14 14. The way of the sword
"Scar wake up!"
"Ugh, what?"
Scar slowly opened his eyes. His head ached and his eyes were blurry for a moment. Shortly, his vision was again clear and he could see Jin with a bright face.
"You promise me that you'd teach me how to use the sword!"
Jin couldn't wait to be taught by a master swordsman. Stretching his body and as he slowly back up from his bed, Scar scratched his scalp to ease the headache.
"Did I? I don't remember."
Jin pouted like a cute girl knowing that Scar would forget about his promise since he was drunk that night so it would be normal that he wouldn't remember.
"Oh yeah, I did say it. Well then, what are we doing here? Let's go in the back yard!"
"Hai!"
•••••••
Arriving at the backyard, Scar brought to wooden swords with him and gave one to Jin.
"What's this?"
"Can't you tell? It's a sword stupid!"
"But it's made of wood! My strength would easily break its handle."
"Psh, try me."
Jin didn't understand why they had to use wooden swords when they could just use their own words and at that procedure, he could easily master it.
Amusingly they had to use a wooden sword that could easily break with one impact to each other, what was this stupidity that Scar try to do. He was even given a bet that he couldn't break it with gripping it alone so he was quite offended.
'Looking down on me ey?'
Placing all his strength on his right arm, he made sure to clench his fist tightly to crumble the handle to dust.
"Hnnngg!!"
But what was this? No matter how hard he clench the handle, it wouldn't break. He couldn't even hear a crack from the delicate wood.
"What the hell?"
"Wahahahaha! Confidence can be quite amusing sometimes!"
"Psh, did you put something on the sword that's why it's unbreakable?"
"Check its description to see for yourself"
Ting!
Practice Sword
Rank: A+
Type: Sword
+1 DMG
+20% Proficiency
Unique:
This sword is only usable in practice matches. It cannot kill anyone though it can deal with basic pain but it cannot be destroyed.
100 successful hits on an opponent will randomly increase one of your status attributes permanently.
(Stacks up by 100 [0/100])
Item Skill:
[Practice](Buff):
Skill will only activate if another opponent declares for a practice match. Only then will the unique passive will trigger.
"..!"
Jin's eyes widened in shock. Seeing the unique trait of the sword that could permanently increase a status attribute by just hitting an opponent successfully but even if it needs another person to practice with, there was Scar here who would be his training dummy.
"You see now?"
"Yes, but did you make this item?"
"No, master Gred did."
"What? I thought you were taught forgery by your master?"
"I have a similar case with you. Master Gred didn't want me to learn of his ways as wicked people wanted to take advantage of his talent, he only taught me how to defend myself against them and survive in this cruel world."
It seems like Jin and Scar had their own similarities. They both live in an unfair world where people would use you for their own benefits just like a parasite; feeding on the blood of their hosts as means to live and if the host dies, they'd search for another prey to feed on.
"Sigh, well then, let's start with our training."
"Yes, Scar!"
"When we train, call me Master!"
"Aye, aye master!"
"I can't hear you?"
"Aye, aye master!"
"Oooohhhh!!!!"
••••••••
The first part of their training was making Jin swing the sword a thousand times for 3 days. Though this procedure was hard, Jin endured it if it was the way he could improve.
The second part was the defensive stance. Scar would try to hit him and Jin must parry every incoming hit as possible. They'd do this process in 4 days.
The third part was the offensive stance. Jin must try to deal with successful strikes to Scar as much as possible. This process would last up to 5 days.
After training for 12 days straight, Jin could finally feel his body improve at a fast rate. But Jin was still far away from becoming a master, he must first experience an actual combat to become a real swordsman.
Finally, the last part of their training was one-on-one combat. This procedure took 5 days and each day, Jin must fight off each of the beastman who were also professionals when using the swords. To determine victory, Jin must be able to exhaust the opponent until it is unable to fight or Jin must deal with successive strikes to the opponent that regards as fatal damage.
4 days passed by and Jin was able to defeat the 4 of them, he had a hard time-fighting Pete as he had the same technique and proficiency on Scar but fortunately, he had observed Scar's fighting ability and had memorized it so he was still able to attain victory even if the odds were against him.
Today was the final day where Scar and Jin could fight off in one on one.
"Let's make this a bit special don't we?"
"How?"
"We will not use a wooden sword but swords made of actual steel that will penetrate the skin an break the bones of our opponent but don't worry, if the wounds become fatal, we will eventually stop."
"Yes!"
With this new procedure, Jin was excited and thrilled at the same time. This would mean that he could feel the actual feeling of two swordsmen exchanging blows to each other that could mean critical.
Dan brought the two swords to Scar and Jin. The swords were the normal types of weapons but they wouldn't break the same as the practice sword. But the only difference was it was made of actual blade and could deal excruciating pain on their opponent.
•••••••••
Pete was the referee for the round. Both Scar and Jin forcibly held their swords. They looked at each other with serious looks and thought of their opponents first attack and how to counterattack with the blow.
"Don't forget, no use of skills. If one of you uses any type of skill, you will be immediately disqualified."
After Pete finish announcing the rules, the vibe began to change into a serious one.
Each one of them emitted a pressure that made the surroundings cold.
The other three who observed the fight were sent chills on their spine that made them shiver.
"The fight isn't even starting but I could already feel an intimidating aura coming from each of them."
"Scar would definitely win."
"Yeah, Scar's the boss. He'd most probably win."
"Same."
The three of them already knew who'd win the fight but something that made them watch the two clash together closely made them curious if their intuition was right or wrong.
'I would also think Scar would win but expect the unexpected I guess.'
Pete said to himself while refereeing the fight.
'Ever since I started training this kid, it looks like he doesn't even feel any pain. The reason I wanted to use actual swords was that I wanted to let Jin know the disadvantage of being in a painful situation where you would have to keep on fighting until one of you dies. This will also help me find out how much has this kid improve on his harsh training.'
"3, 2, 1.... Fight!"
Woosh!
Jin pushed his feet up to the ground and dashed towards Scar like a bullet fired from a gun.
He swung his sword on Scar's leg to decrease his maximum speed but when his sword stuck to the leg, the blade only flow through the air.
'An after image?!'
"Behind you kid!"
Quickly averting his gaze behind his back, Scar leaped up in the air striking his sword towards the stunned Jin.
Bam!
Crashing down the ground, Scar had manage to hit Jin but what he thought that he had sliced him in half, only the air was pierced by his blade.
"Chuck?!"
"Do you think your do only one who is able to do that? I have watched you fight countless times and your techniques are stuck in my head like superglue. Don't think you can defeat me again that easily!"
Jin had actually evaded the incoming blow and dashed behind for a few meters to avoid the heavy impact from Scar's momentum. As to Scar, this made him more excited seeing that someone would actually be able to make him doubt for a split second.
"This is exhilarating!"
In a blink of an eye, Scar disappeared and reappear on the right side of Jin who was about to deal with a powerful attack.
'On my right? No, on the left!'
Tang! Boom!
In a quick second, Jin had barely defended the incoming attack from his left by an inch. After the swords crashed to each other, flashing sparks formed on the collision of the blade but due to Scar's powerful blow, Jin flew away and crashed on a nearby tree.
'What a powerful strike!'
"Don't let your guard down!"
Scar instantly arrive at Jin's perimeter before he could even back himself up. He defended the incoming attacks with his blade but as Jin continued to defend the barrage of powerful strikes, the non-sharp part of the blade struck deep down his left palm causing blood to grease down his arms.
"Looks like your bleeding a lot! I can stop if you want me to as long as you surrender!'
"Psh! Try me!"
Jin slide the blade vertically from Scar's sword causing friction to spark. This also helps Jin stand up from his feet and he uses the bottom of the handle of his sword to hit Scar's forehead causing Scar to back off a few meters.
Scar touched his forehead and saw that blood had dripped out.
"Let's end this!"
This made him more scream in excitement but before he could move his blade, Jin kicks down his leg causing Scar to collapse in the ground and immediately, Jin pointed the edge of his sword on Scar's throat.
"Do you surrender?"
Seeing that Jin had completely dominated him. He couldn't help but laugh and accepted defeat.
"Hahaha! I actually lose from that cheap move of yours! Fine then, you win."
"Jin has defeated Scar!"
Pete announced the result that made not only him but the other beastman jaw drop from the unprecedented fight.
"That was wicked."
"Sick."
They couldn't help but feel an awe from that fight and eventually applause Jin to his victory.
"By the way Jin, it didn't look like you felt a single bit of pain from that attack I just did. Do you even feel a single pain?"
"It's due to my passive skill [Pain Nullification]."
"What? So you cheated!"
"You didn't ask me beforehand! Even still, I can't deactivate this passive as it's already stuck on me at the first moment we met."
"I see, I understand but you really did show quite a fight! I'm impressed, truly impressed!"
"Thanks."
Ting!
CONGRATULATIONS! FOR MASTERING GRED'S SWORDSMANSHIP, YOU HAVE RECEIVED A GIFT FROM THE SYSTEM!
Please pick between this two:
Muramasa (A)
Way of the Sword (Special Feat)
"..!"
