16
Finally, the day was here.
After admittedly another week of having my ass handed to me by Taiyang and practicing my, quite frankly, unfair strats on him while still getting my ass cheeks clapped, it was time for both Yang and I to duke it out.
I stared at the ceiling as I lay on my bed, a grin creeping up my face while my arms trembled with anticipation. It's been nearly a month since my last completed quest, and the day canon arrives is not too far away.
I've been in this world for a total of four months, I think… A quarter of a year in Remnant standards. Thank God they use the same calendar as back on Earth, it would be hell to adjust to the new time difference.
Imagine a world where instead of there being 24 hours a day, make it about 30 hours a day. That's six more hours in a day, six more hours in which my body wouldn't be able to adapt properly, unlike the people already on this floating rock in space who have adapted to it for millennia.
That would be a trial and a half, and I do not like trial by fires, much more if it means destroying my sleep cycle. Already did it once, and I regretted it so, so much.
Anyway, my tirade about time bullshit and whatnot notwithstanding, I think it's time to get ready for the glorious beat down I'll be giving Yang. I want that bonus objective, damnit.
[Brawl of the Century (Maybe)]
[Objective: Beat Yang Xiao Long in a spar]
[Bonus Objective: Dominate her in the spar]
[Rewards: 2 perk points, 2 item rolls, 20 stat points]
[Bonus Rewards: 1 epic perk roll, 1 epic item roll, (Redacted)]
The last time I got a redacted quest reward, I got a perk that made my body something of a game character. I mean, who the fuck heals to full of just 8 hours of sleep?
Nobody, that's who. Nobody but me, thanks to this bullshit System. Then again, most Systems strapped to a protagonist in fictions make them helluva OP, whether they be RNG based, grind-based, or even exploit-based.
Never-ending fast growth with a bunch of potential abilities was a scary ability to have. That brings me to the question, however, if the ability wasn't game designed, would it have attracted many readers in the first place?
I don't know, I'm not a writer.
And there I go again going on a rant. Damn this brain of mine. Always going off on tangents when stressed. Quite annoying, actually.
Moving on, I got out of bed and quickly made my way to the showers. It was a ritual at this point. Wake up early, contemplate my life decisions for a second or two, then huff it to the bathroom to beat the two girls from ever getting in.
They take a fucking eternity to get done. Like hell I'm waiting for an hour just to take a bath. Who takes that long for a bath anyway? Just ten minutes is enough to give yourself a good scrub.
Seeing that I wasn't beaten to the finish line, I swiftly hopped into the room and began taking my clothes off. Sweet, cold relief awaited me within the humid confines of this tiny space.
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I glare at Yang, who was giving me a smirk with her hands on her hips, Ember Celica nowhere to be found. That was a relief, we didn't exactly lay out the terms of our fight when we agreed to it in the first place.
I'd rather not get shotgunned in the face, thank you very much.
"So, big guy. Ready to get your ass clapped?" Yang's continued giving me that smug smirk, causing me to chortle in response.
"Not really. Are you?" I gave her my own smug smirk, making the blond girl laugh, hands coming down to slap her knee while she bent over wheezing.
"D-damn. Didn't think you had it in you." Yang's guffawing didn't stop for a few more seconds until she reigned it in with a snort. "This is gonna be fun."
"Oh, yes, it will." I gave my best evil grin. This was going to be fun. For me, that is. If there's one thing Yang is weak at, it's her mental. Make her angry, she goes sloppy. She goes sloppy, this fight becomes easier.
But there's a caveat, the angrier she gets, the harder she's gonna punch. And frankly, I don't like my odds against a full-powered punch from an angry Yang. My endurance could barely withstand Taiyang's hard blows, but a full-on punch from her daughter, who also had a semblance that amplified her attacks the more damage she takes?
Yeah, no thank you. Fortunately, stamina isn't an issue for me. From my experiments with Taiyang, most of my subtle acts of magic cost little to no energy. I don't know if I had mana, and from what I gathered, my perks don't use mana as well. The perks, instead, use my stamina as a source of energy, but with my other perk that increases stamina based on how tough I am, yeah, you could see where I'm going.
Something I was so happy to exploit. Include the fact that I decided to go full throttle with my Earthen Channeling one day and went dead on my feet after a few hours of non-stop action, and yes, I wasn't too worried about stamina.
What worries me is her fully powered attack. Taiyang's blows felt like a truck ramming me at full speed, but a fully powered Yang punch? Please, no.
Stretching just to get my joints at the ready, Yang did the same and prepared herself. A few minutes later and we were ready to give each other a rough pummeling, only for us to stop when we heard a whistle coming from the side.
"Hey, no fair! You were gonna spar but didn't invite me!?" Ruby yelled while Zwei, the Xiao Long-Rose household pet, yipped in her arms. "Yaaang! You meanie!"
"Oh, oops. Sorry sis." Yang abashedly smirked, a hand behind her head. "Sorta slipped my mind. Anyway, you're here now, so you can see your big sis give this big guy the beating of a lifetime!"
"Hmph! Go Jack! Kick her butt for me!" Ruby gave a raised cheer, and I responded in kind. This caused Yang to sulk, which was kind of comedic, but I know a few seconds later, this was probably gonna be one of the hardest fights I'm gonna be in this month.
Also, I can show Ruby how cool of a housemate I am! This teen girl must be spoiled rotten, and nobody is gonna stop me!
And then I rerun that sentence back through my mind and winced. Yeah, that made me look like a pedo.
Anywho, time to start.
"Yang, on three." I took a stance, and Yang did too. She really is copying her father. Is she a lowkey daddy's girl? "One, two, three!"
The two of us charged one another. My fist cocked back, and I saw Yang do the same. Smirking, I let the earth underneath her shift slightly. Her eyes widened and she lost her footing, causing her swing to go wide. Meanwhile, my cocked fist found her chin and gave her one hell of an uppercut.
I saw her grit her teeth and her eyeballs tracked mine. In an instant, she wrapped her legs around me while she was still slightly airborne from the nasty uppercut I gave her and tripped me to the ground, the blond brawler following suit.
She got me in a chokehold when we landed, and for all intents and purposes, this was where I was supposed to lose because holy shit, she was a fucking menace!
Even with that sneaky blow throwing her off, she was still raring to go and had the energy of a bull. Gritting my teeth as my windpipe felt nearly crushed, I pointed a finger at her face and let fly a spray of water.
Yang sputtered and I felt her hold on me loosen, which was enough for me to break free from the hold. Goddamn, sparring with Taiyang was a fucking godsend. Thank you for all the beat downs disguised as teaching you fucking sadist!
Taking in a deep breath, my heart hammered in my chest as I tried to get my bearings, but a smirk flew up on my face nonetheless. Meanwhile, Yang was sputtering as she tried to get the water out of her eyes, an opening I was sure to exploit.
I rushed her while simultaneously shifting the earth underneath her, causing the blond to trip slightly. However, she was able to find her footing at the last second and throw a punch coming my way.
Eyes widening, I quickly brought up reinforcement through my left arm to block the incoming blow. The blow connected and my bones rattled, but overall, it wasn't anything bad thanks to my aura and endurance perks. Yang, however, was gonna get something very special from me.
Extending my claws, I pumped them full of reinforcement as well and moved to rake her across the chest. Quite dangerous to the blond, if I do say so myself, but she had aura, and as long as she had aura, she will not be badly harmed.
My claws made contact and I saw a shimmering yellow mist-like thing protect her squishy flesh from harm. I guess that's how aura looks like here.
With my body following the motion, I stretched out my leg behind me and gave the still sputtering blond a heel to the head. Once again, her aura protected her but she no doubt felt the impact.
Her head tilted to the side and her body followed suit, Yang herself tumbling to the ground with a yelp.
Still not letting up, I throw sand at her face while she dropped to make sure she didn't get a chance. Is it dirty? Hell yes. Is it necessary? Abso-fucking-lutely. The girl scares me, and if we were fighting fair and square, she would wipe the floor with me in no seconds flat.
It's why I had to resort to this, also, because of the quest, because goddamn if I ain't missing another OP perk.
I then straddled her before throwing a few reinforced punches to her face, which she seemed to block with her arms, before I decided to give a reinforced knee to her gut. While I did that, I shifted the earth underneath her to form a hollow crevasse underneath the ground beneath us, causing it to crumble when it registered the impact from my knee.
I then pour more water at her face courtesy of my perk and pinning her in a chokehold. I heard her grit her teeth and in a fucking instant, threw me off like a sack of potatoes. I performed an ukemi quickly got back on my feet, my eye observing the blond teen standing up from her position.
She was soaked, she was dirty, but most of all, she was pissed. Her red eyes were all the proof I needed to know she was as angry as a barking chihuahua.
"RAAAAAHHH!!" She then launched herself at me and her hair burned like a cape made of fire. It was mesmerizing. Beautiful.
It was also checkmate.
Grinning, I shift the earth underneath me, causing a hole roughly half my size to appear. Gravity pulled me down and I dodged Yang's blow just from the skin of my teeth, putting me just level against her midriff.
A midriff so utterly unprotected that I just couldn't pass up to give my very best punch. Mimicking what Taiyang taught me, I threw a reinforced straight against Yang's belly. The impact caused the blond to cough out a glob of spit and sent her careening to the ground.
Not wasting any time, I clambered up from my hole and straddled her again while throwing punches against her face. Once more, she blocked them with her arms and I knew not to grapple her from what she did earlier, so I instead abused her poor midriff with my reinforced claws.
She quickly made a move to defend her body and tried to get me off, but a quick shift of earth caused her legs to remain buried underneath the ground.
And I just kept hammering her with punches, claws, and knees until I saw her aura break and stopped.
[Quest Completed!]
[Brawl of the Century (Maybe)]
[Objective: Beat Yang Xiao Long in a spar]
[Bonus Objective: Dominate her in the spar]
[Rewards: 2 perk points, 2 item rolls, 20 stat points]
[Bonus Rewards: 1 epic perk roll, 1 epic item roll, (Redacted)]
[Legendary Combat Perk gained!]
[Ironclad Sentinel (System Version) - Ever enjoyed being that one dude who tanks all the shit? Now you get to play the part. With skin as tough as dragon scales, muscles bulkier than those of a troll, and bones denser than a diamond wall, it's now wonder you fancy yourself invincible. Just make sure your organs are safe, oh wait, is that poison?] (Legendary)
… Welp, Tank build it is then.
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A/N: Gonna release this chap an hour early cuz for some fucking reason, our electricity here keeps on getting blackouts everyday at random times, ranging from a few minutes to motherfucking hours. Hell, it just happened again and it's only been a few minutes since I've booted up my lappy (portable desktop, no battery) to post this chapter.
Also, Bannerlords is fun.
Shameless plugs:
patreon.com/IAmGuavaFruitFictionHub (If you want to read 5 chaps ahead for all my currently ongoing fics, head on over)
discord.gg/v9f5kjsfVv (It's quiet... Too quiet...)