Once the instructor showed Yuan how to hold the staff, he swung the staff around in a slow but precise manner, allowing Yuan to see every single one of his movements more clearly.
A few minutes later, the instructor stopped his movements and turned to look at Yuan before handing him the staff.
"Here. I showed a little more than I was supposed to, but I wanted to give you a grasp of what it means to wield a staff."
After Yuan accepted the staff, the instructor went to grab another one for himself.
"Am I holding this properly?" Yuan asked.
"Yes, that's perfect. Now let's start with the basic movements."
The instructor then executed a single strike with the staff before freezing in that position..
Yuan followed his movements and executed the same strike with perfection.
Of course, it was only a basic movement, so it wasn't that impressive.
"Here's a follow-up."
The instructor resumed his movements and swung the staff again.
Yuan followed.
The two of them would continue in this manner until they executed most of the basic movements.
"Now try to do it all at once without any long pauses." The instructor said to him.
Yuan nodded and took a moment to remember all of the movements. Once he was ready, he started swinging the staff around with precise and smooth movements.
Although the techniques were the basics, they looked like it was performed by an expert.
'This guy…' The instructor was amazed by how fast of a learner Yuan was.
It had only been a few minutes since they started, yet Yuan was already performing like he was an expert.
"How did I do?" Yuan asked the dazed instructor after performing the basic techniques.
"N-Not bad. I don't have anything to say, which is a good thing. Practice like that a few more times and we'll move to the next step."
"Okay."
Yuan began swinging the staff around again.
About ten minutes later, the instructor stopped him and started showing him more advanced techniques.
This continued for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, on the fourth floor, Meixiu was doing much better than the previous day.
"Looks like you're back to normal. I hope you've solved whatever was troubling you." The instructor said to her.
"Thank you for your concern." Meixiu nodded.
At the end of the day, Meixiu went to the first floor to meet up with Yuan like usual, but when she arrived, Yuan wasn't there.
'Where did he go?' Meixiu looked around while pondering. She couldn't imagine Yuan leaving without her.
When the instructor there noticed Meixiu looking around, he approached her and said, "If you're looking for Player Yuan, he's on the third floor."
"Third floor?" Meixiu tried to recall what was on the third floor, but she completely forgot.
After thanking the instructor for his information, Meixiu went back up to two more floors until she arrived at the third floor.
When she opened the door and entered the gymnasium, she was surprised to see a large crowd gathered at the center of the room.
This instantly piqued Meixiu's interest, so she approached the crowd to see what they were all looking at with such intensity.
Whoosh!
In the center of the crowd, Yuan was in the middle of sparring with a bulky man, both of them wielding a spear.
"Ha!"
The instructor stepped forward to thrust his spear at Yuan, but Yuan perfectly deflected the attack with his own spear and with relative ease.
After defending against the attack, Yuan swung his spear in a wide arc, suddenly stopping a few inches away from the man's body, barely missing him due to how flexible the spear was.
"You win… Again." The bulky man lowered his spear with a defeated smile on his face, but one could see clear excitement within his eyes.
"Thank you for the experience." Yuan lowered his spear and clasped his hand to the instructor.
"No, I should be thanking you. It's been a while since I have experienced such an overwhelming defeat." The instructor returned the bow.
"Anyways, are you sure today is your first time using polearms? If that's true… You're truly a monster amongst monsters…" The instructor joked in a serious voice.
"Yes, today is my first time using this kind of weapon. I usually use the sword or dagger… sort of." Yuan confirmed.
"Well, either way, you are now even better than me, an instructor. Besides the Grand Elder, I don't think there is anyone in this place that can match you."
It was at this moment Yuan noticed Meixiu standing in the crowd.
"It's time I go. Once again, thank you for teaching me how to use polearms."
The crowd around them made a clear path when they noticed Yuan walking towards them.
"Let's go home, shall we?" Yuan said to Meixiu, who nodded.
Chu Liuxiang and Sebastian followed them from behind.
"That was an amazing performance today. As expected of you, Brother Yuan." Chu Liuxiang said to him after they left the building, as she'd watched him train for the whole day.
Yuan smiled behind his mask and said, "To be completely honest with you, even though I have never held a staff or spear until today, I felt oddly comfortable with it the moment I held it in my hands, almost like I have used them before. It was like that when I first picked up the sword inside Cultivation Online."
"That's what you call a true genius, Brother Yuan. No matter what you touch, you master it with ease!" Chu Liuxiang said in a cheerful voice.
And she continued, "It was like that back at the orphanage, too. You would learn the harmonica and every single new instrument the same day you got it. Is there anything you cannot learn with ease?"
'Common sense…' Meixiu said inwardly after hearing Chu Liuxiang's question.
Sometime later, they returned home to take a quick shower before heading to the Silver Restaurant for dinner.