IRL Console 19 The Joys Of Forging

Ma Sa made it to the Ye Clan at surprising speed. Since his body's cells had been bathed in Qi he seemed to have more endurance and strength than before. He hadn't tested his limits yet so he was still unsure as to how much of an improvement he had actually had. This was a good indication though, as once he could cultivate a body art and methodically refine his flesh and bones he would become greatly more powerful.

When he reached the training ground of the Ye Clan's younger generation and spotted Ye Zhen he was unsurprised to find him alone. Whilst Ye Zhen was genuinely a friendly guy, sadly most of the less talented members of the Ye Clan gave him a wide berth. Only people who were thinking of trying to ride his coat tails approached him. The lack of sincerity in friends.h.i.+p was not something that Ye Zhen would want. He didn't let it get to him though, at least, not on the surface.

Ma Sa could tell that he really yearned for a friend of his own age who could be a partner in crime. He didn't care about their talent in the least. Unfortunately, other people just couldn't see things the same way as him. For Ma Sa, their loss was his gain!

"Yo!" Ye Zhen waved cheerfully in greeting. "It's nice to know I'm not the only one who sleeps late!"

Ma Sa didn't bother correcting his misunderstanding as he really didn't mind sleeping in every now and then. Also, it would give him an excuse to train in private a little. He was, after all, in the enviable position of being able to make huge strides in his cultivation in the s.p.a.ce of only a few minutes.

"Yo!" Ma Sa greeted him in kind. "What are you training in now?" Ye Zhen was currently swinging some large wooden mallets around casually. He appeared to have a few pairs of hammers which were all of different weights. Some were even comically large in comparison to Ye Zhen's body size.

"Oh, I was just preparing for our lesson today. Since you managed to breakthrough to Martial Initiate rank one so quickly yesterday I thought it would be good to teach you the Ye Clan's 'special' forging method to complement your training. I can guarantee that if you can learn it your power will immediately increase without even needing to comprehend some of the more complicated offensive or defensive arts! It'll even help you when you're out of Qi!"

Ye Zhen sure sounded pa.s.sionate about the technique, however, the evil grin that he was fighting to hide gave Ma Sa an ominous feeling.

"He's not going to just beat me with those hammers is he?" thought Ma Sa as he forced a smile.

"Oh amazing! Big brother Ye Zhen would even teach me such a technique! I'm flattered! But... Will your clan really be fine with you teaching it to an outsider?"

"Ahahaha no problem at all! See? All of these guys and girls will witness me be— teaching you the technique so you'll know its above board." A few suppressed giggles were heard from the surrounding youths as they marveled at Ye Zhen's shamelessness. This was a side of Ye Zhen that no one in the younger generation had seen before.

Ma Sa sighed as it was now obvious that it was just a joke and, if he were an ordinary five year old kid he'd possibly have fallen for it. He knew Ye Zhen wouldn't take it too far and probably just intended to leave him with a few bruises. Ma Sa was going to politely decline the kind offer of being whacked with hammers until a thought suddenly struck him.

"Could his Nine Dragons Void Siphon absorb kinetic energy from the hammers?"

Ma Sa seriously doubted his sanity after that thought. Was he a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t? He didn't remember ever opening such perverse doors...

The thought might not be completely crazy after all. Nine Dragons Void Siphon claimed to be able to absorb and convert any energy to Qi. Those hammers would be sure to contain plenty of energy when Ye Zhen was swinging them. What was the harm in trying once?

Ma Sa decided to give it a go. "Then, Big Brother Ye Zhen, it would be my honor to learn from you!"

"Really?! Umm yes, hahaha! Let me teach you the joys of forging then! Stand there."

Ye Zhen never thought his new little brother would be so naive as to accept his obviously fake 'training'. Nevertheless, he recovered quickly and figured that it would do no harm to teach Ma Sa that the civilised world inside of the settlements was full of lies and deceit. Bad people couldn't kill you here but they could try to trick you into begging them for euthanasia!

As Ma Sa stood in front of Ye Zhen and waited for the hammer to fall. Ye Zhen said, "Are you sure you want to go through with this? I'm gonna beat you with the hammer you know?"

Ma Sa only chuckled and said, "Yes, I trust you big brother. I know you wouldn't do anything without meaning!"

Ye Zhen's face reddened a little as he decided that he could just claim that the special forging technique wasn't suitable for everyone. He'd be gentle anyway.

"Alright little brother, here I come! Circulate your cultivation!"

Ye Zhen gritted his teeth as he swung the hammer towards Ma Sa's shoulderblade. The word thing was that, instead of impact, he just felt himself stop. There wasn't even a sound. The hammer just rested there against Ma Sa's body.

*~* [WTF! This is broken as f.u.c.k! Hahaha I'm invincible! I even leveled up cultivation again from one hit! I am t.i.taaannniiiuuuumm!] *return* *~*

"Ahem... Big brother, I know you're being considerate but I'm not that delicate..."

Ma Sa was determined to milk this for what it was worth!

Ye Zhen was perplexed but figured that he must have subconsciously withdrawn his power out of concern. This time he'd put in a little more strength. He prepared to strike a second time.

The hammer made a whoos.h.i.+ng sound as it moved through the air but, yet again, when it made contact with Ma Sa it simply stopped. There was no sound, no recoil, no shock... Just a seemingly confused Ma Sa.

The third time Ye Zhen was sure he had swung the hammer properly but again, nothing happened. At this point he was beginning to question his sanity. Had he already beaten his little brother to death and was now in denial?

After the fifth strike, which was absolutely at Ye Zhen's maximum power, Ma Sa finally said:

"Wow, Big brother's technique is so magical! I'm ashamed to admit that I doubted you at first but I can really hear the hammer swinging so you must be hitting me!"

Ye Zhen was momentarily speechless. Finally he gathered his wits and said:

"Haha! I knew you were a genius little brother! I just didn't expect you to practice the cultivation method I showed you to such a level in only one night. Amazing!"

Ma Sa was genuinely delighted so he didn't require any acting to express his thanks. He had taken five hits, each more powerful than the last, and that had increased his cultivation proficiency enough to cap out --Strengthened Channels-- as well as --Energy Battery--. That was fifteen proficiency increases and perk points! What he had imagined would be a challenging but bearable grind had turned into a ridiculous gift from above. Ma Sa checked his surroundings for signs of plot armour.

Spending his perk points could wait for later, for now he also had level up bonus stats to apply. Ma Sa decided to go with the same ratio as before - 2:1:1 Vitality:Stamina:Magicka.

He had now reached level nine but Ma Sa want really all that sure of what benefits that brought him apart from the stat bonuses. He guessed that he would work it out eventually. He could probably even look it up in a book if he so chose but he could do that anytime. All doc.u.mentation related to Skyrim, including developers' notes, permanently resided in his inventory.

Ye Zhen was supposed to train him for the whole morning but he made an excuse to go and recuperate his Qi after the 'intense therapeutic pounding' he had given Ma Sa.

This was actually not far from the truth as Ma Sa really had drained his Qi reservoirs. Since he was on his own, Ma Sa decided to go and experiment with absorbing gravity.

That turned out to be a bit difficult as he simply didn't understand how gravity truly worked. He managed to recreate the desired effect by absorbing the kinetic energy that acted in a downwards direction. If he absorbed all forces from the air pressure acting upon him, except from in a certain direction, he could propel himself. It was like terrifying version of flight! He crashed into things extremely hard and extremely regularly. If he hadn't absorbed the impact force, he would be paste many times over.

All of this steadily added to his Magicka levels as he was expending zero, only driving his cultivation, whilst absorbing any energetic force he encountered. It was so broken!

At one point he felt like he was about to explode so he could only spend his points into --Strengthened Channels--. It helped in the short term but eventually he was back to the same sensation again. He a.s.sumed that it could be remedied by applying the remaining points into --Energy Battery-- but he was somewhat hesitant. Isn't this painful pressure sensation the so-called bottleneck?

He would be heading back to Old Guan for lunch so he should ask then. It might be time for him to have his first (consciously planned) breakthrough! Ma Sa was itching to experience it!

Thinking so, he straightened his clothes and tried to brush off the copious amounts of dust that covered his person before setting off back to the slums. Hopefully, he'd soon be the youngest martial fighter in town!