18 An Old Man

Hey guys, been a couple of days, and I apologize. I hope you like today's chapter. It is one I think a lot of you wanted to happen.

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Andy (MC) POV…

"MY INHERITOR, YOU SHALL BE. MY SON…." ???????

I have had this dream a few times now. I come across a place of light—a place of power. I can feel it pumping into me from everywhere. It is pressuring me from all sides. I feel powerful, and when I wake up.

I am not sure what to make of this. This does not seem like just any dream. It is too lucid to be a common occurrence like it is. It is almost like someone is trying to reach out to me. I do not understand the 'My Son' part. I do not know who my father is, but I am sure my mother was human. Am I some half-alien being? Was my father not of this planet? And if so, how and when did he meet my mother?

So many questions. Anyway, my life has been weird the last few weeks. I have been getting tired and going to sleep regularly recently. I am not sure how I am being made tired, but it is happening. The dream I am having really does not give me many clues. Although, I do happen to see the same crest on my finger on a figure in my dream. And that is all I seem to see. The figure itself does not show its head or anything else. It is pure light, but I will say that the being seemed huge, and he talked in a profound voice. If that guy is saying I am his son, then I wonder how my mother could take his seed.

I also ran across this guy while walking around china town. I have never been so manhandled in my life. He was like a spider monkey the way he took me down.

Flashback…

I was taking a stroll outside today. I have spent most of my time cooped up on my computer trying to work out a code for my AI. Yeah, I know how cliché that is, but I am alone if you think about it. I need someone to constantly watch my back and backtrack all the stupid shit I have done this past year. I realized late that buying all that shit online, even if I did use a VPN and a different address, was a stupid idea. I had to get all that shit cleaned up if I do not want people to come knocking anytime soon. So, I have been balls to the wall coding. I think I am nearly done. I have been stuck training my AI algorithms for over a week.

Anyway, I catch myself walking through what I suspected as Chinatown. I have never been here before, but I would love to try some new food. I go from stall to stall and try a few different things. About halfway through, I see an older man who looked like he could see through everything. His gaze penetrated through me and his eyebrows raised a bit before he continued, what seemed to be, his normal impassive look. The old man had grey hair and a decently long beard. He wore what I believed to be martial arts robes and confident air about him. He seemed confident in every action he made. His walk. The way he moved his arms. Hell, even his gaze seemed to be calculated.

'Perhaps he is some Grandmaster like some wuxia fics I read about.' I thought as I moved my gaze over to another stall and continued my eating fest. I love Chinese food. Well, I am not going to lie; I love just about every food. Except perhaps Brussel Sprouts, they are the devil's food. As I continued my eating, I thought that I was being followed. I am sure I backtracked a few times and turned a few streets, but that old man seems to be everywhere I go. Every time I pick up my head, I swear he is in the same spot in my vision.

'What the fuck is going on. Let's head out and go back home. I ate enough anyway, and I still got a shit ton of work to do.' I thought as I turned down an alley to get back to the main road. What I did not expect was the damn old man to be right in front of me. Instinctually, I reach out my hand to grab him, but somehow, I was diverted, and my hand started going towards the wall. The old man was able to duck under my arm and kick the back of my knee, making me fall to one knee. The scary part was that when I got up and turned around, the fucker was gone?

"What the actual fuck was that?" I said allowed.

"Language boy." I heard above me

"How the hell did you get on my shoulders?" I said as I saw feet right next to my head

"I jumped, stupid. Not my fault your awareness is horrendous." The man said back to me as he crouched down and looked me in the eyes.

"You're not going to take a dump, are you?" I ask, and he smacked me upside the head as he flipped off me. What was weird was I actually felt him slap me. Like it hurt. I am not used to that sensation anymore. I mean, sure, I was beaten in the orphanage, but now I can barely feel any pain.

"Do not act like that hurt. I can see the energy swirling around you. You are strong in body and mind. You have immense potential in chi, but everything else about you is quite lacking. Interesting. You have both a good heart and a strong will. Tell me, boy, what do you do, or would you do with power?" He asked me, completely brushing off the insulting comment like nothing. I was getting quite irritated, but I decided to humor the man.

"Protect those I care for and my home. Perhaps, the casual passersby that needs assistance. I will not lie to you and tell you I am a saint because I am not." I said and started to walk out of the alleyway. Stopping when he started talking again.

"Very well then. I shall teach you a bit of what I know. You should be honored, for I am Shang-Chi. One of the strongest if not the strongest Chi and Martial Arts practitioner on Earth." He said as he walked by me and handed me a note with the address I assumed. I was to meet him twice a week at some dojo around here.

'I always thought I fought like a toddler. Might as well give this a try.' I thought as I walked home.

What a horrible thought that was.

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I arrived at the Dojo at the specified time and knocked on the door. The door slid open to the smiling Shang-chi.

"Come in. Shoes off. I need to see what you can do. This way. Hurry it up." He said as he sped through the halls. We walked down what seemed to be a never-ending hallway. We passed what had to be like 15 doors until we came upon one that I think we passed three times. He opened it, and a huge courtyard came into view.

'How in the hell does this even work. It is like everyone in Marvel possesses an expansion charm for their homes.' I thought as I walked through the doorway. We were outside. I am not sure how that happened or exactly where we were in general. I could see snowcapped mountains off not too far away. The air smelled fresh, and I could not hear the city sounds anymore.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around.

"Do not worry yourself about that. Now, either show me or tell me what you can do so I know what we need to work on. Do not worry about people getting your information. You are my student, and I am your master. No one gets information from me." He said as he gestured to the area in front of us. It was open and had four pillars on each corner of the field. It must have been a 50-meter square foot area. I was extremely hesitant, but I figured that it should be ok as I just felt that way with him.

"Well, I can fly. I am super strong. I do not even think I know my max lifting weight yet. The last time I tested that, I was able to lift 1500 tons. I am super-fast. I can run about 500 miles per hour currently and perceive anything less than the speed of light at a stand still. I can see through things and blast things with my eyes, and I am damn near invulnerable." I said

"That's not what you said last week." He chuckled, and I did not give him the time of day.

"Alright. You need to loosen up and stretch first. The key to mastering your body is having complete control over it. The first step in getting that control is flexibility. After that, I will teach you actual martial arts and the act of guiding an opponent. You will then learn to control your Chi after you had mastered complete control of your body." He said and started doing stretches tell me to follow suit. As I started following him, he yelled at me again.

"No, you idiot. Take down that field around your body, or you will never be able to stretch properly. If what I can see is correct. That field is what is making you practically immune to physical injury. You will need to injure yourself and regenerate to train your body properly. The field is part of your inner force. That is what I saw when we were in that alley. You are subconsciously using Chi. Try drawing that power back inside of you." He said

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on my aura and bring it into me. It took a second, but I was able to do it. Afterward, we began stretching again, which is when the hell truly started.