On day two of my true training, things begin a bit differently when I walk into the dojo. Turns out my trainer had managed to find someone I could spar with. The guy standing next to him was roughly my age, maybe a few years older, even so, what really stood out was this guy’s body. While he was definitely well muscled, it was more of a “super toned” than “arms the size of a barrel”. Even then, it was the scars that stood out. He has long noticeable cuts along his arms and legs, the type of injuries that made it seem like he was forced to take slashes from a knife. When I asked about the guy, my trainer told me the guy is on a variation of the Path of the Barbarian. When I asked about that, my trainer confessed, “The Barbarian Path is one in which dictates little to no defense, in return they get Techniques that dish out more damage, heal themselves, or a variety of other factors in exchange for the amount of pain they receive. This guy, Zhang Tong, is on the Path of the Regenerative Berserker.” He explains that any damage dealt to him starts “stacks” of low-level regeneration, where each instance applies an instance of the healing, and when multiple instances are applied, the healing benefit compounds, and the “timer” for the ending of any “stack” doesn’t end until five seconds of no new damage. When I ask why the berserker part, he finishes by saying because Tong is over rank ten, where the Path evolved to also dish out additional damage besides just the slight healing.

I eventually get the hint the trainer is telling me, that my sparring partner is the equivalent of a weaker hulk, as he can heal the damage dealt, and hits back harder and harder the more I hurt him. To me it seems like it is best to disable, but not inherently hurt my target, before getting into a position where I can end the fight with as few strikes as possible. It is only then do I realize what he said about the evolved Path, that Tong will significantly outrank me, with stronger, and more Techniques, than I will have.

The trainer decides to add one more thing, “While you may be picking up on how tough of an opponent he may be for your given martial art, I would like to specify he will be fighting under traditional sparring rules, even if he expects the type of moves you will be using, so for all intents and purposes he will be fighting under a handicap”. Underneath this statement, I can feel the implied “If you fight under traditional rules as well, the payback won’t be as bad”, but I resolve myself to the fact that my style was not meant to be used in friendly fights, so I should get used to the pain.

Placing my stuff to the side, I do a bit of stretching, getting ready to spar. While I am stretching and doing my light workout, I see Tong stoically stretching and ensuring nothing will cramp up during the fight. When I feel ready, I nod to Tong, getting onto the sparring mat. In my head, I am visualizing myself sliding between his legs as he punches, aiming for a punch to the inside of his thighs, so that one leg is weakened, allowing me to mount him on his back, and pummel him to the ground. Things obviously did not go to plan.

As soon as the trainer said to start, Tong does a rapid punch to his face, a quick flash of light emanating from him the same time [Krav Maga: Anything Goes] envelops the three of us. Thinking this wouldn’t affect anything, I continue on with my plan, sliding between his legs. As I am sliding forward, Tong takes a half step backward, his foot slicing diagonally towards where my stomach is heading. I manage to get an arm up in time to blunt the impact, but it still crushes my arm, sending my body sliding a couple feet across the floor. It takes me a second to get up, not thinking his strikes would be so strong. While I struggle to get up, I notice the foot he kicked me with looks pretty red, and then I notice another flash of light emanating from Tong. I realize that many of his Techniques must have some level of self-harm inherent to their power boost, further boosting his power when his passive Techniques activate in response. Thinking that playing fancy may not work, I try for a power strike this time. Taking a slight running start when he isn’t laser focused on me, I do a running jump, aiming for a hammer strike with the side of my fist to his cheek. Tong, seeming to have been faking the inattention, reaches out, grabbing my arm, and spinning with my motion, throws me to the ground, sending me sliding away from him once again.

Getting slightly frustrated, I try something similar thing again, but aiming my hammer strike to his chest. Right before he can reach out to throw me again, I activate my new Technique, [Phantom Strike]. My arm turns ephemeral, with my phantom strike aiming at the spot I intended it to, while my elbow comes across, hitting his chin with a strong elbow strike. The strike sends him stumbling a couple steps, as he realizes he grabbed something fake, but he still grins as he lights up again. Hoping to take advantage of his imbalance, I do a quick low sweep against him. Right as my foot touches his ankle, he simple says [Touch of Retaliation], pain instantly shooting up my leg as my foot touches his ankle. While he is sent to the ground, where he quickly rolls back into a defensive position, I am grabbing my foot in pain, holding it as it I broke it.

He comes walking up to me, with one arm outstretched, clearly indicating this round goes to him. He then says “That last Technique is what I call a combo ender, if used defensively, or a combo extender when used offensively”. When I ask what the hell it did, since I realize the pain is fading away rather quickly, he tells me the Technique “stores” up pain for a certain length of time, before unleashing the pain back to whoever he touches, or is touched by, when it activates. By letting someone touch him when it activates, especially I timed right, the pain backlash can interrupt a combo, allowing him to recover, and if used alongside a kick or punch, the pain can prevent an enemy from getting up a defense in time to defend.

“I am beginning to notice out Paths are two sides of the same coin, as our abilities and fighting strategies revolves around timing of our Techniques, and the balancing of own fighting style to our opponents” I say, letting him help me up. I mention that it seems my Path will be about breaking or otherwise circumventing a defense before it is too late, whereas yours is more about breaking offenses before the damage is too great.

“Why yes, I would not be surprised if our Paths run counter to each other, with higher ranks being a huge determination of who would win, along with a healthy dose of mind games” Tong says, which gives me an idea. I ask for another round so I can try something, following it up by saying afterwards I would likely need solo practice to let everything soak in.

We take up fighting stances on the mat, and I decide to test just how far our mind games will need to go. I begin by running up to him and doing a running hammer strike against his chest again. As I see the flash of recognition in his eyes, seeing my familiar tactic, he moves to block the assumed facial strike, leaving his chest uncovered. My strike lands successfully, the first stage of my mind games working. Tong is forced to back up again, although not as far this time. Continuing on with the combo I had tried previously, I do another low sweep, but stopping it just short of his leg, expecting his touch-based Technique to activate. As I come to a stop I push off from the ground, I execute a donkey kick from the ground. As the set up for the attack is fairly obvious, he is already moving to block it, but I decide to use my [Phantom Strike], making my real kick aim for his face while the fake strike aims for his chest. This strike imbalances him even further, making him stumble wildly. Quickly getting to my feet, I do another running jump, planning for one last hammer strike to knock him out. Mid-air Tong seemingly corrects him imbalance, suddenly grinning, and reaches out for my incoming fist. Thinking it wouldn’t matter, I turn my strike into a phantom, and aim my true strike elsewhere. My fist comes just short of hitting his face, when suddenly my body spasms out and I collapse into a heap.

A minute passes, the occasional spasm still echoing throughout my body. Tong finally decides to speak up, “You were trying to play mind games, weren’t you? I get it, it is smart, switching up your previous moves, activating your Techniques in unusual circumstances, all part of fighting. The problem where you messed up, at least in terms of more advanced fighting, was going for the obvious finisher”. He goes on to say that after the first strike he had an idea about what my plan was, and only needed to wait for the finishing move. “Remember, my Path is about dishing the pain I get right back to my opponent. I only really need to minimize the damage I get over a protracted battle, otherwise I just look for kinks in a battle combo. Sure, I may not be able to hit every single kink I notice, but I typically can come across another one before it becomes too bad, and at that point, it just means my [Touch of Retaliation] becomes a finisher in its own right”. He finishes explaining. When I ask how he knew about my final use of my Technique, he just says he didn’t know, but he guessed it was a possibility, so rather than go for the move that may fail, he would go with the safer option.

Realizing that in my attempt to play mind games with him, he had just done them better, and with more Techniques at his disposal, it was a losing game for me. I thank him for sparring with me, before telling my trainer I will need solo training for a day or two. When he asks why, I tell him I need to develop a series of combinations, especially ones that can branch off or pivot into other combinations at key points if they get interrupted. He stands there for a second, while he thinks through my answer. As he concludes that this was my attempt at not putting all my eggs in one basket. By being able to smoothly transfer from any series of starting moves to variety of combinations, it would make my moves harder to predict. By also making it so that there is a level of fluidity between combinations, it means something that may shut down one combination may lead me into another combination, or just make it so that I have more options to choose from, making the combo interruptions I may come across harder to work. After everyone agrees to my plans, they walk away and let me get to my individual training. Once they are gone, I drink some water from the water bottle I brought with me, before I internally think “training montage part two”.