Spanda

In the state of Kami-e, the body softens to the extreme, and its ability to dodge is pushed to the limit. Even a gust of wind can trigger a physical reaction, but at the same time, the body's defensive capabilities are weakened to the absolute minimum.

Yerika knew this, which was why she launched her attack without fear. If this strike had landed, she might have punched a bloody hole through his chest, but at the same time, Louis's body would have inevitably been pierced through.

"Naive."

Louis sneered. He relaxed his right leg slightly, only for it to snap back like a rubber band, instantly binding Yerika's right arm.

"Damn it!!!"

Yerika gritted her teeth, but no matter how hard she struggled, her right arm remained tightly restrained.

"This is the end."

Louis spoke, partially releasing the Kami-e state, and the elasticity of his body diminished significantly.

"Ah!!!"

Yerika let out a scream. As the elasticity and flexibility of Louis's body began to wane, the "rope" binding her limbs tightened. Her right arm was forced behind her back, her shoulder joint dislocated, her chest was crushed, and her ribs creaked under the pressure.

"Die!!"

Yerika refused to yield. She opened her mouth wide and bit directly toward the head of Louis, who was perched on her shoulder.

"Stubborn woman."

Louis didn't care, releasing the Kami-e state in his right hand.

"Slap!"

"Mmmph!!"

Yerika's voice became muffled as a hand reached out from her other shoulder and pinched her cheeks.

"Still not giving up?"

Louis continued to increase the pressure binding Yerika. Every time she exhaled, he tightened his grip. Soon, Yerika's face turned bright red, and her consciousness began to blur.

As breathing became increasingly difficult, Yerika finally lost consciousness.

The battle was over.

Slithering off Yerika's body like a snake, Louis completely deactivated the Kami-e state. He frowned slightly, feeling quite uncomfortable; his muscles felt strained all over. Such injuries weren't severe, but they proved that this technique wasn't suitable for prolonged use. Furthermore, relying on binding to induce suffocation was far too inefficient. Louis silently dismissed this particular application of his Snake People technique.

Although he had completed his training in Kami-e in just one week, Louis's cultivation was far from over. For the next three weeks, he began trying to strengthen Kami-e and expand its range of use.

There were two directions for this reinforcement: first, strengthening his control so he could manipulate his body to wrap around Yerika like a snake—normal Kami-e was truly like paper, soft but never capable of changing body shape at will. Second, increasing his physical strength while in the Kami-e state, which allowed him to choke Yerika into unconsciousness.

Of course, binding people wasn't the primary purpose of Snake People; Louis had just had a sudden whim to see if he could do it. In fact, when he developed Snake People, it was intended to be used in combination with techniques like Tekkai and Finger Pistol.

One thing Louis was certain of: now, no shackles or prison could hold him.

"Amazing! Super amazing, meow!"

After Louis stepped off the field, Xiluo exclaimed, "Was that also Kami-e, meow? It's just like a Devil Fruit ability! How did you even do that? It's unimaginable, meow! Brother Louis, you're too strong, meow. As expected, you defeated that woman Yerika so easily, meow."

"Just lucky."

Louis said casually.

"Luck? How can you call this luck, meow?"

Xiluo laughed, "It's just that Yerika woman being too stupid, rushing right up to you. Brains are part of strength too, meow."

Louis smiled noncommittally.

If Yerika had truly relied on Geppo to keep her distance and adopted a harassment strategy, he probably would have had to use Life Return to attack with his hair. The gap in their Doriki Values wasn't large, but after a month of stuffing himself, his physical strength had improved significantly—certainly more than Yerika's. With his absolute advantage in Six Powers techniques, he really had no reason to lose.

Regardless, the practical assessment was over, and Louis had won his first round to advance.

By evening, the results of yesterday's written exam were out. John, who had been severely injured by Xiluo and remained unconscious, became the first student to be eliminated with a zero in practicals and an average written score. From that day on, no one ever saw him again.

The second month arrived unhurriedly. Louis's training proceeded according to plan. He continued to use Life Return to control his digestive tract. Progress was slower than expected because the contents of his intestines really interfered with the process. It took about half a month to finally complete it. From that day on, Louis officially entered a period of rapid growth; he could feel his body getting stronger every single day.

After finishing with his digestive system, Louis set his sights on his body hair. Aside from the hair on his head, the human body has plenty of other hair, such as fine body hair. Having gained experience from controlling his scalp hair, this process went much faster. By the end of the second month, he had gained control over most of the hair on his body.

While practicing Life Return, his Six Powers training hadn't been neglected. His training in Kami-e could be considered finished for now, so Louis began to practice Soru. It was time to learn a movement skill; otherwise, he would have no way to fight back against opponents who kited him from a distance.

The focus of Soru training was explosive power, achieved by kicking the ground repeatedly in a very short time to realize explosive movement. In terms of technical difficulty, it was much lower than Kami-e, so it wasn't hard to master.

The second month slowly slipped away, and the second assessment arrived as scheduled. The written exam went without saying. His opponent for this practical assessment was a minor character whose name he couldn't even remember. He didn't even need to use the Six Powers; he took him out in one hit.

By now, it was almost universally acknowledged in the training camp that the three strongest students were Stuart, Louis, and Xiluo, though Xiluo didn't seem to be very highly regarded.

In the third month, Louis continued to tackle his body hair. He had already planned it out: after the body hair came the skin. This would be a massive project that might take a long time, but there was no doubt it would be incredibly useful. He had also finished practicing Soru. He hadn't developed any advanced applications for it, just pure speed and easier control. He began to practice Geppo.

His calm training life was interrupted by the arrival of a certain someone.

"Hey! Brat!! Where's the bathroom!"

The person standing in front of Louis, speaking to him, was someone he had never seen in the training camp before. He was crossing his legs, his face flushed red, and his body was twitching constantly.

Louis was a bit surprised. This man had barged directly into his private training hall, and he looked slightly familiar.

Pointing toward the location of the bathroom, Louis began to rack his brain to remember who this person was.

"Ah! That's better, finally!"

Emerging from the bathroom looking refreshed, the man looked at Louis with great surprise. "Wow, are there such young brats in the CP9 training camp?"

"Hahaha, hey, brat, want to work for me? I'm Spandine, the chief of CP9."

He remembered who Spandine was.