บท 15: The Incident
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
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!"
Garen sidestepped to avoid the car as he began to chase the vehicle.
"Finish him."
Faintly, he heard a woman’s voice in the car.
Bang! The car door suddenly opened and directly hit him on the flank. A pitch black dagger silently darted at Garen’s stomach.
Garen’s heart abruptly jumped as he subconsciously grabbed the arm behind the dagger. His left hand naturally punched the door window.
Bang!
The arm that held the dagger snapped like dried branches. The red muscle and white ligament tore as blood spilled all over the car.
Simultaneously, the car door window easily shattered. Between the tiny glass shards, Garen’s left hand directly punched the passenger’s head. The person’s face caved in when the forceful impact landed. The shape of his face changed as his nose, eyes, and mouth jumbled together due to the violent force. Stained with blood, white bone shards collided audibly against the windshield.
Garen was shocked.
So was the person still driving.
The car continued to move forward. Garen wrenched the front passenger door wide open as he dragged the car to the side. A graceful looking body fell out from the open door. It was the physique of a young woman with an attractive figure.
The girl’s body dropped in front Garen with her face completed disfigured. It was like ketchup mixed with tofu. Her right arm, which held the dagger, hung limply on the side of her body. A black trench coat accented her exquisite figure. From the side, it was easy to see her charming cleavage. From her appearance, she was a young lady.
Under the pungent smell of the blood, he sensed the light fragrance of perfume.
He looked at the body in front of him before blankly staring at the car in the distance. He felt he could see the features of the man driving, along with his cold, bloody stare.
[I just killed somebody…] He stared at his brown pants, now stained with blood, Garen felt a sudden fear from the bottom of his heart.
"I just killed somebody…" he mumbled under his breath as he looked at the woman’s body.
Abruptly, he scanned his surroundings on the empty street. After he made sure that no one saw him, Garen immediately took off running.
The frightened and rhythmless footsteps resonated in the distance.
After he rushed home, he dashed straight into his room without a word.
"Brother, I’ll leave your allowance for next week on the dinner table..." Ying Er walked out of her room. Dumbfounded, she stared at Garen who stepped in front of her. Her face turned pale and she stopped in the middle of her sentence.
Bang!
The bedroom door shut.
"Garen’s back? He didn’t shower after his jog?" their mother Betty asked, opening the bedroom door.
"Yeah Garen, did you exercise again?" Garen’s step-father’s voice transmitted from the bedroom.
"Mhm, he seems to be rushed today for some reason. I didn’t even see him before he got back to his room," his mother complained before she closed the door again.
Huff… Huff…
Huff…
Garen leaned against the door as he caught his breath. His face was an ashen white as his pupils dilated and contracted. The image of the split second when he killed the girl replayed vividly in his head. The shattered bone shards, the crimson red blood, the crooked broken arm, and the pair of wide bloody eyes.
"Nobody was there." He tried to remember his surroundings. There was no one on the street due to the isolated location. The streetlight was dim and the headlights were not shining on him.
He reevaluated the situation before he mumbled, "Nobody saw it, except for the guy driving."
Garen learned how to control his excessive strength gain through continued training, but in that dire situation when his life was on the line, he thought that it wasn’t enough to just defend and his uncontrolled power was brutal.
The result was that the opponent could not be more dead.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
"Brother, are you okay?" Ying Er’s voice resonated through the door.
"Don’t worry; I’ll be out in a minute after I change." Garen tried to respond in his usual tone.
"Mhm, then I’ll boil the water for you first?"
"Okay, thanks."
Her footsteps faded into the distance.
He tried to calm down his rapidly beating heart. He changed into his bathrobe before he grabbed his uniform and balled it into a lump, careful not to expose the parts with blood before walking out of the door.
Boo!
"What are you doing !!?" There was a figure in front of the door. It was Ying Er in her school uniform.
Reflexively, Garen wanted to close the door, but Ying Er put her foot in the doorway. Without much time to think, he dashed to his bed, threw his bloody clothes underneath the mattress, and sat at the edge of the bed.
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