Chapter 20: Amazing Martial Skills
"All right time to set up camp", Doug yelled as he guided the carriages to a small clearing off the road.
They had been traveling for a day now and were about to set up camp. When they arrived at Viridian City Aaron had made a quick stop over at the Inn he had stayed at. He found out from the clerk that The Red Bands had left a message for him saying they had waited for 2 days but had head back to the capital due to Veronica receiving urgent news from her family. After that they didn't linger and immediately started off towards the capital. The sun was starting to set and so they decided to stop for the night.
'I wonder what happened to Veronica? I can only wait till I reach the capital. There's still sometime left before the sun sets. I should probably pass the 'Six Styles' over to Elliot.'
Aaron silently thought to himself. When he and Elliot had first left the City to go look for the leopard he had asked the system on how he could impart on the 'Six Styles' so he knew exactly how to go about it.
"Excuse me for a while Princess, there's something I have to do", Aaron suddenly said to Miara.
"Oh? Can I come with you or will it be a distraction?", Miara asked
"It's no problem at all"
They existed the carriage and walked over to the group of guards.
"Your Highness", they greeted. She smile and nodded in response.
"Elliot, follow me", Aaron said and began walking towards a clearing 30 ft away from the campsite.
Elliot had been with the guards the whole time and had actually become friends with Doug over the past few day. He was busy setting up the camp with them when Aaron suddenly called for him.
"Where are we going. Master?"
"I'm thinking it's about time I pass the 'Six Styles' over to you"
"Really?! Yes! Hahahaha!", Elliot shouted.
He was ecstatic, he would finally begin his path towards martial arts. He had never bothered Aaron over these past few days and waited patiently. Now his patience was paying off.
"Six styles? What are those Aaron?", Miara who had been following behind asked curiously.
"Master practices as set of profound Martial skills that beyond powerful!", Elliot blurted out unable to contain his excitement.
"It's better to just show you.", Aaron simply replied.
Once they had walked away from the campsite Aaron took off his Feather coat and handed it to Miara.
"Elliot pay close attention, I'm about to demonstrate all of the 'Six Styles' to you. Remember these are pure martial skills and require no Qi! However! They require one to be dedicated and put in constant effort, It'll be hard but the pay off is huge."
The guards hearing Aaron looked over in Curiosity.
"I wonder what sort of skills Sir Heart will demonstrate?"
"Who knows, but he said they were only pure martial skills. Even if Sir Heart is strong how impressive could martial skills that don't require Qi be?"
"I don't think Sir Heart would practice them if they weren't useful.
"Let' just watch and see, debating will get us no where.", Doug suddenly cut his guards off. He was just as curious to see what kind of skills Aaron would demonstrate.
Miara and Elliot stepped back and listened to Aaron begin to speak.
"Remember there are six total skills, each with its own profound understanding behind them. You've already seen me use Kami-e and Rankyaku. Kami-e allows for your body be as flexible and light as a piece of paper, allowing you to dodge all sorts of attacks that would otherwise hit."
"So that's how you were able to dodge the Blaze Leopards strikes.", Miara suddenly realized.
"Correct, as for Rankyaku...", Aaron stopped and suddenly looked at a tree nearby. He quickly raised his leg and kicked out in a sweeping motion, his leg moving so fast it appeared to blur. A Bright blue light following the arc of his leg shot out towards the tree.
Fhssshh!
The tree was sliced in half and fell down in front of shocked eyes!
"Amazing! Master that's amazing! To think such a skill wouldn't require Qi!",Elliot screamed in excitement . He had indeed seen Aaron use this move against the Leopard but the beast was to strong and it didn't cause much damage leaving his underwhelmed. However he soon realized that the attack wasn't weak the leopard was just strong!
"A-Aaron, is that really just a pure martial skill?", Miara was stunned. This was her first time seeing a martial skill that could be projected in a way similar to a Qi attack. But there wasn't the slight trace of Qi in that attack! She couldn't understand, Aaron kept surprising her time and time again.
"Yea it requires one to move their legs at high speed and compress the air to launch it like a projectile"
"That was Air?!", Doug shouted. He had quietly made his way over with the guards and couldn't help but be shocked when he heard Aaron.
"Doug?..When did yo...whatever. Yea it was compressed air. However lets not get bogged down now, I still have 4 more skills to show you.", Aaron noted while noticing that Doug had suddenly appeared
"This next move is called Soru, pay attention."
Elliot and the rest watched as Aaron figure suddenly vanished.
"Movement skill!", Doug said while looking around for Aaron.
"Behind you"
"AH! What the hell man?!", Doug jumped in surprise.
"Master was that?", Elliot suddenly shot up his eyes shining. Anyone walking by would be terrified of the look he had on his face.
"Correct, that was a skill called Soru, it allows you to move at speeds much faster than normal. No Qi is needed yet it can allow you to match the speed of cultivators. The more you train the faster you'll get. The key to this skill is to kick the grounds over ten times in the blink of an eye."
"Hahaha! To move as quick as a cultivator without Qi! Incredible!" , Elliot was quite literally jumping up and down at this point. Miara , Doug, and the guards simply stared is astonishment.
*Gulp*
"A-Are those really just martial skills?", one of the guards asked
"T-They must be, I didn't sense any Qi fluctuation. But...can pure martial skills really allow for such abilities?"
"He said there were six in total...he's only shown three. Everyone more amazing than the last, what could the others possibly be?"
"...", all the guards stayed quite and could only watch with anticipation.Even Ella had walked over and began watching Aaron.
Miara looked at Aaron as the curiosity in her heart had begun to burn wildly.
'Just who are you, Aaron? Even my family doesn't possess such martial skills and this is the first time I've heard of such skills.',
However she simply continued to watch, now wasn't the appropriate time to ask.
"The next move I'll need some help. Doug could you come over her for a moment.", Aaron suddenly asked.
"Me? What do you need me to do?", Dough asked cautiously
"Nothing much rake your sword and cut that branch over there."
Doug paused for a moment before following Aaron's instructions. He figured everything would become clear soon enough.
"Indeed a good sword, quite sharp. OK, now come and strike my arm."
"What?!"
"Aaron? Although Doug isn't at the Earth Realm, he's still quite capable", Miara said nervously.
"Its no problem at all. Come, strike me!", Aaron said as he lifted his sleeve to expose his right arm.
".....Your Highness?"
"...Since Aaron says it's ok, it should be fine.", Miara responded after seeing how confident Aaron was.
"Fine, Sir Heart take my strike!"
"Come! Elliot pay attention!"
Doug suddenly swung his sword without hesitation towards Aaron's exposed arm. He noticed there was no Qi circulating, for anyone in this situation all they could do was lose an arm. However...
Clang!
"M-Metal?", the guards watching didn't expect to hear such a sound.
Doug was even more shocked as he stared at Aaron's arm. It was completely unaffected, not even a scratch could be seen on his flawless skin.
"H-How is this possible?", he stuttered.
"This is another one of the 'Six Styles' – Tekkai. It allows for one to harden their muscles until they reach the level of iron. This attack can nullify most of if not all of the damage from physical attacks. However, take not you can;t move while using this skill."
".....!!!" ,Elliot couldn't speak anymore he was so excited. Everything Aaron had shown him so far had blown his mind. When he had asked Aaron to teach him, he was at best expecting to learn that move to avoid enemies and maybe and an attack or two. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be able to learn a skill that allowed him to take a sword strike unarmed or without Qi to defend with.
"H-How incredible, Aaron are these truly just martial skills? They seem to have the same effects as Qi based skills.", Miara asked still unable to wrap her head around what she was seeing.
"Yea, all of them require lots of training to develop but once they have they can allow for users to do unbelievable lives and become super human. Elliot keep watching, I'll demonstrate the fifth style for you now", Aaron responded as he waked over to the tree he cut down earlier.
"This is called Shigan, its a attack skill that you would use a close range. Watch", Aaron said while balling his fist than extending his right index finger. He than struck at the tree truck that was left over.
Pang!
His finger had actually penetrated right into the tree leaving a perfect circle in its place.
"....", yet another terrifying skill sighed Doug.
"....", the others were all quiet and could only stare in silence. Although this one wasn't as amazing as the others they could tell it was quite deadly.
"Alright, this is the last and most incredible skill of the Six Styles. This next one is quite....extraordinary. Just don't be too surprised.", Aaron smiled and started at the group. At first he was surprised to see them all gathering around him but now he was quite pleased with thee shocked looks on their faces.
'Hehehe, I don't think they'll be able to handle it' he laughed in his heart.
"Elliot! This last skill is called Geppou! It allows the user to literally jump off the air! When trained high enough one can literally move through the sky as if they were on solid ground!"
Aaron suddenly jumped into the air and just as he was about to fall back down he stomped his legs at high speeds straight down
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He kicked and rapidly darted around the campsite. Although he hadn't leveled up his Geppou due to using his strings to travel instead, he still knew how to use it.
"Impossible! Is he walking on the air?!", Miara shouted.
"No way! Impossible! There aren't even any Qi skills that allow for one to fly before the sky realm!", Doug shouted.
"He must be using his bloodline again!", shouted a guard. They had seen Aaron fly before but now he was saying that one could tread through the air without Qi?! Impossible! This was an established fact but now it was being challenged in front of their very eyes! How could they remain calm?
Aaron suddenly landed
"I'm not using my abilities, also this skill doesn't allow one to fly but instead allows for them to tread and jump through the sky without falling.", he explained
"M-M-MASTER!!!!", Elliot suddenly leapt and grabbed onto Aaron's shoulders as if his life depended on it.
"Ahhh! What are you doing?!", Aaron jumped in shock
"A-Are you saying that I'll...I'll be able to walk through the skies if I learn this skill?!"
"Y-Yea, as long as you work hard it shouldn't be a problem...but" , before Aaron could finish Elliot dropped to his knees.
"Master! Thank you! Thank you for taking me as your student! I won't let you down!"
Elliot was almost shedding tears at this point. After confirming he would be able to learn this skill he had fully accepted Aaron as his master. To be able to travel through the skies! That was something he had never dared dream off with his abilities. The sky was the realm of those powerful Sky Realm cultivators, mortals and weaker individuals could only stare in envy as the soared without limit or restrictions. However now he had an opportunity to join them and travel free as a bird and it was thanks to Aaron.
Aaron couldn't help be smile at Elliot's behavior but he was quite moved by his passion.
"As long as you work hard enough I assure you that you will have nothing to regret Elliot"
"I'll give it my all! Can we start now?", Elliot said as he stood up with a light in his eyes.
"Yea, that was the plan, I can pass the basics onto to you and than you can begin training them over time."
"I'm ready whenever you are!"
Aaron was about to have Elliot follow him over to a secluded location and have the system impart the 'Six Style' to him when a gentle and melodic voice came from beside him. Looking over he saw it was Miara, she was looking at him with eyes that held almost as much excitement as Elliot's.
"Aaron, could you teach me too?"