Alex nodded and agreed to her terms immediately. The woman took off her military jacket and gloves and jumped in front of Alex.

"Army Alliance, Major Qianyu." She introduced herself seriously before the duel.

"Solo Explorer, Alex." Alex nodded.

Then without waiting, the two immediately began clas.h.i.+ng using the basic military boxing. Alex immediately felt immense pressure from her and even felt that her basic military boxing was actually finer and more perfected than his by a margin. She was also incredibly strong. Alex knew that this was the strongest person he had met in terms of physical strength at the Card Apprentice level.

He immediately realized that she was probably a top level character in the Card Dimension. As the two fought hand to hand combat, Alex immediately began with a disadvantage, however, on his face he had a smile.

Punch met punch, kick met kick and they even competed on blocking. Alex was clearly slightly less impressive, but Qianyu was shocked. She had inwardly expected to easily demolish this young man, not only because of her advantage in strength, but she had perfected the Basic Military Boxing technique.

However, this young man in front of her was extremely tenacious. They had fought for over three minutes and he was at a disadvantage from the very beginning, he continued to hold on and retaliate on every move. She also saw his smile and was shocked again. Because she could feel it. He was enjoying this fight.

"Enjoying being overwhelmed by my power? Could it be?" A thought flashed within her mind as she exerted her utmost strength. She saw his smile turn into a grin as he fell into even deeper trouble. This young man was truly tenacious, but he was on the brink of collapse. Qianyu wanted to know... why was he enjoying this so much?

Alex felt like he was on the brink. He had absolutely no room for error. One wrong move and he was bound to lose terribly. This kind of pressure, he has only felt while sparring with Old Ren when he casually slapped him around during sparring. However, here he had the opportunity to grow quickly, because the opponent was very strong, but not overwhelmingly stronger than him like Old Ren was.

As the two continued to fight, Alex was beginning to see new insights within Oianyu's punches that he was quickly digesting and incorporating within his own fights. Slowly and steadily, he felt his understanding if the basic military boxing increase. He could see the minor variations and illusions hidden within each move from Qianyu and with each clash he was constantly having insights and ideas.

With this excellent opportunity, he was able to learn new ideas and quickly try them out as well as gauge the effects. He felt like Qianyu was the perfect teacher for him. This was a heaven sent opportunity for him to refine his combat technique.

Meanwhile, Qianyu was getting bewildered now. In the past ten minutes that they had been fighting, she could feel that Alex's flaws were quickly disappearing. He was using herself as a grinding stone to radically improve until eventually, Qianyu discovered, that she could not find any flaws within Alex's moves anymore. There was only one explanation for this, that he had reached the same level of proficiency in Basic Military Boxing as herself.

Eventually, Alex stopped having any growth and the match became one where strength and endurance determined the result. Although Alex was very strong physically and had great endurance and will, he was still a Card Initiate, and Qianyu was much more stronger than him.

Finally he was completely exhausted and fell down with Qianyu standing in front of him. "I'm tired. I admit defeat." He said with a smile. "Thank you for your guidance."

Qianyu nodded. She had won, but inside she felt a burning embarra.s.sment as if she had actually lost. The soldiers, who had witnessed an unbelieveable battle, were stunned. To them, Qianyu was a G.o.ddess, the leader of the Army Alliance in the Highland Shelter.

Yet, what had they just seen? After a battle of tactics she had to use her superior strength to win. Would this not leave a bitter taste in their mouths?

Qianyu lent Alex a hand to stand up. He took it and thanked her. Qianyu spoke up. "I can't imagine a person with your training can be someone with no backing or teacher. What are you doing out solo?"

Alex laughed. "I have no backing, but I do have a great teacher. As for influence, I joined Adventure House. I'm a free spirit, I don't like rigid rules defining what I can and cannot do."

Qianyu sighed. "Perhaps then it would be futile on my part to invite you to the Army Alliance. But I cannot let a gem like you go after having seen your talent. If you ever want to join the Army Alliance, just call me." She handed Alex a card with her number scribbled on it.

Alex shook his head. "Thank you, but the Military is the last place I would join. It is too rigid for my personality. But I wouldn't mind being a free agent now and then." He said while smiling.

Qianyu thought for a bit. "You are still too new and weak to be considered as a candidate for being a free agent. However, when you become a Card Apprentice, I might consider talking to the higher ups about it."

Alex took out a few nutrition bards and chomped on them. "So, are you the leader of Army Alliance in the first Card Dimension?"

Qianyu shook her head. "Army alliance only has influence in six of the fifteen shelters belonging to Earth. Each has its own leader, because so far we have no way of interacting with the other shelters to establish a reliable chain of command within the Card Dimension. I am the chief of the Highland Shelter brigade." She replied.