Chapter 34: Calm Before The War [MOON]
John invited to the Viking guild. He told us that we can use his training arena for the week. It was just yesterday we had the council meeting. You would think I would be here teaching Lily and Rose on how to use Concentration. But John decided that he wanted to spar with me first before I trained the both of them. I guess he wanted to know who is stronger between us after four years. Sounds good and all but I doubt his “spar” involves using wooden swords. We agreed to stop ourselves if we are sure we might hurt the other person. Since when did that ever worked out before.
We stood opposite each other in the arena. It was only the four of us. John made it specifically so that only the four of us are allowed in here for this sparring. He had his trusted members guarding the entrance in case of prying eyes. John was holding his colossal axe while I was bare-handed. I didn’t mind sparring with him as I wanted to test out my strength on a strong opponent. How much stronger did I improve myself over the past four years.
I felt like a hobbit in front of John. He had gained weight and muscles over the years. He is possibly around 185 centimetres in height while I was stuck at around 155 centimetres. I could not grow any taller which means I am the shortest in the group. What a shame I have to live with. How did I even ended up attracting the attention of two female members is beyond me.
“Before we begin, none of you heard of any news about Pietro?” I asked all three of them.
All of them shook their heads. It was like he had just vanished into thin air. Or perhaps he was slain by his guild after exposing my name. Whatever happened to him we will never know. I do hope that he is still alive for us to at least hear his side of the story.
“Hey, let’s wager something to make it more fun, shall we?” asked John.
“Huh? What can we even wager?” I said while raising an eyebrow to him.
“How about.. whoever wins get to date those two beautiful ladies?” John laughed while he pointed to where Rose and Lily sat.
“I don’t think that is us to decide. You might have better luck in asking both of them directly,” I said to John while shrugging.
“What do you think ladies?!” shouted John as both Lily and Rose were seated some distance away.
“I’m fine with it, just don’t kill each other please. Zen will have to train us later,” said Lily.
“A tall muscular man asking me out? Sure, why not?” said Rose while shrugging.
Both of them sure are lax. I am going to torture both of them during their training later.
“You hear that? The stakes are in, Zen. Hahaha!” laughed John. Why is he having so much fun when we are about to spar?
I just shrugged in return and prepared my unarmed stance towards John. I did my breathing routine subconsciously but held back in using Concentration. Let’s start things slowly. John also prepared himself while keeping his axe sheathed behind him. Seems like he wishes to start off with unarmed combat too. Suits me, I suppose.
“Lily, mind being the referee for this sparring test to make sure we don’t kill each other?” asked John.
“Alright. But when I say stop, both of you must stop. I don’t wish to see either of you dead due to this sparring test. Now, get ready the both of you,” said Lily while she raised her hand.
Silence engulfs the arena while we awaited the signal from Lily. In front of me is a muscle man that is twice my size in weight and way taller than me. While Peter had taught me unarmed combat to handle heavier opponent, this will be the first time that I can test it out directly. Now, show me how strong you are as the Viking Lord, John. I'm certainly getting pumped now.
John rushed towards me with a punch the moment Lily swung her arm down and shouted "BEGIN!". I countered his punch by guiding it away and slammed my palm below his chin. But I was not strong enough to push him away. All that muscle of his resisting all my strength to push him even though I am using two hands to push him away.
I quickly leaped back as I saw that he was going for a bone crushing hug. Doubt he was kind enough to give a brotherly hug in the middle of sparring.
"Aww, I was just giving you a hug, brother," he said.
"Uh huh," I replied to him nonchalantly.
John rushed towards me with a shoulder charge instead. I easily side-stepped him and prepared a counter. He swung his arm behind him expecting me to be behind him but he was wrong. I predicted his move and went all the way to his right side which is now his back. I summoned my gauntlets with a flick of my wrist. I placed my right palm on his back and got my stance ready. I pulled my right hand back and slammed my left palm against his back. My proper stance gave me more power and I managed to push him some distance forward. He rolled himself and got back up.
“To be able to push me that far, that is some crazy unarmed technique you have there. I guess Peter taught you well, huh?" said John.
"Nah, if it was him, you would be flying towards to the wall by now," I replied to him.
"Haha.. I can see the both of us are holding back. I want to see more of your strength, Zen. C'mon lets bring it!" he shouted while he took out his shiny axe from behind him.
I will need to be caution as I do not know what powers his legendary axe had granted him. What will he do next? Rush towards me and swing his axe? Or perhaps he will leap towards me instead?
John threw his axe towards me. I was definitely caught off-guard that he will tossed his only weapon towards me. I can easily dodge a simple axe throw. What is he thinking?
I side-stepped the axe with minimal effort all the while focusing my attention on John. But an eye-blink later, he was gone from my sight. W.. what? John never had such high agility before, how and where did he vanished?
I turned my head backwards and saw John swinging his axe vertically from above. I quickly blocked his attack with my gauntlets. One hand stopped the axe head from slicing me while my other hand held the wooden stock. What the hell just happened? Did John just teleported to where the axe went? That is some crazy legendary weapon that he have there.
John pulled back his axe and went for another swing. As I thought of the perfect counter, I realised that his axe was getting bigger by the second. I quickly leaped to the side and it was only then I heard someone shouted "Dodge it!!". The axe head was half my size when it smashed onto the arena floor.
SMASH!
Teleportation and size adjustment on the fly. That is an overpowered legendary weapon there.
"Lily.. Lily, no interfering with the sparring," John said as he swung his index finger and placed it to his lips.
"You are not supposed to be killing each other!" shouted Lily.
The two continued bickering while I regained my bearings. A teleporting muscle head with an unpredictable axe size. If John decided to reduce the size instead of increasing he would had sliced my skull faster than I can react. What a surprised. To think that John had gotten this strong. I really wonder who will end up standing if we really fought each other seriously.
"John, let's kick things up a notch," I said and activated Concentration.
"Oh ho ho! Here it is!" John smirked with an open mouth.
I used the imperfect version to maximise my stats and spell efficiency. Then I casted Fear on him. I never actually know what people see whenever I casted this spell. Lily told me she saw an image of her gruesome death while Rose said that she saw the end of the world. What would John see I wonder.
John's eyes started glowing and steams were coming out of his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot now and he casted Taunt spell with a roar. I steered myself to resist both effects. To think you can counter Fear spell with Taunting.
Things are getting serious now. Here is an opponent that is using a State Of Mind higher than my own. I should be able to resist the effects of Taunt and frenzy but his stat buffs are certainly higher than mine now. Perfect chance for me to test out on whether I stand a chance. My success rate fighting against Tom depends on this outcome.
I summoned Inazuma with my right hand. John made a whistle to show that he was impressed. I guess it's time for me to be the aggressive one instead. I rushed towards John as fast as my feet can bring me. My base agility currently had hit the hundred mark. Using Imperfect Concentration should buff it to around 110. John should not be able to react that quickly.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
I swung Inazuma using the blunt side to John's ribs. He blocked it perfectly with his axe. To think that he reacted in time. No matter, I will push my speed to the limits then! I started attacking him from all angles. He blocked as much as he could but eventually my hits were getting in. I ended up behind him and aimed for his neck. John reacted and swung his axe towards me. I thought that my blade will reach him first but his axe was coming at me with ludicrous speed. He must have shrunk his axe to the size of a hand axe or something.
I had no choice but to block his attack instead. As I recovered from the attack, I saw his axe flying towards me. I dodged it as fast as I could and expecting him to appear behind me. John was nowhere to be seen. I quickly turned my head to the front and saw that he was swinging a punch at me. That fist of his is looking awfully huge!
Guess I have no choice then. “Rend!” I shouted as I summoned my purple cloak from another dimension. John’s punch hit my cloak as I used it to block. I flew backwards from the impact. Bloody hell, my cloak could nullify Lily’s punch but John absurd strength was stronger than hers? He’s definitely not pulling his punches, damn it!
“That cloak of yours is worst than punching a steel beam. You might have fractured my fist, brother,” said John.
“Well, you were supposed to pull your punches,” I said to him. I need to finish this fight in the next nine minutes or so.
John teleported to his axe to retrieve it. His right fist is looking pretty swollen right now. He’s definitely going to need some cooling gel later. Uh oh.. why is he looking at me like that? He is looking really pissed off.
I readied myself for more of his tricks. John roared with fury. He must be using Combat Fury spell as his body starts to get redder. Blood circulation must be on full strength throughout his body right now. He is going to be tougher and stronger now and not to mention Bloodlust must have strengthen that spell further. I hope I don’t need to use my gauntlet or Inazuma’s spells to beat John. I want to avoid hurting John any further if I can help it.
He charged at me with fury like a bull. His strikes were heavy. I had to use both hands to block all his strikes. I also need to take notice of when he tosses his axe or enlarges it. This fight can end quickly when either of us slipped up. Among his strikes, I managed to hit some part of his body with Inazuma’s blunt side. Even though it felt like I was doing no damage to him, I had to continuously make contact with him.
Among his strikes, John enlarges his axe to a ridiculous size and swung it towards my face. I prepared to block it with my gauntlets but his axe stopped right before it reaches me.
I smirked at him. Inazuma's passive effect finally took place. After Kirin agreed to lend me some of his powers, one of it was to continuously shock the opponent whenever the blade touches any part of their body or weapon. John should be fighting against the electrical shock that is running throughout his body right now. This effect does not last long so I better take advantage of this moment. I placed Inazuma's blade on his neck and said to him "Yield".
"STOP! We have a winner! Pii pii pii!!" shouted Lily while she simulated a whistle being blown.
I sat down on the ground while waiting for John to recover from the electrical shock. He too dropped to the ground after that.
“Ahh dammit. You’re still stronger than all of us. And here I thought I’ll be on par with you after training my ass off for four years at the very least,” said John.
“What are you talking about? You nearly whooped my ass there. If you weren’t holding back I will definitely be sliced by your axe. Damn thing is so unpredictable,” I said to him.
“Ah, well. There’s a reason why I chose this axe. It helps me with my low agility and being able to move around quickly helps a lot in battle,” he explained.
“True that. I might have won due to Inazuma’s passive but if you were to shrink your axe during your first swing I would had been dead,” I said to him.
“Result is result brother. Enjoy your date. Haha!” laughed John.
“Ohh.. I’ll enjoy alright. I will enjoy torturing those two ladies sitting there enjoying themselves with my harsh training later,” I said while grinning an evil laughter.
“Uh, brother? The look on your face is.. scary,” whispered John.
“Ladies, get down here so we can start your hellish training,” I shouted to them.
“You can continue using the arena. It’s been reserved for a week. I’ll swing by once a while but I gotta go back to being a guildmaster. Lots of things to prepare,” said John.
***
“Alright. Seeing as Lily knows how to use Concentration, I’ll start with Rose first. You need to grasp the basics of achieving the Focused State Of Mind,” I said to Rose.
“Come on, teach me bro,” said Rose while she nodded her head.
“Stop that. I’m being serious here. Now, I need you to focus on one thing and only one thing. Show me,” I said to her.
She closed her eyes then opened it a few seconds later. So far her pupils looked good. No movement so far. Wait, scratch that. She moved her pupils.
“Rose. Focus yourself and don’t think or look at something else,” I said.
“I.. I’m trying. It’s not easy,” she said.
Hmm.. guess I might need to help her. I walked closer to her and placed my index finger on her temple.
“Focus on that,” I said to Rose.
She closed her eyes again. Few seconds later, hang on, why is she protruding her mouth? I slammed my fist onto her head albeit not too hard.
“Geez, Rose! Be serious!” I shouted to her.
“Ok ok, I’m really trying my best here,” she explained.
“Then show me. This is just the basic, Rose. You can grasp this I am sure of it” I told her.
At this point, Lily walked up to my side to look at Rose. Rose lifted my index finger and pressed it on her temple. She could had used her own but that’s fine. Anything to get her to focus. She closed her eyes again and opened them. So far so good.
Wait, there’s a slight movement in her eyes. I made a sigh without even realising it. Who knew that Rose would have difficulty in focusing herself. And the Paladin Lord called her a prodigy. I guess even prodigies will still need to learn from scratch.
“Rose, raise your index finger in front of your face and focus on it. I will move on to teach Lily. Continue to force yourself to focus, alright?” I said to Rose.
“O.. okay,” she said.
I moved to another part of the arena with Lily so as to not disturb Rose. As we were walking, we whispered softly to each other.
“What do you think? Something is not right,” I whispered to Lily.
“I fear the worst. She seems to have difficulty in focusing her mind. It’s like she keeps thinking of something else and can’t focus herself,” said Lily.
“Well, let’s hope that she can at least do that by the end of the day. Never thought someone would have such difficulty in focusing themselves,” I said.
“Not everyone is a genius like you, Zen.” she said.
“H.. hey, it didn’t take you too long to learn the basics either. Don’t say it like I was the only one who could learn the basics so easily,” I explained.
“Sure thing, Mister Genius,” Lily whispered directly in my ears.
Under normal circumstances, I would had grabbed her and kissed her but I refrained. Now is not the time for romance.
“Alright Lily, learning the perfect version isn’t easy. I won’t hold back,” I said as I readied myself.
“Bring it on, Genius Boy,” she said.
“Stop calling me that,” I retaliated.
***
I lost track of time. It wasn’t easy but Lily managed to learn the perfect version within a day. And they call me a genius. It took me three days to learn it from Peter. Lily said my teaching method was easy to grasp but it was exact same method as what Peter taught me. ‘Never think too highly of yourself’ is what I always told myself.
Now, let’s check up on Rose. Hopefully she is able to grasp the basics so I can teach her further tomorrow as it is late evening right now. As I walked closer to her, I can see that she was sweating from her forehead. Alright, she really is serious. Hopefully she figured it out.
“Alright Rose, show me the fruits of your training,” I said to Rose.
She showed me. Few seconds passed and it’s looking good. No, wait, her pupil moved ever so slightly.
“Rose, you’re still not focusing,” I said to her looking concerned look.
“I.. I know! I am trying my hardest just to concentrate on one thing. But my brain just doesn’t seems to work that way!” said Rose while on the verge of tears.
I can tell that she is not lying. There is no way you can fool around and cause yourself to sweat so much. And she was certainly taking it seriously.
“Rose, what do you think when you are in combat? Do you focus on your opponent or do you scan your surroundings?” I asked her.
“In combat? I focus on many things to be honest. Like what advantage can I use, what conditions are my surroundings that I can use, what is the opponent’s next move, what is my counter if my opponent does this or that, what spell that I can use that would benefit me at that moment, what is my opponent’s weak point and my percentage of winning the fight if I manage to injure my opponent. Just to name a few I guess,” said Rose.
Both Lily and I opened our jaws. There is something that I need to clarify with Rose first.
“Rose, what you just explained, is that over the course of the battle or?” I asked her with genuine curiosity.
“Huh? Just in the moment I guess. My brain is always looking for unexpected things,” she said while putting on a thinking face.
“Oh dear.. Umm, Rose? I hate to break it to you but.. you might be one of the few adventurers that might not be able to learn Concentration,” I said to her hesitantly.
“W.. what are you saying? I can focus myself. Just give me a few more hours and I’ll grasp it,” she said.
“Rose, it doesn’t take someone this long to learn the first step. I’m sure even you realised it by now,” I said.
“I can do it. Just give me more time,” she said.
“Rose..” I tried to stop her.
“I can do it! Please!” she shouted.
I placed my middle and index finger on her forehead. I needed her to focus as we do not have much time to learn on things that doesn’t bear fruit. She needed to learn something else instead of something she couldn’t. After she calmed herself, I petted her head while explaining to her.
“I can be useful to you, onii-chan. Please, don’t push me away,” she said as she started to sob.
“Rose, I am not pushing you away. Your talent lies somewhere else. I don’t want you to waste time learning something that you have such difficulty in,” I explained to her.
“What else can I improve myself? Who else can teach me something that even I don’t know what I can improve on? My growth is stunted right now. Prodigy my fucking arse. I cannot even grasp the basic of Concentration,” she said with a sad voice.
“No, Rose. You are a prodigy to me. You are the only person that was able to learn dual casting all on your own. I truly believe your talent lies elsewhere. That i9 quadruple core of yours can definitely do things that neither me or Lily can do. On that, I have my utmost faith,” I said to her.
“W.. what?” she looked at me with a confused face.
“N.. never mind. Maybe you can look for the Paladin Lord for guidance. Perhaps he can advise you on what you can improve yourself in. As of now, I am not the right teacher to guide you. I am so sorry, Rose,” I explained to her.
Rose drooped her head and walked off from the arena. A big part of me wishes to run up to her and hug her but doing that might not push her to learn something new by herself. I am certainly not the right teacher to guide her as she is different than both me and Lily. She need to find her own path by herself.
***
There was a knock on my door. It was close to midnight now. Who could it be? Hopefully it is not some bad news related to the upcoming war. Better check who it is.
“Rose Starr, how can I help you? You usually retired to your room at this hour,” I said to her.
“Sorry for disturbing you so late, Ojii-sama. I’m hoping you can lend me your ears and a bit of your time if you would allow me to,” she said as she bowed to me.
Rose is the only one that calls me that. While to the other guildmasters it might be disrespectful, I gave her permission to address me as such. She is my prized pupil of the Light Guild, giving her some leeway is nothing compared to what she had accomplished for the guild.
“Of course, I’m all ears. Speak as you wish,” I said to her.
She began telling her story about how she was having difficulty in focusing her mind on something. There is always something distracting her from focusing on just one object alone. She said that her brother does not know what else to teach her and said that she needed to find someone that is more suitable to guide her instead. But she does not know what she should be even improving herself on.
I asked her what she had been training herself on for the past years. She kept quiet but eventually said that she had learned how to dual cast her spells by criss-crossing her chanting.
What an achievement is what I would like to tell her but I kept quiet until she finishes her story. She stopped her story after mentioning that she had honed all her techniques and skills to the best of her ability and that she had nothing more that she know to improve on.
I gave it some thought before speaking to her. I can see that she is deeply hurt and emotional having learned that she is not able to use Concentration. She might not be able to use any State Of Mind for that matter. But not learning this is never the end of the world for an adventurer. Especially if you are in the Light Guild.
I clapped my hand to surprise her. Compliments is what she needed right now.
“First of all, congratulations in learning how to dual cast on your own. Not to mention in just four years. I am certainly not mistaken in saying that you are a prodigy,” I said to Rose.
“Thank you, but I am certain that there are other people out there who can perform dual casting. I am not the only one in this world who can do it,” she said.
“On that, you are right. However, there was only ever two person that I know in this world that had learned dual casting. The first being Ivy Moonshine. She spent decades if not centuries until she was able to learn on how to dual cast,” I said while walking towards my special hidden chest.
“The second person that I knew was Jack Hawthorn. He was a legend being able to learn dual casting as well as achieving Higher State Of Mind before he perished. But it was Ivy who had taught him on how to dual cast. But you, on the other hand, achieved the impossible by yourself,” I said to her while searching for one of my prized possession.
Rose kept quiet as she listened to me. It looks like her mood is getting better now. Time to wrap things up.
“The trouble about Jack is that he did not know what he needed to focus on. Whether it was in spell casting or State Of Mind, he was never able to perfect any of them. You on the other hand, have only one option. Are you ready to take on the challenge?” I asked her while handing to her a book.
Her face lit up upon looking at the title. She looked at me with a curious look.
“As the Paladin Lord, I am technically not allowed to let anyone discover about the existence of this book. However, you are my prized pupil. Consider it an exception. I am not able to teach you on what you can learn but I have my utmost faith that you will be able to accomplish the impossible. Are you ready to become stronger than your brother and perhaps be a legend among the adventurers?” I said to her.
She stood up while hugging the book. She bowed to me and gave me her most sincere thank you. I smiled at her and waved her good night. I am curious as to what she can accomplish with that book. I am certain she will put it to good use. A special book brought down by all the previous Paladin Lords. A book of Forbidden Spells.