The massive iron doors groaned as I pushed them open.
A cool breeze drifted through the training hall.
Quiet.
I had expected shouting.
Wood splintering.
Instead...
Silence.
The room was enormous, easily rivalling a noble's ballroom, except everything inside existed for one purpose.
To make killers.
Weapons lined one wall with military precision.
Wooden dummies of different sizes stood throughout the hall, each carrying years of abuse.
Stone pillars bore thousands of tiny impact marks, while sections of the floor had been polished smooth from countless hours of footwork.
My eyes slowly swept across everything.
Then...
They stopped.
'There you are..'
A single boy stood near the centre of the hall.
Barefoot.
Sleeveless black training vest.
Loose trousers.
His breathing was calm despite the light sheen of sweat covering his skin.
Rob Lucci.
...
Huh.
For the future government's greatest hunting dog...
He looked surprisingly normal.
I liked that.
Real monsters rarely announced themselves.
Laskey stepped forward.
"Saint George."
He gestured toward the boy.
"This is Cadet Rob Lucci."
Lucci bowed.
Perfect posture.
No hesitation.
No unnecessary movement.
"...Saint George."
I smiled.
"Luke."
A faint silence settled over the room.
Laskey blinked.
"...Saint?"
"You can call me Luke."
I shrugged.
"We're inside a training hall, not a royal banquet."
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kalifa quickly scribble something inside her notebook before pretending she hadn't.
She was definitely writing about me.
I wonder what...
Instead of approaching Lucci, I wandered toward the nearest training dummy.
Cultivation had given me one bad habit.
I couldn't stop observing.
One dummy had collapsed inward.
Another had deep fingersized punctures.
Several bore razorthin cuts.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
I slowly walked from one to another.
"This one..."
I rested my fingers lightly against the damaged wood.
"Straight punch."
"No..."
I shook my head.
"You corrected it halfway."
I walked again.
"This one was finger training."
"Precision over power."
Another.
"...Rankyaku."
I smiled faintly.
"You've been experimenting with changing the release angle."
The room became silent again.
I didn't need anyone to confirm it.
The dummies already had.
I turned toward Lucci.
"You enjoy martial arts."
It wasn't a question.
He answered anyway.
"...Yes."
Short and honest.
Good.
"So do I."
For the briefest instant...
The corner of his mouth moved.
Barely.
If I had blinked, I would've missed it.
I grinned, "Might as well warm up."
I reached toward the clasps of my ceremonial robe.
One by one they came undone.
Finally!
Fresh air.
I shrugged the heavy garment from my shoulders and casually tossed it toward the side of the hall.
BOOM!!
The ground vibrated.
Dust drifted and settled back.
A light crack appeared under the garment on the floor.
Much better.
I rolled my shoulders.
Rotated my neck.
God...
I'd almost forgotten how light I actually felt without that thing.
Nobody spoke.
Kalifa's pencil had stopped in midair.
Laskey looked between me and the robe as though trying to solve an impossible equation.
Only Lucci moved.
He walked toward the pile of white fabric.
Stopped beside it.
Looked down, as he picked it to feel the weight.
Then turned his gaze back at me.
No surprise, no disbelief.
Only...Calculation.
He understood what mattered.
Not just the weight.
The years required to make that weight ordinary.
I walked toward an untouched dummy standing near the centre of the room.
Old wood, like others.
I placed one palm against its chest.
Closed my eyes.
Qi quietly flowed through my meridians.
Like water finding its own course.
A single pulse left my palm.
DHUM~~
Gentle.
Soft enough that even I barely felt it.
I opened my eyes and withdrew my hand.
Nothing happened.
Kalifa tilted her head slightly.
Laskey frowned.
Three seconds passed.
kcree~
A tiny crack appeared near the centre of the dummy.
Then another
Not from the surface.
From within.
The sound spread through the wood like tiny branches growing beneath the bark.
Crk...
Crk...
Crack...
Without warning...
The entire dummy quietly collapsed into dozens of pieces.
No explosion.
No impact.
It simply...Lost the strength to remain whole.
Complete silence.
I looked down at the scattered fragments.
"Control was still rough." I sighed
Some of the Qi had leaked toward the outer fibres.
I'd need to work on that.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lucci.
His gaze never left my hand.
Not the dummy, rather my hand.
Interesting.
He hadn't been fooled by the result.
He was trying to understand the process.
That made me smile.
A fellow martial addict.
Laskey finally found his voice.
"...Impossible..."
He took a cautious step toward the broken wood.
His fingers brushed against one of the fragments.
No crushing marks.
No dents.
No external damage whatsoever.
Only...The inside had been completely destroyed.
"...Ryuo..."
he whispered.
A second later, he shook his own head.
"...No."
"This isn't Ryuo."
Good eye.
He couldn't explain it.
Because there wasn't anything in this world to explain it with.
Kalifa looked between the dummy and my palm before quietly writing a single line inside her notebook.
She paused.
Looked at me again.
Then added another sentence.
Definitely not work related.
I pretended not to notice.
Lucci slowly looked up.
For the first time since I'd entered the hall...
There was something alive inside those emotionless eyes.
Not admiration....But
Curiosity.
Pure and Unfiltered.
The same curiosity I'd felt the first time I opened the Great Sage's inheritance.
He wanted to know. Not how strong I was.
But what I had just done.
That was exactly the reaction I'd hoped for.
I smiled.
"So..."
I clasped my hands behind my back.
"Ready to show me what you've got?"
For the first time...
Rob Lucci smiled.
It wasn't warm.
It wasn't friendly.
It was the smile of someone who had spent years climbing a mountain...
Only to suddenly discover another peak standing beside it.
"...Yes."
One word.
That was enough.
For the first time since arriving in this world...
I had found someone who might actually understand why I loved walking the martial path.
And somehow...
That thought excited me far more than any desires I have from this World