned to his seat. Ruff was very excited to see him return. He rushed up to him barking with unconcealed joy. Arthur sat down and ruffled his fur.
The new girl was looking at him weirdly throughout the process. She didn't stop looking until Instructor Canes asked her a question.
"Did you see how that fight went?"
She nodded.
Instructor Canes asked another question, "Do you know why he lost despite being stronger than his opponent?"
The girl replied, "He was unskilled."
Instructor Canes nodded. "The short answer is that he was unskilled. The long answer is that despite having the superior strength, he didn't know how to use it, and he didn't know how to control it properly."
"Like I said, breathing technique creates strength through transformation, exercise technique helps to move well so strength doesn't go to waste, and fighting technique gives direction so that strength actually achieves what you want it to do."
"In summary, these three—the creation, control, and utilization of force—are the cornerstones of the body-forging state. Without all three of them, the rest will go to waste or be inefficient."
"Now pay attention as every one of them pairs up and fights. Only the top 30 of the three exercises will get one rank 1 major blood pill. But you can also earn benefits by watching their fights and learning from it."
Arthur raised his hand. Instructor Canes saw this and said, "Go on."
He stood up, bowed, and cupped his hands to everyone. Then he asked, "Do I get one for being so young and doing my best?"
Instructor Canes shook her head. "You're too powerful for that. The rank 1 major blood pill won't be a lot of help to you in breaking through to the seventh transformation."
"You should focus on acquiring the second part of the breathing technique to help with your breakthrough. Besides, your mother is rich. She can get a major blood pill for you if you must have it."
He bowed and cupped his hands to her and everyone else before taking his seat. Next he watched everyone else pair up and fight.
Each fight lasted for no more than 30 seconds. It was that short because Instructor Canes didn't want to waste too much time and because she claimed that 30 seconds was all that was needed for victory to be decided in an intensive fight.
He couldn't disagree with her on both counts, especially the latter since his fight had lasted around one second. He also wanted to get the fight over with since he won't be getting anything out of it.
However, he did learn a lot about the fights. The fights were fast-paced with a lot of actions and movements going on in a short amount of time. But he did learn some things from watching them over and over again.
The first thing he learned was that their movements were fluid and fast. That stood out to him the most, probably because the fights were so fast.
The second thing that stood out to him was that the fighters didn't seem to be afraid of pain. They punched and kicked freely and would sometimes injure their opponents.
The last thing that he learned was that instructor Canes was knowledgeable. She was always able to give advice to the fighters after their fight.
He didn't understand most of what she said, but he thought that she must be knowledgeable and skilled to be able to see so many flaws in the fast-paced fights.
After the fights were done, it was time for the exercise. Instructor Canes gave him and the new girl two pieces of paper with illustrations and instructions on how to move their bodies and fight.