8 – The Last Test in the Training Camp
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"yawn... That's right. Keep channeling qi like a blade..."

After I logged in, I had been doing Hand Blade practice for a while now. It wasn't hard, but learning Hand Blade required repetition to open qi paths in both hands. The concept of this repeating process was to make the practitioner's hands pseudo meridians.

Yang's explanation was obscure, but I managed to interpret. It was simple, running qi along the edge of the hand, just like drawing a hand that palm was facing out. With my body condition of being sensitive to qi and this new analogy, I succeeded in circulating qi along the edges of my hands on the first try.

The hard part was qi consumption was too much. What I meant too much was 4 qi points per second. If I used Hand Blade with both hands I could only maintain them for 2 seconds. I had to wait or circulate qi to replenish the loss.

'Skill. Quest.'

 

Four Winds Steps (F): The Wind Pagoda's foot art that mimics the wind allows the player to move swiftly.

Hand Blade: Wooden Sword (F): Fortify the player's hand with qi increasing durability and reducing pain.

 

Combat Training! (Tutorial Quest)

Difficulty: F

 

Clear conditions:

  • Complete physical training. (1/1)
  • Complete Hand Blade at any skill level. (0/1)
  • Be able to utilize Qi. (passed)

 

Minimum rewards:

  • 50 exp

 

Failure:

  • -

 

This bugged me. I learned the Hand Blade, but why wasn't the condition cleared? I should ask Yang directly. He might slack too much and didn't pay attention to me. 

"Instructor, I've already learned Hand Blade. Didn't that meet the requirement already?"

"...  You did well Panda, however... It's far from useful."

Ugh. Apart from calling me panda, he was right. Did he actually pay attention to his student? Whatever he did or not, he knew that my Hand Blade wasn't ready in practice. But still...

Being in this training camp for 12 days made me frustrated a bit, but I remained calm while trying to argue with him. Imagined using a wooden bathtub, eating the same breakfast, and training your body every day. The repetition was slowly driving me crazy. I had to speak politely. 

"You might be busy and since I already met the requirement—"

"You are NOT READY!" He burst out. 

There was a hint of anger. I could see his fists clenching, his widened eyes, and his tensed muscles. Yang's emotion was easily read as if he was like an open book.

I said the fact!!! Did I say something wrong to spark his temper? What was the reason? Seriously, how would I put myself in someone's shoes when there was no prior context? I wasn't a psychic, HELLO!?

It surprised me that he was capable of expressing other emotions. I thought that a non-player character in this game was going to be linear more or less. What I meant was there had to be a reason why he was angry, right? The character called Yang was designed with backgrounds, motives, and other aspects to consider one a human. Did all of them were designed at the same level of detail too?

How could I calm him down? I didn't do anything wrong though. I didn't want to go into service mind mode like my job, however, It seemed there were no other choices. 

"I understand that what I said upsets you because you're worried about me. I'm sorry."

It worked! Yang quickly calmed down. Empathy was such a simple trick that worked every time, as long as they weren't a psycho. Actually... I hadn't tried with them, so my assumption wasn't proved. The closest I called a psycho I had met was Ivan. He was a right hand of a Russian mafia who always stared at me menacingly.

"If you insist on wanting me to acknowledge, I'll give you a test... We're going to do a mock battle.—

In this mock battle, I'll go easy on you. If you manage to land a single hit on me, I'll acknowledge your achievement.— Are you ready?"

Yang took out a wooden stick as he readied to fight.

 

[You received a quest. Would you like to accept?]

___

Yang's Concern

Difficulty: F

 

Clear conditions:

  • Land a single hit on Feng Yang Ji in the mock battle within 6 hours.

 

Minimum rewards:

  • 20 exp
  • Increase Feng Yang Ji's affinity

 

Failure:

  • Decrease Feng Yang Ji's affinity

 

The young master of the Feng clan, Feng Yang Ji, wants to see if the player is strong enough to survive in this world where perilous monsters are roaming around. The player has to land a single blow. The quest will fail when the player rejects the quest or won't be able to land a hit before dinner time.

 

This was the first time the quest had the option to accept or reject.

There was no reason to reject the quest. I felt that even if his affinity decreased there wouldn't be a difference. He would be the same bored guy, so I got into the stance and readied to fight. More importantly, the time limit was 6 hours. What could go wrong, right? 

To be honest, I was nervous. This was the first time I was fighting because I only watched the twins' battle so far. On the other hand, I was excited. It was the same feeling when I made a toy and wanted to try it out. I wanted to see the result of my training as well.

Rage should hinder Yang's judgment. That would be my advantage to exploit as well. Naturally, human emotion wasn't a switch that could be turned on or off.

"I'm ready."

This guy said he would go easy on me, but it didn't mean that he wouldn't attack back. I had to be careful. The wooden stick had a longer reach than an arm that was an obvious fact. My attack shouldn't be overcommitted and a counterattack.

Yang didn't advance. He stood there waiting for me to approach first. Was it arrogance or confidence? Maybe in his eyes, I would probably be a child who recently learned to walk.

Our distance was 2 meters and we were facing each other. Should I try to feint on the left attack on the right? 

With that in mind, I rushed forward launching the attack as I planned.

Yang seemed to prepare to block on his right side. It was time to dash to another side. With Four Winds Steps, it wasn't hard to suddenly switch moving direction. Each step was designed to be able to rearrange with another. 

At the moment that Yang appeared to be unguarded, I ran my qi to the right hand and struck.

Bash!

What!? I felt the hardness of the wooden stick pushing against my hand. My attack was blocked! 

I was overpowered and my arm was pushed from the impact. I took one step back to keep my body balanced. If I let the force push my right side, I wouldn't be ready to defend or attack.

"Unrefined steps."

He read my plan. After all, I only spent less than a week practicing Four Winds Steps.

What to do next? I had to think before it was too late. At least, I stopped using the skill to preserve my qi. Using Hand Blade right before physical contact and if put off quickly was my best method to sustain through the fight.

"Also... you're thinking too much." Yang added.

He disappeared! Damn it! But where?

As I turned my body, I felt the graze from his weapon against my ribs. I barely dodged the blow. Just a glance I could feel the weight of it. It was a simple swing yet beautiful like an artist's stroke.

Strong! He was strong! I had to admit I underestimated his skills. I couldn't compare Yang with the twins, but one thing for sure, I was no match for him.

I was pushing back while blocking and avoiding those attacks.

Observing the fight was totally not the same as fighting. Yang was relentless, giving me flurries of strikes gave me no room to analyze or plan. Finding a plan for the current situation was useless, what if I looked at the bigger picture-

Bash!

"Ugh."

 

HP: 36/38

 

As I blocked a heavy blow, it left me wounds on both arms. A wooden stick? It wouldn't be weird if you considered it a sword.

"Forfeiting isn't too late..."

"pant pant"

He gave me time to decide. After I stabilized my breath, I used this time to circulate my qi to regain stamina. Of course, I didn't use the new 'storm' circulation technique because it was risky if someone noticed and it required more focus. 

Wait... couldn't I circulate qi while fighting? I was sure it would require my concentration to some degree, but it wasn't impossible.

"Again."

I wasn't giving up. Maintaining the flow of qi made me feel stronger than before. The question was, would I be able to retain it while fighting. Let's try the frontal assault without any tricks, then attacked when there was a chance.

I had to keep my composure for upholding my focus, also, to make a good decision in combat.

Suddenly, the distance was closed, not by me, but it was Yang who approached. He advanced aggressively.

Noticing the incoming trajectory, I pushed my qi into the hand and parried, closer to where his hand was holding the stick as much as possible. This way I could reduce the torque. His attack became weaker compared to the tip of the stick.

With my left hand keeping his weapon busy, I sharpened another hand with qi and lunged forward.

Yang threw his body to the side. After that, my torso was hit.

Thud!

I kissed the ground. I couldn't even see how he hit me! Shit! Why the tutorial quest had to be this hard!

"I admire your courage, however, you have to know your limit."

"I'm not done yet."

Despite showing off my spirit, I was swearing inside. 

 

***

Thud!

This was the 15th time that I tasted the soil.

The sun was setting and there was only 1 hour left. I fought and I fell; rinsed and repeated. The longer the time passed, the figure in front of me had become more like an impenetrable fortress. Moreover, there was no sign of fatigue. I was sure that he circulated his qi while fighting.

But there was one thing I noticed, he was starting to neglect the battle.

I learned a lot. Training indeed improved physical ability, but it had nothing to do with real combat. Also, I had learned that I had been restricting my option of attack using only the Hand Blade. And the reason why I kept torturing myself fighting the same way was to wait for the perfect chance, the moment he became careless.

"... Why are you still fighting."

"Because the test isn't over."

I distracted him by pretending to be stubborn, pretending that I was fatigued.

Yang came closer; pitied me who was exhausted and about to give up.

Splatter!

I threw dirt in his face and it got into his eyes. The time I had brought was enough for me to get up and attack. I moved to his left side and strengthened both hands.

As expected, he recovered quickly and he was about to parry my next attack.

"...!"

The man's expression was full of surprise. Instead of going for a normal strike, I grabbed the wooden stick with all my strength I had and gave him a low kick.

Bwak!

...

Had your pinky toe ever kicked into something hard? That was the pain I was experiencing, making me roll on the ground. I didn't scream, more like, the pain didn't let me scream.

As if I kicked a lump of steel.

"T-this isn't hurt! Not hurt at all!"

"..."

I tried to smile and acted as nothing happened, but all I got was silence and a face of disappointment.

"D-did I pass the test?"

"You would have died countless times if this was a real fight. Your movement was sloppy. Your attack lacked weight. Your reflex was slow—"

"Ugh..."

"I personally dislike a dirty tactic, but... that was a good plan. You barely passed the mark."

I had no objection to his remark. This habit overloaded my brain during the fight. I felt like my brain was on a skillet right now.

 

[You've completed Yang's Concern]

[You've completed Combat Training!]

[You've completed Happy Training Camp!. Please visit Viktor to receive the quest reward.]

[You received 70 exp.]

[You received an additional reward of 150 exp.]

[Your affinity with Yang Ji increased]

[LVL UP]

 

Pandora
Titles: Self-taught Foundation Stage Martial Artist.

 

LVL:8
HP: 88/88
QI: 19/19

 

STR: 67 (+30)
DEX: 41 (+15)
AGI: 48 (+24)
VIT: 44 (+20)
CON: 43 (+25)

 

Ah... at the moment, I wanted to scream and cry with joy, but it would mismatch my outward personality.

"More practice and more on footwork. Turn your body and press forward would increase your weight in the attack. And most importantly, you need more combat experiences.— I recommend you to try other weapons as well."

Finally, although it was short and vague, Yang commented on me like what a normal instructor would do.

Before I met Viktor, there was something I wanted to ask Yang.

"Instructor—"

"..."

Even if he didn't reply, I knew that he was listening.

"Is there a reason you had to go this far?"

I asked why he was angry. As the quest name, Yang's Concern, there was definitely something on his mind. I guessed it was either related to himself or his family.

"... Do you want to listen to my story?"

I nodded.

"Let's have dinner first."

I agreed. Fighting half-day had burned me out. 

 

It took longer than usual to write this chapter. Writing a fighting scene in the first person while considering that Canary was an amateur and she would keep thinking in a fight was harder than I thought. XD

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