Chapter 72: Training With Masha
Training With Masha
The people in charge of the Cage would later wonder why one of the cages’ energy barriers had eroded.
***
For the next couple of days, Mike was in a great mood.
He continued to do his classes well, and whenever he got out of class, he would either get on Fighter’s.Inc to fight and practice, train with Theresa, or just use his small training room to do some things, primarily experimenting with his new ability.
It helped that it made it so that Mike recovered from fatigue far faster, so he could train pretty late into the night and get by with the bare minimum of sleep.
Speaking of, Mike had discovered quite a few things about his new ability, and they were all quite good.
The first thing was the difference between the ability and the passive skill he got. High-speed Regeneration was pretty great on its own, but in a fight, as long as one could damage him fast enough, his Regeneration speed would not matter.
Which is where the actual ability came in. At first, Mike thought it simply allowed him to control how and fast, and where he healed at the cost of energy, and while that was part of it, it was only just part.
He discovered that, to an extent, he could control his own Vitality. What made this different from simply healing was how it allowed Mike to interact with his body.
He was still exploring it, but one of the things he discovered with this specific skill is that if he wanted to, he could sort of control his bodily functions by manipulating his vital organs. For instance, if he wanted, he could intentionally slow down his heartbeat to the point of it being nonexistent, or he could slow down his flow of blood as well as make it faster, and he could do the same for his respiratory system, and so on.
Mike was pretty excited about this, as he thought he could control his ferocity by slowing down his heartbeat whenever he got heated. However, he experimented with it and realized it wouldn’t work.
It was like there was some invisible force that prevented him from reducing his ferocity in a way that wasn’t adequately controlling his emotions.
Still, Mike wasn’t too disappointed, as even without the aforementioned things, just the Regeneration aspect was enough to make the skill more than worth it.
Anyway, despite it being only the first week, Mike’s progress had been apparent. Whether it was his theoretical knowledge or combat ability, he was significantly better than himself from a week ago.
And he was only improving.
Eventually, though, the weekend came around, and Mike got up pretty early, but it wasn’t to do commissions.
As promised, he was going to meet Masha for the first of their weekly visits.
Most may wonder if Mike was a bit miffed about needing to do something like this during the weekend that was meant to work rest day, but if nothing else, Mike had a great work ethic.
After all, on Klein 4, no one cared if it was the weekend or the weekday. Every day spent ’resting’ was a day of potential scrap being taken and money being lost. So Mike was used to being busy when he shouldn’t be.
After washing up, Mike headed out.
He sent Masha a message that he was on his way, and she sent him her location. Using the map, Mike quickly made his way over.
Soon enough, he found himself in the Training Wing where most of the training facilities were, but surprise, he ended up in front of one of the training buildings that required credits to be used.
Mike hesitated before ultimately going inside, and when he did, he was surprised when he heard loud impacts despite still being in the hallway.
He followed the sound, and soon enough, he saw her.
In the center of the room and covered in sweat, Masha could be seen continuously punching what looked like a dummy.
Mike watched a bit, mesmerized as she moved.
Her body was covered in sweat, and with her simply wearing a sports bra with her sweatpants, Mike could easily observe her toned figure. But more than that, he paid attention to her workout.
Despite her actions being pretty straightforward and repetitive, Mike could see how precise her movements were. From the way her muscles coiled to the trajectory of her fist, and her entire body seemed to be included in each motion. It was simply incredible to watch.
However, the snake that seemed to always be with her turned and looked at him, and Masha immediately stopped what she was doing as she spun to look at him, her single eye locking onto his figure instantly.
"You gonna keep standing there and ogling me or what?" She asked dryly, and Mike flinched before quickly walking out.
"Uh, morning..." He mumbled as soon as he got close, feeling a bit embarrassed for being caught staring.
He felt Masha give him a look-over, and without any preamble, she said.
"Get into a stance." Mike blinked.
"Huh?" He looked up at her.
"You heard me. Make sure to start running Crimson Ladderas well." She said while rolling his shoulders, and Mike couldn’t help but be surprised. He knew that this session would likely involve fighting, but to jump into it so quickly...
He took a breath.
’No point in being surprised. Just go along with it.’ Mike thought as he put his hands up and entered a stance. If he compared himself now to himself a week ago, he’d cringe at how large the difference was.
He also started to run Crimson Ladder and felt the familiar flow of energy through his body as momentum began to accumulate.
Seeing this, Masha nodded to herself.
"Alright. I’m gonna make it so that your flow of energy will keep getting interrupted, forcing you to figure out how to keep the technique running while still being able to fight. I’ll restrain myself to match your level." She said, and Mike nodded as he prepared himself.
Masha calmly walked forward, and Mike concentrated on her movements as she got close, preparing to counter whatever she threw at him.
However, it didn’t take long for him to realize an issue. She was walking, but...
’How is she so fast–’
BANG
Mike’s vision went white temporarily as he felt a horrific impact to his abdomen, with Masha’s fist buried in his gut. He spat out a mouthful of saliva as his flow of energy stuttered to a halt, and his legs grew weak, but he somehow didn’t fall.
When his vision returned, he realized he was panting and sweaty like he’d just run a marathon.
’What... What was that...?’ He thought with disbelief and slight terror.
Mike was quite proud of his durability. Even more so after obtaining a new ability focused on recovery and healing. However, not only had that punch hit him before he could react, but it seemed to completely bypass all of his durability.
It didn’t just hit his gut, it was like her fist had drilled into his stomach to strike his organs directly, and the pain was so much that his vision went white briefly.
"Start running it again." Masha’s voice reached him through the haze of pain. He felt like just doubling over and curling into a ball right then and there, but something told him that doing so would lead to a worse fate.
Gritting his teeth, Mike started to run Crimson Ladder again, and as soon as he did, his instincts warned him.
He immediately jumped back to make some distance. At least, he tried to. However, a leg suddenly hooked around his, preventing him from moving.
Without hesitation, he crossed his arms over his face, but a fist struck him right in the kidney, and he nearly passed out right then and there.
’What... are these... punches...?’ His mind stuttered as he wobbled, then suddenly lashed out as he swung his fist forward towards where his senses told him Masha was.
However, instead of feeling the impact of hitting something or missing, something coiled around his arm, and for a moment, he thought it was a snake. However, he quickly realized that it was Masha’s arm that had coiled around his.
It did not make the situation better.
Another hit landed square in his ribs, and Mike’s teeth chattered as he once more felt his energy stutter to a stop.
Masha let him go, and he swayed as he tried to breathe through the pain of her attacks.
’Wh- What the hell...?’ He thought as he stared at her. She seemed wholly unbothered by everything that was going on, and the snake on her shoulder seemed almost amused by the situation.
’My instincts tell me when she’s gonna attack, but I can barely react, even with Predator’s and Primal Awareness. Didn’t she say she’d restrict herself to my level? Did she lie? No, that’s not right... But how is she doing this? I can’t defend at all!’ He thought with confusion and alarm.
"Can you breathe now? Good. Start running it again." Masha said once more, and Mike knew that he wasn’t going to get a lot of chances to rest.
Something also told him that he was going to be at it for a while.