After using Lydia’s Healing Magic to heal Apollo, we began to learn martial arts as planned.
There were various martial arts in the world.
The Dark Elf of the Black Forest used Illusion Magic to stick to enemies and apply wrestling techniques.
The Dwarf of Valparia manipulated the ground with Rock Manipulation Magic to get close and deliver uppercuts.
The Kingdom of Ra’s Plema quickly approached using Fire Magic on her legs, boasting beautiful kicks like Taekwondo.
Besides these, there were really diverse martial arts, and Apollo taught them to us tailor-made.
Julia, with her resilient muscles and knowledge of Illusion Magic, learned the “Black Forest” technique to overpower Jiren.
“Hahaha! Is this how it’s done, Apollo?”
“Khahaha, yes! The Black Forest is that kind of martial art! You have talent, little Julia!”
“Hahaha!”
How many times did those two laugh in class?
It felt like I was hearing auditory hallucinations as I watched their martial arts lesson.
“Noirin, little one! Lower your stance! Valparia is a martial art that strikes from a lower stance!”
Apollo began to teach Noirin, who was small but skilled in earth magic, the Dwarf’s martial art, Valparia.
And then to Karen…
“Is this how it’s done, Apollo?”
“Exactly! Imagine bursting flames from your feet! You could achieve a level of charge power that’s on a whole different dimension from simple magical enhancement!”
After checking Karen’s legs, he started teaching her the Kingdom of Ra’s “Plema.”
Watching Karen’s fiery kicks made me think of that street fighter character known for kicks from Fighting Game 2, and I felt sorry for Jiren.
Oh, and by the way, Jiren was still serving punishment for disrespecting martial arts.
And then I asked…
“Apollo? What about me?”
“You should learn Yudra from your master!”
Apollo, who had been soundly beaten by his master, shouted as if sulking.
I felt once again that this old pool of knowledge master is a bit narrow-minded.
On the other hand, my master approached me, happily smiling.
Well, honestly, I preferred learning from my cute master rather than a muscular uncle.
“Hehe! My disciple, I will teach you Yudra!”
“Yes! Master, I look forward to it!”
Martial arts are a different discipline from magic!
I remembered how martial artists greeted each other in my previous life and performed a respectful gesture toward my master again.
Seeing that, my master seemed roused and ready.
“Alright, my disciple! I will teach you properly! First, extend your hand like this…”
After that, we trained in martial arts for five days.
You might think we were too busy with game development.
But it was truly necessary.
To grasp the characteristics of martial arts, the characters using them, and to express the impact correctly, we needed this.
After five days, we had acquired enough skills to have a proper match.
“I’m coming, Jiren! Dance of the Burning Dragon!”
“Hot hot! Karen! Control your fire! Are you trying to roast me!?”
Jiren learned the ‘Nidra,’ a martial art used by the Mire Tribe.
It was said to be a martial art that flew around like a cat using wind magic, and watching Jiren soar around reminded me of a certain Korean character from a fighting game.
Hmm… Maybe I should add a gag character like that.
Karen was setting everything around her ablaze with her fiery kicks, while Jiren was busy dodging, bouncing around.
I was worried they’d burn down the nearby forest, and just when I thought I might need to intervene, Noirin, who was tangled in vines beneath me, spoke up.
“Um… Yuren? I’m surrendering, can you let me go?”
“Oh! Sorry, sorry, I’ll free you right away.”
I practiced with Noirin, who had learned the Dwarf’s martial art, Valparia.
I suppressed her in just ten seconds.
From that, I seemed to grasp the reason why Yudra was practical.
It seemed much more efficient to become a wizard than to just grow strong with this martial art.
Since manipulating the core essence of plants required a lot of magical power, I thought that if an average warrior trained in this martial art, they might faint in a moment of distraction.
In other words, my master was not playing with Apollo because the martial art was strong, but simply because the user was incredibly powerful.
Just as I thought our martial arts training would end there, suddenly Julia pointed at me.
“Yuren! Let’s fight too!”
Over the past five days, Julia had received the most instruction from Apollo.
But would that be okay?
“Are you sure? The Black Forest might be tough for Yudra, right?”
For the Black Forest using illusions to bind its true body with vines, using Yudra had a poor matchup.
However, Julia laughed robustly as if she had a secret plan.
“Hahahaha! It’s fine. I have a secret technique I learned from my master!”
Apollo appeared behind her, mimicking her gesture and shouted, “Khahaha! Go, my disciple! Take revenge for me!”
“Yes, master!”
Have those two truly become master and disciple over these five days?
It seemed like Apollo wanted Julia to learn something to take revenge on Yudra.
What could he have taught her?
Before I could hear Julia’s answer about the match, she took a wrestling stance and got ready.
Since I wouldn’t let my guard down against someone like Julia, I extended my arms like a zombie and prepared.
“Then I’m going! Yuren!”
Julia charged at me swiftly.
“Where to!”
Slash!
I shot out vines with both hands, and one bound Julia’s left hand.
This made it impossible for her illusion magic to trick me.
“Now it’s time to finish!”
Despite being bound by the vine magic, Julia kept dashing toward me, and I launched another vine.
At that moment, Julia’s figure vanished like an illusion, leaving only her clothes behind.
Now that’s some solid preparation with decoys!
But suddenly sensing her magic energy to my left, I tried to respond calmly without being caught.
“This must be an illusion, and the real one is—ugh!!!!?”
The moment I looked left…
What greeted me was Julia, who was topless and only had a chest covering on!
Wait! Was that her actual outfit!?
Hidden behind her substantial assets was an overwhelming shock that momentarily left me dazed.
In the meantime, Julia had spun around my back and executed a wrestling move to tackle me down, initiating a ground technique.
Oh no! I was caught!?
“Hahahaha!! How do you like it, Yuren? This is the ultimate move of the Black Forest learned from my master, called ‘Skin Shedding’!”
“Wait! Julia! You can’t! It’s touching! It’s touching!!”
Mong-kul! Mong-kul!
Julia clung to me from behind, and I began to feel two enormous soft things behind my head.
Julia clung tighter and said,
“Hahahaha!!! You lost! Surrender, Yuren!!”
“Okay! I surrender! I’ll surrender, so please let go!”
Feeling her mesmerizing sensation on my back, I hurriedly shouted for surrender.
But Julia…
“Hahahaha! No way! The winner has the right to control the loser!!”
“Julia! You little brat!”
She clung on even tighter.
As I began to feel short of air and it looked like danger was approaching, Julia, who had crept up to my ear, whispered.
“If you take me on a date in Zephia next time, I’ll let you go, haha!”
“Ah! I get it, so let go quickly!!”
“It’s a promise! Hahahahaha!!!”
With Julia’s outrageous strategy, my martial arts record ended in a tie of 1 win and 1 loss.
To lose my first defeat in life in such a context was humiliating.
*
After that shameful defeat, I took a moment to compose myself and sort out the situation.
I felt I now understood martial arts from other countries well.
But I still hadn’t seen the protagonist’s martial arts, the most important.
“Apollo, is there no martial art from the Empire?”
I asked Apollo, who seemed to be enjoying a drink at the thought of his disciple’s victory.
Apollo looked at me as if asking if it was even a question and replied.
“Of course there is! Why do you want to see it?”
“Yes, I would appreciate it if you could show me.”
Apollo threw his bottle away, took off his shirt, and began to explain while standing next to a tree.
He seemed to dislike this, yet he was a better instructor than anyone else.
“The Empire’s representative martial art ‘Zergas’ employs Lightning Magic. The characteristic of this martial art is…”
Apollo began to gather power toward the tree.
I clearly saw lightning gathering around his fist, and he swung that fist at the tree.
Then…
BAM!!
“The power of lightning brings significant lethality and destructive force.”
The tree exploded from the lightning’s impact, blackened and shattered.
Using lightning in martial arts? Isn’t that a bit overpowered?
“Isn’t that invincible?”
“I told you last time! Everything in the world has its weaknesses.”
Apollo showed me his right hand.
There were what looked like burn scars.
Could it be…
“Zergas, which uses the power of lightning, is the hardest martial art to master. Because you’re cloaked in lightning, you could accidentally électrocute yourself.”
Hmm… so cloaked in lightning could mean getting shocked too…
To ensure high attack power while balancing it with high stun stats would be wise.
As I listened to the explanation, I began to plan a character.
“Furthermore, since ‘Jeda’ (Lightning Magic) requires a lot of magical energy and stamina, it’s unfavorable for prolonged fights.”
Now that made perfect sense.
In translating this to a game, I could simply lower the stamina bar.
“However, if mastered properly, I can confidently say this martial art has the highest attack power among those I’ve learned.”
Hmm… a character with high attack power and skills but also high stamina and stun stats…
Wait a minute, this sounds awfully familiar.
“I’m not saying this because I’m an imperial! I stake my warrior’s pride to assure you!”
In front of me, Apollo pounded his chest, expressing pride in the Empire’s martial art.
Alright, I could start visualizing the characters now.
I felt I could create characters based on this.
