Sunday [09/08/2019]

“I need to learn a new Fighting Style…”

Isaac ruminated on this while walking the streets of Bulls Head. It may have been unwise for him to enter into a rival school’s territory, but it was equally unwise for him to carelessly walk the streets of his own neighborhood. While he may have been Guardian, he knew the Three Lords would not simply go along with him being Heartland’s leader. Somehow, no matter where he went, he would always eventually spot one or two students from Heartland High watching him, only tearing their gazes away when Isaac looked their way. They were keeping tabs on him.

Heartland Village, the entire neighborhood of New Springville in general, was hostile territory at the moment. Ironically, the streets of a foreign neighborhood where his face was less recognizable, was safer than the ones he lived and went to school on. He was currently “Despised” at Heartland High despite being its Guardian, and things would only get worse when he went back to school on Monday. He couldn’t return in the same state he currently was in. He needed to be better. He needed an actual Fighting Style.

“But how do I learn one by tomorrow morning?”

Unlike the FNS and its mechanics, Isaac already knew quite a bit about martial techniques. He had been practicing Taekwondo since he was young. And while he was no prodigy like his elder brother, he was confident in the skills he developed before abandoning the art due to… ‘reasons’.

And yet, Taekwondo wasn’t a Fighting Style that Isaac had access to. He couldn’t even recall any of its techniques. The only Fighting Style available to him was Fisticuffs:

Fisticuffs An impromptu Fighting Style any untrained person resorts to when engaging in a battle. It has no discernable strengths, weaknesses, or specializations to speak off. There are no martial techniques which one can learn from the Fisticuffs style.

It was essentially a placeholder Fighting Style. Something Isaac was meant to use until he attained a real martial art. All previous fighting experience he possessed before arriving in this reality was rendered null. Just like when he couldn’t comprehend his new Cultivation Technique without meditating, a force beyond Isaac’s control was compelling was preventing him to doing things he was otherwise capable of.

“Am I really going to have to relearn Taekwondo just to do moves I did back when I was four?”

Just the thought of it made Isaac miserable as he walked the streets. He would have stayed miring in his poor mood had he not sensed someone’s chi flaring just ahead. It came from behind an auto repair shop on the next corner. Cautiously, Isaac approached and poked his head out just enough to see five boys Isaac’s age in some sort of confrontation.

“You went too far this time, ya damn bandit. You thought you could keep playing around like you do with other dudes' girls it wouldn’t come to nothing?”

The ‘bandit’ in question with his back to the wall looked like just that. He wore a bandana with a pattern like a turtle’s shell, wearing it so low it concealed his eyebrows. Only a tuft of his blonde hair stuck out from the back. Curious, Isaac analyzed him.

The Bandit Gender Male Borough Staten Island Affiliation ??? Element Water Martial Rank F2 Cultivation Stage Tempered Inner Earth Fighting Style ???

He analyzed the boys surrounding him as well and saw they were all D-Rank. How could an F-Rank look so unconcerned with four stronger and hostile Warriors surrounding him?

“Whaddya mean it ‘came to ‘nothin’? It came plenty for me.”

The glares of the boys cornering him sharpened. Though, one of the four managed to maintain his cool and tried to coach the others to do the same.

“Don’t let him flare you up. That’s exactly what he wants.”

“Let’s give him what he wants then! This piece of garbage thinks he's Casanova, snatching up every girl he makes eye contact with! He was evenbeen caught with our Guardian’s girl last Friday!”

The calm one suddenly changed his tune. “This dumb son of a… Are you trying to start a war over some bullshit?! Do you not know what messin’ around with a school’s Guardian means?!”

The bandit nodded. “’course I know. It means Lisa wasn’t as much his girl as your boss thought.”

All four broke off after the bandit at once, their essences as incensed as their wrath. Isaac expected a one-sided thrashing, and he was right. The bandit dusted off his opponents with ease.

Despite being of lower Martial Rank than all four of his opponents, none of them managed to lay a finger on him as he knocked them around like they were children. His style of fighting was rough yet fluid; unrefined yet effective. And it all looked effortless. Isaac felt he was putting more effort in by watching him.

Then he heard the Navigator’s voice.

Isaac's knowledge of 'Street Fighting' has improved.

A bar with the words “Street Fighting” above it manifested before him. The bar filled to barely 1/10th of its capacity, but that it had happened at all stunned Isaac. Just by watching the blond bandit’s skirmish, he had picked up on his style.

“This is why I told you fools not to swing! We can’t take him by ourselves!” the calm one said as he helped his friends to his feet.

“You could come back with your whole school if you want. It won’t change a thing but the time. Now, get outta my face. …Oh, and tell Lisa I say ‘hi’.”

The calmest of the four scowled the darkest as he and his friends went on their way. The bandit shook his head in their wake

“Those guys need learn to stop letting girls drive ‘em crazy.”

“Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?” Isaac asked while finally appearing from the corner.

The bandit gave Isaac a look. He then headed off on his way.

“H-hey, didn’t you hear me?”

“Sorry, I don’t talk to strangers. …Unless they’re girls. Try sending a girl to speak for you.“

“But I just want to learn how to fight like you do!”

The bandit stopped and looked back at Isaac with a more puzzled look than before.

“Say what?”

“You’re fighting style – I want to learn it. Can you tell me how? Is there a place on Staten Island I can go?”

“I mean… It’s not a ‘official’ style or anything. It’s Street Fighting. Can’t really learn it from somebody like you could with Karate, or boxing, or whatever. It’s something you pick up by, y’know… ‘fighting in the streets’.”

His point was a solid one. There likely wasn’t a Street Fighting dojo that Isaac could just walk into and start receiving lessons because it wasn’t a true martial art. There could only be one effective way to learn.

So, as the bandit started to go again, Isaac called out to him for a final time.

“Can the two of us fight then?”

The bandit stopped a second time, this time just giving Isaac a blank stare.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I really want to learn to fight like you do. Fighting you, it just seems like quickest way.”

“…Yeah. It’s crazy alright. Don’t think I ever got a challenge like this. Basically you want me to teach you by kicking your ass?”

The Guardian made a face. He could tell the bandit was skilled for an F-Rank, likely better than Isaac himself; but a fight between them still wouldn’t turn out that one-sided.

“I’m guessing you’re a cultivator? You a Warrior too?” the bandit asked.

“Yeah. I’m a sophomore at Heartland High.”

“You’re from Heartland and you’re challenging me? …You’re not from around here, are ya?”

“No? I transferred in from Kansas. Is there something I’m blanking out on?”

The bandit scratched at his chin while ruminating on something. Eventually, he shrugged.

“Y’know what... Fuck it. I got time to kill. Follow me. We'll head to a place to spar.”

Isaac did so, surprised the bandit agreed so readily. They two rounded a corner before hopping to the roof of a nearby apartment building. From there, they hopped from roof to roof.

The bandit eventually led them to their destination - a scrapyard.

When they arrived, it was vacant of any people. It apparently remained closed on Sundays.

“Scrapyard’s the perfect place for a scrap. Everything here’s already junk and nobody else is here, so our surroundings aren’t an issue,” the bandit said. “Before we start, what’s your Rank and Stage?”

“I’m a G1 at the Emergent Mortal Stage.”

The bandit gave Isaac a look like he had just spoke in a Pig Latin.

“Damn, I’m fighting a G-Rank? Now I feel like I got punked… I’ll tell you what – I’ll only use my left hand to fight, and won’t use any techniques. That oughta make it a bit more fair.”

As he said, the bandit put his right hand in his pocket and beckoned for Isaac to come at him with his left.

“C’mon. You can break the ice.”

Isaac was being taken lightly. His opponent was only F-Rank himself, so it wasn’t like he was in a position to look down on the sophomore.

Dust kicked up in Isaac’s wake as he dashed at his opponent. The first punch he threw caused the air around his fist to shudder, but his opponent dodged it with ease. He dodged the next punch, and weaved around the combination that followed just as nimbly. It was like trying to swat a fly with a chopstick. The bandit wasn’t using any fancy footwork. His reflexes just surpassed Isaac’s by mile.

“You alright, man? Need me to slow it down for you?” the blonde asked. “I can fight on one foot too if you need me to.”

Isaac clicked his tongue and came at the bandit again. His blows came none the closer than before. This was the best he could do with the Fisticuffs style. The predictable movements he was limited to left him unable to effectively fight a cultivator that was legitimately skilled. Despite his Martial Rank, his new opponent wouldn’t go down so easily. Isaac needed to get creative.

And so he did, feinting a jab and then going down for a leg sweep. The bandit saw right through his facade. He hopped above the sweep and twirled over Isaac’s head in the same motion, delivering a mighty wallop to the back of the Guardian’s head while still in the air. Isaac went barreling across the dirt. His head kept rattling for some seconds while he padded the dirt for his glasses and stood back up.

Barely any chi could be sensed from that blow and it still managed to nearly put Isaac’s lights out. Something was wrong. Isaac knew this was not the strength of any F-Rank. The girls who had tried to ambush Isaac yesterday in the park were E-Ranks and he knew they couldn’t have been anywhere near this strong. Isaac Analyzed his opponent again, but he only saw the same thing as before.

The Bandit Gender Male Borough Staten Island Affiliation ??? Element Water Martial Rank F2 Cultivation Stage Tempered Inner Earth Fighting Style Street Fighting

“So… [Keen Analyzer] is worthless right now,” he concluded, pushing up his glasses. “Guess we’ll just have to feel this one out as we go!”

The fight continued. It became very apparent to Isaac that his opponent was strong; unbelievably strong. The gap between them may as well have been a canyon.

They went on for hours with Isaac being knocked to the ground or clobbered into piles of scrap metal countless times over, and all without laying so much as a scratch against his opponent who stayed true to his promise of only using his left hand. Isaac became haggard, getting too exhausted to stand without his legs wobbling. The bandit shared none of his fatigue. What eventually stopped his pace in its tracks wasn’t any action of Isaac, but the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket.

“Yo, hold up for a minute,” he said while answering. “Katie? Damn, girl! It took you long enough to call me back. I was just in the middle of something. …No, I’m not with some other girl! You’re talkin’ crazy again.”

Isaac was more than happy to give him as much time to talk as he wanted. It gave him to opportunity to finally catch his breath. With his hands on his knees, his entire body shuddered. He hadn’t been this tired or sweated this much even after the Battle Royale. He was completely spent.

“Yeah, I pay a visit in a bit. …Alright, see you then,” the bandit said while hanging up, a satisfied smile on his face. “And I thought tonight was gonna be boring. Hey, you mind if we wrap this up, man? I’ve got plans.”

Isaac was still breathing heavily when he nodded. “Y-yeah, no problem… Uh… thanks for sparring session…”

“No prob. You lasted way longer than I would’ve thought for a guy your Rank.”

“Yeah. You too. You’re the strongest F-Rank I’ve met.”

The blonde made a face. “F-Rank? What makes you think I’m an F-Rank?”

“I, uh... I’m really good at discerning other cultivator’s Rank and Stage by sensing their chi.”

“Ah. I get it now. No wonder you got it wrong. Lemme let you in on a little secret real quick before I go: Maybe you never met cultivators like this back in the Midwest, but here in New York there are tons of guys, ‘specially the stronger ones, who can conceal the power of their chi and condense it into their dantian – their chi center. It makes it harder to tell how advanced they really are unless you’re already on that level yourself.”

Isaac scratched at his sweaty cheek. He had just discovered [Keen Analyzer] and already a dimension of unreliability had been added to it.

“Oh. Well… thanks for telling me,” he said. “I’ll keep it in mind. Really thought I could get you to use your right hand at least once but it looks like I still have ways to go.”

“…Want another shot?”

“What? Right now?”

“'course not right now. It’s late and I got plans in another hour. This time next Sunday though, catch me at this spot again and we can go at it a second time. See, I ain’t usually up to a lot on Sunday. This’ll help me kill time. Plus, slapping you around will for decent cardio.”

It didn’t hurt Isaac to hear so much as it left him awestruck. Isaac had put forth his best efforts in their fight, and they were just ‘cardio’ for the bandit. He was sweating like he just run a marathon and was sore all over, but this guy looked at composed as ever. He was simply on another level.

“So, you up for it?”

Isaac smiled. “Of course I am.”

“Cool. See you next Sunday then, bro.”

The blonde took off, launching himself off into the distance. It was only as Isaac watched his figure vanish from view that he realized he hadn’t caught his name.

Isaac sighed. Then he made a face. It suddenly occurred to him that he had never caught his sparring partner’s name. So long as he was serious about his proposal, it shouldn’t have been too much of a problem.

“That guy was ridiculous. I feel like we could’ve fought through midnight without me touching him once.

As he was ruminating on the bandit’s strength, a prompt appeared.

Isaac's knowledge of 'Street Fighting' has improved.

The bar appeared again. Like a thermometer in a burning house, it quickly filled to the brink.

Isaac has learned a new Fighting Style: 'Street Fighting'!

“Wow... I didn't expect to get it down so quick---“

Isaac has Leveled Up! Isaac is now Lv. 14!

“I leveled up too? …Twice?! But all we did was spar!”

Isaac's Attributes have increased! Endurance increased by 14! Agility increased by 7! Will increased by 11!

The Guardian blinked.

Just how strong was the guy Isaac had sparred with, that just sparring with once earned him all of this? This was a greater increase of his Attributes than leveling had provided in days.

Had Isaac accidently happened upon a monster? If so, why would such a monster waste their Sunday on him? He stood in silence for a few minutes thinking deeply about the Bandit. Eventually, he realized as this thinking would lead to no real answers, and that simply asking his new sparring partner next Sunday would be the simplest thing.

“Until then, I guess,” Isaac said to himself while he headed home.

There was no reason to keep his mind on the bandit when there were three monsters from his own neighborhood that he was going to have to deal with come tomorrow morning. They had plans that went beyond friendly sparring.