Chapter 74: The Fist King 2
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[RESPAWN IN 3... 2... 1...]
Ian kept on dying and respawning over and over again in the freezing rain. He appeared on the exact same starting spot as before, but this time, he wasn’t screaming or panicking. Instead, there was a tired, satisfied smile on his face as he stared at the blue system panel floating in front of him.
[MARTIAL ARTS TECHNIQUE: BOULDER CRUSHING FIST (BEGINNER)]
"I finally did it. I was starting to think I would never actually pull it off after dying twenty-three times to this psycho," Ian panted, looking around at the scattered, bloody copies of his own bodies littering the muddy ground.
They all showed different, horrific kinds of deaths, but most of them were entirely headless.
’I thought I was just gonna keep on dying to that psycho forever. But who would have known that the technique I was trying to wreck my brain over is actually kind of easy to execute once you figure out the body mechanics,’ Ian thought, scratching his neck. He looked over at the muddy avatar standing a few feet away, which was currently not moving.
’After every single respawn, this guy doesn’t move for exactly one minute. It must be some kind of System cooldown before the next round begins,’ Ian realized. ’But this cooldown actually gives me time to think about every last fight and analyze what I am doing wrong. That is exactly why my survival time fighting this guy is increasing little by little.’
"Then let me test out this new technique properly," Ian muttered, slowly walking closer to the avatar that was still frozen in its cooldown state.
"I have been meaning to do this ever since you choked me to death, you psycho," Ian said. He casually walked right behind the avatar’s back and stepped slightly to its right side, planting his feet firmly in the mud.
"It should be awakening in 3... 2... 1."
The avatar’s eyes instantly snapped open. It quickly scanned the empty space in front of it, its crazed smile faltering when it didn’t see anyone.
"Hey... looking for me?" Ian whispered from right behind it.
The exact moment the avatar jerked its head to look back, Ian struck.
"Boulder Crushing Fist!!" Ian yelled, throwing his heavy, dense arm forward and violently punching the avatar directly in the side of the face.
THUD!!!
The sheer force of the heavy hook sent the avatar flying off its feet, crashing hard into the thick mud a few yards away.
"Huh. I honestly thought I would kill him with that punch. I guess I was wrong, or maybe it’s just because my proficiency is still stuck at the Beginner level," Ian said, testing his stinging knuckles. "But still, this is way better than nothing. I know I still can’t beat you one-on-one in a fair fight, but at least I can do this to ease my anger."
"What’s worse than getting sucker-punched is hearing you actually shout the stupid name of the technique out loud like a child," a raspy, old man’s voice suddenly echoed through the rain.
"Who said that?!" Ian asked, quickly looking around the empty, ruined street.
"I did, you dumbass," the teenage-looking avatar sighed, slowly standing up and wiping the mud off its face.
"You... you can talk?!" Ian asked, stepping back in confusion.
"What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I can talk," the teenage avatar said, but the voice coming out of its mouth belonged to an ancient, weary old man.
"So why didn’t you speak all this time?!" Ian demanded.
"Mmm... I just chose not to. I can’t go around having a casual conversation with prey I’m supposed to kill," the avatar smirked, slowly walking toward Ian.
"So you really are just a complete psycho, huh?" Ian muttered.
"Well, I did go to a mental hospital as a kid, and I never actually got out," the avatar chuckled darkly. "When the spiritual power density of our world suddenly increased, everyone started to cultivate. I too started to cultivate in my cell. But who knew that the ’crazy person’ would be the one to completely revolutionize the cultivation world and even come up with a few little martial techniques of his own?"
The avatar kept on talking, its old, raspy voice contrasting bizarrely with its young face as it stepped closer to Ian.
"Spiritual power? Your whole world started cultivating?" Ian asked, his eyes widening at the lore.
"And most of all, I am the absolutely only one in my entire world who has successfully reached the Nascent Soul stage..." the avatar kept rambling on its own, completely ignoring Ian’s questions.
’Why is he talking like he is still currently alive in his world?’ Ian thought.
[BECAUSE HE IS STILL ALIVE IN HIS WORLD. HE MAY BE A CRAZED TYRANT, BUT HE IS STILL A GENIUS IN HIS OWN WAY.]
’I kinda figured that much out when I was fighting him. He can instantly change the way he fights depending on the situation and the environment,’ Ian thought, watching the rambling avatar in front of him. ’But what I really want to know is why the System is suddenly talking so much right now, when it has been completely quiet this whole time?’
[THAT I DO NOT KNOW. AS A SIMULATION, I CAN ONLY COPY HIS CHARACTERISTICS AND BEHAVIOR.]
’I see,’ Ian thought. ’But I kinda noticed that YOU, the System, are talking a lot more ever since I got into this training simulation. Is this normal?’
[WE CAN ONLY CONVERSE FREELY WITHIN THE TRAINING SIMULATION REGARDING ANYTHING RELATED TO THE TRAINING SESSION. IT HAS BEEN FOUND THAT DIRECT COMMUNICATION HELPS THE HOST NOT SUFFER ANY PERMANENT MENTAL INJURIES FROM REPEATED DEATHS.]
’I guess the training simulation is kind of a—’
[YOU HAVE DIED]
[RESPAWN IN 3... 2... 1...]
"This guy really doesn’t miss a single chance to kill me at all," Ian groaned as he respawned back at the starting spot.
"You were openly ignoring your elders while you were busy thinking about something else..." the avatar scolded in its old man voice, violently shaking the blood off its fist.
"How... how can he move?! The one-minute cooldown isn’t even up yet!" Ian yelled in panic.
[AN ERROR WAS DETECTED IN THE PREVIOUS FIGHT. COOLDOWN REMOVED.]
’Error? Does it mean the way I sucker-punched this psycho from behind triggered a penalty?’ Ian thought, glaring at the avatar. ’Sigh. Talk about being strictly regulated.’
"Now that I have officially reached the Beginner stage, is this really enough to take down that Red Orc?" Ian muttered to himself, throwing a few practice punches into the air, totally ignoring the avatar again. "No, this is definitely not enough. I should at least reach the Proficient stage, or even completely Master it if I can."
Just after Ian made his decision, the avatar aggressively jumped at him through the rain. Ian immediately dodged while throwing a heavy counter-hook, and just like that, Ian started violently sparring with the Fist King once again.
— BACK AT PRESENT TIME —
Ian slowly fluttered his eyes open. He was lying in a small, uncomfortable bed inside the inn they had rented back in Wiltshire town.
’Aaah... my head. How did I even get here? If I remember correctly, I was walking with Isaac through the woods after leaving the forest, and then suddenly everything went completely dark. Did I somehow faint from exhaustion?’ Ian thought, tiredly scratching his head.
He looked down at his body. ’My broken left arm... it’s all completely healed. And even the swelling on my eye is gone too.’
"System," Ian muttered.
A familiar blue panel instantly appeared in front of his face.
[Name: Ian Thorne]
[Age: 17]
[Lifespan: 73]
[Martial Arts: Boulder Crushing Fist Technique (Proficient)]
[Cultivation Arts: Abyssal Dragon Jaw Forging Technique]
[Martial Stage: First-Stage of Dragon Jaw Forging Technique]
[Prosperity Points: 15]
[Prosperity Shop]
[Notifications]
[External Members: 4/20]
"Proficient, huh? After violently dying ninety-one times in that simulation, is ’Proficient’ really all I could manage to do? And the worst of it I had zero wins." Ian muttered dryly. "I could have gone for Master level if the System didn’t randomly interrupt me and giving me a warning that ’experiencing too much continuous death is not good for my mental health’."
Ian sighed heavily, remembering the absolute brutality of the fight in the clearing. "But that was a really close fight out there. If Adam hadn’t randomly made a breakthrough and given me those Prosperity Points, I would definitely be dead right now."
Ian laid back down on the bed, staring blankly at the wooden roof. "But... wouldn’t real death out there have been great? It would have ended all this stress and suffering. It’s not like I haven’t actually died before, anyway."
Ian paused, suddenly realizing how dark and apathetic his own thoughts had just become.
"Sigh... now I see exactly what the System meant when it warned me that dying too much in the simulation would heavily affect my mentality."