"Dragon clan's combat skills... one-on-one, group, assassination... "
Dean was shocked as he read from top to bottom. The set of dragon combat skills was like set of arts for hunting and fightings. It included all aspects of battle.
"Generations of members of the clan had modified, reproduced, added and removed the skills making them simply perfect! It would take two or three decades to perfectly learn all of these skills!"
Dean's blood surged and heart beat increased as he checked the skills. The systemical way in which they had described the skills was in no way inferior to the scientific system of the old era.
Normally, an ordinary person would spend 11-12 years for the compulsory education and barely pass the threshold. Afterwards they had to focus on a field of expertise for years in university to barely understand the field but couldn't completely comperehend it!
An ordinary stroke, fist fights and other types were divided and explained into the extreme. The main weapon used by the Dragon clan seems to be spears from the skill book but knives, swords, blades, sticks and other weapons could be applied to this skill sets.
The most important point was that the techniques differed for various types of monsters. There were techniques to fight against pythons, tigers and other monsters that liked to ambush and attack.
"It's way too complicated ..." Dean was shocked. He assumed that the efficiency in which he can learn this skills would be fast. However it would never be unless he integrated all these skill sets into one type. However that was impossible as he had to remove excessive and details moves and carefully craft a new fighting style.
The dragon clan had put the wisdom of three hundred years into art system. This skill set was similar to an empire which had foundation of 300 years.
"The geniuses, fighters, warriors and all other members of the dragon clan had put their insights into this skill sets ..." Dean stared at the scrolls. He thought that Dragon clan was created by a genius fighter and the later generations have expanded and systemized the man's skills keeping the essence.
The future generations could learn from this very easily in comparison to other skill sets and techniques.
The fatal moves weren't much. However to make those fatal hits there had to be battle process that lead to that specific condition to make the deadly punch, kick or stab.
"A systematic combat art which is rich enough to comprehend all areas of the battle..." Dean's eyes lit up. It was undeniable that all of the techniques had great roles in different environments. But he would need a long time to learn all of them.
Twenty years wouldn't be enough if he wanted to be proficient in all of them.
"I have to find the most needed technique or skill set to learn in the shortest possible time!" Dean wasn't from the Dragon clan so he didn't need to learn all the techniques and skill sets. He needed to think about possible dangers that he would face in the future and choose the appropriate combat art.
In the future, he wasn't going to meet monsters but humans!
The monsters were outside the giant wall but humans were not!
If he wanted to stand on top then he would fight with people! Afterwards he could drive others to fight the monsters outside the giant wall!
What was efficiency?
Efficiency meant that he had to choose the best route to reach the peak!
"I can manage the monsters by using my mind." Dean's eyes lit up. He wanted to be at the peak within the giant wall so he was bound to fight against countless people. It was not an easy feat and it would be much more difficult than fighting against the monsters.
The information about the monsters were recorded in the atlas so he could use that information, knowledge and his brain to make traps to kill them.
However humans were different. Each person had different and hidden magic mark abilities. That's why each enemy would be different than other which was precisely why the humans were difficult to deal with.
Dean frowned as he looked once more at the scroll. He didn't study it but pondered: "The most suitable weapon for the dragon clan's combat style is the spear. But using another weapon means a bit of change. I don't want to delay my time with small things..."
"One on one, group, assassination... I will have to challenge the major forces of the inner wall in the future. I will inevitable face enemies in different situation. I may learn fighting against a group, one on one... Assassination is suitable for physical attacks where the strength of the enemy is greater than mine... "
He frowned as he focused on these three skill sets. He felt that all three of them were indispensable. However it would take him two or three years to master all three of them.
"Efficiency ..." Dean bowed his head as he pondered. His eyes lit up: "I can delay the assassination skill set for future. I can use the new item to make up for the 'assassination' skill set..."
"One on one could be delayed too!"
"I have to focus on one against a group... I would be inferior in case I fight against a single enemy but with the help of the new invention I can kill them!"
His eyes lit up as he found the short-term solution. He rolled the scroll to the section where dragon clan's one against a group skill set was displayed. He carefully looked at the postures and the explanations.
Time passed as Dean was completely immersed in the skill set.
The skill set wasn't just limited to one or two posture. Theoretical summary and explanation of the skill set was extremely detailed. For example, in case you were against a pair of enemies then you had to choose the most efficient posture against the enemy while taking into account their style too. That's why the more the enemies the possibilities and ways to counterattack increased.
"One against two, one against three, one against four ..." Dean slowly went through the details. He didn't rush to practice but read it back and forth to deeply understand and memorize the battle postures.
After repeated reader he faintly caught some insight into the battle art.
"That's the thing ... " Dean smiled as he gradually realized the problem that he couldn't understand. No matter how many people you were against, the postures and styles changed but the core of the skill set was always the same.
The core was the essence of the battle against the group!
"In short there is not much of a different between fighting against a group or a single enemy. In a one-on-one battle you fight against a person while theoratically in a battle against the group you can fight against...the heavens! "
"The wind, air and other variables have to be taken into the account in fight against all the enemies. Excluding yourself everything has to be exterminated!"
Dean was kind of enlightened. The art style was similar to a scientific research. It was like looking at a solution of problem through several chemical formulas. He felt that combat and sciene were no different in some ways.
You had to find the core essence and the commond ground. Afterwards all the formulas, postures and everything else was just an eye-catching moves!
It was true that the extra moves were very practical as they were refined for the last three hundred years. But it didn't mean that you must use them in the battle!
But as a result of culmination of the knowledge after hundreds of years the extra moves seemed to have practical value. That's why they thought that all these extra moves were part of the core essence and couldn't give up on them.
That's why the art had become too complex and needed a lot of time to be grasped and learned.