160 Training and News

Early in the morning, a dense fog covered a forest near Dash's residence. Inside the thick forest, a series of striking sounds echoed repeatedly.

In an open space within the same forest, three wooden figures shaped like humans were arranged in a triangular pattern on the ground. In the center of the triangle stood a skilled figure swiftly evading, retreating, and simulating defense, managing to shadow the extended wooden arms reaching forward.

Pum! Pum! Pum!

The sounds of the strikes occurred as Dash's hands collided with the wooden dummies while he moved his feet. From each sound, one could feel the deep and powerful force behind each punch.

Naturally, Dash, moving between the wooden figures, was intensely trained after being absent from rigorous training for some time.

Right now, he was entirely focused on the wooden figures, imagining a fight in his mind. He raised his guard and responded with punches from time to time. Moments later, his expression turned serious as two of his fingers curled and fiercely attacked specific points on the wooden dummies.

Pum!

Just as Dash's calloused fingers struck those wooden areas, an explosive sound was heard. Immediately after, the sturdy wooden dummy wobbled, showing even marks of being broken.

Pum! Pum!

At that moment, Dash extended his left hand and quickly attacked twice in the same manner. Immediately after, both wooden dummies moved back and forth.

"Dash's strength is truly formidable!"

Witnessing the destructive potential of Dash's attacks, Mr. Kim, who was giving him special attention in the mornings, couldn't help but feel satisfied. Since childhood, his first student had shown a willingness to go to any length for training, even going so far as to harden his bones through a painful procedure.

Dash's Kung Fu had evolved in an enviable way, even rivalling Mr. Kim himself, a veteran in martial arts who had never been defeated before.

Having trained Dash brutally for the past five years, Mr. Kim discovered that his potential had reached the maximum a human could aspire to achieve, and from this point on, he would only get stronger.

Of course, Dash was seventeen years old, and the estimated maximum strength in a human usually reaches its peak potential around the age of nineteen if trained correctly.

Therefore, after months of training, this fact was happening to Dash, who was showing visible changes in his body.

While going through part of his rigorous training, Dash wiped the sweat from his forehead as he sat under a huge tree. With a serious expression on his face, he proceeded to watch a video where a guy named Jack Brewer from Wasabi Warriors won a championship against one of the strongest dojos in Japan.

The video showed Jack dominating in all fights, excelling not only in strength but also in speed. He was, after all, an incredible rival, so strong that Dash wasn't sure if he could win a match against him.

For a while, Devon had been investigating those who had chosen her and Dash as opponents. She then met Kim, the girl she would face, and found out that both of them followed each other on social media.

Jack and Kim were incredible dual fighters, matching Devon and Dash in skills but not in matches won.

This made Dash take these rivals seriously, and he began rigorous training again.

"Hmm, on a scale of skills, who of the two is faster?" While Dash watched the fight, this question came to his mind as he compared himself to Jack.

As he thought about it, Dash turned off his phone and walked towards Mr. Kim, who was checking the training equipment.

"That guy is very strong. When you face him, you must be prepared for his strength and speed," Mr. Kim said, assuming that Jack was as good as Cheng, if not better.

Dash smiled upon hearing this and said, "Dre and Cheng will come from China to participate in the tournament, so Sakura Bushido will have its best fighters in the competition."

Mr. Kim said nothing to Dash's words. He had realized that his young student wanted to experience a desperate battle in which he would be eliminated. Perhaps always being among the top fighters of his age had taken away his desire to keep fighting and winning.

"Let's go back; classes will start in a few days, so it's good that we stop training so much for now," Mr. Kim said, dragging Dash back home.