Chapter 451: Close-Combat Training: How to Use Armor During Battle

"Aoni, let's start now!" Jier said, clapping his hands.

Aoni nodded.

Jier held up a finger: "First question: do you know the specific defensive capabilities of the Armor you are wearing?"

Jier's first question stumped Aoni; only then did he realize one thing—he truly did not know the defensive power of the Hard Cowhide Armor he had seized from the Bandit leader.

He only knew that ever since he put on this Armor, he had not been injured in any battles against Bandits.

Aoni shook his head, and Jier wore an expression of 'just as I expected': "I knew it, just like me at the beginning."

Jier shrugged, asked the two to wait a moment, then went over to Xueya Site to say something; soon, Xueya Site brought Jier some scattered weapons.

There were Daggers, Short Swords, Wooden Clubs, Iron-wrapped Short Clubs, Long Swords, and Cleavers. Some were Xueya Site's own, and some he had borrowed on the spot from the drivers of the Refugee Team.

Upon seeing these items, even the dullest person would understand what Jier was about to do. Aoni said awkwardly: "Knight Jier, is this really necessary? Besides, hehe, if I break this Armor now, there's nowhere to get it repaired!"

Jier nodded, but his hands did not stop their preparations: "Yes, it's hard to repair. But don't worry, I am only conducting a simple test for you; it won't hurt you, and your 'precious' Armor will only be tested in places not easily harmed by enemies."

Afterward, Jier lifted a Wooden Club and said to Aoni: "Come, let's start with blunt weapons. Look, this is the most common type of Wooden Stick, something used by gangs and thugs everywhere."

Seeing that Knight Jier was serious, Aoni looked to Weier for help, but Weier just smiled and shrugged without taking any other action.

With no other choice, Aoni had to bite the bullet and say to Knight Jier: "My lord, you are strong, please be gentle."

Jier nodded with a grin, tapping his own palm lightly with the club: "Where shall we start?"

Aoni hurriedly extended his arm: "Let's start with the forearm! I'm ready!"

Seeing Aoni's look of pity for his Armor and his helplessness, Jier shrugged, truly 'gently' gripped the Wooden Stick, and tapped Aoni's forearm.

Crack!

"Eh? It doesn't hurt?" Aoni watched Knight Jier strike, having prepared himself for pain, but he felt nothing! Not even the slightest sensation, so he looked at Knight Jier, wanting to see if the Knight was joking with him.

But Jier just shook his head: "I'm not joking with you. I accurately controlled the force, using the strength of an ordinary person swinging to strike your arm. How is it? Is it a bit beyond your expectations?"

"Ah, oh, right, right, so that's it?" Aoni finally reacted; after putting on a set of Armor, if an ordinary person used a Wooden Stick to strike him, the result would only be this much 'damage'?

"I don't feel a thing!" He immediately became smug and loudly added this sentence.

Jier and Weier, standing next to Aoni, exchanged a look, then Jier used a bit more force and struck Aoni's arm heavily: "How about this? This is the full-force blow of an average person."

Crack!

"Hiss—" Aoni gasped; his boast of feeling absolutely nothing seemed to still echo in his ears, but the pain in his arm brought him back to reality.

"This time it hurts a bit!"

Jier nodded: "But whether you are actually injured is hard to say. Unfasten and take off your Forearm Armor and see how the arm underneath looks?"

Aoni obediently unfastened the Armor on his forearm. He took off his Glove, unbuckled the straps, and removed the Armor from his arm. He rolled up his sleeve and saw that the forearm of his left hand was only slightly red, but not truly injured.

"How is it? Now you know what kind of defensive boost your Armor can provide when a weapon like this hits you with average force versus a full-force blow," Jier said, pointing to the red spot on his arm.

Aoni nodded, but then Jier took the club and, with a moderate amount of force, tapped every component of the Armor on Aoni's body.

"Hey, hey, hey, ah, Knight Jier, you didn't warn me beforehand." Aoni was helpless, but as the club tapped his Armor, he wasn't truly injured, just feeling some pain in certain spots.

Jier tapped in turn on Aoni's Forearm Armor, Upper Arm Armor, shoulder guards, Helmet, front of the Chest Armor, back of the Chest Armor, Abdominal Armor, Skirt Armor, Leg Armor, and Greaves—all the large Armor components—letting Aoni directly experience exactly how well his Armor's parts protected him.

"This is the threat posed when a club hits your Armor. How is it? Is the Armor very effective?" Jier asked.

Aoni shook his head: "But the force was still absorbed by me; it hurts a bit."

"Blunt weapons like clubs are like that. Even if they don't do much damage to the Armor itself, or none at all, the force of the strike on the Armor is still transmitted to the body underneath, causing simple injuries like bruises and contusions. Usually, if you leave them alone, they'll heal in a couple of days. Of course, the next one is different."

Jier tossed the Wooden Stick aside, then picked up the Iron-wrapped Club and raised it to show Aoni: "This one is formidable. It's also a blunt weapon, but because the striking end is wrapped in metal, its power is increased accordingly. If there were no Armor protection, if someone used this to beat another person with force, the other person would have their limbs broken. If it hits the head, the person could fall unconscious or die."

Hearing Jier say this, Aoni felt a bit scared. He waved his hands, hoping to skip this weapon, but Jier pointed to Bata'er Jiaoshi, who was praying by the campfire in the distance: "Don't be afraid. After the training is over, just find Bata'er Jiaoshi to heal you."

Having said that, Jier struck Aoni's right forearm with one blow. Crack!

"Ah! That hurts!" Aoni cried out in pain. At Jier's signal, he unfastened the Armor and rolled up his sleeve. This time, the spot hit by the Iron-wrapped Club was bruised and visibly slightly swollen.

Jier shook his head: "Your Armor has a certain level of protection, but it doesn't offer much against blunt weapons. So, Aoni, you need to be careful of enemies using similar weapons in the future. Additionally, when using Armor for protection in battle, you must also pay attention to angling the Armor, creating a slanted angle between the enemy's weapon and the Armor. This can, to a certain extent, deflect the enemy's attack and prevent them from landing their full force on the Armor. Otherwise, your body will still have to bear the force in the end."

Aoni nodded, indicating he understood.

Afterward, Jier used the Iron-wrapped Club to strike the other Armor components on Aoni's body with moderate force. This time, because the weapon was more powerful, Aoni discovered more clearly that the defensive power between the Armor components also varied.

The Chest Armor, Upper Arm Armor, and Leg Armor were the thickest; even when struck by the Iron-wrapped Club, it didn't hurt much. But other components didn't have as good protection, and after checking them, he found that each spot had sustained a certain degree of injury.

Next, the weapon was changed to a Dagger. This thing looked scary, but when it actually poked at Aoni's Armor, Aoni couldn't feel a single bit of pain.

"I don't feel anything at all. This time I'm not being smug; I really don't feel anything." Aoni spoke the truth this time, and Jier nodded in agreement: "That's normal. If a set of Armor couldn't even block a Dagger's stab, then it would be completely useless."

They continued to use the Dagger to poke the other Armor components in turn; even the Abdominal Armor, which had weak protection to allow for flexibility, perfectly blocked the Dagger's stabs.

"It seems the Armor is still useful after all," Aoni said.

Jier rolled his eyes: "If it had no use, wouldn't wearing it be a burden? Even if you wrapped yourself in a dozen kilograms of cloth, it would provide a certain amount of protection, let alone cowhide that has been specially hardened. Do you dare to make a bet to see if the next three weapons—the Short Sword, Long Sword, and Cleaver—can penetrate the Armor and hurt you?"

Aoni looked troubled and shook his head vigorously: "No bet, no bet."

Jier looked at Weier, signaling to see if he would bet.

Weier also shook his head: "I don't have much money in my pocket, so I won't bet."

Jier felt a bit regretful, but there was nothing he could do. In the team, besides him having money, only Xueya Site might have some. Bata'er Jiaoshi might not even have any money in his pockets.

They had previously wiped out quite a few Bandits, but half of the seized coins were taken by Jier. Of the remaining half, most had to be counted toward the overall use of the Refugee Team—for example, rewarding citizens who worked diligently or those who did things well—and money could also be used to drive citizens to do other work. Only the remaining portion of the money was counted as loot to be distributed to the members of the fighting Armed Squad.

Of course, the scattered coins they seized from the Bandits themselves didn't count; those were their own.

Jier then picked up the Short Sword from the ground and gestured with it at Aoni, causing Aoni a bout of worry. But he didn't dare run away, so he could only smile sheepishly at Jier and say: "Lord Jier, Lord Jier, please don't gesture with that Short Sword at me; it looks too scary."

Jier smiled: "Scary? That's because you don't understand your own Armor yet. You won't be afraid in a moment. Come, here goes!"

Saying that, Jier held the Short Sword and slashed at Aoni's arm. First, he slashed once, then poked once.

Aoni was stunned for a moment, then ecstatic: "Hey, it doesn't hurt! It turns out the difference between a Short Sword and a Dagger isn't that big; neither hurts much when they hit!"

Jier gave a light hum: "Of course it's like that. If Armor could be easily broken by weapons that have no weight, no sharpness, and no speed, then what would be the point of having Armor?"

He added another sentence: "Of course, this is the effect when hitting the Armor. In a real battle, the enemy won't specifically choose to attack the places where your protection is thick and the target is large, but will specifically look for places on your body that are not protected by Armor to stab or slash. You must understand this point."

"I certainly know that, and I'm not stupid. If the enemy specifically picks the places where my protection is weak to attack, I will dodge and actively move the parts with strong protection toward them. Will they choose to attack? Will they choose to?"

Aoni began to spout nonsense with a laugh.

Jier smiled, then continued to use the Short Sword to hack and stab at different parts of Aoni's armor, letting Aoni get a feel for the protection provided by the armor on various parts of his body.

Then came the Long Sword; this time, Aoni could not laugh.

Jier also turned serious: "The next part is different. Because the Long Sword has a longer reach and greater lethality, it might not necessarily injure you, but it will likely cause partial damage to your armor."

"Then what should I do?" Aoni was a bit nervous, and Weier also moved slightly closer, wanting to see clearly what specific damage the Long Sword could cause to the armor, as he himself fought using a Long Sword.

"I will try my best to test it on the unimportant parts of your armor." After Jier finished speaking, he raised the Long Sword and thrust it toward Aoni's armor.

"Hiss—" Aoni sucked in a cold breath, which made Weier's eyes widen.

But Jier asked with disdain: "Does it hurt?"

Aoni shook his head: "It doesn't hurt."

"Then what are you hissing for?" Jier said with dissatisfaction.

"I'm heartbroken for my precious armor! Sir Knight, be gentle, I have to rely on it to fight."

Jier waved his hand: "Think clearly, you are not relying on a suit of armor to fight; you are relying on yourself to fight. The armor is just a tool, a tool to help you win the fight. What is truly important, the core of the battle, is you yourself. Stop fretting over the armor, watch out!"

Having said that, Jier slashed out with the sword, accurately controlling his strength while aiming at the target position.

With a ripping sound, a cut half a fingernail long was left on the surface of the Hard Cowhide Armor on Aoni's left forearm. Seeing this damage to the armor, Aoni became anxious: "It's over, it's over, it's over, it's over..."

Jier rolled his eyes: "Look at the position clearly; it is on the inside of your arm. In the vast majority of situations, this area will not be hit by an enemy. It doesn't matter, why are you so nervous?"

Having been told this by Knight Jier, Aoni realized that this position was indeed facing inward. Because it was always facing toward himself, it would be difficult for an enemy to hit this spot unless he spread his arms to let the enemy attack.

"That's good, that's good."

"Does it hurt?" Jier asked.

"Ah? Oh, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. But the problem is, why doesn't it hurt? Clearly, the weight of the Long Sword is about the same as the weight of the Iron-wrapped Club, but one cannot hurt me yet can damage the armor, while the other cannot cause damage to the armor but can injure me?" Aoni posed the question.

Jier snapped his fingers: "Good question. The key is that the Long Sword relies on a sharp blade to hack and cut to cause damage, while the Iron-wrapped Club relies on the strike to transmit force to the enemy's flesh to cause damage. Their different structures mean that even if their weights are similar, their principles of destruction are different. The Hard Cowhide Armor can defend against the cutting of ordinary sharp blades, and it can also protect against a certain amount of force impact caused by objects. But it has a limit."

Jier shook his finger: "Once this limit is exceeded, the surface of the armor will be split or cut open by the sharp blade, or the force of the impact will pass through the armor, directly damaging the skin and muscles beneath the armor, or even the bones."

Aoni and Weier both nodded in realization, understanding it now.

But then Jier added: "But you must not fret over minor damage to the armor. You must know that in battle, as long as you can trade partial damage to your armor for an enemy's life, then you have profited, and profited greatly!"

Yet Aoni still felt heartbroken for his suit of armor.

Regarding this, Jier shook his head secretly, feeling that Aoni's mindset was problematic at this moment. Although the armor contributed to him obtaining the position of Warrior Captain, it was more because he himself was comprehensively more outstanding than others, not simply because of the armor.

But Aoni did not seem to feel he was outstanding at all, simply believing that it was because he possessed a suit of Hard Cowhide Armor different from others that Knight Jier chose him as the captain of the Warrior squad.

This was wrong.

Hopefully, Aoni will be able to understand this principle in the future.

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? (End of this chapter)