Orrin opened his eyes. He stood in a massive white domed room with alcoves set into the rounded walls all around him. The recesses were stacked one on top of each other and he could just make out a presence in each one watching him.

“Where the fuck am I?” he mumbled. He tried to pull up his [Map].

Nothing happened.

He tried to pull up his status. Again, nothing.

“Hello?” Orrin yelled out, the shout echoing across the chamber. Nobody answered.

Orrin caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned. While a moment ago the floor around him had been the same white marble as the walls, a splash of color had been added in the shape of a square. The deep blue reminded him of something.

“The skill book,” he thought, connecting the blue stone to the book he’d opened. “I was learning that fighting skill.”

Movement from above arrested his line of thinking. Something was falling from a very high distance. Orrin’s heart stopped at the speed the body had reached in its descent. He didn’t have time to turn away when the person hit the floor with a splash.

“That’s not right.”

The body, made entirely from water the same deep color as the book and square fighting ring, pulled itself back together and walked… splashed?... toward Orrin.

“What is going on?” Orrin backed away from the watery visage.

When the watery figure flopped its way across the square fighting line, it took up a stance. Its elbows tucked back with its palms facing Orrin. A slight bend of the knees with both feet pointing toward him. A wrestler pose.

Orrin kept backing away until his foot went out of the blue square.

Would you like to quit learning [Way of the Water]?

Yes or No

Re-Enter the Fighting Square or be forcibly ejected in 10 seconds… 9 seconds… 8 seconds…

Orrin stepped back in quickly.

“Why did nobody warn me about this?” he complained to the watery figure. “I’m stuck in here until I learn an entire fighting style?”

The watery man did not respond, his stance unchanged.

Orrin was stumped. In all the research Daniel and he had done, nothing like this had been mentioned. Daniel had definitely not been forced to swing his weapons even once before knowing exactly how to use them.

He also had no idea how to even begin whatever it was he needed to do. He’d been in exactly one ‘fight’ in life before coming to this world. The few people he’d needed to attack had been instances of opportunity and sneak attacks mostly.

The one time on Earth that he’d thrown a punch at somebody, he’d been beaten badly. His anger at the insult about his missing father hadn’t helped him connect the punch. It didn’t matter that Daniel had retaliated against the other boy a few days later. He was not a natural fighter and knew it.

The water blob stepped forward. Orrin took a step toward it.

“Are you supposed to teach me?”

The head nodded.

“I’m a terrible fighter.”

The figure shrugged.

“You can understand me?”

A nod.

“How long does it take to learn?”

A shrug.

“Damn,” Orrin said and scratched his head. “Wave your left arm for yes and right arm for no. Does that work?”

The figure’s left arm snaked out in something between a wave and strike.

“Let’s start easy.” Orrin walked closer to the figure. “You have to teach me the [Way of the Water], right?”

The same left arm movement for ‘yes’ struck.

“Should I just try to hit you?”

The left arm waved noncommittedly.

“Is this going to take all day?”

Both arms waved.

“Is that a maybe?”

The right arm waved. No.

“You don’t know?”

No.

Orrin thought about how quickly using the [Side Steps] book had been. Something was different here.

“Is this a simulation?”

Both arms waved again. Orrin felt he understood this one a bit more.

“If I finish learning the book, does the same amount of time I spend here pass in the real world?”

No.

“So, I’m stuck in here until I learn an entire fighting style?”

Both arms moved, but with a delay. Yes and No.

“I’m stuck but not until I learn everything?”

A slight delay, then Yes.

Orrin paced as he thought. He needed to fight the water man to learn the skill. He was stuck until he learned whatever amount of fighting it had to teach him.

“If I quit learning before I’m allowed to leave, can I come back?” he asked hopefully.

No.

“So, I have to learn the fighting style, but it’s allowed to be in parts?”

The delayed yes and no response appeared again.

“This is so dumb,” Orrin complained. “Why? Are all skill books learned this way?”

No.

Orrin paused. He hadn’t meant that as an actual question.

“What’s the difference? Could I learn this fighting style without all of this,” he asked, gesturing around.

The water nodded.

“How?”

The form’s shoulders slumped a bit and its head tilted. It looked like it sighed and flicked its hand at him.

Orrin’s screen appeared.

Bypass learning [Way of the Water] naturally and use as Skill Book?

Yes or No

Orrin’s brain raced.

There was something odd happening here. While he wanted to use the book to pick up a fighting skill, something new had presented itself. The only difference between him and someone else using a skill book was his admin powers.

“Mr. Watery man… is learning a fighting skill naturally better in some way than learning it as a skill book?”

The figure’s head nodded empathically.

“And I have the option to do this because I have admin powers. Right?”

Yes and No.

Orrin slumped on the ground. “Why can’t anything ever just be easy?”

The figure shrugged.

“That wasn’t a question.” He sighed. “Do you have a name? Or should I just call you Mr. Water?”

No.

“No, you don’t have a name? Or no to Mr. Water?”

No. No.

Orrin laughed. “Ok. I’ll think of a name for you. I’m just going to need a minute to get my mind around this. You know, ever since I arrived here, nothing has ever worked like I thought it would. Why should learning a stupid fighting skill be any different?”

When no response came, Orrin slowly got to his feet.

“Please don’t laugh too hard,” he said, putting his fists up. “I’m really bad at fighting.”

The first fight lasted three seconds. The watery man ducked under Orrin’s wild right swing and lifted his own right leg in an upside-down kick that smacked into Orrin’s face with the pressure of a small wave. It didn’t hurt but did knock him back on his ass.

As he sat there stunned, Orrin simply knew the name of the attack he’d just been subjected to. Scorpion Fish Strike.

“You can’t talk but every time you hit me, I’m going to learn the name of some stupid attack, aren’t I?”

Yes.

Orrin swore the figure laughed, its shoulders shaking.

The figure, which Orrin decided to call Styx, never attacked him. He always waited for Orrin to make the strike before retaliating in a fluid motion, using Orrin’s own momentum against him. Every punch was dodged or ducked under, while every kick just missed as Styx surged back or slid into Orrin’s space to push him off balance. The attacks were all named things like Returning Tide and Dolphin Blow. Not surprisingly, everything was water-related.

“Styx, we’ve been fighting for an hour,” Orrin said, pushing himself off the ground. He’d just had his foot swept out from underneath him by Crab Sweep. “Is there some specific amount of time I have to spend getting my ass kicked in here?”

Styx gestured No.

“Am I any closer to getting out?”

Styx shook his hand No. After hesitating, he pointed at Orrin again and his blue box appeared. In this room, Styx had all the power. Orrin didn’t even know long he’d really been in here. He’d tried counting every time he’d been knocked down and counting each fight as half a minute but after losing count at about a hundred, he’d given up.

[Way of the Water]: 0.3%

“Seriously?” Orrin groaned. “This is going to take forever. Are you going to just use every attack possible on me until I give up?”

The water in the middle of Styx’s chest churned and he swept up close to Orrin. A finger poked his head. The first ‘attack’ that Styx had made.

Orrin rubbed his forehead. It didn’t hurt but every attack left Orrin marked by water. His clothes would get wet from each attack but magically dry between each round.

“What do you want?” Orrin demanded. “I’m doing everything you want. I can’t hit you. I didn’t upload all the fight moves when I used the book. You are too quick. Why would somebody even make this an option? What point is there in getting hit over and over?”

Styx rolled his hand, inviting Orrin to continue his tirade. Somehow the simple movements of the watery humanoid were getting easier to understand.

“There isn’t a point to getting hit over and over?”

Styx waved both hands, yes and no. He then pointed at Orrin

“I’m not supposed to get hit over and over?”

Styx threw both hands up in triumph. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Orrin’s thoughts drifted back to the fights. Every attack he threw at Styx was countered, with little movement or reaction needed from the defender.

“[Way of the Water] isn’t about offensive fighting, is it?” Orrin said aloud. “It’s a defense.”

[Way of the Water]: 1.1%

Orrin reflected back to the different names he’d been learning. Instead of thinking of them as attacks, he felt the movements in his body as defensive reactions. As soon as he had the thought, Styx swung his right arm in a wide haymaker.

Orrin reflexively dipped and used the first hit that had landed on him: Scorpion Fish Strike. His form was off but his foot still dipped into the water making up Styx’s shoulder.

Styx backed up and bowed. Then he started to attack.

[Way of the Water]: 4.9%

Orrin was exhausted. He was spread-eagle on the white marble, trying to count the alcoves. Each complete circle had fifty of the recesses. He’d been able to make out just over thirty circles before his eyes failed him. The circles started getting too close that high up for him to make out properly. Daniel with his [Telescope] skill would have been able to make out more.

“Styx, are those alcoves all the different moves of [Way of the Water]?”

Styx was standing nearby, waiting patiently for Orrin to stand again. The last spar had lasted almost two minutes before he’d knocked Orrin down. He waved No.

“What are they?”

Styx didn’t respond. When Orrin’s questions became too broad, his binary language broke down completely; however, Orrin could feel his teacher’s frustration at not being to answer.

Orrin pushed the question to the side and rolled over before standing back up. He situated his body into the first stance Styx had taken: Formless. Keeping his body open for whatever was thrown at him, the first form let him react to whatever unknown attack style Styx would throw at him. He also learned River, Ocean, and Rain. Mist stance was something Styx had shown him twice before becoming frustrated at something Orrin was doing wrong. He hadn’t repeated the stance again.

Orrin waited patiently, edging his feet to the side and keeping Styx in front of him as the two fighters circled each other. Styx struck with two consecutive high kicks. Orrin slapped one away with Otter Tail and redirected the second with a change into River stance. He dropped low and swung his leg out in an attempt to break Styx’s one-legged posture. The liquid man flipped off his single foot and pivoted his body in the air to kick again in Rain Hits the Soil. As he brought his heel down where Orrin’s center was, he found Raising Wave meeting his attack. Orrin’s feint had worked and his fist shattered the face of Styx, the water splashing a dozen feet behind them both.

Styx, instantly fully formed, bowed. Orrin swore he could see a smile form in the dark recesses of the watery head.

[Way of the Water]: 5% (1/20 completed). Continue or Save Progress?

“Save Progress? Does that mean I can come back?” Orrin asked.

Styx waved his left arm for yes.

Orrin hit Save and blinked.

“Did you learn it?” Daniel asked, sitting close to him on the bed.

Orrin yelled and fell off, landing hard on the floor.

“Dude, what the hell?”

Daniel frowned. “O. What’s wrong?”

“How long was I out?”

Daniel reached down and helped Orrin stand. “What are you talking about? You opened the book and the words disappeared like normal. I said two words and you fell off the bed.”

Orrin ran his hand through his hair. A minute ago, it had been slick with sweat from the hours of fighting he’d been doing. It was dry, without the dirty feeling that should have been there after such a workout.

“It was different. Something happened.”

Orrin explained the white room and Styx to Daniel, while his friend’s eyebrows raised higher and higher.

“You suck, dude! I want to learn martial arts from a secret master,” Daniel complained.

“D, I was stuck there for half a day.” Orrin was pacing. “I only completed five percent of the book.”

“But you can go back, right?” Daniel asked with concern, standing up. “And you know how to fight?”

Orrin poked the skill on his status screen, feeling the ability to re-enter Styx’s training room. “Yeah, I can go back... and I think I have the basics down at least.”

Daniel stood up and gave Orrin an evil grin. “Want to test out your skills?”

Orrin returned the smirk, feeling the stances in his mind. This might be fun.