That’s more or less how I ended up in this situation. Getting fighting lessons from Aubrey and Vane definitely isn’t my definition of a fun time. Well, fighting, in general, isn’t really my thing. Sure my ultimate dream used to be being a Sword Saint and I did claim the title of Strongest Sage in my last life. Besides that, I’m much more of a pacifist at heart. It is also closer to the true meaning of martial arts in my own opinion.
Wushu, or in the modern tongue martial arts, contains the words military and art. Pretty simple in its design but, you can also interpret the wu in wushu as not fighting. Netting you the art of not fighting. So here's the question, is martial arts the art of war or is it the art of peace? Do you learn it to exact revenge and kill your opponent. Or is it learned for the sake of not using it at all?
Personally, I’m in the latter rather than the former. I only even learned enough to stop my opposition not to actually hurt them. I focused more on qi-gong and mana theory to further my practice than I do on trying to punch someone. Aubrey, and to a lesser extent Vane, on the other hand, could be said to be part of the former faction.
I guess here’s where I do that mental cutaway where I provide a bit more details about Aubery like those character introduction scenes in video games that overload your brain with character background. I’ve been doing that quite a lot lately haven’t I? Well, I guess I can do it for one last time. After all, Aubrey is a special case inside of a special case.
Starting from the top, sometimes extraordinary people will pop up in the realm and establish a bloodline. Descendants can then inherit the extraordinary ancestor's powers and abilities. These people are known as Nobles or more informally as bloodworkers. Bloodlines that have established dynasties and kingdoms are known as royal bloodlines. This is all-important because Aubrey is a direct descendant of a royal family.
This might be something most find envious but, as I said before all of us were either abandoned or ran away. Aubrey was kicked out of her family due to her lack of talent in bloodwork. It's really not hard to put together the rest.
It's not all doom and gloom though. Aubrey is wickedly talented in alchemical chemistry. She was so talented in fact that she invented a parasitic plant-based petrol. It would infect other plants until its influence covered an entire planet to then self-ignite. Converting any world into a firework star. A prankster is gonna prank but, this revolutionized low-class civilizations as they could use this to power their machines instead of using fossil fuel. It just couldn’t come in contact with any plants for obvious reasons.
“Alright, we are all set up here. I want you to spar with this shady lad to see where you are in your training,” said Aubrey, cutting through my tangent bringing me back to the real world.
Well better late than never. I’ve never actually sparred with Vane, but I’m confident I won’t lose to any normal person below the third level. That being said, Vane isn’t normal and he’s a second-level Curse Master. Still, if I want to overcome my fate I’ll need to gain more experience and there really isn’t any better experience as a sparring partner than the Shrodinger.
Taking a simple open posture I steeled myself for what's to come. Mage’s just need to not be hit till the trap is set. So, all I have to do is doge a person who can phase in and out of reality. Super easy, barely an inconvenience. I constructed a simple one-circle air hockey spell. Then I just held my position and waited. Aubrey signaled the start of the match with a small handkerchief.
Casting the spell and getting into a defensive stance, Vane appears right in front of me and sends a punch straight to my gut. The lucky sense I prepared beforehand. I just get shot back like an air hockey puck giving more than enough room to start my next step. I constructed two more spells to make an arcane enclosure.
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After all of that, I just waited. Knowing Vane’s personality, movement speed, and the typical pathing of his movement technique I can mostly predict where he will end up. 10 seconds till I close my eyes and focus on obtaining more information. 7 seconds till I make my last computation on where Vane will emerge. 3 Seconds till I cast both of the spells in a layered format to get a pseudo-two-circle spell and create an arcane enclosure. 0 seconds till I open my eyes.
WHAM. . . owww. Ahh, that really hurt. I managed to catch Vane but I didn’t think she’d karate chop my head.
Aubrey answered my visible confusion with a query, “What was that? What stupid moron tanks the first hit? Not only that but, you actually closed your eyes at the critical point?”
Is that really an issue? I mean it's just my style so it's fine, right? I so desperately wanted to throw the questions back at her. This was how I fought in my last life you know? It's how I approached every problem. As Long As I could outsmart them wasn’t it okay if I tanked the first hit to learn?
Aubrey looked troubled for a moment as if she had all the words but wasn’t sure how she wanted to phrase them. Collected, she replies, “It wasn’t bad per se but, it felt off. Let’s see. . . if I had to describe it, it felt like Shane’s style. I’ve never seen him fight but that seems the way he would move. It felt like you were just imitating what you saw him do, even if it was flawless it just didn’t match you.”
I’m not a fit for my own style? Am I not me? Well, she’s probably correct. My body isn't the same, my practice isn’t the same, my energy isn’t the same, and most importantly my gender isn’t the same. Heck, even my species is slightly different. To pretend like everything is would be a mistake. After all, I could handle kids at the third level just fine but, what about the monsters at the 5th or 6th level. What about the freak that killed me? If I’m not using everything I have to my advantage in a fight, it will only limit me in the future.
Aubrey, seeing that I understood her point, concluded, “At the very least you have some battle sense, granted you should have at least that much if your Teacher's kid”. She finished there but as if she was reminded of something, she became somber. Aubrey took a breath before continuing, “Speaking of you saw, Shane right? Is he doing okay? He’s more than a bit stupid when it comes to people, I hope he’s not trapped in the wilderness after being scammed of all his savings.”
Whoa there, how socially inept do you think I am? Even I know you shouldn’t give money to the princes of Nigeria. Granted I did have to learn that the. . . you know what, point taken. Still, it warms my heart to know that they haven’t forgotten about me. Even the other day their first concern was knowing my whereabouts because Teacher wouldn’t tell them. Justin as well, sure it scared the life out of me but, he meant well.
What's the best way to reassure her?
I responded, “Mn. Big Brother Shane is super strong.”
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. . .
. . .
What. Why did that come out? No, no, no. Redo, redo, redo! Quickly, Admin roll back the server. Let me reload my save. Does the universe really not like my face? At least let me keep a little bit of it. I just wanted to say that I am doing well. The dialogue option lied to me.
In opposition to my inner turmoil, Aubrey let out a gentle laugh. I guess it was enough to lift the weight on her shoulders. Aubrey, still lightly laughing, said, “Is that so? I guess you can talk. Still, if you think he’s strong you’ll be shocked at what the others can do.”
Hey, don't ruffle my hair! Mo. . I mean Teacher spent so much time on that this morning. You're gonna ruin all of her hard work. I’d do it, but I don’t know the first thing about taking care of long hair. Only when Aubrey saw me pout did she let up.
“Alright, enough of that. Come here, I’ll teach you a good stepping method so you don’t have to have your cute little tummy tank any more hits,” Aubrey proudly stated.
She started working through the nine forms stepping method which was a good method to quickly gain a bit of space between yourself and an opponent. I already knew it but, it didn’t hurt to get it into my muscle memory. After all, I’ll have to start working towards MY style and not my style. Confusing I know but, for as long as I live Shane is still me. Wait hold on, I feel like I’m forgetting something. Oh well if I forgot it, it mustn't have been all that important.