SL Chapter 18 Lesson
"Why was I chosen?" asked Eric towards the boss lady. The others had already entered another room with Iris. Since he had asked for a private chat with the boss lady, they had been left alone. It had been a surprising turn of events because he had thought that Iris, the Rabid dog, was going to refuse. Yet, she had been accommodating.
"I trust you." she said.
"Huh?! What do you mean?" he asked in puzzlement.
"The others... A spy might be among them. Which means that the agent will act some time in the future. Making you the leader means that anyone who disobeys you would be cast with suspicion, especially if their activities become abnormal."
"How could it be me? How sure are you that I am not a spy?" Eric asked in desperation. He didn't want to interact with those people. Many of them appeared to be too aloof, hateful of him, or treated him with contempt. Would those people with their overly inflated egos really agree to follow him? That was a question with an obvious answer he didn't like. Besides, being the leader wouldn't get him any merit, instead burdening him.
"All you just have to know is that no one is born to be a leader. You will have to do it because it's a decision I made. And I won't take it back. So grit your teeth and do it." with that, she raised her palm, as if to pat him on the shoulder, but stopped just a few inches away and walked past him, leaving him there frozen.
'How did I get to be trusted? Was it the abnormality of my awakening? I could feel the shift in attitude when I woke up, but this is taking it to the extreme! How could the boss lady and Iris have such immense confidence in me?'
Eric scratched his hair. All the pieces were there, yet he couldn't find what the crucial deciding factor had been. Could it be they wanted him to attract the animosity of the sleeper agent? That was a dangerous game! They were playing with his life!
Ultimately, he sighed. Then he followed the others into a creamy white room, where many oval shaped white capsules lay. His mouth widened when he figured out what they were. They were virtual pods with the highest synchronization with the virtual world! Apparently, your senses could reach beyond the normal human threshold if you logged in while within one of them!
"Here, you are going to be learning martial arts." Iris spoke.
"How exactly are these pods going to help us accomplish that, young lady?" asked madam Selena with a glint within her eyes.
'Is she excited?' wondered Eric.
"With these pods, you don't have to go through a grueling number of years honing forms, mustering techniques, and experiencing various injuries, not to mention consuming resources. These things can upload an entire martial art into your head with the added bonus of making it so that it is as if you have trained the martial art your whole life!"
"Wow!" exclaimed Lanaley, with her eyes glowing intensely.
With just some minor preparation, mostly of the mental type, Eric stepped into the pod and laid down, finding it to be even more comfortable than the two beds he had slept upon ever since his arrival here. Then, the lid closed and a thin mist was released, one which made it feel increasingly hard to keep his eyelids open. Though, he didn't actively fight that, allowing himself to sink into sleep.
When he next opened his eyes, he was standing upon a grass plain, dressed in a brown linen shirt and pants that appeared to possess no belt, instead tied by a string.
The grass was short, just ending above his calf. It was soft, and vibrantly green, as if meticulously taken care of, by someone. Yet, with the unending nature of the plain, there was no way that was possible if it had been in the real world, but this was a virtual world, run by lines of code. The Sun was bearing down upon him and the plain, as if unleashing punishment. When he tried to peer into the the far distance, he failed to see any features that could indicate that the grassland ended somewhere. Features like mountains, forests, or even cliffs. It seemed that whoever designed this either lacked imagination, or hadn't cared about the design enough to add anything else.
Eric had been starting to wonder how exactly the martial arts were going to be imparted when an old man materialized.
His bare scalp glistened in the overbearing sun as he stood there, giving him a feeling as if he was staring at a mountain. He had a long white beard which hadn't been confined to the lower chin, but had even taken up residence just under his nostrils, yet it appeared to have been taken care of well enough not to appear as if it was too much. He too, was dressed in the same clothes as him, with an intense gaze from his brown pupils. He was barefoot, just like him, with his body's muscles well pronounced.
"I am Avemar." He spoke, startling Eric. His facial expression had been too vivid. No matter how an AI algorithm tried to mimic human behavior, there was always something lacking, yet this Avemar was too... Humanlike. Though, his name also rang like thunder within his ears. Eric had heard of the man. He had been a well renowned martial artist who had vanished just a few years ago.
"Are you alive?" Eric just had to ask.
"This is just a spiritual construct, boy. Instead of dwelling on such useless things, let's get straight to it."
"Yes!" Subconsciously, Eric straightened his posture and said, a little bit louder than he had anticipated, causing the heat of embarrassment to creep up his cheeks. But it seems that the man didn't care about it as he simply continued.
"What is the goal of combat?" He asked.
"To win." 'That should be the right answer.' Eric thought.
"WRONG!" Shouted the man, eliciting a flinch out of Eric who hadn't expected the outburst.
"Winning is the goal of war. The goal of combat is to kill! Ever since time immemorial, the goal of combat has been murder. Your enemy won't show mercy unless you kill them, or maim them. And even maiming them leaves behind a potential chance for revenge. Do you understand?" Eric nodded like a chicken pecking rice.
Though inwardly, he was shaken. He hadn't yet thought about the fact that he was going to have to take lives. It hadn't sunk in yet that now that he had become a Spirit Lord, there were times when he was going to have to kill people. And it had just started sinking in just now. He wasn't averse to the fact that he would have to do that. Instead, he wondered what his reaction would be like when he took a life for the first time.
"When you embark on the path of combat. Taking lives, or having yours taken is inevitable. If I am not mistaken, you have become a Spirit Lord. When you enter this circle of power, there is no such thing as coasting along peacefully. There is a higher than 50% chance that you will be dragged into conflict. You will have to mentally prepare yourself for the fact that you could die, or kill someone. That is the purpose of combat. The ultimate purpose!"
"There are a few things you must have if you are to kill your opponent, or best them enough to get a chance at killing them. You must have a touch of fear as the first thing. Why? Because overconfidence is the downfall of many a warrior. Fear is what keeps you tethered to reality. It makes you less prone at making mistakes, while also serving to keep you on your feet."
"A smidgen of confidence is needed. Confidence is what drives everyone, allowing them to dream of the chance to win. That smidgen of confidence could be the difference between death and life..."
"... And lastly, you must have the resolve to take a risk. The resolve to take a chance. The resolve to push through with an attack even when you know that the slightest misstep could cause your death! I have met many warriors in my life. And many of them loved to observe longer, wasting some chances because they didn't have the resolve, the will to take a risk. And many of them died with endless regret. Boy! You will have to possess those three aspects if you want to come out on top. Of course, there are many others, but in my life, I have come to truly appreciate those three."
The words of the man struck a cord within Eric. After all, Avemar had been too passionate, with his words having the capability to tug on heart strings. He vowed to remember this lesson for the rest of his life. And because of that he gave the man a bow of gratitude.
"Its good that you managed to take my words to heart. I just hope you never forget them. Now it's time I hand you over to the system such that they can pump your mind with many martial techniques. Though, I will give you one final piece of advice. Killing isn't an art. It's brutal. No matter how many martial arts you master, if they can't ultimately result in the death of an opponent, then they are useless!"