As usual, Goldwyn shook his hand and introduced himself with a loud, confident voice. "I am Goldwyn. I like shiny things, and I like fighting."
Then he raised his voice even louder as if he was afraid that no one would be able to hear him. He said, "If I remember, you’re that boy that I beat at bet twenty years ago. What’s your name again? I rarely remember losers."
As he spoke, he shook Arthur’s hand with a terrible grip, so Arthur decided not to be polite. He also gripped Goldwyn’s hand and squeezed it tightly while saying, "I am Arthur. I was the one who beat your fighting excellence record and forced you to run to the inner sect in order to avoid shame."
Goldwyn squeezed some words through his gritted teeth. "Nonsense. It was obvious that I went to the inner sect in order not to bully you and the others."
Arthur asked with mockery, "So it wasn’t bullying when you beat a disciple that had only entered the sect for five years in a bet?"
Goldwyn couldn’t speak anymore. It wasn’t that he didn’t have more to say. He had a lot more to say. It was just that he couldn’t squeeze any more words through his gritted teeth.
He was gritting his teeth in the first place because Arthur was gripping his hand too tightly, and he didn’t want to admit defeat.
His entire focus was now on resisting Arthur. He didn’t want to break his concentration by speaking.
He would rather have a crushed hand than admit defeat. After all, he is now an inner sect student, while Arthur is an outer sect student. His pride wouldn’t let him admit defeat.
The fact that a lot of people had begun to pay attention to what was going on also backed him into a corner.
He was the one who had to raise his voice to attract their attention, so it was his fault that he had been put under the spotlight. But now that his victory or defeat had become an item of public interest, he couldn’t admit defeat.
Jason knew that Goldwyn was going to lose. As his friend, he couldn’t let that happen. So he decided to intervene.
He stretched out his hand to shake Arthur’s hand and introduced himself, "Arthur, it is nice to see you again."
He spoke enthusiastically and had his hand stretched out for a shake, so it would be rude of Arthur not to shake him. But this will mean that he will have to let go of Goldwyn’s hand.
Arthur didn’t mind giving up victory, especially when it was clear who was superior. So he let go of Goldwyn and smiled at Jason as he shook his hand. "How have you been?"
Jason smiled too and shook his hand lightly. There was no abnormal squeezing like Goldwyn did. The two of them let go of each other’s hands after the simple handshake without any issue.
Meanwhile, Goldwyn’s hand finally became free, so he could speak again. He said to Arthur, "You’re not normal."
Arthur grinned at him and retorted, "Says the abnormal guy that weakens other people on contact."
He has done a little research, so he knows that Goldwyn’s talent is to scatter the internal energy of others and external mana that tries to affect him.
This talent has the effect of reducing his speed of cultivation drastically, but it also comes with the benefit of reducing the power of spells and other energy attacks by at least 50%.
His talent is why the swords of sword cultivators laced with their internal energy to enhance their power will have their internal energy scatter when the sword comes close to Goldwyn’s body. Pnly unadulterated physical power will affect him without being dispersed.
This was the effect of his talent when he was at the second mortal coil. So Arthur suspects that his talent has increased in power now that he has forged a foundation.
He doesn’t know a lot, but with his little knowledge, he can confidently say that Goldwyn’s talent is abnormal.
Thor also chimed in. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."
As usual, Jason came to Goldwyn’s rescue. He explained to Arthur, "He didn’t mean any harm with his statement. In fact, he was complimenting you. After all, his ultimate goal is to be considered out of the ordinary."
Arthur continued to tease Goldwyn by asking, "Is that true?"
Goldwyn glared at him and asked, "What do you want?"
Arthur continued to grin as he said, "I want to bet."
His grin was provocative, but Goldwyn still gritted his teeth and squeezed out his words by force, "Never."
It hurt him to admit defeat before a fight, but he knew from recent experience that if he didn’t admit defeat now, he could pay a more painful price for his pride later. So he overcame his pride and squeezed out the words of defeat.
Arthur didn’t seem to mind that he had been rejected. Actually, his grin became wider for some reason. Apparently, something had made him happy despite the rejection.
Jason rolled his eyes at the sight of the two men bashing into each other’s skulls like rams. He said to Arthur, "Not that I don’t like seeing you, but I hope you have a reason for approaching us other than to cause poor Goldwyn pain."
Arthur couldn’t believe what he had heard. He pointed at Goldwyn and accused him, "Him? Poor? He was the one who started it!"
Goldwyn gritted his teeth and refused to admit it. He wasn’t going to admit that he started the whole thing to defeat Arthur but was instead defeated. So he kept quiet while Jason shook his head at Arthur for lying.
Arthur said, "Fine. I’m the villain then."
Thor shook his head and chuckled as he explained, "We came to ask what you guys were doing here. This airship is supposed to be for us going to the intersect competition, so we are surprised to see you guys here."