6 Chapter 6: Ability Over-used! (2/2)
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His mother lectured him for a straight hour before coming to a stop.
”Do you understand now?!” she said with a glaring face.
Duan Li couldn't help but had to suppress himself from laughing as that adorable face of his mother looked like an angry panda with her swollen eyes from crying.
”Y-yes mother.. your son understands..” he replied slowly.
”Good! Now it is already morning! Get up already and wash yourself! Hmph!” harrumphed his mother as she stood up.
”But mother.. my body hurts.. can I sleep for the whole day today?” Duan Li tried to find an excuse to be lazy.
”I don't care! Even if you have to drag your body around using your head, you WILL get up this instant!” yelled his mother.
”I will wait for you to ready for your breakfast, if you haven't gotten up by then..” she said with a threatening voice as she widened her eyes trying to look scary.
'pu!' Duan Li couldn't hold out anymore as he finally let out a laugh. His mother is way too adorable!
”W-what?! Why are you laughing?” seeming to not expect such a reaction from her son, her face flushed red as she realized why.
”GET UP BEFORE I HIT YOU!!” shouted his mother as she quickly reached for the door in embarassment and closed it with a loud 'bang' sound.
Duan Li was still laughing and when he finally stopped, he let out a smile.
”Thank you mother for worrying about me..”
...
Finishing his breakfast, his mother turned to him as she decided to speak up first to clear the awkward silence, ”Today should've been your first day at the academy, but because you've fainted, sister Ling Yu had given you a leave of absence. Thus, you will start tomorrow!”
”She had also sent you the academy's uniform last night and I've hanged it on your wall.” continued his mother.
Duan Li had already seen the uniform from the haughty young man yesterday, but having his own and giving it a good look, he couldn't help but to feel impressed.
On the outside, the uniform looked to be quite normal, but if one observed carefully and touched it, one would definitely realized that the uniform is far from simple! Ripples of power could be felt from the material, making it tough, stretchy and extremely durable.
Perhaps as a student of the academy, they would have to undergo quite a lot of intense physical activities and some sparring. Thus, it wouldn't work for the academy's budget if they had to replace the student's uniform every now and then, thought Duan Li.
”And also, this morning the academy was kind enough to sent you a batch of manual books containing some basic foundation martial arts for you to study and practice.” said his mother as her index finger pointed out to the bunch of books stacked together by the door.
”They hoped for you to at least get a gist of it..” she continued.
...
Carrying the stack of books to his room, Duan Li stretched his back lazily as he could still feel the soreness from his muscles. He then picked out a random book to read titled 'Foundation: Human Anatomy'.
He flipped the first few pages.
”There are about 206 bones in the body of human adults. Twenty-six can be found in the spine and vertebrae; eight in the cranium; fourteen in the face; twenty-six in the ribs and sternum; seventy in the upper body; and sixty-two in the lower extremeties...”
”As for skeletal muscles, there are about 700 altogether, of which is divided into 300 major and 400 minor muscles. Each is divided further into sub-categories..”
”In order for a martial artists to be able to execute their techniques well, one must know how each limbs function, what makes them move and what drives the force within it. Thus... ”
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After two hours, he finished flipping all 86 pages. To his surprise, he managed to remember word by word in that book as well as where each bones and skeletal muscles are located inside his body.
”This is strange.. I love reading, but I was never able to remember everything that I've read.. but now..” Duan Li contemplated with a frown, ”..is this because of the effects from the mysterious pearl as well?”
He thought that this should be the case.
Closing his eyes, he tried to feel the bones and muscles inside his body according to the depiction stated in the book before.
'shinggg!'
Suddenly, something even more bizarre happened!
Confirming that he wasn't imagining, he abruptly opened his eyes, then closed again.
'shinggg!'
”T-this!” he said shockingly.
...