Arriving at the martial arts class, I was greeted by a room that looked exactly like a dojo. Similarly to the weapons cultivation classroom, it had white mats padding the floor. From the ceiling hung punching bags and speed bags.
In the right corner of the room, there was an iron post that I believed was called a makiwara. Back in my world, it was a Japanese striking post, used for hand and shin coordination. This post was usually made of wood and would be padded most times to prevent the trainer from hurting themselves.
The striking post I was currently looking at was neither made of wood nor was it padded. It was pure metal.
This class is going to be hell.
"Another one eh, well hurry up and get changed,"
Snapping me from my trance was a loud agitated voice.
Turning my head to the sound of the voice, I saw an old man wearing loosely fitted clothing. He was short and had a bald head. His wrinkled face held a slight frown.
Sitting in front of the old man were two students. One of the students was Theodore while the other was a girl with short black hair who belonged to another class.
Bowing my head slightly at the old man, I entered the changing room that was next door to the martial arts room. Inside the room, the same uniform the old man was wearing, along with the two other students, were hanging on the wall.
I quickly picked up a uniform that matched my size and got dressed. Soon I returned to the martial arts room and stood in line beside the two students that were there.
The old man stood with his hands behind his back, scrutinizing our appearance before mumbling something.
"This bunch is worse than last year."
He sighed and shook his head before his sharp eyes met mine. He then raised his hands and pointed directly at me.
"You, remove your glasses. It will be dangerous," he said.
"I can't. I'm completely blind without them. The lenses are made from a extremely durable so you don't have to worry about them," I explained.
I understood his concern. If the lenses were to shatter and be lodged in my eyes, it could cause serious injury but his concern was unwarranted since these glasses were built to be used in combat. That was part of the reason why they were so expensive.
"Very well," the old man responded before addressing the rest of the class. "Welcome to your martial arts elective. I am Sensei Benjamin Barrett, so from here on out you will refer to me as Sensei."
Sensei Benjamin Barrett, or as some would call him 'The paradigm of a thousand arts,' was a minor character in the game since martial arts wasn't all that popular.
Sensei Barrett possessed a martial arts skill. The skill allowed him to instantly copy any martial arts he saw with his eyes. With this skill he had learned over a thousand different martial arts.
Still, in the eyes of the world this skill was useless. Martial arts trains you to use your body as a weapon. The problem with this is that the human body was generally extremely weak. A regular human body would only be considered a weapon only if used against other humans.
Say for example a human was put against an orc, it didn't matter what level of martial arts you knew since it wouldn't have any effect against such a powerful creature. Unless you possessed a skill that enhanced your physical features. Or if a person takes body enhancement potions while practicing martial arts. There were quite a few people who did this but overall it wasn't popular method.
To the majority of heroes, weapons, whether beast or souls weapons, we more effective than any form of martial arts.
Though, as I said before, martial arts was at its most effective when facing off against humans or other races that shared the same physique as humans.
That was its main purpose after all.
This was also one of the reasons I had decided to practice martial arts: To fight against humans.
Sensei Barrett observed each of us intensely. It seemed like he was checking our muscles. He started with Theodore, looking him up and down with a frown on his face. He didn't seem to be pleased by Theodore's physique.
For a moment I thought he would make a comment, but instead, he didn't utter a word. Instead, he reached out and jiggled the fat on Theodore's arm. A soft sigh escaped him as he watched the fat on Theodore's arm jiggle around but in the end, he still didn't say a word.
He only moved towards to the girl standing next to me.
Similarly to what he did to Theodore, he observed her appearance, looking at her from head to toe. For a brief moment his eyes landed on her chest area, which caused him to nod in satisfaction. I think the reason for this wasn't because he wasn't being creepy. It was because the girl wasn't as developed as the other girls, which meant there wasn't anything to limit her movements during combat.
The girl in question was short in height and had a skinny build. Her name was Amura Crawford, and the reason I knew her was because she was also a demon.
After he was done inspecting Amura, he walked over to me and stopped right in front of me. His expression as he looked over my appearance was unreadable.
I think the only good thing about my physique was my height. Other than that I would be considered skinny.
"You're too skinny," he said flatly. "But if you bulk up you should be fine."
"Yes, Sensei." I said in response to his advice.
It surprised me a bit that he spoke to me since he didn't say anything to Theodore or Amura. After checking over our appearance, Sensei Barrett took a step back and stood in front of us with his hand behind his back.
"The lot of you aren't in the best shape. But that is something for you to work on yourselves. I am here to teach you martial arts. That being said, here in the martial arts elective we practice mixed martial arts. There are thousands of martial arts in this world and it is my belief that each person has a set of martial arts that suits their body, personality and ability perfectly. My job is to find which martial arts suits each of you and teach it to you."
Saying that, Sensei Barrett began rolling up his sleeves and assumed what looked like a martial arts stance. He placed his right hand behind his back, while extending his left hand forward, palm facing up. He stood with his feet shoulder width apart, his knees slightly bent.
"I already know each of your physiques and the special skill you all awakened. Now I need to see your fighting ability and know a little more about how you think."
At that moment I knew exactly what the next words out of his mouth would be.
"Attack me all at once."