《The True-Beast Monk》


 01 Prologue

    "You can''t hit me, you can''t hit me, ha ha ha" a mocking voice can be heard, almost like in a sing-songy tone.


    "you''ll never be able to hit me at this rate !"


    -


    My name is Sau Escel, and I am 21 years old, atleast I think I am, it''s been a while since i''ve had any other company than the old man... I''ve been on the move for almost a decade,


    I was kicked out of my old temple by the old geezers there, they claimed I had "Issues" I do admit that i probably shouldn''t have killed that other student, but he was insufferable, cornering me every day to beat me up, so i simply made the problem disappear, this resulted in my expulsion from the temple, that was back when i was 12 years old, I was forced to wander for days, trying my best to survive.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Until that day... after 2 weeks of the never-ending cycle of walk, rest, eat, sleep, I entered an area filled with trees as tall as the skies, (or atleast that is what it seemed like at the time) and as beautiful as can be, after walking for around two hours, I neared a body of water, hoping that it was drinkable, I rushed over and dipped my face into the water, and again, aaannnd again.


    "Oh boy, we''re thirsty aren''t we?" It sounded like the voice was coming from everywhere around me, "Who''s there??" I yelled out, maybe a little to panic-stricken, not having had any kind of company for 2 weeks, suddenly hearing another voice startled me.


    "Don''t worry about who I am, just drink your fill, and i will have some food brought to you shortly, sit down and rest!" the voice sounded genuinely concerned, seeing a child bruised and filthy from being in the wilderness and living off the land for so long.


    ---


    Sorry if this was sub-par, It''s the first time i''m writing anything, so let''s see what this turns into shall we ?

 Chapter 1 - Status?

    After sitting on a rock for fifteen minutes, I started to get impatient, constantly checking my surroundings to make sure nobody was sneaking up on me.


    After another minute or so, I suddenly hear a whisper, directly behind me "I hope you like bananas kid" I almost jumped out of my skin, how had this person snuck up on me, I didn''t even hear any footsteps.


    no sooner than when I heard the whisper, I also heard a soft thump next to me... a fruit basket? I peered inside the small basket, to see exactly six bananas and two apples


    "Eat, go on... eat" the light but still masculine voice urged me, I looked up from the basket of fruit, to see... sandals, and hairy feet? "Enjoying the view down there?" the man in front of me grinned, in front of me stood a Beastkin, that looked like a monkey.


    the figure was around 160 centimeters tall, of average but athletic build, grasping a staff in one hand and a small wooden cup in the other, his hair was goldy brown, and pretty spiky, the same with his beard, it was full and of the same brownish color, like his hair.


    He reached the cup towards me and urged me to take a sip, "This is a special kind of water, one that balances out your spirit, I can tell that your whole spirit is out of wack" I looked pointedly at him, thinking how dumb he must think I am, to accept ''special water'' from a random stranger I met in a forest...


    "Go on... wait a minute, are you afraid of me? you haven''t uttered a single word since I arrived!" he said almost teasingly.


    Ignoring his question, I posed him another question that had been nagging me "Hey old man... you said that you could tell that my spirit was messed up, what exactly do you mean by that?" the man looked almost confused by my question.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    after thinking for a second, probably about what he was going to answer, he said: "you''re a monk aren''t you kid?" I nodded "then you should know, what I mean by your spirit... did your elders not teach you anything?"


    "They did, but they never talked about Spirit as a thing you can see or measure, only as your will, and bravery" the man looked... well irritated would probably be the closest to the expression he expressed, "Those stupid old fools, they wish to pass on the tradition of the Spiritwalker Monk, without even telling their students about stats and the status screen..."


    I must have had a stupid expression on my face, when I looked at him because he just said, "The best way to show you is to just say it... try saying ''Status'' ... go on!"


    I looked pointedly at him, the man was obviously talking gibberish, ''status screen'' and ''stats'', these words made no sense... but I decided to humor the older monkey...


    "Status" I called out, to no one and nothing in particular.


    <table>


    <tbody>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Name: Sau Escel


    Age: 12


    Level: 2


    Class: Spiritwalker Monk


    Spirit Pool: 20/20


    Mana Pool: 5/5


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr>


    <td>


    Stats:


    Strength: 15 (Novice level)


    Durability: 20 (Novice level)


    Agility: 17 (Novice level)


    Intelligence: 10 (Beginner level)


    Spirit: 15 (Novice level)


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    "What the... is that me?" I asked the monkey, "Yes, that is your information, and do you know what, I''ve taken a liking to ya, I''ll even make you a deal if you can hit me with-" he trailed off as he looked around us for something to use.


    "Aha! if you can hit me with this stick!" he picked up a large branch that had fallen off a tree, it almost looked like a staff... a really unpolished and flawed staff mind you. "I will teach you the way of the Spiritwalker Monk!"


    Getting excited about learning more about these... stats, and the way of the Spiritwalker Monk, I swiftly agreed to his proposition, grabbed the branch, and started swinging, but as soon as the tip of the branch was about to hit him, he disappeared, and reappeared right behind me, and tapped me on the shoulder, "Too slooow~"

 Chapter 2 - A Tail?

    "You ain''t gonna hit me at that speed~" the monkey man giggled, as I swung my staff-like branch, missing him by a few millimeters,  this went on for hours; days; even weeks, but I felt myself inching closer and closer to my mark, I had but to graze him, and my objective would be fulfilled.


    ''that child is barbaric, he cannot learn the way of the spiritwalker monk, are we even sure that this child is human?'' I felt anger welling up inside of me, I was treated like human garbage for my entire stay at the temple, and I couldn''t stand it, maybe all the better that I was exiled, they would not be able to teach me anything anyways.


    As I was having my internal strife, dealing with feelings of anger, and frustration of not hitting the old monkey, I realized, maybe I have been going at this all wrong, after all, how was I going to hit him?... by swinging wildly? I think not, so I instead decided to change my tactic, I would watch his movements very carefully and examine his every move... well to the best of my ability... which wasn''t very much...


    Instead of continuing to swing wildly, I entered a Defensive stance that had been beaten into me at the temple, I didn''t want him sneaking up on me, not that I would be able to do anything about it... but better safe than sorry.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    While standing there, I focused on his movements, and started to see a pattern, "Well? why are you just standing there kiddo? giving up already? it''s only been 2 weeks since we started, and you take more than enough breaks" Ignoring him I focused even harder to study the pattern and beat it into my brain... Until...


    *DING* SKILL AQUIRED "''Combat analysis'' (Activated by Focusing on the skill) Using Combat analysis, the user focuses on the movements and patterns of enemies, and their positions, at higher levels it can even show weaknesses"


    "Just what I needed" I smirked at the old man, as I ran into action, trying to hit him with the butt of my staff, needless to say... it didn''t work...


    After 2 more days of the vicious endless cycle, I heard the old man gasp in surprise "Impossible... what happened to you?" I didn''t understand what he meant by that, was he referring to my prowess? or something else?


    Then I felt it... a strange sensation, like a small tickle in the tailbone, I turned my head to my side and saw... a tail? "Doesn''t matter right now, I need to focus on hitting him, now that he''s distracted!" I thought and I mustered up all of my strength into this one swing.


    "What in the hell happ-" his sentence was abruptly cut off, as the butt of my staff made contact with his jaw... he didn''t even flinch, and it felt like I hit a rock with the staff, "Just how tough IS this old man?" I thought.


    That''s when I collapsed from exhaustion.