![Newbie Guide](https://i.imgur.com/Uy7hIlu.png")
Post by Gandigan on Nov 18, 2023 5:57:46 GMT -5
Gandigan had done some training with both Venova and Remin now. He had learnt some valuable lessons from each of them, though now he had grown curious as to what it was that Sheng had to show the young Mazoku. Despite Sheng appearing to be (on the surface) the weakest of the three by far, there was a strange aura about him that made Gandigan question his true strength, and he still remembered how odd he felt when Venova challenged Sheng but quickly backed down during their first meeting.
When he had trained with the Mazoku Venova, he had been taught a new technique, and when he trained with Remin he was given knowledge on how to produce a new poison. What would it be that Sheng taught him about? Perhaps the staff that he had been gifted, which Gandigan still hadn't quite figured out how to use yet. He had never really used any sort of weapon before and was struggling with incorporating it into his arsenal.
When Gandigan traveled to the world of the Namekians within the upper reaches of otherworld he found Sheng meditating out in a field, just outside of his home. The old man often enjoyed meditating which is a trait he shared with Remin, but that was pretty much the only thing they had in common. Gandigan approached slowly, as to try and avoid interrupting his thoughts, though as his footsteps got nearer Sheng's eyes would burst open.
"Gandigan!" The Mazoku was unsure of what to say. "Have you... brought my... Hetap?!" Gandigan newly collapsed. "Hetap? Seriously?" Sheng got to his feet and approached. "Of course. I can sense you want to train with me today... you think you get it for free? Just because Venova and Remin are suckers doesn't mean I am. Now go on and grab me a can from the fridge inside, and make sure you pull it from the back! I don't want it being warm by the time it gets here."
Gandigan didn't really like being an errand boy, yet at the same time Sheng looked quite firm in his desire to quench his thirst and so reluctantly Gandigan went inside and opened up the fridge. The whole thing was stuffed entirely with the drink that Sheng loved so much, making Gandigan wonder why it was he was also insistent on getting more from Kaeru; did he really go through so much of it so quickly?
In any case, the Namekian reached back to the depths of the fridge and grabbed the coldest can he could, quickly jogging back out to give it Sheng. The Dragon clansmen snatched it from his hand and gulped the thing down in a split second before throwing the can back through his doorway. "That's much better. Next time you should come to me with the can in hand so that I don't have to ask." Sheng began to walk away, as though he had forgotten why it was Gandigan had approached in the first place until the Mazoku stepped in front of him.
"Oh? Oh! Yes. Your training. I almost forgot. Sorry about that... well, where should we start?..." Sheng began to trail off again, turning around and walking in another direction before again the Mazoku had to step in his way. "Oh alright. I suppose we should start with a warm up, yes? My bones are more fragile than yours are, if I still have bones... do the bones of this body count? I'm not sure. Any way, the warm up begins now."
Sheng started off by doing a few quick stretched, bending over to touch his toes before twisting his hips around. Once he was as limber as he was going to get the old Namekian broke off into a jog, making laps around his planet with Gandigan following on behind. The probably crossed the planet over about a hundred times before the Mazoku finally questioned when their warm up was going to end. "You warm enough yet, old man? How about some real training?"
Sheng stopped dead in his tracks, causing Gandigan to slam into his back. He spun around and looked at the Mazoku with a colder face than he could ever recall Sheng wearing. "Don't you ever call me that again." Gandigan couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so he simply stood up and prepared for what came next.
"... But now that you ask, yes, I do believe I am warmed up enough. How about we--" Gandigan had to interrupt. He could sense that there was some more time wasting about to approach, so he went ahead and told Sheng exactly what he wanted from him. "How about the staff?" Gandigan pulled it from his back and held it out in his hands. "You gave me this staff, which I appreciate of course, but you didn't really tell me how to use it."
Sheng looked over the staff wearing an expression that would have made you think he had never seen the thing before, until finally something snapped in his head. "Ohhhhhhh! Yes. The Saoshyant. You know I was hoping that you'd be able to figure it out on your own. We all thought you were such a bright young boy... but I suppose I can take some time to try and show you how it's done. Hand it over and we'll begin." Sheng snatched the staff from his hands and put it on his own back.
"Perhaps we ought to start with a history lesson, shall we? I can tell you how I came in possession in the staff, and maybe that will help you understand it a bit better." Gandigan frowned. A history lesson wasn't exactly what he was expecting today. "Are you sure you can't give me some sort of... practical lesson instead? Like, maybe you can show me the meaning of that eternal fire, and how I can use it to burn people or something?"
Sheng shook his head. "Young people. Learn from history my child. Anyway... to begin with, we start on a planet called Kronos. This world is... well, I doubt it still exists. It looked near the end of it's life when I visited it, and that was a good thousand or so years ago now. I had a... disagreement with other members of my tribe, and so in order to get away from them for a bit I decided to go on a pilgrimage around the galaxy, which none others within my clan had ever done before."
Gandigan could already feel himself getting tired... but he wasn't going to interrupt Sheng again. "Kronos was going to be near the beginning of my journey, but I had heard some bad things about the place so I decided to avoid it. That was until I started getting a little cocky, believing myself to be some great adventurer now, so I decided to swing back around near the end. That was... well, nearly a disaster for me, even if I managed to pull something good out of it at the end."
Sheng brought the staff off his back and onto his hands, holding it out in front of him. "The Saoshyant. For many years it helped me to defend Namek. The Saoshyant was crafted from the oak of a the last remaining tree on Kronos. When I arrived, as I mentioned before, the planet was near death. One tribe remained to watch over tree, which looked remarkably healthy considering the state of the rest of the planet. It didn't take my long to figure out what was going on."
Gandigan looked up at Sheng with a bit of a confused face, which lead to the old Namekian looking back at him annoyed. "Do I have to spell everything out for you? The tree was draining the life force from the planet like a parasite. I tried to explain it to the locals, but they were about as smart as you were, and figured that the tree was some sort of deity to worship. I thought that maybe if I could sneak in behind them and destroy the tree I could maybe save the planet..."
By the tone of his voice, it was pretty obvious what happened to Kronos. "One night I snuck in around the sleeping tribe and hacked into the tree. My first swing tore off a big chunk of wood that feel into my arms, and as soon as it made contact I felt ill. I nearly collapsed, and I ended up waking the whole tribe up so I had to run off. The damned piece of wood was stuck to me and I nearly passed out during my escape, but I managed to outrun them in the end."
Sheng took the Saoshyant and placed it back on his back. "Just it's touch was enough to drain me of a lot, so I have the idea to try and make a weapon out of it of course. In the end I settled on what you see now. The flame between the prongs is perpetual; it burns, the staff absorbs and feeds back into it. You've done well to avoid being drained by it so far, but that's the first step of the training. To master it takes... oh, a few hundred years?"
Gandigan's jaw dropped. "A few hundred years? You think I have that long to defeat Lottus? I need something that takes a year to master, tops. What the Hell was the point in giving me that anyway!?" Sheng looked furious at Gandigan's reaction, grabbing the Saoshyant off his back and thwacking it over the Mazoku's head again. "You don't want it?! Fine. I'll take it back. Fight Lottus with those fists of yours and see how far you get this time."
Sheng got up and began to walk away with the staff in hand, though Gandigan was able to quickly catch up to him. "Hold on a minute now, Sheng. I... I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I appreciate your gift, I just question how useful it will be in the battles I have to face. We both know I don't have that much time to prepare for Lottus."
Sheng looked at him with an inquisitive look, before ultimately sighing. "Aye, I suppose you're right... so I guess it's time for something new then." The old Dragon clapped his hand, causing the Saoshyant to disappear. "Lucky for you this isn't the only thing I have. I've been a collector of weapons within the afterlife for quite some time now, and perhaps if we take a look through my stock you might be able to find something a bit more up your valley."
Sheng quickly hurried off to his home, with Gandigan following along after him. The Dragon clansman opened up a door to his basement and lead the two down, where upon turning on a light the Mazoku bore witness to two or three dozen magnificently crafted weapons. He circled around the room, trying to take it all in, before finally Sheng interrupted. "Well? You see any that you like? You better say yes so we can get to training."
As it just so happened Gandigan did see something that peaked his interest. Walking over to the left wall, within the center of the row lay a weapon that the Namekian had never seen before. It looked like some sort of combination between a sword and spear, with a wide blade and long, intricately crafted hilt. Gandigan took the hilt in his hands and pried it from the wall. As he did so Sheng approached, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The Moralltach. I pray you use it well."
WC: 1953
When he had trained with the Mazoku Venova, he had been taught a new technique, and when he trained with Remin he was given knowledge on how to produce a new poison. What would it be that Sheng taught him about? Perhaps the staff that he had been gifted, which Gandigan still hadn't quite figured out how to use yet. He had never really used any sort of weapon before and was struggling with incorporating it into his arsenal.
When Gandigan traveled to the world of the Namekians within the upper reaches of otherworld he found Sheng meditating out in a field, just outside of his home. The old man often enjoyed meditating which is a trait he shared with Remin, but that was pretty much the only thing they had in common. Gandigan approached slowly, as to try and avoid interrupting his thoughts, though as his footsteps got nearer Sheng's eyes would burst open.
"Gandigan!" The Mazoku was unsure of what to say. "Have you... brought my... Hetap?!" Gandigan newly collapsed. "Hetap? Seriously?" Sheng got to his feet and approached. "Of course. I can sense you want to train with me today... you think you get it for free? Just because Venova and Remin are suckers doesn't mean I am. Now go on and grab me a can from the fridge inside, and make sure you pull it from the back! I don't want it being warm by the time it gets here."
Gandigan didn't really like being an errand boy, yet at the same time Sheng looked quite firm in his desire to quench his thirst and so reluctantly Gandigan went inside and opened up the fridge. The whole thing was stuffed entirely with the drink that Sheng loved so much, making Gandigan wonder why it was he was also insistent on getting more from Kaeru; did he really go through so much of it so quickly?
In any case, the Namekian reached back to the depths of the fridge and grabbed the coldest can he could, quickly jogging back out to give it Sheng. The Dragon clansmen snatched it from his hand and gulped the thing down in a split second before throwing the can back through his doorway. "That's much better. Next time you should come to me with the can in hand so that I don't have to ask." Sheng began to walk away, as though he had forgotten why it was Gandigan had approached in the first place until the Mazoku stepped in front of him.
"Oh? Oh! Yes. Your training. I almost forgot. Sorry about that... well, where should we start?..." Sheng began to trail off again, turning around and walking in another direction before again the Mazoku had to step in his way. "Oh alright. I suppose we should start with a warm up, yes? My bones are more fragile than yours are, if I still have bones... do the bones of this body count? I'm not sure. Any way, the warm up begins now."
Sheng started off by doing a few quick stretched, bending over to touch his toes before twisting his hips around. Once he was as limber as he was going to get the old Namekian broke off into a jog, making laps around his planet with Gandigan following on behind. The probably crossed the planet over about a hundred times before the Mazoku finally questioned when their warm up was going to end. "You warm enough yet, old man? How about some real training?"
Sheng stopped dead in his tracks, causing Gandigan to slam into his back. He spun around and looked at the Mazoku with a colder face than he could ever recall Sheng wearing. "Don't you ever call me that again." Gandigan couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so he simply stood up and prepared for what came next.
"... But now that you ask, yes, I do believe I am warmed up enough. How about we--" Gandigan had to interrupt. He could sense that there was some more time wasting about to approach, so he went ahead and told Sheng exactly what he wanted from him. "How about the staff?" Gandigan pulled it from his back and held it out in his hands. "You gave me this staff, which I appreciate of course, but you didn't really tell me how to use it."
Sheng looked over the staff wearing an expression that would have made you think he had never seen the thing before, until finally something snapped in his head. "Ohhhhhhh! Yes. The Saoshyant. You know I was hoping that you'd be able to figure it out on your own. We all thought you were such a bright young boy... but I suppose I can take some time to try and show you how it's done. Hand it over and we'll begin." Sheng snatched the staff from his hands and put it on his own back.
"Perhaps we ought to start with a history lesson, shall we? I can tell you how I came in possession in the staff, and maybe that will help you understand it a bit better." Gandigan frowned. A history lesson wasn't exactly what he was expecting today. "Are you sure you can't give me some sort of... practical lesson instead? Like, maybe you can show me the meaning of that eternal fire, and how I can use it to burn people or something?"
Sheng shook his head. "Young people. Learn from history my child. Anyway... to begin with, we start on a planet called Kronos. This world is... well, I doubt it still exists. It looked near the end of it's life when I visited it, and that was a good thousand or so years ago now. I had a... disagreement with other members of my tribe, and so in order to get away from them for a bit I decided to go on a pilgrimage around the galaxy, which none others within my clan had ever done before."
Gandigan could already feel himself getting tired... but he wasn't going to interrupt Sheng again. "Kronos was going to be near the beginning of my journey, but I had heard some bad things about the place so I decided to avoid it. That was until I started getting a little cocky, believing myself to be some great adventurer now, so I decided to swing back around near the end. That was... well, nearly a disaster for me, even if I managed to pull something good out of it at the end."
Sheng brought the staff off his back and onto his hands, holding it out in front of him. "The Saoshyant. For many years it helped me to defend Namek. The Saoshyant was crafted from the oak of a the last remaining tree on Kronos. When I arrived, as I mentioned before, the planet was near death. One tribe remained to watch over tree, which looked remarkably healthy considering the state of the rest of the planet. It didn't take my long to figure out what was going on."
Gandigan looked up at Sheng with a bit of a confused face, which lead to the old Namekian looking back at him annoyed. "Do I have to spell everything out for you? The tree was draining the life force from the planet like a parasite. I tried to explain it to the locals, but they were about as smart as you were, and figured that the tree was some sort of deity to worship. I thought that maybe if I could sneak in behind them and destroy the tree I could maybe save the planet..."
By the tone of his voice, it was pretty obvious what happened to Kronos. "One night I snuck in around the sleeping tribe and hacked into the tree. My first swing tore off a big chunk of wood that feel into my arms, and as soon as it made contact I felt ill. I nearly collapsed, and I ended up waking the whole tribe up so I had to run off. The damned piece of wood was stuck to me and I nearly passed out during my escape, but I managed to outrun them in the end."
Sheng took the Saoshyant and placed it back on his back. "Just it's touch was enough to drain me of a lot, so I have the idea to try and make a weapon out of it of course. In the end I settled on what you see now. The flame between the prongs is perpetual; it burns, the staff absorbs and feeds back into it. You've done well to avoid being drained by it so far, but that's the first step of the training. To master it takes... oh, a few hundred years?"
Gandigan's jaw dropped. "A few hundred years? You think I have that long to defeat Lottus? I need something that takes a year to master, tops. What the Hell was the point in giving me that anyway!?" Sheng looked furious at Gandigan's reaction, grabbing the Saoshyant off his back and thwacking it over the Mazoku's head again. "You don't want it?! Fine. I'll take it back. Fight Lottus with those fists of yours and see how far you get this time."
Sheng got up and began to walk away with the staff in hand, though Gandigan was able to quickly catch up to him. "Hold on a minute now, Sheng. I... I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I appreciate your gift, I just question how useful it will be in the battles I have to face. We both know I don't have that much time to prepare for Lottus."
Sheng looked at him with an inquisitive look, before ultimately sighing. "Aye, I suppose you're right... so I guess it's time for something new then." The old Dragon clapped his hand, causing the Saoshyant to disappear. "Lucky for you this isn't the only thing I have. I've been a collector of weapons within the afterlife for quite some time now, and perhaps if we take a look through my stock you might be able to find something a bit more up your valley."
Sheng quickly hurried off to his home, with Gandigan following along after him. The Dragon clansman opened up a door to his basement and lead the two down, where upon turning on a light the Mazoku bore witness to two or three dozen magnificently crafted weapons. He circled around the room, trying to take it all in, before finally Sheng interrupted. "Well? You see any that you like? You better say yes so we can get to training."
As it just so happened Gandigan did see something that peaked his interest. Walking over to the left wall, within the center of the row lay a weapon that the Namekian had never seen before. It looked like some sort of combination between a sword and spear, with a wide blade and long, intricately crafted hilt. Gandigan took the hilt in his hands and pried it from the wall. As he did so Sheng approached, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The Moralltach. I pray you use it well."
WC: 1953
