Savage Awakening 464. Jack (II)

But Jack the ‘martial artist’ was nowhere to be seen.

She gritted her teeth. “…I knew it!”

The moment she saw him, she’d known exactly his type.

She’d seen plenty of street brawlers in her time. She’d fought her fair share, back in her time in the Blood Pits—which was how she knew they were only good for looking tough.

That Jack looked impressive enough—she could admit that. But when it came down to it… he was just like all the rest.

She heard Jun cry out and buckle under a blur of pelts.

Ryu let out a cry and sent off three slashes. Three bright lines split a herd of wolves clean down the middle. She was at Jun’s side in a flash, dragging him out.

“You alright?”

“Yeah…” he coughed blood. He still looked a bit dazed. “What… happened?”

She gritted her teeth. “That big oaf you hired? He just took the money and ran!”

Jun closed his eyes, looking pained. He was bleeding pretty badly—four deep claw marks raked his chest almost to the bone.

“We won’t last much longer up there,” said Ryu.

She stilled.

More red eyes lit up the dark right behind them.

“…Shit,” whispered Kira.

Even Ryu looked uncertain.

They crowded around, howling, hackles raised—massive shadows swamping their lines. Their friends hauled up axes, shields, and halberds, locked in formation. But those steely tips were trembling. From exhaustion or fear, it was impossible to tell.

Kira took out her daggers, eyes narrowed, heart pounding. This couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t—

Then there was a rustling in the tree line.

Then a man broke through a briar. He made a path straight for the wolves.

“Jack?” croaked Jun. Then—“…What’s he holding?”

The wolves cocked their heads, like they were confused too.

“Is that,” she said, “a rock!?”

It was.

They could only watch, stupefied, as he strode confidently for the crumbling front lines.

Then he stepped in and treated the nearest wolf to a quick whack.

THWACK!

It collapsed like a crushed can, blasted into the ground—there was a plume of dust.

Jack could vaguely be seen blinking at his fist, like he hadn’t quite meant to do that.

Two more Bleakwolves howled and pounced at him. He gave them two whacks, and they fell over too. It was hard to see through all that dust, but it looked like they’d been crushed

flat.“What the…” choked Jun.

By now, even the wolves were blinking at each other, as if they didn’t know what to do about this man. The humans weren’t doing much better.

“Hey there,” said Jack, giving them a friendly wave. “I could use a hand over here.”

“R-right!”

They all got to firing.

***

To be honest, he hadn't meant to one-shot that first wolf.

He’d been aiming for a nice three-piece.

He’d take it.

Once the folks around him worked out their surprise, they rallied quite well, he thought.

Wolf after wolf leaped on him.

And methodically, he bonked them off.

Soon the front line was all the way back up. A big bearded fellow with an axe named Jiri went through wolf after wolf. Shenkt, an old bald hedge knight, bashed a few wolves out of the air. Soon most were scurrying back. It was a lot easier now that most of the wolves were focused on Zane.

He just kept bonking.

About nine wolves later, the bulk of the offensive collapsed. Then it was pretty easy picking the rest off.

***

He headed back to a silent camp. Then—

“…What was that?” croaked Jun.

“My martial art,” said Zane. “The Way of Rock.”

He waved his rock around for emphasis.

More silence.

Then Jiri burst out laughing. “Awesome!” 

There were relieved smiles all around. By the looks of it, folks just seemed happy to be alive, for the most part, if somewhat confused.

He felt pretty pleased with what he’d come up with, given the circumstances. It’d been a rather time-sensitive matter, and he didn’t have much to work with.

“That was really…” said Jun, shaking his head. “That was… special, Jack—I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Thanks.”

“Really,” said Jun. He smiled, all relief. “I’d heard of hidden masters who could make willows as sharp as swords. But to do it so casually…”

This was going better than expected.

He supposed he did have something else working in his favor. He was aware when most people looked at him, they seemed to peg him as the kind of guy to go around hitting things with rocks. It fit. 

Kira, meanwhile, was still staring at him with wide violet eyes.

“It might look simple,” he told her. “But you’re not an expert on rock-based martial arts, so you can’t judge. That was actually very high-level technique.”

Kira blinked. “No—I wasn't going to say that at all.”

“…What were you going to say?” 

“Just…” she swallowed. “I was wrong about you. If you weren’t here…” she trailed off. “Jack, you are a real martial artist. The way you fought, like you weren’t scared at all, in the midst of mortal danger…putting your life on the line for your principles—” 

…That was quite a generous interpretation of what just happened. He’d take it. 

“—If that’s not the heart of martial arts, I don’t know what is.”

This was going much better than expected.

“Although… I still don’t really get how...” She trailed off. “What was it called again? That martial art…”

“Way of Rock,” Zane explained, which he felt was rather self-explanatory. He waved his rock again for emphasis.

“If it works,” said Ryu cheerfully. He sat down and started wiping blood off his sword.

***

That night they ate lamb kebabs around a campfire.

“You’ve got to tell us how you did it!” For a badly injured man, Jun was in remarkably good spirits.

“I’m also curious,” said Ryu mildly.

“It’s mostly the rock,” Zane explained. 

He was lucky folks seemed mostly in shock, and there was so much dust floating around from that crater he’d made—no one got too clear a sight.

His Skill still boiled down to hitting things with a rock.

He was going to have to invent an actual Skill for when things got more serious.

He’d have to do a lot more fighting, especially at this ‘Summit.’

He thought about making an essence-backed punching skill, but the trouble was he had difficulty controlling his strength.

He was used to one-shotting True Gods with a punch.

It was quite a fine balance for him to hit an Ascendant hard, but not too hard. Very easy to overdo it and give himself away.

It was quite hard for Zane to figure out how to be weak. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it.

… He'd have to find a workaround.

In any case.

“You must’ve had a master,” said Jun, eyes shining. “It’s alright if you don’t answer—I know most eccentric masters like to keep their secrets. But I’m curious how you trained… I’ve done some training for power myself, punching bamboo shoots. But I’m nowhere near that strong…”

Folks perked up all around him.

“I do have a master,” said Zane. He hesitated. “But he lives on another mountain. You wouldn’t have heard of him.”

This excuse seemed to work.

“As for my training, I wrestled bears. And bench-pressed… big boulders.” 

Gasps.

“Sometimes even the size of a hill,” he added.

“No wonder…” whispered Jun.

“Enough about me,” said Zane quickly, since they were just about to get to the tail end of his background prep. “How’d you guys end up here?”

They were all quiet for a moment.

Jun raised his hand. “I'll go first.”

“I was an Inner Disciple of the Tiger Claw Sect, but I was kicked out after a dispute with the Young Master.” It seemed to pain him to say it.

“The Young Master fancied his girlfriend,” Kira cut in. “She wouldn’t have him. So he got poor Jun here kicked out.”

“Kira!” said Jun, aghast.

She shrugged. “What? It’s true.”

“I… we don’t know it for a fact,” said Jun, reddening a little. “And I won’t dishonor a man based on mere rumor. There’s nothing to be done about it now, anyway. The fact is, if I were just stronger, it never would’ve happened.”

He shook his head. “Now I’m just hoping to prove myself—doing it the right way. Showing my worth at the Summit. And winning my way back.”

“If I were you, I would’ve beaten him up,” Kira said primly. “And stomped on his nuts.”

Jun looked flabbergasted.

“I’ll go next,” said Ryu. He smiled. There was something gentle about the guy, even when killing monsters. “I come from a little town called Sky's Edge—it’s at the tip of a peninsula on the far coast. It’s very far from everything else. I’m one of the last few practitioners of a dying art—it’s my family’s, handed down for generations. I’m hoping to showcase it on the big stage and do them proud.”

“You’ll do great,” said Jun warmly.

“Thank you.”

“I’m Kira Narasaki,” said Kira. “The last of the Narasaki assassin clan. Every member of my family was killed by the Blood Demon sect when I was six years old.” She gritted her teeth. “I’m going to make it until at least the Round of Sixteen. Enough to impress one of the Minor God old monsters—have them take me as a disciple. Then I’m going to train for ten years and pay them back in kind.”

Silence.

“Neat,” said Ryu mildly. “Good luck with that.”

She went back to her soup.

“Say—Jack,” Jun said, coughing. “Are you looking to do anything in particular? Once we get to the capital.”

“I might give this Summit thing a go,” said Zane. “I hear the top prize is pretty good.”

Folks looked at each other. Jun blinked, like he wasn’t sure whether Zane was joking or not. Eventually, he just laughed. “That’s—that’s… great! Aim high, right?”

“Thanks.”

“Hold on,” said Kira. “You want to win the whole thing?”

“Sure.”

“You know the top seeds there aren't just a bunch of wolves, right? These are geniuses drawn from every continent of the divine realm. That’s folks like Virya Deadeye or Salazar the Sword Saint—even the Blood Demon young masters.”

“If you want to be the best,” said Zane, shrugging. “That’s the mentality you’ve got to have.”

“…I like you.” Kira grinned.

“You’ve got this,” said Ryu absently. 

The rest of the loose cultivators gave a cheer too. He got the feeling they thought it wasn’t very realistic—even after the display they’d just seen. But they cheered anyway.

Then they went their separate ways and dozed off. They’d set off first thing tomorrow.

***

After everyone was fast asleep and the fires had gone to embers, Zane sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

There was still something else he had to take care of.

The making of real martial art.

Something that wouldn’t give him away but still got the job done.

Ideally, he could bonk something—not suspiciously hard. But still have them fall over.

With that in mind, he sank deep into meditation.

Soon, he stood before a set of familiar red gold doors. It felt like it’d been a while since he was last here.

A giant golden lock went through the gate.

He blinked and knocked.

Silence.

Frowning, he knocked harder. Then—“Damnit—I’m coming!”

There was a great rustling; the locks cracked open. The door opened right afterward.

“Don’t you know what time it is?” groaned the Pagoda Spirit—the fellow was in a nightcap and bathrobe. He blinked, blinked again, and squinted.

“Oh, for—it’s you again.”

“Hey there.” 

The Spirit looked behind him, eyeing the clock-calendar. “It’s only been, what—ten years?”

The Spirit paused. “Don’t tell me you’re here for another upgrade. You haven’t managed to become one of the strongest beings in Dragonspire already. …Have you?”

“Nothing like that,” Zane assured him. Then he thought about it. “…Depends how you define strongest.” 

The Spirit cursed, rubbed its eyes, and sighed. “Alright, what is it?” 

“I need to make a Skill.”