Joe’s smile grew, “I may have freedom to do so, but I am no fool. There are clans on my plane who do not allow such speech, or the speakers find themselves very lost in very uncomfortable places.”
The Matriarch laughed at that, “I am glad you are wise.”
He nodded and the two fell silent for a bit more but the Matriarch didn’t let the conversation end, “Your apprentice’s fight was quite… impressive.”
Joe grinned in pride, “He really did quite well.”
“If I may, what is Garnedell’s class? I had heard he is an adventurer, but he could not be such a class. His combat skills are quite superior to any skills given to the adventurer. I know of no combat skills for an adventurer, honestly.”
“Ah… uh… well, let me check… Hey Garnedell! What’s your job again? The Matriarch wants to know. Adventurer, right?”
Garnedell looked over when his name was called and eagerly replied, “Yeah… adventurer!”
The Matriarch shook her head, “That is impossible. No adventurer I know is capable of combat skills.”
Joe smiled, “Well, yeah… you have the wrong idea of Garnedell’s duel today. He didn’t use any skills… well… system skills. He used his skill and practice with the staff to fight and defend quite well, but it wasn’t a … well… skill with the class as you know it. It’s a skill that comes from meaningful practice.”
“Then… it was not from his adventurer class?”
“No. That was from Garnedell’s effort and practice. Garnedell, want to explain?”
Garnedell glanced up at Joe, a huge smile on his face, “I wanted to ask… but these seem like skills.”
Joe grinned, “They are. Just not the way you are used to them. They are not a system enforced skill but still a skill.”
The Matriarch nodded at that, thoughtful, “Skills that are not skills?”
Joe frowned, “I am uncertain how the system considers skills, to be honest. But I am able to do skills not necessarily with the system, as it were.”
Garnedell nodded excitedly at that, “My movements were my own, without system help.”
The Matriarch raised an eyebrow at that, “Truly? That’s… very interesting.”
Joe paused at that, then grew curious as well, “Yeah. Most of these skills I am teaching is from my own people, but what about…” Huh… wonder if I could do the spearman’s forward spin defense even without the job equipped. I can do my katas no problem…
Joe stopped at that, and those around politely allowed him his privacy and he quickly came back too and stared around him, “Ahh… sorry. Just a moment, if you don’t mind?”
The Matriarch regally nodded her head in a bow and Joe grinned to see it, nodding back. He grabbed his spear and took a step back before taking a look at his status for a quick check. Yup… no spearman job, and skills… nope… no forward defense… So then… Well… test first. Forward spin defense.
There was a hitch as Joe settled himself into the initial stance, a small one that Joe seemed to be able to sort of catch, but then nothing happened. Joe frowned at that. Huh… then… He stood up into a loose at ease stance with the spear at his side making sure to not be in any stance that might be considered preparation for a fight. Forward spin defense. This time, nothing happened, and Joe chewed on his lip a bit, before moving to position, placing himself in the stance and even sweeping his arms out, hands close together with inner wrists almost touching and began his sweeping spin with his own natural skill. Then, he tried initiating the skill again. Forward spin defense. This time, the hitch was much more noticeable and Joe grinned softly, chewing his lip with curiosity but also grinning because he figured something out, however little it was. Right… so… that makes sense… it’s a spearman skill and I don’t have it equipped, but why is it almost trying? That seems like it should, right? Oh! Joe turned to look at his skills again, this time looking at what he’d gained with tai chi. He knew tai chi and it’s myriad forms and katas. Glancing at what he had, he found three current styles: Chen, Yang, and Wu.
Right… easy enough to figure this out now… Wu style, hundred eight standard forms, first form. Joe grimaced, feeling dumb having to recite the entire thing, but even as he settled into the form, moving with slow ease perfecting the form and it’s movement, not its power, his body remembered the movement almost instinctually and he flowed into it easily enough. Second form. Again, his body moved without thought. Nothing stopping him from accomplishing the form. For the third form, he instantiated it using the system, as he’d done with the spearman’s forward spin defense. And this time, the hitch was significantly more powerful, his body almost moving into the expected form, but then nothing happened.
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Joe grinned, then frowned, then rolled his eyes at his own frustration. Right… first form. He instantiated it, a demand to the system, and the hitch came again, as powerful and demanding as the third form but did not complete. OK. I can do it, and the system knows it, and… wait… He quickly swapped his job to the Tai Chi white belt, then paused, realizing that the white belt did not have the Wu style. Then… maybe… just to be doubly sure. He swapped back to the main tai chi line that opened up all the belts which had the three initial styles and this time, instantiated the skill again, demanding that the system enact it. Almost without thought and with foreign control, his body formed the first form, then ended. Joe breathed. He did the skill again, without system aid, and he was able to complete the style with ease. OK… so then… definitely can’t use the system to do the skill if I don’t have the job… but…
He swapped back to another job, not even really caring what he was choosing, and then attempted to do the skill again. Again, the hiccup attempt from the system let him know it tried, but nothing occurred Joe grinned. He did the skill on his own, and it worked perfectly, without any issues. Joe’s grin grew. OK… then… Sun style, seventy three forms, first form. Nothing happened, not even a hiccup. Joe frowned. He tried again. Sun style, first form… do it. Nothing occurred, not even a hiccup. Joe blinked, then frowned with some worry. Can I … still just do it? Joe grew a bit worried, but settled into the initial stance for the Sun style forms and began going into the first form with ease. Without any thought or worry, he flowed to the second and third, moving through each form without any problem, and Joe’s worry eased significantly, but now his frown returned as he struggled to figure out what it all meant. But… at the very least, I can do them myself if I have the capability… then… Joe blinked, then grinned. So… Forward spin defense? That…
Joe quickly got his spear again, having put it down to go through several of the tai chi forms and then settled himself into the forward spin defense form. A couple more attempts at having the system take over proved the same results, with a barely noticeable hiccup effort from the system; a hiccup that was significantly less than what he’d gained from the Wu forms when he’d tried. Probably get a similar hiccup from the Sun style when I unlock it… so… something going on there… but… try it on my own.
He turned away from the crowd, not wanting to have an issue simply because system shenanigans made him a bit worried, then began. Nothing had happened so far, but since even the tonfa had flown from Garnedell’s hands, Joe wasn’t sure how the system would take him attempting to do a skill without the job or skill equipped.
He settled himself, closing his eyes and focusing closely on his mana core, allowing mana to slip out and up into his arms a few times before pulling it back and trying again. Sound faded from thought, then his worries and fears, and finally his busy thoughts evaporated. There was nothing, only the now.
His dominant right leg slipped forward as his left slipped outward to the left, opening up his pelvis and stance while also lowering his center of balance. His knees bent slightly, but not equally, so as to keep his body correctly balanced and upright. His arms swept forward and met in the middle, far enough out so the spear shaft was past his knee and wouldn’t clip it. Even as his arms swept up and came to the center, inner wrist to inner wrist, his mana swept up and directly towards his throat. He immediately began twisting it as tightly and hard as he could. The mana came up and met just below his throat, in line with his arms and split, the twisting continued, maintained, but now divided between the two. His mana began twisting harder and faster, erupting down his upper arm straight down the humerus on both sides, twisting ever faster and faster before hitting his elbow and continuing down between his radius and ulna, straight down the center of his forearm, still twisted even further and faster.
By then, his mana began to shift from a straight line path. It began twisting up on itself, much like a string, rope, or chain did when it was twisted, the twisting now pulling it out of line and twisting it in on itself. Joe’s tranquil face flinched, a small twitch on his left corner of his eye but he pulled back on the twisting slightly, unsure if the kinking up of his trail of mana was due to the nature of spinning mana or simply his lack of control. He immediately dismissed it, but made sure to consider it later.
His mana made it to his wrists and he began spinning his spear, using his natural skill he already had. The spear spun easily, rotating up to speed almost instantly and he firmed his stance in readiness of the mana coming in. His spear spun with ease and perfection, and Joe felt a certain comfort coming to him, even as the mana swept up through his palms and into the spear. A certain portion of it split off into his digits, four going into each finger and one into each thumb. Did that… No! Joe erased the thought, focused only on the work.
His spear was spinning more smoothly than he’d remembered it ever had, and a small grin came to his face at how smoothly he was performing. He grinned, then the mana hit the spear.
The mana swept in and around the spear exactly as he remembered it, twisting up and around it as it entwined it completely, then fluttered off down the spear before it twisted out into the wind. Almost immediately, wind picked up, the spear rapidly erupted into incredible speed, and a hurricane of wind swept out past him, blasting into the empty fields in front of him. His grin grew. He kept up with the movement easily enough, and the spear spun in his hand once, twice, then suddenly vibrated wildly, madly. His hands moved perfectly, gripping it exactly as it should but the spear took on a life of its own and reacted like a lawn mower hitting a boulder at full speed. Everything fell apart.