Multi-Gene

A click sound reverberated as the door was slowly closed.

David sat at his seat as he silently stared at the old man sitting opposite him. This old man had been eyeing him with a troubled expression since the moment he set foot in this room.

Their eyes met, yet not a single word was let out.

“Young man, your art has drifted from the right path.” Finally, the old man spoke.

“The right path?” David softly smirked. This old man doesn’t know what he was talking about. Originally, he thought that this old man would tell him to go wash on his daughter or granddaughter whichever one Presha is, yet he actually decided to evaluate his art instead.

“To practice martial art is to practice mastering the heart. Your heart has been affected by your own strength,” the old man murmured. “When the convenience of the strength becomes more apparent, you will be more accustomed to it, to a point where you can never get rid of it. And, when you base your art with it, you will only find yourself being a puppet to it! Forever living only to practice martial arts to get stronger!”

The old man stood up, walked to the window and looked down.

“Did you think that you can get a sense of security just by increasing your strength?”

David shivered. He felt the man was speaking in riddles but seem to have seen through him, he raised his head to the old man and asked, “What do you mean?”𝓞𝒱𝐞𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t

“Don’t let your mind be distracted by strength. The strong will always be strong, and the weak will always be weak.” The old man shook his head and turned his direction toward to door.

Before he left he said one more sentence. “You are strong enough for her to use her full strength.” Then the door opened and closed, yet no sound was produced.

David sat at his seat, his expression slightly uncertain.

Hoo-la!

He abruptly stood up, with his hands gently touching his chest. His muscles were as strong and as hard as a rock, yet the strength he had never gave him a peace of mind.

********************

Thump

The blocker David held in his hand was being kicked hard. From where he stood, a ripple spread out in all directions.

A series of blows were furiously struck on the same spot.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

In an instant, four sounds overlapped one another. David was slowly knocked back, and his hands were almost unable to keep the blocker stabilized.

Presha slowly pulled in her fists, letting out a deep breath. Each side of her temples was blood red—a sign to signify Rank 7 Cooling down while pulling her fists, the color from her temples slowly faded.

“It’s your turn, David.” Presha formed a stance and holding her hand in a defensive posture. “It’s now your turn to attack.”

“Okay.” David nodded.

Both of them wore black robes, sparring on the second floor of the training room. Since Presha insisted the first floor would get destroyed by their attacks now that she stopped holding back.

Thump! Thump! Puff!

Like two specks of dust, they stood on the middle of the newly flat brown-red floor. Each blow they traded, wisps of white dust proliferated around them. The sound of their feet screeching against the floor was enough to have someone clench their teeth.

David repeatedly jabbed and swung his fists towards Presha, but each of his blows were precisely blocked by the latter.

Presha seemed to be at ease, and her steps were as light as feathers. The shadow of a red tiger that occasionally appeared while sparring seemed as if it was alive during vigorous movements. Her blood red temple, with the sharp eyes that seemed to be smiling, gave off an unusually attractive but wicked vibe. Just what had sort of situations had he placed himself in? But David wasn’t particularly worried.

​ After continuously sparring for two hundred times, David was finally out of breath. He stopped what he was doing, took a few steps back, and breathed heavily.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“It seems that you have something troubling you?” Presha smirked while walking towards David

Thump!

She landed a hard kick on David’s chest, sending him to stumble three steps across the room.

“What you must do now is none other than sparring!” Presha stood while looking at David in certain disdain. “Confusion, hesitation, indecisiveness, cowardice… Get it out of your head! You’re wasting your time if you still live in your past.”

She raised her leg high off her chest—her posture was similar to a crazed elephant—and mercilessly landed it on David’s head.

David’s eyes opened wide and he instantly rested his body, evading the attack.

“Crack!”

The ground shattered in that moment. David was finally able to roll to the side at the critical moment. He stood back up and solemnly stared at Presha.

“I need the flux technique early to increase my strength.” Prehsa was surprised, then she started laughing softly.

“Do you think it would be able to increase your strength even if I give you one?”

David frowned softly but didn’t responded.

“Alright. I will give you if you agree to join my dojo.”

David frowned deeply, he felt this girl was becoming more and more mysterious each time. Session.

“Here, take this.”

A book landed in David’s feet. David quickly took it when he suddenly felt a chill.

Bam!

He stomped his left foot and in two steps leaped toward the staircase. He then jumped down it without looking back.

He suddenly heard a subtle air-piercing sound. A hand slowly touched him on the left shoulder. Its movement didn’t make any sound. The hand seemed like it belonged to his lover, the movement very soft and gentle.

David, on the other hand, was slightly frowning. He struck his elbow backward, and his arm shot out like an arrow, the elbow being the sharp arrowhead.

This Shot Form was the form in the Four Forms that caused the most damage to the body, and it was the form that had the fastest speed and the highest burst power. With the help of special strength utilization techniques, any part of the body could be trained to burst out with power akin to a released arrow.

At this point, David was only able to train one part of his body at this short time – his right elbow.

Pia!

His elbow strike was easily blocked.

David stomped his feet, and his body continued dropping toward the bottom of the staircase. His speed was a bit faster than usual. He was using his hidden strength, after all.

David thought his own defense was tough and agreed to practice with Presha without doing any research. But unexpectedly, after only getting hit a few times by her palms, he noticed that the injured places on his body had already swollen up.

After fixing up his clothes, David drank some hot water and cleaned the sweat off of his body. He decided to wander around the school , while schelling the technique at the same time.

His body was getting stronger and stronger. The shape of his muscles was getting harder to cover up by his uniform.

David felt something warm inside his body, as if there was a furnace that continuously baked his internal organs. He could even vaguely hear the ‘Ziz’ sound that his flesh and blood made.

The flow of the blood, the beat of the heart—David felt an additional feeling on top of those feelings including the compressing of his lungs due to breathing. It was an unprecedented control over his own body.

Pia!

After a light noise, David was surprised to see the Explosive Fist Arts that were on the elementary level jump to the intermediate level in his technique pane. Another aggressive swelling started within his body.

David almost couldn’t stand and walk normally. He could barely keep himself from falling by leaning against the wall. It was fortunate that no one was around to see him like this.

He felt that a layer of invisible liquid was slowly secreting within his body. It came from his internal organs, travelled through the bones, muscles, skin and covered the entire surface of his body.

David fisted his hands as he leaned against the wall. He felt that his skin was getting thicker, as if a layer of hard substance was put over his body, just like when he first reached the Phaser level.

“Such a strong change.”

He stood up straight and felt that his body was much heavier. No, a better word for it would be firmer.

He didn’t stop and went directly to the test rooms at the back of the field. He looked around and picked one without anyone inside. He carefully locked it from the inside just to be sure no one would be looking.

He walked up to the wooden weapon rack and picked up a curved knife.

Thud!

He stabbed the knife into his left arm. It didn’t pierce through the skin, stopping at the surface as if it had hit a very hard wooden surface.