"Yo whats up man? This kinda a surprise, didn't think id see you after the test. Kinda thought youd be dragged to the principals office haha," Andrew said, with a smile on his face, but calculating thoughts in his head.
"Haha, yea, i mean i guess you could say i was a little bit curious about you…" Zachary said with a nervous smile.
"Wait…. I don't swing that way bro? Im sorry though…"
"Hold up, nah i don't mean it like that. I mean i was curious about your performance in the exam!" Zachary quickly corrected himself, thinking 'did i really make the right choice? He seems kinda unreliable…'
"Haha, i'm just messing with you bro. No need to take things so literally. But whats up? What were you curious about."
Andrew laughed a bit in his heart, he used to be just like this kid in his past life around the same age.
Taking even a grain of salt as a boulder, there was a reason he was mainly a loner for a long while.
"Oh okay I got you, but i saw what you did to the testing machine before… your hiding your strength aren't you?"
Zachary suspected this as the rest of Andrews tests went way too smoothly. Every score was extremely precise as if it was intentional.
Andrew had purposefully tried to score within the middle for his remaining tests. Above average but not so above the average that he would draw attention from faculty.
"Oh? What makes you think that?" Andrew said with a curious glimmer in his eye.
"I could immediately tell that punch wasnt an accident during the strength part of the test. You delivered a blow powerful and precise enough to literally pierce the alloy plate, meaning you didn't waste any energy in dispersion…"
"That was the biggest sign to me that you had a different agenda than to stand out, so i naturally became curious…" Zachary replied, clearing his throat slightly.
Truthfully, the only reason he knew that Andrew was masking his power was because of his master, otherwise he would've been like everyone else giving the benefit of the doubt.
"Yea honestly, i came across a decent sized fortuitous encounter that my parents left behind before they passed away. A secret technique I guess you can say."
Andrew had to lie a little bit, there was no way he was gonna easily reveal his secrets, especially now.
This little white lie wasn't a problem for him, he had damn near a century of experience and mental age over this young buck protagonist.
Before Zachary could ask another question, Andrew decided to ask one of his own to take control of the conversation.
"So, is that all youre curious about? I do need to get home to eat."
"Actually I was a little curious… I was wondering if you'd like to train with me one of these days."
"I did catch a glance of you in the park the other day while you were training. Quite frankly, i didn't really believe you when you said you were good at body conditioning."
"However, seeing what your routine was looking like and seeing the results from the test, I can tell you weren't just trying to cozy up to me."
Andrew held back a smile, this was exactly what he was waiting for.
"Yea of course, we can definitely help each other out in some training. Would it not be a problem though? I could tell that mysterious old guy took an interest in you."
Zachary was slightly surprised hearing this; he didn't think Andrew caught that much, this boosted his rating even more.
"Yea it wont be an issue, he just wants to give me some pointers and resources here and there. I can even put in a good word for you so we can both take advantage of this opportunity." Zachary said, with a kind smile.
"Wow… he's surprisingly generous!" Andrew thought to himself, still not exactly sure what he could give in return for this.
However he did not hesitate, he knew this was a small opportunity he had to take advantage of.
"Yea man, that would be dope and I appreciate you willing to put in that kinda effort even though we just met."
"What days are you free to get in some training?"
"Everyday, i'm literally free everyday and probably will be for a couple of months." Zachary quickly replied, not wanting to miss out on this opportunity to gain a reliable ally.
"That sounds great to me bro, what you doing later tonight? We should hit up the park and get something in as soon as possible. Time awaits for no one after all…" Andrew replied just as quickly, not wanting to miss this chance.
"Lets do it bro, 7pm?"
"Sounds good to me, ill catch you then. Would love to chat more, but i do gotta get running."
Andrew would've kept talking, but he had to get prepared for tonight.
He had a good idea of how he was gonna prepare for this training session. He would need some prep time first though.
"Perfect, i wont keep you then. Catch you later, Andrew!" Zachary said with a bright smile, his dark violet eyes barely showing past his hair.
"Likewise Zachary, looking forward to tonight!"
….
After getting home, Andrew cooked up a nice primer shake, which was more like a gooey concoction than anything.
After he primed the system, he decided to meditate for a bit and work on circulating his innate energy, in order to further prime his nervous system and his body.
He mainly was focusing on just feeling it, and then moving it from body part to body part, and then multiple parts at the same time.
He wanted to quickly understand this new power, it made him a little bit tired but this is where the progress was really made.
He sat in meditation as long as he could simply doing this, for about 2 hours. And then he changed his body's positioning to make sure he could stimulate and circulate this in multiple positions that were somewhat unorthodox for another hour and a half or so.
Upon doing this, he started to feel his body heating up like never before, he decided to quickly transition into holding this feeling while shadow fighting.
Imagining an imaginary opponent right in front of him, he started quickly moving through different positions and techniques.
Muay Thai, Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Jeet Kune Do. He started rapidly fusing basic martial techniques from his past life all at one time.
He focused strictly on precision, holding the feeling of internal energy flow from his entire kinetic chain.
He moved faster and faster, eventually moving so quickly an ordinary person wouldnt even be able to see his movements.
"I need to move faster, i need to go harder; more precise, looser technique, better chaining…"
Andrew had fallen into a complete flow state, at this point to a completely untrained person it would appear he was just switching foot positions absurdly quickly.
However in between these transitions lied many transitions of fist techniques and kicks, he optimized the flow of innate energy to its peak in a time span never described in the original technique.
After about another 2 hours, he opened his eyes, at first he had closed them to more accurately visualize the flow.
However now… he didn't feel the need to, his body was adjusting far quicker than he ever thought possible.
Every punch and movement of his body slightly shot off a black goo like substance originating deep from within his muscles, skeleton, organs and fascia.
After another 30 minutes, he stopped. He quickly got into a standing meditative position and replicated what he originally did at the start of the session.
This time, he had his eyes open, he moved and activated innate energy from every section of his body at one time in its most optimal way.
He started to comprehend the next level, he realized innate energy wasn't something you needed to move, it existed within every cell.
The key was to activate the innate energy within every cell while keeping it contained within the body.
He took up a horse stance, and he threw out a punch.
The punch was so fast and powerful he even shocked himself, he could feel the air trying to resist the momentum he was forcing upon it.
His technique was too fast and precise though, even the friction of the air only aided his power.
Loud reverberations sounded through the air, before he caused a slightly turbulent wind within the apartment.
"Now… i'm ready!"
_____