Chapter 36: Proving His Worth

"Hmmm, interesting?" Captain Aelia said, looking at Hael's stance. It looked kind of primeval compared to the normal boxing stance she knew well.

BADUUMP

BADUUUMP

BADUUUMMP

Suddenly, Hael's heart began crazily pounding in his chest. Something that could have been easily interpreted as an adrenaline surge, but Hael's eyes flashed looking at the system notification panel that swiftly appeared in his hands.

[Rapidly Beating of Heart has Been Observed...]

[Mana Energy present in the body has begun revolving.]

[Host bodily attribute has been increased by double...]

[Host has automatically activated skill, Magnifier...]

[Mana's potency has increased by double...]

[Host bodily attributes have been strengthened by four times...]

In the next second, horrific-looking veins squirmed through Hael's undergarments, especially concentrated in his legs, which caused a gentle air undulation to rip out beneath him.

And in the next second,

BOOOOOM

A violent punch tore through the air with horrifying speed as Hael flashed forward with horrifying speed and ruthlessly punched towards Captain Aelia's face. Her massively changed form absorbed the sudden intense burst of power, yet her body wasn't in any way slow as she dodged her head to the side.

The air beside her face exploded outwards like a tempest. And in the next instant,

BAAANG

Hael violently whipped his legs towards her waist as she instantly exerted strength beneath her feet, jumping up into the scythe legs whipping below.

But Hael immediately used the momentum of his right leg returning back to the ground to jump up and then delivered a back kick.

"Fast!" Captain Aelia mused out. Instead of trying to dodge, she sent a punch smashing towards the leg as a violent shockwave rippled outwards into the distance.

Hael felt a colossal force smash into his feet as he was blown away and back, lifted thrice, every step creating large indents on the ground before he finally came to a stop, sliding back into his original stance.

Captain Aelia was like an unmoving block, only retreating for two steps before coming to a stop.

She looked towards Hael and noticed the large crater that he had left behind in his retreat.

"You transferred the momentum of my punch into the ground!?" Captain Aelia said, noticing the reason for such a massive crater as she turned to look at Hael. This time her view of him had changed.

This couldn't have been done by a naïve cowardly bastard. The speed, the strength behind his kicks, and his combat awareness that instantly responded to her every defense.

"Now you have piqued my curiosity..." Captain Aelia said as she took a single step forward, the same time that Hael did, and instantly they both shot forward towards each other with horrifying speed.

BAAANG BAAANG BAAANG

The sound of intense reverberation rang out through the room as Hael rapidly moved with horrifying speed, dodging every punch and delivering devastating kicks in return, which were also promptly defended by Captain Aelia.

"You use your punch to block, and your legs to attack!?" Captain Aelia asked in shock while snickering to herself as Hael rapidly shifted his head to the side and instantly kicked back towards Captain Aelia, who dodged to the ground and whipped her leg to Hael's legs.

He also jumped up into the sky, avoiding getting sprawled to the ground. In the air, he whipped down another leg towards Captain Aelia who rolled away, the ground where the kick landed enveloped in tiny cracks as Hael rapidly closed onto her with speed, and their battle once again resumed with speed...

"Your fighting art is very limited..." Captain Aelia said as Hael kicked furiously and she dodged them with ease.

"The kick delivers twice the damage as the hands. They are the best for maximum attack, and the hands are very mobile making them best for blocking. How is that limiting?" He responded as Captain Aelia threw a kick to his chest and he crossed both arms over each other as they slammed onto his arms, lifting him two inches into the air.

Yet he quickly slammed himself back into the ground before he could smash into the wall...

And he returned back to his position before suddenly Hael's face changed as he felt strength suddenly disappear completely from his body.

And in the next instant, he smashed both knees into the ground as massive amounts of sweat covered his face, dripping together with the blood...

[Mana points: 0/30] [Energy: 0/100]

The system notification panel appeared as Zeras looked at his energy which had been completely exhausted.

"So quickly!?" Hael wondered in shock.

[Your fighting ability is a very complicated one that sucks away mana in very large amounts in exchange for more destructive power...]

The system said as Hael's eyes flashed....

"I used to do this every day for four hours before getting exhausted. How come I have quickly been exhausted in less than 10 minutes..."

[Your earlier practicing was without Mana, a necessary lifeforce for the technique. Only Mana can bring out the true power, which also places very large strain on your energy. Besides, you are fighting a completely different opponent, who isn't an ordinary mortal and also going all out with her physical body which is, according to my estimate, about 7 times stronger than yours...]

"Tch, I lost... once more..." Hael said as he forced himself to rise back up, and after much struggle, he finally rose, supporting himself with the wall...

"For the fraction of some minutes, your strength and bodily durability grew to a level of that of a 1st core cybernetic fighter..." Captain Aelia said with furrowed eyebrows, her gaze scanning his body, but still she noticed nothing abnormal at all...

"Are you saying I am strong?" Hael replied with a trick question as Captain Aelia furrowed her eyebrows...

"No, you're not. But such durability of a body is beyond what a 16-year-old human can achieve. It faintly rivals that of a cybernetic fighter..."

"Whatever..." Hael said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I think I might have just found the perfect class of cybernetic fighter for you..." Captain Aelia said as Hael whipped his head up...