Chapter 5: Harder not Smarter

Thea moved immediately, launching forward at a speed I could barely track from my spot on the sidelines. She struck low, a sharp kick aimed right behind her opponent's knees.

The guy collapsed with an annoyed grunt, forced down for only a second before Thea doubled down, driving a brutal kick into his side.

"Rng!" A sharp exhale, frustration clear in his voice.

My excitement shot up just watching her.

It was the first time I actually really looked at Thea.

She had an athletic yet lean build that hinted at a life spent in disciplined training. She wasn't overly muscular, but her posture carried an air of confidence and control that made her presence hard to ignore.

Her hair was a deep chestnut brown, cascading just past her shoulders in loose, slightly uneven waves, as if she trimmed it herself with a small blade. A few rebellious strands always seemed to fall over her forehead.

But it was her eyes that stood out the most. Sharp, almond-shaped, and an intense shade of stormy gray.

She felt the success of her attack. She moved again, putting everything into a follow-up punch straight for his jaw.

A barely perceptible, but unmistakable flicker. For the briefest second, a pulse of brown energy shimmered over his skin just before her fist connected.

And… nothing. No reaction. No stagger. No struggle.

He just… stood effortlessly.

The realization hit Thea first. Her eyes widened slightly, muscles tensing, a split-second hesitation the kind even I knew you can't afford in a fight.

She tried to take a couple steps back.

"Sorry." His voice carried hints of a mixture of frustration and shame. "I'm not letting you go after that."

Thea barely managed to shift her weight back before his hand lashed out, gripping her arm.

No one in the crowd made a sound.

She twisted, feet bracing, trying to wrench free, but it was pointless. His grip completely unshakable.

Then, without warning, he sent out a single punch.

No dramatic wind-up. No display of power. Just a solid, controlled strike straight into her abdomen.

*Thud.*

Thea… just collapsed.

Her body went completely slack, like a ragdoll.

He let her go, stepping back as she crumpled onto the mat.

He had no words or expression for her. After a brief pause, he simply turned and walked away.

Without thinking, I ran in and crouched beside her. Her eyes were shut, her breathing erratic.

"Thea? Are you ok—"

"No." Her arms curled tighter around her stomach.

"You want me to do an—"

"No talking."

I hesitated, glancing up at the instructor, running a hand through my hair. "Uhhhh. I don't think she wants to move."

He scratched the back of his head, looking… was that guilt? Regret?

Without addressing her condition, he turned to the others. "Everyone move over there. We will continue until everyone has fought."

The group shifted, following him to another section of the room, not as open as the center, but maybe he actually did feel bad enough to deal with the inconvenience.

A few moments passed and Thea's breathing steadied, but she still didn't say anything. So, I broke the silence first.

"So… this is what we gotta deal with until we get our systems?" If I even get one.

"...Yep."

I frowned, replaying the fight in my head. Her complete dominance at first, and then… the sudden reversal after that weird flicker of light.

"Thea, what happened? What did that guy do?"

She groaned. "Ughhh. Do you not know what 'no talking' means?" But despite her protest, she sat up.

I met her tired gaze and answered, completely deadpan. "No."

She sighed. "Cultivation is slow, Peter. Or at least, slower than systems. On top of that, we can't raise our stats permanently, only temporarily by diffusing energy into them."

My brain latched onto the word slow, dragging up my earlier question. "Is it normal for the World Force to not fully convert?"

She nodded. "It'll get easier, but it'll never be much more than a fraction of what you absorb."

She shifted to a more comfortable position before continuing. "And as for what happened? That…" she exhaled, "is something else we can only look forward to. Skills."

Of course. The system would give you skills.

Something we couldn't use without one.

I leaned forward slightly. "How do you get them?"

Thea gave me what had to be her fourth or fifth odd look today. "What do you mean? Completing missions, obviously."

…Right. I was not doing a great job of convincing her I belonged here. But I brushed it off.

"So," I gestured toward the group still brawling in the distance, "they get to follow a guide that gives them skills, increases their stats, and so on. While we…?"

She sighed. "We have to train, gather energy, and get beat up."

I nodded. "Great."

She ignored my sarcasm and crossed her arms. "You should consolidate your gains. It's not strictly necessary," she continued, slipping effortlessly into teacher mode, "but it's also good practice for diffusion."

I smirked. "Got it, Grandmaster Thea."

Her entire expression told me just how much she hated my bestowal of her new title.

"Just practice moving your Internal Strength," she huffed, clearly deciding she was too mature to argue. She went silent after that, probably sinking into her own cultivation considering the closed eyes.

Meanwhile, my mind drifted back to what she had said earlier, words that still hung heavy in the air, right alongside the memory of her fight.

If she wasn't strong enough to stand against them… where did that leave me?

Even if I trained relentlessly, if Thea, who was so much more skilled and experienced, couldn't keep up with system users… How fast could they really progress?

And how slow would I be?

A gnawing sense of dread settled in my stomach, but at the same time, something else stirred. A stubborn ember of determination flickered to life.

I focused inward again.

What was once a mere spark was now a thin stream of power. Still small and weak, but larger than before.

However, to my dismay, the World Force had already fully dispersed. Off to wherever it disappeared to. Just… not in me.

I honed in on the my stream, willing it to move.

It resisted at first, stubborn and slow, refusing to follow my lead, but eventually it flowed.

Separating from my Nexus, I guided it downward. As it moved, I could feel the power spreading, if only just.

I pushed it further, forcing it downward until I could begin, with great focus, to circle it from leg to leg.

I felt the energy in my body pulse, a limited surge of power spreading through me. If I had to guess, I could probably move faster than I could even a second ago.

But another thought hit me. How the heck was I supposed to do this while fighting?

This was going to be hard. Like, really hard. But I wasn't about to quit now. For the first time since arriving here, I felt like I had a direction, a path forward.

I opened my eyes after some practice, and almost as if we had planned it, Thea opened hers at the same time.

I glanced toward the other group. They were struggling with the limited space they had, their movements growing more awkward as they tried to adjust.

"Maybe we should go back to where we were?"

Thea followed my gaze. "Hmmm… Fine, I guess."

Something about her tone told me she wasn't exactly excited about making things easier for them. And honestly? I wasn't sure I blamed her.

The guy she and I fought were complete jerks, but the rest? They were just training like we were. They didn't have to suffer just to spite a couple bad eggs.

We both stood and walked back to our previous, more isolated spot.

It didn't take long for the others to return to theirs, and I even caught a brief nod from the instructor as we passed.

Thea stretched her arms casually before turning to me, a mocking glint in her eye.

"Let's work on some more drills." She placed a hand over her heart dramatically. "I don't think I've ever seen such a sad loss in my entire life."

Ouch.

I opened my mouth to fire back, but… yeah. It was a pretty bad debut match for my fighting career.

So instead, I just sighed and got to work.

As we moved, mimicking the earlier drills and adding a few new ones, the silence stretched between us.

I got tired of it quickly. "So we're not gonna match them in speed or power, right?"

Thea effortlessly dodged a punch I threw at full speed, barely sparing me a glance. "Yep."

For me, the answer was simple. It was smarter to train using the system. So my solution?

"Then we just have to train harder, not smarter."

She shot me a sideways glance, her lips twitching, dangerously close to forming a smile.

"Exactly." She paused and spoke terrifying words. "We should practice some real sparring."