John shook off the aftermath of the old man's frightening transformation. This simulation wasn't real anyway and he needed to take advantage of the potential opportunities this training offered him.

Gingerly picking up the wooden bat, John began to rap it against his shins. The movement ended up looking like an awakward walking motion as he stepped forward with one leg, the bat would fall resoundly upon the shin bone. As he stepped with the other foot the motion would be repeated. It was just as painful as John imagined it would be. John continued this motion, circling the small room for an indeterminable ammount of time. The old man merely sat down in the center of the room into a modified lotus position. He closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply. John was concerned the old man would fall asleep and then never tell him to stop. Just as he was about to stop and give up, the old man opened his eyes.

"Enough. Begin your punches."

With a sigh of relief job placed the bat into the small storage closet. His legs were throbbing with pain that reverberated through his entire body. With painful steps, John made his way to the pillar that the old man had previously been punching.

Just as the old man had done previously, John set his feet in the same stance and slowly extended one punch until it softly connected witht he pillar.

"Harder."

A flash of annoyance suffused John. He was about to tell the old man that he didn't sign up for this when he realized that in fact, he had. Stamping down his annoyance and shoving it into the recesses of his mind, John tried to punch the pillar. A resounding crack was heard as John's next strike hit the pillar. John internally howled in pain. His fist immediately became a fireball of pain. Looking over to the man, John expected him to tell him that was too hard.

The man remained still. "Good. Continue."

John immediately had an intense dislike for this man but he persisted. Crack after resounding crack echoed through the small room. At some point, John's mind began to wonder. He began thinking about what his next steps would be. He needed some kind of class that would allow him to increase his abilities. He was going to have to be somewhat autonomous from Collective because of the mysterious virus that his body was carrying. As such, he couldn't rely on a class that caught much traction in traditional parties. As soon as he joined a party with other avatars he would significantly increase the chance of him being outed as some sort of hybrid. The underworld in the city should offer some sort of job that could assist with that. Deception and infiltration skills would be necessary so that he could access some of the more difficult content that the Collective had to offer without tackling it as a full party.

The man brought John out of his reverie.

"Enough. Now we will began to focus on your katas. Do you need to rest?"

Startled, John considered. He had a couple notifications.

Ability Aquired! Unarmed Combat Lvl 1: The very basics of unarmed combat have been made available to you. Unarmed combat consists of both lethal and non-lethal methods to defeat an opponent. Unarmed Combat is the basis of all combat classes and as such increases the efficacy of all forms of combat as it is leveled. Continue leveling to increase learning and damage percentages. Current Learning Percentage for other forms of combat: 10%. Current Damage Percentage increase 1%. Physical Damage Resistance Increased by 1%.

As soon as he dismissed the notifications his head began to throb and he felt something strange happen to him. He began to reflect on his fighting style and considered repeating the punches he had just made. As he did so, John felt subtle guidance within his own mind telling him that his wrist was bent and that he had clasped his fingers into a fist the wrong way. The differences were subtle, but this self-correction stemmed from his new basic knowledge of unarmed combat. Excitedly, John decided to look at his character sheet for the first time. He had never bothered before because he hadn't had a hope of increasing anything.

John chewed on his lower lip in thought. Character sheets developed from social media platforms in the 21st Century. Back then people used the internet, a primitive form of the Collective, to upload information about their lives. It quickly developed from a source of entertainment into a way for employees and various other entities to judge people based on series of criteria or attributes. People listed all sorts of things from their education to their various skills. It was an easy leap when the internet was integrated into a networked community to make that information accessible to anyone who that the skill to look at it. It today's world the Collective was able to quantify every aspect about an individual into its own systems. This was why it was somewhat troubling that the Collective could not find a way to quantify John first ability...whatever it was. Everything else seemed to render just fine as exemplified by John's average scores in all of his other attributes. Even Adaptability seemed to fit within Collective's identificaiton software. John dismissed his character sheet. In the time that he spent looking, his hands and shins had healed due to his health regeneration and he was able to confidently tell the old man that he was ready to continue.

The old man nodded sagely. "Good, I see that you have learned the rudiements of unarmed combat. It's time to teach you a few skills to make it worthwhile."

Seeing that John was payinig rapt attention, the old man continued. "The first thing you'll be learning how to do is a non-lethal disarming technique. Do you know what this means?"

"Uh...that I'll be learning how to take someones weapon away from them?"

The man nodded. "Precisely. First we'll begin with small bladed attacks and as you progress in proficiency we may be able to learn more advanced techniques for larger weapons. Are you ready?"

John nodded in the affirmative.

"Good, go grab on of the wooden knives from the storage closet."

Quietly, John did as he was told and resumed his place in front of the old man.

"Good, now lunge at me with the knife."

John obliged and the man didn't move from his position at all. So fast that John could not percieve what happened, there was a series of smacks and the wooden knife went flying from John's grasp. Standing stupidly in front of the old man, John looked from his hand to the knife and finally to the old man's smiling face.

"Uh...what?" John said with all of his five points in intelligence.

The old man laughed. "You did not see what happened?"

"No, one second I had the knife, and one second I didn't. What happened?"

The old man moved closer and gripped John's wrist. "All I did was a simple disarming technique. Although, I did it so quickly that you did not have time to notice. With one hand, I slapped the inside of your wrist." The man demonstrated slowly. "The second thing I did was slap the outside of your hand holding the knife." The man placed his hand on John's wrist and hand and pantomimed a scissoring motion using his two hands against John's wrist. John noticed that as his own wrist bent inward his hand naturally unclenched and his fingers extended. John realized that if done quickly enough the knife would go flying to the ground. John was elated at this discovery.

"I think I get it! Can we try it again?"

The old man nodded and gestured for John to pick up the knife again. John and the old man quickly found a rhythym. John would attack in a variety of positions and angles and the old man would disarm him easily. Afterwards, the old man would take the knife and do the same to John. At first John could not disarm any of the stirkes and a series of bruises began to form on his body where the knife was able to make contact. Pain became a great teacher as John quickly gained proficiency with the disarming technique. After John was able to stop an entire series of strikes from various angles and positions, the master called a halt.

"Great job. This technique is only applicable when your enemy is weaker, surprised, or slower than you are. It's a great tehcnique to surprise someone but in any other situation it will not be sufficient to disarm your opponent. In this case you also need to learn how to pit your opponent's energy against them and disarm them even if they're stronger or better prepared. Are you ready?"

John nodded excitedly and the master threw the wooden knife at him. John caught it gracefully and smiled. Ge had become much more familiar with a knife since this training started. He may take knife combat as his next training simulation in order to crystalize the information in his mind.

The old man gestured for John to attack him and so John did. This time, instead of a quick slapping motion, the old man blocked John's stirke by crossing his wrists over John's and then using a twisting motion, he locked up John wrist. Immediately pain spiked through John's arm and he found himself involuntarily dropping to the ground. The knife was an afterthought as it cluttered to the ground. The old man gently helped John up and then showed his slowly what he did. After that, the same rhythym was established as John attacked from a variety of positions and angles and the old man defended from them masterfully.

Soon it was John's turn to attempt to defend from the old man's attacks and he took to it with vigor. Faster than before, John was able to disarm the man over and over. The old man gave him a small smile and then began to attack faster and faster. Sometimes John would have to use the quick slapping method in order to disarm the knife. At other times when the old man put some of his prodigious strength behind the strike John would have to use the joint lock disarming technique in order to subdue him. This continued faster and faster until John entered a sort of trance. In it, he and the old man became a series of actions and reactions. John had never felt anything like it before. As soon as the dance of action and reaction ceased. Panting John disengaged from the master and a series of notifications appeared in his view.

Ability Acquired! Inner Focus Lvl 1: Whether casting magic, utilizing combat abilities, or performing acrobatics an inner focus is required. Inner Focus adds a multiplier to Focus, Endurance, Dexterity, and Agility. Current Bonus: 1.25. Ability Acquired! Knife Mastery Lvl 1: Knives can be used for a variety of functions. They can be used to quietly assassinate, pick a lock, or be thrown into unsuspecting adversary. Besides combat, they can be used as a kitchen tool, crafting accessory, and myriad other uses. Knife Mastery adds a current Damage Percentrage increase and a Dexterity and Agility Modifier when using a knife. Current Damage increase: 1% Current Bonus: 1.25. Skill Acquired! Disarm Lvl 1: Disarm can be used either armed or unarmed. However, success depends upon your knowledge in both the style of combat you use and the style of combat your opponent is using. As Disarm is levelled up, more weapons can be disarmed while using various types of weaponry. Due to your Adaptability, Focus has increased by 2, Agility has increased by 2, Dexterity has increased by 1 and Endurance has increased by 1. Congratulations! You have levelled up! You are now Level 2. You have 3 Attribute Points to distribute.

As soon as the last notification was dismissed, a feeling of euphoria took over John's body. It felt as if every cell within John's body was flooded with an arcane energy. Every part of John's body was tingling with an almost sexual pleasure. Almost as soon as it started, it was gone and it left John feeling as if the world was just a little bit darker in comparison. If this was how levelling up felt everytime then John could imagine why people would do anything to level up. The Collective made it a pleasant experience. It seemed almost like...conditioning. John found himself on the ground once it was over and looked up at the old man. The orange light of the setting sun highlighted his features with a fiery glow. The planes of his face were dark with shadows and he could have looked intimidating if not for the small smile he quietly wore. He truly was the perfect balance of strength and gentleness. John wished he could find half of the inner peace that seemed tangible when looking at the elderly man.

The man abruptly broke John from his reverie. "Well youngling, this is all I have to teach you for now. Please come again for more advanced training."

The man began to turn and left from the way he had come. John stumbled up and went to follow him.

"Wait. What do I call you?"

The old man half turned as if surprised. "I am Sakugawa and if you decide to come back, you may call me Sensei."

The man left John on the floor of the room with more questions than answers. Part of this training was obviously fictitious and generated by Collective but Sakugawa was a real person and this location seemed familiar to him somehow.