Martial Arts Encyclopedia - Chapter 3

Falna (2)

Honestly, the place isn’t as bad as it looks. There are plenty of large rocks and concrete laying around that I can use to exercise later, and there is a large area in the center of the hall that’s undamaged I can use for training. Some coat of pain, a bit of carpentry work, and a few replaced materials, and we can make this place look presentable.

“Alright, do you have any kind of cleaning supplies around here? Brooms, rags, soap?”

“Yes. Please, come this way.”

The broom closet was on the first floor, and had a collection of straw brooms and brushes, a couple of wooden buckets and a small bar of soap. Sadly, if I want to buy some dangerous chemicals to clean up this place I will need to search in the general store.

Of course, I can’t start working without cleaning up the debris first, so I started stacking up the trash outside, separating it by material. Large debris, old and broken furniture, shards of materials and anything else that shouldn’t be there. Eventually, only a large piece of broken marble from a fallen pillar remained. I evaluated the block weight and it felt incredibly heavy.

“Why don’t you try to lift it?”

I spin around to see Artoria wearing an apron over her black leotard, a bandana over her head and a large cloth around her mouth as an improvised face mask.

“I can fix that face mask you’re wearing.” I said instead and asked for the cloth. She raised an eyebrow and gave the simple fabric to me, and with experienced motions I folded the fabric and tied it with a few fabric strips I found nearby, making a proper face mask for her.

“Thank you. That’s an interesting skill to have acquired.”

“As you already know, the twenty-first century is a deceptively wild era, ma’am.” I can only imagine what she read in my soul when she forged my Falna earlier.

She nods, understanding what I meant. “Now, stop procrastinating. Try to move that large marble block. You should feel a difference compared with your previous abilities.”

Well, it’s true that I felt subtly different from before receiving the blessing, but I’m not sure the difference is that drastic. Besides, this thing should weigh a ton due to its size, however, if your goddess tells you to give it a try, you give it a try.

I crouch to try and apply proper leverage to it when I stop. Standing back up, I take a deep breath and try to feel my body, how it moves, how to apply strength using all muscles in my body. I focus on the sensation in my feet, to feel how I could leverage that strength into Force.

Once more I crouch down, adjusting my body for the task at hand, and with a mighty push I strain against the fallen pillar. I feel all my body strain from the attempt, all my muscles working in concert to move this object. My legs provide leverage, my back proves the support, and my arms, chest and even abdominal muscles work in overdrive to provide the strength necessary to push it ahead.

I failed.

Even now my Martial Arts Talent is proving its worth in gold, as I gathered precious data on that first attempt. From the feel of my body, I know which muscles felt more strain, and how some of them contracted and extended during the attempt.

I try once more, and I fail.

Try and fail, try and fail, try and fail.

Each new attempt gives me more information on how I’m doing, allowing me to further adjust my body. Eventually, I take a deep breath and put all my might to the task at hand.

Eventually, a miracle happens, and I hear a scraping sound on the ground, as the Force I applied overcame the static friction and the stone block finally moved! I didn’t stop my efforts and continued straining my body to keep pushing it, the massive object scraping the ground as it moved centimeter by centimeter away.

After what felt like an eternity, the marble block is just outside the temple, and I’m lying on the ground catching my breath. The sun outside had also reached high into the sky, and my stomach told me it’s time to eat.

“Good work, Uehara-dono. I knew you could do it.”

“I can’t move right now, but I’m giving you a thumbs up now ma’am.”

She chuckled at my words before her own dragon roared its displeasure. I let out a deep breath, trying to relax all my muscles to recover my strength. Ten seconds later, I can move once more and stand up.

“Are you fine with eating away today? I’m not used to buying groceries myself.”

Right, she either hunted or farmed her own food during her childhood years in the care of Ser Ector with her foster brother Kay, and then later she became a King and had other people deal with that for her.

“How about we buy something at the market, and I cook for you. I can even make requests if you want.” Thank you, YouTube and cooking channels. I will miss you guys.

Her eyes sparkled at my words.

…

I got some scraps of meat from the butcher, a large loaf of bread from the bakers and several other ingredients from the market that I put on our magical minifridge. Artoria taught me how to light the firewood stove and I went to cook.

First, I further minced the meat and molded it into patties, then cut several onions and divided the bread into a few pairs of slices. The real gold was the cheese we found that I cut into thin slices. Meal prep set I started to cook on the large cast iron pan that we had which was also the only pan we had.

I smashed the patties on the pan and put the cut onions on top, cooking the patties until the bottom got a nice crust, then flipped them over to caramelize the onions. At this point I seasoned it with salt, put two thin slices of cheese on top of the bun, and when everything was ready, I stacked the two patties and put them on the sliced bread to serve it on a raft. Finally, while it is unconventional, I had several leafy and green vegetables cut previously to make a salad, seasoning it with salt, a pinch of pepper, olive oil and lime juice.

“Here we go, one Oklahoma Style Onion Burger with a side of leafy salad on the side. Please enjoy.”

She tried to contain her excitement and act as a dignified King, but her eyes tracking the movements of the burger as I placed it in front of her betrayed her emotions. When I took my own seat, she started to eat, and I realized that Shirou must have loved to watch her eat, since she does so like the food in front of her is the best thing to ever exist in the world, tearing it apart like a hungry lion, or in this case, a greedy dragon.

Eventually we finished our meal, and I had the time to check the contents of my Falna.

…

Strength I0

Durability I0

Agility I0

Utility I0

Magic I0

Spells

-

Skills

Martial Arts Encyclopedia – Tao Te Ching - ‘Every cycle, Karma coalescence into Spirit, Spirit liquefies into Essence, and Essence dissolves into Blood and Qi. By paying the appropriate tribute, you shall reap the benefits left behind by your ancestors.’

I nod to myself, expecting something like that. Like the original light novel, the skill has two names, one of them being in the local script that looks and sounds suspiciously like English, while the second name is in Japanese, of all things. Maybe, Artoria wrote it like that since I’m familiar with the light novel? Something to ask her later.

I need to remember to pass by the Guild tomorrow, since I still need to make the loan for new Adventurers and then buy the necessary equipment to delve into the dungeon. I might have martial arts talent to back me up, but I don’t want to challenge the dungeon unarmed until I can crush rocks with my bare hands at least.

A few hours later I’m exhausted, as I went full “wax on, wax off” with the cleaning to use the opportunity to build some more muscles and train my body. By the time I finished I took a cold bucket bath on the back of the temple and had dinner with my goddess, who once again enjoyed her burger. I was about to finish for the night when Artoria dragged me to the only bed in the room.

Against the usual conventions, I fell asleep as soon as my body hit the bed as I unconsciously relaxed my body and all the fatigue of the day hit me at once. If I made myself comfortable in the only pillows available, I’m sure anyone would excuse me for that.