4 Travelling

First, they traveled around the rest of Southeast Asia, and Mike studied Pencak Silat, Arnis, Eskrima, Kali, and many more local martial arts. His Fourth Chapter nearly doubled in size, and its influence started spreading to the other three chapters as well. Analyzing various techniques from different martial arts presented new perspectives on combat and movement.

While studying traditional martial arts gave Mike insights and inspiration, his focus was still on professional fighters and modern combat sports. Time had already filtered out most useless moves, as many of them were outdated in the 21st century and could only be found in movies.

That's why he'd spend more time with Sanda fighters in China than with Kung Fu or Wing Chun practitioners. In Japan, his primary goal was meeting Judoka at the Olympic level. Again, traditional Jiu-Jitsu, Aikido, Karate, and Ninjutsu mainly served as references to increase the fourth chapter's technique compendium.

Korean Taekwondo, Hapkido, Swordsmanship, and even archery were next on the list. But it did not stop there. Greek Greco-Roman wrestling and Prankration, Russian Sambo, Dutch Kickboxing, French Savate and fencing, Brazilian BJJ and Capoeira... those were all absorbed into the manual.

There were only two months left before the promised day would arrive, and there was not a single day Mike neglected his basic training and fundamentals. For the remaining time, his trainers had something special prepared for him. They noticed Mike getting restless, and changing the routine was bound to help.

Their contract would end in 8 weeks, and that meant goodbye at that time. They had been asking for more money over the last few months, and while Mike found it strange, he gave them everything he had. There was no use for money in the future anyway.

Uri, Saenchai, and Alexander used that money to organize a special boot camp for the duration of these two months in the United States. As a former Sayeret Matkal instructor, Uri had connections to multiple American special forces, which had unexpectedly agreed to participate in the camp.

Saenchai, on the other hand, contacted the top MMA gyms, of which most had agreed to send their top fighters and trainers.

Last but not least, Alexander invited the best weapon experts of different styles throughout the world. He had been slightly annoyed that Mike mainly studied unarmed combat in their travels, so he went all out to find professionals with actual combat experience.

Word spread between the most elite gyms and organizations to a point where even the American government showed interest. They pledged to send the best sports scientist and the most cutting-edge technology, under the condition that all participants signed a waiver not to spread any information gained at the boot camp.

The American army would receive the right to any discovery or progress made. Mike always made it clear that he had no intention to share his manual with the world, especially not with any government. Still, his trainers knew that did not mean Mike would not cooperate regarding any other aspect.

The four arrived at the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, and shortly after, a shuttle bus arrived to pick them up.

"You three said you have a surprise for me, but I hope it is not gambling in Las Vegas. I know you always tell me to enjoy myself more, but I cannot allow myself to waste these last two months."

"Come on. You know you want to relax for a little bit, it's been almost five years already. We even invited some friendly companions for you," the three chuckled and teased him.

"Exactly, it was not cheap getting them to come. They will take real good care of you and tend to all your needs."

"Yes, yes, you will experience things you have never experienced before."

They winked at each other and could not hold their laughter back. Saenchai even started slapping Mike's back while giggling like a hyena, which infuriated him even more.

<<Don't tell me they wasted my money on…?>>

"Let me out of the bus right now. I cannot believe I gave you the remaining money I had just for you guys to throw it out the window!"

The car was going approximately 60 km/h, but Mike still tried to open the car door to jump out. The moment he grabbed the door handle and tried opening the door, the child lock activated.

"Relax, we're just messing with you. I promise you will like what we have organized for you."

Being the most serious out of the three, Alexander decided to calm him down. After another twenty minutes of the car ride, they left the city and drove towards the desert. Finally, a giant hangar appeared on the horizon. It looked simple from the outside, like someone placed an enormous steel and concrete rectangle in the middle of nowhere.

At the main entrance were armed men in black suits wearing earplugs. It was apparent they were security guards, and soon enough, Mike and the others went through a detailed security check. Shortly after, they were let into a room to sign the waiver. This was the moment Mike started to understand what was happening.

<<How did they manage to organize this? The money I gave them was not even remotely enough.>>

Mike felt touched. All of this surpassed what he would have amounted to by himself by far. He could not wait to start the Bootcamp. Anything the USA's government prepared would be the best of the best, and the waiver ensured they would invest a lot into this project.

Surely enough, Mike did not get disappointed. No, it even surpassed his expectations. The interior of the hangar smelled of cement and fresh paint. Wherever one looked were facilities and equipment.

Just the size of the training area had to be around 8000 square meters. There were about six boxing rings and ten octagons, with all kinds and variations of punching bags next to them. All of that seemed incredible, but it was not entirely outside of Mike's expectation. What truly surprised him was the medical equipment and especially the reproductions of different terrains. There was an artificial beach, mountain, forest, swamp, and even a tiny jungle, along with several variations of all of them.

"Impressed, huh? We're going all out here. The United States Armed Forces recently got our budget increased, and all of our service branches decided to cooperate. Our goal is to unify and improve military hand-to-hand combat and at the same time create a new training facility for our special forces."

A man in a suit approached Mike's group; while the man did not look different than any of the other officials, the air around him was different.

<<That must be one of the top dogs.>>

With ever-sharper growing senses and intuition, Mike could feel that this man was not as simple as he seemed on the outside.