— Is it necessary to make such a large knob? - I asked, watching the master add a decent-sized ball to the bottom of the handle. "Yes, this is necessary to maintain balance," Piandao explained, without looking up from his work, "believe me, balance is a necessary thing, no matter what anyone says."
"Yeah, but I prefer to double-check everything, because I've already noticed that you have stereotypes that you willingly follow and are not going to destroy," I readily explained.- Let me clarify, are you planning to take these rapiers in both hands, unbalance both so that there is an inflection towards the blade, and call yourself my student? — the master looked up from his work and began to speak quietly and insinuatingly.
— Is it necessary to make such a large knob? - I asked, watching the master add a decent-sized ball to the bottom of the handle."Yes, this is necessary to maintain balance," Piandao explained, without looking up from his work, "believe me, balance is a necessary thing, no matter what anyone says."
"Yeah, but I prefer to double-check everything, because I've already noticed that you have stereotypes that you willingly follow and are not going to destroy," I readily explained.- Let me clarify, are you planning to take these rapiers in both hands, unbalance both so that there is an inflection towards the blade, and call yourself my student? — the master looked up from his work and began to speak quietly and insinuatingly.
There is a kind of sheepish stubbornness and ossification in him in many things related to his path. But what irritates him most is that I don't really argue with him - I carefully do what I need. And then, more often than not, he admits that I'm right.
"Oh, Agni, why do I need such a student," Piandao raised his eyes to the sky, but then sharply broke off the large ball-knob, "hold your formidable weapon." I'll give you half an hour to wave and get used to it, and then we'll have a sparring match.
No sooner said than done. For half an hour I waved the new shaft and, what can I say? I like it. It was lighter than a sword, had less air resistance, and I acted with a rapier much faster than with an ordinary piece of iron. The balance really caused a lot of resistance at first, but after only half an hour, I already got used to it.
When the Master returned, already clean of soot after the forge and with his sword, the first thing I asked was:- Still, what about the second rapier? — I raised an eyebrow. "Master at least one," the teacher closed his eyes, "then we'll see." Let's start.
Here it is worth explaining why the Master himself came forward and did not put me against Fat. Everything is quite simple - Fat may be a swordsman, but he is very far from the level of a master, and during sparring with real swords, it is necessary for at least one to fully understand the situation. Otherwise, you might accidentally kill each other.
That's why the master flew forward, trying to impale me on the tip of his sword in one quick movement. I jumped to the side, trying to hit back, to which I received a block and a counterattack, which I dodged. This will take a long time.
For about ten minutes we jumped around the site, or rather I jumped, almost thoughtlessly wasting energy, but the master made precise lunges, with minimal expenditure of energy and extra strength.
The rapier in my hand felt like my own; I would never want to return to the sword. I could see that even the master was trying, because it was difficult to keep the same pace as me and defend against longer weapons that could reach from an unusual distance with any of my acrobatic techniques. Although he clearly didn't try his best. I'm sure if this was a real fight he would have ended it quickly.
It all ended, of course, with my mistake - I did not have time to jump away in time, deciding to strike again, but received a heavy block, from which I recoiled, and the master's next blow should have been victorious.
Of course, he didn't kill me, thank the gods and spirits.
"Very good," Piandao smiled, "it looks like the rapier is your weapon after all..."Two rapiers," I clarified, smiling brazenly.
"... and now, I think it's time for you to start getting real combat experience," the master continued, seemingly not paying attention, "your skills are already enough to cope with the local rabble, so we'll polish up your rapier, sharpen it, and through for a week you will go and clean these places.
— And what kind of combat experience will the bandits have? - I exhaled, realizing that he was serious, - do you want me to face my first murder under controlled conditions?
"And that too," nodded the Master. He is already used to the fact that I see the motives of his actions and words very well, but combat experience is not in terms of movements - with this you are at a fairly good level, and what is bad - so we will improve it, but in terms of readiness to use weapons against a person. Many factors. And that's part of the learning.
"Yes, I understand, I understand, I don't argue... teacher," he decided to add officialdom.
Even though outwardly I remained calm, my soul immediately became troubled. I really didn't want to leave my comfort zone and go look for someone, kill, and take responsibility for my actions. It's unlikely that a master will lead me by the hand to a camp with bad guys and point them out - I'll have to find them, understand that they're bad, and then...
Okay, we will solve problems as they arise, and this problem is still a week away. Now I'm much more interested in how to separate air into oxygen and so on.Master Piandao has already left, to go about his important business: drawing, forging, drinking or fucking, there seems to be no middle ground here. Although no. Given. There is a fifth option - teach me, of course.
And I went to my secluded corner. There is a nice garden here: with trees, stones, and even a stream, and trees grow there very well, hiding me from view from under the windows. However, now I don't need it. My plan is simple - meditation. Well, what should we do? We need to somehow understand how it works. Strength is everywhere, size is not important for strength, desire is important for strength.
This is why we will dance, like a Jedi - I wish I could conjure oxygen. Yeah. All that remains is to find who I will tell these wishes to.
Okay, I sit down in the lotus position, having first placed the rapier in front of me. So what? Now I would like to carry it with me everywhere - like a Master would carry his sword. But no one has made a scabbard for me yet, and I can't do it myself. The scabbard is more about cutting than blacksmithing, and, thank God, the master doesn't teach me this. Otherwise, I would have thought that I had come not to a swordsman, but to a needleworker.
Okay, what do we have? As usual, letting the breeze flow into my thoughts, I sat down to think, for starters, at what stage should oxygen be released? When is the breeze in your thoughts, in your body, or when is it outside your body? While I was thinking about this question, I habitually drove my state back and forth, the breeze in my thoughts, the breeze in my body and back; What to do?
***
Wind, wind, you are powerful, you drive flocks of clouds.
But how can we turn you into oxygen? Although, probably... I probably should have thought with my brains and realized that it's unlikely that there is literally wind inside me. Rather, this is how I feel the magic, interpreting it in my own way. To be honest, the thought took an unacceptably long time to come to me, but at least it finally arrived. Otherwise, it would be a shame not to understand such a logical and elementary thing yourself.
But at the exit from the body, wind is obtained. What does this mean? That's right - I have to force my magic to release oxygen. Or at least thin air.
Therefore, I sat there for about twenty minutes, pushing and trying to reproduce the air that happens high in the mountains. The good news is that something is clearly working out, the bad news is that it is not what is needed. Now I'm blowing cold air. Like in the mountains. But in terms of concentration, it is still ordinary air.
It didn't work out, but I decided to go from the other side. Now it's cold air, then I'll try warm air, then dry air, and so, sooner or later, I'll be able to control this matter. And there, maybe I can separate the oxygen. So far, I can't even say approximately how it will work.
And it will work.
The whole week before my first outing, code-named: "chick's flight from the cliff," the master was driving me crazy.
And I also remembered where I saw similar crap as the one I'm jumping on. This is pure torment from The Witcher! I never thought that this crap actually helps anyone in their studies. To anyone other than fictitious personalities in a computer game or book (author's note: Dabum-shh)
In general, the Master, after thinking a little and watching how I was quite quickly and deftly jumping on the stumps, decided to turn on this mechanism. And now I not only jumped, but also dodged.
What's the point if, as it turns out, I'm already good at dodging? That's the point: in addition to the pendulum itself, you need to watch your feet so as not to fall. If individually I was able to do this well, then together problems arise.
And then they'll blindfold me, like hell, they'll blindfold me, mmm. But this time the master was already more pleased with my results - who knows what he saw there, but I really felt better. But I bet that it's more a force of habit - at this rate I'll learn the trajectory of the pendulum, and where the peg is. And then what is the point in the grand scheme of things?
The master and I also sparred all week. Even taking into account the fact that sometimes he gave in to me too clearly, I was never able to win. He knew my steps in advance, where I would follow, how I would dodge, but I didn't know him. This is enough to win every time. So besides this, he was, no matter how obvious it was, a much better warrior than me. For now.
After several such battles and realizing my problem, that I was reacting and not fighting, I expressed this problem to the Master. To which he chuckled as usual, rubbed his beard, and led me inside.
To play Pai Sho.
In all seriousness, now part of our daily routine is an hour, or even several, of playing this board game. But I have a feeling that this will really help. Because the game developed strategic skills very well.
Once in a past life, pai sho was often compared to chess. By and large, there are similarities, but... the differences are huge. No matter how anyone says that in chess there are thousands of moves at any given moment, only a dozen of them do not lead to a loss of advantage at the very next moment.
In fact, experienced chess players can predict each other's first ten moves based on the first few. Openings, Gambits, over the years of the game's existence, all successful first moves and successful subsequent ones that do not lead to loss of advantage have already been worked out and named.
There is no such thing in Pai Shaw. In this game there is a stupid strategy or lack thereof, but there are no absolutely stupid moves. You won't even be able to tell at the first time of the game whether you are playing against a master or a beginner. Crazy and illogical steps at first glance could lead to some kind of cunning trap... or they could be simple crazy and illogical steps.
In general, in terms of strategy, I liked pai sho more than chess. Of course, these few days before the start of the operation, I had just learned the basics of the game and some basic strategies, but there was a lot of interest.
But the Master, without listening to my speech on the topic: "Let's play pay sho, why the hell did these bandits surrender to you," kicked me out of the gate, throwing a rapier, a card and a bag of money after me.
OK OK. I will remind them of this. When hunger comes, ask for bread, as they say.
In all this, there is only one small problem. The master gave me a week, because normally it would only take a few days to get to the place, and the same time back. He couldn't have known that my run would literally take me a few hours to get there.
At first I wanted to solve the problem and rest for a week. But then I became lazy, and I decided to rest first and then solve the problem. That is, first practice your magic for a week, try to develop it, wasting time only on this, and then quickly defeat the bandits in a day and go home at full wind speed.
Well, that's what I did. I bought provisions in advance in the nearest village, went somewhere to the mountain and settled down there. He even bought a sleeping bag. Everything seems to be thought out. Sitting down in a grassy clearing on the top of a mountain, from where I could clearly see the surrounding area, and placing my sword in front of me, I began to circulate my air. Cold, then warm. And so on until I get tired.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to come up with anything smarter yet. I suffered from this nonsense for a good two days, after which I once again sat down in this damned clearing, almost vomited from the views that had fucked me up, and let the breeze enter my head to think.
Some bullshit. To produce cold air, I think of an icy mountain top; to produce warm air, I think of a desert. Purely theoretically, I can suffer from crap.Maybe I'm actually an avatar and I just need to think about fire? After spending about an hour on such attempts, I realized that the idea was absolute nonsense. No matter how hard I tried, thinking about the fire, my breeze simply didn't understand what to do.
Almost literally, in response to a request, it formed a blue screen - I don't know how to describe it, but it felt like if I tried that, I would also have a breeze spinning my finger around my head. Hmm, we can try something else then.
Taking a candle out of my bag, I set it on fire, placing it in front of me. What if you directly ask for the wind, which will only spread the fire?
Having formulated my desire very clearly, imagining for some reason a gas station and its explosion in a movie, I began to try to release the breeze behind my body. Based on my experience with cold and warm, if I, having such a setup in my head, release the wind outside my body, then it will be exactly what I need.
Well, to my surprise, it didn't take that long. Just a few hours and I felt a light breeze coming from my finger. By putting my finger to the candle, I got... well, at least some result. There was a stream, and albeit weak, but it was there! I began to blow, as if from the side of a candle flame, and a light flame was blown in. It's actually blue for some reason.
There are suspicions that this color is given by the combustion of that "oxygen" or what it is. It may well be. It's good that the color is blue and not some other color. Blue seems to still be available among local magicians, so it's not scary, they won't put you on a pitchfork, and they won't be mistaken for an avatar either.
However, when trying to create a larger volume of "oxygen", a problem arose - nothing happened. There was just a very clear feeling, as if I was trying to lift more weight than my muscles could allow. And what will we do in this case?
Right. Pump up your muscles, namely, let this air pass as often as possible and try as much as possible each time. I still have a few days until the end of the week, during which time we will properly stretch my oxygen muscle, go kill the bandits and go home.
Good plan? Great. What happens to me when I plan something? That's right, everything is going wrong. It all started with the fact that during all these days the volume of "oxygen" I produced, if I managed to increase it, it was only slightly. Not very much. I have a suspicion that the hand-waving of the airbenders would help me here. It's not just that even monks did this?
Therefore, having given up on this matter, I went to my destination. A small village, near which there are bandits and whom I need to... well, cut out, whatever. Be a local cleaner.True, I don't have anything more specific about them, so the plan is simple: I go to the village and find out everything on the spot - somehow the rumors somehow reached the Master, who, for a minute, is a few days' journey from here. But the Internet, or even radio, hasn't started here yet.
In any case, on the approach to the city no one stopped me, which would, of course, be very convenient. If I were attacked now, I would clear everyone out and that would be the end of it. But, no, I had to make my way to the city, go to a local bar, as usual, and sit down to listen carefully to who was talking about what. I was dressed quite simply, no fancy clothes, but the rapier seemed to show my status. A sword is not a very expensive pleasure, but it is tangible.
Roughly speaking, it's like buying a traumatic pistol for an ordinary person from the past world. Not that this is a strong financial burden, but everyone is in no hurry to line up and pick up an injury. It's still better to spend this money on something else, right?
That's how it is here. And considering that my sword is not simple, it immediately catches your eye, then I am guaranteed attention. And most importantly, you can't hide it anywhere, the rapier is a long thing. But okay, I sat in the bar drinking juice - you shouldn't drink alcohol before a fight, and listened to those around you for about an hour.
I found out who the local slut is supposedly, who is sleeping with whom, how the local owner is doing something to the left, and other huge number of rumors that I don't care about.
But I didn't find out what I needed. And what to do with it? Bandits are tied to the city in any way; if it is not protected, then they must have a lair here. Still, despite the fact that I call the area a village, that's what it would be called by the standards of my old world. This is quite a decent town here.
And there are several thousand inhabitants, maybe even several tens of thousands, so there is a place for the bandit element to get lost here, no matter how you look at it. Why am I sure they have connections in the city? But because they need to eat something, as well as sell the goods that were robbed. Hmm, by the way, where would I sell the goods? This is probably why we will dance, why not. So I got up, went up to the bartender and simply asked insolently:
- I would like to melt this sword, can you tell me the place? The bartender chuckled, looked carefully into my honest, innocent eyes and deigned to say:" You leave the bar and go right to a clothing store, there's an alley behind it and there's a buyer there," he said, stretching his lips into an unnatural smile and extending his hand so that I would give something for information.
- Thank you very much! — I shake the outstretched hand, smiling sincerely, to which the bartender grimaced and went to another client. It's okay, I'll clear the area of bandits, I'm sure this will increase his profits. The buyer was actually there. A small shed, from within which very bad exclamations were heard. So, let's be a local hero?
***
I walked into this store looking like a real hero who was about to solve everything. Slowly, typing my steps, and placing one hand on the rapier, I walked past small shelves filled with all sorts of things, and stood as if in line, behind the bandit.
- ... I won't be able to sell a product with a sign to anyone. There will be questions for me, I told you," the mustachioed man behind the counter tried to tell the bandit something.
Why did I decide that it was a bandit? Because fuck, normal people don't dress like that. A pure copy of "Fantasy Bandit in a Vacuum." An ax hanging from his belt, a face with a scar, a mouth missing several teeth, a week's worth of stubble and other unchanging attributes.
"If you're going to hurt someone, don't pour urine in my ears, I know you!" — the bandit did not pay attention to me, still arguing with the seller."Oops, that's what I need," I said, turning attention to myself.
"Get out of here while you're still alive," the bandit spat, "just leave your piece of iron behind, otherwise you'll cut yourself."— Even more clichéd phrases? — I raised my eyebrows, approaching this scum, "I'm basically just here to chase the local punks." And you, I see, just fit this definition.
At this the bandit only raised his eyebrows and grinned impudently. Which puzzled me, exactly until I realized that in my attempt to look pretentious, I didn't look at what was behind the different racks.
So I managed to hear one step as the bandit came out from behind the rack, but I couldn't do anything. Moreover, I could have dodged, just if I had been collected, but I did not take the matter seriously and was relaxed until I heard something from behind. I felt the strongest and smartest, bitch. For which he received something heavy.
* * *
I came to my senses with a jerk, twitching in place and the first thing I heard was screams and crying.
Then I realized how much my head hurt in the back of my head, and that I was very thirsty. It's like a desert from the continent of earth in my mouth, I wanted it that way. The condition is generally terrible - it's only in fairy tales that after a blow to the head, the main character falls into a normal sleep. And I have a hangover raised to the second degree.
It's as if there's lead in my head, which rolls with every movement and hits my skull painfully. I realized that my hands were tied when I tried to move. And also that my rapier was taken away. Well, obvious actions, because I was taken prisoner, of course.
But most of all, of course, my heart hurt. To be more precise, I was fucking ready to bang my forehead against the wall and then hang myself from shame. I felt that only eggs were cooler than me. I went to cover it with pretentious phrases.
Idiot.
But then my thoughts returned to the surrounding sounds and slowly it began to dawn on me what it was. Women's voices, sounds of a certain nature in a bandit camp.
Having barely gathered my strength, I was able to sit up. We were in a bandit camp. There was a large fire, around which various tents and other sleeping places were pitched, some garbage was lying around, someone was sleeping drunk, someone else was drinking.I was near some tree, apparently they threw me out of the category just to where. With my eyes I found my rapier; it was lying in a pile of weapons next to the fire.
And yes, all this time I carefully averted my gaze from how the bandit, having pulled down his pants, was clearly raping someone. Like a couple more in the neighborhood - they literally set aside a special place for such a thing. One of them finished with a loud groan and stood up, starting to put on his pants. Underneath it I saw a tear-stained girl, one might say, about fourteen or fifteen years old.
This sight made the rage bubble in my chest, except I'm not a fire mage. And emotions are my enemy, so I diligently began to fill my head with the breeze."Oh, I woke up," the same bandit from the shop drew attention to me, "again, what did you say there?" Why are you here?
"I-I... thought less of you," I stammered. Well, yes, I'm not much of an actor, Stanislavsky would say I don't believe it, and so on, but this idiot fell for it. I wanted to find out from him everything here or not everything. At least from the outside it would look like a cunning plan to penetrate the enemy's camp.
Yeah, get hit in the head with a baton and wake up tied up.- Ha, did you think we were a couple of people? - this guy smiled terribly, - no-no, ha-ha-ha..."Oh," is all I said, "and here, I see, there are a good three dozen of you, right?"
The magic of the wind was enough for me to cut the ropes with a thin stream of air. Unfortunately, this is all I can do for now. Otherwise, all the results are blows with an air wave than cutting air. But that's the lyrics.
The rage returned, and at the same time the adrenaline hit. I no longer needed the breeze in my head, I could handle it anyway, but at that moment I didn't want to calm down my seemingly righteous rage.
I literally jumped on the bandit who was communicating with me, hitting him hard in the stomach area. From which he bent over, and I, jumping over him, ran up to the pile of weapons, snatching my rapier.
While the rest of the bandits began to see what was what, who was trying to put on pants, who was reaching for a weapon, I already began to carefully, with the very tip, rip open some of the bellies or necks.
Immediately the not-so-pleasant smells of entrails, blood and other offal came into my head, but I didn't pay attention. I methodically, clenching my jaw until my teeth hurt, moved around the battlefield, using my dexterity to the fullest, and cut down the bandits.
Even when a good dozen managed to grab a weapon while I was chopping up their comrades, it didn't really help them. They simply used any weapon like complete zeros, they ran screaming at me, swinging at me, I only had to dodge the blow, and during this dodge, cut the bandit.
"Please, have mercy," one of the bandits, who did not even have time to fully button his pants, threw away his weapon and fell to his knees, "I will never return to this activity again, I... I actually planned to leave. "Honestly? I would believe him. I would even let him go if it weren't one of the three who, at the moment of my awakening, were fidgeting disgustingly with the girls, by the standards of this world.
You could say he was simply unlucky. "Nice try," I said, "maybe if I hadn't seen that you raped those girls, it would have worked. "The essence of my words reached him exactly a moment before my rapier separated his head from his body. There was still a fountain of blood, I want to say.
The whole camp resembled some kind of slaughterhouse: tripe or severed limbs were lying everywhere, I'm not talking about corpses or still living people who tried to put their intestines back into their stomachs. Well, they literally had minutes left - with such injuries they can't live without help here.
The rage finally began to subside and I was able to walk through all these corpses, which suddenly began to stink, to the girls. They were naked, with white and red stripes between their legs and, hugging each other, trembling, looking at me in fear.
I didn't seem to look like a butcher; due to my natural dexterity, I managed to avoid blood almost completely. He only stained his shoes and, of course, his rapier, which he immediately hurried to wipe on the pants of one of the corpses and put it in its sheath.
And just at the moment when I stretched my lips in a smile and planned to calm them down, I began to simply vomit.
The adrenaline finally passed and blurred, bitch, my image of a hero in the eyes of the girls. And, apparently, they calmed down enough, looking at me so incapable of anything at the moment, and were able to wipe themselves and go look for some clothes, sometimes looking at me fearfully.
And I was fucked, apparently it was also affected by the blow to the head, which I quickly stopped with adrenaline. In addition to the sharp nausea, my ears began to ring, and the same feeling that I had upon waking up returned to my head - a migraine. The body became like cotton wool and it was quite difficult to even stand on one's feet.
Slowly the understanding began to dawn that I had killed them all.
(TL:I killed them all. the women and the children too!)
It's my fault that that guy is now bleeding from his mouth while he's trying to put the tape of intestines back, it's my fault that that guy over there, still basically a young guy, is now seeing his last moments in life, while blood flows from his throat.
This realization made me vomit again.
Despite everything that was happening, I was not of this world. I was not raised in this world, this is all alien to me, and sometimes even wild. I've been able to cope with this easily almost all my life, the breeze is an ultimate tool, and my natural indifference also helped, but right now I didn't want to fill my head with a pleasant wind, and my stomach spasms over and over again because there's nothing to pull out.
I felt incredibly sorry for these people whose lives I personally ended. Now they are just piles of meat and bones that nearby wild animals will take away in a few days.
Maybe they should be buried, but I'm definitely not going to do that. No matter how much my pity choked me now, I didn't have the strength to stay digging graves and dragging off all the bodies. And they didn't deserve it.
Perhaps I need to get drunk. I understood the master's words that I would run for sake myself, oh how I understood it.
But first, pull yourself together and lead the poor girls through the forest, who, unlike me, didn't even vomit, looking at everything around them. We should probably take them to the river first, let them swim, and then we can go to the city.
The girls turned out to be local and they had been looking for them for a long time, so the city greeted me very well when they sorted everything out. I have suspicions, looking into the honest, honest eyes of the local mayor or the head of the city or whatever his name is, that these bandits have staked out a position there for a reason, but to deal with this?
I had no time for this at all. My soul felt not only bad, but downright bad. There was a mixture of shame from how easily I was caught, nausea from killing people and many other different sensations.
I was already engaged in actual lynching, Piandao warned me about this subtle point - by and large, the police turn a blind eye to such weirdos, but from the point of view of the law - I'm wrong. And problems may even arise. And also get involved in local politics...
In short, having handed over the girls to the relatives and told them about the seller in the pawn shop or whatever that store is called, I hastened to leave.
The breeze in my head helped me keep all my thoughts somewhere deep and therefore I reached Master Piandao's estate quite quickly. True, already on the way to the gate I vomited again - the breeze could no longer cope with the influx of emotions, so I went into the teacher's office in a very peculiar state.
However, there I was already greeted by a bowl of sake and a beautiful girl who served it to me. It's time to rest.
The master understood my condition and even seemed to be ready. I got very drunk that day, straight into the firewood, and told the master my thoughts about death for a long time, trying to at least slightly restrain my tongue about my past life and magic. It seemed to work, but I still chatted quite a bit.
The master, like a good drinking companion, nodded importantly, inserted words of support and, in general, allowed me to speak out, for which I am very grateful to him. And I spent the night in bed with some pretty maid. Maybe even two, I don't remember exactly. As morning approached, I already felt at least alive and ready to do at least something other than drinking the master's expensive sake reserves and complaining about life.
Even the pain in my head and nausea did not stop me from enjoying the morning. I had a hangover, but I took some water in a jug and went to the mini-kindergarten where I usually practiced Air magic.
There I enjoyed nature, playing around a little with a candle. I couldn't, roughly speaking, hold the fire like real Firebenders, only ignite the oxygen or whatever that I release, and it burns almost instantly. Perhaps, if you fill something closed with this, there may even be an explosion. Although, purely theoretically, I can supply this "oxygen" where I want, and it will burn and burn.
Air doesn't have to come from the body, does it? At least the Earth and Water are used ready-made, and not created by magic, which means the air can be made to appear where I want. But the tenth thing is that I would like to learn how to release more oxygen so that the "magic of fire" would be successful.
But despite the joy, my condition was very, very bad. And the attention was more than dulled, at least that's what I'm deceived about. Because, while playing with the candle, I did not notice one small fact. Master Piandao, who stood behind and looked at this with an unreadable expression."Hm, hm," he coughed, which made me literally jump and - the hangover is to blame for everything, it was he who used air magic out of fear, flying two meters up, - I'm waiting for an explanation.
If you approach the question culturally and forget to mention all the unprintable expressions that flashed through my head during those few seconds that I was dumbing down the master, then you can say that I remained silent.
- That's... I didn't lie! — I immediately hastened to clarify, "I don't own Fire Magic!"
"You just forced the fire to do what you want," said the Master, still with an incomprehensible, but by no means good expression, "and then jumped, clearly using air magic."
- Is not…
-Are you an avatar? - he interrupted me.
- No! - I exclaimed, - I ONLY master the magic of AIR. That's all. No more!- How did you control the fire then? Piandao frowned slightly.
"Fire flares up from oxygen, and I learned to give out oxygen to mask magic," I began to tell him in spirit, it was too important for me that the master continue his training, and I need to explain to the man that I'm not an asshole after all.
Why can I be an asshole? Oh, it's simple: I don't know the Master's attitude towards this, but let's imagine the situation that you are a person without magic who has become a very powerful sword master. And then the student comes, studies and studies, and then goes to defeat everyone with magic. It's a shame? Maybe.
Although, posing the question this way, I will be an asshole in any case; won't I give up magic in the end? Especially when I discovered how to successfully disguise it.
On the other hand, my priority will still be fighting with a rapier, at least because it's easier and faster. Everyone is running towards you like mad, you are cutting, but they will hide from the fire, try to somehow get it...
In theory. And then we'll see. - So you want to say that you are an airbender who became extinct 100 years ago? — Piandao raised one eyebrow.
"You chose a good word - "extinct", we rather cut them out than "extinct," I chuckled. In principle, he doesn't seem to be planning to kick me out and I'm overcome with indifference. Not the one that is a breeze in the head, but the one that is natural. It's a fine line, you need to understand.
- I'm glad that you consider yourself to be a member of the Fire Nation... - I didn't lie! I didn't say I was an Airbender and that's all. In all other respects, I told the truth, and I was born into the aristocracy of the Fire Nation.
"Now it's clear why you're so nimble," the master chuckled good-naturedly, sitting down next to me, losing his... charisma of a scary Chinese sensei, "but everything can be like that." This magic of yours has not yet been fully explored, and they have not even tried. Everyone is interested in the practical part, not where it comes from and how it is transmitted. In general, I heard that in those days, despite all the instructions, they took prisoners. At least the same concubines. There were women's monasteries. I think this is the most realistic option actually. Someone fell in love with a concubine, transferred her from the category of concubines to wives, but the blood is not water, sooner or later it would creep out.
- Uh-huh... so-so, you won't kick me out? — I decided to sort of dot all the t's at once. "Art belongs to any people," the master said again in the manner of the "wise old man," "and, by and large, nothing has changed." I'll have to look through my connections, maybe I'll find at least something from the airmen. As I understand it, any information would be useful to you now?
- You have no idea how! - I was delighted, - and I belong to the Fire Nation. You know, I somehow like industrialization and the high level of education among the population. Than the tribal system of the Water Nation or the crude monarchy of the Earth Nation. The destruction of civilization can be said to be a dirty business, but necessary.
"Ha-ha-ha," the master laughed, "a very good definition of what is happening - you need to remember it." And you think the Fire Nation is doing the right thing?
"Who knows," I shrugged, "but it clearly doesn't work the way the average peasant thinks, like the evil and bad Fire Lord decided to just start a war." There are many reasons, it's a pity they don't write about them, you have to read between the lines and think with your head. Lack of space on the islands, the wrong approach of seeing the world centralized around an avatar, for a moment - a common man who is constantly clearly slightly favorable towards his nation, and so on and so forth. There are many reasons. And now what? Now the main thing is that the avatar does not appear.
"What a pragmatic approach you have," the Master chuckled. — Features of airbenders. Fire magicians are emotional, we, on the contrary, don't give a damn," I explained, "sometimes even too much." Without complete calm in your head, magic, it's almost impossible to use magic. The complete opposite of Fire magic. Although it would seem that there should be water, right?
"Many aspects of your behavior and even your fighting style fall into place," the master said thoughtfully, "maybe you should change your rapier to some kind of staff?" Airbenders are usually drawn with a staff.
- No no no! - I hastened to assure, shaking my head and even grabbing my charm, - this is too cool a weapon, what a staff! I don't want any staff; you'll get tired of carrying it around all the time. And you know how distracted I am now; I'll still forget.
"No, you'll never forget a weapon, believe me," the Master chuckled, "okay, let's go, show me what you've mastered as an Air Mage, maybe we'll come up with something." And if you tell us how you train in this direction, we'll build it into your schedule.
- Yes. Thank you.
So I seem to be glad that now I don't have to hide and my training is legalized, but I seem to be upset... because now they will bother me with them.
* * *
The master, as promised, dug up a whole treasure for me somewhere! A scroll that belonged to airbenders. Time mercilessly wore out the paper or whatever they wrote on is called. But it is quite possible to make out what was written there. By some miracle, there is only one language in this world, and it hasn't changed much over hundreds of years, so I could easily read.
Some kind of wild philosophy with a flavor of Buddhism or something similar, but I was able to understand some grains. And what I couldn't do, the master told me.
Roughly speaking, everything that I myself have come to, of course, existed during the time of the airbenders, only the terms were slightly different and a little more philosophical. They didn't tell me anything particularly new in this regard - during meditation I need to form as much wind as possible in my head, let as much wind into the body as possible, and release as much wind as possible outside the body.
Although I myself did not think of increasing the amount of breeze within myself. Or he could remember how, during the fall, more wind clearly shot into his head.
There were also some basic movements that resonated with me from a past life. The movements, katas and stances were very similar to those that I somehow miraculously fished out of my memory.
The master, of course, spat and swore, here he is teaching me the sword, his stances, katas, and so on, and here they offer me to retrain the entire basis. It was only after looking more closely and thinking with our heads that we realized one very funny fact: the rapier fits into this base very well.
This took a very decent period of time, where instead of promoting something already ready in me with a rapier, we began to do, one might say, wisely.
What was in the scroll was enough for us to capture the essence of the fighting style, and my memories were also very well placed there. This is not the first time that the master has reworked the hand-to-hand fighting style, cleverly adding a sword, in this case a rapier. Especially when she sometimes asks to go there herself. No, it's clear that a lunge forward with your hand, which looks like the most stabbing blow, is sending air magic, but somehow it still didn't go down.
And how my dexterity approached this style is impossible to describe. It's as if these techniques were not enough, after all, everything that I had taught before was somehow around fire magic - roughly speaking, the style was not suitable for me. Even though I was able to add my own dexterity to it, it still looked a little... inferior from the outside. Even the master noted this, but he couldn't come up with anything.
But now it worked. Smoother movements, more acrobatic moves, less sudden lunges. True, in all this there was very little attack. I could weave around very well, not allowing even a master to get close to me - now that I use air magic, it has really become easier, but for the attack... there is a feeling that decent chunks of the attacking part were cut out. This is understandable, I personally don't really want to attack, by and large, if I had gotten this scroll before coming to the Master... or even before my first visit to the bandits, I would have succumbed. And apparently at the time when this scroll was written, the Air Mages no longer had to defend themselves, and they existed quite calmly, moving from place to place. From whom should we protect ourselves? In the worst case, some birds could fly to them. Therefore, everything described in the scrolls comes down to air shocks.
But I'm sure: an air wave can be sent as sharp as a razor. The air can simply be pumped out of an area, oversaturated with oxygen, made slightly different, forcing people to die in terrible agony from suffocation. Many different very scary attacks come to mind.
In reality, of course, everything is not so easy. Let's return to my method of flame control. It turned out that such a small result was due to banal plus or minus things, as for a magician. Extremely low efficiency and overall low volume of... magic?
I remember from a past life various concepts, mana cores, magic from the surrounding nature, but, as I said, magicians here only get tired physically. I'm not smart enough to do any research and would rather just pay close attention to myself, but so far it all comes down to a rather stupid problem.
I imagine the breeze in my head too literally. Such a light breeze in the human skull. I learned to increase it to a tornado and this made it possible to get very decent results. In Air magic, I could already proudly call myself a little guy, because I could already give some kind of fight with the help of magic. Waves of air and its own speed.
But with the magic of "fire" an interesting situation arises. The master dug out two vats from somewhere... ugh, just vats where you can put wood and set it on fire. In my heart I don't know what they are used for, but we use them for training. And yes, I named them Chan one and Chan two, after my classmate, so what?
I stood and "caught" the fire from the vats, with the help of combustion I could really hold the blue fire in any place or make it quickly "burn out" to the desired place.
Which is even a little scary if you think about it, because I can very quickly expand the air space. Well, more precisely, I can't yet, but in the future, from a small fire, even a spark, I can fan such a flame... that mom, don't worry.The only question is, how can I always have a source of flame with me? Hmm, have a fire mage with you? Well, it sounds smart - in conjunction with a fire magician, I can put on a very decent show when I add my "oxygen" to a simple stream of the magician's flame.
But there are also disadvantages: unlike fire mages, I am not immune to my fire. This is just physical fire, and as has been proven more than once, the fire that magicians spew out and just physical fire are two different things. Not much, the differences in fact have not been found, how to use them, but different.
This is how almost another year of my training with Master Piandao passed. In general, I've been here for two and a half years now and I have a strong feeling that it's time to go on a free voyage. Although, again, I'm in no hurry, like the Master. Most likely, it's been half a year since I was supposed to independently navigate the world, kicked out of the nest, but here, very fortunately or not, the scrolls of Air magic fell down, and I had to rebuild a lot of things.
In any case, it's time to start ritual things for my departure, both the Master and I realized this.
"So, it's time for you to forge a weapon that's perfect for you," the master started talking during our daily game of Pai Sho.
"Yes, I understand that this is what it's all about," I nodded slightly gloomily, making my move.
— What material will you choose for this? — the master allegedly asked me casually. Checks to see if there is an infection.
"Steel, of course," I didn't give in. For two and a half years now, the Master has been proving to me in every possible way that steel is the best metal. And even if you crack.
Although at this moment I did not argue with him. There is no personal, of course, expert opinion here. Therefore, I accepted that I would not reinvent the wheel and would make myself a masterpiece from the most ordinary material. No, it's not me who is so self-confident, it's because the master will one way or another carefully monitor every step and correct it. And he will do everything else, except the blade itself.
Roughly speaking, creating a sword for yourself with your own hands is more of a ritual part than a strictly necessary one. And most of the work is completed by the master, and if in a regular sword this is not so important, then on a rapier, where a certain guard is needed... it is very important, yes.
In Pai Sho, by the way, I already sometimes manage to beat the master, and today was just such a day. I won. The master nodded contentedly at this and took me to forge a sword.
It's worth clarifying here that before this I worked with cheaper and lighter materials than steel. My saber, let's say, is made of iron. It's not that the Master was sorry to let me try…. Okay, the Master felt sorry, he's still such a tight-fisted bastard. And now for the first time I started making something out of steel.
The first pancake went in a very decent lump, the workpiece turned out to be so defective that even the Master did not undertake to fix it, he just threw it into the scrap. And I'm also that tight-fisted bastard, I'm all about the master, so I picked it up.
For a long time I had the idea of making myself some kind of universal tool - even before my first outing, when I was sitting in the forest, I realized that I was missing a tool. Should you buy it when you are learning from a legendary blacksmith? "Ha" three times.
Therefore, even if I slightly damaged the steel, after remelting it will still be better than iron. That's why I decided to make a hatchet. The kind of one-handed thing that can be used to chop up trees and all sorts of garbage... chop up. Not all idiots dull the blade of a rapier? Sharpen more later, yeah. Laziness.
I had enough skill for such a simple instrument. It turned out to be a treat - I even made it easier by making cavities in the ax itself. A small one, one that can be carefully tucked somewhere as a weapon of last chance... although, I'm afraid, if after the rapier and magic it comes down to the hatchet, then maybe you'll just hack yourself to death.
- Akimaru... what is this? - a voice came from behind me as I looked at my preparation in the light.
"Um," I turned sharply, "I took the blank that I messed up and made a tool for myself... you don't mind, do you?"
"And..." the master closed his eyes for a second, "why do you need him?"
- Well, it won't be superfluous for sure! Especially if you make a handle for him as best you can. Why should I blunt my fence rapier for all this nonsense?
"...do as you please," Piandao waved his hand, clearly deciding to drink today.
Well, said and done, another eight hours of work and late in the evening the blade from my rapier is ready! And I'm also ready myself. It's moral to fall and go to sleep. But that's okay.
The master approved my blade and took it to him for finishing, taking, of course, at my request, and not forgetting to roll his eyes, the hatchet. The Moor has done his job, the Moor can go to bed.
I woke up still dead, but according to old Fat, the Master was already waiting for me from below. In a "traditional" hall. It's clear, now it's time to initiate me into a master or an apprentice or how it all works. I never asked myself the bureaucratic part of the question.
To my surprise, in addition to my weapon, there was a Pai Sho board in front of the master. To say that I was surprised is to say nothing. But he didn't show it, sitting down in front of the teacher, on the opposite side of the board.
"Aki," the master thoughtfully scratched his chin, turning his head in my direction, "let's start, I'll teach you a special strategy." It's called White Lotus.
If at the beginning my bewilderment was only mild, then after he began to explain how it works, my eyebrows flew up. Moves that seem very awkward at first glance eventually lead to an inevitable victory, and almost until the very end, until the white lotus chip was placed, I thought that the master was just fooling around. And then I realized that I had lost.2The only option in this case is to play exactly the same strategy. And in the end there will be an absolute balance - a draw. Initially, I thought that this was the point of everything, so that if something happened, I would know how to resist it, but it turned out that everything was not so simple.
"The White Lotus chip and this game is a kind of password," the master began to explain, "for the White Lotus society." A long time ago, the strongest and most skilled people, no matter what, gathered into one order. The essence and task of which... mmm, how to put it this way, is usually said to be to maintain balance. And it is true. It's just that over time, balance has become synonymous with avatar in speech, although this is not true, right? So, rather... prevent a tragedy. You could say that too. Like, say, the extermination of the entire Air People, you know what I mean?
"For now, yes," I nodded, slightly fascinated.
"There are members of the White Lotus in absolutely all nations, in many large and small cities, but outside of some emergency situation we are just a club of interests. This trick won't buy you a dozen teachers or any important information, but rest assured that if you meet another member of the White Lotus, even if he is your enemy, you can sit down, play a game and communicate, trying to express your interests.
- Understand…
"A great future awaits you, Akimaru," the master became even more serious, "no matter where you go, you will become one of those who will decide the fate of the world in the coming decades." And if you join the Order, I ask you one thing. Not even that, we all ask you for one thing - do not allow the empty massacre of different peoples. Now there are only old people left in the order, hasty decisions and absolutes have gone away. We see where the situation is going, the victory of the Fire Nation itself is just an event, much more important is at what cost. If you join the Order, your goal and task is to reduce this price. We already almost lost an entire nation, with its own worldview and culture, we cannot even lose another one. Do you know what I mean?
- Yes, Master, I understand.
My head was almost empty, the day ceased to be languid and acquired such fucking colors. Now, roughly speaking, they tell me the price for training. Don't mess things up and try to prevent disasters. Like cutting out the Water Tribe, yeah.
I am more than fully in favor - I am disgusted by excessive cruelty in any case, and in fact I could not be asked for this, but I will fulfill your wishes very carefully. This is what I expressed to the Master.
- I know, student, I know. Therefore, from now on you are part of the Order of the White Lotus," the Master said clearly and loudly, getting to his feet and clearly intending, I see from the face, to say something pathetic to the point of gritting his teeth.
And the level of pathos in the last dialogue is nowhere higher. Therefore, how not to break off the raspberries.
"I understand, old man, thank you," he said, standing up and brazenly taking the package with his weapon and hatchet, "I will follow the philosophy of the White Lotus, but let's go without your pathos, okay?" Believe me, I am very grateful, better tell me who to contact to get into the army? Maybe you have the right connections?
Even in the middle of his speech, the Master closed his eyes again and, pursing his lips, began to count to himself.
"You... can be incredibly annoying." Why do you never want to listen to normal instructions? No philosophical training? You break any norms that are possible! It's as if you're simply not of this world; after all, you absolutely always go against the grain! Do you have any idea how important the speech is before completing your apprenticeship? I cooked it all night! - the master became inflamed, starting to wave his arms furiously and completely forgetting about his sage mask, - I was rehearsing in front of the mirror. To make a lasting impression on you, asshole, before leaving! And you... you...
The master's speech was interrupted by a simple and unpretentious hug. I somehow have to put all this Asian philosophy and approaches down from a high hill, but I want to hug almost the most dear one - don't forget Mei - the person in this world before leaving.
"You see: the impromptu, and most importantly emotional speech came out much better than what you had prepared, I'm sure," I said, smiling impudently and dismissing the teacher.
"Oh, Agni, why do I need all this," muttered the slightly embarrassed teacher, "of course, I knew that you would join the army." Only now you have to look into the capital, and then go to the main building to see General Lee. Not a very big shot, but he agreed to place you in the ground forces, they will give you the rank of captain, a detachment, and you will go to the colony to check everything, and report how it is and what. You will be given details on the spot.
"To the capital," I grimaced, "it's unlikely that my family will recognize me." During this time, my hair has grown a fair amount and I put it in a simple ponytail, which knocks me out of the typical image of an aristocrat so much that they don't mistake me for one.
- Well, don't be so crooked, what other options were there? It's okay, you'll go around your parents' house on the tenth road, and that's it," the master patted him on the shoulder, "oh, before I forget, it's your money."
With these words, he handed me a heavy bag, through the neck of which gold glittered quite well. This is not so much a sum for the master, but nevertheless it is clearly too much, but to my surprised glance the master clarified:
— Your paintings have sold very well. I still have a bag of your gold, literally. But you won't drag him with you, will you? This will be enough for you, but if you come to me, you won't break down, especially with your running," he chuckled.
Clearly, not his money. Redneck
In general, after these instructions, he pushed me out of the gate, almost literally, without forgetting, however, to give me a white lotus chip.
Just recently we bought me some very decent clothes... for traveling, according to the master. Now I was wearing some kind of Asian sandals, my feet wrapped in bandages, pants instead of socks and some kind of... robe on top? Well, this is what samurai wore to the movies, give or take, but my colors were more burgundy. It was slightly open due to the heat and therefore my toned torso was visible to the whole world. The girls liked it.
Well. Inspector you say?