Martial Arts Encyclopedia - Chapter 15

Starting this week, there will be three stories having an update. Martial Arts Encyclopedia, An Engineer in Night City, and the winner of the previous weekly poll. I am also soon releasing the chapters for a private commission, available only to Patreon. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Paradigm Shift (4)

After what felt like months, I finally opened the door to the outside world and was immediately tackled by my goddess into a tight embrace. “Hey, kept you waiting, huh?”

After rebuilding my body over the month I finished my growth and settled into one hundred and eighty-eight centimeters, or six feet and two inches for those using freedom units, so Artoria needs to look up to glare at me. I admit, despite upsetting her due to my late arrival, I love how cute her angry expression is with her mouth pouting and her eyes moist with unshed tears.

“Liear, you were supposed to exit after a month. It’s been thirty-seven days since you got inside.”

I could tell her that I was training some of my new techniques, learning how to apply them in combat, or even that a small delay of a week is nothing for a cultivator when they are undergoing closed-door cultivation. Instead, I held her close to me and whispered in her ear. “Sorry. I will do my best not to do it again.”

She nodded and we held each other for a few seconds before I saw her sniffing me. “You’re going to take a bath,” yeah, the last of my soap ended two days ago, “and I’m going to clean you up.”

Despite my new mental discipline I don’t know what to think, so I go for the path of least resistance. “Ok.”

She drags me to the bathtub with hot water still steaming and forcefully disrobes me, throwing this set of clothes into the trash. Artoria dunks me into the tub like a mother taking care of her child who spent the whole day playing in the mud and starts washing me with a bath brush. Soon the water turns black with dirt and the remaining gunk accumulated on top of my skin, and with a careful application of Qi I help her along the way to clear my body.

“Should I go inside?” She asks me and I look back to see her expression changing between innocent curiosity, anxiety, and excitement. I look back at the filthy water and shake my head.

“Maybe another day,” I say with a smile to my goddess before wagging my eyebrows, “but I don’t think we should get more handsy with each other before our first date.” 

She smiles back at me and sighs good-naturedly, “You’re impossible, Andrew. I think you can take over from here.” I don’t feel disappointed when she stands up and exits the bathroom, I have more discipline than that.

Once I finish my bath and put on a new set of fresh clothes I walk into the kitchen to the sight of Artoria glaring at another god, while the foreign god sits serenely at the table with three cups of hot streaming tea prepared.

“Ah, looks like my successor finally joined us.”

My eyes narrow at his words, and then I realize who this man is. “You are the Northern Ocean clone of the Lord of Three Purities Yan Zhaoge.”

“I am,” he admits with a puffed chest, “but I now cultivate the bloodline of monsters, thus after ascending into the title of Great Sage,” he then shrugs, as if becoming an immortal is nothing impressive, “But who’s counting? There are Early Heaven Immortals, or Gods in the local language, walking around the streets a dime a dozen. You probably got tired of being amazed by their aura by now.”

“Yeah, it kind of lost the novelty after the first week,” I confess to the man. “Artoria, this man here is related to one of my new purchases of the Martial Arts Encyclopedia. He’s probably here to see what kind of person I am.”

Eventually, her glare eases and she slumps down on her seat. “I’m sorry, I thought you were one of the local gods.” She sends him a dirty look back. “You could have at least announced yourself instead of appearing in our kitchen.”

This time I look at the man in askance, and he shrugs helplessly. “Sorry, it slipped my mind how people normally react to this behavior. I got spoiled in my world.”

“You wanted to look cool and mysterious, didn’t you?”

“...” Was his answer.

“...” Came the long-suffering look of having to deal with Merlin’s shit from Artoria.

“I will get some crackers.”

Once we’re settled with tea and crackers we start to casually talk. He asked me questions about my origins and how I learned about the Peerless Heavenly Scripture, and I answered truthfully: I was run over by a transcendental being and received the Martial Arts Encyclopedia in return, which gives me access to all martial arts and related skills and techniques by paying my accumulated Karma.

His face’s expression turns strange as if an old memory surfaced in his mind. “Why does your story sound like a scam no matter which direction I look at it?”

I smile helplessly at him. “Sometimes the universe throws weird curveballs at us, I had to learn how to roll with the punches.”

“Don’t we all,” the Great Sage clone answers dryly. “Moving on, do you have any questions you want to have for your senior? I might not cultivate the same traditions, but I am experienced enough to aid my junior.”

I pause, thinking it over. “Did you-”

“Please don’t ask personal questions,” pause, “and yes.”

Artoria looks back and forth between the two of us, no doubt wondering about the weird exchange. “Other than that, I was wondering if you have any cultivation tips and how to integrate different martial arts into your style.”

He thinks it over for a moment, choosing the best answer for a novice like me. “You need to have a clear goal for what you want. Once you do, integrating new martial arts becomes easier as you modify or discard the aspects you don't want. I suggest you master the martial arts you learn to minor mastery at least since they will form the foundation of your cultivation. If you screw up a single step, it will prevent you from advancing in the future unless you find miraculous treasures or encounters.”

I nod at him, knowing how it works by reading xianxia and other related stories. “Have you ever heard of Legend Cultivation?”

He thinks it over, closing his eyes to remember. After almost a minute of contemplation, he opens his eyes. “I believe I encountered this form of cultivation in the past. It’s related to the power of Faith.” He shakes his head, “I don’t recommend it since it puts you at the mercy of third parties to improve, though,” he takes a closer look at me, “You have something similar already?”

“He has my Falna,” my goddess answered, “it’s a divine mark that Ouranos teaches to the newly descended gods so they can ‘adopt’ a mortal into their Familia. As the mortal perform small and great deeds, their basic abilities are increased, they earn Skills that mark the milestones of their journey and even develop unique spells to aid them in their battles.”

I nod, and once again the clone has a strange expression. This time, however, I had an idea about what he was thinking.

“Yeah, we’re the mafia,” I say the quiet part out loud. “Some Familias even control the governments directly. Orario is just weird because it has a lot of Familias in a single city.”

He nods in understanding. “Similar principles to the Sects, then.” I nod alongside him.

I can tell that Artoria feels betrayed by my assessment, and I smile at her helplessly. I’m sorry, but it was true during your time, and it is still true today. You either die a criminal or live long enough to become the government.

“Anyway, I have what I came here for. Just one final piece of advice. Here,” The Great Sage Clone pulls a jade slip from his sleeve and passes it to me. I take a look at the Jade slip beforeing willing my skin to open and allow a single drop of blood to fall. Once that happened, I realized what he had just given me.

It’s a Dual Cultivation Manual! It is based on the top-tier Grand Clear Lineage scriptures, but still!

“I know you two are young but don’t overindulge in it. You should know why after reaching the Peak of the Inner Discernment Stage.” I nod at him, not bothering to disguise my embarrassment. “Consider this your newlywed gift.”

This time it is Artoria’s turn to blush. Having embarrassed the two youngsters, the Great Sage clone left without leaving a trace.

“What an infuriating man.” My goddess confesses after he leaves.

“The original became the most important person in his universe before reaching transcendence, I think the Great Sage is just bored at this point.” I keep the Jade slip in my possession due to it being a priceless treasure. Not only it is a present from the clone of Yan Zhaoge, but it also has three precious blueprints besides the Dual Cultivation Manual: the blueprint to make more jade slips, another for making the Internal Crystal furnace, and the creation of Shadow Shrinking Pouches. The application of the first is obvious, while the third is a genuine Bag of Holding. When I learned what the Internal Crystal furnace was, I wanted to bang my head on the table, since it is the xianxia version of the Bessemer Process.

Was it how Yan Zhaoge felt when he realized that the famed Pixiu spirit beast was a Panda? Were Kirins in his world literal giraffes instead of the mythical beasts depicted? Sometimes reality can be disappointing.

After he leaves, the atmosphere turns awkward for a moment. Looking at the sun I can tell it is still early in the morning. “So, I still owe you a date. When do you want to go out?”

Artoria perks up at that. “How about tonight? My coworkers recommended the Hostess of Fertility for a date. They said it would be the ideal place for someone like me.”

I look at Artoria’s happy, eager face, and decide not to dwell on the potential mean girl shit she just stumbled into. Though, if she did, how did they pull off against a goddess?

“Alright. I will go to the Guild to prove that I’m still alive, and then I will grab a nice set of clothing for our date. When should we go there?”

“When the streetlights turn on, so it should be at eight after midday.”

“Got it. It shouldn’t take long, I can even visit you during your lunch break. Where do you work again?” Artoria freezes for a moment before sighing.

“I will give you the address.” She passes me a modern-looking business card. 

“Mt. Orthys Café?” She nods and I pocket the card. “Alright, see you later then.” I take the opportunity to come closer and give her a peck on the cheek, making my goddess blush furiously while I escape.

…

“So, you’re still alive.” My advisor accuses me in place of greeting me. “What are you doing here, especially on your civvies?”

“‘Hello Andrew, how are you doing?’ I’m fine, thank you, Cornell. I’m glad you always greet your advised adventurers.”

“Are you going to bother listening to me?”

“Are you going to provide useful advice?”

We both glare at each other until he falls back into his chair and takes a sip of the Guild-issue coffee. “Well, at least it is you. Can’t be too careful with how things had gone this past month.”

“What happened while I was ‘suspended?’ The way you said it, it’s like things got crazy in just a month.”

The werewolf sighs while staring at his drink. “This is old news by now so it’s fine for us to talk here. Several adventurers were found dead in Orario, the Guild suspects them to have the Assassin or related Development Ability for evading Freya and Loki’s Familias. We suspect they’re related to your cause since they partially match your description of the attacker: dark ash-like skin and they wear a skull mask.”

Fuck.

“Did my goddess talk with Lord Ouranos?”

“She did, my Lord asked her to keep her suspicions to herself until the situation is right.”

Double fuck.

“Alright, I get it. I will work harder to make sure I can help deal with this. Anyway, am I cleared for dungeonering yet?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Officially you already served your sentence so you can return at any time, but it’s too risky to enter the dungeon.”

“Yeah, but according to you, being on the top is getting more dangerous by the day. Besides, I want to earn some pocket money to pay for my date tonight.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy. “You aren’t suggesting going down the dungeon now, are you? On your civvies?”

I shrug. “Yeah. Just stick to the first floor for some quick cash.”

“What about the dangerous assassins I just told you about?”

“I figure that if I plan to dive deeper, they will attack me, or if I plan a day trip they will follow me and try to set an ambush. But if I go there on a whim, they’re unlikely to attack effectively.”

My advisor looks at me up and down, before taking refilling his cup with more coffee and a bit of cream and sugar. “If you insist.”

“Thank you! I knew you were the best!”

He waves me off and I quickly reach the entrance of the Dungeon. Despite being unarmored and unarmed, I feel much more secure than the first day I entered this pit. It doesn’t take long for me to reach the first floor and I start running around the dungeon, looking for a certain monster. It takes a while but eventually, I catch a glimpse of a golden hue in the distance. I follow after the creature and increase my pace slightly until I feel I can overtake it. When the Jack Bird is within my throwing distance, I throw a rock in my pocket at the monster, knocking it out instantly.

In return, the Dungeon reacts and starts vomiting monsters from the walls. There are a lot of goblins and kobolds, enough to overwhelm a lone adventurer, and one of the kobolds in the distance starts to howl to attract more monsters. I let the creature call reinforcements as I dodge a goblin’s clumsy attack, smashing its skull with a punch. The other monsters jump at me at the same time, trying to overwhelm me with numbers, but I use one of the goblins as an improvised weapon as I create a safe area around myself. When the reinforcements arrive I get serious and start killing the monsters with an Iron Finger on their chests, taking out their magic stones directly and killing them before they can react.

I cleaned up the area faster than before, but I didn’t show any new ability or power since the last time I entered the dungeon. I don’t want to give precious intel for the sake of pocket money, after all.

When I return to the guild, I have another Jack Bird egg to trade for one million valis, much to the annoyance of some advisors who point at me like the delinquent child from the neighbor while telling their adventurers not to repeat what I do.

Adorable.