chapter 101: Hidden knowledge

“So, you want to learn a martial art, huh?” Terra asked, looking at me with an impressed smile. After coming back home, I had sought her out, remembering how she had taught Keliope a strength-based martial art.

“That’s right. Right now, I can win with overwhelming stats, but my actual ability is still lacking. So… I need a martial art that will fit me, and that means coming to you for help.” I lowered my head respectfully, doing my best to make a good impression as I asked for the favor.

“No.” However, the answer I received was… different from my expectations. “Sorry, Dale. It’s not that I don’t want to teach you one, but I really can’t. Your style of fighting doesn’t fit well with any martial arts from the last three worlds. You rely too heavily on the supernatural energies, which were almost entirely excluded from the worlds of those Keepers.”

“So… there’s nothing you can do?” I asked, looking back up at her. She seemed to have a pensive expression as she considered.

“I can’t… but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn one. There’s actually a really easy way for you to do so, I was just hoping not to need to tell you about it for a while.” After she said that, she gave a helpless shrug, while a blue window appeared in front of me. It showed the normal market screen that I was used to, but a few search parameters had already been put in to narrow down the results.

“Terra, this is…?” I asked as I looked at a list of strangely named items.

“These are libraries martial arts knowledge, which other Keepers have submitted to the market. I went ahead and narrowed the results based on the general humanoid shape, and the energies available to your world. You won’t be able to do a lot of the movements for most of these as a centaur, so pick carefully.” As she said that, I was already reading through the descriptions for the first few items.

“Why did you want to wait before letting me see this?” I couldn’t help but ask again. Some of these martial arts had truly exaggerated descriptions, but I could not deny the possibility that it was more than idle boasting. “Are some of them faulty goods that Keepers spread out to weaken competitors or something?”

“Huh? No, nothing like that. A malicious Keeper will often do their best to help a new Keeper get into the games as quickly as possible, that way they aren’t prepared for what is coming, and don’t have the training they need. So, if anything, the techniques and suggestions that they put out there are among the most effective to advance your world. Sure, there are a few idiots that post bad information, but if you check the forums for news on each item, you can see reviews from others that have used it. This isn’t like some cheap internet forum where you can have multiple accounts to praise your own work.”

As she explained, she shook her head slightly. “No, the reason I had wanted to wait as long as I could was because I wanted to give you a chance to discover certain things on your own.”

“You mean…” I looked at that screen again, and opened another window, typing in my own search parameters.

While I was amazed that this information was even available, my eyes couldn’t help but drift over towards the prices. To buy the complete package… it would take well over two hundred thousand points. “Out of curiosity, which tiers of magic has Earth discovered?” I asked as I looked up to Terra, who had a knowing smile.

“Mostly just some of the first, while barely touching the second. Unless you include that dragon. He’s quite a ways up there.” She answered honestly.

“There’s no way Ryone wouldn’t have found this.”

“No, she found it the first day. She just prefers studying the hard way. When I asked her about it, she said it’s because she thinks she’ll feel like she earned it more if she didn’t just have you buy it.”

Well… that did sound like her. “Okay, so you’re saying that one of these martial arts should fit me more than what the previous Earths could offer?” I asked one last time to confirm, looking back to the search window she had shown me.

“That’s right. After you absorb the information, I’d suggest practicing against Keliope to test it out, and then descending to the world for a proper trial.” After I heard her answer, I nodded one last time to look through the list. Honestly, there were quite a few the looked interesting to me. Yet, some stood out more than others.

These four in particular caught my eye the most. I couldn’t help but glance at my balance to confirm that I still had plenty of spare points. Though, I couldn’t help but think about the Assassin class when I read the description of the Phantom Path. What I remember of its techniques largely mirrored that.

However, I have not been walking the path of an assassin before now, so I cast that one from my mind. As for the Six Palms Annihilation, it was actually incredibly tempting, because it seemed like it would be the simplest of the four to learn, while also holding a great deal of strength. However, I’d probably need a proper ki path to fully utilize it. Another quick search showed me that ki path knowledge was also purchasable, and the standard path was one hundred points.

That instantly made the six palms go from the cheapest to the most expensive of the four. Next on the list was Aki Seppo, the only one with a non-translated name. Or maybe, the name was meant to be nonsense in the first place. I had been wanting to find information regarding better usage of spirit energy, and had only been missing a proper source. This art was definitely a strong contender.

Finally, the one that really captured my eyes the most, was the ‘Thousand Arms, Ten Thousand Threads’. Out of all of the energy types I had seen so far, chakra was by far my favorite. It had the impossibility of magic, combined with the raw power of ki.

The only question was, should I only get one, or both? I looked up at Terra to ask that, and she smiled. “It’s up to you, Dale. I can’t help you decide this. You’ve just got to go with your gut.”

My gut is simple, my gut says get both! Two martial arts means twice as many options to fight. “Alright… can you pass a message to Ryone, tell her I want to use two hundred and seventy five points for a personal expense? She shouldn’t have a problem with it. As for this offering a leap of power to my world… I didn’t have any plans to spread it around. I might eventually give Aki Seppo to the Wraiths, in order to give their upper echelons a boost in power, but the other one should mostly remain with myself.

Terra nodded her head, seeming to wait a few moments before she spoke again. “She said it’s fine, and just asked that you give her a little while longer before buying the information on magic.” She chuckled lightly, shaking her head. “She wants more time to study it herself first, before relying on points.”

“I understand.” I answered, before choosing to buy both of the martial arts. “Out of curiosity, what happens to the patents a Keeper has when they are defeated in a Game? I mean, your records only seem to go back that far, right? So you wouldn’t know which items might be listed by previous Earth Keepers.”

As she gave her reply, two brilliant blue lights erupted between us. “You mean the royalty stuff? The royalties just stop after a Keeper dies in a Game.” The simple answer was a bit surprising, as I had imagined them transferring ownership to the Keeper that defeated them.

Thinking about that, I noticed the two glowing blue orbs that had taken shape in front of me. They seemed to look just like the information orbs I had received back when I bought the information on the sealing magic. “So… how do I read these, and absorb the knowledge like you said?”

“That’s the easy part. Just grab one, and focus on it. Or, you can just push it into your skull, but I wouldn’t suggest that because it might cause you to take in more than you can handle at once.” She shrugged her shoulders lightly as she responded.

Nodding my head, I gently grabbed both orbs, and prepared to go back to my room. “Alright, I’ll let you get back to the others.” When I had found her, she was socializing with Udona and Accalia, so I figured I had kept her long enough. She smiled happily, leaning in to give me a quick kiss before turning around and heading back. As for me, I just stared down at the two spheres of light as I walked back to my own room.

Once I was back, I decided to start with the more immediately useful one. Sure, spiritual energy would be good to master, but I’ll want to wait for a more powerful creature to be born most likely first. So, I placed the one that gave me the impression of that aside, and focused on the other.

Almost immediately, information began flooding into my mind. Information about methods to utilize chakra that I had never imagined, as well as some simple training methods to help its practitioners grow in strength. I was only able to hold the connection for around a half hour before I released my focus, panting as I tried to hold in everything I had learned.

So… it can be done like that? I thought to myself, giving myself just enough time to relax before I gripped the orb once again.