He had always been under the impression that the Orcs' greatest strength was their unique ritual resonance that was quite loud, but mostly harmless. It almost made him forget that Orcs were quite formidable fighters of their own league.
They were renowned for being the top escort/security options during the glory days of the Golden Road after all.
"Let's see what you have in store," Michael muttered to himself as he focused on the Orcs. His eyes gleamed, showing that even his personal AI assistant was paying attention.
For the first few blows, the Orcs used their natural dominant physical strengths to overwhelm the demi-humans from the Montgomery side.
The Orcanines used their larger muscle mass to overwhelm the smaller opponent. Their fighting style was attack, attack, and attack.
This was completely different from the Orcupines, who stayed on the defensive for the whole fight, waiting for that perfect timing to strike.
They exchanged moves with their sparring partners, gaining advantage by the smallest bit. But, they were still fighting against the elites personally trained by Agnes. They won't go down without a fight.
The demi-humans fought back, using their skill and finesse to retake advantage from the Orcs.
This prompted the Orcs to finally use their inherent skills and learned spells. The Orcanines began slapping his pectoral muscles, creating a shockwave that threw his opponent off balance.
The Orcupines shot out hundreds of Quills at once and used their learned spells to manipulate them into assaulting their opponent.
Michael's eyes widened as he saw an entirely new perspective on Physical Arts spells. It was completely different from the way Agnes used her mana cores.
[Magic theory acquired.]
[Magic theory acquired.]
[Magic theory acquired.]
…
Throughout the entire training session during the whole day, Michael was just absorbing spell after spell from the Orcs.
He felt like he copied so many spells that he could somehow mix and match all the magic theories and create something entirely new out from all of them.
Hey ChatJK3, can you make a new Physical Art spell that is appropriate for the Dragonborns?
[I can certainly do that. I will now prepare each of the Dragonborns their new spells based on the Orcs' fighting style.]
[Jaku]
— Deadly Sound of Sword
—— This spell creates a dangerous sonic boom each time a sword is swung in the air. The damage dealt by the sonic boom depends on the speed of the user.
[Sheina]
— Quill Release Shot
—— This spell allows the user to gain back control of the arrow they had shot to a target.
[Umisu]
— Ritual Pump Up
—— This spell allows the user to gain momentum and power before a fight by performing a ritual procession.
[Zion]
— Muscle Punch
—— Punching the critical muscles of a target may temporarily disable their defenses
Although those spells weren't all that diverse, it was enough to improve the power of the Dragonborns by a significant margin.
The next day, he quickly gathered the Dragonborns and taught them the new spells ChatJK3 created. They were quite excited about this, treating it as his birthday gift to them.
They arrived at the training grounds and began practicing their newfound spells. Unfortunately, it seemed they were quite a bit too enthusiastic about this as they accidentally set off a mini earthquake in the ground.
The loud booming skills of the Orcs and the inherent physical strength of the Dragonborns created a resonance in the ground, making it sway back and forth for a little bit.
…
…
…
Early in the morning, Jimmy was jolted awake by the sudden earthquake that shook his bed. He feared for his life, thinking that the roof would suddenly cave in and trap him in the rubble. He had read news about this exact kind of scenario before, especially in Orcus Town, with most ending in disaster.
This was not how he wanted his name to be published in the newspaper.
But as the earthquake continued, he was surprised to see that there was barely any movement from the structure at all! A minute later, the earthquake subsided and the quiet morning returned to normal.
He slowly walked out of his room, expecting to see people panicking from the aftereffects of the earthquake. But he was surprised to see that daily life in Neo Orcus continued like nothing had happened at all.
He began questioning some locals and found out the reason for their nonchalance.
Why didn't they panic? It was all thanks to a little ninja slime who had clones posted on each and every citizen's shadow. So, no matter where they were, Michael could easily inform his citizens about any news that occurred in real time.
But this still didn't explain why none of them were worried for their safety. He would have thought that the locals who had experienced such tragedy and heartbreak from previous earthquakes would have reacted a little bit more emotionally once another one occurred.
It was as if they no longer treated earthquakes as something dangerous.
This confused the rookie journalist.
Even with the incredible structure in Neo Orcus, there was still a chance that an accidental cave-in could happen and trap them under the rubble.
Yet, the locals weren't worried about this possibility at all.
Jimmy looked around the place and saw no signs of magic circles to protect its citizens. So, there should have been no reason for them to act as if they were invulnerable to a tonne of rock and rubble burying them underneath.
Right?
Jimmy wanted to ask Michael himself about this but was worried about the probable sensitivity of such a topic. After all, this could be a matter of their security as a whole.
As a talented reporter, he knew how to obfuscate his real questions with a couple of mundane ones to gauge Michael's current mood about the subject.
"Oh, are you asking why none of us are worried about the earthquake?"
"Yes," Jimmy said enthusiastically. "But if you don't want to tell me, I will be totally fine with that."
"Well…the answer is simple. They are invulnerable to that."