The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 766: Twenty-five Percent

At three o’clock in the morning, Wang Zikai and Nine Frost stood five meters apart on the empty clearing at the foot of the forest-covered hill, quietly facing off each other. The cold moon shone on them, and the chilling wind bellowed. They looked like two masters dueling each other in a wuxia novel.

“Here I come!” Wang Zikai shouted in a booming voice.

“Come on.” Nine Frost responded in kind.

“Alright!”

The moment the word left Wang Zikai’s mouth, he was already right before Nine Frost with a whoosh, swinging a fist at him.

Nine Frost blinked and saw the fist stop right before his nose. The sheer force of it hit him as a strong gust and almost made him close his eyes.

Wang Zikai pulled back and frowned. “Why didn’t you dodge it?”

Under his poker face, Nine Frost was shocked. It’s not that I don’t want to, but that you’re too quick for me to react! What’s with your growth rate? You’re getting stronger more quickly than Captain, the Divine Scion!

“Ahem.” Nine Frost cleared his throat. “I believe we belong to different weight classes.”

“What do you mean?” Wang Zikai asked dumbly.

“Do you know boxing? The boxers are put into eight different classes according to their weight, including heavyweight, middleweight, lightweight, and the like. We don’t belong to the same weight class.”

“Haha, I get it now!” Wang Zikai came to a realization. “You’re too weak, so I can’t use my full power.”

Nine Frost’s lips twitched. “That’s...a way to put it.”

“Tell me then. How much strength should I use with you?”

“Seventy percent,” Nine Frost said a little weakly.

“You sure?” Wang Zikai raised an eyebrow.

“Fifty percent.”

“Why don’t you think about it more, bro?” Wang Zikai was a little worried.

“Thir... twenty-five percent!”

I can’t go lower! Nine Frost yelled in his mind. My pride as a man is on the line!

“Alright.” Wang Zikai took a few steps back and jumped around, relaxing his muscles and slowly adjusting his strength to twenty percent. “Then I’m coming.”

“Come.”

Wang Zikai rushed up to Nine Frost. Only when his speed and strength lowered significantly did Nine Frost see that Wang Zikai was fighting with no skills at all. He was so bad at it that he might as well be a delinquent brawling on the street.

NIne Frost dodged his attacks easily and made counterattacks every now and then. Wang Zikai kept getting hit. Although he felt no pain, he was getting irritated.

“What’s going on?” Wang Zikai stopped, frustrated. “Why can’t I hit you?”

“Wang Zikai.” Nine Frost finally gained authority as his teacher. “You have no tactics. Put in a vulgar way, the moment you raise your ass, I know the kind of shit that’s gonna come out.”

“Dang it, so I am a total loser.” Wang Zikai’s ego was bruised. “No wonder I couldn’t beat Azure Dragon.”

“You’re top tier in terms of speed, raw power, reaction, and endurance,” Nine Frost said objectively. “But you’ve got no skills. You’re acting purely on instinct. It’ll be easy for you to take down enemies weaker than you are, but facing Azure Dragon, who’s at your level, you can only take a one-sided beating from him.”

“What did you say?!” Wang Zikai brandished the three bone claws shooting out of his right hand. “Even if I can’t beat him with my fists alone, I can cut him!”

“A cold weapon is merely an extension of the arms and fists. It may give you an advantage, but not turn the tide.”

Wang Zikai’s face crumbled. He stroked his chin and pondered for a good moment before retracting the bone claws. “You’re right.”

“Good. Acknowledging your shortcomings is the first step to making progress.”

Nine Frost took a step forward and balled his right hand into a fist. “I’ll make two punches. Watch closely.”

Whoosh. Nine Frost stepped forward slightly with his left foot and made a quick jab at Wang Zikai’s face. He didn’t actually make it land.

Then he stepped back to his original position.

Whoosh. Nine Frost made a large step forward with his left foot and made an upper hook at Wang Zikai’s chin.

He pulled back. “What do you notice about the two punches?”

“They are slow as fuck,” Wang Zikai said honestly.

Nine Frost forced down the tremor of his lips. “Are you going to learn or not?”

“I am, I am going to learn!” Wang Zikai quickly corrected himself. “But I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me.”

“Which among the two punches is a feint?”

“Um, let me think...” Wang Zikai thought back to Nine Frost’s punches, eyes lighting up. “The first is a feint.”

“Wrong.”

“What? So the second is a feint? I feel like you’re more serious with the second punch.”

“Wrong again.”

Nine Frost gave him the right answer. “Both can be feints.”

“Are you messing with me?” Wang Zikai snapped.

“You were staring at my right fist, weren’t you?”

Wang Zikai nodded. “What else should I stare at?”

“It’s not enough. You must look at my whole body,” said Nine Frost. “My left fist is tucked by my waist, ready to make a punch. Thus, my right fist can be making a feint while my left fist is meant to make the real attack. Similarly...I’ve taken a step forward with my left foot, but I may make a sweep with my right leg...”

“Wait, wait...” Wang Zikai called out. “I’m getting dizzy here. Give me some time to think. I’m thinking. So you meant that when you swung at me with your right fist, the actual attack might come from your left fist and right leg...”

“Yes.”

Wang Zikai was shocked. This was completely out of his comfort zone. “Bro, is it too late for me...to give up now?”

“You can give up anytime.” Nine Frost kept up a poker face. “Then you’ll get beat up by Azure Dragon again, right in front of everyone.”

Wang Zikai pictured it and immediately got mad. “No! I’m gonna learn!”

“Good.” Nine Frost nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll teach you the basic techniques of hand-to-hand combat and the common punches and kicks. You must master them and become able to use them smoothly without signaling what you’re doing.”

“Then you’ll be able to combine the moves for combos. The greatest combos incorporate feints, making the opponent react before making the real attacks.”

“Finally, you’ll turn it all into instinct. Whenever you move, you’ll think of the three possible ways the opponent will react. Then you’ll know how you should counter the three reactions...”

“Stop, stop, stop.” Wang Zikai was feeling lightheaded but impressed. He whined, “Can you explain it to me like I’m five, bro? Just tell me what I should do now.”

Nine Frost suppressed a sigh. They still had a long way to go.

“Get into a horse stance first.”

“No problem!” Wang Zikai did as instructed. Nine Frost went up to adjust his posture by kicking his calves lightly and patting his shoulders.

Suddenly, Nine Frost felt as if he was back in a time when the fourth team was still around.

Back then, the team called him and Black Sparrow Mr. Thunder and Miss Lightning, who tormented everyone every day and forced them to train in hand-to-hand combat.

Dark Li was the most talented on the team. Yellow Butterfly was the more diligent student. Old Joe was the most lazy. Xiuyi went beyond lazy and pretended to be sick to stay at home. Black Sparrow had to personally drag him to the training room.

Nine Frost had firmly believed that the results would reflect their hard work, that by working hard, they would get stronger and stronger and become able to determine their own fate.

But where did that get them? The fourth team had all lost their lives at the Eleventh Highschool. Whether they worked hard had no bearing on it. Perhaps it did help a little, but at the end of the day, they were all at the mercy of fate’s whims.