Struggle#06

Objective: Defeat Master Kunan

Sub-objective: none

So, I suppose Kunan is inside the dojo. It’s not like there is anywhere else to go anyway.

I walked inside. I found a unique huge room with a good portion of its floor filled with tatamis. On the walls were some woods tablet with dogma written in a language I can’t comprehend, too bad I still can’t figure out how to translate what I can see.

In the back of the room, a man was sitting on his knee and drinking tea. I took off my shoes and approached him.

“Greetings. My name is...”

“I know who you are.”

“Really? Then you should be...”

“I know what brought you here. Yes, I am Kunan.”

Okay… That’s weird. Well, at least that’s clear things up quickly.

“So… you do know I have to defeat you?”

“I do, but you won’t. You are not ready yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was told to teach you first.”

Oh! That would make sense. He is designed as a master, maybe he is my master. That would be great to actually learn how to fight, I don’t think I will be able to overcome the gap between me and monsters like Nathyn or the jungle bee just with flux enhancement. I can’t rely on luck forever.

Plus, if I see he seems weaker than me, I can still defeat me afterwards.

He guided me into another room, way smaller, in the back, and handed me a new set of clothes. Black simple martial art uniform with slippers. Truth to be told, I am pretty excited, the last struggle ended up in a sort of chaotic treason, and the ones before weren’t that much better. Finally, I might have a productive and peaceful stage, where I can prepare myself for the upcoming event without fearing for my life.

I can’t see where this could go wrong. At worst, this will be the hardest training ever and I will be constantly exhausted, but that would still be a holiday compared to the jungle.

Back in the main room, he made me face him. He bowed to me and I bowed to him. Apparently, I am officially his disciple.

Yay!

He showed me the few basic forms and stances for about half an hour. He is pretty strict, but I don’t complain. If I can get stronger with this level of hardship, I would feel like winning the lottery.

“Alright. Now that you know the basics form, you will have to master them in real combat situation.”

Does he mean sparing? Apparently, it seems like it. I went into the stance I just learned, waiting for the first strike.

All my senses are focused.

He slowly went into another stance.

The room got quiet.

Time was getting slower and slower.

He could strike anySpruch.

I heard a weird noise.

Then I felt a tremendous pain in my chest.

And finally I saw Kunan, just in front of me, his arm dived into my thorax.

“You were too slow.”

“AAAAARRRHG.”

I shouted my lungs out, and blood came out of my mouth. I fall down on my knees. The pain is...

Gone? I feel nothing. I am sweating like crazy. Did I imagine it? No, my hands are covered with blood. I looked up, and master had resumed his initial position.

“Get up, we are not done.”

Wha...what happened?

I am finally back in town. I have to say, this was way more difficult than I thought it would be. It’s the first time I went back to the 4th world, and I forgot how shitty it is. The worst part must be the dragons. There are only a handful but god they are annoying, if only they couldn’t talk.

Safe to say, the prophet was hard to find, I even had to demand William for help. I want to say it was worth it, but I am not entirely sure. The only relevant answer I got was that I should wait for Eve to come to me.

The problem is I don’t know how long, what to do in the meantime, and who the fuck is Eve?

To those question, he didn’t answer, obviously. I thought after getting so far into my quest the pointless mysteries and cliffhangers would stop. I was so wrong, it’s actually as if the story just started.

I did try to beat him up for more answers, but the guy is strong. Well, he is a Seer, so he is no match for my Champion class, but this bastard ran away pretty fast. Too bad I didn’t bring Excalibur with me…

Anyway, I am back, and I guess now I have nothing else to do other than monitoring my little noob.

I arrived at the surveillance room. That’s odd, there is only Jules.

“Oh! You’re back? Did ya find what'ya were looking for?”

“Sort of… Where are the others?”

“All newcomers, except yours, are at the 10th, so, not a lot to see right now.”

“Already? Samsy should only be on his 7th or 8th! What a bunch of freaks.”

“Pretty close. First time I see folks clear this damn thing so fast. Imagine that, my "protégé" strangled a sabretooth tiger on his 7th. Flimsy right?”

“Pff, what a puss. Mine killed one on his first trial.”

“Tou already said that. T'was a total fluke..”

“It was. But still, he did it.”

While talking to Jules, I went to my screen. Time to see what Sam is up to, it’s been roughly a week I didn’t saw him, and I hope he is doing okay.

“Oh, and they had a Tribulation.”

“Already? When?”

“Number 6, really tough, one lost an arm.”

“6?! Shit, this doesn't smell good...”

I turned on the screen, and in front of my eyes was displayed a huge room with two people wearing martial arts clothes. One of them was Sam. He was lying against a wall, holding his arm in pain, but after a few seconds, he went back to his feet as if nothing happened.

The other person was...no way. Master Kunan? What is he doing in the first world?!

“What’s the deal, Val?"

“Sam is still on the 6th, with Master Kunan.”

“Yeah… they were all up against a Kunan. Lucky them, never really went for the kill. Close enough though.”

“I think… I think he is in an immortality field.”

“What?! No way.”

“Come watch for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

Jules came behind my chair. On the screen, the sparring had resumed. Well, I said a sparing, but it was completely one-sided, Kunan’s strikes were too fast to be seen.

Sam suddenly moved his head to the right, pointlessly it seems, as he was kicked in the flank and projected to the walls on the other side of the room. Despite the huge shock, the wooden wall didn’t break. Sam coughed a bit of blood, and then got up, took a deep breath and resumed the fight.

“Holy crap! This ain't training, it's torture!”

“Yeah… Look at the floor, it’s covered with blood.”

“First time I see the Master teaching for real.”

“That’s the thing, he only gets serious for his disciple.”

“How do you know?”

“I met him once and asked him to be my master. He refused.”

“Why?”

“The real question is, why did he accept Samsy. He refused everyone until now, and he chose someone in the early stages?! And the weakest of the batch on top of that...”

“Let me tell ya. I've been here longer than you, and that's the weirdest session I've ever seen. Speaking of, they spoke a bit about their Earth. A pretty dark story.”

“Don’t care.”

Jules sighed. I don’t like to talk about the past, it reminds me of mine…

On the screen, Sam keeps getting obliterated by Kunan, this time it looks like his legs were misplaced and they both got broken. He is sweating a lot, and you can see the suffering on his face.

I came across some immortality field during the quest. It doesn’t actually make you immortal, but it can heal any damage in seconds, except death. Even when a limb is cut off, it gets back to you before you can pass out from the pain. The only drawback is that it’s a highly complicated spell, and the area can't be too important.

This is a tough situation. My newbie is right in front of me, getting one-sidedly killed, over and over. Right now I can see some teeth flying everywhere like a bunch of confetti.

I want to go, but...

I know! I should ask Jules.

“Jules, can you do me a favour?”

“What?”

“I would go by myself, but I don't want to miss anything. Can you get me some popcorn?”