Kusarigama

Creak! Ethan opened a set of doors as he walked into the training room. He took a deep breath as he inhaled the scent in the air. The ventilation in this place was pretty good. It never reeked of sweat or grime, and always managed to smell the same, artificial way. He headed over to the physical section as he started to train.

Ethan always tried to use everything in the physical section at least three times before he finished. He slowly increases the number of repetitions by 2 everyday, so it felt like his body was constantly in a state of torture. He didn't give it enough time to adapt before he pushed himself further. Well, it wasn't like he'd die.

If he'd done this in his past life, or even with his F rank potential body, he'd end up hurting himself. His body would eventually fail him, and his hard work would harm him more than it hurt him. But now, it was different. His SS rank body could handle this much stress easily.

"Huff...huff...huff" Ethan put down a set of weights as he caught his breath. He had spent enough time in the physical section. He gulped down a blue coloured drink as he stood up. It was time to test the kusarigama.

Ethan could hear several voices as he headed into the combat section. He rolled his eyes. Almost nobody was using the physical section, owing to its tough and boring nature. They also didn't use the simulated section because the simulations didn't erase pain completely. They just fooled around in this section, trying out their weapons without actually doing anything.

Ethan passed a group of students as he headed towards the target arena. Beep! A target rose on the opposite side of the room as he activated a panel. He pulled out his knife and injected mana into it. Clat...clat...clat. The weapon broke apart as it shaped itself into a kusarigama.

Ethan took a deep breath. He gripped the metal chain with both of his hands as he tensed his body. Whoosh! The scythe blade flew in the air as it whistled down the arena....and crashed into a wall. "Damn it!" The blade hadn't landed anywhere near the target.

He tried again. Clang! "Shit!" Clang! "Fuck!" Clang! "Fucking hell!" "Hey, check this out!" He could hear a voice behind him. He ignored it. Clang...clang...clang. The scythe blade went haywire as it landed anywhere but on the target. Ethan grew more and more frustrated as he continued to do the same thing again and again.

"Hahaha! That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen" "Looks like we've got a new prodigy here" "Prodigy? You mean that guy with F rank potential? Hahahaha!" "Look! He's failed for the fiftieth time! I wonder how long he'll take before he gives up!"

A crowd gathered around him. Ethan was annoyed. He tried to ignore them as he kept throwing his kusarigama. Clang! Clang! Clang! Why wasn't it working? Why was he stuck with such an awful weapon? Why couldn't have the Mercator just have given him a sword?

Ethan wanted to throw his weapon down in frustration. But he held himself back. He couldn't embarrass himself any further in front of this crowd. He threw his weapon again and again as he tried to land it on the target. Clang! Suddenly, the scythe blade crashed into the target. But it couldn't even pierce it.

"That idiot couldn't even reach the target, and when he did, he couldn't even destroy it. He probably couldn't even kill a goblin if his life depended on it." Ethan heard somebody laughing. He faltered for a moment. He was tempted to go on a rampage and vent his frustration. "Huff...huff...huff." He took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down.

He'd try again and again until he finally managed to succeed. That's all he could do. Clang! Clang! Clang! The kusarigama crashed into the walls yet again.

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Tap...tap...tap. Noah walked through the training room as he scanned through the students. His dark eyes analysed each and every person as he searched for an anomaly. An abnormally powerful person who wasn't supposed to be here.

Noah probed a student that walked past him as he walked into the combat section. He bumped into his shoulder. "Hey, who're you? You better compensate me real quick, because I...." his eyes met Noah's. "Uh...uh...I..." Noah continued walking as if he hadn't seen the boy. He had no time to waste on a pathetic weakling like him.

He entered the combat room. He could see people practicing their skills against dummies and projectiles. He looked around. Hmmm. There didn't seem to be anything strange. Suddenly, he heard a commotion from the target arena. He moved closer, wondering what was going on.

Noah saw a blue eyed boy throwing a kusarigama at a target. It missed it by a huge margin. He stared at the boy. His face was beaded with sweat as he picked up his weapon once more. Noah shook his head. This guy was the opposite of what he was looking for. He was an extraordinarily unordinary person.

He stared at the blue eyed boy with pity. Clang! Clang! Clang! This wasn't dedication. It was foolishness. Throwing a weapon hundreds of times wouldn't help him at all. It'd only waste his time and patience. Using a weapon like a kusarigama was, to be honest, quite dumb. It required a certain level of mastery to use, and was full of openings, unlike a sword or spear which were easy to grasp and master.

He turned around as he moved out of the training room. He'd check someplace else for now. He wondered how long that boy would last in Keystone. Probably not for long. He headed towards the cafeteria, putting him out of his mind.

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Clang! Clang! Ethan's face was beaded with sweat. He threw his kusarigama yet again as it bounced off the walls. Clang! He threw it down in frustration as he sat o the floor. He'd spent the last hour continuously throwing the kusarigama, yet he'd only managed to scratch the target thrice. Scratch, not destroy. He sighed. Perhaps this weapon really wasn't for him. All it had done was worsen his terrible reputation and make him incredibly frustrated.

He closed his eyes. What was he missing? If throwing a kusarigama for one hour didn't change his proficiency one bit, it was obvious that he was doing something wrong. He tried to think of a solution, but he was stumped. He stared at the target as he tried to find a way out of his predicament.

Crash! "Ow!" Ethan rubbed his head in pain. Somebody had thrown a paper plane at him. He scowled as he tried to look for the culprit. There was nobody there. The crowd had disperse long ago, having gotten bored of him. He unfolded the paper. There was a single word written on it with solid gold lettering, like it was from a fancy restaurant or something.

'Rotation' Huh? Rotation? What the hell was written here? Was this some kind of a prank? Did some nerd want to share his love of Physics with him? This was a dumb prank. If somebody had written 'Loser', it would have made more sense. People were laughing at his weapon way too much. Just like the today when Darius had...

Boom! A bolt of lightning ran through Ethan as he found the missing piece. The sole reason why he was failing all this time. If he had to explain it, he'd say he was lacking control. Of course, he already knew this. But now he knew how to control the flying weapon. He thought back to Darius' class.

The product of velocity and length is constant. What was the most important part of a kusarigama? It's scythe blade. But Ethan was never touching the blade directly. He was connected to it through a long chain that twisted and turned, never staying straight. So he had to work with what he had. With what he could control.

Ethan could control the length of the chain, or how far away the blade was. And since he could control the length....Ethan smiled...he could control its velocity as well. He stood up, ready to train once again. He grasped the chain about half an arms length from the blade as he started swinging it in a circle.

Whoosh...whoosh...whoosh! It started spinning faster and faster as Ethan applied some of his superhuman strength. The scythe blade cut through the air as it spun faster and faster. He loosened his grip slightly. Clang! Clang! The kusarigama crashed into the ceiling as it escaped from Ethan's arms.

Clat! It fell back down as it reverted to a knife. Ethan stared upwards in shock. The kusarigama had managed to scratch the ceiling, something he'd thought was impossible. He stared back down at the paper as he read the golden letters once again.

'Rotation'. Whoever this person was, Ethan was thankful to them. They'd saved him a lot of time by helping him out. He sighed. Nothing was free in this place. When he found the person responsible for this, he'd probably owe them a favour. But they deserved it. "You may have, quite possibly, saved my ass. Thank you!" He walked towards the dagger as he smiled.

There was so much to uncover in this weapon. How fast he could spin it, how far it would go, how much could it tear through- Ethan was looking forward to dissecting the weapon's secrets as he mastered it completely. For the first time, he had something to work towards. He could imagine himself wielding this weapon and cleaving apart monsters like butter.

Clat! The dagger split apart, forming a kusarigama once again. Perhaps this form was better than a dagger. Only time would tell. It was way cooler than a sword though, that was sure. He spun the kusarigama as he prepared to throw it towards the target. This time, he wouldn't miss.