Chapter 6 - First Fight

The emergence of the evening is a beautiful sight. The burning flame within the sea blue sky begins to lose its power. The flaming sun dwindles from a glowing, golden colour to a cool orange colour. The sky begins its slow and inevitable journey to darkness. No wind within the city leaves a miniature warmth across the city. Another great time to be strolling across the streets of Balssop Town and Bludby City as a whole.

Following Tanji's emergence of power, another lengthy notification pops up in his face. Tanji doesn't show any sign of boredom and quickly locks his eyes onto the white text displayed.

[GAINED QI ART: Power Fist. Striking Power and Speed increases by 30%, Area of Impact increases by 20%, 20 second cool down.]

[GAINED QI ART: Qi Rush. Mass amount of qi floods through the body for 10 seconds. Physical stats increase by +12. 30 second cool down.]

Below these two notifications lays a pop up that is a good distance below the other two.

[GAINED PASSIVE ART: Natural Boost. User gains a +3 boost to Strength, Speed and Constitution around nature.]

Tanji looks at the arts then chooses to activate his qi rush. Qi is forcefully extracted from his Soul Core. It freely rushes through every cell within his body and enhances them. His muscular mass quickly increases and he visibly gains more size. A slightly translucent aura coats his muscular figure but it quickly fades. His body steams off and as his body returns to normal, the steam stops forming. He is astonished at the art and wonders about how much stronger it actually makes him.

Tanji opens his system then clicks on the quest tab. He sees a lone quest at the top of the section.

[QUEST: Groceries. Go to the store and get groceries.]

[QUEST REWARD: +15XP]

Tanji easily complies and heads to the store to get groceries with his remaining money. Once he returns home from the warm Balssop Town Streets, his quest completes and rewards him with the promised 15XP. He looks at his level within his notifications tab.

[Level 2: 45/100]

He utters to himself "Okay. I'm well on my way to Level 3!"

At the next day of school, many are surprised to see him alive and almost fully healed.

"How did he survive?"

"Didn't Marcus kill him?" Tanji smirks at the remarks he hears across the halls and walks away from his locker to get up to his next lesson. It is lunchtime but he has no friends and just goes to the classroom to sit and watch videos alone.

As he approaches the chalk white door, he is pulled back by somebody. He turns hastily and notices the group of werewolves. One steps forward and says "You just don't wanna die do you? That's fine. I'll just beat you senseless!" Tanji thinks "Harry Otxoa. Can I take him?"

[SUDDEN QUEST: Debut Fight. Defeat Harry Otxoa in a bout.]

[QUEST REWARDS: +60XP, +1 XP Point.]

Tanji clenches his fist and extracts as much qi as he can from his dense but calm Soul Core. It fuels his body as much as it can. Tanji can only use a mere slither of his power although it does grant him power superior to an average human.

Tanji makes a fighting stance. Tanji has never really fought before but has seen so many fights from the supernaturals at school and on videos that he knows a lot of fighting stances. He decides to go with a simple universal stance. One hand closer to the body and one further and a little lower than the other.

Harry doesn't even take the time to shift and faces him merely in his human form. Harry begins with a powerful but also quick right punch. Tanji takes the hit head on and slides back. He gets rushed head on but he makes up a good strategy in a split second. He leaps up and plants his feet on the side of the wall. He follows by leaping right over Harry to secure his safety and distance. Once he lands, Harry is already in his close and personal space. He dodges a punch to the face and slips past it. He lands a clean punch to the sternum before he lands a toe-poke kick to the side of the ribs. Harry visibly feels the pain from it but speedily grabs the neck of Tanji's shirt. He slams his fist into his abdominal area and causes a lot of physical pain. Tanji grunts from the pain and pushes him away to prevent getting hit again in quick succession.

He wonders about a strategy. "He's still so strong without even shifting a little bit! This is crazy!" Harry quickly rushes back at him in fury. He interrogates his space with a cocked back fist. Tanji notes this and prepares a counter. The fist is propelled extremely fast at him. He is left to predict the incoming haymaker and he does so. His right fist then envelops in a translucent fist that is 20% larger than his own. He uses his Power Fist Art and lands it right in Harry's side. The hit makes a banging noise like somebody just quickly fell to the ground. The punch causes him to literally get sent off of his feet. Tanji smiles and puts up his fists once again to continue the brawl.

Harry spits a little blood then the group hears his ribs cracking back into place. He stands slowly then reveals his palms and growing claws. His eyes switch from a calm hazel colour to a dim golden colour. His arms coat in shaggy hair then his canines grow into large, lupine fangs. He drops his posture and snarls lowly at Tanji. He reacts with slight fear but quickly snaps back into it. He visibly calms his breathing and clenches his fists even harder.

Harry blitzes towards him and his speed generates a light gush of wind surrounding his body. He lands a power punch to Tanji's forearm. The impact propels him into the hard, white wall behind him. He ricochets off of the wall but is kicked right back onto it. Harry reaches in and grabs the neck of his shirt once again. With a single arm, he pulls him up and throws him across the open hall in which they are fighting. Tanji lands on the floor and begins rolling. Once the rolling stops, he is stabbed by claws in his gut. He spits blood then Harry slashes up across his body. He falls back a step then several drops of blood hit the hard ground below. Tanji visibly shows he's lost some strength from that attack. Harry clenches his clawed hand into a hard fist. He puts all of his weight into a punch and projects it right at Tanji. His fist is a light blur to the group watching and some begin smiling. This is because they clearly see their friend has gained the advantage.

Just before the punch lands, in a split second, Tanji catches the fist. Somehow, his body only jerks back a little bit and he feels almost no pain. Harry on the other hand is filled with fury and confusion on how he was able to just catch one of his strongest attacks. Steamy qi starts to emit off of Tanji's bleeding body then his forearm visibly enlarges. His veins become more prominent across his defined body then his dark black hair begins to flow. He reacts with his very own haymaker.

*BANG*

He lands his punch and Harry spits blood onto the ground. He also falls back 2 - 3 metres. Tanji blitzes towards him in a flash and kicks him cleanly in his chest. He breaks a rib clean in half before falling down with a punch. The amount of force within the punch slams him flat into the floor. The wooden panels also crack and slightly break apart. Tanji cocks back his fist and as his body starts to steam down, he lands his Power Fist a second time right to his gut.

Harry spits blood that reaches the ceiling from its uncanny speed and he almost instantly passes out. His muscular body falls limp then his eyelids slowly shut.

One of his friends say "Hey! How dare you?!"