Kyle felt disorientated from the extreme shift in the environment. One moment he was adventuring into a valley and then in an instant, he was inside a library. Nausea slammed into Kyle like a truck. The urge to puke surged, but his ability came in handy. The mana began flowing around Kyle’s body alleviating his symptoms.
The mystical reaction occurring within his body reminded Kyle of a chemical reaction, but with slight differences. The exciting idea of using this magical power sparked Kyle’s curiosity. The possibility of curing his neck pain from all the late-night studying using mana came to mind. With newfound determination, Kyle directed the mana to his neck and shoulders. His upper body slumped as he slammed face-first into the plate. Muffled laughter came from the other end of the table turning louder as time passed.
“HAHAHAHAHA!” The old man’s face slowly turned red as he forget to breathe. Kyle’s ability dulled the pain, but not the embarrassment. The old man glanced at the entrance while catching his breath.
A young noble sauntered into the library and headed for their table. His slouched posture and constantly pissed look screamed street thug. The young noble looked awfully familiar to Kyle, and he couldn’t tell why. Then it struck him, this was the same noble who had his tongue sliced off in the garden.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” His chin was lifted emphasizing his gangster image. “A lone Hero with no one to cower behind. Hehe, I Duras, Of The Gelid Tempest Family, challenge you to a duel.“ The fact that Duras could speak after having his tongue sliced off had Kyle dumbfounded. Kyle wanted to refuse because the only times he fought someone were either sparring or in a drunken stupor. Except, Duras looked as if he would resort to unsightly means to get his way.
“I-”
“Perfect, The Hero will fight you at the dueling arena I’ll send someone to hash out the details.” Kyle didn’t expect the old man to interrupt him.
“I am?” Kyle unconsciously spoke.
Duras was prepared to give the Hero, a little “encouragement” if he refused. But, he quickly reacted and swiftly ran away, yelling “Don’t forget to send the details, and this time, don't run away!” By the time Kyle comprehended what happened, Duras had long already left.
“Good job, old man. You’re really good at tricking people. For a moment I thought you meant it.” The splendid moves made by the old man had Kyle inspired.
“Eh, I’m being honest, the duels are good motivators. No one wants to be beaten black and blue in front of a crowd. Besides, fighting is commonplace here. You’ll have to get used to it, and as they say, better to start early than never.” After the old man cleared up the misunderstanding Kyle began panicking.
“His tongue was chopped off yesterday, and now it looks perfectly fine. He’s got to have some sort of regeneration powers. Maybe we should decline the duel?”
The old man couldn't help but snicker, “There are a bunch of healers in the capital, so fixing a tongue would at most cost a pretty penny.”
“Well, I don’t know how to fight, so-” The old man refused Kyle’s brilliant suggestion.
“That is why I need to prepare your training schedule, so go get some rest. You’ll need it.” The old man smiled while rubbing his hands together like a classic cartoon villain.
---
Kyle stood outside breathing in the cool and refreshing morning air. The clashing of practice swords and superhuman swordplay at the training grounds was very encouraging. Kyle did some light stretching while waiting for the old man to arrive.
Kyle felt quite limber when the old man arrived. Behind the old man was an entourage of buff men. They dragged piles of tree logs behind them using ropes. Kyle couldn’t help but think of a character creation menu with the muscle mass scaled to the max.
The old man gave Kyle a wooden short sword. “You’ll need this. Now time for a crash course, what do you think is the important aspects of fighting for beginners?” In a world predominated by magical powers only one thought came to his mind.
“Mana Ability?”
“It is an important aspect of fighting, but not so much for newbies. It would instead be the ability to think clearly and operate under pressure.”
“But, that's two aspects?” The old man gave Kyle the stink eye and carried on.
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“Don’t worry about the specifics. Right now all you need to learn is to adapt to pressure during a fight. Otherwise, you might panic once something unexpected occurs and you croak. This is where your mana ability will truly shine. A body that never flinches and is always relaxed, it takes years of training to reach that level. Now you have that in an instant.” The old man glanced at the logs, and Kyle noticed the ripped bodybuilders already left. The old man slowly turned his head to look at Kyle for dramatic effect and said. “Now,” The old man clapped his hands twice, “Let's begin.”
A quiet hum came from the logs brought in, this hum turned into beating. The beating kept getting faster until it hit a crescendo, and the wooden logs ruptured. Wooden chips ripped through the air and dust clouds bloomed. As the dust died down, a pair of arms were exposed and pointed to the sky. They were like that of an anatomy doll, with only muscles, bones, ligaments, and lacking skin.
The wooden puppet stepped over the crushed logs with leg muscles so powerful one would assume it never skipped leg day. Its body looked even more shredded than what Kyle remembered of professional bodybuilders. Kyle speculated that the muscles lining the wooden bodybuilder were perfectly symmetrical, but had proof to back that claim.
The wooden bodybuilder mysteriously resembled the Gigachad meme from Earth. So, Kyle took the liberty to name this wooden monstrosity Gigachad for fun. However, when the yolked wooden humanoid began jogging toward Kyle, he thought nothing of it. It became a problem when Gigachad started running with his fists balled up. It was then Kyle remembered the sword in his hands and the old man’s words. Kyle could only let out a bitter smile. Lazily sitting on a stool the old man watched the pummeling- training happen in the distance.
---
It is the day of the duel, the crowd was jittered in their seats. Stalls lined the outside the stadium full of snacks to consume while watching the fight. Betting stalls crowded, the already crowded streets. Inside a private viewing room looking down at the arena, two women sat peacefully. The younger one had bright red hair, while the older one had a mellow pink. The younger woman gracefully ate a jelly-like desert and let out her worries.
“Mother, is it really okay for the Hero to lose? Won’t it cause unrest among the citizens?” Abigail carefully watched the Queen’s response.
“It’s fine, the public can be appeased.” The Queen lifted her smoke pipe and took a smoke. The old man’s capabilities were mostly unknown to her, so how well the Hero fights could give her more insight on the matter. Breathing out a plume of pink mist tumbled through the air in a mystical manner. The maids stationed at the side zoned in on the bizarre pink mist with a crazed look. The princess had an expression of disgust, but hidden underneath that was fear.
---
Outside in the arena, the fight was about to begin. The rules were simple whoever, lands a killing blow, or incapacitates the opponent wins. The referee stood at the edge of the arena ready to act once the fight got too dangerous. The crowd finished placing their bets and anxiously waited to see if they would get a return or not.
Two fighters entered the arena from opposite ends. They both wore leather armor, but Kyle was the only one with a sword. Once Kyle noticed this he immediately prepared himself for the unexpected. The referee quickly explained the rules and inspected both their equipment. Once all the checks were done, the referee blew into his hands creating a sharp ear-piercing whistle sound, signaling the start of the fight.
Kyle kept his eyes trained on his unarmed opponent on the other side of the arena. Duras’s serious attitude and proper fighting stance had him on guard. Kyle slowly approached keeping his sword trained on his opponent. The distance got shorter and Kyle got eager to strike, but unexpectedly Duras punched the air. An invisible force slammed into Kyle’s abdomen launching him backward.
The strange mystical phenomenon was clearly linked to the gut punch. Duras smirked, and after the successful bait got him an easy follow-up. Like a shark smelling blood, a torrent of attacks struck Kyle. Battered and beaten, Kyle began to feel sore all over. But, the week of training had Kyle want to prove that all those hours getting pummeled, weaving between attacks, and practicing his slashes were not useless.
Slowly Kyle began to dodge the air punches, at first it was one or two. This quickly turned into most of them slipping past him or missing him entirely. Kyle figured out the basic function of Duras’s ability. Each time Duras jabbed, an invisible force would be launched in direction of the punch. Kyle’s monster of a sparring partner Gigachad fought unarmed giving him an important base to counter Duras’s fighting style. As for whether it was pre-planned by the old man or a coincidence, he had no clue.
After a minute of weaving and blocking fatigue was beginning to catch up to Kyle. Even though mana gave Kyle a strong physique in record time. The same could be said for his opponent who basked in mana since he was still wet behind the ears. Duras was only lightly sweating like he was going for a light jog, so Kyle knew he had to switch things up, fast.
Taking inspiration from his Gigachad sparring partner Kyle decided to pull the rug from under Duras. Kyle closed the distance between him and his opponent at the cost of taking more damage. His body ached and his nose was bleeding, but Kyle kept at it. When Duras was finally within reach he put all his power into the slash. Placed his hope on the referee interfering in time as he swung at Duras’s neck. In the heat of the moment, Kyle noticed Duras was afraid, but anticipating something. Having no time to think, Kyle watched his sword travel through the air and miss…
His sword slid over some kind of protective barrier around Duras. Kyle knew he was in desperate straits now, so without any thought, he moved. Throwing the sword at Duras, Kyle dove at him using the blindspot he just created. Tackling Duras, Kyle used the chaos to slip his arm through and get a hold of his opponent's neck.
On the ground, Duras panicked having been in an unpleasant situation on the ground a week before. Kyle held onto Duras no matter how much he wriggled and struggled to get out of the choke hold. His back on the floor Kyle was covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Looking up to the sky he thought it looked so pretty, then proceeded to faint.