Bu Sha-Volume 2, Chapter 7 : The Strongest Student Dormitory in History

“Kaiser…” Liola said calmly.

“What’s up? Don’t bother me. This is difficult. God, why were you and I assigned the hardest part? Most of the actions are controlled from where we are. Wooah. Purity is only responsible for a barrel. Let’s me see about Meinan. What? He’s only responsible for the temperature of the air conditioning system?!” Kaiser was so mad, he almost tore the manual in half.

“Kaiser…”

“Stop bothering me, Liola. Go and read your manual quickly. We’ll have to divide labor.” Kaiser’s blood was pumping with adrenaline. He was using his ability to read 10 lines at once, and he was determined to compress ten years of Mecha Fighter classes into half an hour.

“Kaiser…”

Kaiser finally raised his head and yelled loudly: “Why the hell do you keep calling me? Why aren’t you reading the manual? What do you want?”

Liola pointed at the first line of the first page of the manual: “What is a control stick?”

“Uh…”

Kaiser was too busy minding his own business. Finally, Purity, who spent 3 minutes on barrels, and Meinan who spent 3 seconds on air conditioning, took the job of explaining things to Liola.

However, the main functions of the Mecha Fighter was very complex. Even Meinan and Purity could only understand about a third of it. When they explained what they understood to a confused Liola, no one knew how much Liola actually understood.

A minute before the half hour was up, Kaiser asked while trembling: “Liola, which parts do you understand?”

“I know how to use the sensors.” Liola answered honestly. The sensors looked fairly simple. As long as you equip them, the sensors will detect the user’s movements.

Kaiser almost fell to the ground. He then gave a muffled reply: “Then you control the sensors.”

When Barbalis was teaching the students, he would never arrive late.

In exactly half hour, without even a second of delay, Barbalis appeared in front of the students. His face was filled with a strange, satisfied smile. He said excitedly:

“Come, come. Everyone head up to your rooms and get ready. We’re going to be putting on a show for the Mecha Fighters and the Knights. To display that we, the School of Sorcery, can do everything! Hahaha!” Barbablis finished his instructions and burst out in laughter.

“The principal must have gotten into something with the mentors from the other two schools.” Purity and Meinan both wanted to cry.

With two streams of tears on his face, Kaiser patted Liola’s shoulder: “Bro, let’s prepare you for the fight with Mizerui.”

Liola had no rebuttal. For someone who didn’t know what a control stick was just a few moments ago, controlling the large mecha without any mistakes would be impossible.

Liola and Kaiser practically walked into the dorm thinking they were going to be expelled soon. When they reached their room, the first thing Kaiser did was pack his belongings. Although it was just a couple sets of clothing.

“Hurry up and start the mecha! Otherwise everyone in room 111 will be expelled!” Barbalis’ voice echoed throughout the entire dorm.

Kaiser was so scared that he stopped packing and rushed towards the desk with his life was on the line. He placed his hand on a circular symbol made out of paper. After a few rays of light emitting from the symbol, a soft and neutral voice could be heard.

“Mecha starting. Please choose the transformation shape.”

“Human.” Without thinking Kaiser chose a shape of a human. Considering they were not familiar with the Mecha, he didn’t want to choose the shape of an eagle to fly. Although if he fell out of the sky, he wouldn’t have to worry about getting expelled or fighting with Mizerui.

Liola sat quietly in another desk, also putting his hand on a symbol.

The large metallic dorm started to change. All the walls and room started to recombine.

The bed in their room turned upside down, and it turned into a metallic platform, and Kaiser’s chair was moved on top of that platform.

The walls started to move towards them and, before long, the whole room became a small cubicle.

A dashboard and buttons appeared on the walls surrounding Kaiser. Liola was standing in front of Kaiser’s platform, with all sorts of sensors wrapped around his arms and legs.

Finally, they were both surrounded by screens. The screens all around showed the outside view.

They saw Barbalis flying in front of the Mecha, with shining eyes, he yelled: “DESTINATION: SCHOOL OF MECHA FIGHTERS!”

Sweat ran down Kaiser’s back. He thought, while crying:

‘We haven’t even had time to practice, and now we’re taking the fight to the School of Mecha Fighters? When they see something this huge coming towards them, wouldn’t it be strange for them to not open fire? Can a bunch of Sorcery students, who spent half an hour with a manual, even have a chance against Mecha Fighters? Forget it. It’s probably better for me to fight Mizerui.’

“Kaiser, what am I supposed to do now?” Liola lifted his hand and looked at the sensor on his wrist. He was completely clueless as to what it was.

“The things on your hands and legs are sensors. Whatever you do, the mecha will do the same.” Kaiser said weakly.

Of course, things were easier said than done. Every single action must be coordinated by the complex control panels in front of Kaiser.

Kaiser took a deep breath: “Don’t move too fast. This is a robot, and it can’t move as fast as you. You have to coordinate with me, otherwise we won’t even need to wait for the mecha fighters to fire at us. We’ll fall to our deaths first.”

“Now take a few slow steps ahead.” Kaiser said, as his hand started hitting buttons, activating various parts of the mecha’s body.

Liola nodded and slowly raised his foot. Outside, the human form mecha also slowly lifted its foot. This made the students in other parts of the body very busy, as they all tried to obey Kaiser’s coordination commands.

Liola took a few steps ahead, and turned his head to ask: “Everything good?”

“You don’t need to turn your head. Doing so requires another command. As long as you talk, everyone will be able to hear you. Now walk towards your 10 o’clock. Barbalis is getting impatient again.” Kaiser snapped.

A silver, human shaped mecha was slowly heading towards the School of Mecha Fighters, although sometimes it seemed like it was about to fall on its face.

The news immediately reached the ears of the Mecha Fighters’ mentor. Because of the disappearance of the School of Sorcery’s dorm Barbalis flying proudly in front of the Mecha, the mentor immediately jumped up and yelled:

“Damn Barbalis! It’s certain that he wants to break the School of Mecha. He only lost a game of chess. Does he really have to make such a big deal out of it?!”

Seeing the reports in his hand, the School of Sorcery’s Mecha was more than 30 meters tall. The mentor’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Such a large mecha would take the students a long time to learn to operate, even for Mecha Fighter students. Could it be that their previous wilderness survival was actually a secret training in operating Mechas?

The mentor immediately used the emergency broadcast and yelled: “ENEMIES INCOMING! All Mecha students on deck! Go to our mechas and wait at the academy gates!”

The emergency broadcast, which had never been used before, shook the entire school of Mecha Fighters.

Could someone actually dare to attack the Aklan Academy? Every student started running, boarded their Mechas, and waited for their first real battle with anticipation and nervousness.

Seeing hundreds of mechas lining up outside of the School of Mecha Fighters, the hearts of all Sorcery students sank. The only fortunate thing was that all the Sorcery students were well prepared, they all bought a very high life insurance policy… … …

However, driving a mecha to challenge the School of Mecha Fighters was probably a suicidal act.

The students wanted to cry, they were worried that if they die, they will not be able to cash in the insurance policy!

“Liola, do you think it’s easier to kill Mizerui and Barbalis, or to control this mecha and defeat hundreds of mechas controlled by the students of Mecha Fighters?” Kaiser started to hesitate.

“I can’t kill.” Liola answered straightforwardly.

The giant mecha from the School of Sorcery slowly came to a stop about 10 meters away from the School of Mecha Fighters, and the students quietly awaited Barbalis’ next order.

All the Sorcery students had already started their prayers, and the opposing students gulped when they saw the gigantic mecha. Such a gigantic mecha was a rare sight to be seen. The School of Mecha students began to wonder if they would be flattened under the huge mecha.

Barbalis proudly yelled: “Such tiny things. With a single step of my mecha, they will all turn into paper maché!”

The opposing mentor used an angel-shaped mecha to fly in front of Barbalis, and yelled angrily: “What the hell are you doing?! Is it necessary to start a war between our schools because of a round of chess?!”

“Hehe, of course it’s necessary!” Barbalis said with a sinister smile. Of course he wouldn’t admit it was just an excuse. The real reason was that the Knights mentor said to him in disdain:

“The School of Sorcery sucks at everything.”

After Barbalis takes care of the School of Mechas Fighters, and the resulting fear had been instilled into the School of Knights, he will of course, take a trip to the School of Knights.

“Liola, I really want to flatten Barbalis with his mecha!” Kaiser ground his teeth. The Sorcery students inside the mecha’s body nodded their heads like crazy in agreement.

However, Barbalis didn’t give them a chance to flatten him. He yelled at the giant mecha: “Fire the main cannon!”

The main cannon was Purity’s jurisdiction. Purity who was scared to death of Barbalis, didn’t give it much thought, and she immediately aimed the loaded cannon at the School of Mecha Fighters and fired.

Meinan, who was right next to her, couldn’t stop Purity in time. Two large rays of light shot towards the School of Mecha Fighters. No one would have imagined that Barbalis, as the principal of Aklan Academy, would be serious in starting a war.

Before the School of Mecha Fighters even had a chance to activate their protective shields, half their school was destroyed.

The Mecha Fighter’s mentor’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believed Barbalis actually bombarded the School of Mecha Fighters.

Barbalis proudly said: “It sure was really powerful. Now we can go have fun with that holier-than-thouKnight’s mentor. Hahaha! This time, he will definitely pay for what he did!”

“Y-you have grudges against the School of Knights? Why the hell did you take it out on my school?” The Mecha Fighter’s mentor pointed at Barbalis with a shaking finger. He was so angry, his face turned into the color of pig liver.

The angel-shaped mecha took out a bow and an arrow.

Barbalis burst out in laughter: “My good old chess mate, how could I dare to take it out on you? I’ve already obtained money from the Aklan Empire to remodel the academy. So now that I’m taking my mecha for a test run, I can also save you the money for demolishing your School of Mecha. Hahaha!”

The Mecha Fighters’ mentor sat there trying to digest what happened. Barbalis, again, commanded the Sorcery students towards their real target, the School of Knights.

“Knights… Aren’t exactly easier to mess with than Mecha Fighters.” Kaiser sighed, hoping the Knights will follow the ‘one-on-one’ chivalry code. If so, then the chance of the School of Sorcery being destroyed would lessen. 𝒇𝔯e𝚎𝘄𝑒𝑏𝙣𝑜𝚟𝗲𝑙.c𝘰𝚖

Liola also hesitated for the first time.

Lanski and Jasmine are both in the School of Knight. Knowing their personalities, they would be the first and second person to jump to their School’s aid.

With the gigantic Mecha’s big steps, Kaiser and the others quickly arrived at the School of Knights.

* * *

The trained Knights of the school who were riding their mounts, had already formed two lines in front of the school. The person in front of them was a Silver Knight wearing a mostly-black uniform. It was the mentor of the School. He was riding on a black horse, and looked at the giant Mecha with scorning eyes.

“Mentor, please let me fight it!” Two female voices could be heard, and they were Lanski’s and Jasmine’s. Judging by strength, these two were probably among the top students.

Seeing his fearless students, the Silver Knight’s cold firm lips turned into a smiled. But after some consideration, he decided not to send the two out.

He said with dignity: “You two don’t have mounts, so it would be hard for you to handle a mecha of this size.”

Lanski and Jasmine were disappointed when they heard their mentor’s response.

Jasmine actually sighed in relief in her heart. She thought if this mecha were really controlled by the Sorcery students, then Liola too must be inside!

The Silver Knight looked at the incoming giant mecha. With an icy laugh, he thought,:

‘Come Barbalis!’

He will prove to Barbalis how strong his students are. Without any hesitation, he called forth the strongest student in the School, someone who was strong beyond belief.

“Daylight, you will fight them.” The Silver Knight mentor called out a name that everyone in the School of Knight knew.

He was one of the only three Dragon Knights in the school, and the strongest among the Blue Knights in the school, not to mention the one closest to rank Silver. His chivalry was also famous, and people in the school had often called him the perfect Knight.

In fact, had Daylight not been so perfectly chivalrous, his blue hair and gold eyes, and the fact that he was holy-aligned, would have made everyone in the School of Knight believe that he was Silver Mask, especially since, out of all the students in the school, only Daylight could block Lanski’s Dragon Dancing Ki. (Of course, he could only block the 9 Kis, not the 66 one that Liola had sustained.)

“I will do all that I can, teacher.” Daylight stepped out of the crowd, wearing a white uniform and silver light armor. His ocean blue long hair was tied behind him, and his face was calm. He was the exact image of a true Knight.

He murmured a spell and called forth his mount — a Red Fire Dragon. After jumping onto the Fire Dragon, Daylight held a long, snow-white pike in his hand, and flew towards the giant mecha.

* * *

“A Knight is flying toward us!” Kaiser nervously looked at the Dragon heading towards them.

Purity’s voice could be heard throughout the mecha: “It’s Daylight!”

“Bullcrap! I know it’s broad daylight without you telling me!” Kaiser yelled.

Considering he was using his two hands and eyes as if he had 16 of them, Kaiser was in a terrible mood.

Purity was so scared by Kaiser’s yell that she went into a corner to cry. Meinan continued to explain:

“The ‘Daylight’ Purity pointed out is the name of the person who is heading towards us, riding the Fire Dragon. He’s the strongest Knight in the school, even Jasmine is no match for him.”

Kaiser was frustrated. Even though School of Sorcery also had a strongest “Knight” — Silver Mask, but under the circumstances, there was no way to send Silver Mask out.

Although the giant mecha looked imposing, Kaiser knew all too well. Having had only a crash course on the mecha controls, the Sorcery students couldn’t get out a tenth of the full potential from this mecha. Besides walking slowly, transform, and automatically launch missiles, they couldn’t do much else.

How could they possibly beat such an agile Fire Dragon Knight?

“Kaiser, can we speed up?” Liola’s eyes stared at the Fiery Dragon Knight. He was estimating in his mind; if they don’t speed up it would be impossible to block the Knight’s attack.

“Yes.” Kaiser said as if he had no other choice: “Perhaps we will fall from our uncoordinated controls, but at least that would be better than the Fiery Dragon Knight hitting us and blowing us up.”

It was easier said than done. When Liola deducted what the Knight’s intention was, he used his right hand to quickly block the Knight’s attack. But the movement was too fast for Kaiser and the students in the body.

The giant mecha’s right hand didn’t perform the action Liola wanted it to. Instead, the whole mecha spun in its place.

Kaiser was busy with the controls for a long time and finally made the spinning mecha sit on the ground, and stopped the endless twirl.

“Slow down! Liola, please use the speed of an ordinary person.” Kaiser yelled as if he just had a heart attack.

“We will lose with an ordinary person’s speed.” Liola stated as a matter of fact.

At this time, Daylight rode the fiery Dragon and stopped in front of the giant mecha.

He yelled at the Sorcery students: “Please stop. You aren’t Mecha Fighter students, so there’s no way you can control this mecha properly. Stop. Knights will never attack ordinary people.”

All the Sorcery students, including Kaiser, wanted to run out and scream, “I’m an ordinary person! Please don’t attack me!”

With Barbalis staring widened eyes, everyone could only cry while hiding inside the mecha’s body, wondering why in the world they enrolled in School of Sorcery.

Barbalis had already seen the glorious smile on the Knight instructor’s face. If he weren’t the principal, he would’ve already ran up to Daylight and knock him off the Fire Dragon.

Barbalis thought, since he can’t fight himself, and his school couldn’t win with the mecha, then…

Barbalis remembered that within the school, there was someone as good as himself, but he was still just a student.

“School of Knight dude, are you willing to accept an one-on-one duel from the School of Sorcery?” Barbalis yelled at Daylight.

“Shameless Barbalis, are you going to fight with student?” The Silver Knight replied coldly, thinking that Barbalis wanted to fight himself.

“Of course it’s not me.” Barbalis let out a sinister laugh: “It’s a student who just joined the School of Sorcery!”

Everyone was confused, especially those from the School of Sorcery. There hadn’t been any new students coming into the school, nor was there any Sorcerer who could hold their own against Daylight.

Of course, Meinan could hold his protective shield for a long time. Provided, Purity’s magic works, and if Daylight was easy on girls and didn’t attack first, she could possibly send Daylight to another place using Space Magic. But they had both been in the school for over a year, definitely not new.

Barbalis knew he had captured everyone’s complete attention. He cleared his throat and said: “A while ago, Lancelot asked me to take care of his apprentice.”

The expression on everyone’s face changed.

‘The Paladin Lancelot’s apprentice?’

Even the rank-silver instructor’s face sank. He did indeed hear of the Dark Knight, Blood Wolf being here yesterday. And he knew Lancelot’s apprentice had taught a dozen Red Knights a lesson.

“Hot damn! Is there anything our principal couldn’t do? Even Lancelot’s apprentice got forced into his School of Sorcery? He should be a Knight, right?” Kaiser murmured.

“No, he’s an Assassin.” Liola said plainly as he took off the gray robe, showing a white, silver-lined Knight’s uniform. And then he put on a silver mask!

“What?!” Kaiser was stunned, the only Assassin he knew was… Liola!

“Which way is the exit?” Disguised as Silver Mask, Liola asked Kaiser.

“Use the escape door behind me, so no one sees you coming out of the control room from the mecha’s head.” A calm expression returned on Kaiser’s face. Up until now, there was nothing Silver Mask couldn’t handle.

Liola nodded. He went out the escape door, slid down the mecha, and hid in a nearby forest.

He concentrated on summoning Baolilong, and not before long, the small Baolilong appeared in front of Liola. He touched Baolilong’s forehead and used telepathy to say: “Transform.”

Baolilong immediately turned into a ten-meter Dragon, and carried Liola into the air. With everyone’s surprised gazes on him, he flew next to Barbalis.

“Hehe, please handle that Dragon Knight over there.” When Barbalis saw the surprised expressions of the Knights, he was so happy that he wanted to do a happy dance.

Liola glanced at Barbalis, and said coldly: “Only if you promise me, no one will be expelled.”

“No problem!” Barbalis answered without any hesitation.

Unlike Daylight, who was a true Knight, and rode his Dragon, Liola was actually standing on Baolilong’s back.

[T/N: The original text has a play on words which only makes sense in Chinese. Knight literally means, Riding Warrior, so Daylight is a true Riding Warrior because he was riding his Dragon. Whereas Liola was standing, so then the author said he might be a Standing Warrior]

In fact, Dragon scales were very slippery, and the muscles of a flying Dragon make it quite a bumpy ride. Factoring in the air current at such a high altitude, standing on a Dragon was terribly difficult. Considering Liola was keeping his balance perfectly, the Knights were terribly impressed.

“Silver Mask? You’re Knight Lancelot’s apprentice?” Daylight was surprised. As a holy Knight, Lancelot was the idol he worshipped.

Liola nodded. Being honest was a Knight’s virtue, but lying was an Assassin’s virtue. Liola didn’t feel uncomfortable with his lies.

The mentor had already heard about Silver Mask’s strength from Lanski, Jasmine, and the other Red Knights. He was afraid that Daylight couldn’t beat Silver Mask. Without giving up, the mentor yelled at Barbalis:

“Barbalis, you found a Knight to fight for your School of Sorcery, don’t you find this disgraceful? Is there no talent within the School of Sorcery?”

Unfortunately, Barbalis’ skin was as thick as the mecha’s hull. He completely ignored such verbal provocation and replied:

“Silver Mask is a student in the School of Sorcery, so he is a Sorcery student, so of course he can fight for us.”

“You…” The mentor gritted his teeth in anger, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“Do you accept this duel?” Liola asked calmly. He wanted to get it over with quickly, instead of being watched from below.

“For the School of Knight’s honor, and for Princess Lanski’s honor, I accept your challenge.” Daylight accepted the challenge seriously.

Though Daylight thought it was strange. A higher ranked Knight challenging a lower ranked Knight was something uncommon, and it brings dishonor to the higher ranked Knight. It was suspicious for Silver Mask, as Lancelot’s apprentice, to challenge him.

Liola didn’t say anything else, and took out Broken Silver from his boot. He didn’t unsheathe Broken Silver, and used it as a stick to fight, so Liola wouldn’t have to worry about making a mistake and break his promise with Anise.

Both schools already knew the outcome of this battle. Though Daylight was a Blue Knight with unbelievable strength, but the gap between the valley of Blue and Silver Knights wasn’t something that could be crossed easily.

Furthermore, Silver Mask was Lancelot’s apprentice, and Lancelot was the legendary Paladin, whose power cannot possibly be ignored.

However, no one clearly knew the disparity between the participants of the duel was far more than they had ever imagined!

First of all, Liola was not just a Silver Knight. If Liola’s strength was measured properly, he could possibly be in the same rank as Lancelot. Secondly, among Dragons, the Sacred White Dragon was one of the commanding species.

Daylight, who was riding on the Fire Dragon, couldn’t help but feel fear. He knew that under the current situation, he was in a disadvantage in so many ways. Not only would he lose, he would lose very quickly.

As the two Dragons clashed in mid-air, Liola unexpectedly jumped onto the Fire Dragon, and stood facing Daylight. Daylight’s expression changed and also stood up. But unlike Liola, he did so with great difficulty.

“Go down. We’ll fight on the ground.” Liola said calmly.

Daylight nodded. In his heart he admired how honorable Liola was, because he purposely gave up a huge advantage — his terrifying sense of balance. This eased Daylight’s doubt about Silver Mask’s identity. 𝘧𝓇𝒆𝗲𝓌𝙚𝙗𝓷o𝘷𝒆𝘭.𝐜𝚘𝒎

Daylight commanded the Fiery Dragon to land on the ground, and then ordered it to go away. While staring at Silver Mask, he tightly held onto the pike in his hand. Though he knew he would probably lose, as a Knight, so long as he fights honorably in a duel, there would be no shame even in losing.

Daylight lit up his blue aura, in accordance to his rank, but on the edge of his blue aura, there were some silver light. The Knight students gasped in admiration. For a twenty-five year old Daylight, his current level of power was already amazing.

On the other hand, Liola, who was also twenty five, had already been through terrifying training in the organization. Plus he had been living the life of an Assassin ever since he was five. All this gave him power far surpassing Daylight’s. However, for the strength he gained, Liola had already given up far, far too much…

The two talented people moved at the same time. Liola immediately dodged Daylight’s pike, and used Broken Silver to accurate hit Daylight’s hand. With the sound of a bone cracking, Daylight almost lost hold of his pike. But he gritted his teeth and swung the long pike around to aim on the back of Liola’s head.

Liola felt the changes in the air. He lowered his body to dodge it, and Broken Silver once again landed on Daylight’s hand. This time, however, Daylight could no longer hold onto the pike. With a crisp metallic clang, the pike landed on the ground, and Daylight’s right hand was severely bruised, it even seemed to be crooked in a strange angle.

“The outcomes of this duel was decided without you having to use your aura. Is this the difference between Blue and Silver Knights?” Daylight smiled bitterly.

Liola’s expression changed. Should he learn how to emit auras? Otherwise, sooner or later people will know that Silver Mask isn’t a Knight at all.

“I lost.” Daylight calmly accepted defeat. A pair of determined eyes looked at Liola: “I will work harder, and hope to one day catch up to you, Lancelot’s apprentice.”

Daylight didn’t know, but Liola actually admired his tenacious eyes. To Liola’s current self, who lived day-to-day, those eyes filled with goals and fighting spirit was what Liola lacked the most.

However, the Knight students gasped. Seeing how easily Daylight lost, some students were about to run up to support Daylight, but Daylight stopped them. He took a deep breath, picked up his pike from the ground, and returned to the rows of Knights.

The mentor went up to check on him. After he realized it was just a fractured hand, he walked up to Liola, and said with criticism and anger:

“As a Silver Dragon Knight, you should never challenge a Blue Knight.”

Liola looked past the mentor, and he saw Lanski and Jasmine. The two’s eyes were also filled with critique and disappointment. Liola’s heart suddenly felt bitter.

Barbalis was full of himself. He landed on the ground and said loudly: “What now Silver? Don’t you dare say my School of Sorcery has no talent.”

“Shut up!” Liola suddenly yelled angrily. His yell made Barbalis’ mouth turn into a big “O”. Even the Knight students widened their eyes, and couldn’t believe Silver Mask actually told his own mentor to shut up.

Liola was surprised at himself for yelling. But he didn’t want to explain his agitated mood. Without a care as to whether or not Barbalis would expel him, Liola jumped onto Baolilong, and suddenly flew off. To get away with the feud between the School of Knights and the School of Sorcery, and to get away from Anise’s disappointed eyes.

* * *

Sitting on Baolilong’s back, Liola took off the mask, and his mood slowly returned to the calm waves that it was supposed to be. He started to wonder why his mood has been strange lately. Especially when he wears the mask. His emotions easily went out of control. Or is it… because of Anise’s face that’s making him lose control?

This was not a good sign to an Assassin… But Liola suddenly remembered he had stopped being an Assassin a while ago.

Liola was at a loss for words concerning his emotions, which were getting closer and closer to those of an ordinary person.