I wave off and go to see Brunhilde, I want to see the previous contestants and learn techniques from them, the ones that are still alive that is.
Opening the door, she was scanning through pictures and names once more. "Hey Brunhilde, where are the previous human contestants?"
"Sasaki is in his room, Jack is probably wandering around and so is Buddha." She answers short and concisely. I say my thank and turn to leave, "Oh and also well done out there we appreciate the help." She gave me a genuine smile.
"Of course, I never let a customer down." I give a smile back and go to Sasaki's room.
I knock three times and the man opens up, surprised, he looks up at me. "Oliverick isn't it? Well done on your last match, would you like a drink?"
He's a friendly man it has to be said, "Of course what do you have?"
"Green tea, water or juice." Ah green tea, I forgot about that one, maybe that's why tea brewing isn't lv20.
"Tea please." I sit down at his blanket table thing and tuck my knees under.
[Kotatsu
A blanketed table on floor level, usually heated.]
Ah, I might have to make a kotatsu room or two in the bar. 5 minutes later and I get served the green tea, it feels weird being on this end of it, it'll take some getting used to to.
"So Oli, can I call you that? What can I help you with?" Oli? I like the sound of that.
"Yeah that's fine, I wasn't in universe for your fight. Nor do I know who you are, nevertheless, I wish to learn from you. I see the katana hanging as a mantelpiece, in return for your own teachings, I will impart some of what my own teacher taught me." I feel an urge to create a fusion of many different weapon arts, I do not believe that lv20 evolved or merged is the highest possible. Thus I shall merge evolved skills at lv20 and create a perfect technique for everything.
"It was my understanding you were more mystical than a sword user, I'm afraid I will need a demonstration of your abilities." Fair enough, he might think I'm the equivalent of a fish trying to climb a tree at the moment.
I guide us to the nearest door to my bar and take us to the training room, I disperse my ki training clones and prepare the room.
[Ki lv6]
Even with reading ahead and literally analysing the training, it's just too new of a field for me to develop quickly. I make Sasaki give me plenty of space as I perform a waterfowl dance, by now it's just second nature being able to do it.
"…Oli do you really want me teaching you anything? I think you have it handled." He stands almost frozen in shock, if it wasn't for his mouth.
"I want to learn more than just the one style, and what better person to learn from than a man from Valhalla? A heads up as well, I can make clones, they might train with other experts from your world or other ones." Fortunately I gave him the rundown of how the bar works already.
"No, I think I get it. Not too dissimilar from what I myself did… just a different scale." He put his hands on his hips. "Right, so let's begin with the chujo-ryu." He started running me through his experiences against the masters of this particular branch and how he trained personally.
[Sasaki's teachings lv1]
Since we're both technically dead, sleep and rest were no concern for us. A unique training he came up for was for me to fight my own clones to the death, using only the techniques relayed upon us. It was quite spartan but that's 6x the learning in practical applications.
We got to roshioka-ryu style before taking a break to see the next match, Nikola Tesla vs Beelzebub. Tesla came out decked in a full suit of basically magical armour and Beelzebub looked like a Raya Lucaria student went emo.
The fight commenced, the hum of the crowd building as the battle raged on. However even from the beginning, it was clear to see Tesla was being overpowered. Despite some quite horrific injuries, he just kept fighting and fighting. It finally came to an end when he was impaled through the heart, collapsing to his knees… until he got back up! He's human! I read about the heart, they need it, by all accounts he should not be alive right now. Even Zeus looks confused!
We all cheered for him, all until his final moments. We had no illusion of victory towards the end, I believe everyone accepted the reality that humanity lost this round.
That night was busy, Gods drinking to celebrate and humans drinking to forget. I created separate rooms to prevent fights breaking out between the two, after that I left it to my clones and finished off the rest of the techniques learnt by Sasaki.
[Sasaki's teachings lv20]
[Evolving…]
[Sasaki's legacy lv1 -evolved-]
Despite his fame and renown, his sword skill is unfortunately lacking in the face of Malenia's. However, I expected this, she had millennia to perfect her sword, whereas he had a few decades. Sasaki was kind enough to give me a list of duelists and warriors to learn from in Valhalla: Miyamoto Musashi, Joseph Bologne, Donald McBane, Achille Marozzo, Julie d'Aubigny and Tsukahara Bokuden. All of whom he gives critical acclaim to, apparently some of the most influential beings in duelling and sword technique history.
Immediately, I sent a clone over to go find them and convince them to teach me. Ideally, my self-cloning will finally reach lv20, so I can just have an indefinite number of clones training everything in my arsenal. Wandering around the coliseum, taking in the new and unique sights, I was stopped by Brunhilde.
"Oliverick, I have something to ask of you if you're willing." We stopped in front of a luxurious fountain, a soft mist of water ricocheting off the surface onto us.
"Depends on what it is."
"Your bar, you've mentioned previously that your customers are from all around existence correct? As you have fought and beat Hades, is there anyone at a position that they may be willing to fight for humanity?"
"I suppose there would be a fair few, the next match is next week right? I'll put something up, I assume you have a reserve if no one is available though?"
"Yes, I have a few in mind."
"Perfect, I'll get back to you 1 day before the next tournament." We made our agreement and I went back to the bar.
I placed a sign up board on the wall, anyone can sign up and I'd use [Google] to see if they're at least mountain level. With that arranged, I went back to work, making banquets and barrels like before. Occasionally, I'd see random people sign up, if they passed the [Google] check then I'd keep their name up.
As an incentive, I added a reward if you won, 3 items of your choice or 1 month food and drink free. And if they lost, then they get to go to Valhalla.
[Time Skip]
[Miyamoto Musashi's legacy lv1 -evolved-] [Joseph Bologne's legacy lv1 -evolved-] [Donald McBane's legacy lv1 -evolved-] [Achille Marozzo's legacy lv1 -evolved-] [Julie d'aubigny's legacy lv1-evolved-] [Tsukuhara Bokuden's legacy lv1 -evolved-]
Oddly enough within the week this was doable, there was so much that carried over that they all just hyper-levelled. More importantly, the board I posted up is full and now I have to pick the best of them for the competition.
Steve signed up? Did he do it when I wasn't looking, because this should not be on here, nice try Steve. Subaru, he has made a lot of progress and has risen to 6C, I think he'll be perfect. Additionally, Alexander signed up, coming out of retirement after helping the tarnished ascend with Ranni. It's a no brainer, the man is able to contest against a God in a stronger universe, done. Just in case one gets denied, Finn also signed up. Though he is still only a kid, he is 7A+, which qualifies.