“Ryu!” → Gregor
“Sir Ryu!” → Marina
I got pushed backward 5 meters with blood dripping from my chest and because of the pain and the rush in adrenaline, I felt like I would lose control. My eyes reddened while my canines showed. I was looking at the wolf with even fiercer eyes than him.
“RYU! WAKE UP!” → Gregor
Gregor roared in panic. He saw the change in my behavior and was worried that I would do another mistake. After his shout I woke up, I looked at him then at my bloody chest. I activated [Healing Palms] and healed myself while being wary of the wolf king.
“Haha~ sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” → Ryu
I said my excuses then looked again at the wolf king.
“Hmm… Oy Gregor, do you mind letting me handle this puppy?” → Ryu
“Ryu! What are you-“ → Gregor
“It’s alright, I know my limits. It’s just that I remembered something and I want to try it on this puppy.” → Ryu
It is true that I just remembered Shen saying by sending some kind of explosive intentions in his fists, he can make his punch stronger.
Shen’s Explanation — It’s all about the mentality you have, the energy inside and outside you will move after your will and intentions. That’s why there are those cringy idioms with « Believe In Yourself And All Will Turn Out For The Best » or something like that, they are not totally wrong, you know?
”… His way of explaining is really something else.” → Ryu
After organizing my thoughts I started focusing on my fists, the more I focused the more I felt like there was something like a wind spinning and wiggling around them. Also, from the inside, a warm current was circulating through my body, toward my arms.
Amazing! This is what Shen tried to feel and control even before coming into this world? How come I never felt something like this on Earth? …Now I understand why he talked about such funny things like ‘I lost my explosiveness’, it literally meant he lost the contact with the mana and chi. So when I told him to ‘just focus on punching with your all, ignore anything else and you’ll get it back’ was the right thing? Haha~ that’s why he said I was on point after giving the answer. Bah! This brat really knows his stuff. → Ryu
While focusing and strengthening my fists, the wolf king became alert. He felt danger from me. Without waiting for me to make any more preparations, he charged right in like the first time and extended his claws.
“Hah! The same move? How stupid do you think I am!?” → Ryu
I punched right into his claws while using the skill [Emperor’s Punch]. While doing so, I felt all my energy going to my fist and the moment we connected hits, the mana around my fist exploded, turning the wolf king’s claw to dust. I wasn’t left unscratched either, I had 3 cuts to the bone on my fist but I could heal them later without a problem.
After that bout, I started warping my hands and legs with mana while activating [Iron Body]. I rushed in with [Sliding Step] then side-stepped to the right just when the wolf king wanted to bite down. After that I punched his jaw with all I had, breaking it and making the wolf unable to close his mouth. After that, I continued with a reverse [Axe Kick] in his chin, sending his upper part flying. The wolf was sent flying for about 1 meter from the ground, showing his belly. I condensed mana around my palms and used something like [Sharp Aura] but, unlike Roland’s sword-like aura, mine were palms which exploded forward in succession.
“[Shadow Palms]” → Ryu
Using Ronald’s skill as a base, I unconsciously created another skill more befitting for an Energy Fighter. The shadows struck the king wolf’s body for more than a dozen times while it was still in the air then as a finisher, I used [Seismic Step] but focused it in my left fist.
-CRAAACK!-
The sound of bones cracking was heard and after punching his belly, the wolf king flew backward for 10m before slamming and going through the wall of the village. The wolf’s internal organs were done for, the last hit shattered his ribs which stabbed the heart, killing him instantly.
This mana-control is damn hard! Oh my God! My body is hurting everywhere! Ugh…I want to sleep… → Ryu
“Ryu…You… How did you use Gregor’s [Axe Kick] and Ronald’s [Sharp Aura]? Also, isn’t [Seismic Step] for Earth? Aren’t you using only « Frost » element? And what was with that weird wind around your hands and feet?!” → Marina
“Marina! What’s wrong with you? Starting interrogating Sir Ryu right after he finished a fight to the death with a boss on his own, since when were you such a lowly person?!” → Ronald
Ronald was furious at Maria’s reaction, he was curious about how I used those skills but he was angered seeing how Marina looked at me like at a monster or some kind of dangerous being.
“Both of you brats calm down, lets first collect the materials and go back to report about us clearing the Village of wolves. Ryu, you can sit and recover till we finish. Ronald, you guard Ryu, there might be some wolves we overlooked by mistake, we don’t need any casualties.” → Gregor
Gregor looked at everything with a cool head, he didn’t really care about me using different skills, he just wanted to see everyone alive and healthy.
“Aw~ your serious face makes me want to eat you!” → Lissa
Lissa hugged Gregor from behind and started playing with his ears and the fur from the cheeks.
“Urgh…….purrr~-uhp!” → Gregor
Gregor got a little surprised by the sudden hug but he left her to do whatever she wanted. before long he found himself purr like a cat. He covered his mouth fast, wishing nobody heard that.
God damn! Are tigers supposed to purr like that?! Argh~ so embarrassing! → Gregor
“Wha- what was that?! Did you purr? Ufufufu~ it seems you really like it don’t you~.” → Lissa
Lissa was truly happy knowing she was able to make Gregor purr, that was a sign that she made him feel relaxed and at ease.
Ehehehe~ however old you are inside, the body is still one of a child~. → Lissa
“Pff ahahaha~ this couple is really amusing, alright, take care there.” → Ryu
It is because of these two, the tension relieved a little and everyone started to do what they were told to. After all the materials were gathered I was also done recovering and we walked back toward the city to report. On the way back, Ronald would always shot glares at Marina and she would always look down, feeling guilty for what she did. This view made me feel really complicated.
Haah…I really don’t know how to deal with kids. → Ryu
When we finally got back, we reported to the guild, sold the materials and shared the reward. I got the most for finishing the boss while the rest was split evenly between them. Gregor wished to give Lissa some more but she refused his demands. Even so, she accepted as a reward a date with Gregor. In the end, he accepted with the condition of letting him pay, he still wanted to reward her for killing 50 wolves in one go on her own. Just being hugged by her was, in a way, a reward for both of them so he still felt like he needed to pay back for his shortcomings.
“These two are a really funny couple.” → Ryu
In the end, Gregor left with Lissa while Marina remained with us to return to the inn. We walked for 10 minutes till Ronald snapped.
“Why the hell are you tailing us?! What? You want to see if Sir Ryu is a monster or something? If so then get lost already! He is just a human like you. Stop bothering him!” → Ronald
Ronald’s words were like daggers which stabbed right through Marina. She choked trying to say something but ended up falling on her knees and starting to cry.
“What the-?! O-oy…come on, why are you crying for, ugh…okay, I’m sorry, oy, agh…what should I do?” → Ronald
He looked at me for help.
“You made her cry, you resolve this problem. If you’re a true man then you should always turn your wrongs to rights. You can start by helping her stand up, no?” → Ryu
I only helped with some words. This was between them and even though I’m the cause of this, I never opened my mouth while Ronald started to lash out at the poor Marina.
“Urgh…”
Ronald walked in front of the crying Marina and tried to help her stand up, right when he touched her shoulder Marina looked upwards with red eyes and while still sobbing she said.
“I’m sorry…I was…just so scared… seeing so many wolves together with their king, then seeing Sir Ryu using skills unlike for his class made me feel even more aware of this strange and scary world. My head couldn’t understand all of this. Not only once I thought ‘were dead’ in that village, but I also couldn’t understand why you people were so relaxed… I-I can’t live here! I want to go home! Waahh~…” → Marina
While talking about what was inside her heart she continued crying and sobbing on his shoulder. Ronald looked back at me with big eyes like asking me ‘now what should I do?’. I thought for a second and then hugged the air. Ronald remained dumbfounded then he understood what I meant. After wavering for a second, he finally hugged her tight enough so her spasms would stop.
“T-there, there. It’s okay, let it all out and after this let’s go eat something, I bet you’re hungry by now.” → Ronald
He patted her hair gently. He actually said what he felt. All this walking made him hungry with a noisy stomach.
“Uuuh~…”
Being comforted by Ronald calmed her down and got up while still sobbing now and then. After that, we walked together to eat something. It seems that the main reason why Ronald was so irritated was just because of his hunger. After we ate something, I brought one room with three beds and prepared to sleep. Ronald wanted to stay at the window and make me stay in the middle, I saw Marina’s disappointed face and I said I’ll stay at the side without giving explanations. At night, the two brats fell asleep almost instantly while I was looking at the ceiling, thinking about what I did in my fight with the wolf king.
So that cold wind is mana…? If it’s so hard to control then how can we use these skills so easily? And what about the elements? I can control either « Frost » or « Earth » now… But how about the other four? Can I use them too? → Ryu
These thoughts made me restless, I wanted to find out what else I’m able to do and because of this, I wasn’t able to close an eye that night.
“Ugh….” → Ryu
The next morning I was like a zombie.
“S-sir Ryu? Are you all right?” → Ronald
Ronald asked me in a worried voice. I had dark circles under my red eyes, I had the face of a tired man which wasn’t that pleasing to look at while my hair was pretty messy.
“Ugh…yeah, I’m fine…and stop calling me with ‘sir’.” → Ryu
When I’m tired I get pretty short-tempered and even though I don’t really care how others call me, this time I couldn’t just ignore it.
“Y-yes sir-..er, I mean, Ryu.” → Ronald
“Haah… You two brats go have some fun or do something together, I’m too tired so I’ll stay here and sleep some more.” → Ryu
I didn’t wait for an answer so I just kicked both of them out and crashed in my bed, closing my eyes.
“What happened with him? He seemed really tired, are these some kind of backlashes from the fight with the wolf king?” → Marina
Marina was confused as to why I was so easily irritated.
“Well, he said he’ll be all right after some sleep…so…should we go down and eat? I’m pretty hungry.” → Ronald
“Sure!” → Marina
The hunger won over the worry and the two brats left to eat something from downstairs. I remained in my room and slowly I lost my consciousness. I ended up sleeping the entire morning, waking up in the middle of the day. The 2 brats were still around the city as for me, I chose to go outside the city on top of a valley close to the city walls. I started feeling the mana around me and tried to activate my skills.
By using the skills together with this mana, I can make them stronger. But I still don’t understand how the skills work. I can feel some kind of itches and slight numbness in the places the energy is unleashed while activating them. For example, I feel such itches in my foot when I use [Seismic Step] or [Sliding Step]… Aah… I really need to talk with Shen about this, he might know-…no, I’m sure he knows almost everything about these skills… Hmmm… Let’s remember what else he said to me about these stuff. He said something about how martial arts can communicate with the energy around us or something like that…? I did some martial arts but I don’t remember any chain of moves from back then…ugh, should I just do whatever comes to my mind, then? → Ryu
I started kicking, punching and side-stepping around randomly but the more I did so, the more uncomfortable I felt. I felt hot and irritated, my skin was itching badly and turned red, I was sweating and felt only tiredness and irritation.
“AARGH! What the hell is this!?” → Ryu
I was so furious for some reason that I snapped.
What in the world is this?! It’s itching everywhere, my body is hot and I’m feeling more and more irritated, why is this happening?! → Ryu
After calming down I felt really tired.
“I shouldn’t play around with this… I will just focus on meditation and calming my mind. It seems after coming into this world, my mentality changed a little bit: I started to care about the strangers around me, I get overly excited while fighting and I feel no fear anymore… I mean yeah, it’s not much different from Earth but… it wasn’t so hard to control myself back then.” → Ryu
I should make some order inside my head and heart. Lets only think about breathing. Focus on breathing and empty your mind… → Ryu
I started doing simple meditation while breathing in and out. I calmed my heart and stopped my mind, suddenly I entered a state of emptiness…
Someone, please answer -bzzt-
“Huh?!…” → Ryu
I suddenly leaped up.
Telepathy! Was that Shen?!… No, it was a woman’s voice, who was that? How did I get in contact with her? → Ryu
When someone is in a state of emptiness without making a mental protection around his mind, he’ll enter on random mental frequencies. If he’s misfortunate, he might get possessed by a mentalist or by a wrathful ghost. At that time I was lucky enough to only get in contact with some random person. I tried to focus on the feeling I had before, I wanted to ask that woman how she was doing that.
Come on… How did I enter on her frequency before? The state of emptiness is stronger in this world than on Earth, it’s because of the energetic field Shen told me about? → Ryu
“If so, then I’ll try to enter in that state again, maybe I might be able to get in contact with that person one more time.” → Ryu
I entered in a state of emptiness and waited when suddenly…
‘Hello?-bzzt- Is it the same person-bzzt- as before?…’
I tried to remain calm and focused. The telepathy was a little bit jammed as if being connected through radio stations.
Yes, this is the first time I’m talking through telepathy, please excuse my incapability to focus. → Ryu
As much as I tried, I couldn’t make the frequency stronger, feeling like our conversation would end at any moment.
No matter! I thank you for answering my calls. From what I can see, you didn’t warp your mind with a barrier. You better form a barrier around you when emptying your mind or else you’ll risk being attacked by spirits or other mentalists. → Woman
A barrier? What? Being attacked?! → Ryu
Ah! Please calm down, I’ll form a mental barrier for you so please don’t close the conversation. I have something important to ask of you. From what I can see, you’re in the Sirio Kingdom, the city of Valor. Please stay there, I’ll come as fast as I can! Seeing how the connection is so unstable I’ll have to talk with you face to face. I’ll be there in a week or so, if I’m late then please pardon me for another 3 days. → Woman
I couldn’t keep up with what she was saying, I started to feel a little dizzy when I asked.
Ugh, okay? By the way, what is your name? → Ryu
My name is Sylvia, nice to know you, sir Ryu! → Sylvia
Ah, nice to meet you… → Ryu
“Eh?” → Ryu
I opened my eyes wide.
How does she know my name?! → Ryu
I remained dumbfounded for almost 20 seconds when.
“AAAH! CRAP! I forgot to ask her how to use telepathy!” → Ryu
