Progress and new found power

It's been 5 months since I started training. It has mostly been extremely ifficult martial arts training and meditation with the monks at the temple. Even though it was simple it was still very hard. After the first week I genuinely thought I would die but now, I've mainly gotten used to it, and I've even gained some muscle. For the first time ever, I was finally making progress.

The martial arts we have been training in is regular Chinese Kung fu. It is divided in 5 grades:

Grade 1: beginner

Grade 2: intermediate

Grade 3: advanced

Grade 4: advanced +2

Grade 5: mastery

As of now I'm only grade 2,the lowest of the 5 heroes. I still question why I was chosen, but that doesn't matter anymore. I'll become stronger no matter what. One thing that remains a mystery to me is reason for training simple martial arts. We are supposed to train for 3 years until the tournament of Versailles against the outer realm. Gina has made it clear to us that Voltican(the world that resides in the outer realm) is a world of magic with many species like elves, and dwarfs. What would our martial arts do to an experienced mage or an excellent swordsman? I've tried telling this to Gina,, but she assured me that this is the correct thing we should be doing.

Even after 5 months, I still haven't met my fellow heroes. We all train in and live in different places so we never get to meet each other. I don't even know their names. But I have been given one piece of information about them, their grades. And I am by far the weakest.

Hero #1(me) : grade 2

Hero #2: grade 3

Hero #3: grade 4

Hero #4: grade 3

Hero #5: grade 5

One of them had already gotten to grade 5! How could I ever keep up with that?! I thought that I was making good progress but compared to them, I'm a weakling! But there's no point in being negative, i made a promise to myself that I would become stronger, and I'm not stopping now!

While I was in the middle of meditation, I heard an unusually loud sound

[Attention heroes, gather at the shrine in exactly 5 minutes.]

This was very unusual. I never thought that announcements Could be made at the temple. What's even weirder is that the announcement stated for all of us heroes to gather at the same time, this might be our first proper meeting.

When I got to the shrine I saw 3 people there standing in front of the shrine. They all looked much stronger than me which confirmed that they indeed were my fellow heroes. I went and stood next to them. The atmosphere in the room was very scary. They had seemed very serious and intense. 1 of them was a man who was gigantic and was towering over me. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and gave me a terrifying look that shook me to my core. There was another man who was pretty tall and lanky. He was wearing a bandana that covered most of his face except his eyes. And lastly was a girl who looked very cute but still had a very serious look on her face. She was the only person that eased my anxiety. The moment I stepped beside them, the gigantic man immediately started talking.

'Hey guys! Let's get to know each other. How about we take turns introducing ourselves. Hi! My name is zeppelin and I'm from Russia. I'm 26 years old and I'm currently a grade 3 martial artist!'

I was completely shocked. This massive and muscular guy was acting all kind and cheery, I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover. What was more surprising was that he was only a grade 3.he looked so strong, yet there were still 2 heroes stronger than him. I'm still wondering who that grade 5 is.

'Alright weaklings, My name is Eva, and I'm a grade 4 martial artist. It's a shame that I have to associate with you losers but whatever, I don't really care.'

Suddenly the girl spoke. She sounded extremely confident about her abilities. I mean she was a grade 4, Her strength is amazing. Out of all of us, she looked at me the most with disgust. I guess it's my turn now

'Um hi, my name is Kenji, and I'm a grade 2 martial artist. I hope we can all get along.'

'Huh?! Grade 2? You're so weak and you look so young. Why the hell are you a hero?!'

Whatever confidence I had been completely erased by what she said. Now I've finally been aware of our differences as heroes. Now I'm back to doubting myself. There was still one person left. He was the guy with the bandana and hoodie.

'Oh I guess it's my turn now. My name is Gaiden, hi'

He looked very quiet. I could barely hear him because of his bandana. He had this aura around him that made him look very menacing. But that could just be me being paranoid. Throughout all this time I realized something, there are only 4 people here including me. Aren't there supposed to be 5 heroes?

'ahh! Sorry for being late guys. What did I miss?!'

Suddenly another guy ran in the room. I think he's the 5th hero. That means he's either a grade 4 or 5. I'm still not sure about Gaiden though.

'Don't worry man. We were just introducing ourselves.'

'Oh ok. Well I guess I'll introduce myself now. Hi! My name is Gonzo, and I'm gonna become the strongest hero of all time. No one's gonna stop me! I'm a grade 4 by the way.'

He looked very passionate. He had a snarky look on his face. It was as if he was the main character in his own show. At this point I don't care anymore. I'm so weak compared to all these people. Later today I'm telling Gina that I want to resign. I'm just not fit for the job. And I just realized that the only hero who was grade 5 was gaiden. Maybe that's why he was being so quit.

After we all introduced ourselves again to Gonzo, Gina finally came in.

'Hello heroes. I'm assuming you all have introduced yourselves to one another. Today will be a little break for all of you. We are all going to a local restaurant that is run by a former monk. We'll be leaving in an hour, make sure you are all prepared until then'

Going to a restaurant? That's extremely unusual. But I don't really care anymore, I'm resigning anyway. I guess I'll break the news to Gina after we're done with the restaurant.

After everyone was prepared, we all went to the restaurant. It was very crowded with a lot of people. After our food finally arrived, we started eating. It was the most delicious food that I had eaten in so long. It's refreshing to finally eat some good food for once. We were all enjoying ourselves, and we're engaging in conversation. Zeppelin was chugging beers left and right. Gonzo and Eva were constantly getting into fights with each other. I was mainly just enjoying my food. And gaiden just stayed silent the whole time. It was nice for a while until something happened.

Suddenly all the windows were broken and men in very weird black ninja-like clothing entered the restaurant and started terrorizing the place. They were breaking tables and chairs and scaring people. And they all seemed to be looking for someone.

'GINA! WHERE IS GINA?!'

All my fellow heroes immediately got up from their chairs ready to fight. And once the men found out where we were, They immediately started fighting. All my fellow heroes were absolutely destroying those guys. Zeppelin was picking them up and throwing them around. Gonzo and Eva were teaming up reluctantly and let out a fury of punches and kicks. And Gaiden could fight 6 people at once and defeat them in 5 seconds max.

I feel so hopeless. They don't need me. They can just do the tournament themselves. I'm completely useless and pathetic.

While I was thinking suddenly the tides were turning. Gonzo and Eva were getting hurt badly and almost couldn't keep up. Zepplin was being hurt because the men started using weapons against us. Gaiden was still fighting strong. 2 men suddenly came in they looked different from all the other Men. They looked like they were the bosses and that was when all hope was lost. Gaiden tried to fight them but was completely overpowered and was injured severely. Zeppelin was completely defeated. Gonzo was stubborn enough to challenge the 2 bosses and got severely injured himself. They also took Eva captive.

I don't know what to do. I'm definitely too weak to do anything against them. Gina was nowhere to be seen. God-damn it. If I wasn't so weak I definitely could've helped. No, I'm tired of making excuses for myself. I keep trying to run away from my problems. That's it, I don't care any more I'm gonna fight those 2 bosses no matter what, even if I get killed, it doesn't matter I have to save my friends!

'H-hey you two, have a piece of me'

They both looked at me and laughed as loud as they could.

'Awww look at the little boy trying to fight back. How adorable hahahahahhahaha'

'What are you doing kenji?! Run away!'

Eva tried telling me to run away, but I refuse. I stepped forward, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I know that somewhere within me, there was potential for me to become really strong that I haven't tapped into. That's what Gina always told me. So now I'm going to tap into it! I immediately start charging at them with my eyes closed and my fists ready to punch them. I knew what I was doing was stupid, but I don't care. Somehow I'm going to defeat them!

'Is he really charging at us with his eyes closed? What a joke ahahahahaha'

I kept charging, and I just screamed as loud as I could

'ahhhhhhhhhhhh!'

[SKILL ACTIVATE:THUNDER PUNCH]

'wait. Why are his fists lighting up!?'

I felt electricity surge throughout my body. I had an unexplainable feeling. But I had a gut feeling that told me that this would be the punch that would make me reach my potential. And I instinctually kept charging at them and screamed...

'THUNDER PUNCH'

And punched them and sent them flying. Eva managed to avoide the attack somehow. But she was in shock of what I had just done. I had hit them with a punch that was overflowing with electricity. Everyone in the restaurant was completely shocked by what I had just done.

'What the hell did you just do kenji?'

'I... Don't know'

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