> Martial arts. Hmph. Fitting that it is the first affinity, for it is the basis from which all principles of combat were born. When man had nothing, no bronze or tools or technology, he still had his hands. More than any other affinity, we are the masters of our bodies. Humility, discipline, precision, and physicality are our weapons. Our JOYs enable us with the agility to leap twice that of a normal human, the durability to not shatter our bones against a Guardian’s armor, the longevity to run from dawn to dusk; but they do not make us invincible. Make no mistake. To the untrained eye, the martial arts are the weakest, most human affinity there is. The trained eye sees that is also their greatest strength.

>

> Rex Fang, seventy-sixth Champion of Section G

So said Champion Fang during a guest seminar at Concordia University uptown, one my dad was lucky enough to record in his junior year. From everything I’ve heard on the Net, the old champ wasn’t much for talking. Preferred hands to words, and patience to action. Even with that disposition, his rise incited a tidal amount of interest in the Martial Artist class that’s perpetuated to this day across the entire Section. My father picked his classes because of Champion Fang, I picked mine because of Dad’s, and neither of us are alone in that trend.

That’s the kind of influence a Champion has. When you’re ruled by warriors, your celebrities fight for a profession, and combat is taught from single-digit years, it’s inevitable that people will start idolizing the showstoppers. If you run a niche class or combination of classes, any kind of pro representation- even if it’s only a single fighter- makes that fighter a hero to you and other people who make up your niche. They’re like your mascot, the guy you always cheer for; the one who finally showed the potential of a class that’s well off the beaten path. And in a reverse of that sentiment, Champions themselves bring such a spotlight to their classes that the following rise of interest in said class is almost inevitable. The Champion is the best, which means his classes must be really powerful. It’s a shockwave that’s happened in the past with Martial Artists. And it’s happening now for Elementals because of the reigning Champion, Gami.

Obviously, it’s not like classes are hereditary. There’s nothing stopping you from picking whatever classes you like as a kid, or even changing them later if you want to strike out on your own. But there’s also built-in incentives to share at least some abilities with a parent who can fight: they can train you in the basics, show you their special tricks, and put you far ahead of the competition in the early years. And when it comes to the big and famous- pros, powerful families, martial corporations- hereditary classes are practically forced on them. Rebellion against it is as much a statement as disownment. Those institutional groups perpetuate and grow themselves on reputations of certain abilities, so rejecting them isn’t really an option. A Lionhart who can’t swing a sword wouldn’t be a Lionhart at all, right?

As a Martial Artist myself, it’s only fair to start covering the eighteen classes with the one I miss most. Though there’s not a whole lot of content to speak of without delving hardore into training manuals on the unique brawling styles. So I’ve decided to bundle in Duelist and Gunslinger into my journal today, too. The Core classes are the keystones of almost everyone’s builds, an easy way to translate some of that theoretical power into physical action through your hands. Without at least one of them, you’re almost always extremely vulnerable to physical attacks, because you don’t have any weapons or training to defend yourselves with. They’re interlinked and somewhat interchangeable because of that. If you’re picking between the Core classes for objective reasons, you’re not so much choosing a method of combat as you are a range of combat. Gunslingers rule the long range, anything beyond a small arc that surrounds your body. Duelists are kings of the mid range, which is that space around your body that you’re not touching, but that’s within a couple of arms’-lengths. Martial Artists are the only ones who win in the close range.

All this is in terms of a proper fighting square and regulation rules, by the way. Situation like mine, there’s some giant gaping caveats in the principles of traditional combat. When you leave the square, things get messy. A fight is no longer a math problem bounded within four repulsorfield walls on a clearly defined battlefield with no obstacles. It’s a dynamic, ever-evolving environment of hazards, verticality, interference. The multi-dimensional escalation of a first-year Innovator’s physics homework. When you’re fighting for real, no rules or safety nets, sometimes fights are even won before they’re started. A particular lilt in a Psi’s voice before she slaves your mind. An Assassin’s friendly smile, his poison on the rim of a cup that’s just touched your lips. A Modd-classed monster dropping from the ceiling with jaws wide and slavering. Initiative, in other words.

Fortunately for me, Martial Artists might as well be called Initiative: The Class. Close range is our condition for victory. When you pick the Martial Artist class, the tempo for the rest of your classes is also set. If you can close the gap, you win. That’s all it takes. No other class is as strong as you in the point-blank. No other class is as powerless as you at long range. So it’s common to pick your other classes around that paradigm; either answering its weaknesses or shortening that path to victory. Maybe you nab Mecha on the side, get some booster jets in your cyber shell to burst in quicker at opponents. Maybe you pick up Magus to fight from afar. Or you pick the most common complement to the Martial Artist class- Ki Fighter- and do both at once.

There’s thematic and practical reasons that Martial Artist and Ki Fighter are paired together so commonly, and if you asked me, I have a feeling it’s the thematic reasons that are the bigger driver. Still, it’s almost the perfect fit as a second class. Fly and augment yourself with ki to power up your strikes or just move faster in general, and then bring in some ki blasts for ranged fighting. It’s a good fit.

When it comes to abilities that the JOYs give us for picking the class, there’s not a whole lot of extra capabilities outside the human that are inherent to the martial arts. I imagine you’re wondering what it does give. It’s not like a JOY will fight for you; you can’t just think reverse roundhouse and your body will spring into motion. But it can help guide you once you start to perform the motion. Once it picks up on your intent to perform a specific action that’s registered for one of your classes, your JOY will use the neural link to tug you back if you start to leave the lines. We call that tug the training wheels, and it’s like aim-assist for the body. Neural microadjustments that pull at you like puppet strings. Good for showing newer fighters the ropes of their class during learning sessions. Not so good if you’re someone like me. It gets annoying pretty damn fast when the system keeps trying to pull you back into perfect form.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Any serious fighter never turns on their training wheels. Me, I wasn’t even allowed to use them in the first place. I grew up all-natural, so my style did too. Think of it like writing a signature: there’s flourish and sloppiness and off-the-rails linework that’s nothing like the books, yet flows seamlessly from piece to piece in its own special harmony. It’s not rigorous or regimented or anything like the books.

Without the training wheels, Martial Artists would probably have ended up being called the Athletics class. What separates it from the Enhancement classes really is the wealth of styles and strikes that it’s got built-in support for. When the wheels come off, you’re a human with vastly amped up endurance and speed. You can jump further, lift more, punch harder. You’re durable enough to punch metal and not feel much. Can’t stop a blade with a barehand block, of course, but you’re much more resilient to the falls and tumbles and collisions of fights both on and off the square. And your reflexes are raised way above the norm. It’s gotta be that way to excel in blink-and-you-miss-it levels of close quarters.

In short, the class gives you everything you need to be a cannonball. Which most of us end up being, both on and off the square. Instinct and reflex are core to Martial Artists. The fighting style is all adrenaline. Not so for Duelists, who are patient bookies compared to us.

Duelists and Gunslingers are both armory-type classes; the only difference being the kind of armaments they summon and the nature of their training wheels. For Gunslingers, the training wheels literally is aim-assist. For Duelists, it’s like the blade-based version of a Martial Artist’s styles. Gentle tugs to correct form. The armories are the main discriminator between the two. If a weapon is something a JOY considers to be ‘for melee combat’, it appears as an option for Duelists. Gunslingers are given everything for ranged combat. Which includes revolvers, yes, but also includes rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and the vigilante hero’s wet-dream arsenal that falls under that umbrella.

The biggest limiter of said armories is the nature of JOY-created gear, which is a rule that applies to all classes. Duelists and Gunslingers can open their arsenals, pick from any and every weapon, and their JOY will knit it out of thin air within seconds- ammunition included. But that weapon is tied to the JOY itself. If the sphere shuts down for any reason (sleep is the most common, the spheres turn off when you sleep), the weapon dissolves. Ammunition only exists until it’s fired, and bullet casings will dissolve into a slurry of nanoparticles once they pass out of a small radius of the JOY that made them. The weapons also appear in forge-perfect condition every time. If you want to have your own piece, want to modify a weapon, or you just want to not be caught without a weapon when you wake in the morning, having a real, physically-made version of that weapon is the only route.

For anyone who takes combat seriously, hand-forged weapons that don’t disappear when your JOY turns off are the only ones that get used. They grow in character and legacy. Get worn to the shape of your particular fingers. Can be modded, and are a hell of a lot safer, because they won’t disappear if something goes wrong. That’s another way my class is superior, though. I’m always armed, even when I don’t look like it. Gets you into places you might not otherwise if you were toting a six-shooter around on your hip.

Due to the nature of the Duelist and Gunslinger armories, there’s a wealth of potential fusions with other classes. I’ll end with an example of each.

AJAX LIONHART DUELIST ELEMENTAL (METAL)

Every story I’ve heard from my aunt or father about Mr. Ajax paints the same picture of his skill. He’s a prime example of a simple class combination that has huge potential to explore. As a Duelist, he had two preferred weapons that he would alternate between based on his opponent: a training-type rapier that used a stunning edge, and a village-style katana. Curved blade, not straight, an incestral icon of the old culture in my home villages out by the sea. Both weapons are made of metal, meaning that Ajax could shape his weapon on the fly without needing to carry around two copies. He could also form himself and his allies light armor from the metal in the surrounding area. It’s the microcontrol over his blade that’s the real danger though. A blade that can shift to liquid on the fly can pass right through an unsuspecting foe’s guard. He could also cycle it between an extended whiplike form and a solid blade at will. Combine that flexibility with a Metal Elemental’s ability to thrive in an environment like the capital, and you’ve got a dangerous combination of classes perfectly suited to an analytical fighter. Someone who takes the time to suit their armory to each fight before peeling apart the opposition with overwhelming mastery of their core class.

BISHOP (Minor #18, Retired)

GUNSLINGER MAGUS INNOVATOR

Bishop was a minor league fighter from a couple decades back; peaked at eighteenth rank in the Metro Blockhouse minor league. While his results were nothing crazy, he’s a good example of a fighter who uses a weapon as a conduit for their main combat class. Magus is inherently the kind of class that wants to keep to a distance, same as Gunslinger, making them a natural fit. Plenty of Gunslingers will run Innovator on the side to help with crafting and modifying their personal weapons and ammunition. While there’s obviously a market surrounding the older foundries that have centuries’ worth of reputation for quality, most of us- myself heavily included- don’t have the cash to drop on a masterwork Valor Foundries Sixer, nor the cases of Type-54 Casull ammo it eats up. In Bishop’s case, he took the ammunition crafting a step further and etched his spellcasts into special bullet casings- meaning he didn’t have to waste words on the cast itself, nor obey the normal rules of their range limitations. He could pre-cast his spells into bullets and just shoot them at people, sometimes even in full-auto. Clever trick, that one. It’s pretty easy to dodge a fireball if you see it coming. Much harder to dodge a bullet traveling several thousand feet per second that triggers a fireball instantaneously on impact.

Anyways, I’m signing off. Goddamn hungry. Cal and I are watching more fight tapes tonight, too. It’s become our nightly tradition. Thought it’d be a little more awkward to be stuck with her given our history, but since we made up, she’s been different. In a good way. Still smirking and ribbing, but with a softer streak towards me in particular.

We’ve been catching up on the professional leagues over every dinner that I’m back home for. A lot has happened at the Metro Blockhouse since I went off the grid three years ago, but not as much as should have happened. I have a feeling Gami’s hand is behind the stagnation. Just like it’s behind my current situation. Even if I can beat Thane, Gami is a Champion, a warrior-king of an entirely different caliber. The kind of caliber that can take out an entire army of his lessers single handedly.

And I have to face that someday.

I need to study him more. Just in case.