《The Magnificent Kicker》


 Chapter 1: The Day the World Changed

    no other nefarious reasons, ¡°if you did, I would kill myself,¡± was her reply.


    Everyone passed and was celebrated with the presentation of their new sash, salutes and formal handshakes. Madra and Lamb were now Orange and Yellow sashes.


    finally here was his opportunity to learn the art in person.


    Asked Lamb.


    fist¡¯, we focus on the ¡®fist¡¯ aspect of the art, we do not focus on the circular aspect of the art. We practice an external form of the art created by our founder in Venezuela. We do not practice the internal circular movements as part of our curriculum.¡± Cristiano explained. Lamb had checked and double checked the website and read it¡¯s description of their style multiple times. Not once on the Phoenix Pakua Kung Fu Association website nor in any of the promotional material do they ever mention the term ¡®pakua fist¡¯, all it says is that the style is called ¡®pakua¡¯ alluding to the well known circular movement internal style pa-kua also known as bagua zhang. Lamb has done a lot of research and reading about kung fu, and did extensive research when selecting this school, not once did he ever come across the term ¡®pakua fist¡¯.


    Woowwhhaaaa!¡± She screeched. They were downtown, downtown was full of weirdos.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Noooo! I can¡¯t go to jail again. I¡¯m too pretty!¡±


    special signature¡¯ one time only classes?¡±


    shine, and he knew in 10 years, he¡¯d still be playing video games, and she will be the biggest movie star in the world. He¡¯d remember her, but he wouldn¡¯t even be a blip in her mind, that guy in her fitness class would be but a distant pleasant memory. Her life moved at a mile a minute, without classes, he may never see her again.


    ¡®Phoenix Pakua Kung Fu Association¡¯ patch before Madra. She took the cigarette out of her mouth, it¡¯s tip stained purple. She gently hovered the burning end of the cigarette next to Lamb¡¯s patch, grinning maniacally the whole time. She gently rolled her cigarette against the patch, tapping away the ash. Lamb¡¯s patch burned just as brightly as Madra¡¯s.


    They were both in they¡¯re twenties, only a few months apart, the two of them regularly chatted online, played games and watch movies together, Lamb was a night owl and barely noticed their 4 hour time difference. Creatively as always, ¡®Lamp¡¯ was Lamb¡¯s online name, he changed one letter.


    Police Story, there isn¡¯t just small bits of glass on the ground everywhere you go, in actuality, the real trouble is small rocks. Every few blocks, sharp tiny rocks would dig into Lamb¡¯s exposed feet, they felt like tiny spikes and hurt like hell, tiny little stab wounds. After a few blocks, Lamb would have to stop his run, and dig out tiny pebbles from the bottoms of his feet. But after about 5 months, his feet acclimated. The bottoms of his feet became harder, and Lamb naturally learned how to step better. With each stride, he would step in a way where the feet glides across the ground, resulting in the feet making as minimal amount of contact with the ground as possible. As soon as his heel met the ground, it was immediately off, followed by the ball of his foot. Those two sections became the hardest part of his feet, and it didn¡¯t matter what he stepped on. Lamb has been barefoot running for years now, and has developed iron like feet of steel.


    blurp blurp,¡± the alien octopus said. Its name was unrecognizable to human ears. ¡°We recognize that our species name, the *blurp blurp, may be too difficult for human vocal organs to articulate, so going forward, you may refer to us as the ¡®Cloroepii.¡¯¡± English letters spelling out the species name appeared as subtitles beneath the creature. The octopus-like being spoke English with an auto-tuned, echoey robotic voice, slightly high-pitched.


    blurp bleep bloop beep blurp blurp¡¯.In consideration for your limited cybernetic-less vocal organs, you may refer to our united organization as ¡®Plato¡¯.¡± the cloroepii explained. A large subtitle reading ¡®Plato¡¯ formed beneath. Lamb was transfixed by the alien message beaming down on them. All around him, the crowds were growing larger. People whispered to each other while gazing up at the eight-limbed messenger from the heavens. Several people had their phones out, recording the alien transmission.


    Plato. Only 10% of the species in Plato, have been deemed worthy by the Gods through the governance trait, Earth is not.


    AI, and the creation of magic and alchemy. Almost all the civilizations deemed worthy by the Gods were invited into Plato through achievements in the ¡®Technology¡¯ trait. Earth has not.¡± proclaimed the cloroepii.

 Chapter 2

    ¡°Whenever a new civilization has been deemed worthy by the Gods, a test will be designed to test them in the trait for which they qualified. For Earth, yours will be a test in the trait of Art.¡± The cloroepii herald explained.


    ¡°Inspired by the interactive, computer based video games popular with youths of your planet, specifically the role-playing-games localized out of the specific island cluster of Japan¡­ as your test, the Gods have designed a game world of their own, for Earth to prove themselves in.


    ¡°¡®Alyzia is a fully realized, fully immersive, real and full on interactive fantasy world inspired by the many fantasy authors of your planet. Alyzia has been created in a separate multiverse located in an alternate reality, molded into existence by the Gods.


    ¡°In the coming weeks, free gaming stations will be set up all around the world by Plato missionaries. Upon activation of a gaming portal, the player¡¯s body and soul will be transported to the Alyzia game world.


    ¡°But worry not, player safety is a top priority, playing the game will present no risk to the player. Players are able to exit the game and return to Earth at anytime, if you die in game, you will not die in real life, you will simply be returned to Earth unharmed. I repeat, dying in game will not result in real life death or bodily harm. Further details about Alyzia, will be made available in the coming days.


    ¡°In short, to summarize the parameters of the test, Alyzia is a fantasy adventure action game, it is designed to be very difficult. The Gods and the central populace of Plato will be watching. Creativity, imagination and stylish combat are the core focus of the game. The Gods will be watching, if they are entertained, you will be rewarded.


    ¡°The difficulty of the game is gauged off of humanities lack in the other two traits, as such, the game will be very difficult. The game is designed to take 10 years to defeat. Humanity must work together, cultivate powerful players, and defeat the game in just 5 years. The 5 year countdown will begin as soon as the first Earth gaming station becomes operational. Once again, the Gods have made their decision and it¡¯s final, humanity will be tested, your planet is not permitted to refuse or stall. Your compliance is mandatory. Further details will be made available in the next coming days.


    ¡°If the proper win conditions are met within the 5 years'' time, Earth will be granted full membership into Plato and be given the same protections, knowledge, and benefits every member planet of Plato receives.


    ¡°If Earth is unable to satisfy the win conditions in the allotted time, then Earth¡¯s membership qualification into Plato will be forfeited. Earth will lose all the protections it has received since its inception as a ¡®potential candidate planet¡¯ and be left to the mercy and exploits of other alien civilizations.¡±


    ¡°Though we come to your planet with intentions of peace and friendship, your planet is being tested, and the test will be difficult. Prepare accordingly.¡± The panels of light glitched and slowly turned off one by one, returning the night sky to its normal plain. All around Lamb, loud screams and questions erupted from the crowd around him.


    ¡°Lamp! You seeing this?¡± Epona messaged Lamb via her phone. ¡°We¡¯re being invaded by aliens!¡±


    Lamb was still shaking, ¡°I¡¯m still not sure what¡¯s going on, this doesn¡¯t feel real.¡± Lamb replied.


    Epona: They¡¯re gonna test us with video games! I¡¯m gonna play the crap out of this! Do you want to team up? We can be heroes.


    Lamb: I¡¯m not even sure what kind of game this is, or what the aliens are gonna do to us inside, what if it¡¯s a trap?


    Lamb messaged, hesitantly.


    Epona: If the aliens wanted to capture us, they could just capture us. They don¡¯t need to create an entire game just to do that. Besides, if I¡¯m gonna have to fight aliens, I¡¯d rather do it in a videogame than fight them in real life.


    On the other side of town, Madra was sitting atop the roof of a large building, smoking a mint cigarette, gazing up at the fading alien projection of Alyzia. In her most recent role, she played the role of a villain. It was originally written for a guy, but when the director saw her audition, he knew they¡¯d found their villain! It was her first time playing a villain on stage, and she loved it. Something new blossomed inside her; playing a villain without any inhibitions finally made her feel free.


    The show was ending its run soon, and she was on the hunt for her next endeavour. Alyzia¡­ a new galactic theatre set before an audience spanning the cosmos. This new world would be her new stage. She took a nice long drag off her menthol, flicking the finished cigarette off the roof to the crowded street below.


    Lamb quit Phoenix Kung Fu Association later that night after he got home. There was an $125 cancellation fee.


    ***


    The world did not go back to usual the next day. The sky had a permanent screen of pixelated green, a reminder that aliens aka Plato, was there hovering above them, watching them.


    Videos of the aliens'' message to Earth were uploaded to all corners of the internet and were the headline on every network news channel. Analysts and experts meticulously analyzed every frame of the alien broadcast. The revelation that it was our movies, anime, and video games that the aliens valued confounded many top scientists and philosophers. Top film critics were brought in to analyze the movies and shows the aliens had spotlighted; the critics were not impressed by the aliens'' general taste in movies.


    Another subject of hot debate amongst experts was the subject of Alien divinity. Did the Aliens worship a pantheon of squids? Or did the Aliens attribute an individual race to each of their gods? Was there perhaps a human god amongst their lineup? Was it the Gods who provided the advanced alien technological marvels, or did the aliens develop their technology themselves and simply attribute credit to their Gods out of religious piety? Some religious groups denounced our new visitors vehemently, proclaiming them as heathens and heretics. ¡°The aliens are imposing false idols upon us!¡± was one of their proclamations.


    It took until later that evening when satellite footage of the Alien¡¯s ship finally became widely available. The alien¡¯s ship was cylindrical. It was a giant mechanical aquarium floating in space, safely orbiting Earth¡¯s atmosphere. The giant Twinkie-shaped aquarium was filled with an entire ecosystem¡¯s worth of aquatic creatures, none of them following the laws of evolution that Earth¡¯s creatures did. There was life in space, lots and lots of life, they looked nothing like the creatures of Earth, and they preferred the water.


    Lamb stayed up all night thinking about the new test humanity was being forced to take. It wasn¡¯t fair, people were just going about their day-to-day lives, and now people would have to uproot their entire lives just to please some so-called Gods.


    He also wasn¡¯t sure how he felt about the idea of divinity, or bending over backwards to appease them. Lamb didn¡¯t sleep very well, nor did he eat very well that day. He decided it was time to clear his head, and what better way to do that than some strenuous exercise.


    Yesterday was a jogging day, today¡¯s workout was a martial arts training day. It was 8:30 at night, Lamb was sprawled out in the park beside his place, stretching his quads. He had a kicking bag in his garage, but he did not have enough room in his place to properly practice his forms and jump kicks. Plus, he didn¡¯t want to jump around and disturb his flatmates, so Lamb liked to go out in the park when no one was around to train. Lamb lived in a small condo with several roommates who went to university nearby; they kept to themselves and weren¡¯t very sociable.


    Lamb trained in 2-day cycles. Day 1 was long-distance running, jogging for at least 10 kilometres; day 2 was martial arts practice, repeat 4 to 5 times a week to get stronger and hopefully lose some weight. He felt like he was doing a good job getting stronger, not so much on the losing weight part.


    Lamb loved kung fu movies ever since he was a kid, his goal in life was to be a ¡®sifu,¡¯ a ¡®master.¡¯ Unfortunately, there were only 2 major kung fu schools where Lamb lived. Aside from those, the next nearest kung fu school was a 2-hour drive away, and Lamb did not have a car.


    After 3 months of training at the shitty Phoenix Kung Fu Association, Lamb had finally realized they weren¡¯t purposely hiding kung fu knowledge from beginners, the school was a McDojo that didn¡¯t have any kung fu knowledge to begin with. They were simply using ¡®kung fu¡¯ as a coat of paint so that they could charge more money from their students, when in actually, it was just a simple hodgepodge of Karate and kickboxing, with a little bit of Chinese kung fu flair sprinkled on top.


    Before Phoenix McDojo, Lamb trained at the ¡®Northern Long Fist Wushu Performance Academy¡¯ school on the other side of town. It was a long bus ride, but Lamb loved training there. It was real northern kung fu, deep wide stances, straight bridge arm punches, trapping hands, and high-flying flashy crescent kicks. The year he spent training there was the best year of his life, they really whipped him into shape, he felt like a Shaolin monk and could see himself dedicating himself there and one day becoming a ¡®sifu¡¯ at that school. Unfortunately, he had to leave ¡®Northern Long Fist Wushu Performance Academy¡¯ due to an unfortunate conflict of interest. That school was his one chance at real kung fu, but unfortunately, he had to quit the school. And now, after Phoenix McDojo, Lamb had exhausted both the kung fu options in his city, he was at a loss for what to do next.


    If Lamb wanted to learn real kung fu, it was either move to a bigger city or take online courses. For now, the only kung fu Lamb had was Saturday morning Tai Chi classes at the community church, run by a group of seniors. Lamb loved it, Taijiquan was one of his top 5 favourite martial art styles; however, an hour a week of practising slow relaxing movements didn¡¯t really feel like real kung fu to him, not the way Northern Long Fist did.


    Aside from Saturday morning tai chi classes, Lamb was also a proud co-owner of a small non-profit Taekwondo school. He had been training there for 10 years and was a 2nd dan black belt. 3 years ago, the owner of his school moved away, and a senior student, Lieb, took over as head instructor and school owner. He asked Lamb and another senior student if they wouldn¡¯t mind helping out, becoming co-owners, and helping him run the classes.


    Lamb has been an instructor for three years now. He loved kicking, it was his favourite part about practising martial arts, and he loved teaching kids how to kick. Nothing beats seeing the spark in a little kid¡¯s eyes when they finally snap out a crisp perfect yeop-chagi side kick. Or when they overcome the hesitation barrier and finally break their first wooden board in front of an audience for their first belt test.


    Lamb¡¯s favourite student was Elliot, a spiky-haired 11-year-old white belt who was nervous about competing in sparring. Lamb guided him and taught him how to spar from the ground up, teaching him which guards to use, how to shift and slide across the ring, and how to bait for openings and counterattack. Lamb¡¯s natural fighting style was a bait and punish, hit-and-run out-fighter, hovering just on the edge of his opponent¡¯s reach. He passed his strategies and techniques onto Harvey, who entered his first tournament that year and won first place, fighting his way through a gruelling gauntlet of 5 back-to-back opponents.


    For Lamb, since becoming black belt, he had competed in 6 tournaments under the black belt division, winning gold in 3 of them, 1 third-place finish, and 2 disqualifications - it wasn¡¯t his fault his opponent¡¯s started bleeding.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Teaching and practising their twice a week was also a highlight of his, the other being late-night voice chat gaming sessions with Epona. He loved hanging out with his in-person friends too, but Gun Metal Bandit was his favourite game, and none of his friends liked JRPGs, perhaps he and Epona had more in common with the squid aliens. Hanging out with Madra after class was usually another highlight of his week, but now¡­ he didn¡¯t know if he¡¯d ever see her again.


    Sprawled out in the park at night, Lamb finished a lengthy round of warm-up stretches before running through the familiar motions of his patterns. He started with ¡®Choong-Moo¡¯, a short taekwondo 1st dan pattern with bursts of powerful kicks, elbow strikes, and a flowery jump in the middle. He must¡¯ve performed Choong-Moo a thousand times; running through the motions was like shuffling a deck of cards. He turned his brain off and let muscle memory take over, his body moving on autopilot.


    After several repetitions, he practiced his favourite pattern, ¡®Koryo¡¯ at an exaggerated ¡®tai chi¡¯ pace, he took deep breath between each movement, and moved slow.. really slow.. tai chi slow. With each kick, he carefully raised his knee, balancing on his opposite foot, and slowly hyper extending his kicking leg. Afterwards, he repeated the pattern at competition pace, executing each punch, kick, and arc-hand strike at full speed and power.


    After Koryo, he spent 45 minutes practicing a gauntlet of colour belt forms and running over the newest forms he was learning for 3rd dan. He was huffing and puffing by the time he was done. These forms required a lot of space, there was no way he¡¯d have room to do them in his bedroom or kitchen. He concluded with a set of leg raises, followed by drawing circles and figure eights in the air with his legs to practice control and strengthen his hips.


    Next it was time for kung fu conditioning. Lamb hadn¡¯t learned a single useful thing in the 3 months he spent at Phoenix McDojo¡ª he mostly just paired up with Madra, and practised beginners stuff together: basic punches, kicks, and blocks etc. He did not learn a single bit of cool kung fu there. At Northern Long Fist however, it was kung fu heaven. Lamb loved the kung fu body conditioning they drilled at the academy, and incorporated them into his nightly training regiment, even after he had to quite the school.


    He began by conditioning his knuckles and palms against a nearby brick wall, practicing various straight punches, palm strikes, blade-hand strikes, and wrist strikes against the hard, unforgiving surface. After 20 minutes, his knuckles were swollen and numb with pain. Punching the wall repeatedly caused painful microfractures in his knuckles. It hurt like hell, but they would heal back stronger over time with repeated conditioning. But first, it¡¯ll take a lot of pain before any gain.


    After a short rest, Lamb got on the ground and started 30 knuckle push-ups, focusing his weight on his front knuckles. After those, it was time for 30 tiger claw push -ups on his finger tips. These were brutal, he was sweating by the time he got to the last one. His fingers ached and felt like they¡¯d been broken.


    Next came ¡®crane¡¯s beak wrist push-ups¡¯. Lamb had been taught to perform wrist push-ups with hands closed in a ¡®crane¡¯s beak¡¯ hook shape, but he preferred the ¡®monkey¡¯s paw¡¯¡ª monkey being another style that emphasized wrist conditioning. With his finger¡¯s formed in monkey¡¯s paw, he assumed the proper wrist push-up position: legs straight, knees off the ground, all his body weight balanced on his wrist bones. For his first week of classes, Lamb could only manage wrist push-ups on his knees, and even those left his wrists burning. After constant practice at home, one push-up at a time, Lamb developed hardened monkey¡¯s paw wrists of steel. Now he did 30 full wrist push-ups nightly.


    He did his usual 30, then, fighting through the pain, he forced himself to do 20 more¡ª then collapsed. Before the pain became too much, Lamb rolled onto his back nursing his aching wrists.


    Lastly, it was leopard time. Kung fu utilizes a wide array of animal styles: Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Crane, Leopard, Monkey, Praying Mantis, Crocodile, Rooster¡­ just to name a few. Leopard and Monkey were Lamb¡¯s favourites. He practised leopard¡¯s paw conditioning, one of the most painful hand exercises. With his fingers bent in proper Leopard¡¯s knuckle, Lamb got into push-up position, placing all his weight on the rim of his bent fingers.


    Lamb pushed himself down, ¡®This is sheer torture, what is wrong with me?¡¯, Lamb pushed himself up teeth gritting in pain, ¡®why am I torturing myself?¡¯. His fingers trembled as he pushed himself down again, ¡°ough, ough¡±, he muttered in agony. Lamb managed 12 full leopard push-ups before he collapsed on his stomach. After a few minutes of rest, he forced himself to do 12 more, before reaching his limit, and falling on his face.


    When he finally picked himself off the ground, massaging his bruised fingers, he slowly calmed his breathing, and flowed into the gentle, graceful motions of tai chi. Taiji was the perfect cooldown exercise, going through the slow familiar motions helped lubricate his organs, and loosen up his sore joints.


    Done with the first part of his training, it was time to grab a drink. Afterwards, when he got home, he would practice his daily 500 kicks against his kicking bag. Every night before settling down to relax in front of the TV, he had to keep up his daily kicking practice with 500 kicks against the hard bag. Kicking practice was the one exercise he never skipped on, it was his golden rule.


    But before his kicking bag drills, he deserved to treat him to a soda at the nearby corner store. Sirens could be heard off in the distance as he walked the 2 blocks to his neighbourhood corner store. He opened his phone, checking if there¡¯s been any updates about the aliens. Rioting and looting had been on the rise, as people started taking advantage of all the commotion going on. People have already started fleeing major cities on mass, preferring the relative peace of the country side to wait out an alien invasion.


    Major box stores were already selling out of toilet paper and canned goods, as people began stocking up, buying in bulk, preparing for a pending apocalypse.


    Lots of people were wondering about Alyzia, a game designed to test humanity. Of all the things, why did they choose a fantasy game? Was it safe? How would they know if it¡¯s safe for humans? Are any of the aliens human? So many questions flooded the message boards online, the general consensus was: most people were scared to play a game designed by aliens. And the fact that these aliens were religious zealots, didn¡¯t rest well with people either.


    Lamb didn¡¯t get it, ¡®it was ok for humans to be religious, but aliens can¡¯t believe in their Gods too?¡¯ Lamb pondered to himself.


    ¡°Woah! Hey watcha reading there boss?¡±


    Lamb paused his walk and looked up from his phone at the strange voice. It was a group of guys in their mid 20s, dressed in puffed out clothing. They greeted him with sly smiles. There were three of them, they were all of average size, except for one bigger guy in the back.


    ¡°I¡¯m just reading some news.¡± Lamb replied.


    ¡°Yeah, you see that shit yesterday?! That was nuts!¡± said Paul, the guy in front who first greeted Lamb. Paul was the obvious leader of the group.


    ¡°Yeah, are you gonna try out their game?¡±


    ¡°Nah, we didn¡¯t hear the whole thing, we were so high bro¡ª, we thought we were trippin¡¯ the whole time.¡± They high-fived, pumping fists with each other.


    ¡°Yo bro, you got any.. on ya? We could use a little spot..¡± The other guy asked motioning with his hands, the big guy in the back keeping quite and reserved the whole time. Paul had his right hand man beside him, a tall, skinny guy. The big guy in the back was their enforcer.


    ¡°Sorry bro¡­ I don¡¯t. I drink sometimes, but I don¡¯t even drink that much either.¡± Lamb answered politely.


    ¡°Ohh hey come on bro¡­¡± Paul moaned, ¡°there are aliens now! Aliens man! They are here! Us homies gotta band together, look out for each other, help a fellow out man!¡±


    ¡°Yeah buddy, we humans got to stick together, help a brother out!¡± His tall skinny friend agreed.


    ¡°Look if I had anything on me, I¡¯d be happy to help if I could.¡± Lamb replied.


    ¡°What about smokes, you got any smokes?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I only smoked a little in high school.¡± Lamb answered, hands empty.


    ¡°So what? Nothing? You just gonna leave us hanging?¡± They complained.


    ¡°Woah that¡¯s a nice phone you got there,¡± Paul said, as he snatched the phone out of Lamb¡¯s hand, ¡°Is this an iPhone? I like your set up, you got wallet here and everything.¡± Exclaimed the leader, as he played with Lamb¡¯s phone. Lamb¡¯s phone case doubled as his wallet, he only had 40 dollars to last him until his next paycheque, and it was all he had. Lamb wished he had an iPhone, he had a cheap phone that browsed the internet, played music, and did it¡¯s job.


    Lamb snaked out with his front hand, reaching for his phone/wallet. The leader pulled his hand back, not letting him have it. Paul pulled his hand away just in time, but then the leader noticed his hands were empty. Before the leader could react, the phone was already back in Lamb¡¯s possession.


    ¡°Don¡¯t just grab someone else¡¯s stuff guys, that¡¯s not cool.¡± Lamb replied as he checked that everything was intact and walked away.


    ¡°Your pretty fast for a big guy, where are you off too¡ª getting some shrimp fried rice?¡±


    Lamb kept walking away as the 3 of them laughed to themselves. They started following, ¡°Hey, I just wanted to look at your phone, my boy¡¯s thinking of getting that same one and we just wanted to test it out.¡±


    Lamb did not want anything to do with them, the first rule of self-defence is to always avoid conflict whenever possible, Lamb ran. His legs were a bit sore from training, but he ran as fast as he could. Paul could run too. He was a head taller than Lamb and had a lanky frame, plus he was used to running, and he was fast. The leader quickly caught up to Lamb and pushed him. Lamb caught himself and didn¡¯t fall down, but the push totally killed his momentum, when Lamb caught his bearings, he was surrounded.


    ¡°You know what¡¯s the best part about having visitors?¡± Paul asked, pointing up, referencing the aliens, with a big grin on his face, dropping all friendly pretences. ¡°There are never any cops around, the pigs are to busy keeping the peace,¡± He pulls out several watches from his pockets, ¡°we got all these today, from chums just like you. We strolled right inside a gas station earlier, punched the bitch at the register, and cleaned out all the cash. No cops came.¡±


    ¡°How much cash you got in that big wallet of yours?¡± The other guy asked.


    ¡°It felt pretty heavy, what were you keeping in there, extra condoms? You off to see a special lady? Maybe you can introduce me.¡± The leader smiled with a wink. ¡°She love you long time?¡± Paul said in an offensive accent, squinting his eyes.


    ¡°Nah, probably just McDonald¡¯s coupons, this chink probably uses a lot of them.¡± His friend laughed.


    ¡°Come on guys, I just want to go home. Can we just call this a day?¡± Lamb pleaded.


    ¡°We just want to go home too, just hand over your phone and we¡¯ll go to the ATM together, then we¡¯ll give you a beating for being rude.¡± Paul said, cracking his fingers.


    ¡°Or we can give you a beating now, then we go to the ATM and you give us all your cash, it¡¯s up to you.¡± The other guy interjected. The big guy still hasn¡¯t said a thing. Lamb noticed the leader fiddling with something in his pocket.


    ¡°Look guys, I¡¯m broke, I only have 20 bucks on me.¡±


    ¡°Bullshit. Besides, we¡¯d fetch at least 250 for your phones.¡±


    ¡°Look, I really don¡¯t want any trouble. I¡¯m not giving you my phone, can you just please let me go? Please, I¡¯m asking nicely.¡± Lamb gently pleaded, with his hands in-front of him. Paul stepped forward, hand still in his pocket.


    ¡°I¡¯m getting tired of this, you fat-fuck, you need to learn to be more respectful¡ª¡± he pulls out a retracted knife, then flips the switch. The blade snapped out, at the same time, the bottom of Lamb¡¯s shoe crashes into Paul¡¯s chin, smashing teeth against teeth.


    In class, Lamb had a reputation for kicking like a truck, and today, a truck drove into Paul¡¯s face. Blood spurted from Paul¡¯s mouth, splattering his jersey, as he was tossed back, bent on the floor, choking on his own blood and broken teeth.


    Lamb did not need to see the leader¡¯s intent, years of experience and competitions has trained him to sense his opponent¡¯s intent just by glancing at their shoulders or hips. Lamb didn¡¯t need to see the knife, because that would¡¯ve been too late, as soon as he sensed a knife being drawn, his fight or flight kicked in (pun intended), he slipped forward a half step, dashing on both feet, raised his front left, and before Paul could blink, snapped his front leg forward into a snapping kick, meeting chin with ball of shoe. Lamb had practiced well over 10,000 front snap kicks in his life time, but this was the first time he had to use one on the streets.


    Lamb believed real life violence should be avoided at all costs, but as soon as a bladed weapon entered the picture, the situation became more than just about words and threats, a blade has been drawn, and a contract of deadly violence has been made.


    Before Paul¡¯s friends could even register the assault made to their comrade¡¯s face, Lamb had already chosen his next target. He¡¯ll save the bigger guy for last, it¡¯ll be a good one on one. Lamb leapt forward, covering the distance between them in one leaping step. He chambered his leg, and cocked a heavy sidekick yeop chagi - Lamb¡¯s favourite kick.


    With all the forwards momentum behind him, Lamb¡¯s entire body weight was packed inside the chambered kick, cocked and ready to go like a sawed-off shot gun.


    His opponent, overtaken by primal fear, instinctively shielded his torso with his arms. But his lizard brain made a fatal error: Lamb¡¯s target wasn¡¯t his body¡­ a blade was drawn on the streets, no target was off limits¡­


    Back turned, butt pointing towards his opponent, Lamb pulled the trigger - all his power, packed and focused, shot forward, blasting his opponent in the crotch. Over 200 lbs of force, concentrated in a straight line, from the centre of Lamb¡¯s body to the striking surface of his foot, speared towards the target, smashing his genitals.


    The poor guy fell done clutching his exploded, bleeding testicles, crying loudly. And just for good measure, Lamb stomped down on the poor guy¡¯s ankle, producing a loud snap as bones crunched beneath his boot-heel.


    The big guy was backing away, scared out of his mind; he was a lover not a fighter. Lamb paced over to Paul, who was still wiggling on the ground. Lamb stomped down, crushing Paul¡¯s ankle the same way he did his friend¡¯s. The big guy shrieked. Paul wailed, and pleaded inaudibly.


    Lamb picked the knife off the ground, holding it in an ice pick grip, and walked towards the last man standing. The big guy cowered, holding his hands out in surrender, Lamb stared him down. Lamb waved his new knife, gesturing for the big guy to check on his newly castrated friend.


    Lamb fished inside Paul¡¯s pockets, pulling out Paul¡¯s phone. Lamb smashed it against his knee, shattering it to bits. The big guy whimpered as he cradled his fallen friend, a big blubbering mess.


    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± Lamb said turning away, ¡°I didn¡¯t kick him that hard.¡±


    Lamb skipped heavy bag practice when he got home that night; he got enough kicking practice for the day.


    chapter end

 Chapter 3: Welcome to Alyzia

    Several days later, large warehouse sized aquariums full of alien marine life started popping up around various major cities in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto being the first. The aquariums were built seamlessly overnight. They appeared in construction sites, large parks, and various forest trails. Others were built next to beaches and lakes. The very first ones were built near major Shinto Temples, and thusly, Houin Takeshi (the alien relations ambassador) introduced them as ¡®shrines¡¯. The shrines were mostly staffed by the tentacled Cloroepii. The Cloroepii hovered around in floating pyramid shaped fishbowls, mechanical tentacle appendages could be retracted from the hovering pyramids, and were versatile enough to perform various tasks in place of hands.


    Countdown for Humanity: 4 years, three-hundred and sixty-four days.


    Completion Parameters - Beat Alyzia.


    Status: Incomplete.


    Epona: ¡°Before you go in, find one of those bug robots at the shrine. Ask him to help you form a party with me. You¡¯ll have to choose a server to play on, you can only pick one, pic the Persian Empire, I¡¯ll wait for you there!¡±


    He looked around again, still not seeing any robots. He wondered around for half an hour, circling the entire span of the shrine. It was only one story, and he was certain there weren¡¯t any stairs he missed. Finally, after a brief washroom break and sitting down for a drink, he finally spotted a three legged robot skittering around a corner. They were called ¡®factory drones¡¯ and were mass-produced and distributed throughout the Plato empire.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°The Antarctic server is very cold, the Rainforest is very hot and there are lots of poisonous bugs and fauna, you will need to spend skill points in character creation on ¡®environmental resistance¡¯, in order to not ¡®freeze¡¯ as you put it.¡±


    ¡°As an incentive for new players to choose a region specific server, players will be granted an additional 20 skill points for choosing a region specific server.¡±

 Chapter 4: Character Creation

    Alyzia is only a game in that if you die in Alyzia, you will not die in real life, and your real-life body will not be damaged in any way. In every other way, Alyzia is real. The world is real, all the people and creatures are real, all the objects and food are real.


    anything he wants. ¡°So just to make sure I¡¯m getting this right, I could say for example: I want to be a seal with eight arms, and be able to shoot laser beams¡ª and have a trident?¡±


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    can be powerful too?


    emphasis on the really hard to do part, and emphasis on ¡®you¡¯ll have to teach yourself from scratch¡¯. Yes, maybe if you¡¯re some kind of prodigy, and you do nothing but practice everyday, you might learn to shoot energy beams eventually.. but practicing with fireballs, or a lighting-blade would be just as powerful, and so much¡ª so much easier.¡± The game guide said.


    you have lots of legs.¡±


    As Lamb peered closer, he suddenly noticed some tiny metal ants crawling out between the groves of the cube. What looked like a shifting of metal patterns from afar, turned out to be streams of ants.


    ¡®the genus¡¯ for short. We admit, in appearance we share some similarities to your earth ¡®termites¡¯.¡± Myrmex explained. Lamb thought back to the Factory Drone.


    Strength -


    Speed -


    Endurance -


    Cognition -


    Environmental Resistance (Dessert) -


    ¡°Your skill points do not carry over, so there¡¯s no point in saving them, if you don¡¯t spend any they¡¯ll be wasted.¡± Myrmex explained.


    sigh¡­ lemme check.¡± The cube started glowing, as various corners and segments began flashing. ¡°Fine¡­ yeah, you can..it counts as combination martial leg skill, it¡¯ll also improve your speed and strength as well.¡±


    blank


    blank


    Qi - +10 skillpoints


    Kicking - +63 skill points


    Alzian #12,045


    Residency: The Persian Empire


    Age: 23


    Race: Human, unmodified


    Weapons: None


    Magical Abilities: None


    Title: The Magnificent Kicker


    Name: Bandit Chicken


    ***


    Back on Earth, Madra found her way to a bored looking factory droid in an empty corner of the shrine. It was odd how a machine could give off the very human characteristic of boredom.

 Chapter 5

    Epona finished her drink as she watched the crowd mill about around her. It was noon and the hot weather was cooling down a little. A large gust of sand blew across the market causing a huge ruckus.


    She had been here for 3 days, and spent most of her time roaming about the village or practicing with her blades. Around her, people were either setting out to go on quests or gearing up to fight monsters. Some people were returning from an earlier expedition, some people didn¡¯t.


    She was waiting for her friends to join her and hadn¡¯t ventured out from the safety of the village yet. She invited Lamb to join her party and was excited to fight alongside him. They¡¯d been friends for 2 years, and though they¡¯d never met in person, she hoped he was a friend she could trust.


    She had several other friends spread out across the world, they were eager to form a party together. She invited them to join her in Persia and looked forward to introducing them to Lamb. Every couple of hours, she went to check near her tent; that was where her game guide told her they¡¯d be if they took up her offer to party up.


    She wandered her way back to her tent, expecting to be disappointed again. No one had showed up yet, and she was worried they¡¯d accidentally wondered off while she was away.


    When she made it back to her tent, she lit up as she recognized a familiar figure wobbling about on his feet and stretching. She recognized his features from the photos they exchanged and their video chat sessions. He was an American from Jersey. He didn¡¯t speak any Danish, so they talked in English.


    He was sprawled down on the floor hyper extending his leg, toes curled back. Minus the colourful hair and flashy garments, he looked exactly as she pictured he would. Actually, the garments didn¡¯t really surprise her, the colourful clothing fit his mythique quite accurately.


    ¡°Lamp!¡± She exclaimed as he looked up.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± He asked. Standing before him, was a 6¡¯5 feet tall (196 cm), dark-haired women with lean muscles and an armoured breastplate.


    ¡°Who do you think?¡± She said crossing her arms. She was much taller and muscular than she looked in real life, but Lamb recognized her face.


    ¡°Good seeing you Epona.¡± Lamb said smiling. She smiled back.


    ¡°Check these out!¡± Epona whipped out a 3 pronged ninja sai, and threw it at Lambs feet, nearly impaling him. It glowed red as it flew. ¡°Damn I missed, you¡¯d be poisoned if that hit you.¡±


    ¡°It didn¡¯t,¡± Lamb picked it up and dashed towards her. She stabbed him with another sai. He spun and dodged, then gently stabbed her on the side.


    Several robed guards with keffiyehs peered their heads towards the 2 of them, their hands resting on their scabbards.


    Epona waved at them, ¡°It¡¯s ok, we¡¯re friends, just play fighting,¡± she announced, the guards made no sign of acknowledgement.


    ¡°This town is a safe zone, so there¡¯s no killing allowed here, but we can practice and you can hit me harder than that.¡± She replied, punching him in the chest, making him stumble back. That hurt. ¡®Well, if she insist¡¯s¡¯.


    Epona held a sai in each hand and lunged at Lamb. He focused on her movements, and it appeared as if time was moving in slow motion. She was telegraphing a two handed stab to his abdomen. Time to see what they can do.


    Epona stabbed out towards Lamb. He stepped out to her side, reached out to the back of her head, and using her momentum; he spun her around in a tenkan motion and tossed her on the floor.


    As she got up, Lamb stepped towards her and stomped on her knee with a front snap kick. Snap. He then snapped a kick past her head, missing her skull by a couple inches, the force of his kick sent a gust of wind blowing her hair back.


    ¡°Fudge!¡± She exclaimed, clutching her broken knee.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± Lamb asked, worried. ¡®Did this place have a hospital?¡¯


    She blurted a series of expletives in Danish. After a half second delay, yellow subtitles appeared in front of Lamb¡¯s vision, translating what she implied about his mother. He laughed and tried to brush away the subtitles, but his hands went right through them.


    ¡°Welp, I¡¯m dead.¡± She forced herself to stand up, her bones made unsettling noises as she got up putting weight on her knee. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be fine. I just need a second.¡± She moaned as she put more weight on her knee. Her knee began glowing a feint blue, and then righted itself. Epona was able to walk again, but her eyes still winced; it still must hurt a little.


    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Lamb gasped.


    ¡°Everyone in Alyzia has a set amount of health magic. If you get hurt, you¡¯ll automatically heal¡ª which takes up some health gauge, once your health is gone, you won¡¯t be able to heal anymore until you rest for a few hours. If someone hits you when you can¡¯t heal, you¡¯re screwed.¡± She explained, Lamb nodded.


    Every player in Alyzia has a set amount of healing magic. It can heal all wounds instantly; it can even heal a chopped off head. However, doing so uses up the healing magic. The greater the damage, the more health it requires. Once you¡¯re out of healing magic, you won¡¯t be able to heal again until your health replenishes. It takes about 12 hours for a player¡¯s healing magic to slowly replenish from no health to full. If you receive a fatal wound whilst you don¡¯t have enough health to heal it: as Epona put it¡­ ¡°You¡¯re screwed.¡±


    Though it¡¯s called ¡®healing magic¡¯, it¡¯s primarily done using one¡¯s qi.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    ¡°Good hit, you didn¡¯t even need to use your weapon!¡± Epona replied.


    Lamb chuckled, ¡°About that..¡±


    ¡°Hmmm?¡± She asked, ¡°Hey.. I punched you as hard as I could and you barely flinched, whereas you didn¡¯t even kick that hard, and you broke my knee, what gives?¡±


    Lamb made a nonchalant gesture, ¡°Get good.¡±


    ¡°I should¡¯ve told you I was in the arctic.¡± Epona huffed.


    ¡°I¡¯d rather be in the arctic, than go to Denmark.¡± Lamb declared. Epona started kicking him, it was for the pride of her country.


    ¡°I¡¯d rather talk to seals than speak Dutch!¡± Lamb cried, as Epona rained boots on him.


    ¡°It¡¯s Danish! Not Dutch! They¡¯re two different languages!¡± Epona corrected.


    ¡°I¡¯d rather learn Swiss!¡±


    ¡°Swear to God, I¡¯m gonna kill you!¡± Epona threatened. This was common banter between them; it usually started with Epona calling Americans dumb. ¡°So what is your weapon?¡± She asked, getting back on topic, sparring Lamb this time.


    ¡°First tell me about your build.¡± Lamb asked.


    ¡°I have poisonous sais!¡± She gloated, ¡°From the cola¡ª gen-geloo..¡± she stumbled, fumbling the words. She pulled out two sharp metal sais, the dagger-class weapons had 3 sharp prongs, and glowed a faint red when she focused magic into them. ¡°I knew I wanted to be a rogue, but I didn¡¯t want to use boring old knives, so I decided to get these!¡±


    ¡°Nice, sais are one of my top 5 favourite weapons!¡± He agreed, ¡°I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t choose wooden clogs.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re called Tr?sko, and I knew you¡¯d say that fucker!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m too predicable.¡± Lamb bowed, hanging his head in shame.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised YOU didn¡¯t pick expensive health care.¡±


    ¡°My guide said that was to OP.¡± Lamb replied, laughing at his country¡¯s expense. Poor America.


    ¡°Plus, with you here, you can help me figure out how to use them¡ª fight and do cool tricks and stuff.¡± She motioned, gesturing her sais around, posing in fanciful fighting stance, battling off imaginary shadow ninjas.


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± Lamb promised, he never actually learned how to use sais, but he was confident he could figure something out.


    ¡°And for my powers, I wanted some kind of poison, but not regular poison, so I decided on being able to debuff my opponent. If I stab someone, they¡¯ll become weak, and then¡­ since we¡¯re on the same team¡ª¡±


    ¡°I can jump in and take their head off!¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡± She boasted, ¡°I figured you¡¯d get a really big buff weapon, so you can deal damage and I¡¯ll be support.¡±


    ¡°Does your debuff also work if you throw it?¡± Lamb asked.


    Epona focused her magic into her sai and threw it into the ground, ¡°yup, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been practicing.¡± Lamb was very impressed.


    ¡°So what kind of weapon did you choose? Don¡¯t tell me you picked a sword.¡± She laughed. ¡°I¡¯d disown you.¡±


    ¡°It was tempted to pick a katana¡­¡± Lamb fidgeted, ¡°well actually.. I didn¡¯t really pick a weapon..¡±


    ¡°Ohhh..¡± she replied, ¡°so you chose to focus on magic instead? You¡¯ll be the wizard of the group? Huh¡­ I never saw you as the caster type before¡­¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t use any magic either.¡±


    ¡°What¡­¡± Epona was so confused. ¡°So¡­ what did you pick then?¡±


    ¡°Well so¡­ instead of weapons or magic, there¡¯s actually a third option.. it¡¯s a hidden mechanic¡­¡± Lamb explained the hidden qi mechanic, the inner qi power everyone in Alyzia possessed but no one was aware of.


    ¡°So there¡¯s this whole new powerset they kept hidden from us?¡±


    ¡°Yup, the guide said since magic was so much more powerful and easy to use, they didn¡¯t bother explaining qi to starting players cuz they didn¡¯t want to drown them in too much information.¡±


    ¡°You got to teach me how to use it.¡±


    ¡°I gotta figure out how to do it first,¡± he agreed, ¡°where can we train?¡±


    ¡°You want to train already? You just got here, let me show you around.¡±


    ¡°We can do that after, I¡¯ve been twiddling my thumbs at home for 2 days, I want to get started now!¡±


    ¡°Fine fine, but let me show you the ¡®rest station¡¯ first, let¡¯s make our party official!¡± She proposed.


    ¡°I thought we were already in a party? I pressed the ¡®yes¡¯ button.¡±


    ¡°Almost,¡± she answered.


    Epona led Lamb to a medium sized hut the size of a gas station, it was a designated rest and leisure spot. It was a 2 minute walk from the tents where Lamb was, they stepped inside and Epona stopped them. She waved her hand in the air, and a big notification appeared:


    ¡®Official Party Formation - Epona + Bandit Chicken, Yes / No¡¯


    She laughed, ¡°Bandit Chicken?¡±


    ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Lamb replied.


    ¡°We can only see notification panels inside rest stations like this place.¡± She explained as she pressed ¡®Yes¡¯.


    ¡°Congratulations, on forming an official party,¡± an omniscient female voice announced, ¡°please designate a Party Leader, and Party Name. Only the party leader may add and remove members from the party, please inquire your local rest station for detailed instructions.¡±


    ¡°What should our party name be? Can we be called Team Denmark?¡± Epona suggested.


    ¡°That¡¯s a great name, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m Danish enough for Team Denmark.¡±


    ¡°Oh man.¡±


    ¡°How about Team Chicken?¡± Lamb suggested.


    ¡°That¡¯s stupid,¡± Epona laughed. ¡°How about¡­ hmm..¡± She thought for a while longer, ¡°we both don¡¯t like swords, how about team no swords?¡±


    ¡°I like it, but it might be mean if we meet someone with a sword though.¡± Lamb responded.


    ¡°What about Team Swordless?¡± Epona pitched.


    ¡°I love it! But what about.. even better¡­ Team Swordless Chicken?¡± Lamb pitched hopefully, Epona rolled her eyes.


    ¡°Team Swordless, and I¡¯m the leader.¡±


    ¡°Deal.¡± Lamb replied.


    ¡°We will be Team Swordless, led by me.¡± Epona told the voice.


    ¡°Very well, Epona, Leader of Team Swordless, you have 2 additional party slots remaining. May the winds grace you.¡± The voice replied as the display vanished.


    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s see your stats.¡± She waved her hand and a new display appeared in the air. Lamb tried to touch it, but just like the subtitles, his hands passed right through.


    Alzian #4,786


    Residency: The Persian Empire


    Age: 24


    Race: Sorceress


    Weapons: Traditional Sais of the K¨­ga-ry¨± clan


    Magical Abilities: Poisonous Debuff


    Name: Epona


    Party Affiliation: Team Swordless - Leader, Founding Member


    ¡°You¡¯re 24?!¡±


    ¡°Shut up.¡± She glared at him.


    ¡°Dose this place have a retirement home?¡±


    ¡°I swear to God..¡± She murmured something in Danish, no subtitles appeared though.


    ¡°My highest stat is cognition, I figured I¡¯d take the role of a strategist slash support. I¡¯ll analyze the situations and come up with stratagems¡± she mused, ¡°and send you to your death.¡± She murmured.


    ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°Nothing,¡± she batted, ¡°Let¡¯s see yours.¡±


    Lamb tried waving his hand around, copying what she did. Nothing happened, no screen appeared.


    ¡°You really didn¡¯t get any magic at all, did you?¡±


    ¡°Not a drop. Wait, does that mean I can¡¯t do that¡ª thingy?¡±


    ¡°Keep trying, you probably just suck at it.¡±


    Lamb kept waving his hand like a kid begging to be picked at kickball.


    , ¡°Think about activating it.¡± Epona said.


    Lamb waved his hands in the air, ¡°Display appear.¡± He declared.


    ¡°Don¡¯t say it aloud dummy!¡±


    Lamb tried again, speaking aloud: ¡°Display appear!¡± The display appeared before them.


    Alyzian #12,045


    Residency: The Persian Empire


    Age: 23


    Race: Human, unmodified


    Weapons: None


    Magical Abilities: None


    Title: The Magnificent Kicker


    Name: Bandit Chicken


    Party Affiliation: Team Swordless - Founding Member


    ¡°Wow, you really do have nothing¡­¡± Epona mused, as she read over his stats.


    Lamb shrugged.


    ¡°Wait, you got a title?¡±


    chapter end

 Chapter 6: The Training Grounds

    They made their way through the market, towards the training grounds. The market wafted with powerful scents of incense, cooked meats, and fragrant spices. Lamb had to fight down the urge as they passed several foods stalls selling fried wraps, kebabs, and juicy exotic fruits.


    Epona gave him a running commentary detailing the various stalls and patrons. Several of the vendors were animal-human hybrids, goat-headed creatures with human bodies. There were several of what they assumed were aliens, manning a few stalls¡ª Epona wasn¡¯t sure as she hadn¡¯t gotten a chance to ask.


    The supposed aliens were large fat slug like creatures, with thick hides for skin, stubby arms, tentacle mouths, and no visible eyes. They were surprisingly mobile and were constantly eating, even as they conducted business. There were also lots of monkeys everywhere, monkeys of all shapes and sizes.


    They walked past a jewelry stand operated by a large snake. It didn¡¯t have any customers, whether due to the fact that most people didn¡¯t have money to spend on jewelry.. or whether due to the fact that the vendor was a large serpent.. nobody knew.


    The training grounds was an empty field filled with gravel and sand. The sand field transitioned into a large forested area filled with trees. The training ground was huge, the size of 2 football stadiums. Several players were practicing in the field, they were swinging swords and throwing elemental blasts, they made sure to give each other lots of space.


    Several guards were spread out along the border of the grounds, keeping an eye on everyone. Lamb nodded to a familiar looking guard as they found a good spot on the sands, the guard gave no response.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna keep practicing filling my sais with poison and throwing them.¡± Epona announced as she found a large tree and practiced imbuing her blade with red magical essence and throwing it against the tree. She practised 10 paces away from the three, and struggled to hit centre or make the sai stick. Lamb left her to her own devices, he trusted her to improve her abilities on her own. Before he could help her figure out what she could do, he had to figure out what he could do.


    ¡®What is qi? And how does it work in Alyzia?¡¯


    Lamb took a deep breath and loosened his limbs, shaking them off.


    He squatted down in horse stance, knees bent, back straight as if sitting on an invisible bench. The heart is in the basics.


    Long Fist Wushu Academy was the only real kung fu school Lamb could find in his city. He only trained there for a year before he was forced to leave, but Lamb kept detailed notes of everything he learned there, and still practiced the skills he learned daily. And he was gonna make the most of those skills today.


    The horse stance is an important foundational stance in many northern and southern kung fu styles: Southern Hung family style, Northern Bajiquan, Northern Long Fist, and Northern 7 Star Praying Mantis just to name a few.


    Horse stance builds core strength, mental and physical endurance. At it¡¯s highest level, practising horse stance can help practitioners transcend human boundaries of focus and endurance. Shaolin monks train themselves to hold horse stance for upwards of an hour. According to legends, some masters could even hold the stance for hours without breaking posture. Most students could only maintain proper horse stance for 30 secs. Horse stance is one part physical endurance¡ª fighting through the pain, and equal parts mental endurance.


    After holding the horse stance long enough, there comes a point where the practitioner experiences an outer-body experience, they¡¯re no longer holding their body in horse stance, they just simply exist in horse stance. In the olden days, traditional hung gar schools made students practice nothing but horse stance for the first 6 months to a year. Students had to prove they could hold proper stance for at least half an hour, before they can even learn to throw a single punch. It resulted in beginners developing incredible core and leg strength before their real training began.


    Lamb took several deep breath, settling in horse stance. He mediated by repeating a mantra: What is chi?


    Chi/Ki/Qi was an important part of the Long Fist school¡¯s curriculum. The philosophy of chi in Chinese martial arts was discussed at great length in class. The school had several mantas which students recited during stance practice. In class, Lamb had to recite mantras on repeat whilst holding horse stance until his legs collapsed; they made him practice stances until his legs turned to jelly. There was a particular mantra which pertained to qi, so Lamb decided to revisit that training; Lamb recited the mantra on repeat, whilst holding horse stance in the Persian training ground.


    Despite several months passing since leaving his Long Fist school, he still had all their mantras memorized. He still maintained his daily stance training and often fell back to the familiar mantras when his legs felt like collapsing.


    Lamb kept his eyes open, but lost focus of his surroundings. He focused on his stance, and his brain¡¯s autopilot took over as he began reciting:


    ¡°What is chi?


    Chi is your inner strength, body centre of gravity


    Located below the naval in the centre of the body


    The lower the point of chi to the surface, gains more power and greater balance


    All mankind possess chi, but few practice to develop it.¡±


    He pondered the words as he held horse stance and recited the mantra again and again on repeat. Reciting kung fu mantras was his fallback; whenever he was going on a long jog, or competing in a sparing match, if he started to get too tired and run out of steam, he¡¯ll start reciting a mantra, easing the tension from his muscles and restoring energy as he fell back on the familiar words.


    He held the stance for 20 minutes (his limit) before finally losing his structure and collapsing on his knees. After taking a few minutes to catch his breath, he went over his familiar warm up routine: several sets of painful push-ups on his knuckles, fingers and wrists, followed by dynamic and full body stretches. Now, it was time to get to business.


    ¡®The heart is in the basics.¡¯ If Lamb was gonna learn to use his qi, he was gonna have to start with the basics. He got into a gung bo walking stance, right foot forward, and began throwing straight punches, chambering the opposite hand by his waist. ¡°What is chi? Chi is your inner strength, body centre of gravity,¡± he recited to himself. He tried to feel within his core, for his inner strength, ¡°Located below the naval in the centre of the body¡±, he drew power from the centre of his body and tried focusing it into his fists with each punch.


    He practiced for an hour without stop, his body in a trance. He added trapping backfists, and basic front, turning and side kicks as well, mixing in kicks and linking them to his punches.


    After an hour, he switched to qi gong, which was the literal art of training one¡¯s chi. He started practising tai chi, the most qi gong oriented martial art he practised (it¡¯s literally in the name). He started with the 108 Yang step, then the 56 step Chen form.


    Then he went into freeform taiji mode: he started doing the 56 step traditional form, but instead of following the traditional set movements¡ª he just moved and flowed, his body moved on its own.. his techniques switched between Yang family style, Chen family style, and whatever. He didn¡¯t care what the next proper technique was, he just did what felt natural. He just focused on his qi, and he moved.


    He didn¡¯t feel any different and couldn¡¯t tell whether any progress had been made, he didn¡¯t even know whether he was training properly. He turned and watched the people around him use wind and fire magic. He watched Epona light her sai up with red aura, and stab it into a tree. With magic, it was easy to tangibly see if you were doing it right, and if you were improving or not. A person using fire magic, could see a ball of fire forming in his hand, and after some training, they could notice their own fireball becoming bigger. There were no fireballs in what Lamb was doing.


    Epona jogged up to him, drenched in sweat, ¡°Want to take a break?¡± She asked.


    ¡°A little longer?¡± Lamb asked.


    ¡°Fine,¡± she replied and got back to pouring magic into her prongs. She practiced various striking combinations against the trees, her sais leaving gashes in the tree from where she struck. Her magic was not only imbuing her sais with poison, it was also making them strike harder.


    Lamb took inspiration from her training and found a tree of his own to square off against. He focused qi into his fist and punched the large tree, it hurt like hell. Well that didn¡¯t do anything. If he was able to increase his strength using qi, he¡¯d at least be able to leave a mark on it, that would be his visual indicator.


    Punching the thick wood was painful as hell for his knuckles and he wasn¡¯t leaving a single chip on the tree. He could continuously punch against the tree at light to medium strength to condition his knuckles like he did at home, but that was not the purpose of today, today he had to focus his qi and hit it as hard as he could. So he opened his fist, brought his open palm towards his core, and focused qi into his open palm and struck the tree as hard as he could, it hurt, but he did a lot of iron palm conditioning at home, so he could keep doing this for a while.


    He lost track of time as he practiced hitting the tree again and again, focusing his qi and striking with the palm as hard as he could. He mixed in combinations, striking with the blade of the hand as well, doing fast multi strike combos and chain punches. Time flew by as he got into the trance of training. Epona took a break after a while, taking a rest to rehydrate and eat a banana.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Lamb switched to kicking. He curled his toes up and focused energy into the front ball of his feet, then spun around into a snapping turning kick, dollyo chagi, as hard as he could against the thick tree. Lamb was bare foot. When choosing his outfit in character creation, he choose not to where shoes, he was going to use chi to condition his feet and develop iron feet. Let¡¯s just hope the Persian Empire wasn¡¯t filled with glass, and let¡¯s just hope he wouldn¡¯t have to kick any cactuses or porcupines.


    Lamb used the tree like a kicking bag, he kicked it as hard as he could. Turning kicks, jumping back kicks, side kicks and front kicks. He practiced sprint kicks, and combination drills: 20 turning kicks as hard as he could in under 15 seconds, switch feet, repeat.


    He jumped as high as he could into jump back kick. He kicked until his soles were bleeding and his ankles were on fire. The sun was setting when Lamb finally snapped out of his training trance. His robes were soaked in sweat, he could barely move his fingers, and he hobbled like a penguin. His feet were caked in blood, even his crotch was sore for some reason. His legs felt like they¡¯d been holding horse stance for 2 days straight.


    He turned around to see if there were still people left in the training grounds. Epona was in the zone, dashing at the tree from a distance, leaping up and pouncing on it, stabbing into the trunk multiple times.


    Throughout the day, she looked over to check on Lamb multiple times, he was putting everything into his training, watching him made Epona¡¯s heart race. She was not gonna fall behind to her American friend, he was a kicker and watching him kick was like watching a bird fly. She didn¡¯t have kicks, she had blades and poison. She told herself: she would not stop until she was as good with her kit, as Lamb was with his feet.


    She put herself into her training and pushed her feats to new heights, stabbing her sais deeper into the tree than ever before. She¡¯d been practicing with her abilities every day since she got here, but she never trained like this, she never trained like Lamb did, he trained like he had something to prove, now so did she.


    They were a team, and a team was only ever as strong as it¡¯s weakest link. He couldn¡¯t use any magic, and didn¡¯t have any weapons, yet still she felt like she was the weakest link.


    Epona realized Lamb had finally taken a break, and caught him watching.


    ¡°Watch this,¡± Epona stuck out her tongue, closed one eye and aimed at a tall tree branch, she threw a blazing red sai at it and missed, ¡°Crap.¡±


    ¡°You almost got it!¡± Lamb said, she missed but he was still really impressed by how straight it flew.


    He looked down at the tree he¡¯d been mistreating, and finally noticed something¡­ there were gashes. His turning kicks had left a mark and some of the wood had chipped away. At his head height, where he¡¯d been ¡®jump back kicking¡¯, there was some visible marks too. He had been kicking the tree for 6 hours, and now he finally made marks.


    ¡°Have you made any progress yet?¡± Epona asked. ¡°With your pii?¡± She asked, miming, pretending like she was shooting an energy blast.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± He replied disappointedly.


    ¡°Something looks different now,¡± she said patting his arms, ¡°I can¡¯t tell what it is, but something about you feels different.¡±


    ¡°Is it because I smell?¡± Lamb asked, self consciously. The sun was roaring all day, and they were both sweating buckets. Epona went in sniffing his chest, he smelled like tree dirt and sand.


    ¡°No, you smell fine,¡± she smiled, ¡°but something about you does feel different, I think I can feel something that¡¯s¡ª it¡¯s like how magic feels.. coming from you.¡±


    Lamb looked at his hands, concentrating¡­ trying to feel what Epona was describing. But his body felt hot all over, he was dizzy and light headed, like the world was spinning in circles. He couldn¡¯t feel any ¡®magic¡¯ as Epona described it, all he felt was exhaustion.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been training all day,¡± Epona said, ¡°you¡¯ve been training for over 6 hours and you didn¡¯t take a single break. You didn¡¯t eat, drink, pepe or popo for 6 hours, you just kicked a tree the entire time. Could you do that back on Earth?¡±


    ***


    It was only after the adrenaline of training wore off, did Lamb realize he was starving. It wasn¡¯t just regular starvation either, there was nothing left in the tank. He¡¯s legs were aching, he hobbled out of the training grounds like a king penguin from the arctic server, catching weird looks from other players and the robed guards.


    Epona led the way back to the rest station beside their tents.


    The market streets got livelier as the sun was setting.


    Colourful luminescent smoke bellowed about the streets. In the middle of a large town square, two giant lizard demons were fighting as spectators cheered.


    Lamb bent his knees into a wide fighting stance with arms outstretched as a large horned demon got knocked down in front of him, blowing dust and smoke everywhere. ¡®Were these monsters from outside? Are they attacking the village? Where are the guards?¡¯


    ¡°It¡¯s ok, chill bro,¡± Epona said, putting a reassuring hand on his chest.


    The large scaly creature, the size of a panther, got up and blushed it¡¯s tail. It¡¯s tail swiped Lamb¡¯s head, he instinctively put his hands up in a triangle guard, but the tail phased right through him. The creature was just like the yellow subtitles which appeared whenever someone spoke anything other than English, it was a projection.


    They declined offers to bet on the winner and moved on, the fight seemed less interesting now since they were just illusions. Besides, when it came to movies and video games, Lamb preferred people fights over monster fights anyways.


    They finally made their way back to the tents, ¡°I thought we were going to a restaurant?¡± Lamb asked.


    ¡°This is a rest station, they have food too.¡± Epona explained.


    The desk was manned by a large legless monkey with extra arms to make up for the legs. He had rusty wheels where his legs should be. Lamb decided to ask what¡¯s up with those later, right now he was too hungry to be curious.


    Epona pulled out a coin from her purse and handed it to the attendant. Lamb had a purse too, it was magically affixed to his person¡¯s, tucked underneath his robes. She relayed some requests to the monkey, the two seemed to have a good rapport and she gestured towards Lamb as well. ¡°Come on,¡± she waved Lamb over, and the two of them made their way to the rest station¡¯s dining area.


    Dinning Room B was a large sparsely populated cafeteria with rows of tables and benches, and a large buffet feast at the front. Lamb was in buffet heaven. He didn¡¯t even wait for her to find a seat and bee-lined straight towards the buffet. A large spread of Middle Eastern, South Indian, and North African dishes were arrayed in steaming hot trays. This was his element, Lamb never declined a buff invitation, he even purposely went on some bad dates because the girl suggested going to a buffet.


    He grabbed two large plates, tucking one between his elbow, a trick he learned working as a server in college. He got 2 large slices of Mannakish (a cheesy Lebanese flatbread, topped with za¡¯atar, the chef who made it also added a hint of honey to this batch), a large rack of smoked lamb cooked rare, some basmati rice, topped with an African style braised beef stew. On the second plate, he filled it with every kind curry he could find, an extra ladle of sago (his favourite), with some spicy yogurt sauce on the side, and a few extra peaces of roghni naan and toasted keema naan for good measure.


    ¡°Do you know which of these breads are spicy?¡± Epona asked bashfully.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know there was spicy naan.¡± Lamb inquired. He ate a lot of Indian food, there was a Punjabi place a few blocks from his house which was his favourite, but his only experience was the Indian food available in Cape Eaton, and most of those places catered to tourists, so he was by no means an expert at real authentic Indian food.


    ¡°My first day here, I got this naan bread that smelled really good, but when I bit into it, it was so spicy I thought I was dyeing.¡± Epona shuddered, recalling the garish memory.


    ¡°If you want to be safe, I recommend getting the butter naan or the garlic, I also recommend the goat and the sago curry.¡± Lamb recommended. He resisted the urge to point out that ¡®naan¡¯ just means bread, so calling it ¡®naan bread¡¯ was just saying ¡®bread bread¡¯.


    ¡°Are you sure these naan bread isn¡¯t spicy?¡± She asked examining the bread cautiously, as if it were made of uranium, ¡°not even a little spicy?¡±


    ¡°I promise you, nothing on your plate has spice.¡± Lamb replied, resisting the urge to trick her into getting the spicy yogurt sauce to watch her die. Lamb had a feeling the yogurt was gonna be hot even by Indian standards, he looked forward to suffering the pain.


    ¡°Ok, because I can¡¯t even handle a little spicy,¡± she informed him has she grabbed some meat skewers and some fruit.


    ¡°Not that one,¡± Lamb incepted as she reached for a skewer at the end, ¡°that one has sliced peppers.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, you saved me,¡± she bowed, ¡°you want it?¡±.


    Like Lamb would ever refuse more meat.


    She delicately balanced the skewer on Lamb¡¯s plate, which was already reaching critical mass. The heat from the curry was seeping into his arm and starting to hurt. Lamb wasn¡¯t aware that the food was magically heated in the kitchen to ensure optimal temperature before being loaded onto the trays, so he wasn¡¯t just being burnt, he was being magically burnt.


    She found a nice place to sit and started dipping her bread, as Lamb very slowly made his way to the bench across from her. Lamb¡¯s legs were still wobbly, and it took all his concentration just to keep his plates balanced, he moved in taiji pace, meticulously controlling every muscle in his body to keep his plates steady as he walked.


    Epona rolled her eyes as she bit into her bread, she got up, bread still in her mouth, and carefully¡ª steadily took a plate from Lamb¡¯s hand, and helped him carry it to his seat.


    She was usually careful each time she bit into a new food, for fear of an accidental spicy food jump-scare, but Lamb assured her it was safe. The goat curry had a rich meaty gamey aroma with just a teeny tiny hint of spice, the kind of spice even she could handle. She was proud of herself, she was eating something spicy and actually enjoying it instead of rolling in pain, praying for death. She was getting stronger.


    Even the skewers she picked had a hint of hot spice, but they too were her level of spice. She realized that literally everything on today¡¯s menu was spicy, except for the naan she got, thank god her friend was here as a guide.


    Lamb was in buffet heaven and didn¡¯t even register the spiciness of most of the foods. He ate a lot of spicy hot foods, and prided himself in constantly improving his spice tolerance. The lamb rack was fatty and fall of the bone, and smoked to perfection with just the right amount of juices. He recommended Epona try a piece, she grabbed one of his and immediately got up to grab more after the first bite.


    ¡°Do you like it?¡± She asked, as Lamb bit into another steamy succulent rack.


    ¡°Love it¡± he replied.


    ¡°Love what? What¡¯s the meat?¡±


    ¡°I love the Lamb¡ª.¡± He replied, ¡°Ohh¡­¡±


    Epona hid her mouth and giggled as Lamb stared at her in contempt.


    ¡°I¡¯m putting peppers in your food.¡± He huffed.


    ¡°Nooo¡­.¡±


    He bit into his keema, and to his surprise the naan was meat filled and spicy has heck, Epona was right! He summoned the courage and dipped it into the yogurt sauce¡ª his suspicions were correct, just as he feared, it wasn¡¯t just hot, it was hot hot. His face burned and all his muscle fatigue and aching joints faded away, as his mouth wallowed in burning hot pain. His face became as red as a Buddhist thunder god, it took a while for his colour to slowly return to normal, by the time it did he felt reborn anew.


    ¡°If I eat that would it kill me?¡± Epona asked, marking the radioactive yogurt sauce.


    ¡°Instantly.¡±


    She grabbed some leftover flatbread, summoning new found confidence, and dipped it in the yogurt. She held the newly imbued flatbread before her, eyeing it like a cobra. Lamb placed his hand on hers, shaking his head, restoring sense to her. She put the bread on Lamb¡¯s plate, wiping sweat off her brow, and started munching on some melon instead.


    ¡®Next time,¡¯ she declared in challenge, locking gazes with the pasteurized the milk.


    ***


    They got separate sleeping quarters and Lamb had a fur tent all to himself. It was surprisingly roomy inside. He missed the comfortable familiarity of his bedroom apartment, but he had a roof over his head, no rain, and a bed was a bed. Sure beats the leaky rundown orphanage he stayed in as a child.


    chapter 6 end

 Chapter 7: Heaven and Earth

    It was back to business the next day.


    Epona rose from her bed and blocked the hot desert sun from her eyes as she stepped out her tent. She went and knocked on Lamb¡¯s tent, he already left.


    Lamb rose early, drank a large bottle of water, skipped breakfast and headed straight to the training grounds. It was hotter today, so he found a nice shaded patch in the training grounds, away from the sun.


    After warming up, he picked up where he left off. He continued practising kicks against a large tree, as that at least had some potential for producing results.


    He decided that until he saw some results, instead of dividing his focus between multiple different techniques, he would only practice one kick, and one kick only.


    ¡°I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.¡± ¡ª Bruce Lee


    If Lamb could kick even 10% as good as Bruce Lee, then he might do pretty good here. He settled into a loose fighting stance, hands open, and started doing front foot left turning kick - kicking with the left in front, it wasn¡¯t as powerful as a kick with the rear leg, but it was Lamb¡¯s fastest and most trusty kick. It was also his favourite kick¡ª nah, who was he kidding, every kick was his favourite.


    He tried focusing his qi into his feet the best he could with each kick, kicking as hard and as fast as he could, with a pitch perfect snap each time.


    He kicked the tree for 5 hours. Finally, he had achieved harmonious kicking convergence. His muscles had the technique locked and loaded in it¡¯s internal memory banks, and he was able to snap the kick perfectly, making maximum impact with the front ball of his foot each time. And finally, after five hours of nonstop kicking, backed by 10 years of continuous daily practice, Lamb was finally able to dent and gash the tree with each and every kick. He didn¡¯t care that it was a only a small dent, what he cared about is consistency, and he finally achieved it.


    ¡®Was this my qi strengthening my body in order to damage the tree?¡¯ He thought. He kept kicking for another 20 minutes, leaving kicking dents in the tree with each strike.


    ¡°Lamb,¡± Epona said from beside him, he looked over, completely unaware of her presence. She infused her blade with red poison magic, and slashed it against Lamb¡¯s tree. It left a gash where it struck. She pointed, comparing the mark she made on the tree to one Lamb made ¡°That¡¯s from my blade, your kicks are hitting like metal weapons.¡±


    Lamb decided to take a short lunch today. He didn¡¯t want to burn out and eating a small lunch should help sustain him to train more. He got several large bags of breads, cured meats, cheeses and fruit. It cost one silver, and he had enough to last 2 days. He shared with Epona has they found a nice shaded bench to sit and eat.


    Epona wished they had some Danish blue cheese. She made Lamb promise to come visit Denmark sometime and try some of their bitter European cheeses. Lamb made her promise to try some Gwong2dung1 style hot pot, she agreed so long as he promised it wouldn¡¯t be spicy.


    They went back after lunch, this time Lamb stood in the open gravel field part of the training grounds. He stood in the gaze of the hot desert sun, he only invested 7 points in environmental resistance, he needed to practice acclimating his body to the harsh desert climate.


    He continued practising left Dollyeo Chagi, this time visualizing an imaginary opponent, and kicking the air as hard as he could. He imagined concentrating the qi to his foot, and launching out his qi as he snapped his leg. He felt something bottling up beneath his foot, as he practiced again and again¡ª he was so close, he just had to get the right feel.


    Suddenly something clicked and a spark lit inside him. He could feel something burning inside his core. It was his qi energy, and he wasn¡¯t imagining it. He took a rooted stance, focusing the energy to his legs, down to his left foot, he snapped his leg as hard as he could, making a pitch-perfect snap, a small burst of blue energy shot out from his foot.


    He repeated the turning kick, focusing his qi, then shooting the energy out of his foot. He had to snap his leg at a slightly different frequency then when hitting the tree, and it worked. It wasn¡¯t exactly a sound frequency, but Lamb always imagined hitting a vocal note when practicing snapping kicks. With his qi, a specific ¡®frequency¡¯ was required in-order to snap kick a tree hard enough to dent it. A different ¡®higher frequency¡¯ was required to shoot energy from his kick.


    He ran over to the nearest unoccupied tree and took a wide rooted stance, he hopped in place psyching himself, he blasted the tree with a kick, a small qi-blast shot out of his foot and hit the tree, it left a small gash where it stuck the tree. It wasn¡¯t a very big blast, but it was a projectile nonetheless, and it left a smoky mark against the tree.


    Lamb continued practicing his two ¡®qi skills¡¯ against the tree. First a snapping a left turning kick empowered with qi, he named it ¡®Earth Qi¡¯.


    Earth Qi: the art of physical qi-enhanced strength attacks.


    Followed by ¡®Heaven¡¯s Qi¡¯.


    Heaven¡¯s Qi: The art of projectile qi attacks, shooting qi blasts, and missiles.


    The sun was setting as Lamb continuously practised heaven and earth against the tree, focusing on perfecting the techniques with his left leg. He had attracted a small crow of curious onlookers. They watched this guy from yesterday, who practiced nothing but physical attacks, and here he was shooting burning light blast from his kicks and sending chunks of wood flying.


    ¡°What kind of magic is that?¡± Naseer, one of the onlookers asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not magic,¡± Epona replied, ¡°He¡¯s just kicking really hard.¡±


    Several people tried slapping the air or swinging their weapons as hard as they could, trying to shoot burning light blasts of their own, to no effect.


    ¡°Only he can do it,¡± Epona gloated to the crowd, ¡°he¡¯s with me, I am the leader of Team Swordless!¡±


    The crowd was not every impressed. The guy only had one move, the range wasn¡¯t very far (the blast was only an arm¡¯s length), and it wasn¡¯t very powerful. The crowd dispersed and went about their business, the sun was setting and the weather was cooling, it was dinner time.


    The streets were busier today, with a lot of new players. Loud music filled the streets as the sun set, several street corners got sectioned off as designated party areas. People laughed, danced and drank as they let off steam and a cool breeze blew in from the west. The streets filled with alcohol and tobacco smoke. Additionally, there were plenty of other stimulants floating around. It¡¯s only been a few days, how did drugs get here so quickly?This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    The two had a small dinner in the cafeteria, not going crazy like they did yesterday. ¡°Can you help me practice sword fighting with my sais sometime?¡± Epona asked after dessert, swashbuckling against imaginary opponents in the air.


    ¡°Of course,¡± Lamb had an idea, ¡°say¡­ our bodies will naturally heal up, after just resting in our tents right?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t you mean¡­ ¡ªsai¡­?¡± Epona asked.


    Lamb made no response.


    ¡°Get it Lamb? ¡ªSai¡­¡± Epona giggled, sticking out her prongs.


    ¡°Hello? Voice lady? Can I join a new team?¡± Lamb asked, looking up, waving around.


    ¡°Nooo¡­¡± Epona wept. ¡°Anyway, go on. What were you going to sai?¡± She asked, emphasizing the word. Lamb groaned in pain.


    ¡°So our bodies will naturally heal and restore energy after resting right?¡±


    ¡°Yup, that¡¯s what our guide told me.¡± Answered Epona.


    ¡°Let¡¯s test it. How about tonight, before going to bed, let¡¯s practise fighting all out. We¡¯ll use our powers and everything, we¡¯ll fight until our health reaches 50%, and then we¡¯ll go to bed.¡± Lamb suggested.


    Epona thought on it.


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea actually. I¡¯ve been to scared to go out and actually fight real monsters, so I haven¡¯t really used my powers in combat yet, this could be good training.¡± Epona finished her dessert, ¡°But I must warn you, my blades are very sharp, and very hungry.¡±


    ¡°Your blades may be sharp, but you have to cut me first.¡± Lamb replied.


    They decided to walk around town for a bit before duelling. They quickly veered towards a large gathering of people dancing and drinking in the streets. They joined in, sharing some drinks with their fellow players. The new players they met were really friendly. Epona asked them what their powers were, they lit up, each showing off their armour and weapons. One of the players just got back from killing a large rodent creature in the ¡®marsh lands¡¯, and showed off it¡¯s looted cadaver. They all spoke different languages and yellow subtitles appeared translating each other¡¯s speech. They played around with Epona¡¯s sais, and let her try out their wind sword. They laughed when Lamb told them he didn¡¯t have any weapons, thinking it was a joke. Another one of their friends had a giant spiked railgun, they tossed it over to Lamb to try out.


    Later, they met a couple of really intoxicated dancers, who insisted on buying them drinks. Epona and Lamb could never say no to free drinks, they drank a few cups, which wasn¡¯t the smartest idea since they were planning to fight later.


    Lamb even joined in on the dancing, Epona shook her head, she was not a dancer.


    Lamb downed one more drink, and stepped into the training grounds, Epona followed, twirling 2 large sharp sais. A small crowd followed them and cheered as they leaned against the outer border of the training ground and watched.


    ¡°Woooh!¡± Naseer shouted, eager to see some action. He wanted to see what the shorty foreigner who only knows how to kick could do. ¡®Surely he must have some super secret spells up his sleeves, surely he must have something more than just kicking and punching.¡¯ Naseer thought.


    Naomi and Jezebel, the two dancers who bought them drinks, also watched along with several of their friends. Jezebel had one regular left arm, and the other one was a giant mechanical scorpion arm, yet it did not affect her dancing in the least. It¡¯s a shame she didn¡¯t choose the ¡®Steamworld¡¯ server, that place was abundant with ¡®machine metal prosthetics¡¯, and she would¡¯ve had an easy time finding gear shops and mechanics.


    Lamb squared off 20 yards from Epona. ¡°We¡¯re just practice fighting,¡± Epona shouted at the beefy robed guards, who gave no response in return. Naomi and Jezebel started dancing next to one of the mean looking guards, sandwiching him, the guard kept his eyes on Epona and Lamb.


    ¡°You ready?¡± Epona called.


    Lamb closed his left fist, covering it with an open right hand, and bowed in a martial salute of ¡®challenge¡¯.


    Epona summoned a pair of sais and threw them at Lamb, infusing them with poison at the same time, the blades propelled towards Lamb in a straight line.


    Lamb sided stepped and dodged, turning this body sideways becoming a smaller target. He did some infusing of his own, infusing his left forearm and hand with qi. Epona threw some more blades at him, as she ran around him in a circle. Lamb deflected them, the blades falling harmlessly around him. He bent over and picked one up as Epona reloaded, summoning more sais.


    Lamb sprinted forward towards her, clutching his sai in an icepick grip. She ran backwards throwing more blades at him as she retreated. Lamb batted them away easily with her own blade. They were both had a wicked smile on their face.


    Lamb got to within his optimal range, Epona lashed out slashing and stabbing with twin sais, she was laughing in pure joy¡ª and a little healthy amount of terror. Lamb swung back using his single blade, first defending using a tight icepick grip, then switching to orthodox grip: bladed prongs facing his opponent.


    Despite the lack of any formal training, Epona was a natural knife fighter and had natural fighting reflexes. This sparring match was awakening something inside her. She loved roleplaying games; she loved cathartically fighting through the characters she controlled. But here she was, trying to stab her friend in real life, in real combat. Wait¡­ was Lamb her real friend? Whenever she opened up and relied on others in the past, they always abandoned her, making her feel worthless and betrayed, was Lamb just waiting to do the same? They¡¯d only known each other for 2 years, and only ever talked online before. Was this really his true colours, or was he waiting to take advantage of her trust like everyone else? Epona shook her worries aside and focused back to the present, they were in a face-off and she was losing.


    She feinted low and attacked right, but he could tell she was bluffing, parrying her strike and riposting with a counter strike to her shoulder. She fought back unfazed, it was frustrating, she kept swinging but none of her hits went through, Lamb dodged and parried all of them, her hits barely missing him by an inch. She realized this was the difference between someone who¡¯s never fought before and someone who practices every day.


    Lamb slashed at her face, it was a distraction. He stepped forward and kicked low, sending his leg forward in a stomp kick to her shin. The kick made her back off, momentarily stunned, Lamb decided to try something:


    Using his free hand, Lamb punched downwards with his right fist¡ª in a straight punch. He used heaven¡¯s qi as he snapped his fist, shooting a blast hitting Epona in the leg. She collapsed on one knee, as she rose, Lamb snapped a crescent kick over her head, she felt the force of the kick like a big gust of wind, snapping her face to the side, parting her hair.


    ¡°Crap,¡± Epona grumbled, ¡°I¡¯m dead.¡±


    The crowd roared in cheers and applause. Naseer whistled and screamed. He flipped a small coin purse at Jezebel, her mechanical scorpion arm snatched it in the air, trailing acid. Naseer bet 5 silver on Epona, he lost money, but that was one hell of a fight, ¡°Mr. Chunky can move!¡± He remarked to Jezebel in Farsi.


    Lamb closed his right fist, covering it with an open left hand, and bowed in a martial salute of ¡®respect¡¯. To quote a very wise philosopher¡­


    ¡°R-E-S-P-E-C-T


    Find out what it means to me¡­¡±


    Meeting up in voice chat, and playing co-op with Epona, was a highlight of his week Lamb often looked forward to back on Earth. But those gaming sessions couldn¡¯t compare to this, they weren¡¯t piloting digital characters on a board anymore, they were the characters. They were fighting with real weapons and he was shooting real energy blasts, and this wasn¡¯t a game, this was real life. He could not contain the smile on his face, ¡°Good fight,¡± he replied tearing up.


    Epona got up, face flush with emotion. She turned her back towards Lamb, brushing ¡®sand¡¯ from her eyes.


    ¡°Can you keep going?¡± She asked, composing herself, hopping in place in a loose fighting stance, ¡°round 2?¡±


    Jezebel tabbed Naseer on the shoulder, dripping acid on him. ¡°Ough¡­¡± he moaned.


    ¡°Double or nothing?¡± She asked in accented Farsi, raising an eyebrow.


    They did a lot of experimenting, they fought 3 more rounds, until they both felt well under half health. They couldn¡¯t see how much healing health they had left, but felt their healing reserves deplete with each major hit they took. Epona finally managed to hit Lamb with her poison debuff, her first time ever using it on an actual living being. The poison left Lamb sluggish and weak for 50 seconds, which was a long time in a fight. He tried kicking Epona as hard as he could, but instead of breaking bones, it only left a small bruise. That debuff was scary stuff.


    The two of them could barely stand after, they needed help from Naseer and Jezebel to make it back to their tents before collapsing. Naseer and Jezebel complimented them on their fighting and suggested they go out to the ¡®marsh lands¡¯ some time. Lamb was too gassed to reply, he just raised his hand in thanks.


    He felt born again. They were going all out, the thrill of martial combat, this was what Lamb was here for.


    Epona clutched her sai as she lay in bed, infusing it with poison. She remembered the cathartic joy of combat. She didn¡¯t know she had this savage side to her, it reminded her of being a kid and the first time she got on a horse. She thought horse back riding and gaming would be her only hobbies in life, she may have awakened a third.


    chapter end

 Chapter 8: Bathhouse

    Lamb spent the next day practising and experimenting with his new qi abilities, and walking Epona through the basics of how to shoot qi blasts from her fists. Epona spent the day training her magic and practicing to use heaven and earth.


    Lamb focused on practising his heaven abilities, practising to shoot qi blasts from his fists and practising different types of qi blasts using different kicks.


    They pushed themselves to train for 7 hours before retiring to dinner and taking a break. Lamb smelled himself whilst they walked about town. The sun was setting, and they were walking off a nice hot meal.


    ¡°Do I smell?¡± He asked. Epona sniffed him, getting really close.


    ¡°Nope, you smell..¡± She sniffed him some more. ¡°You just smell neutral. How about me?¡± She asked, lifting her arm.


    ¡°You¡¯re good, you smell a bit like lavender.¡± He concluded after an examination. He smelled himself some more warily, ¡°Are you sure I don¡¯t smell sweaty?¡± He asked again, he¡¯d been training and sweating through his clothes everyday since he got here.


    ¡°No, honestly you don¡¯t. If you reeked, I¡¯d be the first to tell you to take a bath!¡± Epona promised. She grabbed a random middle-aged passerby, ¡°Can you smell my friend?¡± She propositioned the stranger. He gave her a startled look and quickly jotted away, clutching his purse.


    Lamb wasn¡¯t sure, but perhaps it was something to do with the ever-present magic and qi everywhere. Maybe that was fine he still smelled fine after 7 hours training.


    Everyone in Alyzia possessed healing qi, when they got hurt or received fatal wounds, their healing qi would activate, and the qi would heal their wounds within a few seconds. However, once you run out of healing qi, you won¡¯t be able to heal anymore until you rested. Resting gradually and slowly replenishes your qi. If you received a fatal blow when you¡¯re low on healing qi, you¡¯re dead


    ¡°Is there a place to take a shower?¡± Lamb asked. Their tents were essentially just a small bedroom. There were washrooms with flush-toilets and sinks everywhere, but no showers Lamb could find.


    ¡°Yeah, I found a bathhouse on my first day here, they¡¯re all over the place.¡± Epona replied.


    She led him to a large nearby building with bright Arabic writing. They walked in to look around and were immediately greeted by several very heavy-set, very hairy, very oily, and very, very naked middle-aged-men. The naked oiled men waved to the youngsters as they slapped each other¡¯s nakedness. They then proceeded to put on a puppet show.


    The two immediately turned around and headed for the exit.


    ¡°There goes my innocence.¡± Epona lamented.


    ¡°I¡¯m blind.¡±


    ¡°I think I just discovered what my weakness is.¡±


    ¡°I think I need therapy.¡± Lamb replied.


    Behind them, the jolly grandpas began jousting.


    ¡°There only seems to be public bathhouses here, and I¡¯m not really a fan of being naked in a room full of strangers.¡± Epona replied, looking down. ¡°I haven¡¯t really bathed since I got here.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like public showers either, no thanks!¡± Lamb agreed, they quickly made their way to leave the building.


    ¡°Yooohooo!¡± Naomi and Jezebel, the drunk party girls from yesterday, greeted them.


    ¡°Are you two here for a couple¡¯s massage?¡± Naomi inquired in Farsi, subtitles appearing beneath. Jezebel giggling.


    ¡°No we were just leaving.¡± Lamb blushed, him and Epona both looking down. It took a quarter second after Lamb¡¯s reply for his English to be translated into Farsi subtitles for Naomi and her friend.


    Jezebel grabbed Epona by the arm, pulling her towards them. ¡°You must join us for a mud bath, the mineral rich clay will detoxify your body.¡±


    ¡°No boys allowed,¡± Naomi added, waving a finger at Lamb, making a frowney face.


    ¡°We have to get going.¡± Epona said, struggling to pull herself free.


    The two of them laughed as they waved Epona goodbye, making her promise to go out for lunch with them tomorrow. They found a ¡®cute guy¡¯ they want her meet.


    They finally made it out of the bath house. The salty perfume smell of the bathhouse was replaced once again with the sandy smokey aroma of the streets.


    ¡°Never going in there again.¡± Epona said. Lamb nodded. ¡°Once I realized all the showers were public, it was either do that in front of strangers, or not wash. I figured since we¡¯ll only be here for five days at a time, so long as I don¡¯t smell too bad, I¡¯ll just not wash and shower when I log out.¡± Epona explained.


    ¡°Yeah, seems to be working, you smell just fine.¡± Lamb nodded along.


    For health and player¡¯s safety, each player can only stay in Alyzia for 5 days maximum at a time. Afterwards, they must log out. After you¡¯re logged out and back on Earth, you must wait at least 2 days before returning to Alyzia. Additionally, if you get killed in Alyzia, you¡¯ll automatically get transported back to Earth, and as a penalty for dying: you¡¯ll lose any gold you had on you, and you¡¯ll have to spend a week on Earth before you can log back on.


    There were several game guides spread out throughout the town. Epona and Lamb spent a good chunk of time talking to them, asking questions and learning as much as they could about the rules and mechanics of their new home.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Today¡¯s my fifth day here,¡± Epona told Lamb, ¡°I¡¯ll have to go back to ?lborg tonight.¡±


    ¡°Today¡¯s my..¡± Lamb counted looking down on his fingers.


    ¡°Today¡¯s your third day dummy, you still have two day¡¯s left.¡±


    ¡°Wohoo!¡± Lamb cheered. ¡°We should sync our times,¡± Lamb said as he began calculating. ¡°¡ªhhmm¡­ if I log out tonight too, we can both meet back here in two days.¡± Lamb suggested, double checking his math using an imaginary abacus.


    ¡°I was gonna suggest that too. But you still have three more days here, would you really want to leave early for me?¡± Epona replied.


    ¡°It¡¯d be no fun here without you.¡±


    Epona looked down blushing, ¡°What about Jezebel, you can go on a double date with her and Nadia.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m doing that the moment you leave, imagine the things she can do with that scorpion arm.¡±


    ¡°Gross!¡± Epona exclaimed, kicking Lamb in the shins. ¡°How about this, you should still get one more good day of training. You spend one more day here tomorrow and then log out that night. I¡¯ll spend 3 days resting at home, and we¡¯ll meet back here in 3 days for me, 2 days for you.¡± Epona pitched.


    Lamb tried to do the math on his fingers, he was gonna be a while.


    ¡°My math is correct Lamp!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re ok with spending an extra day back home?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be dyeing to come back here and go for lunch and bath with Jeze and Nadia, obviously, but I¡¯ll use the extra day to stuff up on my favourite foods,¡± Epona reasoned.


    ¡°You¡¯re gonna spend an entire day eating cheese aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t judge me.¡±


    They spotted a purple monkey in the corner whom was a familiar game guide.


    ¡°Are there any showers here?¡± He asked the monkey guide.


    ¡°There¡¯s plenty of bathhouses, I recommend the Arabica Delight on the east corner.¡±


    ¡°Are there any places with private showers?¡± Epona asked.


    ¡°Ohh those, yeah there¡¯s one in the big rest station by the entrance to the marshlands.¡± The guide explained. The towns and villages had guards to keep the peace and prevent violence between players. The ¡®marshlands¡¯ had no such safety precautions. The marshlands was a lawless expanse of empty desert, filled with monsters, and no guards. It was where players went to fight dangerous monsters and get stronger. It was also rumoured to be filled with ancient temples, legendary weapons, and bountiful treasure. Several players set out to the marshlands on the first day Lamb arrived and still haven¡¯t returned.


    ¡°Let¡¯s check it out,¡± Lamb suggested.


    The two made their way to the marshlands entrance. They¡¯ve heard about several players going missing, and decided to train for a few more days first, before venturing out to explore the marshlands next week. They should take some time to get as strong as possible before venturing out into danger.


    The marshlands rest station was definitely the biggest one they¡¯ve seen. It had a large bulletin board, and a separate quest board lined with posters of available missions. They skimmed through the quests, noting most of them required going out and hunting large monsters¡ª- boring. Lamb wasn¡¯t interested in fighting monsters, he wanted to fight other people. He wondered if there were any bounties available¡ª hunting bandit camps and criminals. That, he could he himself enjoying.


    Epona pulled Lamb away from the quest boards as she found the showers. There were several large private washrooms with built-in showers inside, sweet! Lamb smelled himself again, Epona had already reassured him he smelled fine, but he hadn¡¯t bathed in 3 days, and felt like he needed a hot shower. ¡°Ok if I take a quick shower?¡± Lamb asked.


    ¡°Go ahead,¡± Epona was happy her friend finally found a place to shower. She really needed a shower too, but she was leaving tonight, so she could wait until she got back to Earth. Then, she could finally take a nice long shower in her own home¡­ in her own bathroom. She couldn¡¯t wait.


    Lamb came out twenty minutes later in a steamy mist, his blonde hair wet and spiky. He looked refreshed.


    ¡°Well then, since it¡¯s my last day here, want to send me off with a final bout in the training grounds?¡± Epona asked, twirling her blades between her fingers. ¡°Round two?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll send you home¡­ in a coffin..¡± Answered Lamb in a deep Russian accent.


    ¡°I¡¯ll just go home then.¡± Epona replied.


    They stopped by a weapon stand on their way back, Epona mused about wanting to practice against opponents with weapons, so they found a nice sturdy wooden short sword that wasn¡¯t too expensive. Lamb bought it for a half-gold. The training sword was slightly longer than a gladius, with a dull straight blade, and a good weight. Lamb excitedly twirled around his new toy.


    There was a small crowd of six people gathered around the training grounds, chatting and sharing snacks. They hushed up when the two of them arrived and peered over at them.


    ¡°You guys gonna dance again?¡± Naseer said from the crowd.


    ¡®You bet we are¡¯. Lamb thought.


    The two of them circled each other inside the ring. ¡°We¡¯ll use just the weapons, no powers alright?¡± Lamb proposed. Epona agreed, this first match would be just blade-on-blade combat.


    Lamb stabbed and slashed at her non-committedly with his wooden practice sword. He was feeling out his new toy, as well as Epona¡¯s blade fighting reflexes. Despite never practicing any form of martial arts whatsoever, Epona was a natural, and skillfully parried and deflect all of Lambs strikes; only letting a few stabs go through her guard. The stabs struck deep and left her wounded from the shoulder, stomach and legs. But she had lots of health left, and the flesh wounds healed quickly. After a minute, she was already covered in bruises. The bugger loved to go for her hands and slashed her fingers several times. He also poked at her legs repeatedly. Though Lamb¡¯s sword was dull, he still managed to do heavy blunt force damage. If she didn¡¯t have her healing factor, she¡¯d be crawling on her knees right now from all the leg shots she took.


    Lamb had to admit, he did love fighting with weapons. There was a sense of joy in using a blade as an extension of your body. He liked using the sword, but his favourite was knives. Swords just couldn¡¯t compare to knives. There was just something primal and dangerous about using a knife and having to get up close and personal.


    He kept poking at Epona, helping her let a hang of blade fighting. Epona¡¯s defence was improving and she was getting impressive, but she still hadn¡¯t landed a single hit on him.


    She still hadn¡¯t realized the special trick to using sais yet. Lamb decided not to tell her, he decided she needed to figure it out for herself in the heat of battle, and this would be a great opportunity to pressure test her.


    She came in with a right lunge, he reposted with a wrist flick, ducked and stabbed her in the knee, making her trip. She got up again, ignoring the pain and pressed the attack. Lamb side-stepped her next swipe and brought her on the defensive, he pressed the attack, purposely telegraphing his attacks, until finally it happened¡­


    Lamb slashed down at a diagonal with his sword, Epona raised her sai to intercept, and whether it was a fluke or done intentionally, she trapped his blade between the trident prongs of her sai. Then everything clicked, it was like a match was lit¡ª she immediately stabbed Lamb in the gut with her other sai, there was nothing Lamb could do¡ª his sword was trapped between her prongs, all he could do was helplessly get stabbed in the belly.


    Cheers of celebration, claps and shouts of encouragement came from the crowd. They were spectating, and from their perspective: they saw Lamb lunge in for a finishing blow, then suddenly, Epona did a thousand IQ move and trapped his sword between her prongs, and then stabbed him through the belly; it was the most ninja thing they¡¯d ever seen.


    Epona bashfully thanked them for clapping. She wiped some blood away and bowed. Lamb bowled likewise, hiding an embarrassed smile on his face.


    Naseer and a large long-haired man they¡¯d never met before stepped into the training grounds.


    ¡°Could we have a match?¡± The bearded, long-haired gentlemen asked in Arabic, yellow subtitles translating his request.


    chapter end

 Chapter 9: Machine Metal Scorpion

    practice match?¡±


    real combat simulation training, we fight all out, till one of us reaches half health.¡± She explained. Naseer nodded.


    ¡®crap!¡¯. He shot another wind blade at her, she defended with her blades, but her guard couldn¡¯t stop the blade completely, leaving her slashed in several places. He retreated as he shot another one, Epona decided to change tactics and punched a qi blast at it instead, the two cancelled each other out.


    she needed to work on that. Naseer slashed her in the side then came down slashing at her chest. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    snap! Naseer¡¯s blade was trapped between her trident forks! Woohoo!


    tinnggg.


    ladies get a match in first?¡±


    ¡°You and Nadia going to fight?¡± Epona asked gesturing to the two of them.


    little man¡¯? Sure he was a shorty pants, but he wasn¡¯t that short. Everyone was a little man next to Naseer¡¯s hulking friend.

 Chapter 10: Dragon’s Neck and Leopard’s Paw

    The spectators roared in applause. The crowd had doubled in size. Alcohol splashed everywhere as they cheered on the fighters.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    bandae dollyeo chagi. The Earth ki enhanced kick tore off the lower side of Frahat¡¯s face, blood drenched his lightly armoured chest, mixing in with the scented oil. Lamb allowed him a courtesy, and gave him a second for his jaw to reform through healing qi. Loosing a body part took more healing qi to regrow, thus it would use up more healing health. Lamb calculated Frahat must be running low.