Master rubbed his cheek, mostly in confusion more than any kind of pain.

  I stretched, smiling, feeling strange wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. Even the socks and shoes I had felt weird. It’d been a long time since I’d worn normal clothes at all.

  “Brat, you’re turning into a real asshole, you know that? I spent three months spending money like water to put you back together, even inventing four new types of methods to use Ki to help keep you together, and the first thing you do when you see me is punch me?”

  “And yet, you somehow still deserve it.” I said.

  Master grumbled.

  “If you don’t like it, get stronger till you don’t need my help.”

  Now that was a sentiment I could get behind. I was grateful to Master… and also wanted to punch him in a way that he actually could feel. But I needed more strength. Speaking of, having finally escaped the horror known as a physical, I had some questions for Master as we made our way onto the streets below.

  “Master… my power level…”

  “Yes, I can sense it. You’re now power level ten right?”

  “Sense it?”

  “Ignore that. Focus.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I am. I feel… so much stronger than I’d thought I’d feel. Wait no, why and how am I even this strong?! I was at power level [7] before. The recovery… it should have only restored my power level right?”

  Mastered hummed to himself, mulling over his words.

  “Did you know there are medicines that can increase your power level?”

  I froze. What?

  He nodded at my expression.

  “Yup. And unlike the usual external methods of growth, they aren’t all terrible. Only most. The permanent ones are almost all disastrous but temporary ones are fine in moderation. But these aren’t hard rules. The reason these, sacrificial rituals, and certain other sources can make others stronger is because they improve the base. Power level is your essence in effect, the combination of your body, mind, and soul being put to work.”

  I frowned at that.

  “Wait. Does that mean if I get smarter… my power level would go up?”

  Was the path to true strength really to just… sit and learn?

  “Ah, no. Mind in more of a, hardware sense. Like a sentient psychic plague might increase it’s power level by taking over people and growing itself, literally. On the soul side, a ghost might get stronger by eating the energy of people it kills.”

  “Psychic…plague? Wait, ghosts are real?!”

  “Ehhh, it’s complicated. Focus. Medicine can improve the body at base but it can only go so far. Even medicine beyond your understanding would be difficult and usually have severe drawbacks. My point is that while your body was being rebuilt, it kept improving.”

  The way he said that…

  “Was it… not supposed to?”

  “Your mind and soul were past your body. The first is more shocking than the second but can at least be explained. A higher power level increases your mind in various ways. Reaction speed, perception, ability to take in and put out information. It doesn’t make you ‘smarter’ but if you’re stupid, it’ll make you stupid faster. You probably pushed it beyond its limits down there while on the knife edge. Your soul… there are a few benefits to pushing beyond what should be allowed, using Ki early, and damaging it, it seems.”

  Once again, I was grateful to Master. He hardly ever hid any information and was always willing to explain fully so long as you asked. Not to mention, he was an absolute wealth of information. But still…

  “My soul-”

  “Nope. Don’t worry about that. Not even a little bit.”

  “But-”

  “Your soul is fine, they get hurt, but they can never be permanently hurt or destroyed. Don’t Mutai. Don’t think about them, don’t ask about them. Never.”

  His words were deathly serious as he stared into my soul- Eyes. As he stared into my eyes.

  “...Can I know why?”

  “Trust me Mutai. Even knowing you have one and they exist is too much burden right now. This is serious.”

  I hadn’t considered anything like that in… ever. My parents hardly said anything about theology while I was growing up, mostly just shrugging. I mean… I knew people had souls. I’d seen them leave. I didn’t know where they went or what happened after death despite a hundred and one people saying one thing or the other. Most said there was at least a good and a bad place, called heaven and hell, but that was the only thing anyone seemed to be able to agree on at all. The idea of not believing people had souls… it just felt… obvious to me that they existed. Why would anyone think they didn’t? Wait, how did I know they did? It was-

  “Nope. Mutai, focus.” Master said, cutting off my train of thought. “Back to the point. Medicine can permanently improve you. The only reason it did was because your body just kept taking to it like a sponge. Which is a moderate problem. Your body is way too strong for you right now. You grew into it naturally at least but you’re currently pushing against a boundary.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I took a deep breath. I could feel it, the boundary he was talking about. How could I not? I had lived twenty plus years feeling it and after less than a year, it’d returned. A wall. It felt so strange, to be at another one. To be so strong at all really. I could physically feel the wall which made me feel… horrified and complicated. It was only by reaching another I could really understand. It was a barrier but the barrier was, almost thin. I felt like I could punch through it if I just really tried. Like a weight around me. Comparing it to how I felt before and my first natural wall…

  If this wall felt like hard glass, the other had been reinforced Titanium. It was a miracle I’d ever broken it.

  I also could tell what Master meant about ‘too strong’. My body moved too weird, too fast, too, everything. My footsteps stomped too hard, I felt lighter than air as my legs propelled me, my arms felt like they could shatter bone and maybe even rock, I felt like I’d become a monster of power.

  It was glorious, it was intoxicating, and it was overwhelming.

  “So… what now Master?”

  He looked at me, an eyebrow raised.

  “Training of course.”

  *****

  “Punch it.”

  How strange, to be back here after all this time. Not just in the dojo, not just in a healing room, but after around nine months, almost a year, I was back here in this training room in front of this same punching bag. And in those nine months, I’d been reborn.

  Last time I was here, I was around power level [3], as strong as a weak teenager.

  Now? I was power level [10]. It still didn’t feel real. In a way, amusingly, I was at the peak of a ‘normal’ person. Any stronger, and I’d meet the bare minimum power requirements for being a real warrior. At least, according to how and what people believed and thought.

  I smiled. I may not have the power to be instantly recognizable but I’d fought and killed and won and survived. I had already become a real warrior. Now, it was just a matter of growing stronger. Strong enough to beat all four of those turtles alone. Strong enough to survive those damn sewers and chain wraiths. Strong enough to easily defeat that elemental. And finally, strong enough to beat Vega.

  I was finally ready to grow some more.

  I leaned back and I punched.

  My fist flew forward, shocking me with its speed and strength. I could feel it. Before I could even think about that further, as the wind whistled in my ears from my own punch, it hit the bag. And the bag went flying as if it was made of cheap powder, swinging on the chain, and hitting the ceiling, only for the chain to snap.

  It fell, spilling open, sand raining down.

  I stared, wide eyed in shock, at how far I’d come. At how far I had to go. I stared at my fist, still extended, still in the motion of punching. I’d… I’d come so far. There was a time my relentless punches wailed on this thing for weeks and it barely moved. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of punches hit it without effect. And now? A single one destroyed it.

  I swallowed, my emotions trying to choke me, as I felt my eyes water.

  I had grown. I was, I had become more than I once was.

  “Welp.” Master spoke up, annoyance in his voice. “Looks like you’re going to need tougher equipment if you’re going to destroy my stuff. You know I have to clean this up right? Bah. Whatever. Anyway, I know just where to go to keep you away from my crap.”

  I looked over, my eyes still watery, my heart still beating like a drum.

  “Where, master?”

  “The Gym.”

  *****

  Walking the streets again so soon, I couldn’t help but continue to stare at my fist.

  “Keep staring all you want, it’s not going to whisper you sweet nothings.”

  I looked over to Master, who had a bored expression on his face.

  “Master, how can I… how could I possibly have done that?”

  “Huh? What’s so surprising? Just look up or actually use your Vambrace. Pretty sure you’re at [10] after all.”

  “But… even still…”

  “Like I said, you’re too strong, too fast. A warrior should never be shocked by their own strength. Well, in battle. Getting stronger sometimes does cause these annoying moments where you don’t know how to hold back and, apparently, destroy my equipment.”

  “Ah, sorry.”

  Master waved me away.

  “It’s fine, you can try destroying someone else’s soon. Not that you’ll be able, the punching bags won’t be crap they had lying around like mine was.”

  Master had said we were going to the gym and I had tried to reason that out. I didn’t really know what I was expecting. Maybe a more personalized area he used to train himself or something? Another Dojo he named The Gym? Somehow, what I didn’t expect was a massive public Gym called ‘Cosmic Fitness’.

  “Master… when you said a gym… did you really just mean a gym?”

  “Well duh, of course I did. What else could I have possibly meant?”

  “Am I… really going to be trained here?” I asked, unsure.

  Master looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

  “What, you think you’re too good to train around others? Has your arrogance grown that far?”

  “No! No, that’s not it, it’s just… I thought all my training would be done at the Dojo so…”

  “Then you’re a fool or you expect me to be one. I don’t wanna pay for a treadmill or a stairmaster and we’re going to use those and many other machines. Remember, we’re not trying to make you ‘stronger’ right now. Don’t worry about that stupid number above your head. We’re trying to refamiliarize yourself with your own body. Strength will come on its own as you train. Do you remember the one thing you need to do?”

  He looked at me and I felt the cold steel of his Aura pressing down on me. I stared back into those empty eyes and remembered exactly what I needed to do. Now, before, and forevermore.

  “My best.”

  “And don’t you ever forget it. It’s the only way you’ll ever complete any of your goals.”

  Master walked forward through the doors and I took a second to take a deep breath. Today was going to be hard and so was the next and the day after that and the day after that. It was going to be a harsh workout again, on par with breaking my body against that stupid bag. Except it wouldn’t be so simple and straightforward this time.

  I smiled.

  I walked in through the doors, more than ready for that.

  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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