The Discarded Son's Skill Market
Chapter 33: Punishment

Chapter 33: Punishment

Sweat dripped from his forehead. His clothes were soaked. Although he was able to control his breathing very well, which allowed him to hold on.

"Lap 100..." Zaid took a deep breath and finally stopped.

The beads of sweat falling from his face soaked the ground in an instant.

"Here."

Zaid looked up and saw Alice handing him a handkerchief with a smile.

"It’s amazing that you can run 100 kilometers in such a short time. You must be the fastest in the class!" she exclaimed in awe, congratulating him.

Zaid took the handkerchief and smiled back at her. "I still have two more hours to go. I’m not done yet."

"But you can make it simpler," Alice said.

"Simpler?"

"The teacher said to strike, but he didn’t say which martial art to use."

"Hm?" Zaid frowned.

That was true.

But wasn’t it the same thing? He only had a basic understanding of boxing.

"Why don’t you try my Soft Martial Arts? You can use them with your boxing background, and they’ll tire you out less. My father invented them, and they’re really good!"

"Those martial arts were invented by your father? He must be a great martial arts master." Zaid nodded approvingly.

He had watched them train over the past few hours, and they had a solid foundation. Although until now he hadn’t known what the point was—after all, what was the use of striking more and hitting less?

However, in this type of training, that seemed to be very useful.

"Would you teach me?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Of course!" Alice exclaimed, stepping before him. "The key is your breathing. The way you control it will determine the power of your punch and, therefore, your long-term endurance."

They walked over to where the puppets were, and Alice began to explain how he should control his breathing so that it would determine his strength and endurance.

He picked it up surprisingly quickly and was able to do it after just a few tries, leaving her stunned.

"I’ve never seen anyone who could learn it in fewer than ten tries..." she said.

’I’m also amazed at how quickly I figured it out.’ Zaid chuckled to himself.

He had two things to thank for this: his high Intelligence and his powerful Senses.

All it took was seeing a single example from Alice for him to replicate it thanks to those incredible Senses.

"Father also said that if you control your breathing to determine the force of your strike, you can take the enemy by surprise! Although I’ve never actually done it..." Alice hadn’t even finished speaking when Zaid unleashed a powerful blow that sent the puppet reeling.

"O"

That was the sound Alice made when she witnessed it.

Zaid was surprised by the power. ’That was more powerful than I thought. This is really helpful.’

He looked at Alice. "Were you saying something? I’m sorry—I discovered you could do something amazing, so I had to try it."

Alice was so amazed she couldn’t close her mouth.

"H-how did you do that?" she asked, in shock.

"Breathe harder!" he replied, without going into too much detail.

Because that’s exactly what he did.

If his breathing determined the power of his punch, he just had to breathe harder, right?

For Alice, that answer wasn’t enough, and she just figured it had been a fluke.

In any case, Alice taught him as much as she could.

And that’s how the first hour went by.

When that hour was over, Zaid paused for a moment to rest.

Alice got up to bring him some water, and he drank it.

His arms were tense, but he could still keep going.

After taking a sip of water, Zaid looked at Alice. "Don’t you think these martial arts can be used to practice other styles?" he asked.

"Practice other styles? You mean mix them together?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Alice nodded, a little surprised. "I’m surprised you picked up on it so easily. It took my father a month to teach it to me. My father created these martial arts specifically for that purpose."

Zaid nodded thoughtfully.

Zaid himself didn’t realize that his Senses had heightened to such an absurd degree that complex things now seemed simple to him. And this isn’t because his Intelligence stat went up—it’s his perception!

Thanks to that, he could understand complex things much more easily.

So, on the second day of practice, he tried to train in the martial arts he had always wanted to practice as a child—such as boxing—but using the techniques of Soft Martial Arts.

The punches weren’t as powerful as in boxing, but they were more precise. That was a substantial improvement. The problem was that if he were to box in a ring using both tactics, his punches would barely do any damage.

’But I just need to perfect the tactics using Soft Martial Arts. Then I can employ them without actually using them,’ he thought.

And that made sense and worked well.

However, it was much more exhausting than he had imagined.

He had to stop every 15 minutes to catch his breath, because the influence of other martial arts prevented him from bringing out the fluidity of the Soft Martial Arts.

Although it was still more effective than using martial arts without their help, it was better.

His final blow was barely delivered with any force.

As he struck, his cell phone rang, signaling that two hours had passed.

Finally, Zaid fell backward.

His breathing was growing weaker. Sweat was pouring off his body in buckets, like a waterfall.

This was more exhausting than running 100 kilometers in record time!

Alice stayed close by his side, fanning him or splashing him with water... and offering words of encouragement.

"Hah... hah..." He gasped for breath. "Hehe, I think having such a beautiful woman cheering me on like this will make me want to do another hundred laps and keep at it for another two hours," he joked as he sat down.

Alice blushed with embarrassment and lowered her head, though she didn’t stop fanning him with a piece of cardboard.

After recovering, he looked out at the training field.

"I still have a little more left in me."

"I’ll help you," Alice replied immediately.

"No. It’s not necessary." Zaid shook his head, and before she could protest, he looked at her. "Do you want to go out for dinner? There’s no class tomorrow. I’d like to take you on a date. Go get ready, and I’ll see you later."

"R-really?" she asked, puzzled. "That..."

"Don’t you want to?"

"Y-yes, I do!" Alice jumped up immediately before Zaid could change his mind. "See you now!"

Zaid watched Alice run off and laughed. ’Having a beauty on your side feels good. It’s been many years since I’ve felt this way.’

He looked around the training field and began cleaning it up and putting everything in its place.

If the students had good manners and left everything tidy, he wouldn’t have to do so much work, but there was nothing he could do but carry out his duties.

At least that way he had something to do for the rest of the day, which he would otherwise have spent bored.