It was truly hard to put my thought process into words.Initially, my mind had become infected with the idea that forcefully growing stronger would affect my foundation and force me to become somebody that just had to cower in fear against people who weren't infinitely weaker than me.So of course, after combing through everything Infra had told me, I thought 'hey, if experience is what I need, an underground fighting ring is the perfect place.'Now of course, the full blame couldn't be placed on me.Since clearly, Infra for one sinister reason or another failed to mention that people with even a shred of experience more than me could play with me like some kind of toy. And it of course withheld all this information until the very last moment.So not only did I go into that fight nearly pissing myself, I got embarrassed in front of ten-ish people, who watched and cheered as a man in a beak mask threw me around for a minute before ending me off.Who cares if a solid hit or two was from my end? At the end of the day, I was at my opponent's mercy for the entire fight. There wasn't even a fraction of a second where I felt that I was in control.The same annoying scenario played out once my consciousness returned. The blinding light, the empty room, the strange equipment. Though I was a tad bit annoyed by the splitting headache and severe soreness my body was feeling, it felt good to not be rewatching me getting ragdolled over and over again, which was exactly what was replaying in my head while I was unconscious.I struggled to push myself straight up in bed, fixing my body into a meditative position. Though I hadn't done it much, it was already like second nature to me, to spend all my free time meditating. It was almost like a drug, just without the life threatening side effects, and only a fraction of the pleasure.The pain was alleviated bit by bit, but it was clear that the healing effects of the Tecz were limited. Or maybe it was simply due to my type and, or stage.Struggling, I pushed myself to the edge of the bed and let my feet dangle off. I was confident in being able to at least sustain myself upright long enough to leave the room and find a doctor.I rose, with a very large amount of effort and pulled back the curtains that surrounded my bed."AH!"A feminine scream met me, and before I could put a face to the voice, what seemed to be a bedpan flew towards my face, and the light faded once more.⥁Getting knocked out was also second nature to me by now, but that was now the second time a woman had knocked me out immediately after I woke up in a hospital bed. Which was not a lot in retrospect, but there was a small voice in my ear telling me there weren't many people who could relate.Oddly enough, it seemed that my rest was a lot deeper after I'd been knocked out, rather than me falling asleep regularly. It wasn't the greatest tactic, but it was useful information should I ever have difficulties sleeping.The same old shtick played out again, following the same routine while awaking. This time, however, I quickly stepped back while pulling back the curtains around my bed. To my fortune, I was greeted only by the sight of more empty beds.Some were a bit messed up and dirty, so it was clear I was not fully alone. But I was glad to be all by myself, as it would have been fairly awkward to have that conversation with the, I'm assuming, nurse who had knocked me out.I found my now clean clothes sitting in a cupboard on the far side of the room, near the door. Opening the door, I stood behind it, using it as a cover while changing from the extremely revealing hospital gown into my clothes, before walking out.The atmosphere and look of the building I was in felt almost exactly the same as any other hospital. Not that I had many to compare it to. The only separating factor was, of course, the view of metal and dirt through the windows.It was also quite odd that despite there being tens of doctors and nurses running around me, talking, yelling, crying and doing all the stuff that was clearly normal to them, not a single one noticed me. It was as if I was a phantom simply passing by them.Of course it was evident that my attire played a large role in my invisibility, but it seemed odd that literal medical professionals were not concerned by the dirty and bruised man walking through the halls, but I digress. My lack of presence allowed me to swiftly exit the building, and navigate my way through the tunnels once more.It truly was unreal just how many things could be found in this underground maze.Every other turn, you could find just about anything you'd find above ground.The occasional supermarket, clubs, liquor stores, libraries, everything. Of course I wasn't sure what the point was of all these things, but maybe I'd learn to realize their importance in the future. But as for right now?They all seemed like odd wastes of money and time to add, especially when it was technically a 'city', filled with broke and insane fighting obsessed maniacs. Along the way, I spotted a few familiar faces.The short boss-man, who's name I learned was Enzo, was laughing and drinking with several other men in suits, walking along the tunnels. Not a single one of them paid me any attention, but I was fairly sure Enzo winked at me.But my head had experienced so much lately, I wasn't very trusting of it.The tusk mask, who's fighter name was The Savage, was currently engaged in a very heated argument with The Tailor outside of a store, as he held his ripped tusk mask in his hands.Finally, in the tunnel just outside the lodgings, Goblin was passed out drunk, bottles littered around him. I was now almost certain that every single person here was an alcoholic. Even worse, they were all day drinkers, as according to my screen it was barely noon.I picked Goblin up and dragged him back to our room, dropping him on the ground before plopping down on my own bed.It had already been three days since my fight, which to my dismay resulted in me missing payday.Which for several reasons I didn't understand, the biggest of them all was why money was even important. Sure on the outside world it'd be useful to have, but with all the essentials already provided to you for free, money just seemed to promote alcoholism and gambling addictions.And of course I was a bit salty about my pay. According to the woman, whom I'm assuming is Enzo's assistant, told me that our pay follows a simple formula of the number of wins we have, times ten plus five. I can say with full confidence that the plus five was only implemented to make sure no one goes fully broke.But it was a slap in the face to know that my biweekly pay was five dollars, or whatever the currency was called.Especially since my loan to my original hospital was only growing larger due to the interest. Meaning as soon as I left The Underground, if I wasn't swimming in cash, forget about the academy, I'd probably have to spend a few years in jail.And looking down at my screen, jail was looking like a very real possibility.Now of course I was probably wrong on a lot of things, but there was definitely still reason for me to stress. Which was so stupidly funny, as at no point during my five minutes of planning did I ever pause to think about money becoming an issue for me.Just as my stomach started to churn from all the worrying I was doing, Goblin began to stir.He awoke several moments later, still very drunk, but recovered quickly after meditating.He slapped his face a few times and dropped a few drops of liquid from a small bottle he pulled from out of nowhere, before even detecting my presence.I truly was just a ghost today."Someone has got to tell me where to get those things. I want to be able to pull things out of my ass too." I joked. A little unsure about what to say.He gave me an unimpressed look before clearing his throat."Win a fight and I'll think about it."Well, good to know I will not be able to live that down."You know, I-"He raised his palm."I don't want to hear it. Not only did you get utterly slammed to the ground, but you got utterly slammed by a guy only ranked two spots higher than you. I knew you were weak but good lord, I thought you could at least fight!"My ego took a ginormous hit when I was informed about the abysmal gap in between our rankings. While walking back to the room, I convinced myself they put me up against an experienced veteran. Someone who was at least a hundred or so ranks higher."Look, it was my-""I bet three hundred and fifty Kelts on you! Three hundred and fifty! That's a sixth of my paycheck! You completely sold me!"Ah.That was the reason behind his anger. And here I was assuming I'd found a concerned and helpful backer. But no. Just a gambling addicted, alcoholic, rude, loud and disgusting roommate.My interest in the conversation was completely lost, so I laid back in bed and allowed my eyes to close.Silence filled the room for a few minutes, before Goblin let out a long sigh."You had a few good moves though. Who taught you how to fight?" He started silently.A small smile came and went from my face as my eyes reopened.Sitting back up, I faced him once more."After awakening my Heartile, I told Infra, the chip, to show me a basic and easy to learn fighting style. So I practiced it a bit on dummies made from pillows wrapped in a blanket." I smiled."Didn't really ask for your life story, just wanted to know what it was called." He responded curtly.My smile became a lot more strenuous."I can't remember the name, Oculat is a stupid language." I said honestly. Not realizing the slip of tongue."You're speaking it you idiot. What, you got your head slammed too much and now you got memory loss? At least take a moment to think."His manner and tone were both very crude but thankfully his attention was focused on something else, and not on my words. Naturally it wasn't a big deal, but it wasn't a good idea to tell anyone about my situation just yet."Someone's interested." I murmured. "Give me a second to think."
I rifled through my memories. Did it begin with a K? Maybe an arr sound.
"Setkai. Yeah it's called Setkai." It finally clicked.I know that the word had some kind of long history, but all I cared about was that it was a simple fighting style to learn. Very few and not many restrictive movements.The style revolved mainly around closing the distance between you and your opponent. That's why I was able to close the distance, with a fair amount of ease, during my fight.Of course closing the distance didn't mean much if you couldn't follow up with anything effective. So I followed up the style by learning a few basic grapples and some mixed punches/kicks.Which apparently did not help me in any shape or form."Setkai?" He paused, rubbing his finger over the normal half of his forehead. He remained in deep thought for so long I could feel my eyes beginning to grow heavy.Finally, some lightbulb turned on in Goblin's head."That old thing!? How the hell does your chip even have something that old?"Interesting reaction."Is it really that old?"He laughed, this time bits of spit flying's from the burned side."'Is it really that old?'" He mocked. "Are you kidding me? My great fucking grandpa learned that when he was a student at the Academy. They stopped teaching it because it was completely useless in fights outside of the Academy. You really learned that piece of junk style and thought you were going to win?""Well I'm pretty that's not the only reason why I lost but ok." I muttered under my breath.If it truly was that old, assuming my guess on Goblins age was accurate, then it was odd that it was the fighting style Infra picked out for me.'Well Infra, what's all that about?' I questioned.Goblin had led me from the lodgings to the training room for the fighters ranked one thousand and below. Weights, exercise machines, strange looking pieces of technology, weapons and just about everything one could need in a training room were present and lined along the walls.
The rooms itself seemed to have experienced its fair share of wear and tear, as cuts and holes similarly lined the walls.In the center of the room, a replica of the main stadium was situated, surrounded by a replica cage. At the center of the battleground, Goblin was already standing fully changed. An array of weapons scattered on the ground around him.Putting on my own armour, I rushed to stand opposite of him.He stared me down for a few seconds before speaking."To put it bluntly, you are genuinely incapable of winning a fight at your current level.""No shit-""Shut up." He interrupted, an aura beginning to surge around him. He clearly wasn't joking any more."The emphasis on current level." He bent down and picked up a wooden staff before tossing it over to me.Catching it, I examined the staff closely. It was truly just an ordinary piece of wood."Normally, I'd start by breaking you down and building you back up fully, but that'll have to wait. Right now, we need to find you a weapon."I raised my hand."You're not in a classroom." He snapped.'You yelled at me last time.' I sneered inwardly."Why can't I fight with my body? I don't see anybody else using weapons."A suffocating aura spread out and over me."You haven't even awakened your Heartile typing, much less passed the first minor stage. And you want to put yourself on the same level as everyone else."The aura dissipated.Minor stage? What the hell was that?Nevermind, it wasn't important right now."Fine. So how does this work? You're gonna show me the motions and I try to find the one that best suits me?""Not quite." He responded, pulling his mask over his head. He picked up a wooden sword and moved into a fighting stance. "We're gonna do it in the most effective way possible.""Which is?" I gulped, raising the staff."I'm going to beat you until you find a weapon that can help you take a hit!" He roared and lunged.I raised the staff with both my hands, similarly lunging.I had no clue on how to fight with a weapon, hell I could barely fight with my fists.Nearing Goblin, I raised the staff high above my head, slamming down with full force.The staff made contact with the ground, as I was sent flying the next second."Fail." Goblin had already appeared in front of me once more, now tossing my axe.I was already severely regretting following him. But for some reason my heart and body were all fired up.I grasped the axe in my hands firmly, roaring out once more. There was no way I would allow myself to stagnate simply due to a lack of talent.Who cares if I get knocked down a hundred times? Or even a thousand.Once my mind is made up, I will not stop until I reach my goals. Even if that meant getting beaten by an ugly man in a goblin mask.