Zhao Lei.

"Alex, he is here."

It was morning now. Alex was exhausted from training with the mirages.

"Who?"

"Zhao Lei."

Alex opened his eyes. Zhao Lei was looking at him from outside the cell.

"Come on. Time to train."

Both of them left the underground cell. Lei moved ahead while Alex followed him.

After some time, they reached the temple once again.

"Today, we will learn about the concept of martial arts."

The hall was empty. It was 4 in the morning.

'System, start gathering data.'

Lei stood in front of him and asked,

"Which do you prefer, swift and silent or strong and domineering."

"Aren't assassins supposed to be swift and silent? And how are they disjointed from each other?"

Lei disappeared and reappeared in front of him. Before Alex could dodge, his abdomen felt a sharp stinging pain.

"Swift and silent."

He raised Alex above the ground and punched him on his face.

"Strong and domineering."

Within seconds, Alex was bruised.

Alex struggled to stand up. His punch had numbed his body.

Lei bent down and pressed his pressure points.

"When I ask you a question, I accept an answer. Not a question."

Alex recovered his control. His face was swollen, and his body was in immense pain.

"A disciplinarian."

He slowly stood up and said.

"That's right. And I am not going to hold my punches. So, what would you rather choose?"

Alex looked at him and said,

"Swift and silent."

Lei tapped the ground with his left leg twice.

"You recover well."

"One of my strong points."

Lei stared at him. This kid had no fear.

"The reason behind my question was simple. I can classify almost all assassins in these two groups."

Alex was interested.

"For example, although we all started as assassins, some of us take on completely different jobs. Your father would be one of those people. He deals with enemy organizations and handles planning. He is an assassin, but his work is more oriented to a strategist. And his fighting style consists of fighting many people at once, so his style is strong and domineering."

"What about you?"

"What do you think?"

"I am leaning towards Swift and Silent."

Lei smiled.

"I try to balance both of them, but yes, I prefer swift and silent."

"Is it wrong to master both?"

"It isn't. You can train the other style when you complete one of them. But that requires you to balance your patience and bloodlust."

Alex nodded.

"But you shouldn't hurry into things. Don't expect me to train you in both styles at once."

Alex looked dejected. He didn't hide his disappointment.

Lei sighed and said,

"You are talented, Alex. I will give you that. That is the reason you are here, training from me. Your mother entrusted you to all of the families because of your speed of progression. Your total potential has some value, but in the end, there is a limit. Your speed in improving triumphs over everything else. You can train with all of us, but remember that you can't let your talent stagnate. Don't push yourself excessively, but at the same time, you can't afford to relax."

Alex was pleasantly surprised. The Zhao family head was not as bad as he had imagined.

"I understand."

"Good. Then let's begin our training."

--------------------------------------------

"How is he?"

Wei was on the phone with Sylvia.

"He is fine. They both are training right now."

Sylvia was paying top dollar for his services. She couldn't visit the Zhao family, so she had to rely on Wei for help.

"Keep me posted. If anything bad happens, contact me immediately."

"Sure. But I doubt that anything bad could happen."

He looked towards the hall. Alex was punching rhythmically.

"A good punch can injure the enemy. A great punch can render an enemy unconscious. A perfect punch can kill the enemy in one strike."

He was punching towards Lei's hand, which was incredibly still. He aimed to push Wei back by 3 centimeters in the next 2 hours.

"The strength in your left fist has decreased"

"Find the part of my hand that will give you the advantage."

"Keep up your speed. You are supposed to be a prodigy!"

Alex was being pushed to his limit. Hitting Lei's hand was like hitting a thick, metal wall. He wasn't budging.

"As time will go on, your strength will decrease. That is the fatigue part of the exercise."

An hour passed. By now, Alex was running on fumes. Not only was he constantly putting out more punches, but they were also all his strongest efforts. Meanwhile, Lei didn't move at all. He was still in the same position.

Another hour passed, still no progress. Alex was panting in frustration. What was this strength?

"Let's end this lesson here."

Despite all of his ferocity, Alex was unable to move Lei by a single millimeter.

Alex looked at his fists. They had turned blue.

"You can balance your strength at such a young age. Very nice."