Initial Preparation 4

Terrence stepped into the backyard, the soft grass cool beneath his feet. He lowered into a wide, stable stance—the horse stance. 

This was one of the best foundations for many techniques, even those used in more modern combat training in the future. 

His legs bent, keeping his body centered, as he focused on his breathing. The position felt unnatural at first, but as he held it, a strange sense of balance settled in. 

Each second, his muscles burned, but he pushed himself to hold the stance longer.

Using impulse breathing, he directed oxygen to the parts of his body that ached, allowing the muscles to tear and heal simultaneously for maximum efficiency. 

His mind drifted to his combat training. He needed more than just physical power. 

He needed technique, agility, and the ability to read his opponents. As much as his body had grown, his mind had to keep pace. 

A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, stinging his eyes as his body screamed for some rest.

But he refused to give in. This was just the beginning. 

Twenty minutes later.

THUD!

He dropped to the ground, kneeling, but maintained his head leveled. 

This was the perfect moment to train his combat techniques—while his body was on the brink of breaking. 

Standing up, he started jogging. 

At first, it was slow, a steady pace, but little by little, he adjusted the length of his strides, quickening his tempo. 

He was trying to retrain a military movement technique called "Impulse Steps," a skill that allowed a fighter to move as if they were gliding, using bursts of energy to cover short amount of distance.

This was a standard method used by the military, designed to dodge monsters and escape quickly when needed. 

As for the name, all the basics started with "Impulse" because it was part of a collection compiled to mass-train soldiers in a short amount of time. 

Hours passed, and with his previous experience, it didn't take him long to reach 30% mastery of the technique. At this rate, it would only take him a week or two to fully master it. 

It was quite an achievement for him, especially considering it once took him over six months to reach full mastery. 

'I'm sure if I were one of those geniuses, I'd have reached 100% in under an hour,' he sighed deeply.

That's why he needed to grow stronger and more influential before everyone else caught up to him.

Another thought crossed his mind. 

'Should I do it ?' 

He recalled the names of the individuals who would lead the first counterattack. These were people who would go on to become powerful and influential figures in the future. 

If he could find them and make them indebted to him, he could surround himself with powerful allies long before the battle began. 

'No, I can't do that. It's like picking fruit before it's ripe. They needed specific life and death experiences to awaken their powers.'

One example of this was the Ice Empress, Alice. 

Before the invasion, she worked at a restaurant, and in the chaos, she decided to hide in the restaurant's freezer.

She nearly froze to death before being rescued. Months later, she discovered her ability to control ice. 

He, on the other hand, only awakened the weakest type of power after many years— Neutral Mana. 

Though his energy was flexible and could be trained into other types, increasing its power was far more difficult, and the resources required were astronomical. 

In addition, even if it reached the same level as other types, it could never compare to them in terms out output, and efficiency. 

Jack of all trades, master of none. That was the best way to describe it. 

He snapped back to reality, realizing he lost track of time while watching the sun set again. 

'Time to head back and check my investment,' he stretched his legs one more time before turning away. 

Tomorrow would be his birthday, and he could finally access his trust fund and sell his property.

Inside his room, he clicked on the crypto website and saw that the price of Octocoin reached 0.070 U, turning his $23,000 investment into over $134,000.

'I'd love to just sit on this gold mine, but…' he trailed off and opened another browser. 

It was a betting site for a boxing match. He remembered that the current welterweight champion had won by knockout in the 10th round. 

'Right now, Bet360 and Winners has the max payout. Just to be safe, I'll split my bet into two,' 

It was the two most trusted betting website, so he didn't have to worry about getting scammed.

As for his credentials, he used his aunt's name , which she gave him without asking any questions. He also set up an online account under her name to collect the winnings. 

CLICK!

The sound of the mouse echoed in his ears as he locked in the bet. 

His eyes flashed across the screen in disbelief. 

'The odds are even?'

Just to be sure, he checked the web for answers.

The challenger actually dominated the champion before but lost the fight due to a controversial unanimous decision. 

'This will work in my favor,' he struggled to control his grin. 

Placing bets, he spread them across four sites and broke them into smaller parts, stacking extra win conditions to boost the payout. 

Method of Victory: Knockout, while Round Betting pushed it to 15x 

After securing the digital tickets, he started watching anime to kill time before the match began. 

There were other fights in the evening, but he couldn't care less because he didn't recognized any of the fighters.

In fact, the only reason he knew about the welterweight champion was because it was all over meme sites. 

'It's starting,' he muttered, grabbing a handful of potato chips. 

Dropping $130,000 on bets made him feel like he needed to witness the fight firsthand—just in case fate decided to change its mind and sucker punch him. 

'I hope I'm remembering this right.'