Jack continued, “From now on, every day unless you are in an urgent guild quest or task that requires you to go far away, you will undergo martial arts training under Domon’s instruction.”
“I will?” Domon asked. “Are you going to leave me here?”
Jack turned to the old man. “I’m going to go around a lot, and very far. A lot of walking. Do you want to come with me?”
“I am old already, I can’t journey too much.”
“I know, that’s why I ask you to stay.”
“But why training this bunch? You know I don’t teach much after what happened.”
“But I know it is always your passion to teach martial arts. What are you going to do then? Just lazed around like what you did in that hut in the middle of nowhere where I found you? It’s time for you to let go of the past. It’s not your fault what happened to senior brother. I don’t think he wants you to give up teaching as well. Look at this lot. They are a bunch of nobodies. Ain’t it a challenge to turn them from wimps into powerful fighters? Won’t it be exciting?”
Those who stood before the two gave Jack a stare. Who did he call nobodies and wimps?
Domon seemed to be considering. “Hm… I don’t know. My training is not easy…”
Before Jack said anything more, a person lifted his hand. Jack turned to the guy and turned sour. ‘Should have known this guy will have something to say,’ he said in his mind.
The one who lifted his hand was John. He said, “friend, I am a magic user. What use do I have for martial arts? It’s not like I’m going to intentionally run up to my enemy and impress them with it. I can just stand far away with minimal body movement and blast them away with spells.”
“Your thinking is too shallow!” Jack scolded. “Do you think learning martial arts only help you in melee fights? Here, I’m going to demonstrate it for you!”
Jack walked forward and then took a plain cloth from his inventory. He used it to cover his eyes. “Now, try to hit me!” He uttered.
“What does that have to do with martial arts? Everyone here already knows about your monocle that can detect people’s position,” John said.
Jack took off the cloth. “Damn you!” He scolded. Then he took off his monocle and stored it in his bag. “Now, I’m not wearing it,” Jack said and covered his eyes with the cloth again.
“Hit me!” He said again after.
John looked around before he pointed to Weird Trap and then gave him a gesture to hit Jack. The reason was because of Ranger’s Silent Step skill. When Weird Trap came towards Jack, John gave him a signal to do it from the back. He complied and crept sneakingly to the back. After making sure there was no reaction from Jack, Weird Trap sent out a punch.
His fist struck the back of Jack’s head.
“Ouch!” Jack called out.
The others were flabbergasted. With Jack being so confident, they did admit that they were expecting him to do something about the punch.
Jack took off his cloth, looked back at Trap, and asked, “Did you just punch me with your fist?”
Weird Trap had a wronged expression. “Bro, isn’t it you who asked someone to hit you?” He said.
“With a weapon, not with a fist! Do you think you are a Battle Monk? You have to hit me with something that can cause damage. Otherwise, I can’t sense the mana.”
Domon who was watching, said, “You still need lots of training, Afei. Even if a normal punch has little chi, it is not unnoticeable. You should train until you can sense even the smallest of chi. When you tried to hit me in the past, it was also just a normal punch.”
‘Ugh, why was it me that got reprimanded?’ Jack grumbled. Then to Trap, he said, “use your bow or your dagger!” Jack then covered his eyes again.
Weird Trap looked at John, who simply shrugged and gave him a sign to use his weapon. Trap unsheathed his dagger. Though he was an archer now, he could still use a dagger when needed. He sneaked again to another side, before thrusting his dagger.
This time, Jack responded. He sidestepped and evaded the thrust. Trap was bewildered, he looked back to John again, who made a gesture for him to do repeated stabs. Trap complied, he turned serious and prepared his attack. Once ready, he stabbed at Jack.
Again, Jack moved away. Trap didn’t let go, he chased after Jack as he stabbed continuously. He even added Swift Stab in one of those stabs. Jack also didn’t stay in one place. He swayed and stepped back with each stab. None of Trap’s attacks landed on his body. Frustrated, Trap moved away and circled to Jack’s back. He then took out his bow and fired an arrow, using Precise Shot skill, aiming right at the back of Jack’s head.
As the arrow was about to hit, Storm Breaker appeared in Jack’s hand. He swung it to the back and cut the arrow in two.
The others were silent.
Jack took off the cloth covering his eyes and said, “you all saw that? This is an ability called Mana Sensing. The main underlying principle to learning this ability is the same as chi mediation taught to martial artists. Even for a magic user, this is an excellent ability to be learned. With this skill, even when someone used an invisibility spell, you can still sense them, because an invisibility spell covers the user with mana to make them invisible.”
“Ah…” John came to a realization. He had always wondered how Domon found out about Red Death’s presence when she sneaked into the Guild Hall.
“There is an even a higher stage called Mana Manipulation,” Jack continued. “If you managed to reach this stage, you can manipulate your skill or spell to make them even more deadly. Now, who wants to learn?!”
Seeing Jack’s display, the others were more passionate now.
“Me!”
“Me!”
“Me!”
Everyone uttered their desire to learn.
Domon lifted his hands to quiet them down. He then said, “Don’t expect this mana sensing to be easy to learn. Unless you have great talent. You will need a lot of time to learn it. In fact, not many practice this anymore because of its difficulty. I can say there is only a small circle of old school practitioners like me that still practice it. Most martial artists nowadays prefer disciplines focusing on physical training.”
Domon paused a bit as he reviewed the crowd’s enthusiasm before he continued, “and let me tell you now! As an old-school practitioner, I won’t accept any shortcut requests. You want to learn this mana sensing. You learn them as one package with physical training as well. You follow my program. It’s my way or the highway!”
“Where the hell did you learn that phrase? The TV?” Jack asked.
Domon ignored him. He addressed the crowd, “those that wish to learn, stay here. Those that do not, get out. I don’t wish to teach if you don’t wish to learn. I demand full obedience if you decide to learn!”
Domon stood there and waited. No one was leaving.
Jack took the chance to say something, “I think everyone knows already. This here is my grandpa. If any one of you dares to show disrespect to him, I will whoop your ass!”
Domon turned to Jack, “Boy, I’m not that old that I need you to defend me. If any one of them dares to disrespect me, I will whoop their asses myself!”
Everyone took a gulp. They had a feeling this old man was more violent than Jack.
Jack pretty much wrap up what he could do for his guild. He told the others farewell, then he let Jeanny and John knew that he would be heading to Thereath for his Archmage class trial. Jeanny told him now that the guild was in protected status. All the core members could use this reprieve to try their elite class trials as well. They would wrap up here and then head to Thereath as well soon.
Jack wished them luck as they did to him. He reminded them though that the elite class nullified their equipment advantage, so they are not to expect the equipment upgrade that he provided just now would increase their odds.
Before Jack headed to the Teleportation Chamber, he got another batch of potions and Poison Salve from Bowler and Pointy Tip. Now that Life Runner provided them with a steady supply of small poison glands, Tip could produce Poison Salve continuously. He even gave some to the other members.
After teleporting to Thereath, Jack headed first to his two investment places, Ellie’s Restaurant and Amy’s Bakery. He hoped the profits from these two could refill his pocket.
He had made another 100 gold coins donation to the guild before he left. The coins in his purse were now only 41 gold coins. He donated a big chunk of his coins, but he thought the coins should help the guild in recovering and developing much faster. He was not patient enough to do guild quests, after all, so aside from fighting for the guild, this was how he contribute.
It had been four weeks since he left to fill up the exp for his Lightning God Blessing, if not considering the time-warp inside Valley of Tempus.. So, the pile-up profits from both establishments should be substantial.
