Nano Machine Chapter 5: Ma Fighting Academy Commences (A)

Around the time Cheon Yeo Woon was ten years old, his mother, Lady Hwa, passed away from her many frequent illnesses.

When she became bed-ridden and fell into critical condition, the Grand Master sent his own primary physician, the Doctor of Misfortune Baek Jong Woo to her, but it was already too late by that point.

It wasn't until years later that Cheon Yeo Woon discovered that her cause of death was none other than digoxin poisoning.

Typically, digoxin poisoning's use is to kill a person slowly and surreptitiously by periodically mixing trace amounts of it into their food. It was the weapon of choice for covert assassinations.

Cheon Yeo Woon was also the victim of digoxin poisoning, but thankfully the toxicity level in his body wasn't as high, which gave Baek Jong Woo the chance to prescribe him an anti-venom for a remedy.

Since then, all his meals had to be prepared by Master Jang himself.

Master Jang, regarded as one of the most highly skilled fighters out there, woke up early each morning before preparing breakfast to train and hone his skills.

It isn't quite certain when he started doing this, but Cheon Yeo Woon began to take interest and watch Master Jang's early morning training regimen from afar.

Although in the world of martial arts it was taboo and a huge discourtesy for someone to secretly watch another master's unique training regimen, out of sympathy for Cheon Yeo Woon, Master Jang turned a blind eye to it.

*- Slash, slash! -*

As always, Master Jang woke up early in the morning, removed his upper garments and began to polish his Dangeom Bisool moves, which is a secret fighting style that employs the use of short swords.

Typically, proper training begins with repeating simple footwork, then learning the basic movements of the art.

"The day has finally come."

In fact, Cheon Yeo Woon lost a lot of sleep being anxious about the Ma Fighting Academy's commencement day.

Cheon Yeo Woon's sleepy eyes as he watched Master Jang train was full of forlorn regret.

-Maybe it'll help me a little to at least memorize some of Master Jang's moves before I enter the academy?-

He thought this to himself every time he secretly watched Master Jang's training, but for fear of attracting attention from the other six clans, he had no choice but to always drop the brilliant idea.

It was in that moment that he heard the nano machine Nano's voice ring inside his head.

[Should I scan Master Jang's moves?]

-What?-

Cheon Yeo Woon raised his eyebrows at the nonsensical suggestion.

Memorizing a book seems plausible, but how is it possible to memorize a person's physical movement?

-You can scan someone's movement and stuff too?-

[It is possible.]

-So, you're telling me that it's possible for you to scan all of Master Jang's moves and transfer it into my brain, right?-

[Yes, it is possible. Not only that, there are many other martial arts moves that are already saved into my program. If you so desire, I can transfer it all into you, my lord.]

Although Cheon Yeo Woon was completely oblivious, the technological advances of the time when the 7th generation nano machine was built were so developed that it transcended anything anyone contemporary to his time could have ever even imagined.

In future times, because everything was capable of being scanned and transferred as a way of learning and improving one's skill, the general population weren't very interested in studying.

Although he didn't get formal approval from Master Jang, he felt like he did need something before noon when the Ma Fighting Academy would open its doors.

When that time came, there was no telling what was going to go down. After considering the proposition, Cheon Yeo Woon made a decision.

-Okay. Let's do it.-

[Initiating movement scan.]

As Cheon Yeo Woon's eyes began to rapidly pace around in every direction, the nano machine began to visually scan Master Jang's every move.

For about an hour, Cheon Yeo Woon stared without blinking once as Master Jang carried out his daily training regimen. Suddenly, Nano's voice rang in his head.

[Movement scan complete. Initiating transfer to the user's brain.]

*- Zoom, zoom! -*

With a feeling of a static spark going off in his head, all of Master Jang's moves rapidly played out before his eyes as it all transferred into Cheon Yeo Woon's brain.

Within a short period of time, the transfer was complete.

[Transfer complete.]

Although he felt slightly light-headed and queasy in his stomach, it was a lot more bearable than before.

Upon taking a deep breath after coming down from his momentary dizziness, Cheon Yeo Woon's eyes lit up with amazement.

It was quite the shocker when the scanned book was transferred into his brain, but there was no way to express what he felt in the moment.

-Nano…. are you serious? I feel like I can fight like Master Jang now!-

Leery that Master Jang might see him, Cheon Yeo Woon closed the blinds in his room window and got into a fighting stance.

It was the same stance that Master Jang made before engaging in combat.

-Swoosh, swoosh!-

He swung his arms and skipped around as though he held a short sword in his hand. He was breaking out Master Jang's Dangeom Bisool moves.

Though he'd never formally learned or practiced them, surprisingly, his every movement was identical with that of Master Jang who was training out in the backyard.

The most shocking thing was that he was a perfect mirror reflection of Master Jang who had been training in Dangeom Bisool for over twenty years.

The training of a martial arts master was simply a process of repeating the same basic movements over and over again until their bodies became perfectly acquainted with each progressing fighting posture, then making it as fluid and effortless as possible.

But Cheon Yeo Woon completely bypassed that whole process with only his brain receiving the transference.

As he excitedly showcased his newly acquired Dangeom Bisool skills, he heard Nano's voice again.

[Analysis of Master Jang's skeletal-muscular content retrieved during the visual scan has completed. Do you give permission to transfer the analyzed anatomical properties into your muscles?]

-You're going to transfer stuff into my muscle too? Cheon Yeo Woon curiously asked as he continued his acrobatics.-

[If I don't transfer the enhanced anatomic properties of the skeletal-muscular build that one can only acquire through training then…]

*- Cramp! -*

"Aghh!"

Even before Nano could finish her sentence, Cheon Yeo Woon felt strong cramping all over his body.

Because they were strong muscle spasms and not just cramps, he was barely able to move.

[Due to high-level, bodily movements that were performed without a properly trained and developed skeletal-muscular structure, you have incurred injuries on your muscles, tendons, and ligaments.]

-Thanks to the initial data transfer I think I know what you're trying to say, but it'll help a little if you used easier language.-

He mumbled this in his mind as he pulled up his aching body from the floor up onto his bed.

[Modifying vocabulary to meet the user's level of communication.]

-Level of communication?!-

He felt a little slighted, but he couldn't deny the fact that he couldn't understand Nano's sophisticated language, so he didn't say a word although his face looked really sour.

[Vocabulary modification complete. Since you have not trained for a long period of your life as Master Jang has, even though the movements have been copied and transferred into your brain it doesn't mean that your body can accommodate them. It is only after customizing your body to become like that of someone who has perfectly developed their every muscle through repetitive motions that you can likewise perform all the high-level movements yourself. I can do this for you by an inner process called "simulation."]

-Sounds a bit easier than before, but you're still difficult to understand.-

Since the vocabulary that Nano was using was light-years ahead and had a world of difference from his contemporary language, even after the language modification it inevitably sounded very foreign.

[Would you like for me to lower the level of communication to its minimum?]

-… I understood you. Sort of. Hmm… simulation, huh?-

He was reminded that there was in his memory a basic definition of the word "simulation": a type of problem-solving technique where one artificially plays out an actual action or event in order to analyze and predict future possible outcomes.

-So, if you transfer all that into me and restructure my body, I won't get muscle spasms like I did just now?-

[That is correct. Should I initiate the transfer?]

-It's going to be quick right?-

[Muscle restructuring requires the use of all the nano machines in your body, so the loading process takes some time to complete.]

-Loading? You mean the processing time, right? How long will it take approximately?-

[It will take roughly two hours to restructure your whole musculoskeletal system.]

Since it was still early morning, there was more than enough time to complete the process.

With a small sense of relief, Cheon Yeo Woon gave a somewhat hesitant nod of approval.

[Due to strong side effects that come from the restructuring process, you will be momentarily sedated with dissociative anesthesia.]

-It must be pretty painful.-

[The spasms can be quite strong. There has been a total of 2,350,000 reported cases of users fainting from muscle restructuring.]

-Alright, I'm going cold turkey.-

Cheon Yeo Woon decided to bypass the sedation as he felt a strange sense of competitiveness brew inside of him.

Since Nano technically did warn him once, the apathetic machine complied to whatever its master internally verbalized.

[Would you like to proceed without being sedated?]

-… If I'm not taking it too well, can you sedate me then?-

The slightly worried Cheon Yeo Woon made a safety net for himself just in case.

He was about to find out that creating a safety net for himself was the right decision to make.

[Initiating transfer.]

*- Zoom, zoom! -*

As all the 8,200,400,000 nano machines inside of Cheon Yeo Woon began to head for the skeletal-muscular organs in his body, he felt a slight itch.

"I worried for nothing. This really isn't so…"

-Whump, whump.-

"Aaaggghhhhh!" He let out a screech of agony. As all the muscles in his body twisted and pulled, Cheon Yeo Woon's eyes rolled inside his head so that that only the white of his eyeballs could be seen.

It was definitely not an appropriate time to scream, but he couldn't help himself.

"Aaaahhhhhhhhh! AAGGHHHH!"

As Cheon Yeo Woon began to twist his body and scream in excruciating pain, Nano's voice rang through his head.

[Initiating dissociative anesthesia.]

"Sighhhh…."

Cheon Yeo Woon fell fast asleep as he foamed in the mouth.