{SP-F2} Do or Do Not, There is No Try <<Breaking The Unbreakable>>

[Jevi 0]

Squinting her eyes, Jevi looked past the tall coniferous trees that lined the base of one of the many mountains that inhabited the second floor. Off in the distance, she spotted a light coming from a small hut. Shrugging her shoulders, the curious girl decided to investigate, curious just what someone would be doing setting up their house this far out from the safe zone. The girl pushed past the trees and she got closer and closer to the hut. She clenched the handle of Izunami behind her back, ready just in case the person in this hut was, in fact, a player killer who could not reside in the walls of the safe zone. She poked her head post the arch way that lacked a door, her yellow eyes scanning for anyone present. ~".... Hello?" 

[Jevi 0]

She heard a sudden clanging of a pot falling to the floor, causing her to jump back in shock, holding her sword out in front of her. "Yes, yes. Hello." the voice of an older man replied from a corner of the hut Jevi was not able to see. From around the corner of the archway came a small man, standing just under 5 feet tall, balding white hair and thick eyebrows to match, walking with a short walking stick. Jevi released her grip on her blade and looked down at the man. "Apologies for not answering all the way... trying to reach a pot to boil water I was. Please, come in."  Confused, Jevi followed the man slowly into the house, slipping the blade back into the band on her waist. 

[Jevi 0]

Jevi entered the archway, which she needed to slightly duck to get under. She looked around the hut.. looked like the man lived on his own and didn't seem like he would case Jevi any harm. She kept her guard up though, just in case. Jevi watched as the man went back to the corner of the hut where he once was, trying to reach a pot that was placed just slightly too high for him. Jevi walked over to him and grabbed it for him, handing it to the man. "Thank you." he said with a smile and a nod, filling up the small container with water. ~"..What are you doing living out here on your own?" Jevi asked. With a small giddy laugh, the man answered "Training."  

[Jevi 0]

~"..Training?" Jevi said, raising one of her eyebrows. The man looked like he was barely able to walk, let alone train on his own in the forest. ~" What are you training for?"  She took a seat on one of the small stone chairs behind her. The man turned his head to look at her as he placed the pot of water over a fire, "Not me. Others. People like you." Jevi was even more confused now.. Was this some sort of hermit that trained other players? Similar to Opal's master on Floor Seven? Her question was then answered, as a small info box popped open in front of her. Turned out the man was an NPC, a quest giver to be specific. The quest was known as Breaking the Unbreakable, and it stated the reward was a new skill. Looking up at the man and back down at the box, Jevi accepted the quest. 

[Jevi 0]

"Good good.." The man said, walking away from the pot of water, putting out the fire under it. "Now, we must go." He wobbled over to the front door of his home, turning around to wait for Jevi to follow him. ~"Oh.. alright." Jevi said, still confused at the whole matter." She got up from the seat and ducked through the door way again , following after the old man. Jevi walked with the man for awhile towards the mountain before she finally decided to break the silence, ~"So.. What exactly is it that you will be training me in?"  The man chuckled again, "You are all too dependent on your weapons... The swords the shields.... But what happens if you lose it? If it breaks? You are left with your bare hands. I will be teaching you how to fight effectively in unarmed combat."
 

[Jevi 0]

~"Oh, the martial arts skill?" Jevi asked, enthusiastically. She had not met many people that depended on that skill. The only one she knew that used it was Grave.. and it proved to be quite useful, although, Grave ended up abandoning his sword combat to focus only in unarmed. The old man nodded, "Thats right." The two came to a clearing at the base of the mountain. In the center of the clearing was a large boulder, about 2 meters in diameter. The man led Jevi straight to the large rock before stopping and turning. Jevi stopped behind him, rubbing her arm. ~" As useful as the skill is.. I don't think I'm going to focus on it." "It will assist you in mastering your sword arts as well.. Come. Put your blade away." Jevi lifted her hand to open her menu, unequipping her sword.  

[Jevi 0]

"Punch the boulder." Jevi looked at the man with a furrowed brow before nodding. ~"Alright." she took a deep breath and brought her fists up. Pulling back her armored hand, she let her fist fly forward, crashing into the stone face of the rock. The boulder might as well could have been an immortal object, because it did not budge. Jevi then let her other fist go flying forward. Still, no progress. ~"I don't think this is going to work for me..." The old man scratched at his chin before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small black rod. He then pulled the top, revealing it was, in fact, a pen of some sorts. "Come here." he said to Jevi, gesturing her to bend down. Dropping to her knee, the man brought the marker up to her face. Before she could pull away, the man quickly drew 3 lines on each of her cheeks representing cat ears. 

[Jevi 0]

~"W-What the hell is this?" Jevi said, placing her fingers on her cheeks. The man laughed his giddy laugh, "I drew whiskers on your face.. because you are showing weakness like a small house cat." He hit his walking stick against the boulder, "Only I have the power to remove the marks.. And I will only do so once you destroy this boulder using only your hands." Jevi grit her teeth and pointed at the man, ~"You're a crazy old bastard, you know that?!"  The man then took a seat a couple of feet away from Jevi, "You will learn discipline, and you will get stronger. Now, begin."  Letting a light growl escape her lips, Jevi turned back to the boulder and brought her fists back up. ~"Psh... I can't believe you're making me fight a rock..."

 

[Jevi 0]

The girl put clenched her fists and shifted her position so her right foot was slightly ahead of her left. She took another deep breath through her nose, and exhaled through her mouth. Taking a larger step forward with her right foot and pivoting with her left, her fist clad in armor flew forward, pummeling into to boulder. As her fist collided with the stone, she felt a shudder. At first she thought it was herself, but after pulling her fist away and seeing a couple of small pieces of the boulder fall to the ground, she knew that her punch was successful. 

ID: 44357
BD: 9 (2 dmg) (19/20)

Boulder: 48/50

[Jevi 0]

After realizing her punch was a success, she looked over her shoulder at the old man, who had pulled a small pipe out of his little brown robe and was smoking it. He nodded his head as clouds of smoke emerged from his slightly parted lips. Jevi smirked and turned back to the boulder with a confident look on her face. Quickly pulling back her fist, she pivoted again, this time swiping with her leg to kick the boulder. However, she misjudged her kick and ended up crushing the toe of her boot into the side of the boulder. She pulled back her leg gritting her teeth, ~"Ngh, [censored]..." 

ID: 44359
BD: 1 (18/20)

Boulder: 48/50

[Jevi 0]

Jevi could hear the man snickering from his front row seat over to the side. Jevi turned her head to him with a vicious glare, ~"Something you gotta' say old man?" The man blew out a large cloud of smoke, the smell of tobacco filling the air around them. "I said to punch the boulder.. not kick it." He said sarcastically with another laugh. With another growl, Jevi threw another powerful punch at the rock with her right hand. As her fist hit the stone, the sound of it slightly shifting on the ground could be heard. ~"[censored] you" she said under her breath to the man. 

ID: 44361
BD: 8 (18/20)

Boulder: 47/50

[Jevi 0]

"Ho ho, don't get mad at me young lady.. I'm not the one that hurt you." Jevi tried to ignore the old man's taunts, but they still rung in her ears. Taking a quick step back to readjust her pose, she decided to try and let another kick fly, this time remembering to point her toe and avoid the pain she suffered last time. Her armored shin smacked into the rock, creating a slight indent in the boulder, pieces of the rock falling to the ground again. ~"Yeah.. but if you keep it up over there, I'm gonna hurt you.." She brought her leg back down to stand on two feet, taking another deep breath through her mouth. 

ID: 44362
BD: 9 (18/20)

Boulder: 45/50

[Jevi 0]

"Good, exert that anger and turn it into power.. but don't let it control all of your motions. Concentrate on your target." The man had stood up and walk slowly pacing around Jevi, observing the damage she had already done to the large boulder. Jevi's eyes followed him as he moved, until she was out of her peripherals and behind her. She let out a soft, sharp laugh, ~"Right... next you're probably going to tell me to be the boulder.." Taking a large step forward, Jevi drove her bare fist into the face of the rock, quickly following up with a very powerful blow from her armored fist. The combined blast left a crack in the rock just slightly bigger than her fist. ~".. Don't say it...." she said over her shoulder.

ID: 443463
BD: 10 (18/20)

Boulder: 42/50

[Jevi 0]

The man simply laughed as he came back into Jevi's vision, placing the pipe back in his mouth and taking a seat yet again on the opposite side. "Don't let your progress get to you.. You are doing great, but you still have far to go." Jevi slowly took her fist back, readjusting the plates of her gauntlet and letting out a heavy sigh, ~"Right.." she said softly. She took a few steps back, placing a hand on her shoulder and rotating her arm so it didn't stiffen up on her. She then switched arms, stretching out the other side. Last thing she wanted to do was somehow hurt herself from punching a giant rock.

ID: 44365
BD: 5 (17/20)

Boulder: 42/50

[Jevi 0]

~"I probably should have done this before hand.." Jevi mumbled to herself about stretching out her arms. Hopefully this little routine would help her out in the long run with destroying this boulder. After she finished, she brought her arms back down and took another stance, her arms down at her sides and her knees slightly bent. Stepping forward, she let her gloved hand punch into the face of the rock, creating a small bit of damage. At that moment, she wished she had some sort of gauntlets that would help her to pack a better punch like Grave did. She wondered if he had to go through the same quest to get the skill.. or if it was one of those quests that changed for every player. 

ID: 44427
BD: 8  (17/20)

Boulder: 41/50

[Jevi 0]

After her first fist connected with the side of the boulder, Jevi pivoted on her foot and spun, launching her armored fist into the stone. The added power of the turn as well, as well as it coming from her powerful gauntlet left a lasting mark on the rock. Jevi punching the boulder made a loud boom sound out. At first, she thought she was successful in destroying the boulder once and for all.. but she realized she had just done a nice amount of damage.. not yet taking it out. She pulled her fists back, preparing herself to land another blow.

ID: 44428
BD: 9 (17/20)

Boulder: 39/50

[Jevi 0]

Jevi growled lightly, ~"If this were the real world, I probably wouldn't have any skin left on my knuckles" She took a step forward and jabbed at the boulder, switching hands moments after each punch, driving one weaker punch after another. She wanted to save up her strength and energy for when she planned on landing more critical strikes. ~"So.. hah.. have you.. hah... ever done this.. hah?" she said to the old man in between jabs. The old man took another pull from his pipe before standing up and laughing at what Jevi said. 

ID: 44622
BD: 8  (17/20)

Boulder: 38/50

[Jevi 0]

She watched out of the corner of her eye as the old man wobbled over towards another rock off in the distance, closer to the side of the mountain. After one last punch on the boulder, she stopped and leaned to the side so she could get a better view of what he was doing. He stopped in his step just before the rock, standing a little bit closer to attest for his small stature. The man pulled back one of his fists, and swiftly let it crash back into the boulder. "Hyaah!" the rock shattered into hundreds of pieces, like defeating a mob and seeing the pixels rain down. 

ID: 44631
BD: 6 (17/20)

Boulder: 37/50

[Jevi 0]

~"...........what the [censored]..." Jevi said under her breath, not entirely sure what she just saw. A man, about half of her height, just shattered a rock with one punch.. where Jevi could not even do it in.. however many punches she threw so far. The old man wiped his hands of dirt before turning back to Jevi, "See? Not that hard." he cackled. The purplette growled, ~"Well... y-..you've probably been doing this for years! I only just started." she crossed her arms and turned her head away with fuming jealousy.

ID. 47595
BD. 5  (16/20)

Boulder: 37/50

[Jevi 0]

The old man sat back down and twirled his pipe in his fingers before returning it to his lips, "Just punch the rock already and stop getting mad." Jevi felt her eyebrow twitch as the man seemingly mocked her, however she kept her cool. The girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, bringing up her hand to open her inventory. In moments, the girl was illuminated in a white light. As the light faded, Jevi was no longer wearing her heavy armor. Instead, she wore her black, sleeveless shirt and black tights with nothing covering her hands or feet. She stretched her arms to get used to being able to move her body freely now, instead of being constricted by the armor, ~"If I can do this without my armor.. Then it'll make me stronger." And with that, the now fully concentrated girl took a powerful step forward, jabbing her fists into the boulder repeatedly, doing significant damage.

ID. 47596
BD. 9 (16/20)

Boulder: 35/50