15 The Inciden (1/2)
Chapter 15: The Incident
All of a sudden, Garen felt like half of his body was frozen in frigid ice while the other half was scorching hot. He felt an overwhelming dizziness, as if someone was continuously pummeling on his head with a hammer.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He could hear his heartbeat. Beat by beat; it pounded like a war drum. With every heartbeat, the streams of ice and fire began to merge together.
The freezing and scorching streams of blood intertwined, but remained distinct. They formed a delicate spiral inside Garen's body and began to flow rapidly.
Within the training hall, the serene moonlight scattered through the high windows. It created a delicate white cloak on Garen's body.
His face flushed like a cooked shrimp as he stood blankly in front of the sandbag. Steam began to rise from his hair, his body, and his pants as his sweat evaporated.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
Ka!
He slowly twitched his body. A loud, crisp sound resounded from one of his joints and echoed across the room. Subsequently, all his joints began to repeat the same sound as if popcorn was being popped.
His mind finally regained consciousness. The first thing he did was to walk in front of the 200 pounds sandbag. He lifted his right arm and took in a deep breath.
Peng!
The sandbag flew in the air and passed the qualification line. The remaining force of the swinging sandbag forced the metal frame to squeak. Garen stabilized the sandbag after it flew back.
[My strength increased again…]” He opened his right palm to examine his skin. His palm was covered by a crystallized texture which felt like a glove. Unlike before, he did not feel any pain hitting the sandbag.
The status under his vision also changed.
His Strength grew from 0.52 to 0.53, while his Vitality also increased from 0.31 to 0.33.
[When I combined this with Explosive Fist Arts, my skin's durability increased quite substantially.] He rubbed both of his hands as he scanned the training room. He saw a wooden rack at the corner filled with weapons. Sword, shield, broadsword, heavy sword, dagger, axe, and hammer. The rack had everything.
Garen approached the stand and grabbed a silver dagger. He gently lifted the dagger. Under the pristine moonlight, the dagger reflected a silvery shadow. The tip of the knife was blinding with its sharp edge.
He lightly slashed the back of his hand with the dagger.
Zzzp... It felt like he had slashed hard leather, and only left a slight white mark.
[Indeed... The Explosive Fists Arts can increase the body's durability! No wonder the procedure included tempering the body against wooden stumps.]
He was genuinely surprised. He began to increase the force exerted on the dagger, starting from one pound of strength. Two pounds... Three pounds... Five pounds... Ten pounds... 15 pounds... 20 pounds!!
All of a sudden, the skin under the dagger revealed a small cut, barely penetrating to the muscle underneath. The dagger was lodged inside, completely unable to move. Garen felt pain and quickly pulled back the dagger.
[Around 20 pounds of force is required to barely penetrate my muscle. The Explosive Fists Arts are indeed powerful. No wonder it takes years to train and master even with the help of natural talent, and no wonder White Cloud Dojo is renowned for this skill.]
Garen had tested his durability with his relaxed muscle, but if he flexed, 20 pounds would not be his limit. He gave this a slight thought, then tested it. He started with a force of 20 pounds and increased it to 50 pounds before the dagger finally pierced into his muscle.
[This is almost equivalent to the Body Hardening Technique. It's incredible!]
He placed the dagger back onto the wooden rack. As he loosened his muscles, blood began to emerge from his arm, but it immediately clotted.
He looked downwards at the 24% remaining Potential. Garen tidied up and dressed, then took the key beside the sandbag and left the training hall.
Any official student had the right to use the potential testing equipment in the secondary hall. Therefore, every official student had a key to the hall.
As Garen left the secondary hall, he could not spot a single soul on the street. The cold breeze carried a newspaper from the distance as he began to jog through the night. Garen had become accustomed to this habitual exercise.
It was almost 10 o’clock. The street was not in a crowded area with a large population. Garen took the desolate route for an easier jog. In ten minutes, he only spotted a few people.
The dim yellow light shoneined on the peaceful street. Garen’s footsteps echoed in the wind with the occasional wooden clap from a shop closing in the distance.
Beep!
A loud beeping noise came from the dark street across the corner. Garen moved from the middle of the road to the left side as he saw a black antique vehicle approach him from his right side. The bright yellow headlights blinded him for a brief moment when the car made a turn. He tried to block the radiance with his hand.
Just as the car passed him, a number in his vision suddenly changed.
[My Potential is going up!?!]
He immediately turned and ran to the car. The Potential Meter increased from 23% to 45% as soon as he turned around.
The only thing in his mind was to stop the car.
”Please stop!”
Garen dashed in front of the car and yelled with his arms wide open.
The cars in this world were slow to begin with. It didn’t show any sign of stopping after being blocked as it headed directly at Garen.
”F**k!”