Terrence stepped into the backyard, the soft grass cool beneath his feet. He lowered into a wide, stable stance—the horse stance.
This was one of the best foundations for many techniques.
He bent his legs and focused on breathing. The stance felt awkward, but balance came with time.
Each second, his muscles burned, but he pushed himself to hold the stance longer.
Using impulse breathing, he directed oxygen to the parts of his body that ached, allowing the muscles to tear and heal simultaneously for maximum efficiency.
A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, stinging his eyes as his body screamed for some rest.
But he refused to give in. This was just the beginning.
Twenty minutes later.
thud!
He dropped to the ground, kneeling, but maintained his head leveled.
This was the perfect moment to train his combat techniques—while his body was on the brink of breaking.
Standing up, he started jogging.
At first, it was slow, a steady pace, but little by little, he adjusted the length of his strides, quickening his tempo.
He was trying to retrain a military movement technique called "Impulse Steps," a skill that allowed a fighter to move as if they were gliding.
Hours passed, and with his previous experience, it didn't take him long to reach 30% mastery of the technique.
At this rate, it would only take him a week or two to fully master it.
It was quite an achievement for him, especially considering it once took him over six months to learn it.
'I'm sure if I were one of those geniuses, I'd have reached 100% in under an hour,' he sighed deeply.
That's why he needed to grow stronger and more influential before everyone else caught up to him.
Another thought crossed his mind.
'Should I do it ?'
He recalled the names of the individuals who would lead the first counterattack.
If he could find them and make them indebted to him, he could surround himself with powerful allies long before the battle began.
'No, I can't do that. It's like picking fruit before it's ripe. They needed specific life and death experiences to awaken their powers.'
One example of this was the Ice Empress, Alice.
Before the invasion, she worked at a restaurant, and in the chaos, she decided to hide in the restaurant's freezer.
She nearly froze to death before being rescued. Months later, she discovered her ability to control ice.
He, on the other hand, only awakened the weakest type of power after many years— Neutral Mana.
Though his energy was flexible and could be trained into other types, increasing its power was far more difficult, and the resources required were astronomical.
'Time to head back and check my investment,' he stretched his legs one more time.
In his room, he checked the crypto site—Octocoin had hit 0.070 U, turning his $23,000 into over $134,000.
'I'd love to just sit on this gold mine, but…' he trailed off and opened another browser.
It was a boxing betting site. He remembered the welterweight champ winning by knockout in round ten.
'Right now, Bet360 and Winners has the max payout. Just to be safe, I'll split my bet into two,'
The sites were among the most trusted, so he wasn't worried about getting scammed.
As for his credentials, he used his aunt's name , which she gave him without asking any questions. He also set up an online account under her name to collect the winnings.
click!
The sound of the mouse echoed in his ears as he locked in the bet.
'The odds are even?'
Just to be sure, he checked the web for answers.
Despite outclassing the champion in their last match, the challenger lost after a disputed unanimous call.
'This will work in my favor,' he struggled to control his excitement.
Placing bets, he split them into smaller pieces, stacking extra win conditions to crank up the payout.
Method of Victory: Knockout, while Round Betting pushed it to 15x
'It's starting,' he muttered, grabbing a handful of potato chips.
'I hope I'm remembering this right.'