Chapter 12: Fang Shi (4)

Liu Kai woke up early and went to the rooftop to get a glimpse of the area.

No matter how many times he saw it, it is still beautiful to see nature take ahold of the area and tries to restore it.

'Jin Chow is right, it really is beautiful.'

Liu Kai thought to himself.

The whole Fang Shi, one of the greatest Country in Seventh Domain before it turned into a big swamp that nested by Strong Giant Bugs. It is taken over by nature and still has a good place and spectacles to offer.

Larvae of Giant Mosquitoes can be found swarming the stagnant water on the streets and they look like serpents roaming around looking for prey.

Liu Kai closed his eyes to feel his breathing. The air is abnormally thinner inside Fang Shi. The countries converging with one another might cause sudden changes to the atmospheric pressure.

The world is not the same anymore since he woke up. The whole geography changed and he wonders how would the world map will look like after the changes.

That idea would make sense since the geography changed if the altitude is low, the high and low-pressure area will change too but most of the time the air is thicker in the lower altitude because of the gravity.

But for a low altitude place like Shang Chi to have thin air where the air should be thicker is pretty disturbing.

The altitude is so low that the whole area is flooded by the rise of the sea level and high tide, that's why it really wouldn't make sense for Liu Kai.

'Something abnormal is definitely causing it.'

Liu Kai thought to himself.

Jin Chow and Sergio Von Croy woke up and went to the rooftop to join Liu Kai.

Sergio Von Croy walks towards Liu Kai who's sitting at the corner of the building while eyes closed and touched his shoulder.

"You're early."

Sergio Von Croy said.

Liu Kai opened his eyes and looks at Sergio Von Croy.

"Yeah, I have a lot of things in my mind."

Liu Kai responded.

"It would take your body a week or two to get used to this place. Breathing is hard as you already know and our senses are dulled."

Sergio Von Croy stated.

"That means If we engage in a fight here in a long period, breathing will be much harder, correct?"

Jin Chow asked a clarifying question.

"That's right, so to make the process faster you need to move your bodies continuously for it to adapt here."

Sergio Von Croy added.

"Moving around this place would be dangerous and can get ourselves killed in an instant. While on training, you need to make sure not to lower your guards."

Sergio Von Croy continues his advisements.

"So what are we gonna do to move our body continuously?"

Jin Chow asked.

"We need to stick together while slowly investigating this place. We would meet a lot of Giant Bugs but we need to avoid fights as much as possible."

Sergio Von Croy stated his plan for their training inside of Fang Shi.

"I have an idea."

Liu Kai stated.

"Go on."

Sergio Von Croy and Jin Chow responded.

"After breakfast let's follow your idea, but after lunch let's travel back to avoid the danger of traveling at night. If we still have stamina after that, we'll spar with each other to practice fighting with this environment."

Liu Kai said.

Sergio Von Croy nods and said.

"That's a very reasonable move. I'll accept that for our training routine. The plan to infiltrate other eastern countries will depend on the time we still have by that time."

'I didn't know he is also

Everyone agreed and the three of them started to cook the larva they caught for their breakfast.

The training starts two hours after they ate their breakfast.

They are moving from building to building using the tree branches and the vines.

Sergio Von Croy is in front while Liu Kai and Jin Chow are following from behind. They are moving cautiously and dodging the larvae jumping from the river and tries to bite them.

They need to stop time to time to catch their breath.

Jin Chow is always whining about the lack of air while Liu Kai remained silent.

To be honest, Liu Kai is the one having a hard time the most. He didn't get any training from the Seventh Domain's Monarchy like the other two and his stats are behind by a lot compared to the two.

But he didn't whine about the hardships and his eyes remained sharp. He's trying to catch up with the other two by overdoing himself.

For their whole training activity, he promised not to use his skill if it's not necessary. If he can raise his stats while not in 'Berserk' that would mean that he will be much stronger when 'Berserk' is activated, that's just so simple but a hard task to do.

Sergio Von Croy can see the eagerness to get stronger from Liu Kai's eyes.

'I'll get the most out of this training.'

Liu Kai thought to himself.

The morning training feels like it's been forever for the three of them. To think that they might need to fight an S-Rated Bug under the condition they are in right now is absurd.

They decided to rest inside another abandoned building and hunt for their lunch. They are not far from their place yesterday, maybe just a few blocks away since they are just revolving that building and not moving so far away to avoid danger.

Before eating Liu Kai said...

"Eat as much as you can to maximize the effect of this training."

The two agreed and tried to consume more than what they normally intake.

After they finished their lunch, they travel back to their original place close to the entrance of Fang Shi.

"Finally, we're back here, I'm tired."

Jin Chow said.

"The day is not yet over."

Liu Kai responded to Jin Chow's whining.

Jin Chow looks at Liu Kai and he saw his eyes that look like it's asking for more.

"Man, you gotta give me a break."

'Is this guy serious?'

Jin Chow responded and thought to himself.

"Let's spar then."

Sergio Von Croy cuts the two of them and prompted Liu Kai to fight him.

"Sure."

Liu Kai agreed to Sergio Von Croy's challenge.

"No using of skill just a plain hand to hand combat. The first one to go down loses the match."

Sergio Von Croy said.

"Let's stop the match if my skill activates, I can't control it. It will activate at a certain point depends on the damage inflicted on me."

Liu Kai explained.

"I see, that would make sense since you just woke up from your powerful nap."

Sergio Von Croy jokes around.

Liu Kai's eyes remained sharp and focus. Of course, Sergio wouldn't understand Liu Kai because all of the people they met so far can activate their skill at will. They didn't meet someone before that has a skill that will activate itself after certain requirements.

"Let's start-"

Sergio was forced to dodge by Liu Kai's punch and didn't gave him a chance to finish his sentence.

"Don't fool around, take this seriously."

Liu Kai demanded.

Sergio Von Croy laughs on Liu Kai and said...

"Alright, alright, let's test your combat skills."

Sergio Von Croy cracks his neck and starts to kick Liu Kai.

Liu Kai blocked the kick using his arms but Sergio Von Croy grabbed him and tossed him to the ground.

"I think that's for today, kid."

Sergio Von Croy mocks Liu Kai.

"What are you saying? The match is just getting started. I'm not down yet."

Liu Kai retained his balance by rolling his body in the air and landing with his feet. Liu Kai wiped the sweat on his forehead and raises his arms.

"Hahahaha what a fun guy?"

Sergio Von Croy laughs as he finds it amusing.

"To think that you'll be this happy to have a losing record on me, are you a moron?"

Liu Kai smiled back at Sergio Von Croy and provoked him.

Sergio Von Croy didn't expect that answer from Liu Kai and remembered how Liu Kai humiliated him on their first meet up.

Sergio Von Croy clenched his fist and the smile on his face is now long gone replaced by his battle face.

'I got him, but now what?'

Liu Kai thought to himself.

Sergio Von Croy dashes forward and starts to punch and kick Liu Kai simultaneously.

Liu Kai is just blocking Sergio's attacks but remained focus and looking for an opportunity to fight back.

Sergio Von Croy didn't stop and just attacks Liu Kai.

'I won't let you win again this time.'

Sergio Von Croy's thoughts are showing on his actions.

"What happened to your cockiness earlier? Are you just gonna block this whole battle?"

Sergio Von Croy stated while still attacking Liu Kai.

Liu Kai didn't respond and remained focus on blocking to lessen the damages he's receiving so his skill 'Berserk' won't activate.

After a while, Sergio Von Croy's attacks are getting slower and easier to predict for Liu Kai.

'Now's the time.'

Liu Kai holds Sergio Von Croy's wrists and kneed his chin.

Sergio Von Croy went down from the blow.

"I think that's for today."

Liu Kai told him and walks away.

Liu Kai purposely mocked Sergio Von Croy at the beginning of the match but didn't expect him to be taken over by his emotion. They just finished roaming around and just got back. Their body is tired from the activity and Liu Kai knew that.

Sergio Von Croy forgot his limitations inside Fang Shi. He is definitely stronger than Liu Kai both in physical limitation and combat skills but Liu Kai is smarter than him.

While Sergio Von Croy is enjoying his attacks, Liu Kai is lessening the damages to hold on to their battle. After a while, Sergio Von Croy is getting slower as his body is not getting enough air to support his fast movements. Liu Kai, on the other hand, is controlling his breathing while blocking.

When Sergio Von Croy is out of oxygen in his body, Liu Kai took that advantage to fight back. Sergio Von Croy didn't see that coming and completely unguarded when Liu Kai kneed his chin.

Jin Chow is so shocked that Liu Kai won. He is inferior in any way if they won't gonna use their skills but he still managed to find a way to beat Sergio Von Croy.

There's something about Liu Kai that will always surprise you. He's thinking sometimes doesn't make sense like a brainless guy throwing his life away when Liu Kai fights the Giant Wasp.

Sergio Von Croy stands up and remained silent on his loss. Jin Chow didn't approach him as he looks mad about it.

Sergio Von Croy is so frustrated but at the same time happy inwardly. He didn't expect them to be this interesting. At first, he thought that he found a weak knight with a random weaker guy.

But now he can see their potential to get stronger and he doesn't want to fall behind.

'Next time I will turn our battle records the other way around.'

Sergio Von Croy thought to himself.

The three of them begin to hunt for their food and prepares it afterward.

Liu Kai cuts his wrist to inflict damage on himself and to activate his skill 'Berserk'.

"What are you doing?"

Jin Chow and Sergio Von Croy felt the sudden change on Liu Kai and asked him.

"Don't bother me I'm trying something."

Liu Kai looks at them and answered.

Jin Chow and Sergio Von Croy disregards him and prepares to sleep.

Liu Kai is trying to control himself even with 'Berserk' activated. He will also activate 'Berserk' every day to get used to its power and gained the aftereffect to raise his stats.

There shouldn't be any problem since the bad effect of 'Berserk' can be changed by his other skill named 'Alter'.