I woke up in the healing tank for a second time.

I hated it but sadly, I think I was going to have to get used to it.

I’d spent the night floating in here, having my muscles put back together. It didn’t actually take that long, it had healed far worse injuries far faster. But Master had said before he shoved me in that it took longer if it was only stimulating natural healing. Something that was going to be needed if I didn’t want my body to ‘lose about 80% of its progress.’ Master’s words, not mine.

I glanced up, looking at the number above my head.

[1]

No change. I hadn’t gotten any stronger after yesterday. But I did feel… good. This wasn’t anything like when I was last at a dojo. There, there'd been dozens of other students, all following forms and doing stretches and lightly sparring with each other. It wasn’t like we didn’t work out, but nothing like what had happened yesterday.

I hadn’t made any real progress. Even without a Vambrace, that was easy enough to see. Finally, the master there, Jing Ho, had kicked me out. I simply wasn’t keeping up with the class forms or advancing well enough.

Here… I hadn’t seen any other students. Maybe there wasn’t any. I’d seen a few rooms, this was clearly a dojo that could hold them, but I seemed to be the only other person here.

And I still didn’t know why.

I’d been so excited about being essentially offered the chance to grow stronger from someone so strong, someone who saved my life, that I’d jumped at the chance. And master hadn’t demanded anything from me, except for my best.

And then pushed me right to it.

I shuddered, still remembering what had happened yesterday. I’d passed out before, but it had usually been from drinking too much or something stupid like that. I’d never collapsed multiple times in a day from pure exhaustion. Never blacked out from overworking my pitiful body. And maybe that was the problem. I had tried so hard… but never this hard. Not to the point I needed a healing tank to put me back together.

I snorted.

Of course. All along the only problem was my work ethic, capitalism to buy something vital, technology to help me, and the inherent strength in the first place to keep it once I bought it. Figures. My biases got in my way. But… even without a healing tank, I could’ve pushed harder couldn’t I have? Muscles and bodies heal. I could’ve pushed myself further.

My power level hadn’t increased yet, I wasn’t any stronger, but if yesterday’s training was any indication… I might actually be able to do it!

One day… one day they’ll be a different number above my head.

There was a soft ding and the healing tank opened, letting me out.

I stretched, feeling… good. After yesterday and the times past, I didn’t think I could ever feel this good again. My body felt, well, if not strong at least healthy. I’d been in too much pain and shock after being beaten to near death the first time. I shuddered even now, just thinking about those damn gang members in those stupid bear pajamas. They’d nearly killed me. No, they practically had… It hadn’t exactly given me a lot of time to appreciate just how great I felt. That healing tank was a miracle.

I took a deep breath, doing a few more basic stretches. The previous dojo at least taught me how to do that much. How long has it been since I last did them? Time was a blur and the drinking hadn’t helped. Now? Now I felt so good. Like I hadn’t thrown away so much time wasting away and destroying myself. Like I hadn’t spent the entirety of yesterday tearing my body apart.

I looked to my right and saw a familiar sight. A pair of underwear, a white belt, and a white gi on a chair, neatly folded. I stared down, belatedly realizing I was naked again. Did Master… strip me yesterday? I don’t remember… That was kinda eerie.

Putting on the clothes and walking back up the steps, I could almost believe I’d been caught in some kind of… loop. It was all the exact same as yesterday, the same room, the same clothes. Except no master, or horrific awakening, or dried blood on the stairs. It was the little differences that made everything else stand out so much more.

Walking back towards the dojo, I paused. There was another difference today, as the training room from yesterday passed me by.

Master was standing there, arms crossed, waiting. The bag still hung there and a mix of fear, dread, and excitement boiled around inside me. Part of me begged that what I was going to hear would be different. Part of me hoped I would hear it. Master cared not.

“Punch it.”

I took a deep breath.

“Yes, master.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

*****

Time seemed to lose meaning for a while. My body was weak but not deficient. Meaning, I didn’t just instantly pass out the moment I had to do some labor. For now, there was a quiet rhythm I’d gotten into after my experiences yesterday. Right, left, right, left, right left right left.

It left room to think.

“Master?” I asked cautiously.

“Hmm? You’ve got room to speak? Wild. Well, that won’t last long.”

A shiver ran down my spine at that.

“Uh, Master. Can I ask, why are we doing this? Why are you doing this?” I said, my weak punches still thumping into the bag. The only sound in the room beyond my master’s humming.

“It’s not that big a secret, though I’m surprised you didn’t ask sooner. That type of desperation isn’t attractive you know? You’ll never find a woman like that. Tsk tsk.”

Whatever expression I had been making had definitely become strained. Ah, right. I’d forgotten how… caring old people were with those kinds of things. Who could think of romance at a time like this?! I had a journey of a thousand miles to go and I had only just barely begun to walk it.

“Anyway.” Master continued. “The reasoning is simple. You’re not the only one that wants someone dead. I…” Master’s voice, casual and maybe even jovial in the right context, turned… different. Off. Melancholy with an undercurrent of pure hatred and maybe even fear.

“Let’s just say I have my own revenge story. I’m hoping you can get strong enough to deal with that.”

I stopped punching in shock.

“You want me to kill someone? You believe I could kill that someone?”

Master raised an eyebrow.

“You’re going to kill Vega aren’t you? Do you think there’s anyone else you can’t kill if you’re going to manage that? I’d be insulted by the powers that be if that’s the case. And don’t worry about morals or anything like that, I have a feeling you’ll gladly kill them when the time comes. Oh, and, get back to punching.”

I did, my mind whirling with so many thoughts.

Master wanted me to kill someone, their enemy. Someone that had harmed them. That was why they were helping me. That was the cost of their help. I’d barely even considered that as an option because…

Master thought I could do that. Me. He actually believed I could do it. And the way he spoke… I’d said my intentions about killing Vega to people but… but no one had ever believed in me. In those words. How many people had said them? How many people had died trying? Yet with master, it was hard to see whether he really believed in me through his casual attitude but, it didn’t seem like he was just saying that. I didn’t really get the feeling he was the type to lie or spare other's feelings…

But that just left one question.

“Why me?” I asked, scarcely able to believe it.

I was weak. The weakest. I would genuinely struggle to hurt a fly because I might not generate enough force to kill it with my bare hands. I had tried a million and one things and never raised my power level even by a bit, while others had it naturally grow through age alone. A child could kill me with some effort.

So why me?

“Oh, that. I got an ability a while ago that lets me detect potential. You have enough to, maybe? Yeah, maybe kill them. That’s about it.”

I nearly stopped punching in shock again. Master was telling me things with the same cadence as talking about the weather but that were life altering to me.

“I have potential?!”

“Everyone has potential. Almost no one meets it or lives up to it.” At this, Master seemed genuinely unhappy, a frown marring his face. “Such a waste of everyone and everything, shame to say. Speaking of, punch harder, and a bit faster. You’re slowing down too much.”

“Y-Yes Master.”

My mind whirred but I focused. Master believed in me. He really did. Otherwise… why even try to help me? Maybe he didn’t believe I could kill Vega, maybe he did, but he did believe in one thing. That I could grow stronger. That I could grow stronger than him.

That fuel lasted me as long as it could, before my body began to feel like it was falling apart again. The same as yesterday. Master wouldn’t let me stop. The familiar feeling of iron and lead muscles, of my lungs burning and crying, my sweat coating me and dropping till it had nothing left to give, all of it came back again and again.

I didn’t pass out, but I did collapse.

The moment I did, master practically teleported, stabbing me in the arm with different needles and then hooking up an actual IV to my arm. I stared at it in confusion. It… it hadn’t been in the room with us a moment ago.

“Five minutes and then you get back up.”

It felt like the blink of an eye when I was forced to get back up. The same words as always reverberated in my head.

“Punch it.”

I was going to be hearing that in my nightmares!

Just gotta keep going. Over and over again. Even as my legs felt like jelly and my soul felt like it was breaking, I just had to keep going. I wouldn’t let my family down. I wouldn’t let my village down. As I glanced at Master out of the corner of my eye, I realized I had a new person in my life that I needed to help. Vega, of course, wasn’t the only evil bastard out there.

My next punch hit harder.

My goal was Vega… but a thrill went up my spine as I imagined it. Defeating and destroying evil like him. A journey of a million miles and thousands of dead bad guys along the way. It filled me with determination.

I could save so many people… so many would never have to suffer like I suffered. No more gangs killing people, no more monsters blowing up villages. My fist would end them all.

The day passed me by, muscles screamed, blood flowed, sweat poured, knuckles ached, my body collapsed, needles were stabbed, that random IV kept reappearing out of nowhere but throughout it all…

I had a smile on my face.