Blue Rose slowly opened her eyes, and noticed that she was in a hospital room. She tried to recall what had happened. The last thing she remembered was a familiar voice asking if she was okay. That’s right, she fainted right after that.

She then remembered the damn robot that wouldn’t die. A look of horror appeared on her face, and she tried to get up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, said the familiar voice.

“N-nightingale...W-where am I?” she asked, stammering.

“South End Hospital. Don’t worry, you’re safe...For now at least”, replied Nightingale.

“For now?”

“Yes. I’m afraid we have made an enemy we cannot get rid of easily. It’s a matter of time before they start coming after us!” she said with a solemn expression.

“Who is it? Wait, that robot...” said Blue Rose, with a worried expression on her face.

“Right now I’ve managed to destroy the robot. And you killed his human body, but his consciousness still lives. We haven’t been able to trace it. You passed your mission, but things are now beyond you.”

“So how did you know he’s still alive?”

“The robot shut down before I destroyed it. He must have transferred his consciousness right at that moment”, replied Nightingale.

“What’s next now?”

“Your safety is now top priority. I’m going to send you to Aloha Island, where you’re going to live from now on. You’re going to assume the identity of Cora Waterline, 15 years old. You recently moved to the island after your aunt who lived in Megapolis passed away. So now you live with your grandparents.”

“I see. And the grandparents?”

“Don’t worry. They’re retired former members of Sky Haven. The process of clearing you will take six months at most. For now, you should rest. Also, I need you to do me a favor once you get there.”

“What is it?”

“Keep an eye on my son, and protect him. However, make sure you don’t tell him about me, or your original identity!”

“Are you sure about this?” asked Blue Rose.

“A storm is coming. I don’t want him to get involved in it.”

“I will try my best to protect him.”

“Good. You should rest now”, said Nightingale, as she stood up.

Blue Rose closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Nightingale was nowhere to be seen.

*********************

Now, as the storms were brewing in Megapolis, on Aloha Island Ryan was going about his usual routine as usual, completely oblivious to any of the plotting and killing. The routine went like this: first he would wake up early, go to Cloud’s peak and sit under a waterfall, then he would practice the dancing dragon fist technique. When the sun was up, he would go back home and prepare for school.

At school, he would try to blend in and behave normally. He would participate in gym class, taught by the football coach. Thanks to his torturous cultivation training, his body appeared tough, but that didn’t deter bullies from beating the living daylights out of him.

Soon, a year went by, with no major changes happening. During this year, Myra would spar a bit with Ryan. Rather than calling it sparring, it was a one way beating exercise, with Ryan on the receiving end.

A new student also joined Mrs. Stevenson’s class during this period. Her name was Cora Waterline, and she was beautiful, albeit with a cold demeanor. She had long black hair, unlike all the other girls her age; she didn’t put on any makeup. She wore hoodies most of the time, and she kept to herself. None of the girls wanted to be friends with her, and as for the boys, they didn’t like her cold demeanor.

Ryan tried to approach her, but she ignored him and he simply let it go. Life went on as normal, according to a teenager’s definition of normal. Ryan celebrated his birthday with his grandparents at home. During his stay, he made one friend, Peter Russ, who was a bit shorter than Ryan was. Peter went to the same school being in the same class as Ryan, and he was a computer hacker who went by the moniker Cyberpunk05. The two would play Starcraft at Peter’s home, where he lived with his parents.

For the first time, he was glad that he wasn’t discriminated because he didn’t have material wealth. Funny thing was that no one here actually cared about his background. To everyone in school, he was this weird nerd who had only one friend. This situation was basically the same as the one he had been in, when he was in Megapolis. The only difference was that he had a friend at least.

Now, one day, as he was sitting under the waterfall as per usual, a rumbling sound could be heard. At first, Ryan thought it was about to rain, but as he looked at the clear star-studded sky, he was puzzled. A tremor ran through him, and his bones started emitting crackling sounds. He started to panic as he realized he didn’t know what was wrong with his body. The body grew slightly taller, and his wavy black hair grew a bit.

As Ryan was running around panicking, Myra just stood by, laughing all the way. Well, it sounded like he was laughing. Ryan was puzzled as to why Myra was laughing. He felt a slight pain, but as the rumbling stopped, he felt something was different. Suddenly, the view shifted, and he appeared to be in the matrix space.

Rogarth looked pleased as he said, “Congratulations, you’ve finally made progress with your cultivation. You’re now in the first level of cultivation, tempered body. Your body is now as tough as divine iron, no normal weapon on this planet or any other can harm your body now.”

“Wait, what? So what was that rumbling sound?”

“It was caused by your body breaking through.”

A few minutes later, he was outside the matrix space, where he began to laugh out loudly, “Hahahaha! I’m now invi...”

Before he finished the sentence, Myra appeared in front of him and punched him in the stomach. Ryan groaned and fell on his face, as an intense pain tore through his stomach.

“You are not as powerful as you think. There are countless others who are more powerful than you, at least in the universe!” said Myra.

“Fair...enough...” replied Ryan with a rough voice, and a slight groan, as he fell face first.

“You need to focus!” berated Myra.

Ryan grumbled as he stood up and looked at Myra, then asked, “Now what?”

“Test the limits of your power, and see what you can achieve”, came the reply.

Ryan walked over to a tree, then started doing the steps of the Dancing Dragon technique. He started with the first step, then the second, followed by the third. Each step appeared to be refined, and carried out with a profound mastery. As he reached the fifth step, his fist started glowing.

Dragon Subduing Fist!

As the glowing fist landed on the tree trunk, cracks started appearing, growing up the trunk. A few seconds later, the entire tree exploded into chunks of wood that started raining slowly.

Ryan’s jaw dropped wide open, so much that you could fit an egg. He didn’t know he could do that in real life! A flash of excitement started growing on his face, as he realized that cultivating might not be so bad after all, besides the occasional sitting under waterfalls in the cold. He looked at his knuckles, and he saw that there was absolutely no damage at all. He didn’t even feel any pain at all!

“Now I can take on Brody and his cohorts! I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when I beat the crap out of them...” he said as his knuckles started crackling.

“Ryan, what is the real reason why you agreed to start practicing cultivation?” asked Myra, with what counts as a look of regret plastered on his metallic face.

“...”

“Look, you just cannot go around beating people just because you are stronger than they are!” berated Myra.

“But they have the privilege to do so? Just yesterday they were beating me up and you didn’t say anything about it! So why wouldn’t you allow me to have revenge?”

“Because you are better than they are? Because you are stronger than them? Well, everything now falls up to you. Just do not use the dancing dragon technique to start a fight with them, because I will interfere!”

“Yes yes, if you say so. However, if they pick a fight with me, then I will fight back!” said Ryan with a sharp glint in his eyes.

Ryan decided to practice some more, and he was satisfied with the results. Many trees suffered as he went full force practicing the dancing dragon fist technique. Myra, on the other hand, sat down and started meditating a distance away, so that he would not be disturbed.

As the sun rose, Ryan could not wait to rush home and prepare for school. Rays of sunlight began to pour over, and as Ryan saw them, he started running towards the farm.

It didn’t take long for him to get home, take a shower, have breakfast and head over to school. The day began uneventfully, and it proceeded as so.

Ryan was relieved that he didn’t have to pick a fight to prove he was now stronger. However, all good things do come to an end. As he was on his way to the parking lot, he ran into Brody Kernigan, with his five henchmen.

“Hey Brody, fancy meeting you here...” he chuckled nervously.

“Avariz, last time you managed to get away, but today don’t count on it!” said Brody, as his henchmen surrounded Ryan.

“Please don’t force me to do this!” cried Ryan

One of the kids surrounding him suddenly grabbed his left arm, and another soon followed. In a matter of minutes, he was pinned down so he couldn’t move. Brody threw a punch that landed on Ryan’s left cheek. A couple of cracking sounds could be heard.

“How are your knuckles feeling?” asked Ryan with a smug look and a wide smile.

Brody looked at his knuckles, and an intense pain struck him so much that he screamed. The other people holding Ryan were afraid after seeing Brody screaming so much.

“I warned you, but did you listen?” said Ryan as he shoved the person holding his right hand away. “Now it’s my turn”, he continued with a slight chuckle. He started moving, one step ahead, and then threw a punch towards the person who was holding his left hand a moment ago.

The person staggered backwards and fell. Another step, another punch. Soon, every henchman was lying down, groaning in pain. Ryan then turned to Brody, and his right hand fist started glowing.

Brody was now afraid, he suddenly realized that he had provoked a tiger! Ryan walked over to him slowly, and then threw a punch!

Dragon Subduing Fist!

However, before the fist landed on Brody’s face, it appeared as if it struck an invisible barrier. A blast of wind followed which hit Brody’s face, making his hair fly backwards, and he staggered backwards as well. The glow on the fist dimmed down and then faded as the fist returned to normal.

A voice whispered in Ryan’s ear, “Did I not warn you?”

“It’s not my fault, okay? I told you if they provoke me I’d fight back!”

Now, Brody and the young men were now fully afraid. It appeared as though Ryan was talking to himself! As if he’d gone mad! They struggled up their feet, and helped each other and started running away at full speed.

“What a freak!” shouted one of the young men.

“Interesting. A bit sloppy but interesting!” came a female voice.

Ryan turned to see who had uttered the words. It was Cora Waterline. “Oh, you can talk?” he asked.

“Who taught you that fighting style? It seems different from anything I’ve seen”, she ignored his question.

“An alien from another planet”, he replied, shrugging his shoulders.