I tried to spit out what seemed to be poison from my mouth, but I had already ingested a big gulp, so it was no use.
"Poison." I said to Ben.
"What?" He frowned.
"The drink's poisonous, I can feel it already weakening me." I repeated. Ben groaned and slammed his fist against the side of the ring.
"FUCK, this always happens." He shouted. "Fuckin' mafia keep pulling this shit, alright, I'll be in your corner, fuck em' up."
I nodded and I got up as fast as I could, my opponent knew I was feeling it though, considering I spat it out and my cornerman just cussed out the mafia.
"Tyehehehe, what can you do now? When important people bet against you, you will lose." He said, walking over to me and sending a hook into my ribs.
-6 HP
This guy was horrendously weak but I had half my health left, so it didn't matter.
I need to quickly come up with a plan to at least get this guy with a decent shot once, if I can do that, then I think I can capitalise on that and get him down.
"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" I asked, trying to confuse the man.
"Shut the fuck up." He said, throwing a shot to my head which I managed to block, taking no damage.
I threw a few slow shots in his direction but he simply bobbed and weaved, evading all of them.
"Do you know the muffin man?"
He screamed and threw a wild overhand. "ASSHOLE, I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP-"
I cut his small speech off as I tried to counter with a hook to his temple, he ducked out of the way and pulled back his strike.
"So that's your plan, huh? Annoy me and bait a counter, 'ya almost got me there, but I've fi-" I tried to cut him off again with a right straight to his nose, he dodged that and countered with a hook to the jaw.
"As I was saying, I've figured you out, and now I won't fall for this shit again." He said, approaching me.
I threw a body hook, it was blocked, I looked up at his head, and threw another body hook amplified with Strong Punch, it connected.
He stumbled backwards and tripped onto his feet, falling onto his back. "I've figured you out, in the first round, every attack was on a different target, I made you think I was hitting another, and went for the same one.
The referee kneeled down next to him and injected something into his arm before starting the 8 count.
He counted very slowly, nothing too apparent, but it was as if he was stalling for whatever he injected to take effect.
My opponent got back up and he looked very loose, very composed, his muscles were bulging and pulsating with strength.
"You didn't do shit, I let you do that, how many times do I have to explain it to you, I will win." He said, dashing over to me and throwing a powerful straight right to my body
-23 HP
I tried to throw a hook to his temple but he simply dodged and threw a wide overhand to my jaw, which I did manage to lean back and avoid, due to my perception not being affected, and this being a rather telegraphed punch.
It seemed whatever he was injected with slowed him down, but allowed him to pack a punch, this guy was too frustrating, everything was going to his plan.
FUCK!
Alright, I need to create a new gameplan, but this guy's defence seems impenetrable.
Poison Resistance (1/50)
Each level in this skill dulls the effects of toxins by +1%
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Well golly gee, that sure fuckin' helps, doesn't it? No it doesn't, I barely feel it.
The round ended there, and I made my way back to the corner.
"Fuck're you doing, why are you just standing there, put the pressure on him." He said, slapping me on the back.
"I was poisoned dumbass, I can't do much." I said, taking in my deep breaths and trying to recover as much stamina as I could.
"Ok, I have a plan, I need to test if it works, get that bottle." I said.
He opened it up.
"Dip your fingers in there, do you feel like shit?"
He waited a moment before deciding "A little bit, why?" He said, shaking it off.
"Wipe it on my gloves, out of sight from him, cover us up, if I can smear it on his arm and weaken him, it can finally be a fair match." I explained.
He quickly started applying it, eyeing the time between rounds to make sure he was able to fully cover my gloves in time.
"If they're gonna cheat, we'll have to cheat as well." I said.
"That's how it goes." Ben said as the bell sounded out, I entered the ring and tried to keep up a facade of composure, equal to how I was in the round before, but internally I was cackling, if I managed to catch him a few times on the arm, which I probably will, then the poison will take effect, and I will come out victorious.
This was the third round, if I let the judges score the fight, this guy would win, no, I needed to knock him out cold.
I approached the man.
"Why did the chicken cross the road?" I said, trying to anger him again.
"I'm not falling for this."
"Your mom." I said, a loud belly laugh from me followed soon after, the guy thought I was vulnerable then and threw a strong overhand to my jaw yet again, trying to knock me out cold. I ducked under this time and wiped my gloves against the skin of his arm.
I then waddled back, trying to maintain distance for a few seconds, waiting for the poison to take effect. It might've worked instantly for me, but maybe skin contact took longer rather than cluelessly gulping on it.
"You fucking asshole."
"Hey, don't blame me, you gave me the tools to weaken you." I simply said, grinning.
I activated Sprint, Flurry of Blows, rushed over as fast as I could and sent repeated Strong Punches to this guy's body until he started vomiting blood, he collapsed against the ropes, but the ref didn't start the 8 count, so I sent a hook to his face that knocked him onto the floor.
"Hey, ref, find a way to bullshit your way out of this." I said, crossing my arms.
The referee looked scared when I said this, he looked over at the man on the floor, made a hand signal to indicate he was knocked out and the fight was over.
Quest Complete:
Rewards:
Martial Arts Slot (Rare)
100,000 Beli
+3 To all physical stats
Bonus Reward:
Devastating Knockout Bonus: +2500 EXP
Fight Fire With Fire Bonus: +2500 EXP
You have levelled up
Level 10 reached
Stat points per level:
3-6
[CLASS SELECTION UNLOCKED]
You have 6 stat points to allocate
Flurry of blows (8/25)
+300 EXP for upgrading a skill (3x) via natural means
Strong punch (10/25)
+200 EXP for upgrading a skill (2x) via natural means
Sprint (5/25)
+200 EXP for upgrading a skill (2x) via natural means
Battle strategy (4/50)
+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means
Boxing (11/150)
+300 EXP for upgrading a skill (3x) via natural means
I collapsed to the ground the moment the fight was deemed my win, I took a few minutes to register what I had gained from this occasion, Jesus, there was a lot to think about, I had unlocked my classes, all my physical stats were increased, I had extra stat points per level, things were looking up for me.
Ben was shouting at me. "GET UP JACKASS, THE REF STILL NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING." I slowly got up to my feet, I saw Lao Tze staring at me with a menacing glare, as if he wanted to end me. I'll need to watch my back when I get out of this stadium and probably leave the hostel.
The ref beckoned me to walk over to him, I did as ask, he held Lao and I's hands, he held mine up, officially declaring that I was in fact the victor, and I was now free to go back to my corner.
"That was a war, I need a break, man…" I said, walking out of the ring.
"Well, you can take a break after you've finished cornering my fight, the battle's not over yet my friends."
"Ugh, fuck it, fine." I replied.
There was an hour between my fight and his, in the meantime, I was checking over my status screen and making a few decisions. Allocating my stats was probably the easiest decision, my perception was a 10, everything else was 16-17, I put my points in there and focused on more important decisions, like class. I then went to the bathroom so I could decide what class I wanted and to safely teleport to that white void if I did get my hands on a skillbook from my available slot.
There were hundreds, if not thousands of classes, ranging from Musician to comedian to swordsman to brawler, some were locked for me, such as ones that were locked behind specific devil fruits, there was one called Hakiman and it offered various cool things like a haki susanoo, the Rinnehakigan, and various other powers that were simply just miles away from where I was at right now.
I scrolled and scrolled through all the options but I finally whittled down my options to three that I really liked.
Martial Artist:
You are adept in the ways of unarmed combat, you know how and where to hit to an advanced level, you gain +1 to Perception and Agility per level
Starter perk:
Infallible:
If you do not want to fall to the ground, you do not, you have mastered balance to such a degree where people stronger than you find it impossible to knock you down
While I did like Katakuri, the starter perk simply did not interest me, I moved onto the next option.
Inventor:
You are a very creative and acute man, you have the skills necessary to invent things never before conceptualised. You gain +2 to Perception per level.
Starter perk:
Knick-Knack
Every day, a random knick-knack spawns in your inventory, most of the time it is very useless, but you might be able to sell it for some pocket change.
Not really my style, but I did like the concept of creating things, so I settled on something not too far from Inventor.
Blacksmith:
You have a lifetime of experience in forging things from metal, you can make suits of armour, swords and whathaveyou. +1 to Strength and Perception per level
Starter Perk:
Familiarity:
Whenever you walk into any forge, you know it as if it was your own
This seemed more like it, the stuff I make would probably be worth more than whatever knick-knacks I have, and I like to get up close and dirty in fights rather than shooting at em with my big mega ray of cosmic death.
Plus, that bonus to strength and perception really sold it, my strength has always been lagging slightly behind so this was a way to prop it up without having a class solely focused on bashing skulls open like Barbarian.
I selected it and was immediately brought into the white boundless realm I had been sent to when learning Strong Punch. It was a white realm, sure, but my otaku self really wanted to call this place 'The shadow realm' and why should I object?
"Hrmph… Whad'ya want? I'm busy over here." Said a young Shimotsuki Kozaburo as he was pounding away into… Enma?
"I wanna know how to forge?" I said anxiously.
"Oh… I did have an appointment, I thought it was tomorrow." He grumbled. "If you insist, I may teach you how to create a crude cutlass, but I don't have time for much else." I'd take what I could get, it wasn't like I couldn't improve from then on.
"Alright, here is the air pump." He said, pointing at what seemed like those pumps that you stepped on to pump up inflatable rafts n' whatnot, only scaled 10x bigger.
"Pumps air into these coals, makes em' really hot." He said as he gestured for me to go over to it
I started pumping air into the weak fire and not before long, it was a great big flame.
"Now when it's nice and hot." He said, grabbing some metal rods. "Place these in, get the metal all red and malleable."
He pulled it out after a few minutes and inspected the hot part of the metal. "That's a nice colour, now we move onto the anvil, this is the fun part, take this hammer." He said, handing me one.
"Hammer the point in, make it nice and thin, make sure you do it quickly, you don't want the metal to lose its heat." I followed as he instructed and soon enough, the thin metal rod turned into a short cutlass that was all bendy and dull and distorted, but at least you could make it out.
"Eh.. Decent, for a child, you'll figure it out eventually." He said insultingly. "Just fit the bottom end of your blade in whatever handle you have, and voila, you have a cutlass." I did as asked and picked it up.
"You suck." Kozaburo said before I was sent back into the real world.
Blacksmithing (1/150)
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