The Birth of the Acting Ape

At the Western Martial Arts Tournament, the other contestants were all thinking about how to win and secure better rankings. But Broly was different. He did not need to think about how to win; he only needed to think about how to raise his odds while winning. That was a technical skill.

That night, everyone gathered in a large room to listen to Teacher Mine's lesson. After finishing the theoretical Performance Class, they hurried outside to find an empty open space and help Broly Big Brother undergo special acting training for match fixing.

"Normally, people fly away in this posture when kicked, while being punched away looks like this...

After being injured in different parts of the body, the expressions of pain will also differ...

Facial expressions are one aspect. More importantly, there are the body's instinctive reactions..."

Mine taught the theory, while Nahash and the others acted it out in practice. The kicks were real, and the punches were real too, all so they could better show Broly what someone being beaten up should look like and what bodily reactions they should have.

Broly did not dare slack off. He carefully observed the various expressions and instinctive movements his companions showed while beating each other up, doing his best to imitate the same expressions and movements.

After observing every possible type of attack, it was his turn to practice. Akame, Kurome, and the other more skilled children specifically acted as his imaginary opponents and began beating him with all sorts of methods.

Broly had to promptly react with the appropriate pained expressions and body movements for each different kind of blow after being hit.

It had to be said that Broly was highly talented at learning body movements. Before midnight, he had learned all kinds of fake-hitting techniques.

Akame swiftly kicked toward his right cheek. The instant her leg made contact with his face, Broly tilted his head with the motion and flung himself away.

Of course, Akame's kick was nowhere near that powerful. But if this had been an opponent he encountered in the fourth match of the day, then that flying posture would have been perfectly normal.

Right after that, Boni rushed over and kicked him again. The moment the sole of her foot touched his abdomen, Broly bent at the waist along with Boni's force, opened his mouth wide, and spat out a mouthful of saliva as though it had been kicked out of him.

After Boni withdrew her foot, Broly staggered back two steps before dropping to his knees, clutching his abdomen and letting out weak, pained groans.

At that moment, Broly was no longer a Saiyan. He was an Acting Ape with the acting skills of a serious action performer. At incredible speed, he had grasped the essence of realistic fight scenes.

Only after Mine said there were no problems did the children collapse from exhaustion. Broly, who had worked so hard at getting beaten up and learning the reactions, instead immediately recovered from his near-defeated state.

On the second day of the Western Martial Arts Tournament, each group's Preliminary Round reached the stage that would determine who advanced to the Top 16. Group 7 had an odd number of contestants, so one person received a bye.

Unfortunately, Broly did not get the bye and still had to fight two matches. But that also meant one extra chance to place a bet. In the first match of his Promotion Match, he used the exquisite Getting Hit Technique he had only learned through special training the previous night to narrowly defeat his opponent before the crowd.

During the intermission, Mine spotted another problem. She hurried outside to buy bandages, applied some red antiseptic, and stuck them onto Broly's body and face.

The reason was simple: it was far too strange for Broly, who had supposedly won only after being beaten into a miserable state, not to have a single injury on him.

There was no helping it. Although Broly had mastered the acting of fight scenes, his physique was too strong. No matter how hard he threw himself down, no injury meant no injury.

Fortunately, after the second Promotion Match ended in another hard-fought victory, the referee raised the hand of the already "utterly exhausted" Broly and announced his advancement. From the enthusiastic cheers of the audience, Mine could tell that Broly had not been exposed.

"Today was another day of making money through betting. We didn't make as much as on the first day, but it was still around two-thirds of what we earned then. It was all thanks to Big Brother's amazing acting..."

In the dining hall, the children did not dare loudly celebrate match fixing. They could only quietly praise Big Brother's astonishing acting, then raise their cups and drink fruit juice.

"Don't let your guard down. We still need to go to a cosmetics shop and buy some makeup that can paint on injuries."

Mine reminded them. A problem had been exposed today: Broly Big Brother cried out in pain but had no wounds. That was the biggest flaw.

The Qualifying Round was different from the Preliminary Round. The Preliminary Round was merely fought on small venue rings watched by around a thousand people, while the Top 16 Qualifying Round would be fought in a large venue ring watched by tens of thousands. If the organizers discovered they were fixing matches, there would definitely be trouble.

"Hey, Kid, what happened? You got eliminated and took a beating too, didn't you?!"

Suddenly, the strong man Uncle Sambasan whom they had met the night before last came over. Seeing the gauze on Broly's face, he teased him.

"What elimination? Our Big Brother advanced!"

A child immediately retorted.

"You advanced?!"

Uncle Sambasan was startled. "Are you from Group 1 or the Fifth Group?"

"What Group 1 or Fifth Group? Our Big Brother is from Group 7."

"Group 7? Then it's fine."

Uncle Sambasan relaxed. This year's Western Martial Arts Tournament had indeed produced some monstrous newcomers.

He had heard that they had advanced through their Promotion Matches by defeating their opponents even faster than he had, and they were both children.

However, those two monstrous newcomers were in Group 1 and the Fifth Group. As for Group 7, although a child had advanced there as well, he had fought so hard that it was said he had only advanced through luck because his opponent had underestimated him. Uncle Sambasan did not take an opponent like that seriously at all.

Of course, after learning that the young contestant who had advanced from Group 7 was Broly, Uncle Sambasan still regarded the boy more highly. To have the strength to enter the Western Martial Arts Tournament Top 16 at such a young age, he would surely become even more formidable in the future.

However, since the other party was in Group 7, he would end up on the same side as the other two monstrous newcomers. That made Uncle Sambasan sigh inwardly.

"Kid, I didn't expect you to be so strong. But your luck will probably end here. Since you're in Group 7, according to the rules of the Qualifying Round, you'll be assigned to face someone from the first eight groups.

"And among those first eight groups, there are two monstrous newcomers stronger than you who are also children. If you manage to win another match, you'll probably encounter the monster from the Fifth Group. I hope that when you're defeated, you won't be crushed by a true Genius."

"I'll win," Broly said. He did not doubt it.

"Having confidence is a good thing. In any case, good luck."

Uncle Sambasan offered a kind reminder. This child had great potential, but precisely because of that, he was more likely to suffer a blow upon meeting even greater geniuses and become mediocre afterward.

"Uncle Sambasan, what about you? Did you advance?"

The children could sense the goodwill Uncle Sambasan had shown, and Boni suddenly asked him.

"Hahaha, what kind of question is that? Could I, Sambasan, possibly be eliminated in the Preliminary Round?"

Sambasan burst out laughing and immediately revealed that he was the third contestant to complete his promotion. He was also considered one of the strongest seeded contestants in Group 15, so a Promotion Match had been effortless for him. The only ones he truly feared were the two monstrous newcomers who had advanced even faster than he had.

"According to the Degas Merchant Association, the one who advanced from Group 1 was a Girl from a Minority in the Northern Empire who made her living hunting Danger Beasts. Her fighting style was savage and swift.

Her opponent was a Top 8 contestant from the previous Martial Arts Tournament, yet he only lasted two minutes against her before she kicked him straight off the stage.

Afterward, it seemed both his Hand Bone and ribs had been broken. She's not someone to underestimate."

Nahash was good at handling people, and he invited Sambasan to eat with him. After Sambasan had some Wine, he casually began talking about the contestants in tomorrow's first eight matches.