Sirius Chapter 14: Chapter 13: Physical Training

Read chapter 14 of Sirius by Dealer on NovelPedia.

With each fight, Li's brain captured and refined his timing more and more. Where before his brain was merely a storage unit, it could now reproduce with precision, limited only by his own body. By the fifth dummy, the battle patterns underwent an evolution; they stopped taking simple counters and improved their own defense. Li, who had previously taken three to five minutes to defeat a Dummy, now took ten. But even so, a small improvement wasn't enough to bring down someone who had been fighting since the age of eight. When the tenth humanoid appeared, Li felt a certain sense of danger. It was no longer a wooden dummy, but a "shadow" of a human body, with no visible features, only well-defined skin and joints. "Looks like things are about to get serious." Without waiting for Jihan to get ready, the dummy charged at him, taking the initiative for the first time since training began. Bracing to receive a punch, he defended. "A feint?!" The Dummy changed its strategy and, faking a straight punch, used its shin to strike Li's ribs with full force. Despite his body being more resilient, he hadn't fully healed from the injuries of his last battle. Feeling the impact of the blow, he jumped back, trying to put some distance between himself and the opponent. "It hadn't used the lower half of its body until now!" The boy went on the defensive again, trying to protect himself while gathering information. "It doesn't seem nearly as proficient with its legs as it is with its arms. I think I can use that." To test the possibility, Li used himself as bait. When the humanoid moved to strike him with its feet, Jihan stopped retreating and threw himself toward the dummy. With the change, the distance between them became too close for a kick. The boy then dropped down, grabbed the Dummy's leg, and positioned it over his shoulder, pinning it between his legs and bringing it down to the ground, winning the fight. With the disappearance of the tenth, the eleventh appeared. "What the hell is this?" A chill ran up his spine. "These things keep getting creepier." A real mouth had appeared on the dummy's face. Charging at the boy just as the previous opponent had, the patterns repeated; this time, however, Li quickly took the initiative, noticing the two were very similar. Again, when the dummy prepared to kick, he advanced. The humanoid smiled. The instant its leg reached the top of its arc, it came down with full force and, like a guillotine, struck Jihan's trapezius and drove him into the ground. Shortly after, Li was ejected from the place, returning to the food court; all so fast he still couldn't quite make sense of it. "What was that?" He thought, replaying the last movements of the eleventh Dummy, which had been almost entirely mechanical. "But that last strike... that wide grin... it was almost like it was mocking my stupidity." Preparing to go back to the stage, he tried to pull the same ball. To his surprise, it didn't come off the wall. A small message appeared above the object, making him furrow his brow in disbelief. "You've already taken this mission today?" "Meaning I can't enter that place twice in the same day? What do I do for the rest of the day?" Looking at the large clock at the top of the board, he realized it was still the middle of the afternoon. Reflecting, he saw the library orb next to the combat training one. "I think I'll head to the gym." Talking to himself, he walked toward the establishment. The physical training center was close to the food court. Arriving there, he noticed hundreds of pieces of equipment, all state of the art. "Compared to the old gym I used to go to when I was fighting for Tai Lung, this place is paradise." Heading through the door, he was stopped by a man at the front desk. "Hey, kid, first time here?" The attendant asked. "You know your clients well." Li replied, noticing the size of his muscles and concluding he must be the manager of the place. "Yes, it's my first time." "Easy to spot the newcome