Yajin Tensei: Karate Survivor in Another World - Vol. 11 Ch. 68 - The Skill of Ben

[WJ_PK]

Going in expecting average skill range and up fighting with one of the top 10% of the verse

Average Discord Fighting Game moment

 

[finalm]

it's magical. from a magic hippo or walrus or something so can have nay properties author wants cause it's magical properties, not real world. This is an isekai bro

Nope, bro. That excuse does not fly unless explicitly stated. Even more so in a low-magic world like this. Can you even recall an obviously supernatural effect shown here besides the abilities of the recently dead fox? How many chapters ago was that? Even if that wasn't the case, handwaving it off as basically "a wizard did it" is supposed to be the author's job, not yours. He already did it with the material's toughness being able to protect against bladed weapons and since it was stated directly, I don't challenge it, even though it's BS by RL logic.

 

[Hauberk1800]

Nope, bro. That excuse does not fly unless explicitly stated. Even more so in a low-magic world like this. Can you even recall an obviously supernatural effect shown here besides the abilities of the recently dead fox? How many chapters ago was that? Even if that wasn't the case, handwaving it off as basically "a wizard did it" is supposed to be the author's job, not yours. He already did it with the material's toughness being able to protect against bladed weapons and since it was stated directly, I don't challenge it, even though it's BS by RL logic.

Hmm, yeah you have a point. Author has to write that in rather than us as readers having to fill in the gaps for where something doesn't make sense. It's like, ok this is YOUR isekai, what are the rules for YOUR world here. Show, tell, draw, exposition, let's go. The fact that I literally tried to say, well iT's A mAgIcAl WoRlD is proof enough that author didn't do it. My bad bro

 

[finalm]

Hmm, yeah you have a point. Author has to write that in rather than us as readers having to fill in the gaps for where something doesn't make sense. It's like, ok this is YOUR isekai, what are the rules for YOUR world here. Show, tell, draw, exposition, let's go. The fact that I literally tried to say, well iT's A mAgIcAl WoRlD is proof enough that author didn't do it. My bad bro

No prob, bro , thanks for hearing me out. This is exactly my gripe, if it was said that the suit protects from impacts because the leather comes from a magical creature whose skin has that exact effect then I wouldn't even mention it. I mean, I might still complain about cheap worldbuilding, mainly because it has been pretty good so far . Still that kind of mechanic is common enough in media to let it slide. The author seems to still want a gritty, semi-realistic story about a guy surviving just by his martial arts skills, but instead of doubling down on realism and having him get functional protection at a trade-off, he went down a path he clearly can't accept for what it is and now has to make stuff up.

 

[tigerstar186]

This is exactly my gripe, if it was said that the suit protects from impacts because the leather comes from a magical creature whose skin has that exact effect then I wouldn't even mention it.

Isn't this what happens in the chapter, though? Ben says the Sirenia's hide can't be scratched by a sword, and even the inner layer (which the bodysuit is made of) can absorb some of the impact too.

Your assumption is predicated on the idea the sirenia wasn't at all magical, but that just doesn't really make sense with how the world is presented? Basically everything is magical. You ask when we have seen magic other than the recent Mirage Fox... but we have seen it kinda everywhere? Sure, people aren't running around casting flashy fireballs left and right, but we've seen magic repeatedly and it's an integral part of the world. The fight directly before the mirage fox, the wolves also had some form of camouflaging magic, the trees were warping and curving slightly, with Yajin only being alerted to them because Puppy noticed. Then there's Puppy, a literal dragon, who has a soul contract with Yajin. We've seen healing magic treat injuries, and we know gods exist because of the deal at the start. All people have magical enhancements to their abilities in the form of level and skills, Yajin just has very mundane seeming ones so it doesn't always come across (Like "Karate" and "Thought Acceleration"). They even have specialized magical objects and classifications specifically for judging such things. This world is chock-full of magic.

It seems like more of a stretch to assume a powerful monster isn't magical than is.

 

[tigerstar186]

It's nice to see Yajin get beat in a contest of skills instead of just numbers. Karate is all well and good but there's a reason humans use weapons when they fight each other, it's an extreme advantage. (Even Yajin knows this, seeing as he uses them, albeit less directly than a swordsman might)

It also leaves room for growth skill and knowledge-wise, knowing that our MC isn't already crazy OP and just needs better stats. Personally I'm hoping he never becomes the absolute strongest in the world, mostly just because of the types of stories I prefer. It feels like most Isekai are scared of letting their protagonist have any real struggle beyond whatever they open on, so this is a breath of fresh air.

 

[Zykeroth]

That said, I hate to say that the art didn't match up. In some panels Yajin's leg muscles look like a bag packed full of straw. And the flow from one movement to the next doesn't always work. It's the difference between a 9/10 chapter and a 7/10. Not the worst. Just the sting of missed potential.

It's partially this, but you must also consider that these mid-motion pose shots look unnatural more often than not. I once looked up a slow-motion of a baseball player throwing and it was a wild moment of revelation. You think joints wouldn't bend like that, but they do, for a split second.

 

[finalm]

Isn't this what happens in the chapter, though? Ben says the Sirenia's hide can't be scratched by a sword, and even the inner layer (which the bodysuit is made of) can absorb some of the impact too.

Your assumption is predicated on the idea the sirenia wasn't at all magical, but that just doesn't really make sense with how the world is presented? Basically everything is magical. You ask when we have seen magic other than the recent Mirage Fox... but we have seen it kinda everywhere? Sure, people aren't running around casting flashy fireballs left and right, but we've seen magic repeatedly and it's an integral part of the world. The fight directly before the mirage fox, the wolves also had some form of camouflaging magic, the trees were warping and curving slightly, with Yajin only being alerted to them because Puppy noticed. Then there's Puppy, a literal dragon, who has a soul contract with Yajin. We've seen healing magic treat injuries, and we know gods exist because of the deal at the start. All people have magical enhancements to their abilities in the form of level and skills, Yajin just has very mundane seeming ones so it doesn't always come across (Like "Karate" and "Thought Acceleration"). They even have specialized magical objects and classifications specifically for judging such things. This world is chock-full of magic.

It seems like more of a stretch to assume a powerful monster isn't magical than is.

That's not what I was assuming. The creature the leather is from is clearly otherworldly due to the supposed toughness of it's skin alone and that's fine - it was explicitly said that was the case earlier. However, now there's talk of an "inner hide layer" which not only is nowhere to be seen here, due to it's thinness, but there was no mention of the effect before, which is a big deal for armor. In short, it feels tacked on after the author realized that just because a thin and light material won't get cut, it's still useless for realistically receiving blows by itself.

This is why I said "obviously supernatural effect", rather than "magic" which is nebulous and can mean anything. Other than the healing you mentioned (which I honestly don't recall) and perhaps that "link", those things could have a non-supernatural origin and explanation, after all it involves creatures that evolved on a different world. In any case, I'm not claiming there are no honest-to-god supernatural/magic goings on there. I'm just saying they are either very subtle or very rare.

 

[broadsword80]

It's starting to make sense how Ben and his sister can run a shop in this shitty town.

Still, as the disciple of a hero, you would think he'd set up shop in a far better place. I'm really interested in hearing his backstory.

 

[Hauberk1800]

It's nice to see Yajin get beat in a contest of skills instead of just numbers. Karate is all well and good but there's a reason humans use weapons when they fight each other, it's an extreme advantage. (Even Yajin knows this, seeing as he uses them, albeit less directly than a swordsman might)

It also leaves room for growth skill and knowledge-wise, knowing that our MC isn't already crazy OP and just needs better stats. Personally I'm hoping he never becomes the absolute strongest in the world, mostly just because of the types of stories I prefer. It feels like most Isekai are scared of letting their protagonist have any real struggle beyond whatever they open on, so this is a breath of fresh air.

This, it's so much more fun to see them struggle using their knowledge than just being able to brute force through everything

 

[tigerstar186]

LHowever, now there's talk of an "inner hide layer" which not only is nowhere to be seen here, due to it's thinness, but there was no mention of the effect before, which is a big deal for armor.

Back when they first meet and Emma is explaining the features of the hide to him, she very explicitly says the hide is double layered, and goes on to mention one of the features of the inner layer is that it is tough in addition to being flexible. This isn't new or sudden. The author already told us.

And drawing the line at incredibly tough but thin armour that isn't visibly bulky as too obviously supernatural in a "low-magic" world is crazy, you're just arbitrary deciding what is or is not too magical for this to be a magical world. You can call it supernatural if you like (although you yourself explicitly called it magic before that...) But you cannot genuinely convince me you think experience points, leveling, and skills that can instantly teach you how to use a manmade weapon, harden your skin, sense danger, or turn off bad tastes at will are explained by evolution but materials exhibiting traits other than those in our own reality is fantasy. That is an insane position to take. What form of non-suoernatural evolution allows you to steal power from the things you kill, with floating windows and numerical counts of that progress?

I feel like you just haven't read the series in a while and are making assumptions about all of this because you would prefer something more realistic. I would agree that a more grounded fantasy would be more interesting, personally I'd like it if "skills" and the like didn't exist in the series at all. But to try to act like this is anything other than what the series has already been doesn't make sense.

 

[outinthegardener]

It's partially this, but you must also consider that these mid-motion pose shots look unnatural more often than not. I once looked up a slow-motion of a baseball player throwing and it was a wild moment of revelation. You think joints wouldn't bend like that, but they do, for a split second.

Are you thinking of his kick from page 13? I'm fine with that one. Some foreshortening, we can't really see his thigh muscles. The cross-hatching on his right leg (the straight one) makes it look lumpy on the inner thigh, at the Adductor.

No the drawing that really lost the anatomy was the leg on page 10. With his knee bent back, the three masses on the Quadriceps wouldn't be under tension, so there wouldn't be much bulging muscle to define. Yet, there are all these hatching lines to indicate bulges. It makes the leg look like a lumpy pillow. If they just erased most of the hatching it would be fine. Even better, they could have reshaped the line on the inner thigh to indicate the sartorius squeezing between the Quadriceps and the Adductor.

 

[finalm]

Back when they first meet and Emma is explaining the features of the hide to him, she very explicitly says the hide is double layered, and goes on to mention one of the features of the inner layer is that it is tough in addition to being flexible. This isn't new or sudden. The author already told us.

And drawing the line at incredibly tough but thin armour that isn't visibly bulky as too obviously supernatural in a "low-magic" world is crazy, you're just arbitrary deciding what is or is not too magical for this to be a magical world. You can call it supernatural if you like (although you yourself explicitly called it magic before that...) But you cannot genuinely convince me you think experience points, leveling, and skills that can instantly teach you how to use a manmade weapon, harden your skin, sense danger, or turn off bad tastes at will are explained by evolution but materials exhibiting traits other than those in our own reality is fantasy. That is an insane position to take. What form of non-suoernatural evolution allows you to steal power from the things you kill, with floating windows and numerical counts of that progress?

I feel like you just haven't read the series in a while and are making assumptions about all of this because you would prefer something more realistic. I would agree that a more grounded fantasy would be more interesting, personally I'd like it if "skills" and the like didn't exist in the series at all. But to try to act like this is anything other than what the series has already been doesn't make sense.

That was in relation to it being able to prevent weapons from penetrating it, which I already said I do not challenge, despite it being nonsense IRL. Also, at that point we had no idea that the "tough armor" was going to be a skinsuit, which would have raised all sorts of questions immediately. The thing about absorbing impacts is entirely new, if you disagree, provide a chapter and page.

I already said pretty clearly that I do not claim there's no magic/supernatural forces around, yet you still hang onto that notion as if I had and were trying to convince you of that, to boot. It's borderline strawmanning at this point. I said it's a low-magic world.

It's true I haven't re-read from the beggining in a while, that's why I don't recall everything. It has nothing to do with what I'd prefer though, I'm fine with non-realism, as long as the story properly commits and remains logically consitent, rather than pull things out of the authorss ass.

 

[The_Lamb]

It's starting to make sense how Ben and his sister can run a shop in this shitty town.

Still, as the disciple of a hero, you would think he'd set up shop in a far better place. I'm really interested in hearing his backstory.

I don't recall the exact number, but from the LN, I think Ben also has a higher level than Yajin.

And as far as a better place, there isn't really one in this world. His workshop is behind guards, and he doesn't have to do anything risky that puts his sister in danger.

 

[Knighto]

pretty cool chapter, but gonna comment that Yajin could have his nuts destroyed after failing his counter counter rising kick

 

[budle89]

Wait... So he got isekai'd in WItcher's Universe? LOL

 

[goodhunter]

This means while Ben isn't probably anywhere near a saint level in swordsmanship, he's at the very least probably a tier or two below that in terms of proficiency. This means Yajin still forced someone of that level to go all out. Regardless of Yajin's loss, this still shows that he's still pretty skilled within this world.

 

[wussmapoipus]

I feel like you're talking about something else entirely. Where exactly do they say that? I've got a direct quote about what I've been saying - "Sirenia hide is so tough that an iron sword won't even scratch it. And the inner hide layer can absorb some of the impact too" - are you saying he is talking about something other than what Yajin is wearing right now? My point is and always was, that the part about absorbing impact is BS, no matter how tough it is. Also, that the author insisting a skintight suit has some sort of padding layer is absurd.

Absorbing impact with material that thin would indeed be BS in our world. But this is a world where rank 4 creatures have hides so tough you cannot pierce it with an iron blade, and instead need to resort to the expensive black steel to cut through it. With that context, something that thin being that resistant to cuts may be possible. As could a thin inner layer that decreases impact. I think of rubber, and how even a thin layer of it makes things bounce off it.

I do understand that it genuinely looks millimeters thick, which isn’t a lot to stuff an extra layer in, but that can be chalked up as it being drawn inconsistently. In the previous chapter it looked a bit thick, but it looks slimmer in this chapter.

Sorry, I can see you’ve kinda been bombarded on this topic, and you do make valid points.

 

[finalm]

Absorbing impact with material that thin would indeed be BS in our world. But this is a world where rank 4 creatures have hides so tough you cannot pierce it with an iron blade, and instead need to resort to the expensive black steel to cut through it. With that context, something that thin being that resistant to cuts may be possible. As could a thin inner layer that decreases impact. I think of rubber, and how even a thin layer of it makes things bounce off it.

I'm confused right now. Do you mean to say that it's fine because magic? Or are you arguing that there could be a naturalistic way of producing such a thin material that absorbs some impact force? The latter, while it can not be argued with, comes with the full force of "a wizard did it" worldbuilding and the author seems to be aware of it, since he avoids going that way. As for the former, please don't be offended, but I honestly laughed at your rubber proposal . In short, unless it's super thick (and in this case, there are better ways), it won't do anything for you and you can try it out for yourself if you doubt me. Just please not on your (or someone elses) actual body . In rigid materials like that, the amount of impact absorption is limited to the amount of deformation it can take (without breaking) and a thin layer of rubber has almost none to work with.

I do understand that it genuinely looks millimeters thick, which isn’t a lot to stuff an extra layer in, but that can be chalked up as it being drawn inconsistently. In the previous chapter it looked a bit thick, but it looks slimmer in this chapter.

But.. it's consistently drawn as very thin, enough to get all his muscles on display. Why on earth would we then assume otherwise then?

Sorry, I can see you’ve kinda been bombarded on this topic, and you do make valid points.

Don't mind it, I wouldn't post if I were not up for a discussion.

 

[wussmapoipus]

I'm confused right now. Do you mean to say that it's fine because magic?

More or less, as (i think?) it is stated fact that black steel weapons are almost required to handle rank 4 monsters. When I read it, I kinda interpreted it as a rule of the world, which is yes, basically just magic.

And not to nitpick, but rubber is NOT rigid. And my point wasn’t that it could be rubber, but simply something with the ability to disperse shock like rubber does, likely to a better extent and while being more deformable.
It could be a material that hardens on contact, a material that has layers that disperse shock across the layers, could even be that it’s a combination where the top layer is cut resistant and the lower one shock resistant and the two somehow synergize together.

As for how its able to contour the body like that, literally no explanations. I gave the mangaka the benefit of the doubt, in the previous chapter it looks 3x-4x thicker than this one, but realistically no clothing can sit that tight on your skin. Even skin tight clothing doesn’t do that, it stretches between the peaks, it wouldn’t fold into the gaps like that. I think mangaka tend to just draw the muscles onto tight clothing, because that’s the easiest way to say “hey these clothes are tight”. Really skilled artists are able to draw the pull of tight fabric over muscles, but that stuffs hella tough and requires practice with drawing that kind of fabric.

Finally, I’d like to state (more like i’m nagging, really) that you should put a bit of care into your tone when you write. Maybe as a result of being on reddit/4chan/discussion boards/stream chats, but your tone is fairly harsh, snarky and confrontational. You tend to state things as facts where there could be nuance and ask a lot of rhetorical questions. It’s genuinely great for ragebaiting someone into having a discussion with you, which is sometimes useful for catching attention on the internet where discussion can just die off, but overdoing it can be kinda unecessary if you’re just trying to discuss. Maybe it’s unimportant, but I kinda do like exchanges that manage to discuss something while being hyper chill, those always feel awesome.