Seeking a Mentor

Yeowang had been advised to seek a martial arts mentor in Westelande. She'd brought her boyfriend across the ocean because teh whole point of them having joined the game was to spend time together. But now, it looks like spending time together means playing the actual game together, which was not part of Ingui's plan at all. But she'd found out the Korean server was locked away, and that she'd be vulnerable if she didn't level up and advance her skills. So she's done that. She's done that hard, which would probably not surprise anyone that knew her. But she's close to the limit of her hand-to-hand skill, and she needs to find a master to advance further.

It took some investigation to find out where the fellow was, because he did not usually interact with the Westelanders. But rumors of a rat werefang in the city of Salamanders led her to the sewers, and to this particular section, where after a short hike, an old werefang rat in a tatty robe sits at his ease on a lawn chair outside a hovel built mainly from junk. "Master?" Yeowang calls out, and the rat opens one eye.

"It's about time you found this place. You've been looking for a week." Yeowang shruugs. She's no explorer, and she's not here for that sort of training. When inspected, it seems his name is Splinter. no werefang turtles are around, so perhaps a name is just a name?

Jayu bows deeply to the Werefang in reverence, "Many apologies. I was along, and my presence slowed Yeowang down. It is 100% my fault, so please forgive her."

This statement, while Jayu might possibly could think it, could not possibly be true. Yeowang would have personally seen the skill that Jayu demonstrated in tracking a lander or Adventurer down. He was quick, resourceful, and demonstrated a disturbing level of talent for the task. It's almost as if he has been doing this for the last three years or something...

In any event if Jayu had been slowing Yeowang down, she would have put him over her shoulder and hauled him along and they both know it. But the rat isn't buying it in any event and says to Jayu, "Do not attempt to dissemble. I have been watching your progress. You are both trackers, and you have used the skill more than she. But you are not here to learn about tracking."

Yeowang shoots Jayu a puzzled look, and says, "No master. I am not here to learn tracking. I have heard that you train warriors in hand-to-hand combat. I seek that training as well."

"Very well. But you are taxed with many burdens. So you will not be able to use my lessons until your burdens are lifted."

She admits, "I am administrating many projects that are critical for our work, here and in the Palace Lands. But this is critical, too, so I would learn what you could teach me, even if I cannot fully utilize it now."

Jayu takes a stand behind and to the right of Yeowang after being humbled by the Rat Sensei. "My apologies," He says one more time. His goal was to appease Splinter, but he seemed to have the opposite result.

While he waits for their conversation to finish, Jayu turns the act of standing itself into training, standing in such a way that allows him to flex and unflex every muscle in his body repeatedly with little to no movement. TRAINING. Even on his way here, when they were not actively interacting, Jayu spent a good deal of time practicing straight punches in rapid succession. The boy might be a little focused...

Splinter eyes Jayu and Yeowang, and says, "You are both distracted, but I will train you, and we shall see what you may become. You, also, who have started your own attempt at training." The rat eyes Jayu. "Both of you, assume a stance and face one another," he commands, "and you will consider each others' capabilities. Knowledge is the key to combat. if you know what can happen and what can't, you will have clearer options."

Yeowang will bow and square off against Jayu, and he will recognize her stance. He's seen her fight enough, even coached her on a couple occasions. She seems like mostly the same Ingui he remembers, though the way that Inseong coached her in her character choice has left her much more offensively biased compared to her balanced RL stance.

Jayu seemed to have forgotten, for a second, that he was also here to train. He tries not to let his surprise show as he bows to Splinter, "Yes, sensei!" and takes a stance opposing Yeowang.

Jayu's stance seems to be quite different from the one she saw Jae Gu adopt outside of ETO. His style is still there, but it seems to have been a foundation on which several other techniques were forced. His stance is purposefully lower and, oddly, longer than it used to be, utilizing as little width of the body as possible to provide the smallest target when facing head on. Such a stance would be quite effective against a weapon or an arrow, but it is perhaps not the best choice for a hand-to-hand fight.

Yeowang recognizes a fencer's stance as one more defensively focused than her own, and not completely alien from the basically boxing lessons he'd received from Moon Young back in RL. "Now," says the rat to Yeowang, "bring your arms around. Jayu, watch her, see the limits of her reach. Then you do the same and you," he says to Yeowang, "Watch and see the limits of his reach. There will be more, because if you can move, you can extend that reach, but that will require moving your feet also."

Yeowang nods, and will watch carefully. "Yes, sensei."

Jayu echoes Yeowang, "Yes, Sensei." He indeed demonstrates his reach, as told, and he, too, observes the range that Yeowang has. He acknowledges her as an opponent, and only for the slightest second does he get distracted by how beautiful she is even when, or especially when, she is focused on training,

Splinter nods slowly. "Hand to hand combat is a blend of attack and defense, and your motions should do both at the same time in order to be most efficient. A block can lead into a counterattack. You should be able to do this with one arm, so that you can fight twice as many opponents simultaneously. Observe." And he executes a block that uncoilsinto a strike, not unlike Yeowang's Blocking Crane's Neck Strike, and when she demonstrates that, he nods. "So you have at least that level of training," he says, seeming pleased. "But you rely on avoiding attacks too much," he tells Yeowang. "That will limit your growth. But for now, one hundred strikes. Each one must be perfect."

Yeowang bows her head, and begins the block-strikes, executing them quickly, but wuth characteristic care.

When Yeowang is instructed to do those strikes, Jayu does his best to prove himself an excellent target. While he does not strike himself, he does move as though he were going to strike given the opportunity so as to help Yeowang focus on the strikes and how they would be used. If Splinter were to mention that he, too, should be striking, Jae Gu would, allow for Yeowang to punch, then him, interchangably until the number 100 is reached.

Splinter seems to mean for Jayu to strike also, and he wants one hundred punches out of each of them. When that number is finally reached, he will comment on each fighter's techniques. Apparently it takes 100 punches to see to the heart of a person's style. "You," he says to Yeowang. "You are relying too much on raw power. Speed is essential. Speeed is a multiplier. Speed adds energy to a punch out of proportion to the speed added. A punch twice as fast striked four times as hard. But also, a faster punch is harder to dodge for an opponent. You must focus on striking faster. Faster."

Yeowang murmurs an affirmative, and will attempt to perform each strike faster, but with the same precision as before. It is not easy.

For Jayu, Splinter hrms. "Your technique is not as solid as hers, you use your power well, what you have of it, but your speed is much less than hers. You must gain speed -and- power."

Without looking away from Yeowang, Jayu will respond with a firm, "Yes, sensei!" He picks up the pace he does not consider the impossibility of matching Yeowang in speed: he merely strives for that outcome. Pushing oneself to the limit and then attempting to go beyond is the main focus of training in the first place.

Yeowang is also attempting to push past her limits, striking faster and faster, until her punches are a blur. Though not, it seems, to the rat, who says, "You must not let your technique falter." She nods, and will re-focus herself. The speed drops a bit, but the rat seems less displeased now.

It is at this point where, in a movie, the power chords would come up, and this would become a montage of training scenes. This does not happen in the game, and an hour of punching air later, both punchers are tired and drenched in sweat.

Aware than their arms are getting heavily fatigued, Splinter shifts to kicks and movement. "Kicks and movement are most efficient when combined," he explains. "Kicks can also mask movement." He demonstrates, and the momentum of his kick indeed pulls him forward several inches.

Jayu does not have a hard time with endurance; he takes the training all the way through until Splinter has them stop to show them a new technique... And he is, once again, distracted by Yeowang. A lock of her hair has fallen out of place in such a way as to accentuate her beauty, and Jayu cannot help but brush the hair out of her face to tuck it behind her hair. His hand lingers for just a little longer than necessary before returning to the kicking lesson. Maybe Splinter didn't see. Probably, he did, though.

Yeowang smiles to Jayu as he does that, flushing more that the workout itself generates, until the rat hooks Jayu's ankle and upends him. "You are not here to fool around. Train, but do not waste my time."

Yeowang looks a bit stung by that, too, and she says, "Do not feel the need to stay here, Jae Gu," because she hasn't gotten into the habit of using his game name, "You may go back up to the city and wait there. This is for my training, so it is my burden."