-Ethereal- BOOK I

With Friends like these! Who needs...

I begin to fortify my body and alter my surroundings at great speeds. I use all my forms of FAMICI, including connecting with Gin's mind. I begin to read his thoughts and like clockwork, I feel him reading mine.

He is going to attack. He is telling me he is going to attack. he is going to lunge at me and punch. I doubt he would willingly tell me what he is going to do. It must be a bluff. I will counter with the opposite. I assure my thoughts

Gin abruptly lunges forward and punches. He had done what he said he would. I am sent flying backward for a few moments then as I land I slide for a while more.

As strong as he is hitting me, he is not applying any real damage intent in his strikes. It's more like I am being hit with a foam Wiffle Ball Bat. I can just imagine how much damage he could deal if he actually wanted to hurt me. I briefly think to myself.

"Dummy, we are connected, I can hear you," Gin states with a smile

Gin then releases a barrage of strikes transitioning from discipline to discipline. At first, I am unable to block let alone counter therefore I take massive amounts of damage. As time progresses he does not let up or even seem like he is tiring. Seconds turn into minutes turn into hours. I begin to understand transitions and flow of strikes. I suddenly block one attack causing Gin to briefly pause his attacks and linger momentarily with the blocked attack. Gin then smiles and resumes his barrage. I am only able to block one out of every 100 strikes Gin lands on me. I double down on my focus and slowly begin to block two out of 100. As the hours' tick by my block count rises and the strikes that land on me reduce between blocks. After a few days, I can now block all incoming attacks. Gin seems to be struggling to land a hit on me.

I can feel his thoughts of surprise. He is surprised I was able to catch up in only a week. I alter and match his attack with perfect blocks and disciplines respectively. I am quickly disconnecting and reconnecting with Gin picking up some thoughts from him while reducing the number of thoughts he receives. I quickly process my thoughts

Like second nature I finally see an opening to parry one of his kicks pushing Gin backward and away from me. Gin straightens himself in the air and lands in a kneeling position while sliding for a few moments. Gin then smiles and practically disappears from sight.

Where did he go! on the right! I quickly gather my thoughts.

I parry Gin from the right pushing him back yet again. Gin then disappears and increases his time between attacks. I am able to keep up with him and parry all his attacks but still am not able to land a strike. Gin increases his speed dramatically and his barrage commences again however I can now parry all his strikes. Time ticks by, I am finally able to see an opportunity to counter. I seize the opportunity and counter a kick. Gin blocks my counter but relents his attacks, jumps backward and land on in a kneel. I feel a shift in gravity and I fall in an awkward way. falling to my right side and floating on thin air.

Gin must have manipulated where gravity is pulling. He shifted its pull 90 degrees and centered it to my right. I process what is happening

Gin jumps and lands sideways and begins to run towards me. I quickly recover and block Gin's incoming attacks. After a few strikes, I am able to parry his attacks again. As soon as a see an opportunity to counter I fall to my right again, Gin is able to land a powerful blow to my face and continues his relentless attacks. This time I am unable to recover and take his blows without resistance. As I begin to recover I fall yet again to my right, preventing my recovery.

Gin is manipulating physics. I have finally caught up on combat now its time to use FAMICI to its fullest. Let's begin! I cheer myself

On his next strike, I grab his arm and spin towards his body while using his extended arm as a guide and shift gravity to pull away from his back I stand and strike Gin from behind. Gin Seems to fall in an awkward position sliding away from my strike. However, I do not feel the shift in gravity.

Gin must have created a second gravity pull that only affects him but rendering him immune to my gravity shift. Wow, I did not know this could be done. Amazing. I enjoy the newly discovered information

As time flows by. The sight of our battle would leave anybody in awe. We were breaking all laws known to humankind. On some strikes that appeared to land on me, I replaced my body with a dummy and teleporting to another location and land in awkward positions using different laws of gravity. We had begun to wield all manner of weapons for the last few weeks now. I have been able to learn to block, parry and even counter all strikes from all sorts of weapons. However Gin still blocks all of my counters, I still yet have a chance to land a single blow. In the last, for days we have moved on to using spirit attacks, the kinds that can be described as magic depending on the type of simulation running on the system. My mind has been tempered in the past year in the system. No rest or sustenance has been needed or wanted, however, I have a feeling of starvation.

Am I starving because consumption of nourishment is required in this simulation? or is it because I entered the system while hungry? I feel the latter is the answer. Either way, I have finally learned to completely stop all outgoing thoughts and siphon all incoming thoughts from Gin. I have been able to use his thoughts with my perfected connection to know exactly how, where to move, block, parry, and counter. I have mastered all armed, unarmed combat and have about mastered the use of spirit energy. I have also mastered how to mix and match all forms of FAMICI flawlessly with new combinations and strategies. I collect myself.

We were using all forms of FAMICI in perfect transitions and brilliant execution. Gin's attire was no longer distracting and I could easily see through his deception, especially now that I no longer needed to actually use my eyes to fight.

I have learned an innumerable amount of combat information about all forms and kinds of opponents, Gin was a master at changing his form, style, movements and even personality making me think I was fighting a completely different person every so often. I have learned much in the past year, however, I feel I am still lacking in tactics. My thoughts reaffirm my new talents

Finally, a month after I had perfected all my skills in battle, I land a blow to Gin. However, Gin is not sent flying rather his face turned in the direction my kick struck him. It felt like I hit a solid piece of Iron, the strike hurt me more than it seemed to hurt him. Gin smiles widely.

"Now that your mind is free. It's time to teach you basics. However we will have to leave that for when you wake up, you have spent all your spirit and stamina. Night!" Gin states in a childish manner

My sight becomes dim and my head grew heavy. As I pass out.