Chapter 48: Boxing and Ideas
Chapter 48: Boxing and Ideas
But the world did not operate entirely according to calculations like that. He needed some kind of safety measure. No matter how low the possibility, it was better to avoid danger whenever possible.
And even aside from being wary of the Orphan Gang, Ras had accumulated enough wealth that it was about time he started thinking seriously about personal protection.
The best option would naturally be becoming strong himself. Ras recalled the scene Nebrania had shown him before.
“Ah...”
That image of himself subduing people through magic. Just imagining it made his heart race. But in reality, he was still only at the stage of awkwardly attempting everyday conversation with Teacher Bert, so for now it remained pure fantasy.
Subduing people through martial arts was unrealistic too. It was not as though he could instantly become a master, and this world was filled with different races possessing superior physical abilities.
Which naturally brought firearms to mind again.
The requirements were fairly strict, but in any case, the Republic of Smite did not completely prohibit civilian firearm ownership.
The first reason was that this was a world with magic, and as mentioned before, there were obvious differences in physical ability between races, which created strong demand for self-defense. The second reason was that while ordinary populated areas were relatively safe, deserts and extremely remote regions still contained dangerous monsters roaming around.
If guns felt too burdensome, there were also magical self-defense items. Simple versions resembled stun guns, while others could block several bullets or knife attacks.
In that sense, there were aspects where this world surpassed Earth despite Earth possessing more advanced science.
Ras decided to obtain self-defense equipment first. He had heard it was expensive, but if he was unwilling to spend money where necessary, there was no meaning in earning it at all.
There was no need to investigate where magical items were sold. He had seen them before in a department store. Rather than some hidden secret magic shop, they were displayed stylishly like luxury goods in high-end boutiques.
“Welcome! What kind of item are you looking for?”
Following his memory back to the place, Ras was greeted warmly by a green-haired Elf beauty in a tidy uniform smiling with the polished smile of capitalism.
“Yes. Do you happen to have something that can block guns and knives? Ah, and I’d also like some kind of restraint item.”
“Ah, yes. Please wait a moment.”
Apparently requests like this were common, because the employee reacted immediately and began taking products out. Meanwhile, Ras examined the items in the display cases. Unlike what he had imagined, none of them radiated any particularly mystical aura.
They simply looked like modern industrial products, similar to lighters or mobile phones. They contained engraved patterns and decorative designs, but according to what he had researched beforehand, those were purely aesthetic.
Some items displayed there looked impressively magical, with red rune characters glowing faintly through gold inlay work, but even those visible decorations contained no magical effect whatsoever. The actual functions were hidden internally.
“These are the products we recommend.”
The employee placed several items atop the glass display counter and explained each function one by one.
The usage methods were simple. Insert a mana cartridge, press the activation button, and once the light turned on, the item was ready to carry. Though they were called magical items, their appearance and operation were no different from electronic products.
“I’ll take these.”
“Ah, yes. I’ll package them immediately.”
“No. Just give them to me directly. I’ll wear them right away.”
Like electronics, the prices skyrocketed rapidly toward the high-end models. Since Ras was unlikely to get stabbed hundreds of times, he selected one with moderate performance that could block around twenty attacks.
For the restraint item, he chose something that summoned magical ropes to bind the target.
There were more aggressive options too, such as items that fired lightning bolts. However, according to what he researched beforehand, there were frequent cases where people accidentally killed targets through cardiac arrest and ended up becoming criminals themselves, so he intentionally selected the safest option available.
After receiving the items, Ras activated them immediately and tucked them into his inner pocket. It made him feel noticeably more secure. Honestly, he wanted to see a demonstration, but mana cartridges were so expensive that even department stores did not provide test runs.
Fortunately, according to his prior research, failures were extremely rare, so he could only trust the products and move on.
Still, even this alone did not fully reassure him. No matter how many self-defense tools he carried, Ras himself lacked any real combat experience, so he doubted he would perform well in an emergency.
He considered hiring bodyguards, but remembering the Orcs he had briefly employed before, he did not think he could tolerate constantly having people following him around. It would not only make him uncomfortable, but also create far too much awkwardness around him.
And it would probably attract even more attention.
He was already avoiding interview requests from magazines because he disliked becoming publicly recognizable. Walking around with bodyguards would practically announce to everyone that he was an important figure.
So the conclusion Ras arrived at was simple: At least try exercising a little!
He did not expect to defeat villains through martial arts. He simply wanted enough agility and quick judgment to properly use his self-defense items or escape if something happened.
Ras went to a bookstore and browsed magazines while considering what kind of training he should learn. There were far more options than he expected. The wild martial arts supposedly used by Beastmen resembled Chinese martial arts, while the aggressive fist techniques favored by Orcs felt similar to Taekwondo or Karate.
There were also arts similar to Jujutsu and Judo, and even swordsmanship.
As Ras looked through all these martial arts, a thought occurred to him. Maybe this could become the basis for a good game as well.
And in the end, the one he chose was boxing, currently the most popular combat sport.
One reason for the choice was that there happened to be a gym close to his house. Since he had already made up his mind, Ras immediately went there.
The gym building looked somewhat old, but it was fairly large, and a plaque boasting that they had produced an Eastern Champion hung proudly at the entrance. Since Ras had little connection to athletics, he felt somewhat intimidated, but after swallowing hard and straightening his shoulders, he pushed open the heavy door and stepped inside.
“Ugh.”
The smell of sweat and strong body odor immediately hit him. After briefly frowning, he looked around and saw members of various races drenched in sweat while training intensely throughout the spacious gym.
The facilities looked surprisingly good. There were even two boxing rings, along with punching-ball equipment he had only seen in comics and all sorts of unfamiliar exercise machines scattered around.
“Hm? You. You here to work out?”
As Ras looked around, a Beastman man who appeared around fifty years old and whose face was covered in scars approached and spoke to him. Judging by the yellow fur with white stripes covering his hair, ears, and tail, he was apparently a Tiger Beastman.
Though seeing how white hair spread wildly across his forehead, Ras briefly wondered if the stripes might simply be from old age instead.
“Yes... that’s right.”
As it turned out, this man was the gym owner. Unlike Earth, this was still an aggressively macho era filled with macho men, so there was none of the customer-service politeness Ras might have expected. People simply talked this way naturally.
It felt too natural for Ras to be offended, and since this world operated differently to begin with, all he could do was adapt and think, So this is just how things are here.
In any case, Ras signed up and immediately began training. Despite the rough atmosphere, the instruction itself was extremely detailed and careful. Considering the gym operated in an expensive area and occupied such a large building, it seemed they truly possessed skill.
“Yeah. Thought you’d be a weak little scholar, but you’ve actually got decent athletic sense.”
“Really?”
The typical gym flattery sounded remarkably natural too. Ras himself almost fell for it completely. After enthusiastically pounding away at the punching bag, he only realized much later that it had basically been lip service and awkwardly scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
During training, he also watched several sparring matches in the ring, and they were more entertaining than expected.
Afterward, Ras continued attending the gym and gradually developed a genuine interest in boxing. He began reading magazine and newspaper articles about it and even started watching televised matches.
Naturally, this led him to decide what Meta Soft’s next game would be.
A fighting game!
Boxing was already an extremely popular sport in this world. People might wonder how it remained popular when different races possessed different physical abilities, but the answer was simple.
Weight classes.
Orcs were stronger because they were larger and more muscular, so they simply competed in divisions like Over Super Heavyweight. Smaller races like Gnomes fought in divisions like Under Lightweight.
Since the different races were still fundamentally human, the differences were not extreme at the genetic level. Muscle output per unit was relatively similar. There were certainly differences, but Earth also had differences between races.
Because of that, certain sports on Earth naturally tended to be dominated by Black athletes. And the same phenomenon existed here.
In fact, even if the racial differences were not enormous, Super Heavyweight divisions naturally contained many Orcs and Lizardmen. Compared to the tiny number of Super Heavyweight Humans or Elves, the much larger talent pool naturally produced stronger fighters.
Ras immediately began constructing concepts based around boxing.
However, he had no intention of bringing over boxing rules exactly as they were. If he included rounds and all the usual technical details, the unique pacing of fighting games would disappear. Instead, he planned to make it work like ordinary fighting games where opponents battled until one side collapsed.
Well, I can just call it underground boxing or something.
Like matches taking place in some dark hidden world.
It was somewhat unrealistic. But even this world once had gladiator-like traditions where people fought to the death. And in modern times, illegal gambling fights and street brawls still existed, so it was not an impossible setting.
Ras briefly considered taking the dark setting even further by having fighters kill their opponents outright. But then he felt it would become too brutal and might actually sell worse because of it.
Besides, with current technology, expressing true brutality convincingly would be difficult anyway.
I’ll save Mortal Kombat for later.
Ras first began gathering materials related to boxing. After spending several days digging through books and magazines at libraries and gyms, he gradually developed a decent understanding.
To begin with, Ras was not completely ignorant about boxing. He was not the type to watch matches religiously, but he knew about famous fighters from the past and understood the basic rules.
Of course, that did not mean he truly understood boxing. But it was enough to identify material usable for a game.
For one thing, compared to Earth, boxing in this world felt simplistic. They naturally possessed basic techniques like jabs, straights, and hooks, and there were famous fighters too.
Ras recalled the fierce-looking Orc champions he had seen in magazines. They were not gangsters or warriors, just boxing champions. Occasionally there were Lizardmen or Humans as well, but the majority were Orcs.
These fighters possessed overwhelming wild charisma, and their matches certainly carried gripping tension.
But compared to the astonishing techniques of Earth’s legendary fighters remembered in Ras’s mind, everything here felt overly simple and primitive.
Jack Dempsey’s alternating left-right hooks, Tyson’s peek-a-boo style and the explosive fists created through the D’Amato Shift, Pacquiao’s machine-gun combinations, Muhammad Ali floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, Naseem Hamed’s no-guard style, Golovkin’s axe hook, and Mayweather’s shoulder roll.
The personalities and techniques of those fighters were so intense they remained vivid in Ras’s memory even after arriving in another world.
And once combined with the appearances of this world’s different races, the characters practically created themselves. Ras smirked while imagining it. If he had tried making this on Earth, he might have needed to pay outrageous royalties.