Grumbling to himself, he rose to his feet and began throwing straight punches into the air, one after another, increasing the speed as he went. This exercise always helped to calm him down and served the dual purpose of building speed and technique.
“I don’t think I’m going to make it in time,” he said, throwing another punch. “At the rate I’m going, it’ll probably take me another month, if not more, to reach 1st Dan.”
“I think you’re pretty spot on with that,” Geon replied.
He’d become subdued over the last few days as well, having come to that conclusion long before Roy did.
“What do I do?” Roy asked, feeling his heart sink at the confirmation of his deepest fears.
“You need to find a better source of Essence. Either that or find a stronger Beast to fight. Didn’t you say that your fights with the crabs generated some Essence?”
Roy nodded. He had indeed noticed that while fighting with the crabs, both Power and Weakness Essence had begun to form around them.
“So, what you’re saying is that if I fight a stronger Beast, it’ll generate more Essence?”
“That is generally the way things work in the Martial Arts. The stronger your opponent, the more you grow as a result. If you survive, that is.”
Roy grimaced, seeing the truth in what he was saying. In order to grow, he would have to challenge a Beast of a higher Dan. While it wouldn’t be an impossible fight, it would be highly improbable for him to emerge victoriously, and that was only if he fought a Beast at 1st Dan White. If he fought one at 2nd Dan, then he wouldn’t stand a chance. At least, not without some additional help or preparation.
Seeing as death was already imminent, he’d be willing to risk fighting one. The only problem now was locating the proper Beast. When he asked Geon about it, he was surprised when the Dungeon core had a ready answer.
“Just challenge this Dungeon’s Guardian. If those crabs are anything to go by, then I’d say it should be at 1st Dan White.”
Roy nodded, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that before. Dungeon Guardians were the toughest creatures a Dungeon had to offer. They would stay hidden most of the time, only emerging when the Dungeon itself deemed it necessary. Most of the time, that was when someone would reach the area in which the core itself was located. The question was now where this Dungeon’s core was.
Stopping his exercise, Roy began scanning the beach, searching for an area where the core might be. His eyes eventually fell on the ocean, and he began to wonder.
“How far does the Dungeon’s influence spread? I can see the ocean stretching for miles, but I can’t imagine it controls it all,” he said, shading his eyes and gazing out over the rolling waves.
“I’d say maybe about fifty feet in. The rest is likely out of its control, though given the size and scope of it, I’d say that it has some pretty big potential.”
“So, where do you think the core is located? I don’t see anywhere on land…” Roy trailed off, already not liking where this was headed.
“Yup, you’ve guessed correctly once again. It looks like we’re going for a swim.”
Sighing, Roy began to strip out of his outer robe – it would only weigh him down once he got in the water – and headed down the shore to the ocean. It was only once he was waist-deep in the roiling waves that Roy realized he had a problem. He had no idea how to swim.
Members of the Shah clan learned to swim at a very young age, but seeing as he’d been crippled, he’d never been able to learn how. Despite that, Roy forced himself to continue wading out deeper into the ocean. Geon had said that the Dungeon’s influence would only stretch about fifty feet, meaning that it was likely located about half that distance off-shore.
In order to make it feel threatened enough to call upon its Guardian, Geon had guessed that he would have to get within five to ten feet of its location. The problem was that he had no idea where the core was. While he’d been able to sense the Dungeon from the outside, he had no such luck on the inside. When he’d asked Geon, he’d had no answer either.
By the time he’d waded up to around mid-chest, he’d reached the depth he needed to get the core’s attention. Now all he had to do was walk a straight line from one boundary to the other, each marked by a protruding shelf of stone. Geon had said that those were likely where the Dungeon’s influence would end as well.
At first, he thought it wouldn’t be too difficult. He soon discovered otherwise. The waves kept ebbing and flowing, pulling him off his feet with each pass and forcing him to walk back towards the shore, or risk being pulled out to sea. Had he been any weaker than he was, he suspected that he wouldn’t be able to do this, even with the water at waist height.
The water was cold, and blue Essence danced thick in his vision. He could also make out the thin strands of green Wind Essence as it blew above his head. Out here, it was much stronger than on the shore. So much so, that it surprised him. He kept moving, forcing himself to stay on a steady path across the sandy ocean bed beneath his feet.
While he walked, he and Geon debated as to what type of Beast the Guardian would be. Geon guessed that it would be a semi-aquatic creature, much like the crabs, but Roy thought it might be a giant fish.
Geon was probably right, being a Dungeon core himself, but the speculating kept his mind off the cold that was slowly seeping into his skin and bones. The tremors in his arms were getting worse, and he could see the black lines beginning to tinge the outermost portion of his chest.
An almost imperceptible ripple of force brushed against Roy’s consciousness. He would have missed it, had he not been concentrating so hard on his surroundings, and he was lucky he did. The moment he felt it, he cycled Essence to both his feet, using his nearly completed Physical technique to launch him toward the shore.
Water and sand exploded upward as the twin techniques detonated beneath his feet, launching him toward the shoreline. At the same time, he threw a quick glance over his shoulder and felt a shiver run down his spine as a long, scaly, and tooth-filled maw vanished beneath the ocean waves.
“Did you see that?!” Roy exclaimed, panic welling up in his chest as he used the technique again, launching himself up and onto the shore.
He’d used up nearly a quarter of the Essence in his core with those two uses of the technique he’d begun referring to as The Exploding Fist. Sure, it sounded like a technique where he’d blow up his own fist, but the name aptly fit the description. Even though he could channel the technique through either his hands or feet, calling it the Exploding Fist and Foot would just have been too much.
“Why, yes, it would have been hard to miss all those teeth. It looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
Roy grimaced, backing quickly up the beach to where he’d left his outer robe and Belt. He was sure that whatever creature had attacked him would be slow in getting out of the water, and now that he knew what to look for, he could see the darker mass of blue Water essence swimming towards the shore.
Pulling the robe around himself, Roy quickly tied it shut with his Belt, then reached out to the Power Essence around him. There had to be a way for him to gather Essence while he fought. Otherwise, he’d run out too quickly. In a fight with a Beast that he could already see was too strong for him, running out would be a death sentence.
“Any advice on how to take that thing on?” Roy asked as the Beast started emerging from the water.
“Um. Don’t die?”