After finally being able to leave a scratch on Arthur, Novis thought he would finally be able to play the game again. Sure, he still had a long way to go and a lot to learn but he should have been good enough against bronze players at least. Instead, Arthur told him he needed to face real-life opponents first.
Whenever Novis would question Arthur what he meant by this, Arthur would simply say he would let him know when the time was right.
Novis had currently just finished school and was heading to his grandfather's dojo. He took the same path every day and he was currently walking down a street in a quiet neighbourhood. As Novis was walking home he noticed what looked like a businessman walking down the street. He had big glasses and black hair. The man was holding a laptop briefcase and also wearing a watch that looked like it was worth a fair bit of money.
It was rare to see someone like him be in a quiet neighbourhood like this one. His grandpa didn't live in a rich part of town. In fact, his grandpa started the dojo in order to get kids off the street and focus on something else instead.
Novis was starting to get worried as he watched the man. Currently behind the man were four men with their hoods up. Novis was afraid that they might be out to rob the man.
Suddenly another man appeared in front of the businessman.
"Sorry, sir do you know what the time is?" The man asked.
"Sure." The man then looked down to look at his watch, at the same time the man pushed him into the alleyway. The group of four that was following from behind quickly went down the alleyway as well.
It was as Novis had expected. The man was currently getting robbed. It was a common technique for robbers to get a single person to approach someone and ask them a simple question to catch them off guard. (Note be careful guys this actually happened to me the Author).
Novis saw the situation and immediately took out his phone to call the police.
"Wait a second Novis, this is what I have been waiting for," Arthur said.
Novis paused for a second wondering what Arthur was talking about.
"After this, our basic training will be complete, I want you to save that man and defeat those five men."
"This is the real-life situation you were talking about!" Novis shouted.
One of the men down the alleyway heard Novis but when he turned to only see a kid, he completely ignored him and carried on.
Arthur then simply nodded.
"But how? I don't even have a weapon and their adults."
"Just go find a stick, look if it gets out of hand, I will take control of your body and deal with the situation myself."
Novis thought for a while, He did indeed trust Arthur but was wondering if he himself could actually do it. Then he saw the businessman take a punch to the stomach. Novis had made up his mind and quickly went off looking for a sturdy enough stick.
Novis then went to a nearby tree to look for a stick.
"come on, stickstick..stick..oh, that looks good enough." Novis went to the ground and picked up a meter and a half stick.
Novis then quickly ran back to the alleyway where he last saw the businessman.
As Novis made it back to the alleyway he could see the businessman on the floor covered in small marks and bruises. They were roughing him up trying to get his pin number for his card from him. But the businessman wouldn't let up.
Novis knew the best thing to do was attack first. Novis went with a stab towards one of the men's stomach. It successfully hit him right in the centre causing the wind to be thrown out of him. The man fell to his knees, Novis knew he needed to finish him off so he whacked between the man's kneck and head knocking him out.
The other four seeing this came charging at him. Luckily the alley was narrow only allowing two of them to fit through at a time. The first man threw a fist, Novis responded with a kick to his knee then striking his stick upwards at the chin. The strike was so powerful it caused his brain to knock against his skull.
The man next to him jumped with a kick, but it was slow. For the last month, Novis had been blocking attacks from one of the best swordsmen in the world. He fought every day as if his life was on the line. Morning night and even in his dreams. Novis moved out of the way of the kick and whacked him at the back of the head.
There were only two more men left. One of them ran away in fear while a yellow steam followed him, while the other pulled out a 4-inch knife.
"Just go kid, it's not worth risking your life over." The businessman said.
Novis wasn't afraid though. Perhaps because he felt more fear when Arthur was attacking him with a blade in the dream world. He had experienced getting cut and even dying multiple times. Although there was no pain, it changed something in his mind.
The man lunged forward with his small blade. Novis simply whacked the man's wrist causing him to drop the blade. Then repeatedly whacked the man leg's so he could no longer move.
Some of the men where currently moaning on the floor in pain, while some had been completely knocked out.
"You did good Novis," Arthur said.
Novis was surprised by the results. With only Arthur as his opponent, it was hard for him to tell if he had actually been getting any better or not.
The businessman started to get up
"Thank you, you saved me."
Just then a female's voice could be heard from the street connected to the alleyway.
"What are you doing to those poor people, you think just cause you're stronger than them you can bully them!"