Chapter 40

  Horsey-ing Around

  Ever notice how a good teacher waits until you finally feel comfortable enough to begin showing a hint of your personality, before bringing you back down to earth with ways to make a normally challenging task even more excruciatingly painful?

  “I’ve determined, we are not taking proper advantage of these times between bouts to reflect upon yourself and most importantly, to improve yourself. As such, you are to now take the horse stance, every time you are standing here waiting for the next competition to begin.” Mr. Yi began, his voice commanding, and suddenly I realized they were adamant to make it so I didn’t speak.

  “This is because I spoke earlier?” I ask.

  “This is because, I will not have you waste even a second of valuable training time by standing around idly,” Mr. Yi began, before adding lowering his voice a bit so it carried more authority, “now take the stance!”

  “Right,” I begin moving to where I am on all fours in a modified bear crawl, as that is the only position that my mind even comes close to registering as looking like a horse.

  Apparently though, I am not as majestic of a pony as I expected, as the moment I get into position, Mr. Yi is already yelling at me.

  “No, a horsey stance, like you are going to ride the horse!” Mr. Yi yells, then proceeds to show a modified squat, feet shoulder width apart with feet out at a wider angle.

  Getting up, I dust off my hands, making sure to apply Trash to get rid of any dust or grime in my gloves, and try to keep myself from muttering under my breath. Things like, shouldn’t this be called a rider’s stance then? Or hey, just call it a modified squat that works different sets of muscles. Either way, I get up, get into position and holding up my arms up at a forty-five-degree angle.

  “No, hands must be turned and hooked, like you are holding the reigns,” Mr. Yi corrects my posture again, further emphasizing how I have messed up this rider’s stance.

  “Good, now hold that stance until the matches are complete, only then can you go. Once we have gotten you to where you do not waste our valuable time together, then we can begin on mirroring footwork.” Mr. Yi commanded.

  Hearing his words, I think I understood the point of all of this, knowing that this is just to get me used to balancing on my feet for long periods of time, and of course building up the muscles in my core, an action that must improve my Improvised Weapons Skill. This was my thought, as I focused on both improving my stance, on healing any acid build ups within my body by using Rejuvenation Healing, and most importantly practiced my mana regeneration with Golden Life Ratio Mana Regeneration*. Three Skills that I practiced in near harmony, while using my Eagle Eye Skill to gain a better understanding of what injuries the next sets of animals suffered. Along with my Music Resonance Skill to focus on different sound combinations and echoing effects that the monsters make from just their rapid breathing, and the sounds they make while using Skills.

  Watching the next set of taming contestants, two males, I completely avoid their names and instead only focus on the type of battle beasts they have tamed. After the debacle of the first contest, these two seem far better trained and far more focused.

  One actually brought an odd tri-horned zebra creature, that also had spikes growing out the back of its legs. Mentally, I try to understand the evolutionary importance of such a feature, and the only thing that comes to mind is the duckbill platypus from my old world, that also had poisonous backwards facing spikes on just its back legs that it could use to kick out and wound or severely injure any predator that would try to chase down the platypus and bite at its ankles. This creature seemed to be similar in the defense against similar nipping predators. I could see this creature doing well at defending against a pack of wolves. Wolves that would attempt to encircle and confuse an enemy while one or two pack members snuck up from the rear to disable the creature. In this case though, this evolutionary masterpiece was able to prevent both attacks against their Achilles tendons due to the downward arc and protrusions of bones. But also seemed to be able to spear most enemies with their three forward facing horns. One main horn towards the center of the skull just above the eyes, and two more that look like they began by the ears and proceeded to form a cris crossing path with the main horn. All while having black stripes on a pristine white background coloration of their fur, that my mind associates with zebras. Not that the zebras I knew and remembered actually exist here.

  Then there was the opponent. A long thin bear type creature that has thick jagged spikes along its back and spine, thick paws with retractable claws like a cat, and long pointed snout that made it look more like an overgrown war dog of some kind, than of a killer bear.

  Listening and watching them, which was about all I could do to focus away from the near continual strain I was placing on my body I began to notice a few things.

  Watching the tri-horned zebra, I saw how would bob its head for speed and as a pace guide for its whole body. Then it would lower its head and snort just enough to cause mucus to run down its flat nose, then I saw how it began to speed up.

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  Blur.

  The Zebra used some type of Speed Skill, one that might daze a predator that had grown used to its initial speed.

  Speed Jump.

  Then getting close to the edge of the arena it reached a little bit further and let out either the last of its breath, or the last of a new breath, either way it still had to breath out to cast its second Skill, a linked jumping Skill that it used to both clear the distance to the playpen area, and clear the fence that served as a mild protection.

  “HEE-HAWWN”

  From there, the tri-horned zebra was a one-horse wrecking crew, letting out an attack bellow that made it sound more like a donkey than anything. The beast was wild, jumping, lunging, kicking and wildly swinging around its horned appendages at the advancing Z-Rot infested creatures around it, I was amazed to see its wild killing attacks brought about by it turning and first crippling every nearby opponent that came near.

  “GRROOOOO” the skinny sprinting armored bear arrived a half second later, its paws and teeth wild instruments of death as it too slashed out violently cutting down monsters that tried to prevent it from getting over the fence.

  It seemed that getting over the fence without getting hurt was just as much of an issue as defending yourself from the monsters once the monsters cleared said fence. Had the bear been faster and a bit more coordinated, it could have climbed the fence and jumped down, which it seemed was its original plan, until it tripped and fell, as its long back paws got caught on the top railing, once it cracked under his weight.

  I was so distracted by watching the bear fall, but still manage to protect itself form crazed Z-Rot infested monsters that I almost missed the amazing tactic used by the tri-horned zebra. Name, rather than making three trips to place disabled bodies next to its master, one that involved getting the largest point totals possible, the zebra and its owner had a very different plan, going for impaling three of the disabled bunnies on each of the three horns, then turning around, the tri-horned zebra sprinted, getting to full speed in a matter of two strides, then jumped the fence and almost cleared the entire way, managing to get its front hooves on the arena, but that didn’t stop it, as it calmly waited until its back legs touched the ground, before wildly kick jumping again.

  Clop, plop, clop.

  Then with clearly practiced ease and skill, the zebra used its front hooves to kick off the three still squirming rabbit bodies. Giving each a solid stomp to their heads to stop them from moving entirely, before waiting for the command from its tamer.

  The tamer for his part turned to the referee and just waited.

  “Three!” The referee counted.

  Then with nothing more than a head nod to his tamed pet, the pet went over and lowered its largest horn directly at the neck of the opposing tamer.

  “I yield,” the bear tamer cried out, and like that it was over. This time, the Nostrylvanian Revolutionary Guard Members came in immediately, while I went up to tend to the two pets, checking them over and healing any lingering injuries.

  This time, there was even less pomp and circumstances to the Guard members’ actions as they all seemed focused on getting the rotting corpses into the furnace, where they would then be burned away. Everything was the exact same, the same piling of still moving bodies, the use of shovels and other methods to maim or incapacitate still moving creatures. Then the application of foam to create an airtight seal. There was just one slight change, as the pyromancer used to start these flames was clearly different than the last one. They got breaks, while I had to do everything.

  I was done with my part, far before the Guard members were done with their part of just filling the clear incinerator, mainly because this was a far more gentlemanly version of this challenge than had previously occurred. I found myself not having to heal too much real damage and even spent some time working at some of the older injuries that each creature had suffered. For instance, I am no battle bear expert, but I could assume the fact that the bear had once broken its back left paw played a part in why it was so hesitant to jump from the railing. I worked on strengthening the bond between the bones that had healed back together.

  I also worked on filling in some gaps that were forming in the Zebra’s war horns, particularly the back ones that needed to be sharper if it wanted to survive.

  While these animals seem better trained, or at least to have less of a personality as did the phase panther and winged snake, I still see a bit of reluctance in the pets who make their way off stage.

  The armored bear makes his way off first, going down the challenger’s tunnel where Luna generally resides. While the tri-horned zebra and its master make their way down Lucia’s path, the path that normally goes past me.

  I’m there wasting time, using Trash to remove the zombie blood stains from the arena mat, but really I’m just waiting for the incineration part to be done, so I can go over and prevent the foreign guard members from having to flood their system with slow acting carcinogens. Carcinogens that might only show their signs of action in years.

  This time, I don’t even leave the ring, as my range with my Trash Skill has increased that I can easily get the ashes and corrupted liquid from the different beakers while walking away.

  Getting over to my spot, I turn and can all but see the glare of Mr. Yi, waiting for me to ignore my implied task. Not giving him the satisfaction of my forgetting, I instantly take up a modified squat position, this rider position, as I refuse to call it a horse position, at least that is how I keep my defiance in my mind.

  After a few seconds, Mr. Yi, gently touches me, lifting my arms into place, and adjusting my posture to be more upright, before finally going back to his place by my side.

  Once again, there is a lot of down time as the incinerator is taken off, while the last clump of burned ground is removed, and replaced by a fresh new pen filled with even more corrupted cute creatures.

  “Did you notice anything in that last match?” Mr. Yi asks.

  I hesitate for a moment, but then nod slightly.

  “You may speak this answer,” Mr. Yi adds, taking away my one joy I had at getting him mad for telling me not to talk. Still, he caught it, so I will answer.

  “Yes, I noticed that the tri-horned creature let out a breath each time it used a Skill,” I reply.

  Mr. Yi nods as I can see a slight light of satisfaction in his gaze.

  “Very good, now what does that tell you?” Mr. Yi presses.

  I pause and then extrapolate that out, “that animals and likely humans too will subconsciously let out a breath while using a movement type Skill?”

  “Very good, so how can you counter that known weakness?” He presses.

  As he speaks, I can almost feel my wild Strategist* Skill coming to life, as I force my mind to think about the possible implications and meanings of this new discovery.

  “I need to be prepared to go all widdershins, whenever I see an opponent take a deep breath, as most movement Skills require a user to go, or react to a forward threat. By purposefully moving to the side after a breath is taken, I can either avoid, or mitigate some of the danger I would normally face.”

  “Very good,” Mr. Yi stated, clear approval in his gaze and voice now as he nodded in satisfaction. “Now watch these next fights, and try to see when the Z-Rot infested creatures will use their skills.”

  At that, I paused, wondering if the Z-Rot infested creatures actually had Skills? Then I wondered if they got specific Z-Rot linked Skills, or if they were carry over Skills that all creatures had instinctively, which transferred over after infection.

  I was more intent than ever to use these matches to understand the world around me as best as I possibly could. And I think I finally understood why Mr. Yi chose this as our first training grounds.

  I nod, and that was enough as we prepared to watch the remainder of the Tamer matches, before everything would be swapped back for the regular tournament matches.

  Matches where I could see just how many of these insights into animals using Skills transfer over to humans, and if there are any differences.

  per day, until our reign on the top 50 stops.

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