He gets up and shakes Fabian’s hand. He takes his sword and places it in his inventory secretively.

Tanji goes into the weapon room himself to see the different weapons. He then notices some knuckledusters. They are very heavy, at least a kilogram a piece. He is surprised by its weight but takes it anyway. He rips the thin, black wrapping off and looks upon his still dark knuckledusters. He wears them on his knuckles and throws several punches. He is happy with it and makes it one of his weapons.

He also finds a small bow. The bow is about 50% longer than a fist and has very small arrows. He looks at it and thinks “How is this even a weapon? A bow the size of a fist is bound to be trash. Bows need that size. I can probably find some arts for this but goddamn is this a terrible weapon. I feel like if I get some arrow arts it’ll be manageable.” He takes the bow from the wall and removes the black wrapping to reveal a wooden bow with a very extendable bowstring.

He thinks “Hmm, okay. Let’s see what we can do.” He places it as his weapon and reads the stats of all three:

Thin Blade

• Level 1
• Mobility: 4
• Toughness: 9 
• Effectiveness: 7
•  
• Passive Art: Swordsman. +3 to Strength, Speed, Constitution and Defence when sword is used.

Knuckledusters

• Level 1
• Mobility: 2
• Toughness: 11
• Effectiveness: 6
•  
• Passive Art: Tough Knuckles. +4 to Strength and Defence, +2 to Speed and Constitution.

Chīsana Bow

• Level 1
• Mobility: 1
• Toughness: 3
• Effectiveness: 4
•  
• Passive Art: Archer. +5 to Speed and Defence, +4 to Strength and Constitution.

Tanji laughs and says “This bow is actually trash! Urgh. They gave me better boosts from the bow because it’s that bad.” 

Tanji starts using his weaponry constantly. Shooting arrows, swinging his sword, and punching with his knuckledusters. He does this for a long 3 weeks. He does some mini-spars on the way that are some fun but he prioritises upgrading his weapons.

His sword reaches level 3 with his Knuckledusters and his Bow reaches Level 4

These are his stats now:

Thin Blade

• Level 3
• Mobility: 8
• Toughness: 14
• Effectiveness: 10
•  
• Passive Art: Swordsman. +3 to Strength, Speed, Constitution and Defence when sword is used.

Knuckledusters

• Level 3
• Mobility: 3
• Toughness: 11
• Effectiveness: 8
•  
• Passive Art: Tough Knuckles. +4 to Strength and Defence, +2 to Speed and Constitution.

Chīsana Bow

• Level 4
• Mobility: 3
• Toughness: 6
• Effectiveness: 8
•  
• Passive Art: Archer. +5 to Speed and Defence, +4 to Strength and Constitution.

He then gets the idea of going against an Ogre of the dojo. Vaderuk. He is 6’1 and is about 270lbs. He is very fat but also has massive muscles. His weapon is an ogre breastplate. It is plated with metal and has several different rows of metal for better mobility. 

Vaderuk says “Vaderuk will beat you!” Tanji wears his knuckledusters and stretches his fingers. He has a long strap running from his left shoulder to right waist. He holds his bow on there and has a pack of arrows on his left side. He also has his sword in his right hand, ready for battle. 

Vaderuk cracks his knuckles and makes an ogre-like stance. One fist out, one fist cocked back. Tanji thinks “Let’s see his stats.” The green line runs down Vaderuk’s body and grants him knowledge of his stats.

Vaderuk 

• Strength: 109
• Speed: 68
• Defence: 81
• Constitution: 67
• Control: 68%
• Intelligence: 2
• (Average human male has stats of 3 - 6)
• Species: Ogre

Tanji thinks “He’s a toned down version of Fabian but his speed is much more manageable. Still well above me though.” He grips his sword tight with the Right Hanging Stance. Tanji says “Begin!” He speeds towards Vaderuk and floods qi into his blade. The blade starts glowing a more white/silver colour and he strikes the sword down. 

It hits the strong, metal plate of Vaderuk’s breastplate and it merely scratches it. He steps back twice and covers about 5 metres. He holds his sword in a new Long Stance, waiting for an attack. Vaderuk runs right towards Tanji with great speed for his size. He swings at him but Tanji quickly ducks under him and uses Qi Rush. “Thunder Slash!” He swings his sword at super-high speed in comparison to his ordinary speed. The slash manages to cut through one plate but that’s all the damage it does. Vaderuk slams Tanji in his back and he stumbles forward.

He turns and is quickly interrogated by a punch. He uses the 3 Lions Shield and blocks the punch head-on. He punches his breastplate with his knuckledusters and manages to hurt Vaderuk a little. He notices this and thinks “Wow. I need to get through this guy’s breastplate.”

He grips his sword tight and speeds towards Vaderuk. He uses Qi Rush and slashes across Vaderuk’s muscly forearms. This angers him from the pain and he grabs Tanji by the neck of his shirt. He slams him into the ring floor then punches him across the face. He slams him in his chest and makes him cough blood. Tanji reaches out for his dropped sword but Vaderuk pushes it away and hooks him across the face. With the use of quick-thinking, Tanji takes out an arrow from his holster and stabs it into one of his arms. Vaderuk holds his arm in pain and growls in annoyance. Tanji grabs his sword and runs out to the other side of the ring. Vaderuk rips the arrow from his arm and stomps on it. The wound begins to heal in seconds and he just shakes off the pain.

Tanji thinks “My True Power Fist.. I don’t want to break his breastplate though.” He asks “Can I break your breastplate?” Vaderuk says “Vaderuk thinks you should do anything to try and win!” 

Tanji nods and blitzes towards him. He then reaches out the True Power Fist to his chest. Vaderuk dodges and wafts Tanji into the air with one hand. He is hurled into the air and he lands on his side. He falls onto his back and whispers “Ow..”