Gaining Experience

In a vacant lot, about 20 meters from the base's north gate, at 9 am, two figures were fighting. The two were similar in height, one had brown hair, well-defined muscles and tanned skin, wore iron gauntlets soldered to gray English wrists, covering the entire forearm. The other, young in appearance, with green eyes and white skin, struggled with apparently clean hands without any form of protection.

Asa and Lucas fought from an early age, not stopping for anything. Traces of tiredness were already present on the trainer's face, like sweat fell from his face, staining the yellow ground. However, the young man, who was being 'punished', had an animated expression. With each blow, each successful step and dodge, a small lift of the lips, indicating a discreet smile, was visible on his face.

Lucas never fought for more than a few minutes, but since his punishment began, his training could go on for hours without a break! That doesn't mean he didn't feel pain, in fact, it was more painful than his experiences with mutant dogs, birds and snakes, in these other fights the duration of his pain was just a few seconds. But now, his body gained new wounds every few seconds for hours without rest. Mutation of it worked full steam ahead during that period.

The rules of this fight were clear, Lucas would have to put up with everything without using his mutation, of course, the one he could control. He could also use his knives, but he didn't want to. About that, he thought:

'They are no longer in good condition, if I use them here it will just be a waste. Best to save for a really needed occasion.'

Asa's combat style with the gauntlets was very confusing to Lucas, as he figured that because his trainer had wings, he would choose a weapon that would let him attack from long distances, after all, being able to fly while your enemy is static on the ground is a almost certain victory.

However, his melee style with the gauntlets didn't make him any less dangerous to her eyes. The reason for this was Lucas's newfound ability on Asa. Those feathered wings could shrink and expand according to the precise control of their holder, giving immense fluidity to their movements and superhuman agility.

The wings shrank to 50 centimeters each and their speed more than doubled. The wind generated by his movements, in addition to stabilizing and offering any point of support to Asa, also destabilized his opponent. Lucas found himself in a fight on two fronts, one with Asa's precise fists and the other with the nagging wind of his wings.

Despite being prohibited from using his mutation, Lucas still used it to activate one of his elusive and newly named abilities, [Blood Understanding]. He hadn't activated it the day before when his punishment started, but today he's already found his trainer with it activated. His mind lived every second twice as slow, it didn't make him move 'faster' but make decisions faster.

However, this was more than enough to gain experience exponentially. [Blood Understanding] had him analyze each blow and what the best course of action to take. It made him like a machine! His learning speed was insane! It could be compared to an A.I connecting to the internet, receiving infinite information and processing it.

'But what the hell is this?! What's going on?!' Asa thought.

There was no way to express her amazement at this young man. During the beginning of this training the day before, he could notice infinite 'screaming' errors in his combat, be it posture, attack, defense, dodge and any other action. However, not even twelve hours had passed since the previous training and he could no longer find anything but a few mistakes that depended more on experience than knowledge.

If he hit him with a right hook, Lucas dodged to his right blind spot, and landed a blow to the stomach or ribs. If Asa kicked at the high guard, Lucas would reach down and, with his legs, attack the support leg of his trainer, who quickly regained his balance due to the support of his wings. However, Lucas was still learning to fight, so he would still get hit and bleed eventually. The main mistake was his posture, he was not used to fighting humans, who could prepare complex attacks and strategies; something Asa has not failed to explore.

Therefore, Lucas' wounds were always located in unusual places in a hand-to-hand fight, behind his joints, back and behind his thighs. Asa often used her agility to circle him and deliver blows from the rear. Even the young man using his mutation to speed up his brain, there was no way he could move faster, that is, he already knew he would be hit and could do nothing but try to move with all his strength, of course, without using his mutation .

In the eyes of an amateur in fights, the two were evenly matched, the exchange of blows was the same, but if an expert saw it, he wouldn't pay attention to these aspects. He would see a pro attacking, someone who knew where and when to strike, making the most of his opponent's shortcomings. As for the young man, he could guarantee that there is no other human with such reflexes. His blows were clumsy and there was a lot of wasted movement, however his speed made up for it.

"Let's make things more interesting then."

Asa noticed that it was practically a technical draw, so he decided to increase the level of the fight, he flew back, using all the advantage of his wings. Lucas was surprised by this action, but he soon understood what was going to happen, so he tried to put himself in a defensive position.

The winged man wasted no time, after rising about 10 meters in the air, he descended like an eagle's dive, his face was in the same direction as his opponent, his feet turned up and his arms extended in front of his head, they gave less resistance in the air. The attack was quick, barely giving Lucas time to prepare, but it was enough for him to think of a countermeasure.

"I hope it works," Lucas thought.

Asa fell swiftly with his arms outstretched, while Lucas stood there waiting to act at the right moment, he nearly reached his limits to further increase the blood flow to his brain, which resulted in an even slower perception of time.

The colors got even brighter and sharper, some dust particles were visible, and he could even see the air displacement caused by Asa's speed. However, instead of focusing on these details, he sharpened his mind to go over what he should do, building up strength in his legs, as well as preparing some countermeasure if it didn't work out.

Time doesn't flow in the same measure for Asa, so he barely noticed when he was within inches of his student. However, his thoughts were quite different from what was expected.

"Where is he—" He couldn't finish his train of thought.

Fractions of seconds before, Lucas realized that the right moment to act had arrived. Then, without hesitation, he used all the strength built up in his legs and leapt forward, dodging hairlines from the iron gauntlets. After dodging those fists, Lucas turned around and gathered all of his strength back into his legs, raised his right arm with a tight fist, and jumped, slamming his fist into Asa's stomach.