Blanking out, I flinch as the sword puts a deep cut under my eye. I stumble backwards, tripping over my feet as I try to move away. My opponent, nice enough to give me a rest, looks at me with scorn, as if killing me by surprise was beneath him. As my blood flows down my face I draw my 'sword' and ready myself to fight.

I take a deep breath and focus, trying to activate my one active skill to give me some type of advantage. Seeing that I'm still filled with a mild amount of panic... I assume I failed. Noticing that I look ready, my enemy rushes forward again, this time to probably finish me. As I wasn't ready at all and focused on trying to get my cheat from the system, I clumsily put my sword out to meet his and am quickly pushed back. As I continued to get pushed backwards, I instinctively try to use the balls of my feet to plant myself and stop moving. Instead, I tilt forward on my geta and fall forwards, my weapon coming down. Somehow while doing this, I manage to surprise him and land a strike on his shoulder. He steps back, surprised at my sudden attack but after he did, I tried to regain my balance by stepping backwards, once again tripping due to the impractical design of the geta given by the system. Falling backwards, both of them slip off as I hit the ground. Stumbling back to my feet, I look towards him completely seriously, now without shoes and breathing heavily, waiting for another attack.

Noticing that he wasn't pressing the attack, I look around me, seeing weird looks on the faces of bystanders. It was then that Garth barked out a hearty laugh, one that was exceedingly long. I even saw that he was crying while doing it. Letting out a small frown, I turn to Rorik, wondering what was happening. He looks me dead in the eye and said

"That was the worst excuse for an exchange of blows that I have ever seen."

My face flushes a deep shade of crimson as I get laughed at by several passerby as well. Nobody even tries to comfort my wounded heart.

When Garth finally decided to stop laughing, with tears still in his eyes he says

"You have no proper training do you?" I nod my head in response, not wanting to embarrass myself any further.

"Well I guess we'll have to start from the ground up then. Rorik?"

"Yea yea, Seeing as you hit him, even if it was by accident, your at least E rank." Confused I ask

"I thought it was a fight to the death?"

"No, we just say that so you'll go all out. You wouldn't have beaten him anyways, what with him being on the cusp of B rank."

I look towards my old opponent who stares me down with a look full of disdain. It somehow makes me angry that such a person could limb the ranks when he looked about the same age as me, yet i'm still at the bottom of the ladder.

"Oh yeah, what are the ranks and their meanings?" Garth quickly answers my question

"It goes from F to S normally, F being a normal person and S being basically a natural disaster."

"How can a person be a natural disaster?" The answer was obvious

"Talent."

"Which is also something you lack." adds Rorik very bluntly.

Sighing, I realize I still have a long way to go to live worry free. I take a look a people around and me think of all the hardships they had to go though to get stronger. Though I don't really want to do that, I'd rather take a shortcut, but the system doesn't seem to want me to. Either way, I still need to fight a life or death battle, so I might as well find some enemy or something.

"Is there anybody I can fight with who's around my level then?" Rorik thinks for a moment

"Well most recruits practice on criminals, they agree to get beat up because it lowers their sentence."

"I guess I'll do that then. Would you mind letting me train on one?"

Rorik nods and calls over what looks to be an average guy on the field.

"This guy here will be your dummy for a bit. One the other end of things you could ask him to fight to the death as well. This time it'll be for real though." He smirks as I nod my head.

"I need actual combat experience, so the best way is to actually fight someone. Let's go."

The criminal actually smiles, even as I draw my weapon he still has a stupid grin on his face. After he gets his weapon Rorik calls out "Begin"

This time I take initiative and rush forwards, swinging upwards towards his chin. I miss as he steps to the side and slashes forward, hitting my side and leaving a light wound and cutting my clothes. Before he can escape again I spin and thrust backwards, landing a blow on chest and hopefully cracking a few ribs. After getting back into stance, I watch him cough up a small amount of blood as he glares at me, bloodlust filling the air.

*Mushin Activated

We exchange blows again and again, I come out with light or even no injuries every time. The criminal was worse off, the initial blow to his ribs throwing off his combat effectiveness and allowing me to gain the upper hand. One final exchange happened as he thrust forward in a desperate attack which I manage to sidestep and counter by slashing towards his head. It connects as I hear a sickening crunch, his skull being crushed by the force behind the blow. He slumps forward, blood oozing from his head as I coldly look at the body hit the ground. Seems like Mushin does more than just make me calm, it effects everything, maximizes my effectiveness, or turns me into a psychopath. As I ponder the effects, notifications fill my head.

*E Rank opponent killed

50 XP gained

*CONTRACT: The First Trial completed

Rewards: STR +4

DEX +2

CON +2

*System Upgrade has begun. Time left- 30 seconds

I look at the system upgrade about to start and realize I can finally get more contracts. Hopefully ones that won't kill me, or do anything close to that. Maybe i'll get a store, or inventory, or even some ultra cool skill.

*Upgrade Complete

Functions Unlocked- Upgrade Function: allows one to trade weapons and armor to the system to upgrade the hosts current equipment.

Honor Function: The Ronin are merely samurai without a master, you must be honorable both in combat and out. If the host does he will receive rewards, if not he will be punished.

Well... that seems pretty fancy.