My eyes widened as I hastily tried to guard my face with my arms. At the same time, I instinctively shifted my body to the left, trying to evade the oncoming attack.
Unfortunately, my efforts were for naught. Goku merely changed his fist's trajectory a little and landed a solid hit on my right temple.
It was another one-hit KO, knocking me out once again but I was able to at least read his attack, which brought me one step closer to countering it.
Some time later when I regained my senses, I saw Trainer Basak scolding Goku. "Did I not tell you to control your strength? How are you going to beat him up for a longer time if you knock him out in one punch?"
Damn bastards! What the hell is this pair of teacher and student? Their words made me want to faint again.
On the other side, Stivi was openly sniggering but she suppressed her laughter as soon as she felt my gaze. Trainer Basak also noticed my awakening and stopped admonishing Goku with a final warning look.
Even though I knew what awaited me, I stepped back into the ring, standing opposite to Goku. Some may call my actions foolish, bordering on masochism but I merely thought of them as necessary growth pains.
This time Goku controlled his power. His every punch, every kick carried enough force to hurt my bones but not enough to actually cause me to faint.
Apparently, Goku's father was right. As the ache in my bones grew, my body began to respond to the attacks before my conscious mind could.
The responses were nothing too drastic; just subtle movements that lessened the impact of the attack to mitigate pain-
A slight turn of shoulder to avoid the punch from landing on my face….
Crouching down to defend against the kick aiming for my floating ribs….
Such small movements which were ingrained in the genetic memory of humans were slowly revived in my muscles.
I was no longer simply enduring the attacks but was proactively defending against them. Goku found it harder and harder to find opening in my defense as I learned to protect my weak spots well.
Finally, he went for his tried and tested weak point, my face. He aimed at my temple with speed twice as fast as his other attacks. I could see his fist approaching but it was as if my mind was frozen.
It was then my muscle memory kicked in and my body took a step back on its own. The fist swooshed past my nose, missing it by a hair's breadth but leaving my face unharmed.
After nearly an hour of getting beaten up, I had done it! I had managed to completely dodge one of Goku's punches. As if to celebrate my achievement, a chime sounded in my ears.
[Quest for passive skill 'Evasion' activated.]
[Completion Condition: Evade Goku's attacks three times in a row within the next 30 minutes. (1/3)]
[Reward: Passive Skill
The notification made my heart burst with joy. This was my goal all along!
Evasion was one of the most popular passive skills amongst the players. It was compatible with all classes and hence its quest activation condition was an open secret amongst players.
All one needed was a human NPC opponent and endure his beating for 5 minutes. Any Training Instructor could fulfill both of these conditions. Yet, only the top melee combatants had learned the skill so far.
Now I knew why. It was a f*cking timed quest! Meaning it would disappear after 30 minutes and could not be triggered again.
I quickly gathered my wits. I did not know whether my first dodge was a fluke or not but replicating the same feat three times in a row within the next 30 minutes was going to be next to impossible with my clumsy body.
I took a deep breath and braced myself for another round of beating. When my eyes met Goku's, they held a firm resolve to succeed in this quest no matter what.
As soon as I took the ready position, Goku resumed his assault. Kicks and fists flew at me at a much faster pace than before. The speed was so fast that I could barely defend myself from the onslaught and any thoughts of evading the attacks were completely thrown to the back of my mind.
Goku started with a low kick aimed at my knee, destabilizing my posture. As I bent forward from the pain, his uppercut hit me under the chin. Immediately after his elbow smashed into my defenseless sternum and he finished this round with a roundhouse kick to my head.
His attack was so fast that I didn't even have a good chance to defend myself and was knocked out. Trainer Basak announced a two minute break to let me rest. Even though I was tight on time, I did not protest and took this time to contemplate Goku's attack patterns.
The Young Barbarian either aimed for weaknesses or created them using his kicks. His punches, however were always aimed at my face.
Now that I had a grasp of his attack style, my chances of completing the quest had risen dramatically.
The timer was already down to 15 minutes when we ended the break. I just had 15 minutes to test my brains against Goku's brawns.
Goku as usual started by aiming a fist at my face. It was a fast one and avoiding it would only make the subsequent attacks faster. So I raised my arms to cover my face and block the punch.
While the arms covered my face, Goku sneakily aimed his kick at my floating ribs. If it connected I would keel over from pain but I already had an idea of what Goku would do and I took a large step back.
The kick missed by a hair's breadth, shocking Goku but that was not enough to falter his momentum. He immediately switched legs and rotated on the spot while still kicking at my floating ribs on the other side.
This action was beyond my expectations but it also took a slightly longer time. As soon as Goku raised his leg, I took another large step back and once again managed to avoid his fatal kick.
Goku stabilized his footing and realized that kicks won't work as long as I was vigilant against them. So, he decided to go for the tried and tested weak spot- my face.
His punch came straight at my face. Time suddenly slowed down in my eyes as if I had entered a transcendent state similar to when I was shooting the last Barbarik's arrow at Soulton.
The fist grew larger and larger in my vision as my instincts screamed at my body to do something. Then all of a sudden my body responded to my instincts and I crouched down.
I not only crouched down but I also imitated a very unrefined version of Goku's sweeping kick that had made me fall on my back numerous times.
It was such a sudden action that it caught everyone by surprise.
Stivi had stopped her swordsmanship practice and watched with her jaw hanging open. Trainer Basak watched me with narrowed eyes as if contemplating something.
Still, no one was as shocked as Goku who had stumbled and landed on his ass. But I had no time to pay attention to him as I heard the notifications chime once again in my ears-
[You have completed the Timed Quest.]
[You have learned the Passive Skill, Evasion.]
[You have met the requirements to learn the active skill 'Counter'. Would you like to learn the skill?]