Complete ✪ Finweald Winging It 101

[Toko]

.
.

A part of Nao knew she was being very unreasonable, after all this was just a game and as such she shouldn't be taking it too seriously... but the sting of missing her ranking challenge again didn't ease up with that logical approach. "Chikushooo...!" The verbal cry of exasperation was hard to contain, an old habit she had picked up from one of her dear grandmother's friends (one that she hadn't been very happy about) as a child and just never really grew fully out of it.

It really pissed Toko off that this round had been a failure once more, especially considering the effort she had placed in not long before when adventuring with a small party to take care of some wolves too! Other players made it look so easy too, she had watched a few of their ranking challenges this time around before attempting her own in hopes of learning some good tips and tricks for them... which now only served to further frustrate the lepus.

After some time she had managed to find a somewhat secluded spot not too far from Finweald, a particular tree that sat apart from the rest being picked as her inanimate battle partner while the lepus tried her best to practice old karate moves and techniques that Nao hadn't revised in at least a decade or more. One such move, a poorly aimed kick, resulted in a sudden jolt of pain to shoot up her leg in response—the lepus now clutching her foot in her hands to numb the feeling as she hopped around her other leg in one spot.

"Itai itaii itaiii!"

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Even if he was not sure about his presence in Finweald, given his status some years ago, it seemed the man came out of the city without any trouble. Restocking basic supplies to sit inside his inventory was worth any potential annoyances. A long trip was ahead of him, the Beastfolk not sure when he will return. That is, if he did at all. But remaining pessimistic just meant he will lack some semblance of care. Even one death was too many as far as he was concerned given the state of the game and the world at large.

Walking along the path, Alonso opted to separate from the main road and stray about for a while. The lack of traffic was always a boon. Humorous as it was, he was one big, stray cat in a literal sense. On Terrasphere he lacked much in the way of a proper home and wandered wherever he felt like or where his travels ended up taking him. Something that back in the real world cost far too much money to do more than, maybe, a couple times a year.

Those feline eyes caught the sight of another Beastfolk, this one more rabbit in nature, assaulting a tree with a series of martial arts moves. Alonso slowed his pace as he did, raising a brow and observing the fighter. By no means was his experience in unarmed combat reliant on a series of 'proper' forms and repetitive patterns, but something about the way the stranger fought was off. "No, no, I have things to do," he muttered to himself. Nagging someone else where it was not his place was rude.

But the rather large man took only a few steps more until he heard the cry of pain, glancing over to see the lepus holding her foot in pain.

His head veered upwards, eyes closing as he sighed. Goddamnit. If she was a new player it was more worth the trouble of making sure nothing worse was about to go down. Pivoting on his foot, the Felis headed towards the distraught woman and spoke up, "You okay there? There's better ways to knock a tree down if that's what you're after."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

Her eyes teared up in response to the pain being felt, though a part of Toko was thankful it wasn’t as bad compared to what she’s gone through a few nights prior. Honestly Nao should’ve read that particular racial trait in a more detailed manner before picking it… but it had allowed the woman to give her avatar rabbit like feet and all caution had gone right out the window after that realization. After all, it had been meant to be just a game… how was she supposed to know the pain in it would be so real?

Red eyes now glared at the trunk of the tree as if the plant matter had verbally insulted the lepus, but before Toko got a chance to snap back at it a gruff voice had called out in her direction. "… o-ookii dess.” There was a faint look of awe as the fellow beastfolk approached, so far most of the players she had met or interacted with hadn’t been too massive—well except for that Zeus guy, but she’d only seen him from across the room.

The beastfolk walking towards her easily made Toko feel small like a faerin as a result, and yet despite his size and appearance he didn’t felt intimidating to the lepus. "Ah, y-yeah…! Daijobou dess…” Well, this was embarrassing… right out of the manual of how to make a fool of yourself in front of a total stranger. "… guess I deserved that for taking out my frustrations on the tree.” A soft sigh escaped her, the lepus’ shoulders deflating along with her earlier pent up frustration, before she carefully puts her foot back on the ground to test it warily… it seemed to be fine, at least for the time being.

"G-Gomenasai… my apologies if I interrupted your day.”

A small bow was given before the lepus scratched the back of her neck to ease some of her embarrassment, the copper tag that she’d received from the Adventurers Guild—engraved with her name—shifting in response when a finger snagged on the chain Toko wore it with.

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Confusion came via blinking eyes, observing the other Beastfolk for a moment longer. Did he spook her? Maybe this was yet another instance of his size causing others to stare in awe. The man was six foot and three inches tall, in both worlds even, but that was still well within an average realm of 'tall'. For him it was his width and overall mass of intense muscle with a healthy amount of fat that stood out, rivaling the trunk of the noted tree!

But the initial reaction was cast aside, or at least, it stopped being as intrusive. The Felis had to consider this stranger's words with a more careful ear. Was that Japanese? With the few anime that came to his attention the tone and pronunciation felt similar enough. He was no expert on the language and just relied on context clues. And there was the bow. The lepus was more on the polite end about all of this, and some form of guilt welled up within the man.

Mistakes happened and it was a part of life.

"No, no, you're fine," he replied, raising a hand up as a sign nonaggression. Though Alonso had clear, catlike features more resembling a lion, his eyes held a bearish countenance that was more akin to a stern teacher. Perhaps it was not so far from the truth, minus being a professional teacher. That copper tag noted a few more things, but he was not sure if she was a new player entirely or an older veteran. Sometimes it was hard to tell nowadays.

Alonso spoke up again, "I was more passing by and couldn't stop myself from being nosy watching you, erm, struggle like that. With recent events it's hard to be sure how much danger someone is in, but I take it your issue has nothing to do with some random mob. Actually I hope it's not because I'd rather nobody have to deal with even one death in this place." There was a small hint of spite lashing out towards the end, but he cooled his head soon enough.

"Look, I've been around for a while and I might possible be able to help a bit at least."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

"A mob…?” There was a moment of pause as the lepus tried to think back to any rumors she might’ve heard, but unfortunately none really seemed to be related to mobs of any kinds… was that something else she should know about? "Iie, haven’t seen any mobs around—unless the rowdy Lions count.”

Nothing against that faction, overall they seemed like good people and it looked like their hearts were in the proper place… even if their recruiting methods were on the more questionable spectrum of things.

The lepus visibly relaxed as her new conversation partner confirmed he wasn’t bothered by her actions, though the reminder of how deaths seemed to work in this place earned a nervous chuckle in response from the woman. "Ahahah y-yeah… probably for the best for no one to test that part of the game any time soon.” Perhaps this was the reason for the rather challenging tests the Guild had been placing out for the rank up of their members? Toko couldn’t say she fully believed the rumors about dying in-game leading to dying in real life if done one too many times… but erring on the side of caution was never a bad approach to the unknown, right?

"Oh, are you a fighter too ojisan?” Curiosity now tickled the lepus, her ears having shot upwards in response, before the beastfolk realized she hadn’t properly introduced herself. "Ah, gomen, where are my manners today… I’m Toko, it’s nice to meet you mister!”

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Once again he paused at the stranger's inquiry. Rowdy Lions? There were no actual lions around here, aside from the more leonine features the man had as a Beastfolk. Unless she meant the Lion Arms. Or even the other, and more concerning, possibility: she was new to video game terms.

Well, he made his own bed and now had to lie in it.

The death awareness at least made this talk easier. It was not a thing to test out by any means. Any thoughts about to arise were soon interrupted by the next question and apology. A much better segue into more prominent factors at hand. "Technically I am a fighter considering I'm built to go in close and deal as much damage as possible. And take at least a few hits." Alonso's build was not quite for tanking, but it was enough that a single attack was not going to suck well over half of his health.

"Name's Alonso. You don't need to be formal with me all that much," he said. Even when he had a more formal job he did not care for any whimsical titles, even those lower on the career status placement. Not having some obscene ego helped more than it harmed, and the man was lucky he did not have to deal with a boss whose ego was shoved so far up their ass it was a medical phenomena they can breathe.

Glancing back towards the tree for a moment, he sighed and relaxed his shoulders. He might as well get down to business, and said, "Seems like you fight unarmed from what I gather, and I do the same. Maybe you'd, er, like some help improving that? Also so you don't bust your foot again." Yeah, he was not going to let that one go so easily.

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

There was a sheepish smile as she was called out once more for her earlier stumble, the lepus rubbing the back of her neck as she chuckled, before nodding eagerly at the fellow beastfolk's offer of guidance. "Hai, onegaishimass!" Considering Alonso looked the very picture of a seasoned veteran in the game the lepus wasn't about to pass up this offered hand, maybe after this she'd be able to ace her ranking challenge next week!

"Alonso-sens—eeetooo..." Toko had been about to tack on an honorific to the name, such was her habit, before the lepus put on the breaks considering her teacher's only request. Sensei was definitely out then, and probably -san too... there was -kun of course, but that didn't felt right, so after a moment of pause the beastfolk decided to simply use his name. After all technically he'd requested it, so it was okay... right? "Alonso, how long have you played this game?"

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Okay, the combination between awkward and excitable was going to take some getting used it. Even now he was not sure how genuine the switch between English and Japanese was. Several people on the internet loved to try and act similarly, no matter how annoying it was, and a lot of the time inaccurate. But there was something honest about the way Toko spoke, having stopped herself from adding something onto the man's name. Sensei was a fairly common word used for a teacher after all, and the man concluded that was the likely intent. But whatever, he did not need to show any ill will.

A shrug came from the oversized Felis, responding, "Well I was here all those years ago when Terrasphere first showed up, but left some time before it shut down. As for when it came back online, about the same as everyone else here. Now don't get me wrong, I'm grateful I was allowed to keep some form of progress, but still not sure why they converted everything in order to do that. Probably the best solution so there's a bit of padding to help newer players needing protection provided by veterans. But I'm not a game designer either despite handling computers and software."

Wow. He was being way too comfortable just letting all of that spill out. If the man was any careless he might have said his social security number too! "Anyways, tell me what you're struggling with specifically. That way I can figure how to help ya out without too much trouble. Even hit the tree some more so I can get a closer work can help too."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

"Woah, so it's really been around that long then..."

Yes, she had held a fair share of skepticism about the whole death thing and some people being UI trapped in this game world for over four years or something like that... after all once in the real world Nao had been utterly unable to find any trace of it all on the internet no matter how long she searched—and wasn't everything on the internet nowadays?

"Mmm, I guess older players might not have been as inclined to come back if they had to start from zero?" From what little information Toko had learned from other players it seemed the shutdown had been quite sudden... if she had spent hours trying to craft a good clay mug, and then it was suddenly taken away from her without any reason, it would be reasonable for her to not be as interested in trying doing a second mug without knowing if it too would be snatched from her hands. "If the game felt as real before as it does now I guess it'd be understandable that veteran players could become upset about losing their hard earned progress from back then..."

Oh, right, he'd offered to help her train—probably best to not waste the offered time and lesson then, Toko would have more time to figure out more about this TerraSphere world while she played. "It's a practice duel with a fellow guilder—a gold ranked one in my case—and we have to score enough points to pass... but it felt like the dude had zero openings in his stance." Taking them down would probably be an auto-pass right there and then, but the lepus wasn't about to get too cocky to believe she could pull that off... she was already biting a bit more that she could chew trying to go from copper to gold in one leap.

A nod was given at the felis suggestion before the lepus resumed her earlier pose once more, this time with a more level headed mind considering she wasn't just punching and kicking to vent out her emotions. There was a deep inhale, followed by an exhale, before Toko tried to go through a routine she somewhat remembered from her childhood days when she had learned the martial art.

Granted the memory was quite fuzzy, having been well over a decade since then, but she hoped it was still good enough to serve as a foundation as she learned to properly combat in this game.

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Repetitive, but it only made sense there was constant talk about the past among players and the residents of this world. Toko having some understanding of the situation placed some confidence back into the Felis, even if it was just the basics. Being a part of a faction proved to be yet another relief, since it means he did not have to worry about the lack of potential allies for the lepus to adventure with.

He took in the bit about the practice duel, this sounding like a vital test within the guild. Without seeing this fellow guilder in question the man was not able to figure out any hints to assist with a retry. But he was not going to just give up. Alonso folded his arms, wandering off to the side to get a good view of Toko's stance and routine. He began to ponder his observations throughout the demonstration. The man had no qualifications to talk about the technical aspects of her style.

But that did not means he cannot give criticism. "Somethin' seems off here. Guessing you had something more formal at one point? I don't want to assume you're missing a few steps, but even though you got a pattern going here there might be more important factors to take in. Besides paying attention to your foot." Raising a fist of his own, he pat it with his free hand. "One thing to make sure of is getting your fists right. Make sure the thumb is tucked on the outside under your fingers. Not to the side, and definitely not inside unless you want a smashed thumb. Not saying you aren't doing that, but it's important to note."

Rolling his shoulders, his body let out a few pops as he loosened up. He raised his arms, placing his leg back into a stance. "Get back down to your basics, alright?" The Felis kept his massive arms and hands in front of his head, but a distance out. "You have to make sure your head stays protected like this, but don't brings your hands and arms too close. Otherwise someone will knock 'em back and you'll hit yourself. This getting a few ideas so far?" He lowered his arms, placing himself in a neutral position.

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

"H-Hai, an old friend of my obaachan gave me some karate training in my childhood."

She had been quite the energetic child back then after all, unable to stay still for more than a few seconds, and so the man had thought it would benefit Nao to learn discipline... and also channel most of that extra energy she seemed to possess back then.

"Sensei passed away shortly after I graduated from high school though, and after that obaachan got sicker... eventually I stopped practicing it and, well, guess I probably forgot a lot of things."

Long ears were high and attentive as the felis began giving his own input, occasionally nodding in response as Toko absorbed the words like a sponge. Finger placement, right... she had thought she was doing it right, but now that Alonso mentioned it the lepus found herself being mindful and conscious of her finger placements as she balled her hands into fists once more.

It was surprisingly easy to feel at ease as the larger beastfolk continued his demonstrations, the smaller lepus doing her best to mimic the stance he showed her in response. He reminded her in a way to her old sensei, a faint thought that actually brought the faintest of smiles to her lips, before she nodded affirmatively at his last question.

"Hai!" The advice about not bringing her arms too close was, in particular, quite useful... if the lepus didn't know any better she would've thought Alonso had seen her last match with her opponent—they had managed to get Toko to hit herself when she had tried to guard against their moves in multiple occasions. "So, like this then... ne?"

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Guilt decided to work its way up again once he heard a small part of Toko's life story. Distracting someone in ways that brought up potentially harmful memories was one way to make practicing more challenging. Yet, such was life. Goals or enjoyable activities tended to remain on the sidelines once things such as a death in the family reared their ugly head. Alonso was far too aware of the latter.

But his apparent student did not fall into despair. In fact, as the man focused it was as though he had done this most of his life, but adapting as he did was likely from experiences in his time. "Just about that," he replied, allowing a quick smirk to form before resuming his stern gaze, "Keep your chin tucked, but not so much your eyes are just lookin' at the ground. Still have to pay attention to what's going on otherwise you'll be worse off no matter how good your arm position is. But I guess that goes without saying."

Alonso kept watching the lepus's reactions. If there was no coordination between Toko and the basic stance he was trying to teach, he will have to adjust. For now, he continued, "Alright, when it comes to to your back leg make sure the heel is raised a bit so your feet aren't just flat on the ground. Think that'll help ya move around better. Don't lean too far forward or backward either. I know there's some styles that have a different stance when fighting, but that gets a bit complicated and don't want to confuse you."

Despite the dangerous, the man was glad he turned off the auto-mode when it came to combat in this game. Being able to feel out how to fight, his movements, positioning, and transitions between were ingrained at this point. As these memories came back to him, his confidence in teaching was growing. Also those few boxing classes he took once upon a time before his own life got in the way.

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

Every time Alonso called something out, whether as a helpful reminder or because the lepus was actually positioning herself wrong, Toko did her best to check her posture and follow his instructions to the best of her ability. 'Right, keep your weight balanced on your feet... not on your heel.' Some deity must have been looking out for her, because the felis' appearance was nothing short of a godsend as far as the aspiring fighter was concerned. There were a lot of the little details that she had been getting wrong unconsciously.

"No wonder I felt so sluggish when moving... sensei was right, the basics are super important."

It applied to everything in life, really, if one had a rocky foundation—whether it was in their house, a skill or anything in between—sooner or later it would crumble down and backfire when you tried to pile more things atop it. As for the auto-combat mode... well the lepus had never even realized it existed, similarly with the pain nullifying setting the game also provided. Though perhaps that, too, was a blessing in disguise—bad habits were usually harder to break out of after all.

"So... like this, then?"

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Both of his brows rose as he watched his student. She seemed to have taken to the basics fast, and now it was about keeping up the pace. His eyes made one last check before he nodded. "Alright, seems you got it, but now you have to keep it up while moving. Come on." The Beastfolk raised his hands, fingers motioning towards himself. Getting into a combat stance himself, those stoic eyes bore right into Toko.

"I need you to start throwing a few strikes at me. Punches, kicks, whatever seems right for now. The goal is to be able to throw an attack out and then retract back into your basic stance, 'kay? If you're unsure you can start out slow, then keep going faster over time. Start off with single strikes. Feel free to, carefully, attempt getting a chain of attacks going before retracting once you get comfortable. Obviously this won't exactly mimic facing an actual opponent," he said. Even with his massive arms having to compensate for a much wider frame compared to the typical person, the man had a nice guard that might have made him look more intimidating.

He knew what his new observation line up was going to be. Getting a vibe for the actual form of Toko's attacks straight on might give a better view of how to apply the basics. Letting his body take a few blows was not going to do any harm either. If need be he can heal himself and his fellow fighter. It was all about getting into a groove, and he wanted to help Toko find the right one for her. Alonso did make the quick assumption she was another unarmed fighter based on agile strikes and not brute force like him, but he might be surprised.

Can't blame him for assuming though considering the typical picks among the player base. Goddamn Dynamism.

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

The small praise had the lepus grinning in response—apparently she was an easy one to please—before her long ears flopped as Alonso called for Toko to come at him with her moves. "Ha-Hai!” She managed to shake off the initial surprise, moving into a battle stance of her own even as Toko tried to consciously remember all the little important details of the basics they had recently reviewed.

Still though… how did one go about trying to smack a mountain? Even if Toko lacked experience she could tell Alonso wasn’t no newbie to this stance, the man undoubtedly had a looot of combat experience under his belt, and honestly she couldn’t quite see any openings on his current guard. "Ikimass!” With a deep breath the lepus steeled her resolve, after all there was no use in overthinking it… if Alonso didn’t have any openings then Toko just had to make one for herself, right?

The first few punches were slow and deliberate, trying to let the basics sink in with every shift and movement while also studying any reactions from her sensei in response. She was prodding for an opening, something the older felis would no doubt pick up on with ease, while also finding her own rhythm little by little. Eventually Toko begun to pick up her speed, a few kicks now being thrown into the mix as her blows began to carry more weight on them than before.

The actions alone brought back old but fond memories of a time when Nao had done this very thing back in the real world with her old teacher, and the familiarity of it helped boost Toko’s confidence as a result… but there was a big difference between Nao’s anatomy and that of her current avatar, the claws on her feet. They were strong and thick, unnaturally sharp too considering rabbits were prey creatures instead of predators, but most of all they were something Nao had never had to deal with or think about in the real world.

So, when she suddenly realized that a downward kick already in motion might accidentally claw at her sparring partner, the lepus jerked suddenly as she attempted to stop the motion—an action which caused her to lose her balance on the other foot before Toko landed square on her ass as a result.

"Itai…”

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

By no means was he trying to show off his own skill in combat. He knew he was on the difficult end to bring down when it came to a newer player going at him. Whether or not the feline had his guard broken was not the point here either. Now, if Toko did it may end up being a great learning opportunity, but Alonso was not going to let it happen so easily.

Keeping his focus on both his tight guard and the other Beastfolk's patterns was a new exercise in multi-tasking. The man bobbed and weaved a little bit, matching the pace of Toko's attempts to judge where she was. "Good. Hrrm! Don't force your attack to stop, keep it going so it has impact. Only force it back if your target is doing somethin' dangerous and you need to get defensive." As he continued being the lepus's punching bag of sorts, a few thoughts occurred to him.

As much as Alonso was a DPS build, he knew he needed to have some more defensive options. Not every tank will be in peak condition, and sometimes a back-up will be needed. Despite people calling the Felis things such as an 'Actual Mountain' or 'Absolute Unit', he was not as tanky as people made him out to be. It was just him being stubborn and rolling into the rage monster factor.

Glancing up a bit he saw the clawed foot coming at him and tensed up. To him there was little difference between sharp objects other than size and how they struck. But the attack swerved off, the man soon hearing a thump on the ground. Dropping his guard, the Felis rushed to Toko's side and slid onto one knee to check on her. "Shit, you okay? What happened there?"

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

"H-Hai, daijoobu dess…” There was a flinch when the lepus tried to move her foot, a sharp sting that wasn’t there before making Toko his in response, before the beastfolk was placing her hands around the seemingly injured ankle in response. "I’m not used to having sharp claws on my feet yet and I wasn’t aiming to hurt you with them, sooo…”

There was an apologetic so shrug that finished Toko’s sentence. The lepus had made a decision in the spur of the moment and, while her body hadn’t quite kept up with the lepus’ wishes, at least she hadn’t outright drawn first blood on a kind stranger who had offered to mentor her today. Sure, it was a game and Alonso could no doubt take the damage it would’ve caused—hell the damage could even be healed—but in the end it was a matter of principles, and this was meant to be a learning experience instead of actual bloody combat… besides Toko was sure her old sensei would’ve rolled in his grave from disapproval had she been so careless towards this good-hearted samaritan.

"Gomen, I didn’t meant to worry you… ah, I can heal this much though!”

Not wanting to cause undue burden on the felis, and also hoping her blunder wouldn’t cause Alonso to reconsider his decision about aiding her, Toko was quick to act as the lepus closed her eyes and focused on the vitality from the flora around them. Her hands glowed with faint green energy as the lepus gathered it from the surroundings, before the newbie was getting back on her feet and testing out her steps—both to reassure Alonzo that she was fine and also make sure she’d healed it right.

"I’ve gotten better at casting my healing spell after getting my ass kicked frequently at the guild… and also thanks to an aspiring nurse friend of mine.”

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Indicating the issue with having clawed feet made the incident all the more clear. Sighing, he replied, "Look, if I wasn't planning on taking damage I wouldn't have let myself be a moving training dummy. I knew the risks. Hell when it comes to being a player there isn't much separating getting punched in the gut and get stabbed considering game mechanics exist." Though it did hurt like a bitch still regardless in those moments.

The reveal of having healing magic to use surprised him. He thought he was the only person who used magic purely as back-up in case of emergency. "Good to know you're prepared at least. Didn't think other people would branch out a bit for other combat roles, to be honest. In fact you're not the only one of us who can heal themselves," he added. In a quick flourish of his hand, a bluish, fire like energy enveloped his hand as he smacked a few of the bruises on his arms. The spiritual energy healed them right up!

He did not even attempt to hide how strong his Spirit Magic was. Sure, it was just at a mere B Rank, but that was stronger than most players' at this point. Clearing his throat, the man folded his arms as he stood at his full height. "Regardless so long as you aren't making attempts to knock my health down to nothing, don't be afraid to show off more of what you can do. I keep track of my own status just fine," he said. With that, he shook one leg after the other, adjusting his belt and pants before returning to his combat stance.

"Whenever you're ready, let's try that again. Try using your feet more since that seems to be an obvious problem at this point."

@Toko

 

[Toko]

.
.

"Uwaaah….”

She couldn’t help but verbally express her surprise, eyes glimmering as the Lepus watched Alonso summon what appeared to be blue flames… except they seemed to lack the expected rise in temperature one would expect if it was truly fire. What was even more surprising was how quickly his magic gathered and also worked on his wounds, it had taken Toko quite a bit of practice to just do this much with her Nature magic… how much time and effort had her new teacher spent in his?

"Y-Yeah… there were a lot of options in the character creation menu, at one point I wasn’t really sure what to pick aside from Martial Arts.” Hearing the compliment the Lepus couldn’t help but rub the back of her neck once more, in a seemingly nervous habit of sorts. "Obaachan was really good with plants, and had some of the best herbal remedies in the village, so I thought it’d be good to have a skill similar to that in a game.”

She nodded at the Felis when he asked if her to go all out—confident that he’d be able to take whatever Toko sent his way, so long as she wasn’t trying to purposely kill him of course. It still made the Lepus a bit nervous, aside from battles with monsters she had never truly allowed herself to go all out with others—certainly not with the Landers, and not yet with any Traveler—but it’s be rude of her to not believe Alonso’s words.

"Dewa…” Once ready the Lepus procedes yo square off against Alonso, adopting a combat pose as she confirmed her sparring partner was ready to go again. "…ikimass!”

As requested of the Felis this time Toko stuck more to using her legs than her punches, testing the waters at first until the Lepus began to fall into a groove of sorts. Her weight was balanced on her feet as she moved, trying her best to never let it go back towards her heels to keep her movements lighter and quick… though that was easier said than done, especially when she was also concentrating on another type of magic.

Alonso did say he was confident he could handle most of what she threw at him… and Toko had been wanting to test this out for a while now.

She allowed herself to feel every grain of dirt under her feet with every movement, consciously trying to seek out the essence of the earth around her as the Lepus attempted to force her will onto it. It was a struggle at first, certainly a lot harder to control than nature magic, but eventually she felt the same familiar feeling grow once more—and instantly willed it to concentrate on her legs. This caused chunks of earth and rock to suddenly form along the shin and instep areas, before Toko attempted to smack Alonso with one of the reinforced parts through a side kick.

"Hyah!”

@Alonso Thorlion

 

[Alonso Thorlion]

Taking a couple steps to make sure he had decent footing, the man craned his head side to side in order to stretch out his wide neck. He was ready to take a beating once again, or at least, one he felt more than the last.

His wish was being granted. Now the giant was up against quicker attacks, causing him to shift more as he blocked the attacks. "Good. That's it." In such a short amount of time his new student was improving by long strides. Sometimes old instincts came back and made getting back into the groove much easier. Perhaps this was evidence of that. Alonso still wanted this person to improve even with the small annoyances that cropped up.

But, as a logical adult, he moved beyond said annoyances.

Something else was off. There was something else to Toko's movements, holding a longer stride than doing simple kicks and punches. With how varied every player's combat style was inside of the game, he was unable to rely on some guide or video tutorial regardless of whether the government struck those down. Adaptation will always be key. It was with this foresight that his surprise was not halting his concentration on the various stimuli around him. The next attack from the lepus held the powers of the earth beneath her to deliver a powerful side kick!

"HRRGH!" Alonso slid his feet into a wide, sturdy stance, blocking the earth infused kick with his huge forearms. "There we go! Urgh, combine what you got and you'll find somethin' that works well," he said, giving the earth powered kick a shove away from him as he took a few steps back. Thinking for a moment, the man decided he can take it up a notch, "So, I'm gonna be a moving target now. Very few things will stand still, and the more you get used to that the better off you'll be."

Lowering his guard a bit, the Felis jumped a couple times to get into his own swing of things. He soon went back to his tighter stance, sliding his feet around and moving side to side in order to become harder to hit. Thankfully nobody was around to complain about a huge man able to have some form of dexterity.

@Toko