Complete Eastern Brisshal It's gotta be a temple for this sort of thing.

[Blader X]

Laylabelle chatted about nothing as she and Nyancy walked. They were approaching a very out of the way destination in Eastern Brisshal. This was, of course, Laylabelle’s goal. She had been asking around for serene and out of the way places to pursue spiritual matters. Apparently, Synra’s Temple, which was coming into view as they followed the wind of The Blue Rapids River, was just the ticket. Training at a temple. For Laylabelle, this kind of setting was important. For some reason.

“I don’t think anyone will bother our training here, Nyancy, which is good because I’d prefer to get to it with as little distraction as possible. And get this, the priest and priestess didn’t even mind and said we could stay there for free! Hehe, of course we have to help clean the temple in the afternoons but that also scores us a couple meals so I’d call it pretty win-win.”

And so, there it was, Synra’s temple. It stood at the end of a winding and weathered but quaint stone staircase. It actually reminded Laylabelle a bit of a Japanese Buddhist temple, but rather than a rising pagoda it was more akin to an ancient looking ziggurat made of stone. Either way it matched the aesthetics Laylabelle was looking for.

“So the way I see it, you get me up to speed and we go from there, let’s make our greetings and then head out to the back field.”

At the top of the stairs Laylabelle greeted the priest and priestess and after a lot of gestures they were given a quick tour, dropped their things in their room, and reported to the backfield. There, next to the forest was essentially a clearing of tended grass and countless little gardens of flowers. It was akin to a sleepy park. The river continued behind them, by the trees, where it became a quieter, trickling, creek. Thanks to the shade, it was certainly a nice place to to gather one’s thoughts at any time of day.

Taking a deep breath, Laylabelle set down some water and cold tea.

“Right. Okay! So like I was saying Nyancy, I know you don’t have a whole lot of experience but you know more than me, so teach me how you do it, and maybe, I’ll figure something out along the way. It’s a little strange that we don’t start with any equipment in this world but I think that’s why learning or at least understanding hand to hand combat might be useful. Also, it seems kind of cool. Show me, kay?”

Looking up at the sky Laylabelle seemed to be trying to figure something out.

“Makeshift! Materia! Magica! Maybe something like this...?”

Laylabelle pointed both her palms forward and a shimmering blue target dummy shimmered into being.


@Nyancy

 

[Nyancy]

And so, as the pair had agreed, the journey to tackle this digital world and everything it had to offer had begun! Well, begun rather humbly First the pair needed to figure out how their masteries worked. Nyancy for one had been practicing and sharping her skills little by little since she had returned to Terrasphere, but had never actually done training of this caliber.

Yah had a good idea comin' up hea to train. Real smaht like, now we can go all out without anyone botherin us, especially if all it costs is some choahs hea and theyah.

As they approached the temple, Nyancy couldn't help thinking that the entire temple training scene was like something out of the movie Blood Sport, a cult classic film from long before the technology to play Terrasphere even existed. After greeting the temple's priest and priestesses and getting themselves situated, the pair got right to work.

Ya know, I can already tell that yah makeshift magic is gonna be real useful if ya can just conjure whateva ya need outta thin ayah like that.

Nyancy nodded, smiled, and gave up a thumbs up.

Alright, so about me. Well, I guess this is sumthin' of a stahry so make ya self comfortable. For the past few weeks I've been helpin' out alotta newbies in the fahrest and helpin' em make theyah way to Honeyhome. Also been doing alotta fishin'. Well one day I'm out thea kinda fah out in the woyld fishin' and I run intah two... I guess ya'd call them legendary herah types. Well, after gettin' some tips from the two of em, I came tah realize that the best thing ya can do is use all ya masteries togetha to create some kinda fightin' style.

Nodding at Laylabelle, Nyancy began to ready herself against the target by throwing some punches and stretching.

So what I got right nyow, is masteries in dynamism ah just raw speed, martial ahts, crush weapons, an harmonic magic. I put all them togetha and got my martial aht that I called "Beast ah Calamity Style". The point of it is tah be real fast and hit real hahd. I also got projectile rorahs thanks to tha harmonic magic so I can attack at range and area ah effect a bit. I guess it'd be bettah to see it all in action though, am I right?

Taking a few steps back, Nyancy faced the target created with Laylabelle's magic.Getting down into a four point stance, Nyancy readied herself.

Alright, hea I go!

Gripping the ground with her hands and feet, Nyancy shot off on all fours like a small beast, maybe even a house cat, Nyancy shot off with great speed towards the target as she approached she jumped, doing a little flip in the air which put her into a jumping strike positon. Landing the first strike on the target, the power behind the blow could be heard. Landing, the Felis followed up her first punch with an uppercut using her opposite hand, then spinning around the target towards the left, Nyancy used her spinning moment to strike with her elbow on the side of the target. Finally, hopping up, Nyancy kicked off the target and did a backflip in mid air, then began to ready a roar.

Nyancy... ROARRRRRRR!

The focused beam soundwaves and crushing force struck the target dead center. Nyancy landed breathing a little heavy and wiped a few beads of sweat from her brow.

I've been practicin' but never tried to combo it all togetha like that befoah. So tha goal is that each of time I hit tha bad guy, each hit should be strong enough tah take down a normahl guy in a single hit. So crushin' blows with big speed and my rorahs. Put all that togetha and you get Nyancy's martial aht, Beast ah Calamity style. A martial aht designed to make tha user fight like a beast ah legend.

The small Felis chuckled.

I came up with it all on my lonesome.

@Laylabelle

 

[Blader X]

Combining masteries! So I'm on the right track then!

Laylabelle thought as the took notes and listened to Nyancy's story. Sudden there was a pull, it was like holding the leash to an untrained and truly massive animal. That leash, was Laylabelle's energy. The first tug...

Huh?

...coincided with the first of Nyancy's hits.

Huuuuuuuh?

Blow after blow, Laylabelle had to dig in to keep her energy meter from flying right out of her, which, she now and very quickly understood, would leave her either sick or passed out and helpless on the ground. Mp was mind, it was so obvious, but now it was extra super so obvious.

Laylabelle heard Nyancy talking again. Laylabelle herself was breathing heavier than her companion that had just done the demonstration. Releasing the conjured object, Laylabelle relaxed into a sigh.

"Let's... take a break."

Laylabelle tittered between heavy breaths as she pointed to the bench which had the water and tea. Laylabelle chose water. Taking a big sip, she suddenly felt better as she sat and took a load off.

"Haaaaah~ I see what you mean about one hit Nyancy, you nearly floored me. I just realized that I've been pouring maybe a bit too much of myself into my projected items. I could've let it collapse on the first hit, but I subconsciously maintained it and that really taxed my energy. And, just like in real life, I really don't like getting my energy taxed, hm."

Was this magic a bust? Laylabelle liked the flexibility of it, but not if it came right back around and held her in place. Laylabelle thought about Nyancy fighting again and thought again about herself really hard.

Just because something works doesn't mean I'm suited for it. So let's move beyond what works and move on to what I want to work. And what I want to work is not working at this at all.

What a truly shameless statement. But, it was the trigger that sparked something.

"Makeshift. Materia. Magica."

Laylabelle held her hands together as dark poof revealed a shimmer blackish-blue aura projection of a doll. It was roughly shaped like herself.

"Trigger."

The doll glowed as dark energy flowed through it, like a device coming to life, and sure enough there was the targeting dummy again.

"There we go. I'll tell you something interesting about magic and why it's a pain Nyancy. Magic is mind, so when you run out, you run out of yourself. While it's similar to running around with our bodies and what not, running out of MP just seems kind of easier to do. Maybe since we're not used to having it, we're just not as used to conserving it, I dunno, but I don't feel like dealing with it, so I've gone ahead and delegated some of that work to this item here."

The item then poofed in a cloud of dark magic smoke.

"Work in progress but proof of concept. I can mess with it a little later. For now, if you're feeling rested, let's try walking me through what you do. I've heard teaching makes for the best study partner so let's see if you can get me up to speed."

Laylabelle rose.

"Makeshift. Materia. Magica."

Laylabelle manifested a pair of glowing boxing gloves, and, a pair of boxing pads which she tossed to Nyancy.

"If I move around like you do, I'll throw out my back, so let's start with a basic punch."

Adjusting the gloves, Lylabelle tied a bandana around her forehead and raised her fists.

@Nyancy

 

[Nyancy]

Ahh, so ya can make things to do the work foh yah. Interesting. The old me woulda made ya teach me this magic instantly since I was just a lazy little Nyancy. Now though, I sorta like doin' the work myself so I'm good with that.

Taking the boxing pads that Laylabelle manifested, Nyancy outfitted herself then held out her first.

Alright, so fahst things fahst just a regular punch. What ya don' want to tah do is stand they facing forward and throw ya ahrm out. See where the punch gets its power isn't from just the ahm, but the whole body.

Nyancy stopped to show Laylabelle what she was talking about. Standing straight she threw what amounted to a jab.

See thea? Not much powah, still it's useful to throw a jab like that when ya fightin' just to keep the opponent movin, ya know like keepin' 'em on theah toes ah whateva.

Nyancy fixed her stance so one foot was a bit in front of the other.

Now wea ya power comes from is ya hips. When ya throw a punch ya want to rotate ya hips so ya get the powah from their movin up through ya shoulder and intah the arm. Basically, ya want the energy to start at the bottom of ya and move all the way through ya like a wave until it gets to ya fist wheyah ya hit the bad guy.

Nyancy did a few demonstrations showing Laylabelle the technique in slow motion.

Alright, now yah give it ah try. Just try the motion slowly fahst to get a feel fah it.

@Laylabelle

 

[Blader X]

"Hihya~!"

"Hoop!"

"Wah!"

"How do you..."

"Whew..."

"Do this so many..."

"Times..."

"Nyancy...?"

"Wah, I'm tired."

Laylabelle collapsed on her back as she fought to catch her breath. While Laylabelle had a boundless well of energy when it came to moving at her own pace, it seemed like when she lost that control, she was just as liable to spin herself out. It was an annoying thing for her to learn. But, it was something she would need to solve if she was ever going to survive combat in this game.

"Let's take another break, then we have some cleaning to do like promised, then we can find out what makes up a temple dinner."

And so, Laylabelle ushered them back. And they got to it. Later, after dinner, Laylabelle asked if she and Nyancy could use the waterfall for a bath and meditation and though at first the priest and priestess seemed confused, and then, maybe a little intrigued, as Laylabelle explained the purpose behind it. This is where they now were, as Laylabelle spoke above the crashing waves.

"You mentioned before that my magic was flexible, and that the old you would want to know the trick behind it, but I think the current you should think about it as well. I think your roars are more flexible than we both realize. It's based off the muse magic, right? That's a mental magic. It's neat that you can exert so much physical force with them, but I bet you could effect magical concepts with them as well thanks to their mystic nature. A martial magic, I suppose..."

Laylabelle offered as she shivered a bit in her white robes. The sun was getting low as she stood in a thoughtful stance beneath the waterfall.

@Nyancy

 

[Nyancy]

The cool water from the waterfall pounded down on Nyancy as she attempted to keep her focus. Thankfully she was pretty good at this type of thing thanks to all the fishing she did. What is fishing anyway other than patience and focus? Suddenly, Nyancy heard Laylabelle talking about her roars and maybe other ways they could be used.

Hadn't really thought about that befoah. I know Hahmonic magics ah supposed to be fah singing and dancin in the like, actually, I wondah if I'm a real good dancah now? Ah, but that's besides ya point. I see what ya gettin' at. I can do the roars cause I mixed em with everythin' else I had. Goes to show that if I learned some magic, I could also probably mix 'em in an have the roars do different effects. Good thinkin' that might be somethin' I work on while wea hea. Though I don't really know what they could do yet. But yah, I like that. It's good that we met up and yah more of ah magic type. Don't really know much about magic myself so havin ya around tah give me ideas and explain things is good fah me.

Nyancy, eyes still closed as she was still under the waterfall, gave Laylabelle a thumbs up.

And don't worry about tha punches. You'll get thea, just gotta build up some strength fahst, but itsah woahk in progress as ya said befoah.

@Laylabelle

 

[Blader X]

"Hm... Strength..."

Laylabelle ruminated on that.

"Whelp, I'm sick of thinking about it, let's have a snack and get to bed, I'm not sure if we're making progress but I'm having a whole lot of fun! Wah ha ha. In fact, I think I have an idea for the next stage tomorrow. Just try not to kill me."

***

After breakfast and their morning chores, Laylabelle and Nyancy returned to the field to put to practice whatever it was, if anything, they had figured out.

"Makeshift! Materia! Magica!"

Poof! In a usual dust of black magic a shimmering item appeared. This one was small, like a pocket watch with an ornate design. Tossing it in air it began to hover. Laylabelle repeated the process multiple times. Until there were five such watch spells floating around her. Laylabelle took a deep breath and tried to remember when she had attempted to maintain the training dummy against Nyancy's assault yesterday. The keyword was strength. Laylabelle wasn't strong, there might be a point where she would never be strong, so Laylabelle figured, she just needed to find a way to imitate strength. One way, was with numbers. Rather than trying to push one spell beyond its values, why not try using a number of smaller spells in its place. It was like baiting a strong boss to waste turns on weaker decoys. If everything was a one shot, then this would be an effective strategy to buy time.

"Okay Nyancy, I'm going to try and keep up with your crazy output, try a few roars and we'll move on from there."

Laylabelle gulped.

"And don't kill me, kay!? I'll haunt you I swear!"

The pocket watches began to revolve around her as they shone with dark magic, perhaps they were reacting to Laylabelle's fear. Signaling she was ready, the first set of boxing pads materializes in her hands.

"Ready!"

@Nyancy

 

[Nyancy]

Ugh, are ya shoah? I typically just put everythin' I got intah the roar cause I figured that's sortah the point? What I'm sayin is, Im not shoah if I could hold back if I wanted tah? But I guess if ya okay with it...

It was their second day of training and much like the first, the pair had come to out the field to continue practicing and sharpening their skills. Today it seemed that Laylabelle was trying a new magical theory of attempting to use many smaller spells instead of one bigger one. This sounded like a good idea to Nyancy as she remembered how maintaining the training dummy had taken quite a bit out of Laylabelle the day before.

Now, the pair was testing Laylabelle's new defensive tactic versus Nyancy's roar.

Alright, well I'll try and hold for as long as I can but if it stahts tah get too much ah somethin' say when ya know?

Nodding and giving a thumbs up, Nyancy readied herself.

Alright then, hea we go, get ready.

Giving Laylabelle a moment, Nyancy waited and focused.

Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out. Ya gotta let the magic pool in ya lungs along with aiah and everythin' else ya got. Hea we go.

Forcing her harmonic magic, to pool in her lungs. Nyancy breathed in as she started the attack.

Nyancy....

When her lungs were filled to capacity with air and magic, Nyancy released it all in a single straightforward blast of power.

ROARRRRRRRR!

The attack barreled forward towards Laylabelle as Nyancy continued to hold the roar for as long as she could.

@Laylabelle

 

[Blader X]

Oh. Shit. I'm gonna die.

The roar was approaching, Laylabelle could feel it in her magical senses, but it also plain to see as the air ruptured in front of her. Her body moved at once, she didn't dare take the roar head on as she deflected it. Once the first pad was lost and she placed both hands behind the remaining one. The sound of endless glass shattered as it was replaced over and over like a layered shield. The spell lockets continued to shimmer in order, again and again and again. The roar was continuous, but it wasn't fully and completely even as the waves of bestial sound continued to pummel her. Laylabelle realized that she could lean in and adjust herself and continue to deflect the blast. Taking it head on would be stupid. Laylabelle understood that intrinsically, it'd be like trying to fight the waterfall from last night. No, she needed to find her place in it focus and...

7 seconds.

And Laylabelle was flying.

I didn't think I had a mastery that enabled me to fly...

Ow.

Oof.

"Nice shot Nyancy."

Laylabelle sighed or maybe groaned.

"Let's take a break."

Laylabelle continued to lay there as the break commened, staring at the shaded sky.

"I'm still not doing this right."

She coughed.

"I'm close, but I think I'm still trying to force it."

Shakily, Laylabelle rose.

"If you're ready, I'd like you to try one of your sequences from yesterday..." Laylabelle thought for a moment. "Maybe at half speed..."

Laylabelle dusted herself off.

"Let's see if I can stay on my feet this time."

@Nyancy

 

[Nyancy]

Nyancy held her roar until she noticed that Laylabelle was airborne, wherein she quickly shut it off. Holding the roar like that wasn't easy on Nyancy and she was breathing hard. Typically, Nyancy used the roar in bursts to throw opponents off-balance, push, them back, or knock them down. Using the roar like this as an actual damage spell was something new.

Ah, craps.

Seeing her companion on the ground a few meters in front of her, Nyancy rushed over. Laylabelle laid there for a few more minutes to regain her composure while speaking about the defensive tactic she had just employed against the Nyancy Roar. For a moment, Nyancy had thought her friend had, had a concussion but thankfully that wasn't the case.

Hey, ya sure yah all right? Looks like yah got knocked down pretty good.

But Laylabelle was already back on her feet and talking about their next practice experiment.

Alright, so ya want me tah go at it half speed with the same combo as yestahday? Does that include tha roahr ah not? Ya sure ya up tah this? Ya just got laid out. I mean ya pretty new to tha woyld but I guess if this is gonna help ya figuyah out ya magic and how tah use it, I'm game. Alright then, gettin' into fightin' stance.

As before, Nyancy went down into a four-point stance and waited for Laylabelle to give the ready signal.

@Laylabelle

 

[Blader X]

"Just do whatever, I won't say I like getting my butt kicked, but if I can get that outta the way now, I'd rather than have it happen when it's really embarrassing."

Laylabelle gave the signal.

Guh--- Even at half-speed---!

She was knocked off balance but managed to hold her ground as a runic plate shattered. Laylabelle hadn't had the time to form the item and she quickly realized that she didn't need it. This sped things up, but Nyancy's sequence continued as Laylabelle was thrashed about like a deeply rooted tree in a storm.

Then, the roar came.

"!"

Laylabelle's runic barriers began to shatter at a faster pace than before until... something clicked.

The property of my magic... isn't the most compatible here... so...

"Makeshift-Materia-Magica!"

The 3 remaining runes flashed with dark magic behind the shattering ones as the roar's force continued its approach.

Focus on one point and...

The now remaining three runes of dark magic as they began to turn like engines and what they produced was a dark sound-based attack similar to Nyancy's roar. It lacked her felis companion's wildness and sounded more akin to something strangely artificial, like electronic static.

VHOOM~~~

The three spells made contact with the roar and split it, and its resulting shockwave, forcing Laylabelle to slide backwards. She was still standing however after managing to deflect the blast.

"Well, I'm alive. Looks like I'm making progress. So three matches the value of the original in this case."

Laylabelle shrugged and fell to her knees.

"Sounding like a broken record here but let's take a break..."

Taking a deep breath, Laylabelle heaved herself up and shakily walked to sit on the bench and fetch herself some water.

"Makeshift-Materia-Magica"

Five little runic circles appeared on each finger, and transmuting the dark magic into sound, Laylabelle had them harmonize to play a little jingle as she focused.

"Looks like it wasn't a fluke Nyancy, I can transmute my magic's properties, make my dark magic do something else. Neat huh? I think this is probably what's supposed to be my thing here."

Laylabelle used her free hand to sip a glass of water as she looked over at her companion.

"So how's it feel to kick my butt? I feel kinda bad that you're probably not learning all that much."

Laylabelle laughed.


@Nyancy

 

[Nyancy]

Ain't that kinda a big deal if yah can make ya magic do whateva ya want? Like ya could basically cast a copy ah just about anythin' am I right? Well, I guess you'd maybe have tah get it with it ah sumthin' tah undahstand the magic fiahst ah whateva.

Nyancy was genuinely impressed by the flexibility of Laylabelle's magic. When the small Felis thought of magic, she typically thought of a fireball that was shot out and then exploded, or a lightning bolt that struck and that was it. Having this kind of magic that appeared to copy other magics was something that Nyancy had never even heard about it before. To her, it was intriguing, and made her think would other types of magics could be made in the world? What more could her roars do if she applied other magics to them? Nyancy set that aside for now.

Well, tah be honest holdin' tha roar is tiring on accountah me not bein used tah it. But I'll get theah, just like you'll get a bettah undahstandin' of yah magic as well.

Mentioning that Nyancy probably wasn't learning much, the small Felis shook her head.

Yah wrong theyah. Like I said, I'm using my skills in ways I ain't nevah tried befoah, which is good cause it tests tha limits ah what I can do, ya know? So yah, I am learnin' things, like that I can hold tha roar if I want ah need tah. This whole trainin' thing is win-win.

Nyancy gave a smile and a thumbs up.

So, what we doin' next. Got any otha ideas?

@Laylabelle

 

[Blader X]

"I say we run, Nyancy."

Laylabelle said looking at the horizon.

"Let's run and see where our legs will take us, every good workout should end with one in my view. And tomorrow will be another day. I know I still have a long way to go but I appreciate you being patient with me, I've learned so much so fast it's actually kind of crazy!"

Laylabelle laughed.

"So yeah! Let's run, I think you're the faster of us two but I'll do my best to keep up with you, so don't go easy on me, I may be only a fledgling martial artist in the making, but believe me, I'm now slouch on the track!"

And so they ran and they ran and they ran into the orange and soon to be purple sunset. Nyancy was like a bullet but Laylabelle kept pace, she kept pace through all the possibilities of their futures, two figures, their shadows long like giants, their own strides, perhaps someday, to be even larger still.

The end.