32 Chapter 032: World Kendo Championship

Alright, I will summon a new clone and attempt a lucky draw when I save up 100 years again.

[Lifespan] 10 years (-100 years)

After getting enough to revive his clone, Chrono decided to stop for they day as he had plans to meet his best friends. He met up with Shane, Aloy and KS for a meal and spent the rest of the night catching up with many rounds of alcohol at a famous bar. At the same time, he gave them the invitation to Mina's party that would be held the coming Saturday.

-----

The next day.

Ouch. My head. Shouldn't have drunk so much last night.

Chrono massaged his temples as he sat up from the bed and glanced at the clock.

Shit. I'm going to be late for Kendo!

Chrono jumped out of bed as he speedily washed up and headed towards the Dojo.

-----

"Good news everyone. Sensei Kirito, my very good friend's top student and your Captain, Nigel, has qualified and entered the World Kendo Championship held triennially. We will learn the Mokuso and Za Rei next week instead, today we will be going down to the national stadium to support her!" Sensei Kenji announced.

They then proceeded to board the bus that was chartered to bring them to the national stadium.

On the bus, Sensei Kenji started to boast and exaggerate his life story with the students, "20 years ago, Kirito and I met a wild bear in the wilderness. Wielding just a shinai in our hand, we managed to kill the wild bear. When the wild bear stood up on its rear leg, it was almost twice our height…"

Chrono started to doze off due to the lack of sleep because of partying too hard last night.

"We aimed our shinai at the bear's armpit at the same…"

*SNORE*

Sensei Kenji stopped his story when Chrono's snore resounded through the bus. Everyone then stared in the direction of Chrono. However, Chrono who was sleeping soundly with a trace of saliva peeking out of the corner of his mouth was oblivious to them. However, the person sitting beside him was not so lucky. He smiled awkwardly and quickly nudged the sleeping Snorlax to attempt to wake him up. If only he had a pokeflute, then he would definitely succeed on his first try. His attempt did not wake Chrono up but instead caused him to snore even louder.

*SNORE*

The vice-captain, seeing that Sensei Kenji was displeased, immediately left his seat and walked towards Chrono.

"Hey you. Wake up. How can you be so disrespectful and fall asleep while our esteemed Sensei is sharing his amazing story with us." He did not forget to praise Sensei Kenji while waking Chrono up.

Just at that moment, Chrono swatted away the fly in his dream and the vice-captain's right cheek happened to be in the trajectory of the slap.

*SMACK*

A bright red palm print could be seen etched on his right cheek. Due to the sudden attack, he staggered backwards and landed on the lap of a female student. His hand unfortunately grabbed onto something that he shouldn't. Feeling the shape of a breast, the vice-captain slowly turned his head and looked at the girl while his hand continued to linger on her breast.

*SMACK*

He suffered another slap, this time on his left cheek. The whole bus burst into laughter as Nigel quickly separated himself from the girl.

Why are they laughing so loudly?

Chrono finally roused from his sleep and looked around.

Louis Han

[Total life span: 70 years | Current age: 19 | Cause of Death: Natural]

"Hey Louis. What happened? Why are they laughing so loudly?" Chrono wiped his saliva as he turned around and asked Louis.

Louis stared at Chrono disbelievingly as the main culprit had just asked him what is the reason everyone is laughing.

Shortly after, the bus rumbled into the National Stadium's carpark and everyone alighted from the bus.

-----

Entering the stadium, cheers and screams could be heard immediately. Flags from different countries were dotted around the stadium, some hanging from the railings of the grandstand while some were being waved by the spectators as they cheered for the participants they supported.

With so many people crowded in the stadium, Chrono could not help but to smile inwardly as he initiated <Omniscient> as his clone appeared in the Life Bar waiting for their very first customer of the day.

-----

"Next up, Hirai Momo from Katori Kendo Singapore will be against Hildegard Scholl from Kendo Dojo Köln. It is only the second round and we have a match between Hirai Momo and Hildegard Scholl, who are both well known kendoka. Hirai Momo's World rank is 92 whereas Hildegard is placed at 85." The commentator, a british male with thick accent, introduced both the kendoka.

"Everyone, that is Momo, Sensei Kirito's student. Cheering team, begin!" The vice-captain shouted.

Facing the judging panel, both the kendoka and the two referees bowed towards them. Momo and Hildegard then bowed at each other before moving forward to the white line. They drew their shinai and held it before them and proceeded to perform a sonkyo position. Once they stood up, the match started.

(This is pretty much how a kendo match is like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5BkI1ak87s)

"What a splendid tsuki by Hirai Momo!" The British commentator exclaimed. With both referees raising the red flag, Momo secured a win and managed to proceed on the the next round.

Momo who had just completed her match, removed her men (face mask) as she had quite some time till her next match. As she removed her men, a pretty face was revealed and a bright smile could be seen on her face as she walked towards her Sensei. Unwrapping the Tenugui (thin Japanese hand towel made of cotton) that was wrapped around her head, sleek blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders. Wolf whistling and cheering of her name could be heard in abundance from the stands.

Shortly after, Nigel's match commenced and he managed to win by a slight margin and proceeded on to the next round.

Chrono's on the other hand, was busy looking for customers and did not stay together with the rest of the student throughout the matches.

[Lifespan] 15 years (+5 year)

[Lifespan] 23 years (+8 years)

[Lifespan] 27 years (+4 years)

[Lifespan] 28 years (+1 year)

[Lifespan] 32 years (+4 years)

[Lifespan] 42 years (+10 year)

Due to the language barrier, eighty percent of the customers that Chrono chose were a fluke as they were not able to communicate well. Hence, he only managed to earn a mere 27 years.

Looks like I should start learning other languages to make sure such opportunities are not wasted…

Taking a break from walking around the stadium for almost two hours, Chrono walked towards the toilet, lost in his thoughts as he contemplated on which language he should pick up first.

*Thump*

Someone landed on the floor with a loud thump after colliding into Chrono.

"Are you okay?" Chrono looked at the girl who was sitted on the floor. Initially, he wanted to berate the person for not looking when walking. However, seeing that the person was a girl, and a pretty one at that, he decided to forgive and forget as he was a gentleman.

"Ouch. I think I sprained my ankle…" The girl winced in pain as she prodded her ankle with her finger.

"Are you able to stand up?" Chrono offered his hand.

"I think so." The girl attempted to stand up with the assistance from Chrono.

After standing up, she tried to apply pressure on her injured ankle but flinched immediately when she felt the pain shoot up her leg.

"Sheesh. I don't think I'm in any condition to continue the competition… To think that Sensei asked me not to run just moments ago." The girl muttered to herself. "Do you think you can help me back to the competitor's area later?" The girl asked pleadingly.

"Later? Where are you going now?"

"Umm… The toilet."

"Oh. Right. Sure. I'll wait for you here."

Hirai Momo

[Total life span: 90 years | Current age: 20 | Cause of Death: Natural]

Momo who just entered the toilet started to feel very drowsy. While in the cubicle, she fell asleep sitting on the toilet bowl.

-----

"Welcome to the Life Bar!" Chrono2 sounded out.

In the bar, there were four other customers who were enjoying their drink.

-Why am I here?

-In the Life Bar, problems are solved, desires are granted and dreams are fulfilled as long as you are willing to pay the price for it. Hence, if you are here, it would most probably be that you have either a problem, unsatiated desire or unachievable dream.

-Problem… Do you have an instant cure for an ankle sprain?

-Of course.

-Awesome! What is the price for it?

-Generally, a sprain would take almost a month to recover. The current market rate is about six times of it. So the price would be half a year of your lifespan. Your total lifespan is 90 years. However...

-Your sprain will prevent you from continuing your competition which is held every three years. Hence the price will be three years instead of half a year.

-Oh… Three years... Thats long. Can it be cheaper? Afterall, I doubt I would be able to make it into the main bracket. I'm here today to gain experience. So even if I do not continue, I wouldn't have too much of a problem. How about a year? I would definitely purchase it if it costs only one year.

-Hmm… Alright. One year it is then.

[Life Contract]

Name: Hirai Momo

Offering: 1 Year

Receiving: Recovery potion (I)

Signature

_________________

-Here you go. One recovery potion.

[Lifespan] 43 years (+1 year)

-----

Momo opened her eyes minutes after she left the Life Bar. Feeling something cool to touch in her hand, she looked down and saw the recovery potion in her hands. Looking at it suspiciously, still wondering if it was all a dream, she decided to throw caution to the wind and to just drink it down.

Soon enough, her ankle that was swollen started to shrink and in a blink of an eye it reverted back to it's prime condition. Jumping up from the toilet bowl immediately, she quickly rushed out of the toilet and back to the competition area. Totally forgotten that she had asked Chrono to wait for her.

-----

So hungry… What should I eat?

Chrono wandered out of the stadium as his stomach growled.

"Good dogs don't block the way. Old man, you sitting here is blocking our way, which makes you a bad dog!" A loud voice could be heard a short distance away.

Chrono looked towards the direction and found that three males were mistreating an old man dressed shabbily sitting by the roadside. They were insulting him with harsh words and spitting at the old man. Many passersby just gave a pitying glance for the old man and walked away without helping. Chrono, filled with righteous anger stormed towards them while his stomach continued to growl.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Lifespan] 43 years

Next chapter