'Such a simple attack pattern and yet they prove quite deadly.' Reina thought.
'I am glad that I trained in the Six-Armed Fiend Ape Technique making my body incredibly tough.'
She crosses her hands on her face before charging wildly.
In her mind, as long as she protects her face and use her senses, she would be able to protect herself and predict his movement.
Seeing her charging, Sean's eyes lights up, he stops jabbing and takes a strong step forward.
'Here comes that punch of his! No matter, the power of my legs can clash with it!'
The muscles on her legs suddenly enlarges and tightens.
Her hand turns red, she is fully prepared to take the attack and dish out one of her own.
Her father looks at her and was deep in thought.
The way her daughter solved her problem is too reckless.
Her upper body is too wide open, if Sean directs his punch on that direction, she would take a lot of damage.
Unbeknownst to him, she already taken that in consideration.
She felt that the risk is well worth it, besides, the distance between them isn't that far and was within arm's reach.
'Wait! That isn't his punch!' Reina's father suddenly stands up.
Uppercut!
With their momentum and posture, this blow will inevitable land.
No one expected that he would do this as most martial artists would stick to what they're good at or have experience in.
He, on the other hand, has plethora of knowledge from his old world and together with Vajra Body, he can copy those skill.
BOOM! With a loud collision, Reina's head was blown upwards, her brain ringing from the impact.
'Now or never!'
He grabs her face and swings at her liver.
BAM! Her face grimaced in pain with this two consecutive blow.
He leaps backwards, he then sends a jab on her face, again and again, flicker jabs flies at her body.
'Just a little while, I can recover enough energy to use King Kong Punch!' He thought excitedly.
His vital power is now only at one, he expends the remaining ones for recovering.
Suddenly, his left hand being grabbed, his expression changes, he was about to risked it all for one last King Kong Punch but an immense strength pulls him forward.
Devil Ape Annihilation!
He caught unprepared and the blow hits him cleanly.
BOOM! He was blown away, Reina won't give him any more chances, she follows after his flying body with one leap.
Black Ape Fist!
Another clean hit! This time on his solar plexus.
One punch after another, she is burning her reserve energy for this last onslaught.
King Kong Punch! In one of her attacks, Sean slips in a counter and charges towards her.
Her eyes widens as she knows that once this blow land, she will definitely be knocked out.
The fist stops just a couple of centimeters away from her face.
Sean, is no longer conscious.
Everyone was stunned by this ending, they never expected that he would give Reina a hard time.
"I, Zack Gold declare that Reina Gold is the winner of this match!"
The voice of the dojo master, Reina's father echoes at the entire hall.
"Jerry, bring Sean to the infirmary." With that command, everyone realized what happened and all of them turned to Sean.
Even after being knocked unconscious by the barrage of powerful blows, he still tried to retaliate, standing with his strongest attack aimed directly at his opponent's face.
Reina takes a deep breath, trying to calm her emotion and recover her energy but she still felt dizzy and falls to the floor.
"It seems that you had underestimated him too much."
A mischievous smile can be seen on Nima's face as she helps her up.
"Yes I did and at the same time didn't, every blow I sent at him is delivered with my maximum power, other than wielding by vital power actively, I used all my strength."
Reina's expression was sour, years of training and yet she was nearly defeated by an upstart, she can't help but feel that all her training is wasted.
"Don't think like that, if it was any person, or a different genius, you would definitely win in a much more dignified manner but against that fellow, you can't read his mind."
Reina was stunned silence, a sense of enlightenment swells up on her.
Yes! Sean is different from all the people she fought, he doesn't stick to one fighting style but adapted, created or even copied different styles fitting to his situation.
Also, his strength, toughness and endurance is abnormally high.
She doesn't feel like she's fighting a human being but a mystique creature.
"Nima, can't you-" Before her words can be said, her cousin raises her hand and stops her.
"No! He is considered as a genius to be nurtured for the family, I can't give him to you."
Meanwhile, in the viewing platform, Zack and Harold, Nima's father was arguing once again.
"You can see that he is a fit successor for my Black Ape King Fist, why are you denying me such an opportunity!?"
"Nonsense! You can see that this fellow doesn't stick to one style, he might be compatible with your martial arts but this doesn't mean that he isn't with others, besides, there's one thing you don't know!"
"What is that!?"
"He's a natural awakened!"
With this, Zack becomes silent, he was speechless as he looks at his cousin's smirk.
In the infirmary, Sean has now woken up but his body is screaming in pain and worse of all is the hunger he is feeling right now.
"Good you're awake." The doctor was glad but before he can leave to inform others, he feels a tug on his shirt.
"Food." This is the only word he can say before an unbearable sense of hunger encroaches his body and mind.
The doctor hurriedly ordered his assistants and nurses to bring him food, especially meats and medicinal soup.
His stomach continues to rumble as he starts sweating cold sweat.
When the food arrives in front of him, his body sprung with unknown strength and voraciously started devouring every food in front of him.
Cracking sounds was suddenly heard as he feels a rush power coursing through his veins.
-----
Name: Sean
Realm: Skin Tempering 7th stage
Vital Force: 3/12
Spirit: Bronze Rank
Contracts: 2/3
Innate Abilities: Vajra Body, Ironhide Skin
Technique: Monkey Body Tempering Technique (Early Stage)
Skill: King Kong Punch
Vajra Body (Passive)
-----
Ironhide Skin: Skin as tough as iron.
Passive: Increases defense and strength
Active: Transforms skin into tough iron.
-----
'How many levels does the skin tempering stage has?' To think that one breakthrough would improve his strength so much.
[Skin Tempering Stage: Leather Skin, Stone Skin, Iron Skin and Jade Skin.]
[Skipped Stone Rank for inadequate resource reason to abundant vitality.]
His eyes rises, he doesn't know the comprehensive stages for martial artists of this world, he just knows their rank.
'Am I in the top tier of Iron Rank or at middle tier?' He asks himself.
"Finally you're awake, your performance shocked everyone at the dojo, they didn't expect a newcomer like you would be so capable.' Nima arrives with Reina.
The former looks at him excitedly while the latter was looking at him with a complex expression.
"I think you should stay here, the damage you suffered will leave majority of martial artists bedridden." Reina advised.
He shakes his head, standing up, he jumps up and down, showing that he's okay.
"Your vitality and recovery is truly too abnormal for a newly ascended martial artist." Nima exclaims.
She starts to check his body for any injury but seems to be okay.
She grabs something big and hot, frowning, she asks. "Eh? What's this?"
Sean feels like he was electrocuted, he quickly jumps backwards before covering his private area.
Seeing this, everyone instantly realized what Nima had touched earlier.
Taking a deep breath, Nima turns her head away and briskly walks away.
She can't believe that she did that nor can believe that a human can have such a large thing dangling between their legs.
Sean is unaware that after obtaining Vajra Body, his thing is no longer normal and would exudes intense heat, indicating how healthy it is.
"I think that I am quite healthy and should continue my training."
He can only try to change the topic, this situation was too embarrassing for a two-time virgin like him.
"Are you sure that your body can handle it?" Reina is still concerned.
She didn't hold back when she was sparring with him, even now, she feels her injury aching and yet he had already recovered.
"Yes, I only need to eat something that can recover energy in order to heal up." He nods his head and explains.
Unbeknownst to him, his words made everyone paused.
Reina looks at him with shining eyes, she grabs his hand and pulls him, not caring about her injuries and image.
Bringing him to get father's training room, without even knocking, she went inside.
Her father was training some of his disciples when he suddenly hears his door being pushed open.
"Father, Sean has the perfect body for training our Raging Ape Technique!"
She immediately stated her intention as she looks at her father dead in the eyes.
"What the hell are you thinking!? That technique might be comparable to our legacy but it's too violent, training it would lead to injuries!"
Zack shuts down her idea immediately, she doesn't want to lose Sean in such a way.
"Sean has already recovered after his spar with me, he only need to eat to recover from such beating!" She tried to persuade him again.
Zack pauses before approaching him and starts to inspect his body.
He was taken aback, there are no lingering injuries, in fact, he found something, he looks at Sean and asks. "Had you broken through?"
Sean was surprised but not overly shocked, he knows that top rankers has honed senses.
He might be able to hide it from others but once he was checked thoroughly by martial artists with keen senses and knowledge, he would be found out.
"Yes, after consuming a bowl of medicinal soup, I inadvertently broken through." He nods his head, he just doesn't know at what rank he is.
Zack was deep in thought, such a gem was just too blinding for them.
"I will talk to my cousin about this, there is something I want to ask from him."
Even though he discovered his abnormal body, he didn't immediately agreed but contemplated about something.
"Reina, you bring him with you, don't teach him other martial arts but focus on the Black Ape Fist, especially the great ape stance." He instructed.
A flash of brilliance appears on Reina's eyes, it seems that her father is entertaining the thought of teaching him that martial art.
Unaware of the two, Sean was just happy to continue training, he knows that as long as he can train, he can share his insight with Wuk.
After his spar with Reina, everyone is now looking at him differently, especially the males.
They are brimming with the intent of challenging him.
None of them dared to challenge Reina because of her status and fame.
If they challenge him and puts up a decent performance or even win, then, they would earn the fame of being just below Reina or even equal to her.
"It seems that you are truly compatible with the Black Ape Fist, almost all your stances are correct." Reina nods her head as she watches him train.
'My skin feels like they are burning, is the Monkey Body Tempering Technique using my vital power to temper my skin and muscles?' He thought.
His vital power isn't increasing and is actually decreasing, that means that he's using them rapidly.
He didn't expect this, it seems that he needs to recover his full vital power before continuing his training.
He also can't train outside of the city as he need to reserve his vital power for battling.
'I am just glad that my current physique is capable of absorbing massive amount of energy from food rich in spirit energy.'
"Senior sister, I am going to the shop I am working in." He stops training and asks Reina.
She was startled, frowning, she looks at him with a dissatisfaction. "You didn't even train that long."
"Yes but I expended a lot of my vitality to recover and I know that each disciple can only obtain one medicinal soup a day."
He knows that only chosen disciples are eligible to consume medicinal soup and unlimited amount of meat.
Unfortunately, the meat came from ordinary creatures and can't truly help him recover that much vital power.
'So his abnormal recovery comes from his robust body and vitality but it requires a fuel to continue.' She thought.
She was about to say something but was stopped by him.
"You don't need to ask your father to grant me another bowl of medicinal soup, I am not like ordinary disciples that had to do miscellaneous tasks to repay the dojo's nurturing but someone put by the Gold Family."
He's someone that would repay any favor given to him, receiving too much makes him a bit embarrassed.
He doesn't want to be nurtured this way and he can't rely too much to the dojo for his path.
Reina became silent before sighing, she waves her hand letting him leave.
Bowing respectfully, he left with a hint of excitement, now that he had reached the 7th stage, maybe he can start hunting at the outside.
But first, go back to school to inform his teachers that he would no longer be attending.
With Wuk following him, the two hailed a large truck to return back home.
Wearing the standard uniform of his school, he can't help but smile.
This is how he's going to give respect to his school.
"Sean, I will respect your decision but please be careful, I don't know if I can take another loss." His aunt looks at him worriedly.
"I will be careful, I still have a promise to fulfill, wait for me to become at least a Gold Ranker and I will bring you to heights you never imagine."
He is determined to do this, if he only thought of himself, he would forever hate himself.
He doesn't want to be those novel characters that always looks at the world coldly, picking out the roots, not caring for innocence just killing everyone as long as they are related.
He's not that cruel, he wasn't raised to be cold-blooded killer that doesn't care about anyone but himself.
People might call him foolish and naive, so what!? He will not stop, he will strive to become stringer, gaining absolute strength that crushes any problem.
Taking a bus with him, he went back to school with his head held high.
Just as he enters the gate, he was immediately spotted.
"That's Sean Bold!"
In an instant, all the students in the area converges towards his direction.
His expression immediately changes as without hesitation, he runs towards the section with the least student in order to go inside the school building.
He didn't expect this kind of thing to happen, looking at the fervent looks of the students a chill runs down his spine.
Faster! Faster! He screams in his heart, unfortunately, he was just too exhausted to be able escape hundreds of students surrounding him.
"Sean, I heard that you became a martial artist, is that true!?"
"Sean, are you single!?"
"Sean, you are now my dad, please teach me!"
Just as he was in a state of disarray, an authoritative voice descended from the school building.
"Silence! Everyone gather at the school field right at this moment."
The students were reluctant but they still follow the order of their principal, Sean was relieved.
Unlike the students, he didn't follow the principal's command and instead went inside the school building.
He has already decided to quit school, he doesn't have that much loyalty nor gratitude towards the principal.
He is grateful to his teachers but for the others, he doesn't truly care.
They're just passerby in his school life.
"Teacher, I have come here to bid you farewell." The first teacher he went to is the female teacher responsible for teaching them common knowledge about mystique creatures.
"I heard that you became a martial artist, congratulations." She nods her head, gratified that one of her students has become successful.
"Teacher, I have come here to bid farewell."
"Teacher, than you for all you've done."
"Teacher, this is goodbye."
He spent all of this time bidding farewells to all the teachers he knows or those that he remembered.
Finally, after an hour of going back and forth to all the classrooms, he arrives at the principal's office.
He knocks and a calm voice appears. "come in."
This is the first time he entered the principal's office and he was surprised to see a young woman with green hair sitting at the principal's seat.
"Principal?" He asks with an expression full of doubt.
Fortunately, he always saw the vice principal, since she's standing besides the little girl, that means that she might truly be the principal.
"Have a seat." She points at the seat in front of her as she calmly watches him.
"I already know what you wanted to ask for and I'll tell you this, I disagree."
He was taken aback but he still sneers inside his mind.
'So what if you disagree, this doesn't mean that I'll come back to this school after today.'
The vice principal starts coughing, trying to disperse the tense mood.
"What my sister- I mean the principal meant is that we would like you to participate in behalf of our school in the interschool competition."
"I'm sorry but I must decline." He doesn't want to tangle with such events.
"The school will support you by giving you 10,000 gold coins."
His eyes widens as the money that circulates in this world is made of spirit metals.
Copper, Silver and Gold. This is the basic currency of this world.
His entire savings was only at 50,000 silver coins, that is only equivalent of 500 gold coins.
He can buy a lot of medicines or pills with that kind of money, making his martial path much smoother.
"Are there any other participants in this school besides me?" He asks.
Such a great investment meant that the prize for the competition is definitely not lacking.
"Yes but none of them are martial artists all of them are aspirants." The vice principal answers.
"Great! If you trust me that much to pool out such a huge amount of cash then I'll join the competition!"
He didn't say that he would do it for the school or for fame, he forthrightly told them that he's doing it for the money.
The two looks at each other, the principal smiles and says. "Quite straightforward, I like that! Decisive too, no wonder those richy rich of the Gold Family decided to accept you."
Rather than a scheming person, they would rather have a straightforward participant like Sean.
Someone like him is extremely rare, this might not indicate that he wouldn't betray the school for other schools but it does show that he wasn't a backstabbing type of person.
"When will the competition commence?" After his bout with Reina, he knows that martial artists are stronger than he first expected.
"It will be a month from now on but it would still be initial clearing, all schools from Z zones would compete."
He was shocked, sure there's only one public school in their city but this isn't the situation with the other cities.
"How many participants would each school have?"
"Five, as long as it's a school supported by the federation, all of them are eligible to participate, currently, our school is one of the weakest in the tournament but with you, our school is immediately ranked to top thirty."
"Okay, I will be returning back to school from time to time but I would mostly at the Evergreen Shop or the Black Ape Dojo, if you can't contact me, you can go to these two places."
He doesn't want to tell them that he would be hunting outside as this would only cause them to worry.
"We know, we have some connections with the Evergreens and the Gold Family." The vice principal's words shocked him.
"Can you stay for a while? We are going to announce our intention of joining the competition this year."
He shakes his head. "No I need to continue training, I don't have enough experience."
The principal frowns. "Earning experience is quite difficult at the same time, easy, in the federation, there exist a platform just for sparring but the safety isn't assured."
Hearing this, his eyes lights up, he can use this as a way to quickly improve his fighting style.
"Thank you!" He bows his head and loudly shouted.
Then, before they can recover, her runs out of the room, now that he has another task, he decided to finally retire from the Evergreen Shop.
At first he's reluctant but now that he has more favors to repay, he can't continue staying in this city safely.
He must venture out in the wilderness.
Arriving at the shop, he takes a deep breath and enters but when Dorothy sees him, she sighs sadly.
"Lady Evergreen is waiting for you at her office."
He can see that she seems to realized what he intends to do and a feeling of guilt appears in heart before getting squashed, replaced a boiling determination.
He must hand out his resignation today, he will repay this establishment in the future if he has a chance but right now, he needs to work hard to become stronger.
After becoming a martial artist, his figure was growing bigger every time he broke through.
Now he's no longer the smallest male in the shop but his face stick stays the same, as ordinary as ever.
Arriving at the entrance of the room, he was about to knock when the door opens.
Priscel was looking at him with a hint of sadness.
Entering, he already resolved himself but still seeing the person in front of him, guilt eats him inside.
Everything turns silent, the two looks at each other, one doesn't know what to say anymore while the other patiently waits.
He sighs and says. "If I had known that the Evergreen Family is actually at equal footing with the Gold Family, I would've joined under your family."
Lady Evergreen smiles. "Who's fault was it? I told you, working hard isn't enough, you also need connection and knowledge."
He nods his head and agrees with her words.
Suddenly, she takes out a card, she throws it at him.
"This is one of my family's card, if you encounter any problem, use this to solve it, my family is always open for you."
Looking at her gentle face, he suddenly kneels with both legs and bows.
"I am grateful for all your help! We might have known each other for only two months but I treasured all those time, without you, I wouldn't even became a martial artist!"
Priscel looks at him with a smile, he's right, they didn't know each other for that long and yet their connection is real.
Leaving the place that had given him the support when he first transmigrated here, he can't help but feel heavy-hearted but he already decided in this outcome.
Returning back home, he was surprised to see the vice principal there.
"You just left earlier without taking the money we promised to give you."
He was stunned, he expected that they would give him the money gradually, he didn't expect that they would give it to him forwardly.
"Thank you! I will train hard for our school! I promise this!" Clenching his fist, it seems that he already has a training plan in his mind.
The vice principal smiles and leaves, she wants to teach him but according to her older sister, the principal, someone like him seems to not listen until he stumbles in his path.
"Aunt! Take this and use it for the three of you." Without hesitation, he takes a chunk of the money and gives it to his aunt.
His aunt was shocked, a thousand gold coins, this was an amount that she never hold in one setting.
"This is too much!" She nearly bits her tongue from shouting this.
"Use it to help your martial path, I might not be here most of the time, also, with the current situation in the city, I think that we should start searching for a better house."
Ignoring her words, he laid out some of his plans.
"But this money-"
"Anyway, I am tired, I wouldn't be able to cook us dinner, I'm going to rest as we're going training early in the morning."
Leaving his speechless aunt, he returns to his room and slumps to the bed.
Unlike him, Wuk is still full of energy and starts training.
Night came, after some rest, he finally recovers half of his vital power.
'I need to buy supplements for my martial arts.' He thought.
Both Wuk and him doesn't need overly powerful medicines, only basic ones that can help them recover their vital power.
Flesh of mystique creatures are considered such items but he wants to buy some pills since he plans to go outside tomorrow after his daily training at the Black Ape Dojo.
When he got down, he was surprised to see that the three still hasn't finished eating even this late.
"You're finally here, we were just talking about what to do with the money that you gave to mom." Hina speaks with a quiet voice.
"I think it's better for you guys to use this to buy supplements, the three of you aren't martial artists so pick only gentle ones like medicinal soup."
Hina and Yana agrees with him but aunt Tsu seems to be deep in thought.
"What is it, aunt Tsu?" Of course he immediately notices it.
"Nothing." She hurriedly shakes his head but he knows that there's something bothering her.
Her daughters also noticed her strange behavior and everyone's attention is now on her.
"Well, it's just that, I read something in the internet and I can't help but be drawn at the occupation of called pharmacist."
"What!? You want to become an alchemist!?" Sean's eyes lights up.
She hurriedly shakes her head. "No, a PHARMACIST!"
"I understand, I will support your journey of being an alchemist!"
"Why can't you listen to me!?" Aunt Tsu was shouting while waving her hands.
"Hina, can you ask Nima how much contribution points do I need to earn in order to exchange for a basic alchemy book?"
"I'll ask tomorrow but I think that it's not that much since you're only buying a book not really applying for the apprentice position."
"Hmm, we'll visit the apprentice position once I rank up to silver rank, for now, we'll just make do with just a book."
Aunt Tsu was speechless, watching her daughter and nephew making decisions for her future.
Yana was barely holding her laughter seeing her mother's expression.
"I also think that we should let Yana apply for a dojo." Unfortunately, her happiness only lasted for a short while, her sister changed the topic to her future.
"Hmm, I think that she just need to train every day but she doesn't need to focus too much attention to training but I think it's better for her to research mystique creatures."
Yana and her mother looks at each other both lets out a helpless sigh.
They spent the remaining night talking about their plans.
Wuk was now sleeping outside, it seems that he likes the backyard of the house compared to the small room Sean has.
The next day, leaving the house early, he went to the Black Ape Dojo.
There are already a hundred or so disciples present.
"This is the first time I saw you waking up so early." Hina was surprised to see him.
"Well, even though I'm already a martial artist, I am just still at the starting point, in order to give our family a brighter future, I had to work hard."
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, you can count on me also." She hesitates slightly and stick decided to say this.
Rubbing her head, he laughs out loud. "Even though you're older than me, I see you as my little sister, as the oldest child, I have the responsibility to take care of our family."
She looks at him silently, her eyes carries complex emotions.
It seems that the little brother that she has been looking after has now matured.
Bypassing Reina's room, he went to the training room specifically for the future hunters of the Gold Family.
His presence immediately attracted the gazes of everyone but one command from their instructor snaps them out of their daze and they continue training.
"Instructor Iron, I wish to spar with you!" His words shocked everyone in the room.
Iron frowns but before he can refuse, his device rings and when he saw the message, he pauses and nods at him.
"I agree, we don't need to go the arena, we have a ring right here."
Every private room in the Black Ape Dojo has a ring but they are mostly used to showcase one's skill rather than a match.
"Thank you for accepting my request!" He bows to him.
His martial arts is different from everyone, he can train it but he can also leaving the training to Wuk.
Iron Rock, one of the bronze rankers of the Black Ape Dojo, he's also a highly respected instructor.
There's a high chance that he would reach the silver vein rank in the future, making one of prospect hall master of the dojo.