Chapter 11: Training
The cost of mastering Beast Instinct was somewhat high, but Su Xiao felt it was worth it. Previously, when he swung his blade at Sha, her evasive movements were far too precise.
However, mastering Beast Instinct was no easy task.
Whoosh～
A sound of wind breaking approached. Su Xiao instinctively wanted to use Counter Shield to defend, but he immediately suppressed that impulse, instead relying on his Mind’s Eye ability to evade Sha’s attack.
Sha rushed to Su Xiao’s side, bending her knee to strike his flank. In Su Xiao’s perception, a knee-shaped object hurtled toward him, its target seeming to be either his flank or his thigh.
This momentary misjudgment caused Sha’s knee to collide with Su Xiao’s flank.
A dull pain radiated from the internal organs near his flank. Sha’s attack method was too peculiar; her strikes seemed to ignore defense. His muscles and ribs were not heavily injured, but various organs bore the brunt of the damage.
The organs throbbed with dull pain. If he were an ordinary person, he would have curled up by now. But Su Xiao, having endured countless trials of blood and fire, did not bend over. Instead, he curved his right leg and right arm to shield the right side of his body, even as the knee strike sent him flying sideways.
“Too slow!”
Sha’s voice came from his left. As the sound reached him, Su Xiao’s brain buzzed as if hit by a train, and the direction of his flight changed.
Midair, his mind ringing, Su Xiao’s hand rested on his sword hilt. He almost drew the blade but stopped himself. This was not a battle; drawing the sword was meaningless.
“Unexpectedly ferocious… but I appreciate that ferocity. Only the strong have the capital to survive. The world is cruel.”
Sha’s combat style was the complete opposite of Su Xiao’s. When she fought, she often muttered something—a personal habit.
Su Xiao barely managed to land steadily. His vision went dark, and a warm sensation spread across his cheek—blood.
Drip, drip…
The room was silent, save for the sound of blood dripping onto the floor. Sha had vanished. Her breathing ceased, and the sound of her movement disappeared.
“Don’t judge an enemy’s position by sound. That’s an even cruder perception method than basic sensory ability.”
Sha’s voice came from behind Su Xiao, but a straight punch slammed into his chest. This was teaching by example.
“You fight often, and your combat instincts are strong. But compared to groping alone, the experience summarized by predecessors is richer. That experience was paid for with blood by countless people. Following a set path is foolish, but those experiences are worth learning from.”
As Sha spoke, she landed another punch on Su Xiao’s shoulder.
“Instead of using your brain to process the enemy’s attacks, using your ‘heart’ and body to sense them is faster. Victory or defeat in battle is decided in an instant. Your mind only needs to consider how to defeat the enemy. Your body is for attacking and evading. Use your body to sense where my fists are coming from.”
Sha’s voice grew fainter in Su Xiao’s ears. It wasn’t that he had an epiphany; rather, the punches had given him a concussion, affecting his hearing.
“Hey, hey, can’t hear me anymore? That’s perfect. Looks like that head punch earlier worked.”
Sha stopped in place and casually snatched Bubu Wang’s snack—a bag of chocolate. She tossed one into her mouth.
“What’s this weird taste…”
Sha frowned and spat out the chocolate. She pinched another chocolate between her thumb and flicked it toward Su Xiao.
Even with her strength attribute sealed, Sha’s power was still 80 points. Combined with her unique method of applying force, the chocolate shot out with the speed of a sniper bullet.
Whoosh～
The chocolate flew past Su Xiao’s ear. He inexplicably tilted his head. Compared to the incoming fists, this ‘unknown’ object was much slower, and its trajectory was clear.
“Already developing basic senses? Then let’s increase the intensity.”
Sha emptied all the chocolates into her hands, gripping at least several dozen. She swung her arm and hurled them at Su Xiao.
With a crack, one chocolate hit Su Xiao’s arm. The rest were all dodged. It wasn’t that Su Xiao had made rapid progress, but that his Mind’s Eye ability had been activated.
Su Xiao was surprised to find that evading attacks with Mind’s Eye was at least 10% faster than using basic sensory ability—about one-tenth.
Don’t underestimate that one-tenth. In a life-or-death struggle, it could mean the difference between heaven and earth. If Mind’s Eye had this effect, how much stronger would Beast Instinct be? It would certainly be more powerful, given Sha’s strength.
“Progressing quickly. No, I should say you’re adapting quickly.”
Sha snatched another bag of dried pineapple from Bubu Wang and took a big bite.
“Delicious.”
Sha sat cross-legged on the floor, munching on the dried pineapple while staring at Su Xiao. She was creating a silent sense of threat, stimulating him to familiarize himself with the Mind’s Eye ability faster.
With Mind’s Eye as a foundation, mastering Beast Instinct would be quicker.
About half an hour later, Sha stood up under Bubu Wang’s speechless gaze. This long-legged female creature had stolen a lot of his snacks. If she weren’t so strong, Bubu Wang would have bitten her long ago.
After standing, Sha vanished instantly, reappearing right in front of Su Xiao.
At this moment, Su Xiao’s vision was blocked, everything pitch black. Under the nourishment of Bubu Wang’s recovery aura, the aftereffects of the earlier punches had faded.
Su Xiao now felt a strange sensation. Although his basic sensory ability was sealed, his perception of the area within a few meters had become clearer.
Everything around him was a vast white expanse. Dust particles floated in the air, standing out sharply in this whiteness. He could even sense the slow flow of air currents in the room.
Not only that, but everything around him had slowed down, including the woman who had approached him 0.2 seconds ago. He could feel her heartbeat, her breathing. She stood before him as if naked. The scar on her collarbone began to deform as she raised her fist. Her originally not-so-full chest, due to the arm movement, became somewhat flat.
Punch incoming. Trajectory: straight. Target: face.
Su Xiao tilted his head. Sha’s fist swept past his ear, the wind from the punch stirring his black hair.
“Excellent. You already had an advanced perception ability. The initial training phase is 10 hours faster than expected. You can remove the blindfold now.”
Sha stepped back a few paces and looked at Bubu Wang.
“Give me another bag of that stuff. As repayment, I’ll teach you something good.”
Ignoring the ‘transaction’ between Bubu Wang and Sha, Su Xiao tore off the black cloth strip covering his eyes. His vision returned, and his basic sensory ability was restored.
This time, Su Xiao no longer relied on basic sensory ability. He tried to perceive his surroundings with Mind’s Eye.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? But you’ll suffer for it. Using an advanced perception ability continuously for half an hour, even with your strong mental strength, will have side effects. It’s an ability meant to be activated briefly in battle. Even if you fight for a whole day and night, the total activation time won’t exceed twenty minutes.”
Sha showed her teeth in a grin, revealing very sharp canines.
Su Xiao didn’t need Sha to tell him—he already sensed something was wrong. As he removed the black cloth, his temples throbbed violently, and a sharp pain shot through his brain.
“That’s a normal reaction. You’ll be in agony for a few minutes, then you’ll get through it.”
Sha was speaking from a position of comfort. Beast Instinct was not a conventional perception ability. Although its effects were powerful, the training process had a high mortality rate. Over 99% of perception abilities did not build a foundation by overdrawing perception, as doing so was more efficient and could yield more perfect senses, but the risk was too high. In Sha’s original world, practicing Beast Instinct was strictly forbidden.