CHAPTER 96: Spar - Defence as Offence.

**Jon Constantine’s POV***

In the past few hours, I learned several abnormal things that I found hard to believe if this was reality.

Everything from the System to the monsters sounded like some fantasy, but, when I watched the superhuman abilities displayed by young miss Qew, I tried my best to come to terms with the new reality that would soon dawn upon us.

Through the mystical Origin Sigils that Young Master Jay gave us, we had our physical bodies enhanced, exceeding human limits.

Before the spar began, I took a look at the dark-grey wristband on my wrist that was made of an unknown material.

Young Master Jay called it the ‘2nd Wristband Prototype,’ and it had many technologically advanced features that I had never come across before.

But, the important feature of it was something called 'Simulated Status'. When I mumbled those words, a light-blue hologram hovered on top of the wristband prototype with all the information on my stats and abilities.

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[SIMULATED STATUS]

Name: Jon

Age: 38

Race: Inferior Human (Male)

Level: N/A (Locked until System Assimilation)

Estimated Level: 8 (Mid-Phase; Tier-1)

Strength: 18 (12+6*)

Agility: 18 (11+7*)

Vitality: 18 (10+8*)

Endurance: 18 (11+7*)

Spirit: 18 (8+10*)

Health: 180/180

Stamina: 89/90

Spirit Energy: 90/90 (unlocked due to Origin Sigil)

Luck: 8

Undistributed Stats: 0 (Locked until System Assimilation)

Undistributed Origin Sigil Stats: 170*

INNATE TALENT: Grade-9 Spear Innate Talent (unlocked due to Origin Sigil)

Current Stats Adaptability: 78% (need to reach at least 90% adaptability of current overall stats to distribute more Origin Sigil stats.)

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This 'Simulated Status' feature was to replicate something called that one could access by assimilating with the System.

When I first saw this, I was amazed that the small wristband could show my attributes in statical numbers.

But, the magical aspect was that I could use the Origin Sigil Stats to improve my attributes as long as I willed it, and that would enhance my physical strength, reflexes, speed, and several other aspects.

In the past few hours, I used 38* Origin Sigil stats and improved all my attributes to 18, under the guidance of Young Miss Qew and Young Master Kay.

However, getting used to the improved stats was the hard part, as it took a lot of time.

Moreover, Young Master Jay set a condition on the usage of Origin Sigil stats, so that only by reaching 90% or above in ‘Current Stats Adaptability,’ would we be able to access more of them. It was made to help us gain proper control over our attributes and avoid going through unnecessary pain from stat increase.

Now that all my attributes had 18 stats, I crossed the stat threshold of human capabilities, and my control over them had reached 78%, as shown in the 'Simulated Status,' and that's good enough to execute the fighting techniques I have learned.

As for the spar, I am pretty sure that I could win. But, since Young Master Jay was so confident about the crimson-haired youth in front of me, I didn't look down on my opponent.

Even though Moro looked young and his stance was off, I intended to give it my all, and I didn't have to worry about harming him fatally, since Young Master Jay had said that we have the same amount of stats.

Once I steadied my breathing and prepared myself, I heard, "Fight!!"

Maintaining a proper stance, I slowly approached my opponent and probed him with a few bluffs and faints, to see how he would react and get a read on him.

However, Moro didn't even try to evade, instead, the only thing that greeted me was his unwavering eyes, almost as if he could tell my initial attacks wouldn't reach him and only were a test.

I was surprised by that, but didn't think much about it and took the initiative to launch actual attacks at my opponent.

Moro's stance itself wasn't proper and was full of openings. It could hardly even be called a stance since his posture was almost no different from standing normally.

I threw punch after punch, but not a single one landed on his body that dodged every single one by a hair’s breadth, almost as if he knew where my attacks were headed.

The spar continued, and throughout the first five minutes, I was unable to even graze my opponent's clothes.

I attributed it to coincidence in the beginning, but as time passed, it became clear as to how surprisingly skilled he actually was.

Unlike me, Moro didn't even sweat, since his movements were minimalistic to the core.

That was when it became clear to me why Young Master Jay wanted me to spar with him.

While I was catching my breath, Young Master Jay said something I didn't see coming.

He looked at everyone and said, "All of you except Qew and Kay, go join the ongoing spar at once, against Moro. It's now 5 v 1."

Everyone was taken aback by his announcement but still listened to him and joined the fight alongside me.

I nodded at Esha, Ravan, and the twins and surrounded Moro, attacking him by coordinating with each other.

This time, Moro didn't just evade but defended himself without attacking us.

In the beginning, it seemed like he was being overwhelmed by us, but as time passed, I began to feel numbing pain in my muscles and arm joints.

Looking at the expressions of the others, I could see that they are all in the same situation as me.

I didn't understand how he did that since he was doing nothing but defending himself.

The spar continued for another few minutes, in which each and every one of us continued to get hurt more and more. The first ones to fall were the twins as they fell on the floor with exhaustion and grunting pain.

Following them was Esha, and then the only ones standing up against Moro were Ravan and me, but we were barely hanging on.

I wasn't able to believe that even with all five of us attacking together, none of us managed to land even a single hit on him.

On top of that, he didn't even fight back, all he did was defend himself.

I thought back to Young Master Jay's words before the spar started, 'You are right Uncle Jon, maybe Moro is inexperienced as a security personnel, but you are gravely mistaken about his combat standards.'

I couldn't help but recognise the talent of the crimson-haired youth who was calmly standing in front of me. It was evident that Moro didn't even have to fight seriously. In terms of combat, he was far ahead of anyone I have ever seen.

Right after that, Young Master Jay said while looking at all of us, "Alright, now that all of you can see the point I want to prove, let's wrap it up, shall we?"

Following that, each of us was given two fruits that resembled peaches. One was red, and the other one was green, and both of them had shiny glints on them.

Once I ate them, my stamina recovered under a minute, and pain in my muscles and arm joints that I had received from the spar receded.

After that, Young Master Jay explained how we had lost even though Moro was just defending from our attacks while replaying a recording of the spar.

Only after Young master Jay’s explanation did I learn that Moro wasn't simply defending but positioning the strongest parts of his arms like knuckles and elbows to the weakest links in our attacks, causing muscle inflammation and joint pain, which lead to exhausting us much faster than usual.

Young Master Jay called the method that Moro used 'Defence as Offence', and to put that into action, one needs a high amount of control over their body and balance between all five main attributes.

But, it didn’t end at that; every single movement Moro did during the spar was extremely clean and precise and used the least amount of effort one needed to expend.

Only after Young Master Jay pointed it out did I realise how unbelievable Moro's fighting skills were.

Then, Young Master Jay said, "By now, you all should have seen for yourselves what it is like to face a true expert of close combat. So, I hope you all shouldn't have any qualms with training under Moro.

Other than being Kay's security personal, Moro will personally train you all from tomorrow."

After that, he looked at Young Miss Qew and Young Master Kay before saying, "That includes both of you as well, I didn't ask you to join the spar because both of you have only trained with me for a few days and don't have any real combat experience. Honestly speaking, the two of you couldn't even hold a candle in a spar with Moro. So, from tomorrow onwards you will also be training extra hard under Moro's guidance."

Young miss Qew pouted for a second before nodding with determination.

After that, Kethu broke the silence and approached Moro while laughing, “Young man, that’s quite some expertise you have. I admire you for that. If you want any help, you can ask me anytime. Also, no need to use any honorifics with me and just call me Brother, eh.”

Rahu intervened, “What?? You are calling yourselves his brother? Didn’t Young Master Kay say that Moro is 22 years old? You are 14 years older than him, old enough for him to call you Uncle. How shameless can you be? You should be called ‘Uncle Shameless’.”

Kethu’s mouth spasmed at Rahu’s quirky reply, and the twins began to banter at each other.

While they were at it, I asked Moro how long he had trained to have such fighting experience and capabilities.

Moro replied with a straight face, “I have never trained in my life.”

Hearing his words, all five of us core security personnel exclaimed loudly, “What?!!!!”