Chapter 278 Combat Drill (1/2)
With a loud sigh, Benji stepped out of the capsule and made his way to the Kitchen, where Sophia was already getting some food ready. ”Took you long enough, what were you doing in there?” She asked with a frown, and Benji simply shrugged.
”Just had to finish some stuff up. By the way, how's your music practice actually going?” The young man inquired, while Sophia looked at him with a sigh. ”Not well, to be honest. I mean, it's going great and all, but it's not as much fun as I imagined, mostly because that's not necessarily my style of music. I'm more of a…”
”DJ?” Benji finished his cousin's sentence, before she nodded her head. ”Mhm, basically. But that's not really a thing in the game, so…”
”Why shouldn't it be a thing?” With a smirk, Benji began to help his cousin make some food, before she looked at him confused. ”What do you mean? It's medieval fantasy, obviously there wouldn't be DJ stuff and remixing.”
Quietly laughing, Benji just shook his head. ”I can really just confirm with you if I'm right when I learn magic from Xenia, because I can just ask her then, but I'm pretty sure something like that should be a thing as an element. And it's definitely possible to save audio-information in crystals, because that's what Grampa did for his Automata and Camera Bots, so it's most likely possible to interact with it and manipulate it. Maybe there's no direct skill for it, but at the very least you should be able to find a way to be a DJ in the game.” He explained, before Sophia looked at him with bright eyes.
”Seriously? That would be really cool! Talking about skills, though, how many do you have now..?” She asked curiously, before Benji went through it in his head. ”I'm not exactly sure? 20? Only so far, though… I'm going to be learning more from Brody and Xenia later.” He said with a wry smile, and Sophia just chuckled.
”Damn, that's insane. Maybe you'll unlock a rare 'Skill Hoarder' occupation.”
”Just you laugh, but I'll be really dope!” He protested, and Sophia continued laughing, as the two cousins continued to make food for themselves, Tony, Katy and Sean, before the two of them sat back down in their capsules.
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When Stahl woke back up inside of the Atelier, his hand was still holding Evalia's. Luckily, Stahl seemed to have logged on a few seconds earlier than Alnico, so he managed to stand up before she saw them hold hands, as he, and Evalia too, would prefer not to openly talk about this just yet, because neither of them really knew what 'this' even was.
”Oh, Brody's online!” Stahl exclaimed with a smile as he checked his friendslist, and Al looked at him with a smile. ”Well, then go before he logs back off!” She told him, and the young man nodded his head before stepping out the door as Thul was still waking up, and his freshly-painted undead were following behind him.
And swiftly, Stahl made his way to the training room, where he unsurprisingly found Brody testing some moves on a dummy. Before Stahl could even greet him, Brody had already turned around.
”Alright kid, you're comin' to learn some of my skills?” He asked with a grin, showing his shining teeth as his tusks were nearly boring into his skin.
”Yup, obviously!” But stahl didn't really care about that horrid scene, as he was far too excited for that.
”Alright, then let's get started. Punching a Dummy all day is pretty boring, ya know?” Brody said as he kept up his broad grin, before Stahl nodded his head. ”I bet it is! Good thing I'm not an idiot!” The young man responded, before Brody's excited grin just turned slightly dumbfounded, before he began to laugh loudly.
”Good one, kid. First, we'll start with getting you the unarmed combat skill. Hmm, I think I should tell you some theory first, huh?” Brody said with a loud sigh, before swiftly starting his explanation.
”Alright, with Combat Skills, you have to be aware that you only have general skills, and your style will really depend on you. At Rank 5, your skill will be upgraded toward a skill of that specific style. But I'm sure your goal is to exactly not stick to a single style, but instead be able to do a bit of everything, right?”
Immediately, Stahl nodded his head with a broad smile. ”Yep, that's basically it! So, what are we starting with, then? Boxing, Judo, Karate?” Stahl asked, but Brody looked at him with a wry smile.
”You're kiddin', right? We're only working toward the skills, you know? Martial arts heavily depend on the right form and specific movements. With other types of skills you might get away with learning the basics and just going from there your own way, but if you want to learn from me, I ain't letting you do this half-assed. You're getting the skill to Rank 1, and then we'll move on to the next skill. But from now on, at least once a week, real life, you will come and train with me. That means four days in a row in here.” Brody exclaimed, and Stahl looked at the fighter with a surprised expression.
”If you don't think you can do that, then forget about it and leave.” The Demon-Orc said strictly, but Stahl immediately shook his head.
”Oh, no, that's not why I was hesitating! I'm starting college soon, so I was thinking how I'd best fit it in with my schedule.” He explained, before Brody just replied with a smile.
”Right answer, kid. Alright, as I said, we're starting with unarmed combat. It can roughly be cut up into four different large techniques. Punching, Kicking, Throwing, and Holding. We're going to go through all of that just so I can see what your idea of everything is, and so I can see your natural intuition. You haven't done any martial arts yet, right?”
”Nope, just some stuff here and there in middle school, because my Gym teacher was pretty MMA obsessed. Now, where do I start? Punching, right? What do I punch?” Stahl asked with a grin, before Brody swiftly stuck out his thumb and pointed it at himself.