“How dare you try to kidnap my son!”

Everyone stared at the middle aged man standing on the fire escape, who was currently sending them death glares. Running over to the men, Bill checked if they were still alive, sighing in relief when he felt their pulses. While he pulled out his phone and called the getaway van to fetch them, he picked one of the men up and walked to the BMW.

Dropping the man to the ground, Bill asked,“What happened in there?”

Forcing himself to deal with the pain, the man began narrating what went down. “Everything was going as planned after we got inside, and we managed to locate and tranquilize the boy, but at that moment his father walked in. At first Eric and Kyle went to tranquilize him but... It was ineffective and a fight broke out.

”After disarming the two, he struck out, causing them to be instantly thrown back… Leon and I joined, but even then it wasn’t enough. After disabling all of us, he carried us over to where we had removed the window and threw us to the ground like garbage.“

Clare and Bill were shocked as they listened to his report. These men had been special ops agents before retiring, and yet they were subdued by a single civilian. Glancing over the three men below the fire escape, Clare decided that it was time to leave.

”Give these four men proper medical treatment, and a few months off.“

Obeying her orders, Bill quickly spotted and loaded the four men into the van, quickly sending them off to the hospital. Afterwards, he took a quick glance at Ted and the five shocked gangsters across the street, before starting the car and vanishing around the corner. It was a few minutes after they had disappeared when the gangsters finally reacted and scattered, while Ted vanished from the alleyway.

As for Lefu’s father, he had long since re-entered his house, tossing his sleeping son into his bed. He sighed as he looked at his son, thinking to increase his training to include resisting sedatives and poisons. Exiting the bedroom, he looked around his living room to see broken glass and knocked-over tables. He grabbed the broom and dust pan.

”What rude men,“ he muttered.

After ten minutes passed, all evidence of a fight had disappeared. He grinned from ear to ear as he scanned his handiwork, as it appeared that he won’t get an earful for fighting in the living room. Placing the broom and dustpan in their original place, he grabbed and prepared tonight’s dinner ingredients before heading down to teach his next class.

***

Back inside his Mind Realm, Lefu was just floating around in a listless mood. This was mostly because he couldn’t leave on his own and didn’t have control over anything happening outside. Lefu wasn’t worried about being drugged by the unknown assailant because it was about time for his father’s break time. Everyday, his father would always return to the house at this time to prepare the ingredients for the night’s dinner.

As for why Lefu wasn’t panicking, it felt as if the realm was forcefully suppressing his emotions. Not knowing when he would leave the realm, he floated for an unknown amount of time before he decided to work on his meditation inside his mind, since he felt that training here would be beneficial.

[Skill learned: Meditation 0%]

”Huh,“ escaped Lefu’s mouth as he stared at the messaged that appeared. Scanning over the message, he realized that the Omni-System was actually there. With so many things having happened to him, from almost getting ran over a second time to getting drugged from behind, he had thought that his entire experience was fake.

”If it works like in the novels, then if I focus on the skill its description will appear,” Lefu mumbled as he focused on the skill, but nothing new appeared after waiting for a few seconds. Sitting back in the lotus position, he closed his eyes and slowly tried meditating again.

After what felt like years, he slowly opened his eyes to discover that he was in his room again. Leaving his bed, he walked into the living room where he spotted both of his parents watching the news with tonight’s dinner. As he sat next to them, he felt his head pounding as if he coming down from sugar high.

Taking a quick glance at him, his father smirked and said, ”Son, you need train harder.“

Pinching her husband’s side, Violet whispered, ”Matt, are you trying to train him into a human weapon again?“

”He battles your cooking, so you have the biggest part in it,“ Matt grumbled.

Listening to his parents bicker, a smile formed and the pounding began to lessen. Taking a glance at the current time, it read 9:37 P.M. ‘It seems three hours have passed since I was drugged,’ Lefu analyzed with a sigh. He had been taught to alway keep his guard up, but since he lived peacefully outside of his training and the local gang fights, he tended to lower his guard.

”Lefu, how is your mind doing? Do you think you can handle going to school tomorrow, or do you want to skip and wait fo-“

”I can go, and I will leave if I feel as though I can’t handle it,“ Lefu interrupted his mother’s questioning. After thinking about his mind’s state, he recalled that he hadn’t checked his mediation skill.

[Skill Meditation: Beginner 4.1%]

’It increased, but what does that mean?’ Lefu thought as he attempted to meditate again, feeling a cooling sensation in his mind. He opened his eyes after a few minutes, feeling the pain disperse as his mind focused.

He glanced at his parents and saw that both of them were watching the news, which was covering the International Superstar Camilla Zurie’s return to Rouge City after her latest photoshoot. Lefu stared at his muscular father drooling and his mother panting as they focused on the television. He covered his face in embarrassment at how the two were acting while looking at their idol.

”She still looks identical to when she debuted,“ Violet sighed, while touching a few of her wrinkles. With a small twitch, Matt suddenly felt like he had to say something,

”It’s the few wrinkles that make you look prettier than younger girls.“

Leaning into him, Violet gently smiled and her hands magically attached to his side, giving him a slight pinch. Aware that he had spoken well, Matt beamed at his wife’s cute antics. Pretending that he did not see the pink atmosphere between his parents, Lefu grabbed his laptop and switched it on.

After logging into his chatroom, he was greeted by a few fellow martial artist fanatics. Glancing over the 24 hours of chat logs, he quickly caught himself up to speed, and learned that they made progress on the martial art style they were designing. He had met them online after watching a few of their fights during tournaments and reaching out to them.

Iron Legs: ”Hey, Saint Monarch, you’re back. You missed all the fun.“

Lefu quickly replied, ”A few hectic things happened, but after looking through it seems that there was progress.“

Reptile Roar: ”I’m here to report that the sliding kick idea was a failure as it required more energy to execute than a normal roundhouse kick. Also, welcome back Saint Monarch.“

Sky Vulture: ”Really! That sucks, guess we’re back to the drawing board. Hey Saint Monarch.“

Palm Style: ”Reptile, did you record the fight?“

A few seconds later, a video popped up showing seven adults in similarly colored clothing surrounding a handsome youth wearing GI pants in an alleyway. Judging by the men’s clothes, it seemed that they were part of the same gang. Standing in front of Reptile was a man wearing a black sweater and ripped jeans.

After what seems to be short exchanges, their fists began to fly. Grabbing the fist heading towards his face, Reptile spun to the side, backhanding the man rushing him. Turning his upper body, he elbowed the leader while he kicked the third man’s ankle. Letting go of the leader, he leaned to the left as a fourth man’s fist slid by. Pivoting on his foot, he spun around before kneeing the guy in the stomach.

Taking the chance as the man clutched his stomach, Reptile slid across his back, kicking horizontally as he knocked down the three men that were closing in. Rolling off the man’s back, he swept his foot, causing the fourth man to fall on the ground. Turning his head, he glared at the leader, who had recovered and was charging him.

Jabbing out, he struck the leader’s vital points and took him down asthe second man pulled out a knife and stabbed out. Swinging his leg sideways, Reptile knocked the knife out of his hand and disarmed the man before yanking him towards himself. While in motion, Reptile shoved his palm upwards across the man’s chin before swiping the man’s leg off the ground.

Glancing around, Reptile looked at the men that were either laying on the ground or too scared to charge him. The video soon ended and the chat exploded.

Palm Style: ”It seems that some tweaking is in order.“

After sending that message, Palm appeared as offline. After waiting few more seconds, the other members began posting comments.

Iron Legs: ”Did you set the camera beforehand or was there someone recording? Either way, that was an amazing fight.“

Reptile Roar: ”I had my friend recording from the fire escape.“

Sky Vulture: ”It seems that you have improved again.“

Reptile Roar: ”Meh, they were really weak.“

”Honey, how long are you going to stare at that thing? It’s already 10 and you have yet to eat, and you should take a shower since you’re beginning to smell,“ Violet asked, while pointing to the clock.

Shutting off the laptop, Lefu quickly ate and showered before collapsing on his bed, full of energy. Closing his eyes, he found himself back in the Mind Realm. He seemed to realize that he would appear there every time he was either unconscious or asleep, and he continued to train his meditation skill, since it felt as though time moved faster there. After spending an unknown amount of time meditating, he was ejected from the realm, opening his eyes while feeling fully rested.

Taking quick glance at his skill’s progress, he was stunned to see that it had only progressed to 6%. Quickly reading the time- 5:00 A.M., he sighed, as it would still be a few days before he could train, which freed up several hours. He left his room to the sight of an unusually high tension between both of his parents. With a quick glance behind his father, he saw what appeared to be breakfast, but it seemed to be moving on its own.

Without so much as a second of hesitation, he instantly stood by his father, who was facing his mother while holding a metal spatula as a sword. Staring into his father’s eyes, he immediately understood that his mother had tried cooking again.

”Dear, why don’t you allow me to cook?“

His father slowly asked her, but it had the opposite effect, and her expression shifted towards anger. Knowing that he had failed, he glanced at Lefu with sadness in eyes, conveying, ’Son, if I’m not here after school, it was your mother.’

’Bang~’

The sound of metal crashing spooked the two men. As they slowly turned, they saw before them the slimy black substance, standing nearly seven feet tall, that Violet called cooking. Staring at the unidentified creature, they both lashed out, striking the slimy body.

After a few seconds of contact, they felt a burning sensation from their fists. Retracting their hands, both of them glared at Violet, who had her hand under her chin while mumbling,

”Did I put too much acid in?“

’WHY WOULD YOU PUT ACID IN THE MEAL!’ Both father and son screamed internally as small tears formed. Refocusing on the slime monster, they began rapidly jabbing out with enough speed to save their fingers from melting.

”Son, when we beat this thing, get ready because we’re going out to eat,“ Matt stated as the slime slowly shrank.

”Why would you go out to eat? Also, Lefu, I told you not to do heavy exercise for a few days,“ Violet complained.

”Father, I need to ask you. How many times does this make it that mother’s cooking has come to life?“

”I believe this the seventy-sixth time that we know of.“

”Are you two complaining about my wonderful cooking.“

”No…“ both of them drew out their ’no,’ unsure of how to answer.

”Since that’s the case, I will be cooking dinner tonight.“

”Father, are we eating out for dinner?“ Lefu asked in a whisper.

”Son, sometimes a man has to face challenges head-on, but we are definitely eating out. Now get dressed. We’re leaving before another monster appears,” Matt replied with another whisper.