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Arriving at the familiar sight where he was surrounded by clouds, TJ knew he was at the Dream Echo Battlefield.
Upon passing through the large archway, he arrived at the main battlefield itself. There, he saw the statues of the Dream Echoes, including the new ones.
The Warriors were grouped together, and so were the Casters. This made it easier for him to figure out who the Fusion Class was because there it was standing by itself.
This one didn't have a name, and that was fine with TJ. Had this been a named Dream Echo, he'd probably have to wait until his strength and rank reached a certain level before fighting it.
TJ will admit curiosity got the better of him.
He'd been thinking about this specific Dream Echo all day. He just can't help but wonder what it's like to fight one. So, he chose to fight this one for tonight.
As he made that decision, all other statues faded in the background, and the one he chose came to life.
The Fusion Class Dream Echo was faceless just like others because it's unnamed. Well...it does have a face, but it's a face that's shrouded with fuzzy light, and from the physique of the dream echo, it's very likely that it's a male.
Just like him, the Dream Echo was wearing his training gear. The weapon choice of his opponent was gauntlets that covered his entire arm. He also wore a set of greaves, indicating that the fighting style of this person was melee, favoring punches and kicks.
'Unusual,' TJ muttered inwardly.
You don't get to see a lot of people relying on their hands and feet to fight. Almost every combat professional chooses a weapon to master. He knows that there are classes that favored the unarmed combat style, such as boxers, pugilists, and maybe monks, but people are either out of options or have some kind of plan by choosing those classes in their professional career.
TJ focused. The unusual fighting style of his opponent wasn't a valid reason to look down on him.
Very soon, the battle started. The trigger was the swift movement of his opponent.
'Fast! 'TJ!' he exclaimed to himself as he hurriedly defended.
The dream echo was quick on his feet and decisive with his blows. TJ blinked, and suddenly, the enemy was already upon him.
TJ raised his rapier to defend against the punch. When the enemy's fist fell upon his blade, TJ winced in pain as he felt the impact reverberating through his body.
'Heavy! Why is it so heavy? 'He exclaimed in alarm at the unexpected weight of the blow.
Gritting his teeth, he redirected the punch and swiftly retreated to gain some distance. But his opponent didn't give him too much freedom. This is where TJ discovered that his opponent was faster than him.
'This is bad! 'He told himself.
Sweat started pouring down his back. He had a brief thought that, maybe, he kicked an iron plate this time...barefoot.
Clang!
TJ was forced to receive yet another punch, and this one was stronger and heavier than the last one because the enemy put his back slightly into it.
This is where he discovered that the gauntlets...no, the arm of his enemy was emitting a soft blue light.
'Of course! How can I forget!? It's mana! The enemy has mana. He's probably using some kind of reinforcement spell to enhance his blows! '
This is the difference between the Warrior Class and Fusion Class. The former doesn't have any mana, while the latter does. And the latter can potentially do everything that the former can do but better because they are born with more mana.
Warriors have mana too; in fact, every human has mana. Warriors, especially this early on, only have just a tad bit more than the regular folk and most of the lifestyle professionals.
As warriors increase their rank, their mana reserves will grow; this will then allow them to use spells, but nothing at the level that casters can do. Besides, advanced professions that were purely of the warrior class had their own skill sets, which required varying levels of mana. They certainly won't use it like Casters do.
It's because of Mana that Fusion Classes are just built differently. They can be, or are forced to be, the best of both worlds. They can be as tough and as aggressive as warriors while also utilizing mana like, or sometimes even better than, casters do.
The dream echo TJ's facing right now is at the Novice Rank, just like him. He shouldn't be at too much of a disadvantage; even if he was, there should be other ways for him to deal with his opponent.
However, he's facing a Fusion Class dream echo who happens to be both good at melee and able to use reinforcement spells. Although he could tell that this person wasn't good at using spells, because he had seen how Lily does it, this was still something that was beyond his capabilities to handle.
Alas, it's a little too late now. He can't change opponents in the middle of a fight. He must see this through to the end.
The pressure was on. TJ was forced to flee and evade repeatedly because he's now made aware that he just can't take it head-on.
He was barely escaping through the tight attacks his opponent forced him into. He could hear the air whistling along the enemy's every punch and kick; if that landed anywhere near his body, TJ would be in a world of pain.
And so, TJ was forced to go all out. He can't afford to relax here. The pressure the enemy gave him was simply too much.
Of course, he was trying to fight back. He's constantly looking for opportunities to punish his opponent; sometimes he'd succeed and do minimal damage, but most of the time, he wouldn't be able to since the enemy was just too quick to recover.
In terms of raw strength, speed, reaction time, and combat finesse, TJ was outclassed. It's crazy that this was just a novice because he's almost certain that novices shouldn't be hitting this hard.
Because of the pressure, TJ had completely missed the fact that his limits were actually being pushed to the extreme right now. And each time he survived yet another blow, mastery points for his skills started raining in.
In the background, the system quietly listed the results of this fight...
[Footwork Technique +5! ]
[Breathing Technique +2! ]
[Fighting Technique +3! ]
[Fencing +10! ]
Alas, TJ was too busy trying to survive the blows of his enemy to notice this at all.
Pow!
"Ugh!"
A single misstep caused a delay in his movement and evasion. That one wrong move caused him to be hurt because the enemy took swift action to punish this carelessness.
A punch landed squarely on TJ's stomach, sending him nearly curling into a ball due to how painful it was. His vision blurred, and he's quite certain that he spat out some blood because of that.
Despite being in pain, though, he couldn't afford to stop moving because the enemy wouldn't show mercy to him. This was confirmed when, just a second later after he evaded, the enemy punched down on the area he'd previously been in, and despite fighting in the clouds, he heard a loud thud and the signs of the ground cracking when his fist made contact with the floor.
TJ actually had to evade again because his opponent twisted his body and used the momentum to send himself into a flying kick aimed at TJ's head.
He tried to stab him while he was still in the air, and he managed to do so, but the tip of his blade met the metal-covered palm of the enemy. The enemy then held the rapier tightly, refusing to let go and unafraid of being sliced since he's wearing gauntlets.
When TJ committed to the act of trying to free his weapon out of the enemy's hand, that's when he was kicked squarely at his side, forcing him to let go of the weapon.
He then heard the sound of breaking metal. He looked up just to see that his opponent destroyed his blade mercilessly, effectively disarming him.
TJ panicked, and that's where everything fell apart.
He got stuck on thinking that he's less effective as a warrior without his weapon, instead of thinking that he could still fight even without a weapon. There's a massive difference between these two mental states.
Without his weapon, he was forced to endure the attacks of his enemy using nothing but his raw flesh, and it went as well as anybody could expect it to, which is not at all.
TJ was pummeled into the clouds. He was wounded, bruised, and in agony.
Then, with a final punch, the enemy ended the fight. TJ blacked out after that. His consciousness was expelled from the Dream Echo Battlefield, sent back to his uninjured yet still in-pain body.
The pain he felt was so intense that TJ didn't wake up until the next day.