In the inner ring of the Empire, eight fortresses guarded the capital. Of the eight cardinal directions, Whitemoon Citadel faced the West. But even the fortresses themselves were protected by countless outposts and fortified towns. An assault on the capital could be considered to be a futile attempt due to the octagonal web of protection.

It was this high level of security that allowed the residents of the citadel to live easy-going lives. The markets boomed with trades, despite the ever present monster hordes outside of the walls. European styled shops that belonged to the Middle Ages filled every street and avenue, emptying the pockets of countless adventurers every day.

Out of them all, one particular general store was closed on a completely fine day. No shopkeeper with any sense would refuse the opportunity to rake in the money without a good reason. Despite this, the shopkeeper merely spent his time chatting with a tall armless man over a cup of tea.

“So that’s what happened… how intriguing” The hard-faced shopkeeper said, his eyes gleaming with interest. Lou’s recollection of his adventure around town seemed to be a pleasant surprise for the shopkeeper.

“Yes, I obviously remembered the wrong address to the healer’s house. Can you repeat it again?” Lou said.

The shopkeeper lifted a nouveau riche teacup and sipped on his tea. He stared blankly at the grooves on the wooden table, deep in thought. It didn’t seem like the shopkeeper heard his request, so Lou opened his mouth again to repeat his sentence.

“Excuse me, can I—” He began.

“So why did you accept her request? Do you believe that you could defeat a demon?” The shopkeeper interrupted him.

Lou closed his mouth and shook his head.

“I haven’t even seen a demon before. How’d I know whether I could beat it? Chances are, I won’t be able to” He replied.

“Then?”

Lou knitted his brows, finding the right words to explain.

Actually, Lou already knew that there was a chance of succeeding the quest. This virtual world, Armus, was a game. A quest handed out in the starting city would have to comply with certain standards. Therefore, there must be a certain strategy behind completing this D ranked quest that involved a bit more thinking than using brute force.

The truth was an impractical thing to say to the shopkeeper. Because he was an NPC.

“Even if there’s only a small possibility, I wouldn’t know unless I try. Besides, we Users can’t die permanently anyway” He paused, then added. “And I couldn’t just leave behind Natalya’s soul to disappear”

‘Better cut out all the excess details for the NPC’s sake. Giving an extra reason might help, too. Not like I’m lying though, I did sympathise with Natalya… a tiny bit’

The shopkeeper frowned, looking unconvinced by his words. He couldn’t really blame him. Now that he thought about it again, his line did sound cheesy. This action proved that the NPCs weren’t so simple, and had the same level of intellect as him. Or maybe higher, he hoped not.

“Well then, if you haven’t met a demon before…let me just tell you that you have absolutely no chance” The shopkeeper said, sizing Lou up with his eyes. “There’s no room for any tricks. You won’t have the time to pull it off with your current power”

‘Well, that sucks’ Lou thought. The shopkeeper must’ve been able to check his level and stats in a way. Basing on the shopkeeper’s physique, he reckoned that the NPC had a rough background. So the judgement he gave should be highly accurate and reliable.

The shopkeeper realised Lou’s silence, and grinned. He emptied the teacup in one gulp, and banged it on the table. It’s a wonder that it didn’t shatter into a million pieces.

“However, things might be different if you beef up a little”

“If you mean heading over to the training hall, I’d have to decline” Lou said. He had seen the monstrous line of users waiting for their turns every day. Even when the hall closed at night, some of them would sleep outside, waiting for the sun to rise. “I don’t have the time to spend on training. If I can’t defeat the demon, then I’ll locate it and ask for help from the guards”

“Guards, huh?” The shopkeeper rolled his eyes.

“Yes, guards. As in hired warriors who are paid to protect the citadel”

The shopkeeper snorted at his words. He then shook his head and shrugged, as if Lou had uttered a very childish sentence. Heat rose up to Lou’s head, but he kept himself in check.

‘As annoying as he is… this NPC knows a lot more about this world than I do. Maybe I did say something wrong, so I better listen first’

“Okay, Lou. Suppose you find this demon, how would you notify the guards?”

“If it didn’t notice me, then I’ll go and fetch them. If it did, I’ll scream for help and run away. Next time I see it, I’ll know how it looks like. Even if I die, I can just come back” Lou answered. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t given any thought to this.

“Yes, that’s a sensible choice that makes full use of your special characteristics. But, let’s analyse your opponent…” The shopkeeper stood up and walked over to the window. He opened the curtain slightly, just enough for a blade of light to enter. “Your target, Lou… is a demon that had hidden from the eyes of hundreds of thousands of people. Now, try to put that piece of information into your strategy planning and recalculate your course of action”

Lou frowned, thinking hard about what the shopkeeper implied.

‘Did he mean I wouldn’t find the demon?’ After all, the demon had hidden in the city for God knows how long. ‘No, I don’t think that’s what he meant. We were discussing about what happens after I find it. Then… I see!’ Lou widened his eyes upon gaining an understanding of the shopkeeper’s words.

“Since it is a master of concealment, the demon could be capable of altering its appearance! Even if I return with the guards, I might not be able to identify it. That’s what you meant, right?”

“Partly. You could’ve done better, though…” The shopkeeper said, turning Lou’s cheeks red. “Changing its looks, constantly moving around, shadow melding… who knows how it hides itself? But that’s only one aspect. Since it had hid itself for quite some time, it must be a cautious one, and avoid appearing in front of many people. I believe you would never find it again if you bring the guards over, not in the one week you have”

“So in the end, I’ll have to fight it myself” Lou muttered under his breath, his head hung low. He released a long sigh, expelling all the disappointment and frustration he had built up since he entered this world. Then, he turned his gaze towards the shopkeeper. Now that there’s only one path to follow, he removed all unnecessary worries in his head.

“Okay, mister shopkeeper. Let’s go with your plan”

“It’s Kyle. Glad to hear you making sense”

***

“So, this is a new candidate?”

‘Candidate?’ Lou thought.

It was his third day on Armus, and he followed Kyle to the Beginner’s Training Hall as instructed. He wanted to camp in front of the hall yesterday, but Kyle told him to stay over at his house. Lou thought the man had his own reasons, and complied. But he almost regretted agreeing with Kyle once he saw the familiar line of Users.

Just as he was about to groan, Kyle dragged him to the very front and greeted the instructor like an old friend. In less than a minute, the instructor ushered them in.

“Well, not my candidate… but you can consider him so. Anyway, I have to get back to my shop now. Take care of mister Lou here, and toughen him up” Kyle glanced at Lou and winked.

“Take care then, buddy!” Kyle said while waving goodbye at the entrance.

‘Hey, you’re just leaving me here? That’s it?’ Just as Lou had that thought, he felt a palm grasping his shoulder. A quick turn of his head revealed the bear of a man who people referred to as the instructor.

Lou always kept one fact close to his heart. ‘There is always someone greater than you’, which applied to any characteristics one had. As such, he wasn’t easily shocked by meeting his betters. However, the instructor was the first person to have made him feel like a powerless puppy, both in size and strength.

“H-hello, I’m Lou. Nice to meet you!” He put on the best smile he could muster, displaying his pearly whites. All that toothpaste he spent his money on better not disappoint him.

The instructor’s face cracked into a smile. Cracked, because his jaws looked like they could crunch steel. ‘All those edges, did his mother sculpt him to life?’ Lou thought. The clean shaved head didn’t make the instructor look any less vicious either. Not to mention the next words he said.

“Hello, fresh meat”

Lou gulped down his saliva.

***

The training hall buzzed with activity as usual, but this was the first time Lou observed it from the inside. The football field-sized building housed rows upon rows of straw dummies. Each of them occupied the centre of small areas about nine metres squared in size, enough space for even the wildest sword swingers.

The Users wielded a variety of weapons, with varying proficiencies and enthusiasm. The way he saw it, the Users were split into three groups. The first group was the lazy bums, who merely tapped the dummies with wooden swords while chatting with each other. It was probably an attempt to cheat the system. They probably thought the system would award them with bonus stat points after a certain number of hits. Lou couldn’t tell whether that would work or not, but he wasn’t interested in copying them.

The second group was the experts, who distanced themselves from each other. From short wooden daggers to quarterstaffs, and even bare-handed, they exhibited a certain level of skill when hitting the dummies. Wasteful movements were rare, and most of their hits landed on precise spots on the dummy. Those without knowledge of the human anatomy wouldn’t recognise those areas as vital spots, which induced death after receiving sufficient damage.

The third group…

“Yin Yang Dragon Strike of the Heavenly Thunder Cloud!” One person shouted as he swung his fist at the dummy.

“Ghostly Footsteps: Dance of the Shadow Demon: Version Two: Chapter Six!” Another person hopped about the immobile dummy, pretending to evade a storm of imaginary attacks.

“Wahahahaha! Once I open my Evil God’s Eye, the seal on my right arm would be broken and the Black Dragon which even my master could not control would raze you to cinders!” A small girl shouted, while keeping one of her eyes closed. It also looked like she had bandaged one of her hands, for some reason.

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‘How terrible was their life on Earth that they carried over their escapism to this world?’ Lou thought as he eyed the eight-grade syndrome group. He shook his head in pity.

“How long are you going to stare at other people?  Get started!” The instructor’s voice boomed behind him.

‘He’s got a point. Now’s not the time for this’

Lou cracked his neck and returned his attention to the straw dummy reserved just for him. He adjusted his breathing according to a specific rhythm, and channelled his inner strength throughout his whole body.

‘It’s been so long since I did anything like this. Have I gotten rusty?’

He spread his legs wider, lowering his centre of gravity. Left leg forward, right leg backwards. Having prepared his battle stance, Lou pumped in his power into his calves. He felt the familiar feeling of his muscles expanding and…

He did a roundhouse kick.

The twist in his hips, the rotation of his upper body, the pressure he applied on the pivot foot, every movement was intended to combine the strength of his entire body into one explosive attack. As a result, his right leg cut through the air like a guillotine. However…

Several inches before his attack connected, he lost his balance. The trajectory of his attack strayed from the target, and he spun in a circle before stumbling onto the floor. The noise he made when falling down attracted the attention of the surrounding Users.

“Did he just fall down?”

“Haha, seriously? He couldn’t even handle a dummy?”

“He’s armless, AND harmless! Ahahahahahahah, I’m funny, aren’t I?”

“Dude, that’s just tasteless”

His noise attracted the surrounding Users, and their conversation attracted even more Users in turn. In a matter of seconds, the attention of every single User moved towards him. The Hall turned deathly quiet, with everyone pausing their practice session.

Lou grit his teeth and got back onto his feet. He retook his previous stance, and focused on the dummy. He tuned out the sound of his newly gained spectators. Then, he forcefully excluded everyone’s presence from his senses. To him, in this world right now, only he and the dummy existed.

‘It’s okay. I was already aware of my balance issues, and I’ve abandoned martial arts for too long. The previous mistake was expected. All that’s left now is to recalibrate myself’

He repeated the roundhouse kick.

With a loud thud, he fell onto the floor again.

‘Almost there, the feeling is just at the tip of my toes. One more time!’

He stumbled.

‘Again!’

‘Another one!’

The same scene repeated itself multiple times, and most of the Users diverted their attention away from him. Some continued to observe him with mild interest. A few hurled insults at him, and laughed at his fruitless efforts. But the experts had their attentions caught by Lou’s movements. They sensed it. They could tell from the flawless technique, that Lou wasn’t a simple cripple. Something big was coming, they could feel it in their pounding hearts.

Lou adjusted his stance, and tried again. For the seventh time, his right leg transformed into a guillotine and sliced through the air. However…

A loud thud and a crack resounded throughout the hall. The Users who had lost attention earlier returned their gazes towards him. By observing the scene, they understood that Lou had finally landed a hit. But all of them wondered, what was that cracking sound? All, except those near Lou.

Upon closer inspection, the dummy was slightly tilted to the left. Thin cracks spread on the stone floor. The cracks originated from the iron pole that supported the dummy.

Lou removed his right leg, and the Users gasped.

Half of the dummy’s face was caved in. Their reactions weren’t unfounded. No matter how hard they hit their straw dummies, they could only slice off strands of hair. When they used blunt force, the straw would rebound and resume a shape close to its original state. However… the straw dummy head kicked by Lou had been permanently deformed.

That one kick from a Level 1 like them had exceeded the tensile strength of the straw!

But Lou didn’t realise any of his spectators’ reactions. Until he regained full control of his body, he didn’t dare to remove the mental filter he placed to isolate himself from the surroundings.

‘More…that was still amateurish. I’m still too rusty, I need to practice more!’

Roundhouse kick, axe kick, flying knee, leg sweep. He didn’t even notice the message windows that appeared to warn him of the damages he received from strong impact. Everything that wasn’t a part of his body or the dummy was inexistent. This was the highest state of concentration he had ever reached in life, probably due to the pain reduced to 1% in this world.

‘Yes, I’m regaining the feeling! This was how it was back then!’

Lou rained a flurry of kicks onto the dummy, steadily deforming it into a pulp. The spectators did nothing but watch him, enraptured by his smooth yet powerful movements. Even the third group stopped their imaginary battles and looked at him.

‘You’re finished!’

Lou spun his body and jumped. Utilising the rotational force, his legs arced through the air before hitting the battered dummy. With one ear-splitting screech, the iron pole scraped through the floor and uprooted itself from the stone. The dummy tumbled away and knocked a person off his feet. Nobody batted an eye for the victim, since he was the one who hurled the most insults at Lou.

‘I did it…’

With that thought in mind, Lou reopened himself to the world. And a loud round of applause and cheering greeted him.

The instructor cupped his hands and yelled at him. “You have skills, fresh meat!”

‘What? Eh?’

He turned his head left and right in confusion, taking a moment to understand the situation. Then, he tended to the numerous system notification windows that had popped up.

Strength + 1

Agility + 1

Stamina + 1

Charisma + 2

Fame + 30

And another half a dozen with the same messages. There was also a few windows displaying different information from the stats he gained.

New stat generated: Fighting Spirit

You’ve proven to have strong willpower which is capable of enduring strong psychological pressure. Disregarding the humiliating situation, you pressed on to your goal.

Description:

-Weaker monsters would avoid you

-Monsters with lesser fighting spirit would have a small stat reduction when battling against you

-Points cannot be distributed to this stat

-This stat would increase when facing difficult situations head on regardless of physical or psychological nature

Fighting Spirit + 5

You have acquired a passive skill:

Close Combat Mastery (Beginner Lv: 1 | 0%)

You have displayed magnificent control of your body in close combat! Many would scoff at the thought of fighting in close proximity to your opponent, but you have proven that taking the fight up close and personal is a strategy that should not be underestimated.

Effect:

Increases Attack Power when fighting in close combat (+3% ATK)

Increases Attack Speed when fighting in close combat (+3% ATK SPD)

‘A skill! But that still pales in comparison to this window…’

You have been granted the title: Martial Artist

Your smooth and powerful use of martial arts had entranced numerous people. Many seek martial arts for the sake of power, but most forget that it is a form of art. Whenever you fight, interest would soar among the spectators.

Effect:

+1 to all stats

+30% to NPC intimacy growth rate if they see you performing martial arts

+5% to ATK & ATK Speed when fighting in close combat

Lou stared at his new title in awe. Without wasting any time, he shouted a command.

“Apply Title: Martial Artist!”

Your active title had been switched from Pitiful One to Martial Artist

‘Finally… I’m free from that accursed title! Martial artist… this feels so nostalgic. It’s been so long’

Lou panned his head to view the crowd. All of them had resumed their training with doubled efforts. Even the lazy bums group began practicing earnestly. The experts performed flashy techniques, intent on showing their skills that didn’t fall far behind him. As for the third group… they tried to integrate his movements into their imaginary play. As long as they’re happy, Lou thought.

‘This scene, it’s just like the old days. When my fans and competitors get excited watching me fight and tried out my moves in front of the television!’ Lou paused and smiled bitterly at his missing stumps. Not because he couldn’t accept losing them. The reason was an incident which occurred on the same day that he lost those precious hands of his…

The day he first experienced defeat.

***

Next part is flashback time! [th_053_XD.gif]

But I have a test the day after tomorrow [th_110_.gif], so it might be a bit late.

P.S.: I have no idea whether it is humanely possible to exceed the tensile strength of straw with the human body or not. I just added that in for the wow factor. If it offends you in any way, please turn a blind eye to it! [th_0gotas.gif]