LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 8: Martial arts II (edited)
After a satisfying meal, Grandpa Gohan motioned for Goku and Namike to walk towards the wooden pillars out in the back. Namike and Goku were both excited to be taught by Grandpa Gohan. Grandpa Gohan was a martial arts grandmaster comparable to Master Roshi.
Goku and Namike always peeked whenever Grandpa Gohan used his martial arts, but they were only able to imitate a bit due to their young age and immaturity. Goku has spent more time with Grandpa Gohan, so he has learned a bit more about his martial arts than Namike, who relied on his perception and system skills to catch up.
Grandpa Gohan walked towards the training area, which was a wide area with three training poles. The training poles were spaced out in the training area.
Previously, the training area was the backyard, where Grandpa Gohan and Goku normally sparred occasionally, but Namike saw how primitive they trained and decided to use his previous world knowledge of making training poles he saw in some anime.
Moving on, Grandpa Gohan arrived in front of the left pole and turned towards Namike and Goku.
"Martial arts flow like water, strike like fire, are stable like earth, and are fast like lightning." Although all these methods are different, they cannot show their power without a good foundation.”
"I will teach you a set of techniques to build your foundation and be able to become the strongest." (Grandpa Gohan)
"Kuuu/Yes!" (Namike & Goku)
"Why not teach us your most powerful moves, Grandpa?" (Goku)
Namike also thought about why he didn't but understood after thinking that maybe his level wasn't high enough to learn it yet.
“All my moves required in-depth experience and teaching which cannot be taught due to your age. Building a foundation will allow you to showcase more power in the future.”
"There will be a time, but you must be patient; otherwise, your future improvements will stagnate." (Grandpa Gohan)
Grandpa Gohan has seen many martial artists forgo foundation to practice an advanced technique, resulting in their bodies collapsing from strain over time with their potential wasted. He wished to teach Goku and Namike appropriate techniques for laying a solid foundation and becoming more powerful than him, allowing them to live safely in this dangerous world.
"Kid and Goku."
"Stand on the other training poles and pay attention to my movements." (Grandpa Gohan)
Grandpa Gohan started to move slowly and struck the pole in a certain rhythm before stopping and looking at Namike and Goku.
Namike found the technique to be similar to the daily training he saw in dojos, so he started copying it consistently with little error due to the control of his body. Meanwhile, Goku didn't notice how this was different from normally punching and kicking the log but decided to copy Namike after seeing the confident look on his dragon's face.
[Copying Technique detected. Unlocking Progress bar]
Namike was slightly shocked when the system suddenly talked, which caused a slight delay, but he quickly recovered his rhythm. A progress bar appeared in his mind, similar to proficiency systems in RPG games. He thought about how it would look better if it were a percentage in his system, which caused the bar to disappear.
He panicked inwardly and thought about the bar and percentage existing at the same time, which caused the bar to reappear. Namike sighed in relief. The only reason he wanted its percentage was that it was more accurate than looking at the bar, but the bar was accessible without blocking his vision, unlike the system menu, so it was better for training purposes.
Namike and Goku are both trainings, with Namike gradually seeing the bar increase with every correct posture, with the bar stopping at 60%. Grandpa Gohan was only slightly surprised that the kid was able to do this due to the high-level moves (Basic) he showed him before. Grandpa Gohan found Goku to be improving just as fast and to be a shadow of Namike. Goku was unlocking his copycat talent early on, which changed the timeline drastically, but Namike doesn't feel this until later.
As Namike and Goku were training, a bar in the system showed an 80% completion rate before zooming to 100%.
[Well done host for unlocking the buddy section]
'Buddy what?'
[The buddy section unlocks when the host finds a companion they share the life or death bond. The minimum requirement is 30/100 friendship.]
"Oh, that means Goku and I share the same thoughts." Are the friendship ranks divided into different ranks?'
[Friendship can range past 100 and below 0. Friendship categories are unlocked when the system levels up]
Namike was surprised that the buddy system already requires a system upgrade to be fully unlocked. Namike activates his menu and finds a new section labelled "Buddy Levels," which seemed to only include Grandpa Gohan and Goku. Goku's friendship was 30/100, while Grandpa Gohan's was 35/100. It seems the buddy section only unlocks when someone trusts him in a similar age group or he feels like journeying with them.
Namike decided to put something to the test and nudged over to Goku, intending to fight him. Goku seemed to sense his intention and got into a battle stance. Namike decided to spar with him using the foundation moves Grandpa Gohan showed with increased proficiency of the move past the 60% bottleneck he faced before. Goku seemed to be improving more than Namike at the beginning but quickly felt evenly matched with Namike after 20 rounds.
Goku saw how Namike may win again due to his endurance but decided to risk it all on a move he saw Grandpa Gohan practising. Goku grabbed onto Namike suddenly and tried to throw him into the air but he failed to consider how Namike was heavier than Namike due to his bulk and species being superior. However, he was able to catch Namike off guard which let him stumble slightly when Goku pulled him. Goku quickly took advantage of this gap and managed to imitate a clumsy judo throw through his instincts.
There was a small explosion sound as Namike slammed into the ground with Goku also being slammed due to his improper footing. It seems that they are evenly matched. Grandpa Gohan chuckled when Goku was also knocked out as he was able to see the secret behind his fall. Namike, while falling, used his tail unlike Goku to tangle up his feet and forced him to fall with him. He stopped laughing once he realised that Namike and Goku were still awake and quickly walked away while whistling. Namike was able to not be hurt too much by the fall while Goku landed on top of Namike. They both felt angry at how Grandpa Gohan is humiliating them so they decided to teach him a lesson.
They both were tired through the training and sparring so they spent the rest of the day napping it away.
Find out more next time on Reincarnated as Shenron’s Descendant.