Sikhail GodFiend watched the Olympics every time they aired. The athletes all had world-class flexibility, willpower, ambition, and strength. All of it was achieved through long and grueling sessions. A minute of physical performance was derived from hours, days, months, and years of repetition. The intensity of the sessions constantly moved the bar, increasing the threshold required to shine year after year.
These professionals dedicated their lives to the craft, yet watching April opened his eyes to the idea of the impossible. She said that dojos embraced the Supernatural Path, immersing themselves in many different methods and techniques. Was this required to transcend a world-class runner and start performing inhumane feats? He felt it couldn’t be that simple. Why didn’t these people participate? Was there a reason? Was it too materialistic for them? Or were there greater issues?
April went through a series of mind-bending stretches. She periodically checked his reaction but always felt disappointed.
‘Does he have a good poker face? That must be it,’ April convinced herself.
This was her pride, after all. It couldn’t be tarnished easily! She eventually stood up, spiraling around a single toe.
‘Is she just showing off, or is she some kind of ballerina secretly,’ Sikhail thought with amusement.
“How about it? Can you handle all that?” April asked with a smile.
He got into position, reaching out with his limbs. His arms extended limitlessly, but he didn’t stop. He even surpassed April. At some point, he stopped, fearful of getting stuck. Given April’s devilish personality, he feared the worst.
He proceeded with the next stretch, his legs as unnatural as his arms. He kept stretching, more than he had planned. He panicked and pulled back like butter. He remembered that overall resistance decreased, but there was still friction. Right now, he even felt the friction disappearing. Was this a side effect of the stretching?
He stood up, only to find April swaying weakly. She seemed to be drunk, appeared to at least.
“How... Is that possible? Those exercises... took me months to fully adapt. I’m still adapting and gaining,” April asked with a hint of sadness.
He only shrugged, causing her to lose even more confidence. Suddenly, she rushed at him with a mischievous smile.
“Hehe... at least I still have this,” April said vaguely.
April threw a one-two punch that he met with ease. Her fingers slid down his arm as the world circled around him. Thrown haphazardly across the mat, he did not panic but closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, exhaling as he landed on the floor with grace and form.
“Strong instincts, but simultaneously poor and good techniques. What a strange person! If you meet an equally skilled opponent, the one who has the first-mover advantage will dominate the battle. This is the most important part, more than everything else. I’ll definitely teach you some good stuff,” April muttered.
When he dodged earlier, it was a rather simple interaction. She was checking his reaction. In that exchange, her intentions were more complex. She had a hidden motive behind her punches, using the momentum to slip past his defenses and spin him.
‘I need more practice to absorb my latent muscle memory. Maybe some variety would help?’ Sikhail thought.
“I’m ready,” Sikhail said in response, nodding.
“Awesome! Since there’s nothing I can teach you with regard to stretching, why don’t we just go straight to the dojo?” April asked while nodding.
“Ok,” Sikhail nodded in response.
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Hsuzel and Trafola were shocked to learn about the upcoming dojo transfer. Didn’t she just come today? Didn’t she plan to stay the whole month? Weren’t her exercises super complex? It was rather absurd to think that everything was done in a day.
This rate of growth was simply… ridiculous. How scary would he be after learning some supernatural methods and techniques?
——|——|—|—|——|——
[Military Zone 5, Military Sector 25]
A white and pink cherry blossom tree stood on the edge of the lot the military base was built on. Not far from it was an elder wearing a robe. His hand held the fist of a soldier kneeling on the ground. A gun kept going off, but its range was limited. A squad of soldiers watched from behind in fascination.
“He didn’t move from his original position, right? He only used two fingers as well. The supernatural path is quite deep.”
“Right. It looked like he was predicting when that fellow would shoot and simply moved in the opposite direction before the gun went off. He conserved energy, utilizing his strength to capitalize on that fellow’s weakness.”
The soldier in question grew embarrassed from the conversation. He did a front flip to regain his range of motion but found himself slamming into the ground instead.
“Brat… jumping like that without doing anything else allows me to manipulate your arc. I know you’re more intelligent than that. Don’t let irrelevant things cloud your thoughts,” the elder said pleasantly.
“Yes… sir!” the soldier said embarrassedly, finding it difficult to refute the elder.
Suddenly, the elder looked at the military base before walking towards it. He soon heard his granddaughter lecturing someone on his duel just now.
“See that? He made the same mistake as you. The military focuses on individual stats, but the relationship between those stats is also quite important. My grandpa didn’t reposition himself to prepare for another attack but viewed the jump as an attack, crushing it before it transitioned into something more unfavorable,” April reminded Sikhail.
“Not bad!” the elder said as he sized up Sikhail. “April told me that you have god-like reactions but are weak in the most important areas?”
“I could always improve more… sir!” Sikhail responded.
The elder nodded happily.
“Come! My hovercraft is over there. Let us head off to the dojo right away. My tea has been waiting for a while,” the elder explained.
“Sir,” Sikhail asked.
“Yes?” the elder stopped, turning around.
“Why did you personally come as well?” Sikhail asked with curiosity.
“Hmm… that’s too complicated to explain right now. My granddaughter finds you fascinating, and she has my full support in everything!” the elder explained.
“Her pursuers…” Sikhail asked.
The elder paid close attention to him. Calm eyes, an indiscernible expression, and maybe even a horrifying aura.
“I won’t do anything unless you really want me to. If you’re strong, you won’t need it anyway,” the elder explained with a smile, nodding.
“He’s not even afraid of hitting my chest! A bunch of fools won’t scare him off,” April said with a smirk.
“Girl… don’t say unnecessary things that add nothing of value. You’re too mischievous. Who did you even inherit it from,” the elder said while coughing.
“People these days let common courtesy endanger their lives. It’s too boring if I know what they’ll do. Also, I inherited it from myself!” April complained.
“Alright. Let’s get to my hovercraft already. It’ll take a few hours to arrive back. Sikhail can meditate there. It’ll benefit him greatly, especially since his abilities seem to be on par with you, if not much greater,” the elder said, waving his hands.
As the trio walked closer and closer to the cherry blossom tree, his suspicion gradually turned into amazement. The elder stepped up to the tree trunk, waving a hand that caused cherry blossoms to fall. Upon contact with the fruity fragrance leaking from the blossoms, the bark receded, revealing an opening. The elder took a sniff before stepping into the Cherry Blossom tree.
“This is my grandfather’s custom-built Cherry Serenade v1.0. Breathing in the aroma will help clear one’s mind, besides other effects. Inside the core, the intensity and benefits increase. Each breath has a diminished but compounding effect. Give it a try,” April said with pride.
April playfully dashed into the tree, leaving him behind. Stepping up to the cherry blossom tree, he was overwhelmed by the aroma that seeped inside his pores and instinctively took a deep breath. The cherry invaded his nostrils, creepy slowly to his brain. Neurons pathways expanded, blood vessels widened, and senses expanded further. He felt drunk as his muscles twitched. Endless memories flooded his muscles as his eyes turned slightly red.
Weaving in and out as he inhaled the vivid smell, he slipped into a trance, his eyes glowing red as he performed a dance. He threw a series of punches out, grabbing a cherry blossom, pushing 4 out of the way, slicing 7 of them, slamming 11 onto the ground, and making 15 collide into 45.
“This, this is the good stuff. How unexpected,” Sikhail muttered to himself as he stepped into the cherry blossom tree.
The tree’s roots broke through the ground, reaching for a current that lifted it up. The roots seemed like arms as they dove through the air. As they approached the clouds, the roots poked in and out, pushing through the fluffy sponges.