STRIKE A BLOW

"Damn it…", a loud thud sound was heard as Ton clenched his fist and hit the table.

"Those bunch of incompetent fools and they call themselves assassins? They should call themselves Masked Donkeys. Can't even kill a single kid with the lowest level EQ." Ton shouted angrily.

While Noah was preparing for the upcoming fight, Ton was relieving his anger. "Uncle, you told me they would finish the job. Again and again, those thugs fail to teach him a lesson. No one embarrasses me and gets away with it." Ton yelled at his uncle Mathias.

Mathias was the one who contacted the Masked Jackals. "I have already asked them for a refund. Who knew they will be this incompetent? Now they cannot enter the academy premises. We have to find another way." Mathias implied.

"No, leave it be. I will handle him on my own. Also, some fool has circulated a rumor that someone in the academy tried to kill Noah. Now if anything happens to him, everyone will point at me. So don't do anything yet. Also, make sure dad is not aware of this.." Ton gave Mathias a conniving look. Mathias assured him by batting his eyelids. Ton punched the door while leaving.

"Achooo…", Melv sneezed as someone talked behind his back he thought. But he grinned and continued his work. He was the one that circulated the news about Noah being targeted by someone in the academy. He thought it would safeguard Noah for some time. He had left early in the morning to gather the funds Noah had requested. He would directly go to class.

Whereas, Noah also completed his morning sprint and returned back to his room. He didn't start with the basic training yet as he still needs to get accustomed to 3.5x gravity.

All the students of Delta Class reached the academy. Everyone was talking about 2 things - the upcoming exam and most importantly Noah. The news spread that he had been assigned a wilderness mission and completed it safely. Even the Principal had appraised him. The words had spread quicker than he thought. Even students of other classes were staring at him as he walked through the hallway and entered the room.

As things stood, the Alpha Class had all the supreme talents of the RedRock Academy every year. The Beta Class also had talents but they were nowhere near the Alpha Class students. The Alpha Class students were regarded as the cream of the crop. But there was a huge difference between Beta and Gamma classes, and Delta was nowhere near to these two let alone Alpha.

But Noah made up his mind. His target was Alpha Class.

Noah was immersed in his thoughts the whole day. He did not care about anyone's stares or gossips. As the rumor about attacking Noah spread, everyone was wary of directly talking to him. It can result in unwanted implications. It was Melv as usual with his dramedy.

Though Melv tried to enquire about the stock buy the next day and how he was sure about it, he received no definite answer from Noah. Noah only said, "When its time…" and smiled. Melv did not pursue the matter further.

He only remembered Noah telling him earlier, "Let's reach the top. We have long been at the bottom." Anybody else would have thought it to be a foolish statement but Melv looked Noah in the eye and saw his firm conviction. "If he is that determined, I will walk with him", he whispered and suddenly changed his expression, "Ohh damn, I have to workout man but I can eat chocolates right.." he kept wondering.

As the final period was over, Noah bid farewell to Melv. "Will talk to you later", as he rushed towards his room. Everybody would seem he was slow running but it was 3.5x that no one knew. He changed into his workout outfit and went for an evening run. Though slowly he ran for 5 miles again and came back to his room.

When he had returned, the sun had already bid farewell for the day. Noah took a shower and approached the Star-Gym. This was the first time he was going for a workout here. The other day was for the repair only.

The gym was used both for physical training and battle simulation. There was advanced machinery everywhere like a Squat rack, Digital Barbles, Modular BenchPress, different types of Pulleys and various types of Extension benches to hyper cycles and treadmills on one side and five Battle Simulation capsules on the other end. At the end of the room, through another gate, there were two rooms used for practicing martial skills and techniques. There were a total of 3 gyms within the academy and this was the best of the lot. Most Alpha Class students practiced here, but only during academy hours. It was off-limits to everyone except a few and now that included Noah as well.

Noah could see no one in the entire gym, so he thought he could work out freely.

Noah started with lunges as he did in his training with Kane. 20 a set for 3 sets. But he felt he couldn't move after 2 lunges. It was that hard in 3.5x. "This is very hard. Shall I decrease it?" After a pause, he uttered, "No. If I give in now, I can never overcome it. I have to take it slowly."

Noah started to perform lunges slowly again. He could see his body moving on its own as time progressed. He completed 20 lunges in the first set and fell on the ground. He was too exhausted to move.

Someone was watching him for the last few minutes as he persevered to complete the set.

"Here.." he came up and gave Noah a bottle of water. Noah was lying flat on the ground. He suddenly saw a huge guy with a dark complexion standing next to him. The guy pulled him up and measured him thoroughly. "You are new. Which class do you belong to?" he asked.

Noah was startled to see this guy. He had an amazing physique. If not for the academy track pants he would have thought him to be a bodybuilder or so.

"Umm...Delta Class", replied Noah after a long look.

The guy was shocked as his brows shrank, "Delta Class? I didn't know Delta Class was allowed here. But if you are here then it must mean you got a Pass right?" he asked.

"Ya I do", replied Noah as he took out the pass for Star-Gym given by the principal.

"If this guy hits me it will be trouble. I cannot take even one of his blows." thought Noah.

"Well then, that's settled. You should continue with the next exercise."

"That's it? Aren't you gonna throw me out?" asked a surprised Noah. The Delta class was looked upon poorly by other classes so that reaction would have been quite obvious.

"Why would I do that? You got a pass means someone in a high position gave it to you. You have the right to be here. If you didn't have one, then..." he raised his brows.

"This is your pass right? Or did you steal it?"

"I... I steal... No, I was given this Pass. I didn't steal it from anyone." Noah took a deep breath.

"Well, the name's Marty. I am in Alpha Class Final year. Nice to meet ya." smiled Marty.

"Noah. Freshman year. Nice to meet you." The final year was 2 classes higher than Freshman.

"Freshman year huh. Speaking of which, there is a fellow in your class right who came back from the NMZ? Damn his luck. He got to go out in the wilderness to train. They didn't allow me even when I begged at that time." whined Marty.

"So do you know the kid? I wanna fight him..." looking back at Noah, Marty said.

"Well…" Noah was wondering how to tell.

"Umm… that fellow should be me", pointing at himself uttered Noah.

Marty was shocked again. This time he was speechless. He thought the person to be tall and muscular who could single-handedly take on a wild beast. Noah was far from what he imagined. A lanky fellow of medium stature, no muscles whatsoever.

"Whaaaat..?" Marty shouted. "Are you kidding me? How did you survive, man?"

"Well it was a long story..." replied Noah.

Marty started scratching his head as he could not put the pieces together. It is impossible to survive in the wilderness unless you have an equivalent amount of power to deal with the beasts.

Seeing a clueless Marty, Noah spoke first. "Can you help me with my training?"

"What do you need?"

"Umm...What I know to do is basic training like lunges, squats and planks. I need to build strength. The power in my fists is weak."

"Hmm.." responded Marty with a deepened voice. "You are not in shape. So you cannot tap your inner strength or borrow it from your surroundings." This was something Noah heard for the first time. "Inner strength, surroundings? What is he talking about?"

"Let me make it simpler."

"First you need to train your muscles, then strengthen your bones. It does not only mean the ones in your hand. Once to fixate your position, the legs empower the waist and from your waist, you draw the energy to move your arms generating the highest amount of strength in your fists. If you do not train your muscles and bones, the force may at best not even generate but at worst may even tear your muscles or fracture your bones. Also, there are other martial techniques that involve circulating their body energy to land a blow. There are blows that won't even scratch the opponent's skin but destroy the inner organs. Those are way deadlier. But if you train properly even your muscles and bones can protect themselves against such blows."

Noah was listening to Marty's words as his eyes sparkled. "Such a detailed explanation. This guy is a pro."

"So that's it in short. Got it now?" asked Marty as Noah nodded his head.

"Good, then first test your current strength. Come at me with all you got."

"Is it okay?" Noah hesitated.

"Come on. I am way stronger than you."

"Okay then. Sorry in advance." Marty smiled at the politeness of Noah.

"Okay if you can land even a blow. I will give you a 100ST..." said Marty as he was being confident that Noah cannot hit him.

"Are you sure?"

"100 percent."

"Okay then."

Noah prepared a punch to hit Marty. Marty being a seasoned pro easily moved aside. Noah regained his balance and tried to hit him again.

"Haha. Is that all you got? This is how you fought wild beasts? Might have only fought wild chickens, man you are worthless." Marty kept on agitating Noah. He thought this way he can bring out his true potential. But Noah tried and tried. He could not land a single blow. Instead, Marty had tripped him many times. This time he caught him and landed a German Suplex.

This is a wrestling move where you get behind your opponent, wrap your arms around their waist and lift them over your head, sending them smashing to the floor on their back. Marty landed a proper German Suplex.

Noah was seeing stars over his head. Marty pulled him up. Noah was still quaking. He slapped his cheeks to get back to reality.

Marty took a sip on the bottle. He didn't want to demotivate Noah, so he didn't say anything.

"Once more… one last time", said Noah. "Are you sure? You don't seem likely to hit me."

As Marty was preparing for Noah to come after him, he saw Noah do something on his wristbands. He had thought those were normal wristbands. But it was actually the G-Tek device. Noah turned it off. All this time he was trying to land a blow while in 3.5x gravity.

"Ready…" uttered Noah as he took a deep breath.

The next thing Marty saw was Noah vanishing from his front. He was near the left side of his abdomen. "How did he…?" before Marty could react Noah had landed a blow. Though there was not enough power, a blow is a blow. Marty was speechless. All this time they were sparring, this kid was weak. "Where did he hide this amount of agility?" he thought to himself. This kid suddenly became a cheetah from a turtle.

"Once more…" This time it was Marty saying as he was yet to believe his eyes. "I will give you a 100ST for each strike you land." Round 2 just got interesting, as this time Marty was challenging Noah. Noah needed the ST so he nodded and agreed to his terms.

Marty prepared for Noah this time carefully watching him, but the result was the same. Noah had moved behind Marty to his blindspot and landed a kick. It grazed Marty as he quickly tried to move away. But Noah was in front of him again. A punch to the gut. Marty tried to grab him in a bear hold. Noah quickly fell back a few steps and landed a wheel kick. This time his body moved on its own again. Marty did not fall though he was strong enough. But coming back to normal gravity made Noah more agile and swift. He could dodge his blows and hit him anytime.

After a while, Noah surrendered. "Wait..wait… I can't do it anymore."

"Here.." Marty took out 2300ST. Marty's face was all red. He had never been defeated such badly by anyone. On top of that, this was a lanky freshman. "But there are all types of geniuses in the world", he frowned. They decided to end training for the day and meet up the next day.

While leaving Marty asked, "What is your EQ?" Noah knew that if he told him that he just got to 15 from 11, Marty would definitely faint for sure this time. So he only said, "15". Marty was dumbfounded hearing he lost to a fellow junior with EQ15. He kept staring blankly as Noah left the gym.

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