Hi again everyone.
I ended up writing most of the day again lol, I promise to try not to burn myself out.
Chapter 5 will likely take at least a couple of days to write, since it will almost certainly be the last chapter of this volume, that's excluding the Epilogue.
I already have an idea for Volume 2, and a possible one for Volume 3 if I can keep going.
Thanks for reading and rating, and all criticism is welcome. ~borgen92
[p=center]The Winged Knight[/p]
[p=center]Volume 1 - Chapter 4.5 - Master Matt[/p]
When I returned to the Palace, I saw that the time was only 10.00 before I was greeted with a "Welcome back." from the research team.
I turned towards the screen-wall and saw that almost all of them were there, the only one that seemed to be missing was Helen.
That's a shame. I thought a bit regretfully.
"Hello everyone, thank you for always welcoming me back." I told them with a warm smile. They all smiled and went back to whatever it was that they were doing.
I walked closer to the screen and asked Allie: "Allie, do you think you could allow Matt to join me for a couple of hours? And don't worry, I'm not playing favorites it's just that I was thinking if maybe he could teach me whatever Martial Arts he does." I told her sincerely.
She smiled back at me. "Don't worry, I think we could survive a little favoritism even if that's what it was. And that depends on Dr. Matthew." She said turning towards Matt.
"Do you want to teach him some martial arts Dr. Matthew?" He nodded with a grin and walked over to one of the capsules in the room that connected to the Palace.
Allie turned back towards me. "He'll be there shortly, so maybe you should change into something better suited for training." She said with a small smile pointing at my jeans that had become my standard wear here.
"Maybe I should." I told her with a wry smile and made my way up to the master bedroom to change.
[p=center]***[/p]
When I came down wearing some shorts and a black t-shirt, Matt was waiting for me.
"Let's create a gym." He told me with a grin, at first I was dumbfounded but quickly realized what he was talking about. So I brought up the spawning menu and created a gym outside the Palace.
We made our way outside and now a new building stood next to the pool, it looked completely natural as if it had always been there.
Sometimes the godly powers of the spawning menu makes me a little uncomfortable.
We walked inside it and found ourselves in a completely equipped gym. Everything from weights to training machines and even a fighting ring in the middle of the room.
"Okay, let's enter the ring." Matt said walking towards it and I followed him.
After we entered the ring Matt told me to take a seat, and we both sat down inside it.
"From now on, whenever we're training you will call me 'Master' or 'Master Matt'. If you refuse, I won't teach you." He said with a smug smile.
Asshole, I'll pay him back for this somehow. I thought highly irritated.
"Alright, I guess I have to agree Master Matt." I managed barely to restrain myself when he grinned hugely at my acceptance.
"Okay, I've practiced Martial Arts since I was 7, that means I've done Martial Arts for 22 years. My main focus is hand-to-hand combat, but our style teaches all kinds of weapons so I've got more than the basics in everything. But hand-to-hand is my passion." His change was so sudden I almost flinched, he was so serious and focused like I'd never seen him before.
22 years of training, huh. This guy is a lot tougher than I thought. My plans for revenge was put on hold for the moment.
"So I presume you want to learn sword, spear and hand-to-hand right?" He asked me still in that serious tone, and I nodded.
"That's what I thought, this will help you a lot in Royal Road you know. Since actions can create skills there, for example I've got all sorts of techniques and many of them has been created in Royal Road as well." I was a bit surprised by that, I'd heard actions could create skills and stats, but I didn't know that included Martial Art techniques.
"Anyway, let's do this. We'll go with 1 hour Sword, 1 hour Spear and 1 hour Hand-to-Hand. After that we'll take a break for an hour, and go to the pool and get something to eat. And just so you know, if you want me to continue teaching you this is the minimum we'll do every day. As long as it doesn't interfere with my work I'll train you around 5 hours a day." He told me seriously.
I was more than a little touched that he was willing to spend this much time on me, and my irritation at having to call him 'Master Matt' had shrunk immensely.
After that we got up, and I spawned two bokkens for us to practice with. And since this was virtual reality, we only felt around 10% of normal pain, and our health here in the Palace was infinite. So that meant that we didn't have to worry about injuries, and could fight without holding anything back.
We got into our positions at the opposite sides of the ring, then our first spar started. I decided to remain at my position and try to find out how good he was, and if I could find an opening I'd take it immediately.
Matt advanced on me slowly, almost leisurely. I stood my ground, he tried me out with a slash towards my left ribs. I barely managed to deflect the blow, and once I'd recovered his bokken came crashing down on my shoulder and I found myself on the mat groaning in pain. 10% was still something when he hit you with enough force to shatter bones.
"Well, that was pretty bad." He told me in a mocking tone that made my temper flare and I instantly got back up, ready for more.
"Good, that's the spirit. Now let's start for real shall we?" He said with a vicious smile that sent shivers down my spine.
Is he a male Katherina? I thought a bit apprehensively.
[p=center]***[/p]
Three hours later I was exhausted, not just physically but mentally as well. Just because I have infinite health here, didn't mean I have infinite stamina apparently. And while I don't develop any bruises, the sheer amount of strikes I received during our training was enough to mentally drain me.
We finished our training and walked to the pool where I promptly collapsed into a floating mattress and started to glide inside the pool.
Our training had proved his words. He almost never showed an opening, and when he did it was almost always bait that made me lunge for it while he dodged the attack easily, and proceeded to give me a hard whack.
He was incredibly skilled.
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I don't mind calling him Master anymore. I thought I was pretty decent since I've been sparring with Kat, but I don't think I realized just how much the game helps me out by subtly moving my strikes to better places using The Flowing Water Style.
And another thing I realized was just how much unnecessary movement I had. Sometimes I used excessively large movements that drained a lot more stamina than was necessary, and Matt had explained that one of the hardest thing to do for any Martial Artist is to eliminate all excess movement. To distill every movement until it used no more stamina than what was necessary.
I had by no means achieved this yet, but I was beginning to eliminate the unnecessary things I used to do while fighting.
I rolled off the mattress into the cool water of the pool and swam a little before climbing out of it.
"So, are you still willing to be taught by me?" Asked Matt when he saw me coming out of the pool, he was currently resting in a comfortable chair next to the pool.
"Sure, this is nothing compared to Katherina's training." A millisecond after I finished the sentence I realized the grave mistake I just made.
When Matt heard that his eyes flashed and he started smiling fiercely.
"Well, then I suppose we'll just have to step up our game won't we my dear student?" he said as the fierce smile transformed into an even fiercer grin.
Me and my stupid mouth, that was probably the worst thing I could have said! I'm an Idiot! I thought regretfully.
After my idiocy we spawned some lunch, he slipped back into teacher mode and reviewed what I did wrong, what I didn't do that I should and what I did right.
Finishing the lunch we went back inside the gym for another 2 hours of sparring.
[p=center]***[/p]
After the training finished, Matt logged out as it was time for him to get off work.
I was very tired from all the training, but I still wanted some company. I walked over to the wall-screen and saw that most of them had gone home, the only ones left were the ones supposed to take the night shift.
Dr. Erica Tamberlaine sat at a desk doing what looked like paperwork while Dr. Robert Galeman was glued to a computer and looked to be concentrating intensely.
"Erica, I'm not sure if I should bother you guys all the time, but do you think you have the time for a short visit to the Palace?" I tried to sound nonchalant but it came out almost a little desperately. I was lonelier than I even thought I was.
She looked up from her paperwork and gazed at my face for a few seconds before responding with: "I'll be there shortly."
I almost sighed in relief. I'm kind of pathetic, but I want to know someone is physically close... instead of this small empty world that I'm in.
I walked over to the kitchen table and seated myself there waiting for Erica to arrive.
With a bright flash she entered the Palace, looking around she saw me and started walking here.
After arriving she seated herself in the opposite chair.
"So how's Lisa?" I asked her trying to get a conversation going.
She smiled and answered: "She's good, and recently started first grade."
"Wow, can she read yet or is it still too early?" I asked with a kind smile.
Erica can seem kind of cold, until you mention her daughter and then she lights up like a Christmas tree.
"A little. She knows most of the alphabet, but trying to put all the letters together can sometimes end up with... amusing results." she smiled at some memory.
"Like?" I asked her interested in what provoked the smile.
"We were at McDonalds a few weeks ago, and she insisted that she was going to order by herself and read what was included in the meal. I agreed, and we waited in line until it was our turn. It seemed my daughter wanted to ask a question about her meal, so she asked the man at the counter with an innocent smile 'What's with the harpy deal?'"
I laughed and she smiled at my reaction.
"The look on the man's face was priceless, especially with my daughter standing there beaming at him. She was quite proud she'd managed to read the name of the meal, of course she knew what a Happy Meal was, it's her favorite but she was very interested in this thing called a 'Harpy Deal' that looked exactly like a Happy Meal on the picture." she told me with a small laugh.
"There's been other things such as that, but no other as amusing." I smiled at her.
"Marcus, do you play chess?" Erica asked me seemingly out of nowhere.
"I've only played it a few times, and I recall I'm not very good at it." I told her with a wry smile.
"Maybe we should try to change that." She said in a serious tone as she gazed at me.
"... Alright, I'll create a chessboard just hold on a second." I said a little uncomfortable at the intensity of her look.
I created a chessboard and we started playing while she taught me for the rest of the evening, before I headed up to sleep and she logged out.
[p=center]***[/p]
I woke up around 07.30, and as soon as I came down the stairs dressed in my training clothes Matt logged in for our daily training.
Around 6 hours later after I'd finished the training and gotten some rest, I logged back onto Royal Road.
[p=center]***[/p]
"So what are your thoughts on Marcus?" Dr. Allison asked Dr. Erica when they were alone in the lab.
"Like Dr. Matthews said, he's lonely but I believe he's doing better than most people would. Though I do think he keeps too much of his worries and grief locked tight inside. He needs to open up to someone and let it all out." Dr. Erica told Dr. Allison in a serious but slightly sad tone.
"I agree, let's just hope he finds someone he feels comfortable talking about this with. Otherwise we might have to bring in his parents to help him." Dr. Allison said in a slightly worried tone.
"Don't worry Allie," Dr. Erica said in an uncharacteristically soft voice, "I have a... feeling that he is about to find that someone."
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