[SP-F2] <<Breaking the Unbreakable>> Like Splitting Wood... [Complete]

[Lycan 0]

"Climb the mountain he said... It'll be worth it he said," Lycan groaned has he dug his armored hands into a stone griphold of a rather high cliff. The teen took a moment to glance down (you never want to glance down) as a strong gust of wind whipped his hair wildly. His amber eyes couldn't even see the ground from the height he was at, a thick fog preventing his vision and thereby adding to the fear factor of this endeavor. The teenager let out a less than silent gulp and reverted his gaze skyward.

"When I get back to town..." Lycan grumbled through clenched teeth, his ire focused on the info broker he shared a rather love/hate relationship with. Then, with a huff, a grunt, and a guffaw, the swordsman continued to ascend the stone wall. Surely a fall from this height would mean bad news. Death perhaps? He couldn't tell because he couldn't see the forlarkin' ground.

As the boy continued to climb, shouted obscenities withstanding, he began to approach what looked like the finish line of this grueling physical torture.

"Oh please..." Lycan whined as his body somehow screamed for rest even in this world of intricate zeros and ones.

Sure enough, his metallic grasp reached over the cliffside and dug into soft, rooted soil. Elation boiled up from deep inside and gave Lycan the strength to heft his body up onto the ledge. With a moan, a roll, and a plop, he laid on his back, staring upward at the large fluffy clouds just a rock's throw away.

"Thank... God..." the boy huffed.

[Lycan 0]

"If it's God you're looking for, boyo, you've climbed to the top of the wrong mountain. He's two peaks over." Spoke a strange, weathered, and sarcastic voice.

With a raised brow, Lycan tilted his head back to the source of the remark. What he saw was an elder man, short, wrinkled, and with a long, white, wirey beard. He crouched over and used a plain cane fashioned from an old piece of wood. Oddly, he wore a hawaiian dress shirt, swim trunks, and a pair of bright red geta.

"The heck...?" was the extent Lycan could verbalize as a reaction.

"Well, kiddo, you're all sorts of lost! Heck is down thatta way!" the old geezer laughed with a jab of his walking stick toward the cliff side.

Lycan lifted his body off the grass and brushed himself off as he stood. When he turned around to face the stranger, he noticed a large expanse of green grass. Two buildings sat on each side with an Eastern influence in the architecture. Arches and pillars were bright red with maroon, clay singles atop the roofs. In between the two buildings, the grass had been worn down to a sandy soil with a massive stone pillar in the middle. Shrine banners wrapped all around the stone with a rather sad wooden sign staked in front of it. The sign read, "Fite me".

Lycan held an expression of bewilderment, utter confusion, and awkward concern on his face.

[Lycan 0]

"Where the heck am I?" the youth asked.

"Eh? Eh?!" the old man shrieked, his snaggle tooth bare to the world to see. "You climbed all the way up here without knowing why?! Are ya' after my loot?!"

The geezer lifted his walking stick and assumed a rather laughable combat stance. Limbs extended and on one leg, the tremors of arthritis threatened to crumple the man to the ground. Meanwhile, Lycan's gaze drifted to the bizarre, lush environment somehow thriving atop the rocky crags. His attentions so lost, he nearly staggered off the edge of the cliff then the old man's cane cracked him one on the head.

Lycan: HP - 19/20

"Ow!" the boy shouted, rubbing his head and teetering on the edge of a cliff some unmeasured odds high. "What was that for?!"

"Hmm..."

Lycan barely found his balance, and gripped his knees to catch his breath. Looking up, he noticed the old man sizing him up while petting his white, wirey beard.

"Decent balance... Terrible reflexes though," he mumbled, then prodded Lycan with his cane. "Pretty fit for a kid."

"Uh... can I help you?" Lycan asked, increasingly more weirded out.

"Perhaps," the old geezer replied. "Or perhaps I can help you... Well, granted you've got what it takes..."

[Lycan 0]

"Got what it takes?" All this seemed so cryptic to the boy. Axios better not have given him a bad tip. "How long have you lived up here old man?"

"Old man! I tell ya boy-o, I'm tougher than I look! Y'see that rock over there?" He pointed his cane at the stone wrapped in shrine banners.

"You mean the boulder that says 'fite me'?" Lycan's face was flat as a slate. 

"Why yes! That used to be the peak of this mountain! I knocked it off with my own two hands and sealed the demon that possesses the mountains in his tomb!"

"Then why the sign?"

Crack!

Lycan: HP - 18/20

"Ow! What the hell?!" Lycan shouted, clutching the sizzling red damage lattice that appeared on his head.

"I said I sealed him didn't I?! Still haven't defeated him! I've done my part. I'm enjoying the retired life now. Defeating him is your problem." The old man heaved and coughed followed by smacking his lips and clearing his throat. With an adjustment of his hawaiian shirt, he began to waddle off toward the Easter style buildings.

"My problem?" Lycan muttered under his breath. Confused and still rubbing his head, he found himself compelled to follow the old man.

[Lycan 0]

"You're not the smartest tool in the basket, are you boy-o?" the old man, or "Pappy" as Lycan had so chosen to remember him by, asked while stepping into the main chamber of one of the buildings.

"So... I'm going to defeat a demon?" Lycan asked, struggling to follow.

"Not like that, you're not! I have to train you!" Pappy walked up to a shallow table topped with a tray filled with ceramic ware. He stretched out his cane and lifted the tray by an ornate chain tied to both ends.

"Hold this," he commanded, dangling the tray in front of Lycan. The boy held out his hands and took the weight of the tray.

"Uh... tea?" Lycan commented at the set now in his hands. Meanwhile, Pappy pulled the shallow table to the middle of the room. With a grunt and a guffaw, he took a seat on the tatami floor and motioned to the other side.

"Sit."

"Okay?" Lycan set the tray back on the table and took a seat. Pappy lifted the kettle and set it on his old wrinkly hand. Then, he just stared at Lycan, silent as the gentle breeze.

Lycan raised a brow.

"So..."

"Silence!" Pappy commanded. "Watch."

Confused, Lycan sat quietly, lips sealed. He looked at the geezer, who didn't move. Unsure what was going on and why he was there, Lycan looked about the room in case he was supposed to watch something else? Instead, he saw several stands adorned with armor, staffs and various weapons on the walls, and several scrolls sprawled in what he could only guess was handwritten Japanese.

"The kettle," Pappy barked. Then, Lycan heard a shrill whistling come to a peak. When the boy looked to his elder, the kettle in his hands hissed and spat a bout of steam. Lycan's eyes grew wide.

"Holy ****! Magic?! I'm going to learn magic?!"

CRACK!

Lycan: HP - 17/20

[Lycan 0]

"Sunnufa!! You're going to kill me!" Lycan shouted, hands again covering the sizzling red injury on his head.

Pappy set the kettle down on the tray and laid his cane beside him.

"Keep askin' dumb questions like that and you'll kill yourself!" chastised the old geezer. "It ain't magic, you fool, it's Ki!"

"Ki...?" Lycan immediately covered his mouth as he saw Pappy reach for the cane. Eyes wide, he shook his head and mumbled the unintelligible 'please don't hit me again!' through muffled hands.

"Hmm... Yes, Ki. It's the energy of life, of your being. If you can control it, you can possess immeasurable power. You can endure blows that would otherwise kill a man, move fast enough to catch an arrow, or even sunder a mountain."

Lycan just nodded.

"Would you like to know more?" Pappy added while he gently poured the steaming water over another kettle filled with tea leaves.

Lycan nodded harder, hands still on his mouth.

"Good! Then..." Pappy set down the kettle and poured the two of them a cup of tea.

"Go break that stone!" he shouted with a cackle.

[Lycan 0]

"What?!" Lycan shouted.

CRACK!

Lycan: HP - 16/20

"Come on man! Stop that!" Again, the boy clutched his head.

"Break the stone," Pappy repeated. "If you can..."

"How am I supposed to do that?!" Lycan braced for impact.

The old man laughed again, fetching up his tea and silencing himself with a sip. Then, he shrugged.

"No idea, but I bet it'll be fun to watch!"

"Are you for real?!" Lycan got to his feet, anger clear on his face. Nearly a quarter of the way dead, patience expired, Lycan drew his blade.

"Ow..." the young swordsman mumbled. His head rang, arms felt as if they were broken, and his view of Pappy suddenly became that of the ceiling. Speaking of which, the upper left of Lycan's peripherals flashed a dull red.

Lycan: HP - 1/20

The boy's heart stopped for several beats.

"You come to my home..." He heard Pappy growl. "You insult me... and now you draw your weapon on an unarmed senior citizen? Tell me why I should let you live..."

'Oh ****, I'm seriously going to die...'

"I... I..." Lycan stammered. "Please, sorry! I don't want to die!"

"Do you mean that?"

"Yes! I don't want to die!"

"Good."

Lycan felt a firm grip clutch his wrist and yank him to his feet. Pappy let him go and patted Lycan's clothes back into place. In his free hand, he held Harbinger, the boy's longsword. Seeing it, Lycan instinctively reached to his back.

"You won't be needing that," Pappy reassured. "When I'm done with you, you'll be stronger without it." 

[Lycan 0]

"Now, break the rock," Pappy hobbled back to his shallow table and flopped to the ground with a groan.

Lycan opened his mouth but the corner of his view continued to flash red. He hut his mouth and embraced his situation.

"Can I have my sword back?"

"No weapons, just your fists." Pappy took a loud slurp of tea, motioning to the boy as if to say 'go on, get on with it'!

Lycan took a deep breath and looked to the solitary monolith wrapped in banners. With a few steps, he stood beside it, and lifted his head to its peak some two or three meters high. The boy turned back to Pappy who smacked his lips with a bored expression. Lycan turned back to the boulder, taking a moment to look at his own two hands. Luckily, they were still clad with the gauntlets he had made for him based on Axios's advice.

'How in the hell...?' The boy thought.

'Make sure you get them with unarmed damage boosters on it. You'll thank me later. Oh! And you're an Alchemist, so make yourself a potion to boost your attack damage.'

Lycan recalled the information broker's words verbatim. Then, a spark of curiosity coursed through his mind.

Spoiler

 ID# 66772 results: BD: 6 (+2 ACC) = 8 HIT!!!

Basic Attack (Unskilled) 1 Base Damage + 3 Unarmed Damage = 4 Damage!!!

Boulder: HP 46/50

CRACK!

Lycan's fist slammed into the side of the stone with a satisfying crack. He felt the rock give, ever so slightly as cracks spread from the point of impact. Little chips fell loose from around the boy's fist and settled into the grass below.

PHBFFFT!

Lycan spun around to see that Pappy has spit his tea all over the table, eyes bugged nearly out of his skull. 

[Lycan 0]

"How in the-- Well struck, boyo!" Pappy cheered, trying to clean the fallout from his excitement. "Looks like you're a natural!"

'Natural... right... I get what's going on here...' Lycan thought, turning back to the stone.

'Normally, the Immortal Object notice would appear. It didn't. This stone has a durability scale. I just have to whittle it down to nothing and it should "shatter".'

The area where he struck showed a clear indent in the shape of his fist. Lycan nodded with a grin.

"I get it..." he muttered.

Quickly, the boy navigated his menu to the inventory screen. With the push of a button, one of his Beast Blood Elixirs appeared in his hand. Lycan popped the cork and let the thick, red contents pour into his mouth. The taste of copper coated his tongue as the concocted syrup slip down the back of his throat. Immediately, Lycan felt the heat of power well in his chest. Like a fire catching, the boy felt invigorated. He cast the empty vessel to the grass, causing it to explode into digital fragments.

"Come on boyo! This's getting good!" Pappy cheered on.

Lycan grinned and cupped his fist within the other.

Crack... Crack...

"Let's do this."

Spoiler

 

<<-1 Beast Blood Elixir>>

+3 Base Damage

 

 

[Lycan 0]

Spoiler

 ID# 66773 results:  BD: 3+2 = 5 MISS!!

The Boulder:
HP: 46/50

Lycan took a step back, cocked his arm, and with all the might he could, thrust his fist forward.

Crack!

Whiff~

Thud!

"Bwah ha ha ha ha!" the youth heard Pappy cackle as he rose from the ground, spitting digital grass out of his mouth.

Beside him, Lycan noticed a ceramic cup still moist with warm tea. He cocked his head toward the old man to noticed one less teacup on the table.

"Oh come the f--" Lycan stopped himself short of the word just in case it was enough to send Pappy over the edge and finish off the teen. The warning of low health still flashed in the upper right hand corner.

Instead, Lycan just shook his tea dampened head and pushed himself back to this feet.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did ya, boyo?" Pappy managed between breaths of his laughing fit. "Y'gotta learn to focus! A little tea cup like that shouldn't have stopped ya!

Eyebrows scrunched together and lips pursed in disapproval, Lycan faced the stone again.

"Stupid old man," Lycan grumbled to himself. "Gunna push your grey ass over the cliff when this is--"

"Whas that boyo?! Can't hear ya! Little hard of hearin'!"

"Nothing~" Lycan chimed nervously.

[Lycan 0]

 ID# 67066: // BD: 3 //

Lycan cocked his fist again. This time, he kept his senses open for incoming tea cups. With his mind focused on dodging another attack of opportunity, he lauched his unarmed assault at the stone. His fist connected with a resounding thud that vibrated up his arm and through his very core.

"Ow! Sunnufa!" Lycan shouted, reeling from the blow and clutching his own fist. Luckily, pain was just a tingle on SAO, but something so horrid as a tingle in the very core of your being churned the boy's stomach.

"Oh~hohohoho!" Pappy laughed. Lycan cocked his head to see the old geezer throwing an overly dramatic laughing fit. The bastard was red in the face from humor.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," the teen spat, still clutching his arm.

"You're so worried about me, you forgot your focus!" Pappy snorted, his wiry mustache spreading like a fan with each laugh.

"Well if you'd stop throwing things, that wouldn't be a problem, now would it?" Lycan's temper flared.

Pappy halted his enjoyment and steeled himself. Lycan felt a shiver course down his spine. Expecting a blow, he looked to his health.

Lycan: HP 4/20

"In battle, distractions are all around you."

To his surprise, Pappy didn't launch an offense. Instead, he continued with his offer of wisdom.

"You must focus equally on your attack as you must on your defense. Lose focus on either or weigh one more than the other, and you will fail."

Lycan looked to the stone and then to the geezer.

"Again," Pappy commanded.

[Lycan 0]

ID# 67095: BD: (6 + 2) 8 HIT!
1 Base + 3 Unarmed (Wrist Armor) + 3 DMG (Potion Buff) = 7 Damage
The Boulder: 39/50 HP

Lycan shook his tingling hand as he turned to the stone to face it once more. The faint tingling of the blow still coursed throughout his avatar. With a deep breath, the boy briefly closed his eyes and tried to center himself on the task at hand.

'Defense and offence,' Lycan chanted internally.

"Close your eyes like that and you're an easy target!" shouted the old man.

'Defense and offence...'

Lycan rooted his stance, pulled his fists to his side and close to his core.

"I ain't got all day, kiddo! I'm old, remember?!"

He inhaled. Then pushed the air through his lips and nose simultaneously.

"Hit it! Hit it! Hit it! Hi--"

CRACK!

The youth's amber eyes shot open, fist buried into the same spot he hit before. The stone shook, cracks spreading inches. Each time the dark lines split, a fragment of rock spat from the surface to the ground below. Unlike before, the blow didn't rattle his core.

"Bout time!" Pappy shouted.

[Lycan 0]

ID# 67096: BD: (5+2) 7 HIT!!
1 Base + 3 Unarmed (Wrist Armor) + 3 DMG (Potion Buff) = 7 Damage
The Boulder: 32/50 HP

Lycan tuned out the chatter, his face flat and reached out another blow.

CRACK!

The monolith's wounds opened further, shaking free a banner from its width. Rope thick as the boy's arm crashed to the ground, forcing the teen to repel from his close proximity.

"The seal..." he heard Pappy say.

Lycan turned to the old vet to see him rise from his table. He hobbled over to the stone with a stern face. When he arrived beside Lycan, he turned his wrinkled face to the sky, following his eyes up the boulder's length.

"When I loosed the peak from the mountain, I used all of my Ki." The elder's tone grew sincere and reminiscent.

"Since then, only a fraction has returned." He looked to the young man beside him.

"Yet here you stand, some cliff hugging billy goat, punching holes in less than minutes." Pappy closed the gap between the two to the point Lycan caught wind of the elder's musk.

"Who are you?"

Lycan didn't know how to respond. The obvious answer might merit him a beating. A lie would merit the same.

"Lycan," the teen answered. "Just a guy looking for the strength to help save the rest of us."

Pappy grumbled at the reply, his face twisted in reflection. With a stroke of his wirey beard, he hobbled a few steps away.

"Again," he stated, his back turned to the boy and his rock.

[Lycan 0]

 ID# 67097: BD: 1 Miss

The old geezer's question confused the boy. Was he somehow different? Was this some generic quest dialogue? Lycan's eyes drifted to the bizarre Beast Mark given to him by an unusual NPC his first day on SAO. The teen flexed his hand, feeling no different than any other person.

Lycan looked back to the cracked stone, then to Pappy's back. He raised a brow.

"Again!" Pappy shouted, his voice far more stern than before.

Startled, the boy threw a wild blow at the stone. His Grips of the Twin Wolves scratched their metal bodies against the surface of the stone, spitting sparks back at Lycan. Though dramatic, the surface of the boulder showed barely a mark.

"Quit fooling around!"

Lycan turned toward the old man only to find him face to face. He never even hear the old man move.

"I've seen what you can do..." Pappy hissed. "Don't play coy with me boy... You have a gift, but not the discipline."

Lycan stepped back to gain space between the two.

"So help me, you'll leave with that much at least..." Pappy slammed his cane into the ground to emphasize his point.

'What kind of quest is this?' Lycan thought. 'Why is he so serious all of a sudden?'

[Lycan 0]

 ID# 67098: BD: (6+2) 8 HIT!!!
1 Base + 3 Unarmed (Wrist Armor) + 3 DMG (Potion Buff) = 7 Damage
The Boulder: 25/50 HP

Lycan audibly swallowed at what he felt had become a threat. Without wasting further time, he stepped to the boulder, firmed his stance, and launched another fist.

CRACK!

"Good..." Pappy growled.

Lycan turned a concerned brow to him as the cracks spread like veins across the surface. Now, they reached even as high as its summit. The earth trembled, breaking Lycan's balance, and another rope crashed to the ground. Were it not for his reflexes, the teen would have succumbed to a crushing blow from the debris.

"What's happening," asked Lycan as the earth settled itself and silence swept over them.

"The seal is breaking." Pappy's face spread into an unsettling grin.

Something deep inside Lycan began to sour. He felt this sensation before - his instincts were warning him.

"Again!" Pappy cried.

"What's this for again?!" Lycan asked, tensing his body for the incoming blow.

"I said again!"

'I don't like this...' the teen reflected.

[Lycan 0]

ID# 67099 results: BD: 1 MISS

"Listen... uh... old man... I need a break, my hand--"

The elder rushed Lycan. Cane met the metal of Lycan's grips with a satisfying clang. This time, the youth anticipated the strike. While he didn't expect to catch it, the platinum haired boy felt a moment of relief. That is, until the elder's geta caught his eye. Pappy sprung into motion that defied his age. His leg shot up, aiming for Lycan's head. Quickly, the teen loosed the cane and brunt the force of the blow with both bracers.

The force of the strike pushed Lycan's firmed stance backwards, churning green grass into two muddy lines.

"The hell!" Lycan shouted.

"No breaks! A warrior must have persistence! Endurance! Willpower!" Pappy advanced again, lashing blows with his cane as Lycan struggled to intercept. A blow and a blow there, ticked away at Lycan's HP. Even strikes blocked to those connected.

"Stop!" Lycan commanded.

One health point and the cane descended. Lycan clutched it with a rage and fury fueled by the fear of death. He wrenched it from the old man's shriveled fingers and cast it off the cliffside.

[Lycan 0]

 ID# 67104: BD: 2

"Enough!" Lycan huffed. His fierce gaze met that of the NPC. The corner of Lycan's vision brimmed with the pulsing red warning. It was Cardinal's version of a faint whisper saying one short, but powerful phrase.

'You are going to die.'

"Give me my sword!" Lycan shouted, eyeing the table where it once lay beside the man. In the moments Lycan focused on the pillar, he failed to notice its disappearance.

"You don't need a sword," the elder retorted. Then, the familiar hum of Harbinger's steel sounded through the crisp mountain air. Lycan shot his attention to Pappy, now armed with Harbinger instead of his cane.

Lycan's stomach churned and perspiration cooled his prickled skin.

"Give that back..." the youth hissed between clenched teeth.

"You can have it when you break the stone!" Pappy barked, brandishing the blade to his side as a seasoned swordsman would to flick its length free of blood.

[Lycan 0]

ID# 67107 results: BD: (9+2) 11 CRITICAL!!
1 Base + 3 Unarmed (Gauntlets) + 3 DMG (Potion) + 1 Crit Bonus = 8 DMG
The Boulder: 17/50

Lycan's breathing became heavy, and his heated emotions and fear of death stimulated his senses.

"F*** you're rock!" Lycan roared. "And f*** Axios for even suggesting this s***!"

"I've had enough! If this is where I'm going to die, so be it!" the teen shouted. Fists to his side, he charged the elder.

Blows flew from Lycan's hands like a flurry. His primitive anger combined with his limited real world experience in the martial arts. Palm strikes coupled with powerful kicks. Each blow met the steel of Harbinger's flat and rang like a bell into the winds.

"The stone boy!" Pappy shouted, deftly casting aside each of Lycan's wild swings.

"You want the stone?" Lycan threw a wild haymaker, forcing Pappy to sidestep and place himself in front of the pillar.

"F***ing have it!" Lycan jabbed with all his might, yet the elder ducked low.

CRACK!

The teen's fist smashed into the boulder with unprecedented might. Cracks spread from one another to create a lined lattice. Stones as large as golf balls leapt from the mass of granite and peppered the serene grass. Infuriated by the missed blow on the old man, Lycan howled his anger and braced for another attack.

[Lycan 0]

 ID# 67108: BD: (8+2) 10
1 Base + 3 Unarmed (Gauntlets) + 3 DMG (Potion)+ 7 Damage
The Boulder: 10/50

"Calm yourself, boy!" Pappy shouted.

"Give me back Harbinger!" Lycan yelled, his fists lashing out for blood.

Lycan felt his wild jab halt, turn, and twist behind his back. Two swift blows to the back of the knees dropped the youth to the ground. Weight shoved him forward and planted his face to the ground. Beside it, Harbinger's steel buried six inches deep. Lycan's hot breath fogged his blade's polished edge with each lungful of hate. Lastly, the youth stared back into the eyes of a monster - a demon. Yellow and pinned to near invisible pupils, Lycan's gaze reflected upon itself.

"You mustn't lose yourself." Pappy cooed, his grip wrenching the teen's arm and forcing him to still.

"Hatred only breeds more hatred." Lycan felt the tension begin to weaken. His breaths began to slow.

"A calm mind is an efficient mind, even when the blood boils and the soul quakes." Pappy rose from the youth and took several quick steps back.

Amber irises stared into one another and a boy confronted a demon. Lycan struggled with anger before SAO. When sadness wouldn't ease the pain, it turned to anger. When fear became paralysis, it transformed to rage. Lycan had thought his fury to be contained, but he lay there amidst the green grass faced with his inner truth. The fire cooled, and the boy rose.

He took a moment to collect himself, to collect the anger within his body.

CRACK!

One blow to exercise the demon from his mind and deliver it to an immovable object.

[Lycan 0]

ID# 67110: BD: 1 Critical Miss!

 "When this is over," Lycan growled. "I hope you die."

His piercing amber gaze fell on the elder who returned an unsettling grin.

"Might come sooner than you think, boyo."

Lycan turned about, his breath clamed, and looked to Harbinger as it jut from the ground. The teen reached out for its hilt.

"Uh uh!" Pappy shouted. Lycan's hand froze within a hair's breadth.

"What?" hissed the teen.

"Look." Pappy pointed toward the stone.

From the boy's last blow, a single crack had become a fissure. The dark line reached up to the peak of the monolith and from its crest, light showed through its crevice. The final rope of seals groaned, then loosed and crashed to the ground. Then, from the stone, an energy poured forth like a typhoon across the  coast. It slammed into Lycan's body and surged it with a rejuvenating energy. The haze of red around his vision vanished and red turned to green.

Lycan: 20/20 HP

With a lifted brow, the teen turned to where the elder was. Instead, a middle aged man stood, peppered with dark and grey hair.

"Who...? Who are you?" asked a confused Lycan.