“Oh, he never makes much money off the clinic, anyway,” Janice said. “Mostly he sells things at the trade hall or even takes the occasional adventuring contract. That’s where he is today.”

“So what does this Asano get out of it, if he’s working for free?” Belinda asked. “Doesn’t that seem a bit suspect, to you?”

“No, Mr Asano isn't like that,” Janice said. “He says it lets him practise his healing ability, and he is always practising so hard. But really, I think he just likes helping people.”

“Still sounds suspicious to me.”

“Oh, you wouldn't think so if you got to know him,” Janice said. “It’s also good that Mr Tillman has a friend. He used to spend all his time upstairs with his little experiments.”

“Still, keep an eye on him,” Belinda said. “You should never trust people who say they just want to help.”

52. Pain

52

Pain

“I’m taking it up to five.”

Rufus’s voice echoed through the mirage chamber. Jason stood waiting in his illusionary body. He was under the dome, but it was hidden by the false landscape. His senses told him he was standing on a desert hillside, ancient ruins all around him and dead enemies at his feet.

The mirage chamber was a strange experience. To Jason’s senses, everything was real, including himself. He felt the impact of every blow and the pain of every wound, even as his body lay unharmed in the control room.

The wounds vanished from Jason’s body and the fallen enemies around him vanished. In their place, five men appeared and immediately jumped to the attack.

Jason’s new art was different in many ways from what he had expected, although in hindsight such differences were obvious. In his own world, martial arts were designed to fight other humans, operating within a fixed range of physical capability. Adventurers had to fight anything from people with superhuman attributes to shark-crabs to spiders the size of a delivery van. It was tricky to put a wrist lock on something that didn’t have a wrist.

The Way of the Reaper consisted of five forms, which shifted the combat style’s priorities to meet changing circumstances. They were not organised to confront specific challenges, but rather to meet challenges in specific ways. The form Way of the Sage, for example, was the most mobile of the five stances. It was of equal use against multiple opponents in complicated terrain as it was against a giant creature with many legs.