I'm almost betting that there was a specific order of training when people entered the military in this constellation. Bing is probably adhering to this training regiment. More often than not, before people begin learning techniques their physical foundation must be established. I'm betting this is currently what Tang Tian is undergoing (the beatings). More than likely techniques will come into play later. It's also entirely possible that the complexity of these particular martial arts (especially some of the higher grade techniques) is so complicated that trying to learn them orally or by demonstration would be a complete waste of time. They can only be transmitted mentally through the use of a card and it's possible that because Bing is a Spirit General he has lost the capability of manifesting one, or he also doesn't possess any. It's also possible that he's not really capable of articulating it. Imagine in the past, that whenever these people wanted to teach a disciple a technique they would simply create a spirit card, so perhaps the art of demonstration and explanation was lost (to the extent that they could accurately convey how to use a technique). Time is treated as such a special commodity in this world, that more than likely his time is better spent solidifying his foundation rather than trying to learn techniques in a very inefficient manner.
Right, which is why I said Bing and not the plate. I'm not saying that he should jump straight to level 7 techniques or anything. I'm just saying that he could teach him the next level of techniques each time he masters the current level. Also, Jiang Hao(?) said that he could interface with the peacock to learn the new guy's finger technique. That should mean that he can also interface with Bing to learn techniques. So learning the old fashioned way shouldn't even be necessary. Though I could see it as Bing stubbornly clinging to the outdated rules of a forgotten empire if the old rules stated that instructors couldn't provide techniques, or could only provide them under certain circumstances.
One thing about Tang Tian is that he has to perfect/gain killing moves of each and every ability he has before moving on, like what he did at the foundational stage. That seems to be the way of leveling up the space he's in and unlocking new areas. He still hasn't mastered all of his level 3 martial abilities yet. Until he's done that, I doubt he'll even consider cultivating level four abilities. I don't think he needs new abilities quite yet, and also in the most recent chapter Jing Hao offered him some old Silver Cards that he had so something tells me that he'll get his rank 4 martial abilities from him. Remember that completing those red counters for the various abilities that appear within the space seems to be the most important goal for Tang Tian right now. The martial ground that he dug to, and the training he's currently undergoing with Bing, from what I remember seem to be for the purpose of extending the time TT can spend in the space (currently only 10 days). I imagine he'll have to complete the training before the time can extend, when the time extends he'll be able to spend more time working on his abilities.
He doesn't though? Remember his second grade palm art? No? Its because he never bothered to master it. Honestly, the current time expansion isn't stated. Bing said that it would be extended by reaching the training grounds, but so far, they haven't said how much it was extended by. Its only said that he's spending about 6 hours a night in the plate. The fact that he's getting the fourth grade cards is what prompted me to ask if they were even necessary. Which I don't think they are, unless Bing is just choosing not to teach him for some reason.
didn't they say before that to teach the Martial arts above level 1 you need to use the cards since it transforms information that you need to use special energy to make. like you can't just instruct someone how to do it otherwise why would the cards be so expensive.
I'm more curious as to the merits the plate provides for mastering a technique. We've seen that in order to gain access to the Hardship Plate he had to master the various foundational techniques totally to a million points, but what do the various counters for the other martial techniques mean? Is he working towards a point total again or are they just keeping track of his mastery of whatever ability it happens to be? Like is there a meaning in mastering lower level martial techniques, or does the space's numbers just act like a progress bar without any rewards upon completion. The exact mechanics of the space are still very unclear to me as the author seems to gloss over a lot of the details. I'm still not even sure exactly how he enters and exits the space, if other people witness him entering/exiting or how exactly the issue of time is addressed in the space. How long he spends during each stint, can he enter at any time, can he exit at any time? I was under the impression that he spent 10 days in, and had to wait 10 days before he could enter again. But you make it sound like he's been regularly going in and out for training, which sounds about right. How does that affect the duration he's allowed to be inside? Really seems like the author could have been explicit about this very easily by just having Bing give a basic overview at some point or something.
@craBebe I get the impression that its just tracking his progress since the only thing that matters for passing is getting to rank 8 and mastering the killing moves of at least 3 rank 8 techniques in three years. If there's any actual benefit to it other than improving his odds of surviving the training, then Bing hasn't mentioned it yet. Time outside stops when he enters, so I doubt anyone outside sees anything since there's literally no time for them to see it. He's also given a 10 day allowance, which he was just blowing all at once. Bing now has him doing it in smaller stints which seem to recharge the meter as fast or faster than he's using it up. I'm not sure if this is because the timer has increased or just because he's not exhausting it any more though. It may also just be an effect of the training ground or Bing may have complete control over his access to the space and its time dilation effect. Part of the MC's quest is to learn more about the plate. If Bing just told him everything there was to know, it would be too easy. Besides, no one really wants to read a massive exposition dump and the more info the author gives, the more thoroughly he paints himself into a literary corner. He's being a bit vague to give himself some breathing room for the future.
One thing though, is that after the 1 million point mark was reached for foundation techniques he was then forced to fight himself to gain access to the rest of the plate. I imagine something similar would happen for rank 2, 3, 4, etc. techniques in the plate as well. I imagine that the training routine he is undergoing with Bing isn't the sole purpose of the plate, just another ability the plate has which Bing suggested to him as the quickest way to raise his power. If you think about the plate offering many different rewards for different achievements, Bing simply suggested a particularly difficult achievement with a very beneficial reward that could help optimize his plate utility. Considering the requirement for completing the training camp is mastery of 3 rank eight skills then Bing must be willing to offer them to him at some point. He seems to be focusing on Claw Arts right now, close to mastery and now that he's fighting these Spirit Beasts it sounds like he'll start mastering loop arts. How Bing will go about recommending his mastery of techniques is still in question, but I'm sure it will be brought up at some point. Since he's looking to become a close combat expert I imagine that he'll focus on mastery of the 5 different melee arts, fist, palm, finger, loop.. and something else, movement? But I think he'll be forced to gain the killing moves in each of these abilities before he's allowed to progress to the next level; just because the plate seems to place so much emphasis on mastery before advancement, otherwise there wouldn't have been so much importance placed on foundation martial arts (unless they're somehow different from ranked martial arts).
There's this part of me that expects him to become the King of the Apes If it happens, I think I'll start calling him Tarzan Hard to say. Time will tell. Concealed Weapons and Light Body Arts were two of them, there was a list of the others in the first two chapters if I remember correctly, but I think fist, palm, finger and throwing arts all fall under unarmed combat. He also learned swords (and possibly other melee weapons?) since that was the very first one he demonstrated. Not sure what the fifth one was or if I've misclassified one of them.
I think those were the fundamental arts that he mastered, but that was before he joined his school and his master suggested him becoming a close combat expert. I don't think close combat experts use weapons, I get the impression that they're like Jiu-Jitsu, Krav maga or MMA fighters; just in a xianxia world they can destroy mountains and shit.
I thought weapons were still included. He's still using concealed weapons after all. He's just not using ranged weapons like bows and stuff. I could have misunderstood though.
Yeah, but he hasn't come across any other free weapons and I can't see him spending money when he doesn't need to, so I don't find it surprising that he's not using a sword or something right now. I'm just not sure if it'll stay that way in the future. If it does, then I think close combat specialist/expert/whatever it was would need a different translation though. Swords are still a close combat weapon after all. So are all other weapons that you don't throw and that don't fire projectiles for that matter.
But when he was gifted the Fornax weapons by the quarry worker he was specifically gifted gloves, while Ao Li was gifted a sword. I don't think that was a case of random weapon gifting, I think close combat experts are specifically bare handed fighters. It also sounds like Sword experts use a lot of Sword Qi to form ranged attacks, so they're not entirely melee fighters.
Barehanded fighters have ranged attacks too. His palm art is one. Also, those weapons aren't exactly cheap. There's no reason to expect that they had multiples of each type lying around. Honestly, I got the impression that both weapons belonged to the one guy and it wouldn't really makes sense to give Ao Li a set of gloves.
Ah, well. Agree to disagree then. I got the impression that these guys all came from that region and happened to have a collection of these fornax weapons and felt that these two kids were suited to wield them. So far the only techniques that TT has been practicing have been bare handed techniques, I feel that if he was going to be using weapons in the future we would see him training with them.
O, I'm not really disagreeing. I'm just not convinced one way or the other yet. Things are certainly headed in the direction you're talking about at the moment though. As for the weapons training, he's only used stuff he's gotten for free. So its hard to say if that's a choice or simply something that happened.
True. And there's the whole "bringing a knife to a fist fight" notion that doesn't seem to be addressed in this story about how fists can go up against swords (I guess the whole Fist Qi thing gets around it) but it seems like using a sword would hands down be more powerful than fist arts. So maybe at some point in the future he will pick up a weapon.