Focus

The boxing gym held an hour of instruction every morning. For almost all the remaining time, the trainees practiced on their own.

Cheng Sheng and Song Cai had arrived late today and missed Songpa's instruction, so they could only practice on their own.

Following his predecessor's memories, Cheng Sheng ran straight to the sandpit on one side of the training ground.

More than a dozen old truck tires were buried in the sandpit. Trainees had to jump, step, and roll over them, an exercise primarily intended to train a fighter's footwork and stamina.

Most martial arts in Nantu were geared toward fighting. There was no special method for beginners, just repeated training in fitness, endurance, strength, and the ability to take a beating.

Of course, the gym also taught some simple fighting techniques, all very basic punches and evasive moves.

After one run through the sandpit, Song Cai, who had taken off three times in a row the previous night, was already struggling. Using a change of training exercise as an excuse, he slipped off to rest.

Cheng Sheng couldn't be bothered with him and focused on his own practice.

He made three runs through the sandpit, then moved to the neighboring tire area for strength training.

It was really just a matter of dragging tires back and forth with a rope. They were all large truck tires, the lightest weighing forty kilograms and the heaviest a full hundred and twenty.

Cheng Sheng dragged a forty-kilogram truck tire back and forth twice before he couldn't take any more. He was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath.

This body is still too weak, only a little stronger than a skinny monkey like Song Cai. But at least it's young and recovers quickly...

Cheng Sheng rested for a little while and took a couple of sips of water, then resumed training.

Besides dragging tires, there was swinging thick ropes, pulling iron chains... The core of the training was much the same as working out in his previous life, though the methods were far rougher.

Having seen the video of the Black Tide monster and the video of the killing on Sucha Street, Cheng Sheng had been carrying a strong sense of crisis in his heart.

Until he obtained a sorcerer's supernatural abilities through the Black Book, using this world's martial arts to gain some ability to protect himself was a good choice too.

At least, if he grew stronger, he could run a little faster than other people... right?

Driven by that pressure, Cheng Sheng trained with particular dedication.

More than two hours soon passed.

During those two hours, he had barely stopped, working hard at his training the whole time.

The training ground was full of trainees like him and Song Cai, and the Black Killing Martial Arts School was fairly relaxed with them.

As long as you paid, it didn't matter whether you showed up or not.

A trainee as self-motivated as Cheng Sheng was a rare sight. Even the habitually indifferent Songpa glanced at him several times.

"Finally, it's over!"

The moment Songpa announced the end of training, Song Cai cheered. "I'm dead tired."

He made it sound as though he had really worked hard, when he had been slacking off all morning and barely shed a drop of sweat.

Cheng Sheng was the one who was truly exhausted. He didn't even have the strength to trade wisecracks with Song Cai.

Those who weren't attending the afternoon training session began to leave, while Cheng Sheng and Song Cai headed toward several low buildings deeper in the rubber grove.

The gym provided lunch, charging only a token fee.

The two each paid fifteen Nantu currency units, picked up a plastic tray, and ate in the gym's cafeteria.

The main dish for lunch was a chicken leg, and each person could also have two fried eggs and a raw cucumber. Two large tubs stood on a long table in the middle of the cafeteria, one filled with rice and the other with glutinous rice, both available in unlimited quantities.

Cheng Sheng was starving. He polished off his chicken leg and fried eggs in a few bites, and when he saw that Song Cai seemed distracted, he pulled Song Cai's chicken leg onto his own tray as well.

"A Sheng..."

Song Cai put his own fried eggs and cucumber into Cheng Sheng's bowl too. After making a show of hesitating for a while, he asked tentatively, "Are you... still training this afternoon?"

"Yes."

"I have something to do this afternoon... ahem... so I'll be leaving in a bit?"

Cheng Sheng raised his eyes and glanced at Song Cai. He could have guessed what Song Cai wanted to do with his heel. Seeing that Cheng Sheng had seen through him, Song Cai grew a little embarrassed.

"Get lost."

Cheng Sheng cursed irritably.

"All right," Song Cai replied. He couldn't sit still any longer and slipped away without even waiting to finish lunch.

"A kid who's tasted the marrow and wants more..."

Cheng Sheng shook his head and continued eating.

After finishing Song Cai's portion, he got another helping of rice and only stopped when he was burping from fullness.

At noon, he and the other trainees attending the afternoon session found places to rest under the awning beside the cafeteria. After more than an hour's rest, training resumed at one in the afternoon.

The afternoon's training focused on actual combat. The trainees sparred in pairs while Songpa coached them from the side.

Cheng Sheng didn't join them. He found a corner and practiced on his own.

Jab, swing, hook, elbow strike, knee strike...

The gym had taught all these basic fighting techniques. Cheng Sheng dug them out of his predecessor's memories and repeated them over and over, occasionally stopping to watch the others spar.

His mental abilities had improved greatly after repeatedly reading the Black Book. If he could return to the time before the big exam in his current state, he reckoned he might even be able to avoid failing it with a hard final push.

Applied to combat training, understanding and using the various moves also came noticeably more easily. In a single afternoon, Cheng Sheng mastered all the basics the gym taught.

The only difficulty he encountered was probably that hitting the punching post really hurt!

The Black Killing Boxing Gym's punching posts were made from banana tree trunks.

The cut trunks were wrapped in burlap, and punching them made his knuckles ache.

Fresh banana tree posts were a little better, but after too many punches they burst and released juice. The sticky banana sap splashed onto his face and skin, stinging and itching...

Cheng Sheng hadn't trained for long before the backs of both his hands turned bright red and burned with pain.

I'll have to bring my own pair of boxing gloves next time...

Cheng Sheng gritted his teeth and persevered.

The core of Nantu martial arts was constant destruction and reconstruction, making the body strong and tough through repeated injury and self-healing. The principle was simple and brutal...

Bean-sized raindrops pattered against him, jolting Cheng Sheng out of his focused practice.

"Past four already?"

Cheng Sheng ran under the rain shelter where the miscellaneous items were piled and took out his phone. A glance at it startled him.

He had been so absorbed in practicing his punches that he had almost forgotten the time. When he came to his senses, he discovered that all the trainees had already left the training ground.

He grew anxious, worried that he would miss the minibus back to the city, and wanted to dash out into the rain.

"Wait!"

Suddenly, a stern voice sounded behind him.

Cheng Sheng turned and saw that Songpa had appeared behind him at some point.

"Remember to come earlier tomorrow."

Songpa tossed him an umbrella, then turned and walked away without looking at him.

Cheng Sheng caught the umbrella and stared blankly for a moment.

He didn't know whether it was his imagination, but the usually strict Songpa seemed much gentler just then.

"Thank you, Coach Songpa."

Cheng Sheng came to his senses and quickly thanked the departing Songpa, then opened the umbrella and dashed into the rain.

After the downpour, the road back was ten times muddier and harder to travel than it had been on the way there!

Cheng Sheng even slipped and fell on the way, but he managed to catch the bus. By the time he got home, it was almost six.