CHAPTER 221: -CAUSING A COMMOTION-

Spreading across the courtyard, each Elite either took a rudimentary stance with kilos of weight tied to their limbs, or practiced with a sword and other forms of weapons. A few sat in a lotus meditation posture and zoned out the chaotic noises.

"The Hundred Sets of Martial Discipline."

To his side, Max heard Miles say as he nodded at the other Elites who glanced their way.

"Huh?" Max expressed his puzzlement, to which Miles’ mysterious smile broadened before responding.

"Do you know what he’s doing?"

Miles asked, gesturing towards the Elite who sat in a lotus posture.

’If I knew I wouldn’t be here.’

Though finding the question stupid to ask, Max knew Miles was trying to show off his knowledge by clouding the way he spoke with mystery.

"No."

So he simply replied with a curt answer that hinted at his displeasure.

"He’s practicing the Still Mind Drill. He has to remain motionless for the next thirty minutes with closed eyes despite the ongoing noise. That said, even if there’s a high chance of a training accident happening."

Bang!

The moment Miles said that, a hammer slipped from someone’s grip and dropped to the ground two metres away from where they stood.

Silence fell afterwards as everyone paused to check for any casualty.

"I’m sorry guys." A bulky youth stepped forward, black in complexion with a rough edge around him.

Max recognized him as one of the eye-catching youths but didn’t expect his voice to sound slightly timid.

He picked up the huge hammer and threw a nod in their direction.

"We are good." Miles waved in response, once more exhibiting he had a fairly good relation with everyone present.

"That’s the Weighted Steps." He pointed to another Elite with ankle weights jogging around the courtyard.

"Storm Stance." He pointed at an Elite trying to balance atop two long wooden poles.

"In short, The Hundred Sets of Martial Discipline exercise is made up of hardcore Shaolin Kung Fu principles.

"It focuses on 10 Paths all through the 100. But fortunately, as Elites we are only allowed to train five paths.

"Foundation of Endurance. Path of Impact. Breath and Body Unison. The Path of Resilience. The Path of Precision."

"Each path consists of ten exercises. And at minimum, you must select one from each path to practice as a set even if it’s going to be a repetition."

Miles finished explaining and smiled, thinking Max now understood how disadvantageous a situation he was in. But to his surprise, Max simply revealed a thoughtful expression and glanced around.

"So where do I start and how should I do it?"

Contrary to Miles’ thoughts, Max was intrigued by the prospect of learning martial arts.

’It just feels like a TV show.’

At the sight of the practising Elites, Max was moved and deeply wanted to commence on it, leaving Miles speechless.

Seeing the brilliant glint in Max’s eyes, Miles dumbfoundedly pointed at the walls.

"It’s been carved into the walls starting from the left edge."

Hearing this, Max paid attention to the walls and noticed there were peculiar human-shaped figures carved into it. A myriad of stances showcasing rich martial heritage.

"Wow." He muttered, his tone tinged with slight disbelief.

"If you move much closer you’ll see the names of each exercise written underneath.

Right, there’s also some unpicked noise-cancelling earmuffs over there."

Having explained the important details, Miles patted his shoulder and turned to leave.

"Gotta go." he said.

...

The Elites weren’t that much jovial or cordial as everyone seemed to mind their own business more. Focused on their goals, it seemed.

While noting this down, Max walked towards the wall to observe the carvings.

’Wow. It doesn’t seem ancient and incredibly detailed. So it was probably copied from somewhere.’

Reading the names of the exercises, however, Max felt excited.

’Horse Stance Holds, Stone Fist Strikes. Phoenix Pushes? ...Dragon Twist? Blood Palm Strike? Wind Listening?’

With each added line, the name of the exercise sounded more incredulous. But Max thought it was actually worth it since the said exercise was actually much more profound than anything he’d done.

Soon walking to pick the pair of unused earmuffs, Max felt enveloped by a new world of silence. Everything quietened, bringing him to a whole new level of focus.

’I wonder why I never thought of this.’

He glanced around the spare unused training equipment which ranged from actual swords, poles, wooden dummies, punching poles, weight vests and even more mundane things such as big clay pots filled with water and a lit ancestral oven that let out formidable heat.

It wasn’t hard to guess that most of these things supported the practice of some exercises.

’Wait. Most of these are actually a mix of body exercises and fighting techniques, quite rigid ones at that.’

With this discovery, Max focused on the list of exercises, feeling intrigued to try out each of them.

Starting from Horse Stance Hold on the Path of Endurance.

...

’Wow. It feels like I know my body much better than I ever used to. I didn’t even know I could do stuff like this.’

After three hours of nonstop training, exploring and checking out every exercise, a heavy pool of sweat now soaked Max’s gi (Shaolin training uniform).

His muscles brimmed with raw strength, and every fibre of him felt alive for the first time. Something ten hours of heavy gyming wouldn’t be able to produce.

His strength and agility stats, given by the system, now felt utilised and explored. And the biggest improvement was that he could now confidently tap into a huge margin of it without overexacting his control. In other words, he could explode his strength through his arm and also make his touch easing.

Filled with gratification, Max took note of his exponential growth over his control — something that always bothered him — without realising that a crowd consisting of both Elites and Paragons had gathered to watch him.

"Shit! He’s been at it for hours."

"What kind of machine is he?"

"Maybe he’s a masochist?"

"Blake, are you sure he’s your cousin? See the look on your face."

Twenty metres away from where Max stood, thinking of what to do next, speculations about him were being discussed as no one could understand why he didn’t appear tired after completing 100 sets but appeared to be in a joyous mood instead.

Two hours ago, they all completed their training and had gone into one of the buildings to relax and savour quite the bit of delicacy prepared for them. Not knowing that they would meet Max agilely exercising like he found joy in it.

Among the crowd, Akira silently speculated on this and realised that Max was actually on a whole level different from her.

Unknown to Max that there was a gathering spectating him, he was obliviously reading his recovered stats percentage when suddenly the two Instructors came out of one of the buildings and noticed the commotion.

"What’s going on here?"