Chapter 16: Kung Fu Bear

“Don’t eat my fries! That’s my burger!” Claire tried to imitate my voice.

“Hahahahaha!”

I didn’t know how it came to this but I suddenly became the center of laughter when Claire told them how I sleep talked. Let me give her a taste of her own medicine.

“Yeah, but you know what’s funnier?” I said to them.

I crossed my eyes imitating her dumb expression when she wore the cap. “Dildo… Dildo… Uhuhuhu!”

“HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“Tch… They already cracked that one. It’s getting old.” She retorted.

“Dildo? Ehehehehe… Dildo!”

As the laughter continued, Claire gritted her teeth and her face reddened in anger. I can tell that she wanted to punch me in the face, but somehow, she restrained herself from doing it. It’s weird. Ever since I cured her of her disease, she changed. Her attitude towards me was different that it’s like she’s a different person. Is it the effect of the dark mana?

Suddenly, I remembered the whispers in the dark and my smile turned into a frown. I didn’t expect that the Dark Lord was capable of creating that fucked up dream and I almost gave in.

“What’s wrong?” Dianne asked as I realized that I spaced out.

“Nothing…” I replied.

I decided not to tell them anything about the Dark Lord. They might think that I was really going mad and that nightmare might come true. There were more things to be more afraid of than death itself; the fear of being shunned, fear of being left out, fear of being betrayed and of course, being NTR’d. It seemed that the Dark Lord did some research of what I fear. I dismissed the thought and kept my mind distracted as I finished my breakfast.

Anyway, I finally learned the names of our new party members and this time, I made sure to remember it. Just in case I had to deliver a eulogy. Their ghosts would forever haunt me if I say: “We will forever remember the great deeds of Mango Girl whose shape of the face is like a tropical fruit.”

It was awkward for me to ask them their names. Luckily, they were convinced when I said that I was forgetful when it comes to names and the only names I could recall are those who I interacted with for a long time. Well, it’s not necessarily false, since I really couldn’t remember the names of those who never made notable first impressions with me.

Mango Girl’s real name was Elizabeth. She insisted that we call her Beth. I wouldn’t say that she’s ugly or anything but like I said, her face reminded me of a mango fruit because of pointed chin. She has the looks of a mixed Filipino-Chinese; fair skin and pointy dark brown eyes.

There’s a saying: Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder…

Fine, I find her ugly, okay? However, I didn’t really care if she’s ugly because she stood up for me when their group mutinied against me and that earned her positive points for me. Plus, I’m not that good looking either. Perhaps diet and a serious workout would make me handsome, but I doubt that since I got all the recessive genes of my beautiful parents.

Repairman’s name was Carlos. He told us that we can call him Kaloy and he doesn’t mind if we call him Mang Kaloy [1]. He’s a man in his 30s from his looks. He has a dark brown skin and slightly wrinkled forehead. His hands looked rough and full of callus. It’s probably due to his work as a handyman.

Ethan, George’s five year son, didn’t know how to read and he didn’t have a blue screen. Instead of blue screens, he’s hearing a voice telling him of all the information about his stats and skills. His stats were sub-par and his intelligence was only 6. I bet he’ll be a genius kid if he put all of his points in intelligence.

I gave him instructions in order for us to know what skill he has. Ethan was obedient and smart enough to follow my instructions. Unfortunately, he told us that the voice wasn’t responding when asked about skills. Perhaps he’s too young to have a skill but I wonder what would happen if he use a skill book.

After we finished our breakfast, it’s still early in the morning, so we can afford to rest before the journey. Eric and the others decided to take a few changes of clothes from the store. The store has a lot of stuff other than clothing such as bags, cologne and perfumes.

I took the cologne and perfumes in my bag. Since there will be no more manufacturing of these luxury items, it’s just a matter of supply and demand and the price of these items would skyrocket. If I couldn’t sell these things, I could use it on my own. Why not?

I saw a blood stain on the floor and it reminded me of the gruesome and the bloody sight of dead party members. Even though I already killed a person, I don’t think I could get used to it. I still have a conscience. I think that killing a person brings me closer to the Dark Lord so I will do everything to avoid killing.

I remembered that I bought a book from The Shop back in the university. I pulled out the book about the monsters: Beastiary of Earthland by Finn Mertens. I didn’t know who Finn Mertens was but it’s obvious that he’s some kind of an expert about monster hunting.

The book’s cover was made of leather and it was thick and heavy. I think calling it a tome would be more appropriate. I opened the book and skimmed some of its contents. It sucked since the list of the monsters weren’t in alphabetical order, but at least it has page numbers and a table of contents in the front page.

In the fourth page after the table of contents, it has introduction on how usually a monster is born and how they evolve. Usually, monsters come from sentient and intelligent entities called dungeons. There were a few exceptions, such as summoners’ familiar which came from the Spirit Realm and beasts which are independent monsters and can spawn in a forest.

A dungeon will spawn when the mana in an area is too concentrated, usually underground and other isolated areas. When the immaterial mana forms a mana stone, the mana stone itself will become sentient. Given time, the sentient mana stone will develop intelligence and this process takes about a minimum of hundred years up to a thousand years.

When the mana stone gain intelligence, this is the moment when a dungeon is born. The mana stone will become its core and it will absorb mana in its surrounding areas, like any other living creatures, but a dungeon can absorb a tremendous amount of mana and can store almost limitless amount.

The dungeon can spawn monsters based on the mana signature of its surroundings and shape their monsters accordingly. For example, if a dungeon is born near a cemetery or an area full of corpses, it will spawn skeletons and other undead creature and if it is born in a place with only rocks and ores, it will spawn golems.

The dungeon needs mana in order to spawn monsters and with its tremendous mana absorption ability, it can constantly spawn monsters. One way, a dungeon can gain strength is to kill other sentient beings just like how an adventurer kills a monster. When a dungeon gets stronger, its monster spawn limit will increase.

As to why the monsters drop items like coins, items and skill books, one theory suggests that it’s the dungeon’s way to attract adventurers to come to its domain. Obviously, the people would avoid dungeons all the time if there’s no reward or whatsoever.

When a dungeon is conquered, an adventurer has two options. You can either kill the dungeon by taking the dungeon core (which is a priceless and powerful magic item) or spare its life and let it recover in order to milk it for more. Obviously, the latter is the better option in the long run as long as the spawn rate can be managed.

Normally, dungeons aren’t hostile to each other and they usually tolerate the other dungeons’ monster and coexist in a territory peacefully. One exception is an undead dungeon. All other dungeons hate undead dungeon because of their infectious dark mana. That’s why the goblins and the ogres were hostile with the zombies. I bet there’s a zombie dungeon near the university. Does that mean there’s a gnoll dungeon in this area?

After I understood the concept of monster spawn and dungeons, I flipped the page to the next part which is the list of monsters. It has crude drawings and description of the monsters. It also contains the weaknesses of the monsters and the dangers of fighting it. There were also tips on how to spot their trails and how to hunt them. As I skimmed the book, I found the entry about the gnolls.

Gnolls are half-beastmen and half-monsters. Specifically, their beastmen blood came from the canine beastmen race that a dungeon absorbed. However, the other half is unknown. The book also mentioned that gnolls are highly resistant to poisons and they have an acute sense of smell and hearing.

They were known as scavengers and they also hunt their prey in pack. Although they’re cunning with their ambush, one weakness of gnolls is their pack leader. They are the biggest of the bunch. Every hunting pack has a pack leader and once you kill the leader, the others will run and lose their will to fight. However, the leaderless pack will be absorbed by the one with a leader.

I need to inform the others of what I learn.

[Guys... Meeting.First floor.] – Miguel

I called them to a group meeting as soon as I finished prepping my gear. I wanted to discuss them our new formations and tactics. After a few minutes, all members of Boston Tea Party have gathered around me.

“So what’s this meeting about?” Beth asked.

“I wanted to discuss our new formation and tactics.” I answered.

“Haven’t we discussed that back in the university?” Dianne asked.

“Well, yes but our numbers are much less than when we left the university and the gnolls are going to be a pain in the ass.”

I explained to them what I learned from the book and about our formation. Basically, we’re going to use the group tactic no. 3 but with a little change. We have four front liners and all of them have shields. It’s a good idea to utilize those shields with close formation in order to prevent arrows from hitting us. Melissa, Gerry and I will be on the rear while protecting Ethan.

I told Dianne to be more careful since gnolls have an acute sense of smell and hearing and sneak won’t do much against them. Now that we have AoE skills, we can finally face a mob. We still have to be careful and stick with the plan though.

When the meeting ended, they did a final sweep of the place to salvage anything we can use and they prepared their gears by having Mang Kaloy repair it. He’s an awesome guy and convenient too. He’s an invaluable asset when it comes to gear maintenance.

Afterwards, we finally left the clothing store and travelled on our planned route. Dianne broke off with the rest of us to scout ahead. Earlier, I told her the signs whenever a gnoll pack is nearby. Gnolls are rarely alone, and their packs were always in 7-15 members.

The streets were filled with bones and skeletons. It seemed that the gnolls ate the corpses and these were the leftovers. I wonder what happened to the group who broke off from us. Not that I cared but I think they might be dead.

Anyway, we continued our journey as we avoid gnoll packs in our way. The book did a good job of providing us vital information about the gnolls. It’s been hours since we left the clothing store, but we never had an encounter with gnolls.

Suddenly, an arrow flew in our direction. Melissa luckily dodged the arrow by an inch.

[Ambush! Tight formation, guys!] – Miguel

“Oh shit!” George cursed as another arrow flew and landed on his shield.

The rest of the party closed in to each other and the front liners raised their shields to defend. I looked around and I found gnolls in the buildings shooting at us from the windows.

“HAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Claire shouted at the top of her lungs. I felt some sort of adrenaline surge in my veins and a weird thirst to kill. It was probably the effect of Claire’s [Berserker’s howl].

Sir Gerry took out a water container drum and beat it with his improvised drum sticks. He cast [Encourage] as he beat the drum. I called Melissa and pointed where the gnolls were shooting at us. There were four gnolls sniping us from the windows.

Gnoll Archer Lvl. 15

[Melissa, shoot those bastards!] – Miguel

[Yup!]– Melissa

Melissa drew her bow and an ethereal arrow appeared. Her hand glowed with yellow light as she fired the ethereal arrow to the gnoll. I think it’s the combination of [Phantom Arrow] and [Aimed Shot]. The gnoll archer didn’t die in one hit and it only staggered from her attack. She fired another arrow to finish it off.

-240 HP! Critical Hit!

-112 HP!

Target Died

Meanwhile, I cast [Rock Bullet] and shaped the stone into a sharp armor piercing bullet. I threw the finger sized stone to the gnoll archer on the opposite side. The rock projectile flew fast and hit the gnoll on its torso.

-140 HP!

Target is Bleeding!

Although it didn’t die from one hit, the projectile pierced its body and was incapacitated with its wounds. I left it so it can bleed to death while Melissa and I finish off the other gnoll archers. Dianne finally showed up and drew her bow. Like Melissa, her hand also glowed with yellow light as she fired her arrow while in [Sneak]. As expected, she killed the gnoll archer in one hit and it wasn’t even a critical hit.

-314 HP! Sneak Attack!

Target Died

I didn’t see it, but Melissa already killed the fourth gnoll archer from the other window. The gnoll archer I hit with [Rock Bullet] finally succumbed to its wounds.

Target Died

“Awwoooooohhhh!!!”

[What’s that?] – Mang Kaloy

[I think it's calling for back up!]– Eric

As we heard the gnoll’s howl, we realized that we left one alive. We couldn’t tell where it was but the gnolls howl was answered with more howl from the other gnolls. We heard the sound of their feet rushing towards us from the distance.

We braced ourselves as the pack of gnolls rushed towards us from the northwest. There were at least 25 of them in their pack.

“Grrrrrrahhhh....”

The gnolls snarled and growled as they charged. They’re trying to make us run so they can chase us. These monsters were obviously confident with their numbers and they’re playing with us. The gnoll archers fired off its arrow while running and one arrow hit Melissa squarely on her chest.

-68 HP!

“Ahhhh!” She pulled out the arrow as I cast [Heal] on her.

The others shook in fear as they saw the charging mob. Back in the clothing store, the gnoll pack that attacked us were smaller.

“Do exactly as I say and you will live.” I said to them. “Claire, on my signal, use your [Wail of Agony].”

Sir Gerry beat the drum with more intensity as the gnolls charge. It was like a battle drum, giving us courage with its beats and making the fight more epic. When I felt the effect of his skill [Encourage], my mind was focused on one thing. Killing these monsters like a badass.

“Now!”

“HAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Claire used [Wail of Agony] on the approaching enemies. The enemies flinched at the sound waves. Her skill was very effective due to their sensitive hearing. The gnolls covered their ears and whimpered in pain.

Target is Stunned!

“Melissa, use your AoE! Dianne, shoot the largest one!” I ordered.

Melissa did as I said and pointed her bow upwards. She drew and fired the arrow up to the sky as she used [Arrow Shower] while I cast [Tailwind] to enhance the effect of the arrow projectile. After a few seconds, a barrage of arrows rained down on the enemies. Only two enemies were killed by the arrow shower while the rest were just wounded.

Dianne, on the other hand, fired her arrow to the gnoll leader. One arrow with sneak attack and [Aiming Shot] wasn’t enough to kill the leader so she shot two more arrows in a row to finish it off.

-294 HP! Sneak Attack!

-103 HP!

-105 HP!

Target Died

“Eric, use your [Charge Attack] then [Taunt]!”

“What? Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes, just trust me, I have a plan.”

Eric hesitated at first, but he did as I asked. He charged at the enemies and sent one of the gnolls flying and he bashed them with his shield. Eric roared fiercely as his eyes turned red when he used [Taunt]. Before the gnolls could run after their leader was killed, they turned aggressive when they heard Eric’s shout and tried to attack him.

I cast [Earth Wall], not to protect him, but to lift him upward. The ground he was standing on rose up to the point where the gnolls couldn’t reach him. He continued to cast [Taunt] to keep their aggro to him.

I used this opportunity to use [Chain Hellfire], my favorite semi-AoE spell. I aimed the flames from my staff and fired it to one of the gnolls. I directed the flames to chain to another until most of the gnolls were burning.

Target is Burning!

My MP was drained but not to the point it went empty. I left at least 3% of my total MP to prevent Mental Strain. I didn't receive +5 MP as usual because I didn't drain my MP completely. When all of the burning gnolls died, only 5 of them were left. I ordered the rest of the party to finish them off while I used [Meditate] to recover.

Claire used another [Wail of Agony] to prevent them from running. She dashed forward and her sword swept through the five gnolls with speed while using [Lacerating Strike]. The gnolls bled while they were stunned. The others, George, Beth and Mang Kaloy charged towards the gnolls to finish them off.

With their opponents bleeding on the ground, it was an easy kill for them. Although I expected for them to have SYSTEM reward for killing monsters 10 levels above them, they did not receive anything but EXP. George, Mang Kaloy, Sir Gerry and Ethan levelled up three times and they’re now level 6 while Beth levelled up only twice and she’s now level 8.

The rest of us levelled up once. I noticed that it’s starting to get harder for the original members to level up. I think it has something to do with the monsters’ level. Lately, we’ve been fighting low level monsters and these gnolls were near our levels.

“Holy shit. That’s awesome!” Beth said.

“For a second, I thought we’re all going to die but dude, you’re brilliant!” George said as he tapped my back.

The rest of them congratulated me, except for Claire. Her lips were slightly pouted and it’s obvious that she’s jealous again with my display of magic. I guess there are things that will never change. She’s still competitive with me.

We proceeded to loot the corpses. Unfortunately, most of the items, such as weapons and armors, were burned and damaged beyond repair. The coins, however, were untouched. We split off the coins and distributed it equally. Of course, Ethan wasn’t included in the profit sharing.

There were some weapons that were damaged and can still be repaired. We gave the Iron-tipped Short Spears to the new members as their new weapons. Afterward, Mang Kaloy used [Repair] to all our equipment. The spears were good as new.

“Alright guys, let’s go…” I said.

We continued our journey while Dianne went to scout ahead. I approached Claire in order to give her some credit.

“You did a good job.” I said to her.

“Right…” Claire said as her eyes rolled and her lips were still pouting.

“You know, that skill [Wail of Agony] is awesome. I was confident at that fight because you have it and if it wasn’t for that skill, I’d probably say that we should retreat and hope for the best.”

There was a gleam of confidence in Claire’s eyes as she gazed at me. “Really?”

“Yeah…”

She removed her gaze from me and walked slightly faster. I saw her lips showed a slight smile and her cheeks blushed. I guess it worked. It’s best to remove any insecurity she might have with me or she’d probably feel useless again. It’s good that she’s competitive because she’ll strive to get better.

I looked around and the rest of them grinned as they teased me. Eric looked at me with an idiotic grin. It’s weird that Eric didn’t mind me taking one of his girls. Was I wrong to assume that Claire and Dianne were part of Eric’s harem? From his looks, it seemed like it.

As I continued to walk forward, I noticed that Claire stole a glance at me. I felt my heart skipped a beat when I saw her blushed. I wonder if it’s really possible. One can only dream. Like I said before, I don’t have high expectations so I wouldn’t be disappointed in the end.

After we were ambushed by the gnolls, Dianne made sure that we’re no longer walking to any ambush and spot any gnoll packs hidden in the corners of the street. We avoided them like a plague. Since we tried to avoid confrontations, it took us a while to reach Kalayaan Avenue.

When we passed a ruined church, we noticed that the sun would set in only a few hours. We found an abandoned house on Malumanay Street. We decided to spend the night there. We’d probably reach Cubao tomorrow. If it wasn’t for the monsters, it would be one day of travel from the university to Cubao.

While Eric and Mang Kaloy were making sure that the door was secured, I grabbed my empty water bottle and filled it with water using [Water Manipulation]. I focused on the source and the water came from the tip of my staff and poured straight into the bottle. I used [Fire Manipulation] to cool it off and the result was outstanding. Cold fresh water!

Of course, I used [Cure Disease] in order to make sure that it’s safe to drink. Surprisingly, there were almost no microbes in the water. I guess those microbes came from the bottle and the air, but not from the water.

I sensed something like small rocks in the water, but I don’t think they were harmful though. I’m sure that it’s not the shit from the sewers that I’m sensing. From my knowledge, drinking ultra pure water is bad, so this water is okay in my opinion. I tested the water by sipping some of it.

It tasted normal like the normal drinking water that I used to drink. I compared my magical water to another bottle of drinking water. I saw the same amount small rocks in the water from the other bottle, but unlike the water from my magic, it has more microbes.

I drank my magical and cold fresh water. “Whew! It’s so good.”

“Can we have some of that too?” Beth asked.

The others were staring at me and gulped.

“Of course…” I nodded.

The rest of them brought out their empty water bottles to me as I filled it up with cold water. Eric drank his fill quickly and splashed some water on his face. He asked for a refill which I happily obliged.

“God… I missed cold water.” Eric said.

“Yeah, me too… By the way, where did the water come from?” George asked.

“The sewers…” I replied.

“BWOOOFFFF!!!!!” When they heard my answer, they immediately spit out the water. “BWEEEHHH!!!!”

It’s a funny sight, but what I said was the truth and there’s no point in keeping it as a secret.

“What the fuck?” Claire cursed as she wiped her mouth. “Are you serious?!”

“I am. It’s the truth.” I drank the water from my bottle.

“He’s just trolling us… Don’t believe him and seriously, it’s not funny…” Eric said.

“You see, it’s true that I got the water from the sewers, but that’s the beauty of my magic. Technically speaking, it’s not ultra pure, but I can assure you, it’s safe to drink…”

“Are you absolutely sure?” George asked.

“Why would I drink it if I’m not sure? Trust me, I even checked for microbes and it’s cleaner than what we used to drink.” I replied.

They shrugged as they continued to drink the water.

After that, the others went to do their own business. I searched for a bathroom to relieve myself and used [Water Manipulation] to flush the toilet after I was done. Magic is really convenient. I may not have the highest damage among us, but I like to think that I became a super hero whose powers were to remove all minor inconvenience.

I am Minor Inconvenience Man. My motto: Who needs super strength or super speed when you can fix minor inconveniences?

Anyway, I went back to the living room where the rest of them hung out. I noticed that Melissa pulled out a book from her inventory.

“What’s that book?” I asked.

Melissa showed me the book cover. It was another ‘For Dummies’ guide book.

“Survival Guide for Dummies...” She replied as she flipped the cover and read.

I also saw Dianne reading a book. It was Alchemy for Dummies. I guess I rubbed off some of my habits to them and they started to read books. Even in this new world, knowledge is power. Eric, as always, was doing nothing. He removed his armor and lay down on the floor and napped.

Claire tugged my robe and whispered in my ear.

“Can’t we do it tomorrow?” I asked.

“But you made your promise…” She said. “It should be yesterday, but you needed rest…”

“I know, but I also need to rest now…”

“Please!”

“I told you, I’m tired. We’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Come on, let’s do it right now. You promised!” She said as she tugged my robe.

“Yeah, I know. We’ll do it tomorrow. Seriously, I’m extremely tired right now...”

“Now! Let’s do it now! Please!”

The others giggled as they heard Claire’s pleading. Melissa looked at me impatiently as she stepped forward.

“You know, I heard that sex reduce stress so being tired is not an excuse. Go upstairs and find a room.” She said.

“...”

Claire and I looked at each other confused. I couldn’t help but laugh. They thought that Claire was inviting me for sex. Hilarious... Or was it? I looked back at Claire but she wasn’t laughing.

“We’re not talking about sex. He promised to teach me Arnis...” Claire said in serious tone.

“Oh...” Melissa said as she looked down.

I looked at the others and they seemed to be disappointed. I admit, I wished that was the case too, but sleeping with Claire would be like being hit with lightning thrice in a row and winning the lottery jackpot at the same time.

Were they shipping us that badly? Anyway, the only one who didn’t like shipping our pair was Dianne. Maybe she’s jealous and based on her looks, I can already tell that she’s against our pair.

I didn’t care about what she thinks though. She’s the one who let me get away and she’s the greatest slut I’ve ever known. Not a bitch, but a slut. There’s a difference. She’s not ‘innocent’ and she’s pretending not to know anything about sex. What a hypocrite.

That slut deserved to burn in hell along with her mother, but she’s more useful to me alive than dead. The only reason why I hung out with her was because of Eric. Wherever he goes, she’d always be there. Eric noticed it before and he kept asking me why I avoid Dianne. Of course, I pretended that there’s nothing wrong between us. Like I said before, I don’t want to talk about it, nor would I ever want to remember what happened.

Anyway, Claire was staring at me, but in a pleading sort of way. She has this way of getting what she wants and ignoring her won’t stop her. She’s doing a puppy eyes and it’s cute. This is a first.

“Fine...” I said to her. “Look around for a wooden stick or something.”

She smiled and dashed to find wooden sticks we can use for Arnis. After a few minutes, Claire was prancing towards me while carrying two wooden sticks. It’s a bit long for Arnis and it wasn’t made with rattan wood. She gave me the one of the sticks and we began with the lesson.

“First, let’s do some stretching and warm up.” I said.

“Can’t we skip that and just teach me the techniques?” Claire asked.

This is the problem with beginners. They’re often cocky and wanted to skip the small but important things like warming up. Like in every exercise, it’s required to do some stretching and warm up because we don’t want any injuries or muscle strains.

I ignored her and did my standard stretching and warm ups and she copied what I was doing. You know, I wasn’t always fat. I started to gain weight when Dianne rejected me. I tried to ask out the other girls, but each rejection was equivalent to gaining more weight. I gained even more weight after that incident. Gosh, I should clear my mind. I definitely don’t want to relive that memory. Damn it...

After the unenthusiastic stretching and warm up exercise by Claire, I taught her the basics and the daily routine of a practitioner of Arnis.

I put my right hand holding the stick forward while my empty left hand on my chest. I moved my left foot backward 45 degrees away from the body. It shouldn’t be too low or extended otherwise it will be hard to maneuvre. Then I distributed the center of gravity to both of my legs. This was one of the basic stances in Arnis: Back Stance.

I always used this stance because it’s better to be defensive than aggressive. Back stance is perfect for dodging and blocking, but you can also counter-attack with this stance. I almost always win the tournament because of this stance.

I was called a coward by many of my opponents because I only dodge, block and counter. The opponents who were too aggressive always end up tired as they tried to attack me. When they’re tired and out of breath, that’s the time I’d switch to a more aggressive style.

Claire copied the stance, but it was far from perfect. I approached her and corrected her stance until she got it right. I told her to stay like that for a few minutes so her muscles would remember it. I also taught her my 2nd favourite stance with is called Forward Stance. This stance is for those who like to be more aggressive, but still wanted to dodge a little. I wouldn’t recommend it though, unless the opponent is a sitting duck and waiting to be crushed.

“This is boring! Can’t you teach me the techniques?” Claire complained.

“You promised me that we’ll do it my way...”

Claire sighed as she reluctantly obeyed my instructions. She stayed in her stance for a few minutes without moving. After that, I taught her the basic Arnis strikes. My grandfather used to call this “Six strikes technique”. Claire seemed to be more focused when I said the word ‘technique’ and ‘strikes’.

1st strike – Strike to the left shoulder

2nd strike – Strike to right shoulder

3rd strike – Strike to left knee

4th strike – Strike to right knee

5th strike – Thrust to the chest/torso

6th strike – Overhead strike to the crown

By the way, these are only 6 out of 12 basic strikes of Arnis. I didn’t include the other six which are hitting the temple and using the butt of the stick to hit the eye. I found it impractical in the tournament since the head was a small target and with the Back Stance, you’d always find yourself distant with your enemy.

I also taught her basic blocks which counters those 6 strikes. I showed her how to properly connect the six strikes and also the six blocks. When she got it right, I told her to do the flow practice and repeat it again and again until she’s tired.

While Claire was training, I took a chair and sat on it. I pulled out the book about the monsters to pass the time. After just half an hour, I noticed that Claire stopped with her training.

“Why did you stop?” I asked.

Claire was standing in front of me with folded arms. “It’s done. What’s next?”

“It’s not done. That will be your routine every day. Now go and do it again.” I said as I continued to read the book.

“I already got it. I think it’s time I learn a new technique.” She said.

I rolled my eyes as I closed the book. “No, you don’t. Do it again.”

Claire gritted her teeth in frustration. It’s clear that she didn’t have the same patience like me.

“That technique is pointless! It’s not like the enemy would just be standing there doing nothing. I bet you wouldn’t be able to connect those strikes.”

She’s got a point. You really wouldn’t be able to connect those strikes in a real fight. However, the point of practicing the flow of Six strikes technique is to build retention, muscle memory, and muscle conditioning; doing it again and again until it’s an instinct.

I stood up from my seat and grabbed the wooden stick. There’s no use of telling her my point, but I’d be glad show her.

“Attack me...” I said to her while I did the Back Stance.

“What?”

“Just do it...”

Claire tried to hit me with her wooden stick without hesitation. I stepped back to dodge her attack, but she’s too fast and landed a hit me on my head.

-33 HP!

“Aww!” I rubbed my head and I felt dizzy from her attack. I checked my hand and there was blood on it.

“Hah. I thought you’re an expert?” Claire taunted.

“I never said I was an expert.” I retorted.

“Do you expect me to dodge everything like I’m Bruce Lee?”

Alright, here’s the painful truth about martial arts. The masters can still get hit. I can actually land a hit or two whenever I sparred with my grandfather. Even with training, you can dodge and block most of the attacks, but you cannot be a perfect martial artist who can block and dodge everything like in the movies. I may look like a fat panda, but I am not Po! [2]

I stood up, but I didn’t cast [Heal] on myself. Not because I like pain but because of my skill [Masochism], the pain was a bit dull and I wanted my HP go down a bit further to level up [Masochism]. I guess her skill [Sadism] made her strikes painful.

“Again...” I said.

She did the same attack, but this time, I side stepped to the right and hit her shoulder using 2nd Strike.

-10 HP!

“Shit!”

Claire stood up again as she dashed forward and thrust her stick aiming for my torso. I used 5th Block and countered with 6th Strike as I saw her head open. I didn’t put any restraint on my attack because I was pissed when she hit me.

-22 HP!

“Fuck!”

I grinned as I saw a drop of blood on her forehead. She glared at me and stood up ready to attack. I was planning on using my mother’s style in teaching, but I guess it won’t work for her. From now on, I’ll do my grandfather’s style of teaching. I will teach her the real meaning of pain.

[1] Mang is a title of respect used with the first name of a man similar to English honorific, Mister.

[2] A reference to Kung Fu Panda