Chapter 611: Vital point technique part 2

A recruit from the red group stepped forward after a moment’s hesitation. Big guy, probably farm-raised based on his build and the sun-weathered skin of someone who’d worked outdoors his whole life. His arms were thick from years of manual labor, shoulders broad, hands callused. He wore his red armband with obvious pride.

"What’s your name, son?" Valen asked.

"Tomas, sir. From the northern territories, up near the mountain passes."

"And what’s your magic, Tomas?"

"Strength enhancement, sir. Makes me about three times stronger than my normal baseline. I’ve been able to do it since I was twelve."

"Good, that’s the kind of power that keeps you alive in close combat. Show us what you’ve got."

Tomas rolled his shoulders, cracked his knuckles, and approached the board. He planted his feet shoulder-width apart, his body settling into a stance that suggested he’d thrown plenty of punches in his life. His muscles visibly swelled as magic flowed through them, veins standing out on his forearms, his shirt stretching tight across his back.

He pulled his fist back and threw a straight punch at the scaled board with everything he had.

THUNK.

The impact was solid, meaty, the kind of sound that came from hitting something that absolutely did not want to move. The board shook slightly in its frame, the wooden supports creaking, but the scales showed no damage. Not a scratch, not a dent, not even a discoloration where his fist had landed. The water container behind remained perfectly intact, not even a ripple disturbing its surface.

Tomas stepped back, shaking his hand and wincing.

"Like punching stone," he muttered, flexing his fingers to make sure nothing was broken. "No, harder than stone. Like punching an iron wall."

Valen nodded, his expression sympathetic but unsurprised. "Good effort. Three times normal strength is respectable, but dragon scales laugh at that level of force. Next."

’Interesting,’ Noah thought, watching Tomas return to the group nursing his hand. ’His enhancement is significant, probably equivalent to what a low-level awakened in my timeline could manage without specialized training. But the dragon scale absorbed it completely. No give at all. Tomas probably hits with what, maybe two thousand pounds of force? Three thousand? And it did absolutely nothing.’

More recruits tried. A girl with fire magic stepped up, her hands igniting with flames that burned hot enough to make the air shimmer around her. She conjured the fire around her fist, the flames coating her skin without burning her, and struck the scales.

The fire washed over the surface, flames spreading across the dark scales like water, and for a moment it looked impressive. Heat radiated outward, making nearby recruits step back. But when the flames died down and she pulled her smoking hand away, the scales were unchanged. Not scorched, not cracked, not even warm to the touch when Valen pressed his palm against them.

"Most dragon scales are resistant to elemental attacks," Valen explained as the girl returned to the group looking dejected. "They have to be. Dragons breathe fire, ice, lightning depending on their type. If their own scales couldn’t handle those elements, they’d cook themselves every time they attacked. Next."

An ice user tried a different approach. He pressed both palms against the board and channeled his magic, frost spreading from his hands across the scales. Within seconds, the entire board was covered in a thick layer of ice, icicles forming along the edges, the temperature dropping noticeably in the immediate area.

Then he stepped back and delivered a powerful kick to the center of the frozen board.

CRACK.

The ice shattered, fragments flying in all directions. But beneath the ice, the dragon scales remained untouched. Not a single crack, not a chip, nothing to suggest the attempt had any effect whatsoever.

"Creative," Valen acknowledged, "but dragon scales don’t become brittle from cold. They’re already crystalline in structure at a molecular level. Temperature changes don’t affect them the way they would normal materials. Next."

A boy with what he called vibrational magic approached. He was thin, almost fragile-looking, but his eyes held confidence. He pressed his palm flat against the center of the scaled board and began channeling energy.

The air around his hand started to shimmer, a visible distortion like heat haze but moving in rhythmic waves. A low humming filled the training yard, a sound Noah could feel in his chest, vibrating through his bones. The frequency increased, climbing higher, the wooden frame beginning to rattle.

The boy held it for maybe thirty seconds, sweat beading on his forehead from the effort, before finally stepping back gasping.

The scales showed no damage.

’Vibrational magic is fascinating,’ Noah observed, genuinely impressed by the technique even if it hadn’t worked. ’In theory, it should be devastating. Everything has a resonant frequency. Hit that frequency with enough sustained energy and you can shatter almost anything. I’ve seen buildings collapse from resonance weapons, seen armor crack apart when the frequency matched its molecular structure. But dragon scales must have some kind of dampening property, some aspect of their composition that disperses vibrational energy instead of amplifying it.’

More recruits tried and failed. A boy with what looked like earth magic tried to create stone spikes that would pierce through the scales from behind, but the spikes shattered against the dragon skin without leaving a mark. A girl with wind magic gathered air pressure into a concentrated blast that would have knocked over a horse, but the scales didn’t budge.

Someone with lightning magic, a tall recruit with wild hair, channeled electricity through his body until his whole form crackled with blue-white energy. He struck the scales with both hands, releasing a blast that lit up the entire training yard.

The lightning scorched the wooden frame black, left burn marks on the ground, and made everyone’s hair stand on end from the residual charge. But the dragon scales absorbed the electrical discharge without showing any damage.

After twenty attempts, no one had managed even a scratch.

Noah watched each attempt carefully, analyzing the attacks, trying to understand exactly what level of force these scales could withstand. ’That lightning strike was powerful. Easily fifty thousand volts, maybe more. Enough to kill a person instantly, enough to melt steel. Nothing. The earth spikes hit with concentrated force that should have at least cracked the surface. Nothing. Tomas’s enhanced punch, the fire, the ice, the vibrations. All of them failed completely.’

He found himself genuinely curious about the scales’ composition. ’How tough are they exactly? What would it actually take to break through?’

"Nami," Valen called, checking his list. "You’re up."

Noah’s roommate stepped forward, her yellow armband marking her as a ranged specialist. She pulled a small knife from her belt, simple steel, nothing fancy. Then her magic activated.

The knife began to glow, a soft blue light surrounding the blade. Nami’s expression went distant, focused, and she drew her arm back. The knife left her hand with incredible speed, moving so fast it was barely a blur.

TINK.

The knife struck dead center on the scales, the sound sharp and metallic. For a moment, Noah thought it might have penetrated, but when the knife clattered to the ground, the scales showed only a tiny scratch, barely visible, superficial damage that didn’t even penetrate the first layer.

"Good control," Valen said, nodding with approval. "That’s proper yellow knight technique. Enhanced velocity, pinpoint accuracy. Against most targets, that knife would have buried itself hilt-deep. Against dragon scales, you barely left a mark. But that’s better than most people managed. Next."

Nami returned to stand beside Noah, her expression frustrated.

"At least you scratched it," Noah said quietly.

"A scratch. I put everything into that throw and I got a scratch that will disappear the next time someone polishes the damn thing."

More recruits tried. The attempts became more desperate, more creative. Someone tried combining fire and ice simultaneously, creating thermal shock. The scales didn’t care. Someone else tried hitting the same spot repeatedly, hoping to weaken it through accumulated damage. After ten strikes, the spot looked identical to the rest of the board.

"This is impossible," someone muttered loud enough to be heard. "Nobody can break through dragon scales. We’re all going to die our first time facing one."

"That’s the point," Valen said, his voice carrying across the yard. "This is reality. This is what you’ll face. Dragons are not beasts you can overwhelm with standard tactics. They require something more, which is why we’re going to teach you the Vital Point Technique. But first, I want everyone to understand exactly what you’re up against."

He scanned the remaining recruits who hadn’t attempted the challenge yet.

"We’ve got maybe twenty people left who haven’t tried. Anyone else want to take a shot before we move on to actual instruction?"

Recruits exchanged glances, most of them looking reluctant after witnessing so many failures.

"What about you, Burt?" Valen called out, his eyes landing on Noah. "The recruit who supposedly has the best aptitude among this year’s group. Let’s see what the potential Black Knight can do."

Every eye in the training yard turned to Noah. He felt the weight of their attention, their curiosity mixed with skepticism. Some probably wanted him to succeed, to prove it was possible. Others probably wanted him to fail, to bring him down from the pedestal the instructors had placed him on.

Noah stepped forward, approaching the scaled board slowly. Up close, he could see more details. The scales overlapped in a pattern that created gaps where individual scales met, but those gaps were covered by the layer beneath. Multiple layers of protection, each one reinforcing the others. The surface had a slight texture, not smooth like polished metal, more like fine-grained stone.

He reached out and pressed his palm against the scales, feeling the surface. Cool to the touch despite all the attacks that had been launched at it. Solid, unyielding, with a weight behind it that suggested incredible density.

’I can sense something,’ Noah realized, extending his awareness carefully. ’A dormant energy. Not active, not flowing, but present throughout the material. This dragon, whatever it was, was powerful when it was alive. Maybe not ancient, Valen said it was only sixty years old, but sixty years for a dragon is still significant. This thing probably fought dozens of battles, killed hundreds of opponents, survived everything the world threw at it until three knights finally brought it down.’

He stepped back, considering his options.

’Could I break it if I went all out? If I channeled chi, hit it with everything I actually have?’ The answer was probably yes. But that would reveal abilities he couldn’t explain as Burt, the tavern boy who supposedly just had exceptional physical stats.

’What about without those abilities? Just my enhanced strength and durability from the system? My base stats are way higher than anyone else here, but are they enough?’

Noah centered his breathing, drawing in air slowly, letting it fill his lungs before releasing it. His body settled into a ready stance, weight balanced, muscles loose but prepared.

He thought about the resistance he’d felt when fighting three-horn Harbingers. The way their armor plating had felt when he’d hit it without using special techniques. Dense, reinforced by whatever sustained them, tough enough that regular attacks bounced off.

’This feels similar,’ Noah thought, studying the dragon scales. ’Definitely around the region of a three-horn’s defensive capability. Maybe slightly less, maybe slightly more. Hard to say for sure since I’ve never tested Harbinger armor against dragon scales side by side. But just the general feeling of resistance, the sense of how much force would be required to penetrate, it’s in that ballpark.’

He pulled his fist back, set his feet, and threw a punch.

Not his hardest hit. Not even close to his maximum capability. But significantly more force than Tomas or any of the other recruits had managed.

His fist connected with the center of the scaled board.

BOOM!!!

The impact cracked the ground beneath Noah’s feet, spiderweb fractures spreading outward from where his rear leg had braced. The entire frame shook violently, wood groaning from stress. The scales rippled slightly, a wave of energy propagating across their surface.

But when Noah pulled his fist back and stepped away, the scales remained intact. A small indent marked where he’d struck, evidence that some damage had occurred, but the water container behind remained unpunctured.

"Well," Noah said, shrugging at Valen, "seems like I really couldn’t break it either."

Valen stared at him for a long moment, his scarred face unreadable. Then he smiled, a genuine expression that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

"You’re starting to become quite interesting, Burt."

He stepped closer, his voice dropping so only Noah could hear clearly.

"Why don’t you actually try? We both know you were holding back just now."

Noah blinked, caught off guard. ’How does he know I held back? Can he tell how strong I am? Did something in my technique give it away?’

His mind raced through the possibilities. Valen was an experienced instructor, had probably trained hundreds of recruits over the years, seen every kind of magic and physical capability. Maybe he could tell from Noah’s body language, from the way he’d set his stance, that the punch hadn’t been his maximum effort.

Or maybe it was simpler than that. Maybe Valen just knew that someone with Noah’s test scores wouldn’t actually go all out on his first attempt. That he’d be cautious, testing the waters, not wanting to look too abnormal.

"Step back," Valen said at normal volume, addressing the whole yard. "Give him space."

The recruits moved back, creating a larger circle around the apparatus. Noah could feel their eyes on him, could sense their curiosity and anticipation.

’Let’s try maybe a little harder,’ Noah thought, a wry smile tugging at his lips despite himself. ’Not everything. Not even close to everything. But enough to actually test these scales properly.’

"Did he just smile?" Nami said from somewhere in the crowd, her voice carrying a note of concern. "Why is he smiling?"

Noah rolled his shoulders, loosening them. Drew in a deep breath and held it for a three-count before releasing slowly. His muscles relaxed, then tensed in sequence, preparing for explosive movement.

"Alright," he said out loud, partly to Valen, partly to himself. "I’m gonna give it my all!"

He pulled his fist back further this time, his whole body coiling like a spring. Energy flowed through his enhanced musculature, not chi or void energy, just the pure physical capability his system-enhanced stats provided. His rear foot dug into the already-cracked ground, finding purchase.

And he swung.

KOOOOM!!!