Chapter 107: Burapha and the Qi Kingdom - To the East
Burapha woke up in a small wooden room that he didn't recognise. His gaze wandered around and saw the cracked Godly Oceanic Armor and the half-broken Oceanic Trishula placed next to his bed.
"They couldn't be repaired. The damage is too severe." A female voice came from the doorway.
"Miss Ratri? Where am I?" The last thing Burapha remembered was him being beaten by Revin's attack.
"The Wuxia Home, the main branch of the Victorious Wolves Sect near Zhongsuyuan City. You have slept for two days."
Burapha pulled himself up from the bed. "Thank you for your help, Miss Ratri."
Ratri waved her hand. "No need to give me your thanks. You're Lone Wolf's friend, it's natural that we would help you. You better express your thanks to Beluga and White Swan instead."
"Beluga? White Swan?"
Ratri could see that Burapha was still confused so she began to explain what happened after he had fallen unconscious. Based on Ratri's explanation, Burapha could summarize that Little Whale's identity was Beluga, the leader of the Mountain Thieves League, who had prevented Revin from finishing him. As for White Swan, she had provided him with treatment on the spot. Afterward, both of them had agreed that it would be the best to bring him to rest at the Victorious Wolves Sect branch before going separate ways.
"I see. I will personally express my thanks when I see them again. I should go now." Burapha stored his broken armor and weapon in his system window and walked away.
"Wait, where are you going?" Ratri asked. "There are players searching for you outside. It is safer for you to stay here."
Burapha smiled at Ratri. His eyes were full of determination. "I can't stay here forever. Rest assured, I have a safe place that I can stay."
Hearing that, Ratri no longer said anything.
Burapha took out a sky blue invitation card and stared at it. He had never thought there would be a day when he would use it.
"Go to the Eastern Sea Palace." A sky blue flash of light covered Burapha before teleporting him away.
Soon, an old man with a white beard entered the room. He rubbed his long beard while talking to Ratri.
"Ratri, just now, was that the one the leader mentioned before? Sila?"
"Oh? Hermit. Did you just come back?"
Hermit nodded. "Yes, I arrived just a moment ago and heard that one of the leader's friends is resting here."
Ratri nodded. "It's true. He is Lone Wolf's friend. However, he isn't Sila. He is Sila's friend. His name is Burapha."
"Hmmm... Unexpectedly, my guess was incorrect. He has such good eyes."
"Surprisingly, he has the Invitation Card to the Eastern Sea Palace."
"Eastern Sea Palace? The habitat of the One-Eyed Evil God?"
***
Burapha walked along a white, sandy beach. The granular sand reflected the sunlight like pieces of jewelry. Sea waves were splashing on the beach continuously while the sea breeze brought a salty smell to his nose. The coconut trees swayed by the wind. He took a breath into his lungs and walked slowly toward a small cottage. There was a wooden signpost on the cottage. What was written on it was 'Eastern Sea Palace.'
The cottage on the beach is the Eastern Sea Palace? People wouldn't believe what they see if they witnessed it. This place was one of the most difficult places to access in Monster Soul. The Eastern Sea Palace where the savage One-Eyed Evil God lived. No one had ever been dealt a second blow from the One-Eyed Evil God. Just one single move from him was enough to turn them into light.
Next to the cottage, there were two old men having an enjoyable conversation on a mat on the beach. Both of the old men wore beach shorts while their upper, tan bodies were exposed. Their lean muscles caused them to look quite young. One of them wore an eyepatch on his left eye while the other had a beard on his chin.
The one who wore an eyepatch noticed Burapha and greeted him.
"Oh? Burapha. What brings you here? Is it possible that you missed me? Hahaha! Come here and greet my friend. Hey, Zeref, this is my son who I told you about."
Zeref accepted Burapha's greeting and looked at the young man from head to toe. "He isn't like what you described, Kai."
Kai scratched his head while looking at Burapha. Indeed, his son looked rather strange today. Normally, it was rare for them to meet. He didn't know why his son decided to visit him now, of all times.
"Coming here to see daddy, do you want something?" Kai put down the yellow cocktail glass on the mat.
Burapha looked straight into his father's eyes. "Dad, teach me your lance art... please."
A smile emerged on Kai's face. "Do you finally have a will to practice it? Hahaha! As expected, my intuition told me that today would be a good day. I need to celebrate this." He finished his drink. "By the way, why do you suddenly want to learn it? I haven't seen you in the dojo since that day three years ago when I quit forcing you to practice it."
Burapha had been forced to practice the family's lance art since childhood until three years ago. At that time, Kai regrettably told him that he was already an adult and should decide for himself whether he wanted to continue practicing or not (to which Burapha decided to quit).
Thus, it was quite a surprise for Kai that Burapha had suddenly appeared and asked him to teach the lance art. Not to mention he had given the invitation card to Burapha a long time ago but Burapha had never visited him.
Burapha didn't answer Kai's question. However, Kai understood it once he looked into the eyes of his son.
"You lost, right? Lost... even though it was a fight that you didn't want to lose at all costs." Kai's sentence caused Burapha's body to tremble.
Zeref didn't interrupt the conversation. He just quietly listened. In fact, he had planned to leave when Burapha arrived, but Kai prevented him from doing so via eye contact.
"What happened? Tell me."
Burapha slowly explained what had happened. As he explained, he took the cracked Godly Oceanic Armor, the half-broken Oceanic Trishula, and the Dragon Killer Sword out. Strangely, Zeref looked at those three items with interest.
Burapha ended his story as he said, "That's why I want to become stronger. I don't want to be a burden and don't want to rely on others to come and take care of me all the time."
Kai made a stiff expression while inwardly feeling delighted. He had forced Burapha to play this game, intending to let his son experience an event like this. There are things that cannot be taught forcefully. The Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art was one such thing. At the higher levels, practicing with or without a will creates a different result. Kai was aware of this so he no longer continued forcing Burapha to practice it. Nevertheless, he still hoped Burapha would learn it. Thus, he forced Burapha to play this game.
Well, he didn't have high hopes as he knew Burapha possessed a calculating personality and wouldn't put himself in a dangerous situation.
Luckily for him, at long last, Burapha finally came to him and sought for the higher levels of the lance art.
Although he was jumping with joy on the inside now that Burapha willingly wanted to practice the lance art, his face was solemn. Zeref, who knew Kai's personality, secretly giggled at such a sight.
"It's fine if you want me to teach you, but I have a condition."
"A condition? What condition? Previously, you always nagged me to practice it. Why is it that there is a condition when I want to practice it on my own accord?"
Kai shook his head. "For Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art at a higher levels, I can only impart the art to the dojo's successor and cannot teach it to others."
"Others? I'm your son and it isn't like I plan to show your martial art to the whole world. I guarantee that I won't impart the art to others."
Kai still continued to decline. "That's not enough. This is the rule set by our ancestors. Even I can't change it."
"Ancestors? You are the one who invented Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art, aren't you, dad? Our ancestors were merchants. Only you owned a dojo."
'Oops, that's right. this guy is as clever as his mom. What should I do now?' Kai inwardly thought.
"M-M-My grandpa appeared in my dreams last night and told me to include this into the family rules!! Don't ask too much! Just know that I can't teach the art to anyone else except for the successor of the dojo." Since it was no use arguing, Kai decided to shrug it off as his grandfather had appeared in a dream.
Burapha wasn't a fool. He was aware that his father intended for him to be the successor of the dojo and sighed. "It can't be helped. In that case, could you please accept me as the successor of the dojo?"
Kai picked his ear as if he wasn't confident in what he just heard. "What did you just say?"
"Please accept me as the successor of the dojo," Burapha repeated slowly.
Kai immediately stood up. "Yippee!! Finally!! I should quickly tell your mom, ah, no, I should hold a celebration party first. Ahh, no, before that, can you prepare a written contract and sign your signature on it? I'm afraid that you will change your mind."
Burapha made a serious face. "I won't change my mind. Can we postpone those things for later? I don't have much time and I want to become stronger as soon as possible."
Kai nodded. "No problem. You already have all the basics down. Just a week or two in the game should be enough. The rest is how to utilize it in each situation. For this one, you need to gain actual combat experience. Well, based on your story, you will get a lot of it as soon as you make an appearance outside."
"There is one problem," said Zeref, interrupting the conversation between the father and son duo.
"Oh, right, there is a problem." Kai nodded in agreement.
"What is it?"
Kai explained, "For Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art, if it is me, just a piece of wood is fine. However, for an inexperienced user like you, you will need a suitable weapon. That Revin kid you mentioned seems to be very strong. The next time you meet him, if he uses the Black Dragon Sword and you use an ordinary lance, it will be hard for you to block his attack."
"The Black Dragon Sword is made of a Bone of the Earth Dragon and the S-grade Flame Qilin Sword which is one-of-kind in the game. It was smelted with the help of Solaria's Dragon Scales, causing it to be a sturdy black sword that can resist high temperatures and also amplifies fire energy power that is infused into the sword," said Zeref.
Burapha was shocked. Revin's main weapon seemed to be a very powerful sword. "How do you know that, Uncle?"
"Of course I know, I'm the one who forged it," Zeref said indifferently.
Kai added, "My son, it is very fortunate for you to see him. Zeref is a descendant of the famous blacksmith lineage. I got to know him the day I begged him to forge Evil God Lance for me when I was young. Inside the game, Zeref is a legendary blacksmith NPC while I'm the One-Eyed Evil God. Well..." Kai cast his gaze on Zeref. "A single lance... it should be fine to forge it and give it to a youngster, right?"
"If you want me to forge a lance similar to the one that I made for you back then, just the materials here should be sufficient. Well, I'm not too sure. When I forged the Black Dragon Sword, that kid only brought me the Flame Qilin Sword so I had used up all of Solaria's Dragon Scales that I had in my possession to smelt it. Unfortunately for you, I won't be able to get my hands on Solaria's Dragon Scales during this time. Didn't you hear the news that it was hunted recently?"
Burapha quickly opened his system window and took out more than a hundred of Solaria's Dragon Scales, all of the ones in his possession, onto the beach. "Are these enough?"
Kai and Zeref seemed to be slightly surprised. "Oh, they should be enough. The Dragon Killer Sword seems to be harder to smelt than the Flame Qilin Sword. I used forty scales that time. A hundred of them is likely to be sufficient."
Burapha nodded. These scales were given to him by Sila, and he had promised to craft accessories to return the favor. Well, if they were all used up, he would just need to come up with another material.
Zeref waved his hand once and the mat made a flip while sucking the armor, the Trishula, the sword, and all of the dragon scales into it. He then wrapped the mat like a bag and carried it over his shoulder.
"I better go and let you two, father and son, have some time together. If you finish practicing and I still haven't delivered the product to you, you will have to visit my blacksmith shop in Zhongsuyuan City. I'm not so sure when the lance will be finished."
"Thank you, Uncle."
"No problem. Your dad will have to compensate me by collecting a bone from a high-level dragon for me later though. Hahaha," Zeref said as he disappeared.
Kai made a complaint, "Eh, What a stinky friend."
Burapha didn't say anything as he was very grateful for Zeref's kindness. Even though it was the first time he had met Zeref, his dad had once told him that, in real life, the value of each of Zeref's weapon easily exceeded millions. Even in Monster Soul, the value of Zeref's works was tremendous. Despite that, Zeref decided to forge a weapon for Burapha for free.
Kai tossed a short, wooden stick to Burapha. "Hold it. We will go and give respect to my master first."
"Dad's master? Didn't you tell me that this martial art is your own creation?" Burapha followed Kai to the edge of the beach.
"When I was young, I fell in love with martial arts. However, no matter which dojo I went to, I was rejected from learning their art. That's because I had no money since I ran away from your grandpa's house to escape from my fate as a merchant. I traveled to the east while not learning any of the martial arts that I loved. In the end, I reached the sea."
Burapha listened quietly as he was still clueless about how his father ended up inventing a lance art.
"Finally, I realized. There are many arts that mimic the style of the monkey, the praying mantis, the tiger, and many others. So, why can't I mimic something and create a new martial art for my own use? From that day onward, I spent my time gazing at the sea while coming up with my own martial art. In that sense, the sea is my master. Since living things cannot win against nature, I, with the sea as my master, should be stronger than others, isn't that right? I spent more than a year and finally completed the lance art that was as vast as the sea and as continuous as the waves. I named it Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art. After that, I traveled back along the route I took to get there and visited every dojo that rejected me."
"And then?"
Kai grinned. "Of course, it was the official advent of the complete Eastern Sea Sailing Lance Art. My reputation from that time gave me the chance to build a dojo. You were born after that, so I gave you the name Burapha to refer to the direction that brought me glory."
Burapha furrowed his brows. "But, you made your name on the return trip, weren't you? So, the direction that actually brought you your glory is supposed to be the west, isn't it?"
Kai scratched his head several times. "Ah, you're right. I didn't think it through."
T/N: Burapha means 'East' in Thai.Author: Ah. So, he needs to change his name to Prajim (West). Jokes aside, Burapha's episode has ended. We will continue with Sila's story in the next chapter.