"In battle, 2.8 seconds is already a long time," Guy said.
He walked over to Chisen's folding table, picked up a water bottle, and took a swig.
His breathing had not quite settled, but he was no longer panting.
Three weeks of breathing exercises had helped his heart and lungs recover faster than his bones-his ribs still ached faintly, but his lung capacity had reached ninety-five percent of its pre-injury level.
As he set the bottle down, he saw Chisen drawing a new graph in his notebook. Time ran along the horizontal axis and resonance intensity along the vertical. Three curves in different colors had converged at the same point in time on three separate occasions.
He drew a small circle around each convergence and marked its duration beside it.
"Can you tell which resonance your punch triggered?" Chisen turned the notebook around for Guy to see.
Guy looked down at it for a few seconds, then pointed to the circle around the third resonance. "This one.
"My punching force wasn't consistent enough during the first two resonances-the first was too light. The pain in my ribs made me hold back without thinking.
"The second was too heavy. I was trying to make up for the first.
"The third was just right. Not too fast or too slow, with the right amount of force." He drove his fist into his palm with a sharp smack. "You can't be afraid of pain when you strike.
"If you're afraid of pain, you won't produce resonance."
"It's not about being unafraid of pain." Chisen closed the notebook. "It's about making pain part of your rhythm.
"After you leave tomorrow, your ribs will hurt.
"The question isn't whether they'll hurt. It's how to keep your punching frequency steady despite the pain." He stood, his