Kyle sat on the low stone wall, watching Mason leading a group of about eight people through a set of warm-up exercises in the center of the newly built arena. Kyle, still in a cynical mood, wasn’t sure he wanted to participate. He was a mage, right? Shouldn’t that absolve him from having to take part in a martial arts lesson? Maybe he should just go back to the library with Braden and keep ripping up books.

“Hey,“ asked one human woman. “Why are we even warming up? This isn’t real. It’s not like we’ll pull a muscle or anything, right?” Kyle didn’t know the woman very well. She must be from one of the last couple of starting pods Aubrey had checked out.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” said Mason. “We don’t know what the designers have programmed into this game. Maybe we can pull muscles. Can’t be too safe.” He sat down on the ground, spread his legs, and leaned forward, pulling on his toes. The rest of the group followed. “Besides, this is a way of clearing your mind. Signalling to yourself that you’re about to start exerting yourself and learning. Aubrey, help me out here. What’s that called? Conditioning? Priming?”

“I don’t know,” Aubrey said, pulling on her toes too. “I’m not a psychologist. I work in AI.”

“Hey, um…” stammered another student. That Jakarna that was near Aubrey so often. Tobungus? Some weird screen name. “How am I… how am I supposed to…?” The Jakarna motioned to his reverse joint legs, which didn’t sit flat on the ground right. They were long enough he couldn’t reach his toes, even with his legs facing completely forward. Kyle heard snickering to his left, and looked over to see that Mia had come to watch as well. Kyle hadn’t heard her approach.

“I’m not sure how that works,” Mason said to the Jakarna, shrugging and getting to his feet. “It’s not like there were any Jakarna in my Dojo. I’m not sure martial arts for tigers even exist. Just… do the best you can.” The poor Jakarna shook his head and started reaching awkwardly at his heels.

Seemingly satisfied with stretches, Mason started explaining the basics of Karate. He told them all that the stance was one of the most important fundamentals in combat. He pulled a member of the class forward, helped set him into a deep, low stance, and demonstrated how hard it was to push over somebody who was standing correctly. He had everybody in the class fall into stances as well, and he went down the lines, repositioning feet and helping them set their balance.

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Mia rolled her eyes and chuckled. “This is garbage,” she said to Kyle. “You can’t fight like that.”

Mason looked at Mia. Kyle was surprised he had heard from that distance. “Oh?” said Mason, arms crossed. “What does your stance look like, Mia? Come on. Let’s see it.”

Mia sighed, and hopped down. She walked up to Mason and dropped into her own fighting stance. In contrast to the deep, wide stance Mason was teaching his students, Mia had a shorter stance, with most of her weight on her back foot, legs bent. “Y’see, this is how you stand. A wide stance like that is totally unrealistic. Sure, if somebody rushes you, and you stand there like an idiot and take it, you’ll stay up. But with this stance-”

Mia was cut off as Mason swung his hand to the side to push her over. Mia hopped deftly out of the way. “Rude! I was saying something.” Mason swung again, a fast, open handed swing, arm crooked to pull her over. Mia took a quick step back, and Mason missed again. “See, this is what you lack, Mason. With weight equally distributed between your feet, you don’t have any mobility. Like this, y’see, I can push off with this foot, or shift my weight to this foot, and quickly change my center of balance.”

Mason scowled. “That doesn’t give you any stability. I could knock you right over, if you’d hold still and let me demonstrate.”

Mia chortled derisively. “As is that’d work in a real fight. ‘Hold on, good sir goblin. I would like to pull you over.’”

Mason lunged and reached for her again, and Mia ducked to the side and came up behind him. “Mobility is more important than stability. Why are you counting on being hit? That’s dumb. Stay light. Dodge.”

“This coming from a girl who lost her first PvP fight in the starting pod. Remember Mia? I had you by the throat. Pinned to a wall.” Kyle saw blinks of surprise from some of the students, who probably thought Crystopia had a long history of pacifism and love. The students abandoned their stances and approached to watch the exchange.

“Yeah. You got me because I didn’t expect to be attacked by a party member. Great object lesson. Surprise can make up for a skill disparity. Remember that, kids.” A middle-aged dwarven man in the crowd narrowed his eyes.

Mason grit his teeth. “So is that how it’s going to be? Are you gonna keep this up until I beat you in a real fight?”

Mia sighed demonstratively, but she was still smiling. “Yeah. Sure let’s do this.” She raised her hands into a loose guard. Kyle leaned forward. Things were about to get interesting.

“No weapons?” Mason said, dropping into a stance. “Hand to hand. ‘Till you’re at half HP.”

“Sure,” Mia said. “Handicap is all yours. I mean, you’ve had more training in fighting without a weapon. ‘Cause you know. That’s how most combats go.”

“Ready?” Mason said. Mia nodded, and Mason shot forward, hands in front of his face.