Marlo's Self Defense for Beginners
Di penthouse tertentu di New York, seorang anak kecil tertidur di ruang tamu di depan TV. Air liur mengalir di sisi wajahnya dan berbagai warna kartun yang berkedip di wajah polosnya membuatnya terlihat sangat menggemaskan. Ibunya, yang berdiri di depannya, tersenyum ke anaknya – tapi senyum itu bercampur kesedihan dan kecemasan.
Tidak lama kemudian dia mengangkatnya dan membawanya ke tempat tidur, lalu tidur di sampingnya. Dia memperhatikan anaknya memegang kunci mainan emas, tapi pegangannya terlalu kencang jadi dia tidak mencoba memaksakan untuk mengambilnya.
Hanya berdua mereka yang tinggal di sana, dan itu warisan terakhir yang diterimanya dari keluarganya. Beberapa minggu terakhir dia mencoba mencari kerja, tapi dia tidak pernah bekerja di manapun selama hidupnya. Meski lulus dari universitas bergengsi, itu sudah lebih dari satu dekade lalu. Tanpa pengalaman relevan, tak ada yang mau memberikan kesempatan padanya. Dia bisa meminta tolong pada kenalannya dan mencoba dapat kerja lewat jalan itu, namun sampai sekarang dia terlalu bangga untuk melakukannya. Mungkin sudah waktunya menyingkirkan kebanggaannya segera. Dia memejamkan mata dan mencoba tidur, air mata mengalir di wajahnya.
******
Pagi berikutnya Lex meregangkan badan saat mencoba bangun dari kantuknya. Sudah jam 11 siang jadi dia tidak bisa bilang bangun pagi. Faktanya dia tidak bangun sama sekali. Malam tadi dia menyalakan PC untuk main beberapa game dan melepas penat, tapi dia terpesona saat menemukan kecepatan reaksi dan akurasinya meningkat drastis. Game demi game dia memecahkan semua rekor sebelumnya, dan dia mengalami連勝 terpanjang dalam hidupnya. Keseruannya memegangnya dan tak peduli game apa yang dimainkan, performanya meningkat dengan mudah. Sebentar dia bahkan mempertimbangkan memulai karir streamer game, tapi sayangnya dia harus memaksakan diri menjauhi pikiran itu karena fokusnya harus tetap pada Midnight Inn. Meski begitu, dia main sampai sekarang saat dia tidak bisa lagi mengabaikan perutnya yang keroncongan.
Dengan paksa menarik diri dari komputer dia mencuci mukanya sebelum menemukan dirinya di depan TV lagi, dengan berbagai sisa makanan Cina di depannya. Benar sudah lama dia tidak begitu mengasyikkan diri. Setelah menikmati kemalasan beberapa jam lagi dia berganti baju ke track suit dan keluar. Tidak ada kemajuan di Inn tapi dia tidak bisa biar begitu saja tanpa melakukan kerja apa pun. Jessica bilang dia terlalu banyak pakai tenaga saat jabat tangan, dan fakta malam tadi dia mengira keyboard hingga hancur total saat gaming karena kegembiraan. Ada berbagai hal lain di apartemennya yang rusak karena kecerobohannya seperti furnitur, pegangan pintu, dinding, dan bahkan pancurannya saat insiden terslip.
Dia harus belajar mengontrol kekuatannya lebih baik, dan saat ini olahraga satu-satunya hal yang bisa dipikirkannya. Besok dia akan punya pelajaran self-defense pertama untuk kultivator baru dan dia akan gunakan kesempatan itu untuk bertanya, tapi sampai saat itu dia harus akali.
Dia mulai dengan jogging ringan, fokus penuh ke kakinya dan kekuatan yang dipakai. Dia mengontrol langkah sebaik mungkin dan berusaha keras mengontrol seberapa besar gaya yang dipakai. Sayangnya setelah sekitar setengah jam langkah ceroboh menyebabkan celana jogging-nya sobek total.
Dia beli beberapa pasang baru dan menghabiskan hari dengan fokus mencoba mengontrol kekuatannya. Dia tidak akan mengakui, tapi diam-dia dia merasa sangat gembira setiap kali dia 'tidak sengaja' mengoyak baju saat memamerkan otot terlalu banyak.
Keesokan harinya dia bangun pagi cerah dan bersiap untuk kelas pertamanya. Dia tidak tahu harus berharap apa, tapi dia memakai track suit baru yang dibeli kemarin. Jam 7:50 pagi dia berdiri di depan auditorium pribadi dengan satpam di pintu masuk. Dia menunjukkan token Bluebird ke pria itu yang langsung mengalah dan membiarkan Lex masuk.
Di dalam dia menemukan hanya beberapa orang, dua cewek dan lima cowok yang mengobrol pelan satu sama lain. Di tengah auditorium ada arena besar dengan lantai berlapis dan pria besar, duduk di lipat kursi dengan mata tertutup. Saat dia masuk, kelompok 7 orang yang ngobrol menoleh ke arahnya, dan sesaat kemudian salah satu cowok mengayunkan tangan memanggilnya.
"Hey bro, nama gw Larry. Lu member baru juga?"
"Iye, nama gw Lex" jawabnya, mengamati pria yang kelihatan kurus itu. Dia memperhatikan tak satu pun dari 7 orang itu kelihatan fit atau berotot, meski dia yakin mereka minimal kultivator karena itu syarat minimum ikut kelas ini. Agak aneh, karena meski dia tidak terlalu berotot, badannya bentuknya jauh lebih baik dari dulu. Dia dulu pikir kultivasi alami membuat orang kelihatan lebih fit tapi ternyata tidak selalu begitu.
"Selamat datang, selamat datang. Kita semua baru juga, baru beberapa minggu gw jadi kultivator. Orang lain seharusnya datang sebentar lagi, kan kelas pertama gratis. Kesempatan bagus buat bikin koneksi, kalau ngerti maksud gw." Larry mengedipkan mata ke Lex sebelum mengarahkan subtil ke arah dua wanita di grup.
Lex tersenyum lemah. Bahkan sebagai kultivator, fokus cowok ini cuma pada cewek. Orang lain dari grup memperkenalkan diri, dan ternyata semua orang di sini kultivator liar yang either mewarisi kultivasi dari keluarga atau nemu manual kultivasi suatu tempat secara kebetulan. Sepertinya itu kejadian lebih umum dari yang dibayangkan Lex.
Yang paling mengejutkan Lex, kelima cowok itu berencana masuk militer setelah pelajaran self-defense gratis hari ini. Ternyata tentara memberikan benefit terbaik buat kultivator sendirian dan membantu mereka majuin kultivasinya. Dua cewek itu teman dan tidak bagi detail rencana, tapi Lex merasa mereka juga akan masuk atau sudah masuk organisasi lain.
Hal lain yang dipelajarinya, hampir mereka semua butuh beberapa minggu menstabilkan kultivasi sebelum merasa percaya diri dengan kontrol atas kekuatan mereka. Ternyata sangat umum bagi kultivator baru tidak bisa mengontrol diri, bahkan lebih parah dari dia.
Beberapa orang lagi datang seiring waktu, dan jam 8:30 pria besar itu akhirnya membuka mata dan bangun dari kursinya. Meski tidak berisik, dia menarik perhatian semua orang. Sadar akan efeknya ke kerumunan itu dia menyeringai licik dan bicara, "Selamat datang di Marlo's Self Defense for new cultivators. Semua orang di sini sudah memasuki dunia kultivasi baru. Beberapa dari kalian mungkin sudah familiar dengan dunia ini, dan beberapa mungkin baru. Entah bagaimana, biarkan aku yang membantu kalian langkah pertama saat memulai kehidupan baru kalian."
Kata-katanya menyambut, tapi kegilaan di matanya, rambut liarnya, jenggot acak-aduk, dan tubuh berotot, menjulang tinggi menceritakan cerita berbeda. Lex menelan ludah. Apakah semua kultivator agak gila?
Marlo’s Self Defense for beginners
At a specific penthouse in New York, a small child had dozed off in the living room in front of the TV. Drool flowed down the side of his face and the various colors of the cartoon that were flashing on his innocent face made him look very adorable. His mother, who was standing over him, was smiling at her child – but her smile was tinged with sadness and anxiety.
After a short while she picked him up and took him to bed, before tucking herself in beside him. She noticed he had some kind of golden toy key in his hand, but he was holding onto it too tightly so she didn’t try to force it from him.
It was just the two of them living there, and it was the last of her inheritance she had received from her family. For the past few weeks she had been trying to find a job, but she’d never worked anywhere in her life. Although she’d graduated from a prestigious college, that was over a decade ago. Without any relevant experience no one was willing to take a chance on her. She could ask someone she knew for a favor and try to get a job that way, however up until now she had been too proud to do so. Maybe it was time to put away her pride soon. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep, tears streaming down her face. .
******
Next morning Lex stretched and as he tried to rouse his drowsy self. It was 11 am so he couldn’t even say he was waking up early. In fact he wasn’t waking up at all. Last night he’d turned on his PC to play a few games and blow off some steam, but he was enthralled when he discovered his reaction speed and accuracy had improved immensely. Game after game he broke all his previous records, and he was on the longest win streak of his life. His excitement had gripped him and regardless of what game he played, his performance had improved readily. Briefly he even considered starting a career as a video game streamer, though tragically he had to force himself away from that thought as his focus had to remain the Midnight Inn. Still, he played until right now when he could no longer ignore his rumbling stomach.
Forcefully tearing himself away from the computer he washed his face before finding himself in front of the TV again, with various Chinese leftovers in front of him. Truly it had been a while since he had been so decadent. After enjoying himself by enveloping himself in laziness for a couple more hours he changed into a track suit and went out. There was no progress on the Inn but he couldn’t really let things rest without putting in any work at all. Jessica told him he was using too much strength in his handshake, and in fact last night he ended up breaking a keyboard completely in his excitement while gaming. There was an assortment of other things in his apartment that had suffered some damage due to his carelessness such as furniture, door knobs, walls and even his shower during a slipping incident.
He had to learn how to better control his strength, and currently through exercise was the only thing he could think of. Tomorrow he would have his first self-defense lesson for new cultivators and he would use that opportunity to ask about it, but until then he would have to make do.
He started with a light jog, focusing completely on his legs and the strength he used. He controlled his stride as best as he could and did his best to control how much force he was using. Unfortunately after around half an hour a careless misstep caused him to completely tear his joggers.
He bought himself several new pairs and spent the day utilizing his time focusing on trying to control his strength. He wouldn’t admit it, but secretly he felt very giddy every time he ‘accidentally’ tore a shirt while flexing too much.
The next day he woke up bright and early and got ready for his first class. He wasn’t sure what to expect, however he dressed up in a new tracksuit he purchased yesterday. At 7:50am he found himself in front of a private auditorium with a security guard at the entrance. He flashed his Bluebird token to the man who promptly moved out of the way and let Lex in.
Inside he discovered that there were only a few people, two girls and five guys who were chatting softly with one another. In the center of the auditorium was a large arena with padded floors and a large man, sitting on a folding chair with his eyes closed. When he entered the group of 7 who were chatting turned to look at him, and after a moment one of the guys waved him over.
“Hey man, name’s Larry. You a new member too?”
“Yeah, name’s Lex” he replied, observing the rather frail looking man. He noticed that none of the 7 people looked very fit or muscular, though he was sure they were at least cultivators since that was the minimum requirement to attend this class. It was a little strange, as though he couldn’t consider himself very muscular, his body was in much better shape than before. He used to think that cultivating naturally made one look more fit but that might not be the case it seemed.
“Welcome, welcome. We’re all new as well, it’s only been a few weeks myself since I became a cultivator. More people should be coming soon I guess, since the first class is free. This is a great chance to make a few connections, if you know what I mean.” Larry winked at Lex before subtly hinting towards the two women in the group.
Lex smiled weakly. Even as a cultivator, this guy’s focus was only on girls. The others from the group introduced themselves, and it seemed all the people here were rogue cultivators who had either inherited cultivation from their families or found cultivation manuals somewhere by accident. It seemed that was a more common occurrence than Lex had imagined.
What surprised Lex the most however, was that all five guys planned on joining the military once after today’s free self defense lesson. Apparently the army offered the best benefits to lone cultivators and helped them further their cultivation. The two girls were friends and didn’t share any details on their plans, however Lex got the sense that they also were either going to join or already had joined some organization.
Another thing he learnt was that almost all of them took a few weeks to stabilize their cultivation before they felt confident enough in their control over their strength. Apparently it was very common for new cultivators to be unable to control themselves, even worse than he was it seemed.
A few more people came as time went by, and at 8:30 the large man finally opened his eyes and got up from his chair. Although he made no noise, he grabbed everyone’s attention. Aware of the effect he had on the crowd he grinned slyly and spoke, “Welcome to Marlo’s Self Defense for new cultivators. Everyone here has entered a new world of cultivation. Some of you may be familiar with this world already, and some of you may be new. Either way, let me be the one to help you take your first steps as you begin your new life.”
His words were welcoming, but the manic excitement in his eyes, his wild hair, patchy stubble and his muscle bulging,towering figure told a different story. Lex gulped. Were all cultivators a little crazy?
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