Prologue 4. Martial Arts VS Raw Ability.

"Do you understand?" Laine continued.

The Master, whose name was Drake, was contemplating the proposal that Laine made. It was not unreasonable, but if possible, he wanted to learn from him. He wanted Laine to take over as the master of this dojo so that he could train under him and finally breakthrough the bottleneck that has been haunting him for years. His aura itself was proof of his strength.

"For how many days?" Drake managed to muster up some words and asked him.

"3 days. And I want complete silence here. I do not wish to be disturbed, and I won't require food, I want complete seclusion while I am training here." Laine answered.

"Do you want us to move out for the next 3 days?" Drake asked. Complete seclusion was only possible if there was no one in the surroundings. This was his home, so moving out was kind of hard because he had nowhere else to go.

"No, you don't need to move out. You can continue running this dojo just as you normally do. Just remember that I will not be responding to any of your questions, and I will not be talking to you. I will be completely engrossed in training because I have to train for an upcoming test." Laine answered.

"Isolation realm?" Drake was shocked again. The man in front of him didn't look a day older than 20, but he was able to master a realm that even True Martial Art Founders were unable to reach without training for at least a hundred years. A strong mind and a calm mind are two different things. A calm mind can also be a strong mind, but a strong mind is seldom completely calm.

"Excuse me, can we finish this up quickly?" Laine continued. He saw the shock on his face and knew that he had to hurry up with his training.

"5 Gold coins for 3 days. Since you won't be eating food here, you don't need to pay any extra expenses. However, if you break anything, you will be charged separately for that item." Drake answered.

"However, there is one other way." He continued.

"Beat me in a martial art fight, and become the master of this place. Then you won't have to pay anything, and you can take me in as your apprentice." He finished, with a determined look easily visible through his eyes.

'I do want to save money, but I don't want to end up as the master of this dojo. I want to accept, but the conditions are too binding.'

"I don't want to fight anyone, I only want to train," he replied. " I want to train." I will happily pay the 5 gold coins so that I can begin training right now."

'I guess he didn't want to become a master. Very well, I have another trump card up my sleeve'

Drake giggled.

"You are here for the Guild Master's test, right?"

Laine frowned. 'He should have figured that out due to the test that I had previously mentioned, but him asking me about it is not a good sign.' He thought.

"Don't worry, I won't irritate you any further to become the master of this place, but I will give you a chance. A chance to measure up against the son of the previous guild master. If you win, you can train here for free and gauge the strength of participants who are going to join the examination, and it will serve as a good way for me to gauge your martial art strength, so what do you say?"

"You are the son of the previous guild master?" This time, it was Laine's turn to be shocked. He wasn't expecting Drake to be the previous guild master's son. This was a good opportunity for him to know more about the guild and train a bit on the sidelines. Furthermore, if he could gain some knowledge about the evil grail.

"But, if you lose, you join my Dojo as a martial artist and accept me to be your master. Is that okay with you?" He asked, with a grin on his face.

"If I lose, will you stop me from taking the guild master's test?" Laine inquired.

"No, although if you can't defeat me, it will be almost impossible for you to pass the test. I wanted to be your student before, but if I can get a strong martial artist such as yourself as my student, I would be able to contend with the top three Dojos of this city as a respected martial arts Dojo."

Drake was sure that he was going to lose, hence he kept the condition for winning at the maximum, and kept the losses that he would suffer if he lost to a minimum. If some miracle happened and he won, the profit was high. But a loss wasn't the end of the world for him.

"I accept your challenge, but I have a condition. I want to fight you only with martial art skills because it would be a one-sided affair if we used magic."

Laine wanted to end this as quickly as possible, so he added these conditions. He wanted to test his base martial art prowess, without the advantages of having practiced before.

"Sure. Let me help Luna to her room, and once that task is finished, we can start." Drake said.

10 minutes later.....

"Do you want to warm up first?" Drake asked.

"We have already lost a lot of time, so let's get this started already"

"Ok then, at the count of 3, we will begin the duel. Attacks on vital areas like the neck, head, etc are not allowed. If one person can land 2 successive hits on the person they are facing, they win. Use of aura as a tool for applying pressure is prohibited, do you understand?" He asked.

"I do. Let's do this."

3..2..1..

"Start!"

Laine stood in his place, whereas Drake lunged towards him. Seeing the attack speed of Drake,

he was impressed. He was leagues above his sister, but still, he was nowhere close to the physical prowess that he had.

"Lightning Claw!" he used a first level move, which was the strongest move in the level one book for beginner martial artists.

Just as he was about to strike Laine, he disappeared from his sight.

He came to a halt and started looking everywhere to see where Laine had gone. He had fought many martial artists in his lifetime, but a technique to dodge so fast? This was beyond Martial arts.

Laine was currently standing in front of Drake but Drake wasn't able to see him because Laine had used a level 3 technique.

"Drums of illusion" This technique was quite helpful as by making noises with his feet, he was able to create an auditory lapse in Drake's mind. Till the time he was continuing to tap his feet rhythmically, there was a reverse hallucination which made it impossible for his opponent to perceive him. It can only work on one person at a time, so it was only good for duels like this one.

"Water Jab" He then sent a level two technique towards Drake's abdomen, Water Jab, which could stun the enemy for one second, by making their muscles relax for a moment. And he could knock out drake easily if he sent another one of these towards him. He was finished.

"Not so fast, Dragon wrist flick!" He initiated a move that accurately predicted Laine's Jab, and with the use of his wrist, repelled the jab with a powerful parry type counter.

After his skill was unsuccessful, and his location exposed Laine didn't intend to go easy on him anymore. He used a level 4 skill, Banishment Combo, and struck with his elbow towards his hip, which connected but was not as effective as it should have been because he still had to get used to the feeling of controlling his power. He then finished the combo with an uppercut to Laine's gut, which had him fall on the floor instantly. He was paralyzed due to the pain and was in no condition to get up anymore.

Winner, Laine.