Chapter 7: 07 – The Difference Between Hard and Soft

Hours had passed as I obsessively worked. Part of me knew I was avoiding the inevitable, but I still hadn't worked up the courage to face Gilda.

So instead, I wholeheartedly threw myself into training, going through the newly installed martial arts forms from Earth. I discovered anew that knowing what to do, and being able to do it, were most definitely not the same things.

In my head, I knew every textbook aspect of the forms perfectly. However, my body wasn't able to keep up with my head's knowledge. I lacked the muscle tone, stamina, flexibility, balance, and coordination to pull off the most advanced moves. After a few hours of mostly failing, I took a break to assign my hardware systems to prioritize some DNA reorganization.

I wanted to optimize the oxygenation of my blood to keep from running out of breath. Doing some quick research, I found that the spleen serves a vital function in many mammals, releasing hematocrit during aerobic exercise or deep-sea diving. So, I edited some genes after cross-checking commonalities related to the spleen function of Horses, Dogs, and Weddle Seals.

As I considered other DNA edits, I decided I wasn't ready to grow a tail just yet, so I decided to give up on the most potent enhancement for improving balance. After some research for more strength enhancement, I concluded that the DNA edits I'd already done were about the best I could do without too many fundamental physiological changes. My muscle tone should improve over time just by working out. Also, proprioception would improve the more I moved around.

As I contemplated enhancing other attributes, I began thinking about how I was not too far in the past, and I doubted I could've understood the meaning of some of those words I was now using with ease. It seemed the influence of my AI assist was becoming more potent over just a short amount of time. Part of me felt like I should've been more weirded out by that, and I briefly hesitated. However, after a few seconds more consideration, I concluded that, first and foremost, I had a rabbit to kill. So I decided to worry about my rapidly vanishing humanity later.

After that break, I got back to training. This time, focusing on building up strength. After searching for different workout methods, I decided body-weight training via calisthenics would achieve my goals faster than just building up muscle mass by weight lifting. Thanks to my nanites, I experienced massively reduced muscle recovery time, so I pushed my body further and recovered much faster than a regular person could.

I worked out for six hours, and in that short span, my body showed visibly increased muscle definition, control, functional strength, and coordination. Seeing results so quickly was pretty amazing. The only issue was I needed to take in a lot of calories and nutrients to fuel that muscle growth. But I could see why Gilda told me I was already beyond human.

But thinking about what she said had brought my mind back to my childish outburst.

I needed to deal with that situation before it dragged on too long. My wounded pride was somewhat healed because I had some good results under my belt now. I still felt embarrassed about how I had treated her, but I knew nothing would change if I kept avoiding the problem.

Just as I was stepping foot outside my door, I caught sight of Gilda. She seemed to have not moved from where I'd left her. Which made my guilty conscience rampage even more out of control. I wanted to go back and hide in my room, but as soon as that thought entered my mind, Gilda happened to look up.

"Oh, Willie! Are you feeling better?"

"...Yeah."

"I am relieved to hear that. I wanted to talk about what happened before..."

I suddenly cut her off because I was afraid of what she was about to say next.

"Hold on for a sec. I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about what I said to you, Gilda. I was way out of line trying to blame you for my failures."

Once I'd blurted out my apology, she looked down and muttered something.

"Hmm... I wonder if that is true."

I figured she thought I wasn't sincere in my apology. Maybe I shouldn't have cut her off, but I would try to show her my sincerity through actions instead of words.

"Anyhow, I came up with some new ideas and did some training. Can I talk with you about it?"

The change in topic seemed to somewhat ease the thick tension in the air. So, I spent a bit explaining what I had done and showing the results so far. My main concern was using body-enhancing magic like the horned rabbit was using. However, Gilda said something I didn't expect.

"What you are doing is certainly not a bad idea, Willie, but you should know there may be something you are missing."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Magic resistance. Lacking a resistance, you may still have difficulty winning."

She had never even mentioned magic resistance before, so of course, I hadn't considered it. Despite my best intentions for the conversation, I got a bit irritated that it was only coming up just now, so I tried to shoot her down.

"How does that make sense? I mean, if I kill it first, doesn't that mean I win hands down?"

"That certainly would be true, but only if you have overwhelming power and never make a mistake. If the rabbit gets a chance and you remain a soft target, you will surely experience a repeat."

She got me there. I wasn't going to give up, though. So, I threw out some random thing I just pulled out of my butt.

"Wouldn't a magical barrier work?"

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"Yes. But only if your magic barrier is stronger than the attack. Otherwise, your barrier would be ineffective."

After that, we dug into the differences between brute-force magic barriers and magic resistance. The gist of what I got from our talk was that magic resistance appeared to be somewhat analogous to lubrication. If there was no lubrication when one object struck another, the damage was absorbed by the thing being attacked. However, if there was enough lubrication, the attack may slide off as a glancing blow. It had been discovered that resisting magic was more effective in close combat than trying to stop magic with a barrier. A resistance was part of your body, so it moved with you and was always passively there, unlike a barrier. All said and done, a barrier skill would need to be much stronger than a resistance to be of much use in close combat.

Gilda explained that most resistances were thought to develop from repeatedly being hit by magical attacks, like developing immunity to a virus through exposure. Since healing magic was a thing, some crazy fools subjected themselves to cycles of being attacked and healed over and over again. However, Gilda had theories for a better way to gain magic resistance, which sounded better to me than torture.

Researchers had discovered that only creatures with mana could develop resistances, indicating to Gilda that the resistance was a form of magic as well. So, she reasoned that since using magic seemed to be about converting mana to the desired effect, centered on visualization, I just needed to have a strong concept of what I wanted to happen.

That sounded like it was at least worth a shot. At first, I was stuck on the idea of covering myself with something like an oil coating to let attacks slip off me. However, after thinking about it, something else occurred to me.

"Hey Gilda, on Earth, some martial arts forms emphasize accepting an enemy's attack and using that power against the attacker. I'm wondering if that concept might work with magic. What do you think?"

"That is difficult to answer. On most planets magic is a highly formalized thing, bound by rigid definitions and codified spells. The database does not contain any known spell that has this specific effect. However, based on how monsters and even some pure warriors fight, it is theorized that magic could be used in more intuitive and diverse ways than the traditional systems prescribed by the humanoid races. I believe this theory has many merits."

She just hit me with a bunch of stuff, but I picked one thing out, which struck me as odd.

"Why wouldn't these other civilizations explore that theory?"

"Teaching is usually done at schools. Rigid hierarchical structures of education can sometimes ossify into dogmatic ritualism. In those cases, newer generations may have stopped asking questions and just performed magic as they were always taught. The origins of the knowledge long since lost."

Remembering how school was for me, I could see what she meant. In my experience, being in school was less about expanding your mind and more about regurgitating only the information the teacher wanted. If you knew the answer they wanted, then nothing was as easy as simply giving it to them. Fighting against that was a quick trip to nowhere.

"So basically, the idea is if it ain't broke, don't fix it?"

"Indeed. Furthermore, it is typical for a novice to go through years of training to become an expert. At that point, they are often deeply invested in the status quo and highly unlikely to disrupt the very system that has granted them success."

"That sounds just like some older folks I've met."

"Again, it is only a theory. There are always rebels who go against the mainstream, so new ideas may still have a chance as long as the culture tolerates the rebels and outsiders. Sadly, most cultures frown on such things."

I came from America, which as a country was created by rebels and outsiders. So, it wasn't strange for me to see those kinds of folks in a good light. To be honest, I wanted to be like that too.

Without meaning to, I mumbled, "Earth doesn't seem to have any strong magic using culture, but maybe that could be a good thing for me. I'm free to find my own way of using magic instead of being stuck in somebody else's rut."

"Yes. That could certainly be true. However, there could be a danger with that approach too. You may get stuck reinventing the wheel."

It seemed to me that she had just been making a good case for being a rebel, so whatever the problem was, it must've been a pretty big deal.

"How do you mean?"

Gilda paused as deciding the best way to say what came next.

"Educational systems exist to minimize the learning curve, making the most efficient use of the student's time and effort. Wasting time recreating something that already exists due to ignorance is a very real potential pitfall of forging your own path."

"I see... Could I get information on the spells of these other magic-using worlds?"

"Yes, of course. You may access it in the computer's database. However, I think it might be best to check those only after starting to develop whatever ideas you have."

"Meaning, use their information to check my answers, like grading a test?"

"Yes, that might be an apt comparison."

After our conversation, I researched the martial arts concepts of receiving attacks and using the opponent's power against them. I found out the idea was often referred to as soft martial arts. Whereas martial arts focused more on using only your strength to strike or block was known as hard martial arts. Since everything I had already installed was hard martial arts, I downloaded several forms of soft martial arts to test. Then got back to training.

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