Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Thunk!

534. I shook out my wrists. The constant vibrations from the impacts were starting to wear me out quickly. 10,000 didn’t sound like much at first, but it was just now starting to dawn on me just how many swings I had to throw.

…

600. My wooden blade was already starting to chip and fracture from the rough impacts of wood on wood. It was only a matter of time until it shattered entirely. Elder Yoshi hadn’t said what to do if it broke, but there were other swords around here I could probably grab.

Speaking of, there were probably hundreds of racks of weapons scattered around the courtyard. Then there were the rows and rows of practice dummies and training equipment. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he stuffed me into a storage courtyard and not a training one.

…

1347. The wooden katana slammed down into the wooden dummy with much less strength than I put into my first several slashes. With a sharp crack, the entire upper half of the practice weapon splintered, and exploded across the wooden dummy I was using. I held the broken grip in my hands for a moment before it slipped out.

Oh… I stared down at my bloodied hands. Several shards of wood dug deep into my palms. I carefully pulled them out, and shuffled back to the side to grab a new sword. I was almost there, anyway. Just… actually, probably for the best I didn’t do the math at the moment.

I wrapped my hands in bandages from my bag, and got back to work. The first strike with the new wooden blade felt like torture as aftershocks radiated up through my already weary muscles. Almost there. I’d already done 1348. It was too late to stop now.

Right, I totally have this. They don’t call me Shiro ‘Perserverence’ Tsukuyomi for nothing! I had no idea who they were, but they probably knew who they were. Death before dishonor! 10,000 strikes before defeat! Just one more, and then one more one mores after that for a couple thousand. It totally isn’t an issue.

…

5894. My muscles felt totally destroyed. I wasn’t used to all this swinging and slashing. I built up pretty good strength through all my work in the workshop lifting heavy things, but this was entirely different. I wanted to give up. 10,000 slashes was inhuman.

I was halfway there, though. Over halfway there. If I wanted to give up, I shoulda done it near the two thousand mark. I wiped sweat off my face, and ended up sleeking it with blood from the bandages.

About a thousand strikes ago, I realized my wooden blade dulled every time I swung it. I wouldn't have to worry about that with a better weapon like the Panther’s Fang, but since then I stopped striking it flatly. Instead, I started to pull through the attack with my entire body. It took some of the pressure off the sword, and it’d taken significantly less structural damage since.

The dummy itself was looking worse for wear. Hack marks covered the entire thing, and the wood was heavily splintered. Three thousand strikes ago, I started hitting one spot in particular. A long, jagged crack splintered down through the dummy's shoulder. I might even break through at some point.

…

8345. My arms felt like jelly. I’d long lost feeling in them from all the reverberations of my strikes. The sword felt like an extension of my body in that I couldn’t feel it or my arms in the slightest. Was this the legendary mind and blade are one state? A stupid laugh left me as I struck Benny again.

Oh, right, I named the dummy. I dunno why I didn’t think to do it sooner considering we spent so much time together, but Benny was a real champ for holding in there for so long. Just like me, he was in it for the long haul.

8346. My shaking arms swung before my mind could even fully process what was happening. With a jagged crack that echoed through the air, sword number two shattered in my hands. It didn’t go without a fight though, and inflicted massive damage.

Benny’s entire torso split in half, and he collapsed backward. I dropped to my knees with him. “No! Benny!”

How could they do this to you?! My poor dummy… I shakily forced myself back up to my feet, and staggered back over to grab a new sword. I was starting to go a bit delirious from strain, and my muscles had definitely exploded by now. I was so close to 10,000, though. Stopping wasn’t an option.

…

9848. 9849. 98459… wait, that wasn’t right. What number was I at again? Ah, right. 9848. 9849. 9450. 9451. 9452. 9453.

…

8749. 8750. 8751.

…

9963. 9964. 9965. My sword struck the new dummy, Benny 2.0, over and over again with all the force of a wet rag. 9966. The sword slipped from my hands, and I staggered forward to lean against Benny. I barely gave myself a moment to catch my breath before I drowsily stretched down to pick up the sword and continue.

9966. 9967. 9968. 9969. 9970. 9971. 9972. 9973. How have I not hit ten thousand yet? 9947. 9948. 9949. 9950. 9951.

…

9984. 9985. The blade clacked against Benny 2.0 over and over. I lifted it once more to strike again—

“Shiro?” Elder Yoshi called from the entrance into the private training courtyard he’d been so generous to lend me. He approached with wide chrome eyes. They flicked over me rapidly. “You’re still here?”

”Um…” I leaned heavily on Benny, and pressed my practice sword down into the ground to hold myself up. “Was I not supposed to be?”

“I… no, no.” He coughed, and straightened up. “You look like hell.”

”You see this kind of thing pretty often, don’t you?” If he made every initiate swing a sword ten thousand times, it’d be a common sight. Unless… was I really that out of shape? Maybe others could get through all of this without any issue.

”Yosh, of course.” He frowned, and rubbed at his long white beard. “Usually after a live fight. Can you still walk?”

”I’m standing just fine, aren’t I?” My foot slipped, and I dropped into Benny’s embrace. He was a bit of an awkward hugger. He just sat their woodenly while I did all the work.

He approached just as I staggered back to my feet. “I’ll take you to the clinic I—no, Medtech—“

”I’m almost done, though.” What was I at again? I swept my sword up with icy hands. I don’t remember when exactly, but I started up Cold-blooded to help take the edge off my pain.

I carefully lifted the sword, and swung it down onto Benny’s head. That’s for the awkward hug! 9986. That’s for never laughing at my jokes in all the time we spent together! 9987. 9988. 9989.

”Shiro Tsukuyomi, you really don’t have to finish.” The elder stepped up beside me with a concerned expression pulled across his aged face. “You’ve done more than enough.”

Ah, trying to lure me away with temptation. This master swordsman that Shinobu got me wasn’t only tempering my sword-drawing skills, but also my mind… truly the legendary swordmaster of the Jade Fang.

Begone, man! You only slow my sword-drawing skills! A shudder went down my spine as my brain caught up with my own thoughts. I knew I shouldn’t have read those martial arts novels before coming here…

9990. The sword clacked against Benny’s mauled face once more. “I’ve come this far. I’ll see it to the end.”

”Shiro…” Elder Yoshi watched me intently as I lifted the wooden sword one more time. He relented, and backed away. “I understand.”

Good. 9991. If he kept trying to tempt me, I would’ve probably given in, to be honest. I was barely standing on the last dregs of willpower, but that wouldn’t last much longer. 9992. 9993. 9994.

The sword slammed down once more, and for the first time since this whole thing started, my limbs refused to lift. I strained and struggled against the limp mass of useless flesh. If I had chrome arms, this wouldn’t even be an issue. C’mon now, Shiro! This is your chance to show them all your not a wimp when it comes to physical things!

My self-motivation didn't get me very far. The thought of ending it with just six more strikes, however, did. With my mind screaming, I shakily lifted the sword. The only reason it didn’t slip out of my grasp was thanks to it being caught in the bloodied bandages. 9995.

The aftershocks awoke the nerves in my arms once more as they started to scream in pain. I barely gave them any piece of mind as I brought the practice blade up once more. 9996.

Elder Yoshi was watching. If I wanted to progress like this, I couldn’t give up now! Not when I was so close! If he was making me do this, then the other initiates must’ve pulled it off too. I couldn’t look weak in front of him now or he’d never teach me. 9997.

9998. Benny looked at me wrong. He didn’t have eyes, but I could feel the condemnation from him at not being able to finish. Mama didn’t raise no quitter, though, so I beat the look out of him with another strike.

The cavern outside of the training arena started to go dark. Or maybe that was just exhaustion finally forcing me to fall over? I could feel myself actively giving out. I turned my stagger forward into a forceful strike. 9999.

Mira? I blinked my cloudy eyes a few times as the shadow of my best friend appeared. It disappeared after a few more blinks. Right, she always beat my ass in that holo arena. If I got actual training, it’d be my turn to put belt to ass! 10000.

10000! Wohoo! I did it! My silent cheer came out as a whimper. The wooden practice blade slipped out of my hands, and hit the ground. I followed it a moment later as the world steadily turned dark.

— — —

“Look, we know you did it. We just want to know who you sold the information too, Lee Sin.” Shinobu sat in the interrogation room of a Jade Fang black site with his arms crossed. Across from him was a Shen Kang informant that’d made one too many deals.

”I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Lee Sin denied everything one more time. The man’s dolled up face from his job as a joy toy let nothing leak out.

“We could do this the easy way, or the hard way.” Shinobu held up a fancy watch he’d spent way too much rayn on. It was a status symbol as much as it was practical. “I’m a bit pressed for time. If you just tell me what I want to know, I’ll let you go and even drop you some rayn.

“Enforcer, I have no idea what you are talking about.” Lee Sin repeated himself like a broken record.

”Yeah, yeah—“ Shinobu cut himself off as his phone started to ring. He frowned, and picked it up. Elder Yoshi was calling him. “Something wrong, Elder?”

“Your mikata, Shiro Tsukuyomi, collapsed in my storage courtyard.” Elder Yoshi sighed wearily. “She’s still breathing, but there is blood everywhere. The janitor’s going to throw a fit.”

”Shiro collapsed?” Shinobu cut through his bullshit all in one go. Elder Yoshi was a known rambler amongst the Jade Fang, though he was supposed to be the best of the best.

“Indeed.” The elder sounded entirely too calm about the situation. “I arrived just in time to watch her fall down like a lily in the—“

“How?” The girl was tiny, but she wasn’t so weak that she'd just collapse. Hell, he couldn’t get the image of her trying to talk and move around with a half-melted brain from when they hit the armored truck out of his head some nights.

“I told her to strike a dummy ten-thousand times.”

“You did what?!” Shinobu’s calm subordinate facade shattered in an instant. “Why the fuck would you tell her to do that?!”

10,000 swings wasn’t anything too crazy—when taking practiced strikes at midair. It was a common enough endurance challenge. Actually hitting something turned that endurance challenge into downright torture. Especially for an untrained newbie that didn’t have chrome arms. Even with chrome, it would still heavily wear down the muscles that connected to the metal. The more Shinobu thought about it, the angrier he grew.

“How the hell was I supposed to know she’d swing the sword until she collapsed?!” The elder practically shouted. If the situation wasn’t so serious, Shinobu might’ve even laughed at the stoic elder’s total collapse of composure. “Your mikata is a class-A dumbass for not even considering I was trying to run her off. No—class SSR!”

“Elder, who’s the real dumbass in this situation?” Shinobu growled into the phone, which made Lee Sin flinch like a rabid dog had been let into the room. “The student adamantly trying to learn, or the teacher trying to run her off?”

When he sent Shiro to Elder Yoshi, he’d been assured that Yoshi was the best teacher in the Jade Fang. If he knew this was how the elder intended to treat her, Shinobu would’ve just taught her himself. Or gotten someone more reliable to do it.

As for why he tried to run her off? Probably some political bull-shittery. That, or the old man took one look at her and thought she wouldn’t cut it. It didn’t matter. It only mattered that he did.

“I… you may have a point.” The elder coughed lightly. The way he tried to dismiss the issue only made the anger boiling in Shinobu spike even harder.

”I’ll have more than a point once Ishimaru hears of this—I’ll have your head, too.” An Enforcer threatening an Elder generally wasn’t smart. He’d been climbing the ladder lately, especially with the help of Shiro over the past year. He wasn’t one to forget the people who propped him up.

“Don’t go too far, Shinobu.” Elder Yoshi’s voice evened out in warning.

”No—you don’t go too far.” Shinbou’s voice dipped low in danger, and venom practically radiated off of it. The joy toy broke into trembles and looked like he might confess at any moment. “I’ve heard even the Young Matriarch is sweet on Shiro. If she hears of this—well, send me a postcard from the bottom of the ocean. I’ll personally ensure you don’t forget to pack your cement boots.”

”Enforcer…” Elder Yoshi’s voice started strong, and then broke off into something much weaker. “I’ll handle this.”

”You fucking better. Put her in a private room. I’ll come with a medek to take care of her. If you fuck this up too, I’ll skip getting permission to slab you.” Shinobu hung up the phone before Yoshi could spew any more drivel, and abruptly stood up from his chair.

“I-I’ll talk!” Lee Sin shouted.

”Too late.” Shinobu slammed the metal table between the two of them with his chrome arm, and dented it in. He abruptly stood up straight, and reached up to fix his tie. “One of my underlings will deal with you. If you don’t want to spend the rest of your miserably short life eating through a straw, I’d recommend you tell us what we want to know.”

”I-I will!” Lee Sin huddled back into his chair, and stared up at the Jade Fang Enforcer with trembling eyes. “I’ll talk. J-just don’t hurt me.”

“You better.” Shinobu stormed out of the interrogation room. Next stop, Absolom Clinic to pick up a certain medek.