With strong will and determination, Jules lunged at the outrageously strong punching bag and for the umpthenth time...
"Ow" he fell flat on the floor. "This is torture" he groaned. His fingers trailed towards his forehead and he could feel it was swollen.
'How much longer do I have to keep up with this?' He wondered.
"Okay, let's try again" he bounced back up and lunged towards it again. His hand moving fast and hitting it several times till it swung forward.
"Yes" he said and stretched out both his arms for what was to happen next.
The bag then came swinging back with much greater force than how he had hit it.
Jules gritted his teeth and pushed with all his strength. 'I may be able to hold it off this time' he thought as he kept pushing strongly but....
POW!. The bag hit his forehead with a swift swing and he fell to the floor once again.
'Fuck!!'
Two hour earlier....
"Jules Martin, 16 years old, Samphire native, 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 72 kilograms..." Master Benjamin continued.
"Ummm...." Jules paused. 'What the...'
"It's your data analysis, we need it for future purposes" master Benjamin smiled reassuringly.
"Ummm okay" Jules simply said. He wasn't creeped out by why the Master needed it but how accurate it was, he couldn't recall ever giving out those detailed information.
"Now, to the real stuff" master Benjamin grinned.
'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' Jules thought.
"Follow me" master Benjamin stood up and walked off. Jules nodded and followed after him.
In no time, they arrived at another area of the headquarters. Jules looked around for a while, the room looked a lot like a gym. Seriously, how big was this place anyways?
"We're here" master Benjamin spoke.
Jules's eyes scanned the entire place for a while. "Wow, you even have a gym?" He asked in astonishment.
"Of course we do. I mean...what good will warriors be if they don't get stronger huh?" Master Benjamin spoke with a smile still on his face.
"That makes sense" Jules nodded in understanding.
"Alright, have these" Master Benjamin grabbed a pair of boxing gloves and handed them over to Jules.
"W-will I be boxing?" Jules asked with an astonished expression.
"Not exactly" master Benjamin replied
"Oh" Jules's previous excited expression dimmed instantly.
"But....you will be punching something, just not you know...a human being" Master Benjamin shrugged afterwards
'Yeah, I guessed as much' Jules thought.
"Alright, what do I do?" He asked.
Master Benjamin then let out a grin. "Oh, you're gonna love this" he said.
"Here is the NFP, the Nurite filled punching bag" he pointed his fingers towards a punching bag right in front of them.
"Huh?" Jules turned to look at it.
"It's a punching bag filled with Nurite" Master Benjamin confirmed.
"Yeah, the name was obvious enough" Jules sighed. 'So, it's just a punching bag after all. Kinda lame actually'
"Anyways..." His eyes darted towards master Benjamin afterwards.
"What is this Nurite stuff?" He asked.
"Ha" master Benjamin flicked his fingers. "Nothing much, just the strongest element in the universe" he chuckled.
"The....the strongest?!" Jules asked with widened eyes.
"The second strongest actually" master Benjamin spoke
"Second strongest?!" Jules exclaimed once again.
"Ha" master Benjamin then sighed. "Alright, you caught me. It's the third strongest" he said.
"Bu..but..the third..."
"Enough questions" the master cut him short. Spending too much time on dialogue was boring, it was time to get to the action.
"Go ahead, punch it" he said.
Jules stood still in contemplation for a while. "Okay" he eventually said.
'If it's the third strongest like he said..then, it wouldn't hurt to put it a lot of energy into this' he thought.
POW!. He punched hard on the punching back and it came swinging forward.
"Wow, that was ea...." Instantly, the punching bag swung back twice as fast and hit his head thereby knocking him down to the floor.
"Ow!!!" Jules yelled in pain.
"Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you. Nurite is considered the third strongest element not because of it's action but it's reaction" master Benjamin let out a small smile after saying that, almost like he had intentionally waited till that moment to tell him.
'The hell is that supposed to mean?' Jules wondered. He stood up abruptly, his palm clutching unto his head which hurt much less than it did two seconds ago.
Master Benjamin stood still, his eyes focused on the orb like structure in Jules's chest. It was something only he could see, One's energy core.
"It's quite stable, I'm impressed" He spoke.
Jules felt a sense of achievement from his comment. Due to yesterday's test, he sure had learnt and achieved quite a lot.
"Anyways, that's all I'm here for. Good luck stopping that punching bag. I'll be watching" Master Benjamin smiled and turned to sit on a bench not too far away, so he could get a good view of Jules as he proceeded with his training.
"And be sure to release your energy this time" his voice echoed.
"Wait...hold on...master" Jules called out.
"Yes Jules" master Benjamin titled his head to take a look at him.
"Um...well...I'm a little confused"
"Ha..." the master sighed. "The second phase of your training is pretty easy. All you gotta do is stop that punching bag during it's reaction and you can move on" He said.
'Pretty easy? Did he see the speed of that thing?' Jules wondered with a bewildered expression.
"Alright, get to it youngest one. We don't have all day you know" Master Benjamin said.
'Master's cruel' Jules thought. "Alright" He sighed.
He went into a fighting stance once again.
'Feel the energy' he inhaled deeply.
'And release it!'
At that moment, the feeling of a warm air slowly leaving his chest and moving deep in his limbs till it surrounded his entire body resonated in him.
Jules then punched hard on the punching bag. He held out both hands in the next millisecond ready for the reaction of the punching bag and it swung back twice as fast once again.
Jules put all his strength into holding it back but to his disappointment, the bag was still much stronger and sent him tumbling on the floor.
"Attempt number 2 failed" the master sighed at the sight.
'This is torture' Jules thought in agony.
BATTLE FIELD, SAVIOURS HEADQUARTERS...
Kya! Pow! Swing!.
"Ha" Anne exhaled heavily.
She stood up abruptly and placed both arms on her waist.
"You know, fighting with you is totally unfair. Why compare your aura whatever thingy to energy bullets" She spoke in exasperation.
"Stop making excuses, you're just weak. What would you do if you were faced with an enemy as strong as I was?" Elise spoke blandly. "By the way, how many times do I have to tell you my ability is called aura manipulation" she said with a serious expression.
"Yeah, whatever you say mate" Anne looked away.
She then turned to look at the obnoxious boy playing with blades.
"Hey magnet boy, didn't you hear the master's orders. Get back to training you idiot!" she said frustratedly.
"Chill there lady, Master Benjamin's not here. He's too focused on Jules to pay us any concern" Chris said with a smile as the tip of a knife twirled round his finger.
"Ha, you're hopeless" Anne facepalmed. "I wonder how Jules is coping right now" she said with a pang of pity.
"He must be going through the seven stages of grief at the moment" Chris sighed. "Poor buddy" he added.
"He'll get used to it" Elise spoke without the slightest hint of concern.
"Anne, let's get back to training. Hand to hand combat?" She asked.
"Hmm, sounds fair enough" Anne nodded in approval and the two went back to training while Chris kept on with his silly play.
BACK AT THE GYM...
"Attempt 61 failed" master Benjamin spoke, his hands folded across his chest and his legs crossed as he sat on the bench, he then let out a yawn.
"Ha" Jules exhaled. "When is this gonna end Master?" He asked in frustration.
"I told ya, all you gotta do is stop the impact of the NFP and we can move on" master Benjamin shrugged.
"But...but...this is impossible!" Jules said, his expression carrying a clear hint of frustration. For the past one hour, he'd been focused on stopping the punching back during it's reaction only for it to become much more difficult after every consecutive attempt. Right now, making the punching bag swing for the first time was even a challenge for him.
"Now, that's where you're wrong young man" Master Benjamin stood up and began to take light steps towards him.
"With your physical strength level, defeating the other three during hand to hand combat is sure to be a breeze and i'm not kidding when I say they're experts at either judo or boxing" He spoke.
"Really?" Jules asked in surprise.
Master Benjamin turned to Jules with a smile "Yep"
"But I'm pretty sure with your current skills, you'd be dead if you tried to fight them" He laughed.
"Oh" Jules stared blankly at him. 'This man sure is a piece of work' he thought.
"And that's why I'm gonna train you into a saviour whose able to exert his full power" Master Benjamin smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"So, how bout we give this another try?" He asked.
'But...he's still the Master afterall' Jules thought once again.
"Alright" he smiled.
"This is gonna be the last attempt" he said in determination.
Jules sighed, he was determined to make this his last attempt at stopping this silly Nurite bag or whatever.
'Feel it' he inhaled deeply.
'Release it' he went into a fighting stance.
'And...'
"Wait!" He paused abruptly.
His eyes darted towards his feet. He wasn't wearing any shoes as they were bound to be a hindrance to his current training.
Master Benjamin stared curiously at Jules. 'Why'd he stop?' He wondered.
'I have super strength, not only in my arms but my entire body right?' Jules thought.
'Factually speaking, the human leg is about twice no..four times as strong as the arms'
'That's it!' His eyes lit up instantly.
Jules then began taking off his boxing gloves and his T shirt.
"Huh?!" Master Benjamin stared at him in surprise.
"Alright, let's do this" He said. "Watch this Master!" He yelled.
"I'm watching alright" Master Benjamin stared in amusement. He had no clue what Jules was up to but he sure was excited to see it.
Jules inhaled deeply. He had come to learn that his breathing could control his energy core, at least that was what he believed.
Soon, the brown gust of his aura surrounded him and he could feel his muscles getting stronger and more relaxed.
'I've watched a lot of action movies and if there's one thing I've learnt from them it's that giving a special name to your moves makes it even more effective' he thought.
'Now for my tiger pounding kick!'
Hya! Jules did a small twirl and landing a kick on the punching bag and it swung in an instant.
'Viper twist!' Like a flash, he performed a straight up silly move. Both his palms reached the floor and he lifted his legs to hold off the punching bag.
"Let me guess, this is one of those scenarios where he gives a weird name to his every move" Master Benjamin facepalmed. What was this kid doing? Althought it seemed to be working.
Jules maintained his stance with his every strength, the bag had swung back to him and he was currently about to fall off at any moment. He had to hold it off but he couldn't be reckless and push it once again.
Jules held on with all his strength, the impact of the punching bag was tremendous indeed. A normal person would have rolled over and fallen on their face by now but he had come to accept that he wasn't normal, he was strong...very strong!
"Tch" he made a sharp sound as he held on and all of a sudden, he couldn't feel the pressure of the bag anymore.
"Huh? Did I..." He rolled backwards and landed on his knee. Yes, he had done it! He stopped the impact of the NFP!
"What the..."
"I did it!" Jules leaped up joyfully. "I really did" he smiled. 'And I feel twice as strong' he thought. "I..." He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his head and fell down to the floor unconscious.
Master Benjamin walked towards Jules and sighed. He stared down at the unconscious boy, "You're an expert at fainting aren't ya?" He laughed.
"Congrats youngest one" he said.
"We're moving on to the next phase"