Get Mean(1)

When Yin arrived at the Training Field, the area was practically abandoned except for Zed. The spear fighter was performing some basic maneuvers on his own, moving with a deliberate slowness that Yin understood as him trying to get a feel for the new limits of his body.

'The Exhaustion debuff has caused a much greater shift in abilities than any of us have experienced thus far,' she thought as she approached. 'As talented as he is, even he would need time to adjust to that.'

"You are surprisingly diligent for someone who normally seems so impulsive," she said once she got close. "I trust that you have not been waiting too long?"

"No, I needed time to get a feel for this anyway," he said calmly, continuing his movements. "And I only seem impulsive because I know what I want."

'I suppose even unstable people have motivations, I wonder…'

"And what do you want?" Yin asked, curious about what made him so dangerous, "to die in battle?"

"Well, that certainly doesn't sound too bad hehe," he said with a chuckle. "But what I want is to be pushed to my limits."

"And you seek that through mortal combat, as opposed to something more conventional?"

"Believe me, I tried," he said bitterly, "I spent too long wasting my time on things that bored me, and I regret every second of it," Zed looked at her.

Yin took in a quick breath, a chill running down her spine. His gaze felt as though it was threatening her like a cornered animal, daring her to test him. They were the eyes of a man that would rather be killed than relive his past.

Suddenly his expression softened. "But I'm not here to be psychoanalyzed or whatever, are you ready to spar?"

"Almost," she said, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Before we begin, do you have any insight you could offer?" she asked, drawing her bow.

"Well, to be honest, I don't use bows that much, and definitely never in close-range combat before. I guess I don't need to tell you that you should use the bow to defend right?"

"I assumed as much," Yin held out the bow, waving it back and forth as if deflecting attacks. "A large object like this makes for a suitable bulwark against attacks."

"Wow, you really like using obscure words don't you?"

Yin frowned, "why does everyone take issue with my choice of vocabulary? Have I committed some misdeed by using words above a middle school level?"

"Hahaha! Alright, if you're getting that annoyed by it I'll drop it." Zed turned silent and looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "I know you're skilled with a bow, you have actual training right?"

"Indeed, I took part in my high school's kyudo club and managed to achieve second Dan before… recent events." Yin could feel her arm twitch slightly as she remembered the accident. Zed seemed to notice but thankfully didn't press her on it.

"So you're traditionally trained? That's probably the biggest thing holding you back then."

"How so?" Yin cocked her head quizically. "I'm fairly certain that most of those in the village regard me as the best archer."

"Yeah, but you're not the best fighter. None of your traditional techniques will tell you how to fight at close range, because the answer would be to drop the bow and pick up a sword. That can also be an option for you, but it would mean needing to spend more time and energy learning to use a new weapon." Zed's lips spread into a wicked grin. "What you need to understand is that this isn't an archery contest, it's survival of the fittest. In a street brawl, you don't have a fair fight, you pick up a rock and bash their skull in. Be creative, get mean, and use every available option to claim the advantage. So," Zed angled his spear at her, "ready to get some practice in?"

"I suppose simple discussion will not solve my dilemma," Yin readied herself as the drew an arrow, "very well, let us begin."

The instant Yin finished her sentence, Zed's spear struck out at her flying straight towards her chest.

Reacting quickly, Yin leapt back evading the spear by a matter of inches. However, Zed threw his body forward, extending the attack and catching Yin in the shoulder.

"AHHH!" Yin screamed as the stone tip of the spear dug into her flesh. Although the injury was not too deep it was the first time Yin had received such a significant injury since becoming trapped in New Eden Online.

'That was awful, people have fun like this?!' she thought instinctively, before remembering that Yang complained about this game lacking a pain dampener. Then she remembered how many times Yang had endured debilitating injuries in this game.

'Yang has withstood so much here, I can handle this. Besides,' she grimaced, 'being hit by a truck was worse.'

Yin knocked the spear aside with her bow as Zed tried to pull it back, wincing from her shoulder. Leaping back, Yin tried to ready an arrow, but Zed closed the distance before she was ready to fire.

Leaping back to avoid another attack, Yin fired her arrow mid-leap. Zed easily avoided the attack but dodging prevented him from following through with his attack like before. Unable to connect normally, Zed swiped his spear downwards, causing the tip to cut Yin's leg on the way down. Before she could react, Zed raised the spear back up and unleashed a flurry of short, rapid thrusts. Yin stumbled backward, unable to even think about attacking. Although none of Zed's attacks landed directly, each one was able to slice through her Birchbark camouflage, covering her in small cuts and wearing down Yin's mental stamina.

'This isn't enough,' she thought, 'if not for his Exhaustion I would be receiving all of these attacks. I can't even maintain enough distance to fire an arrow properly.'

Under the effects of [HEAVY EXHAUSTION], Zed's AGI was 15. Even though Yin was faster with 22 AGI, her nervous backpedaling was still slower than Zed's forward charge. What little distance she could create wouldn't give her enough time to aim. Just as Zed said, the traditional kyudo techniques were too slow for this kind of combat.

'I could turn and run to create some distance, but that would defeat the purpose of this training.'

Yin winced in pain as Zed's attacks left more and more cuts all over her body. She didn't have the ability to even consider trying to win the fight, so Yin decided to forget everything and focus on the basics.

'Attacking is useless right now, so let's start with defense.'

It wasn't possible to create any distance right now, so Yin began trying to sidestep Zed's attacks. Doing so made it more difficult for Zed to adjust mid-attack, giving her just enough breathing room to avoid most of his attacks.

Thinking more clearly thanks to no longer being cut every other second, Yin began using her bow defensively as well. Although it could not be used to directly block a spear, she was able to deflect the spearhead away to stop Zed from trying to follow her dodges. Additionally, Yin's bow was much taller than the bows used by most of the other players, tall enough that she could just wave it back and forth and she was almost guaranteed to knock Zed's spear aside.

Zed's offensive was so overwhelming that there was no opportunity for Yin to even consider attacking, but Yin was getting better at reading, blocking, and evading Zed's attacks. Soon the battle reached a stalemate where Zed's every attack was intercepted or dodged.

'I need to counterattack at some point but-'

"Ahh!"

As Yin was taking the time to look for an opening, one of Zed's attacks managed to catch the bowstring along the edge of the spearhead, easily cutting it. The two strings, now freed from each other lashed out, leaving cuts on Yin's arm and on the side of her face.

"Damn, that-ahh!"

With her weapon destroyed, Yin thought that would be the end of the sparring match, but for Zed, it was just an opening. With another powerful strike, that Yin was just barely able to deflect, Zed put a deep gash into Yin's side. Yin quickly reestablished her defenses, but her injuries were slowing her down.

"Stop already!"

"You're not going to die from this!"

"My weapon is broken! You expect me to continue?!"

"I told you, we're not playing fair here, now fight!"

'Damn this psychopath!'

Zed wasn't going to stop until they were unable to continue the fight. Fortunately, Yin knew that he was too injured to take more than a few hits thanks to the fight with The Wise One's pack.

'One well-placed attack should be enough to defeat him, the question now is how am I supposed to accomplish that?'

Even if she could use her usual techniques, Zed has demonstrated that they will not work right now. She needed something unexpected. No… not just unexpected.

'He said get mean….hm, that would be quick enough to pull off, and it should create enough of an opening to end the fight. I would prefer to not stoop to such methods, but…' Yin looked at Zed, grinning as he continued his attack, 'if he does not wish to listen, then he must face the consequences.