The Seven Levels of Pain

In the middle of his room, Dash could truly feel immersed in a flat sensation of fluid movements just as he wanted to execute them without making mistakes. As his feet slid across the floor, a series of rapid punches were delivered at intervals.

"I've been improving my speed, but I think I'm much better now..." The sudden sensation of speed from his attacks made Dash feel in tune with his body.

"The seven points of pain are the best techniques of the style I'm handling." Dash soon began practicing punches. He watched his complete movements in a large mirror and began adjusting his position, thus improving the technique he had learned little by little.

Staying in the center of the room, Dash practiced numerous movements without making much noise, wearing a serious expression.

Looking at the training dummy he had exclusively in his room, he approached and began hitting it faster and faster until his hands began to numb.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

When he finally set a speed, the reddened knuckles of his hands demonstrated the force with which he was hitting.

"Although my progress may be slow, the advances are very evident, and there's no doubt that I am better than many." Dash murmured to himself, satisfied with the punches.

Progress in the fighting style puzzled Dash; it was a completely new style, but it was much better and adapted to his needs without ignoring its properties.

"Should I put on bandages?" As Dash punched, he saw how the condition of his knuckles worsened, but this was progress for which, according to Mr. Kim, there would be a reward later.

Swallowing the pain, Dash began hitting with open palms, and the loud sounds began to be heard more clearly in the room.

Just as he was about to continue, he suddenly stopped and walked to the shower to wipe off the sweat before heading to school.

"I have changed a lot; these muscles are just from hard work..." Dash began to look at his body with some admiration, thinking about what happened last time, and this time he decided to stop.

Going down the stairs, he found the house empty except for the workers and got into the car that would take him to school. This routine had been repeated for a long time, and now he considered it normal.

With all the things he had done in the last few days, he ignored the fact of checking out good dojos in the area to visit them later with Devon, and he didn't research much about the previous karate tournaments in the valley.

"I wonder if I'm doing it right..." Dash murmured these words as he looked at his reflection in the car window.

When he got out of the car, he ignored some stares from other students and instead walked straight to his classroom without paying attention to anyone else.

"Dash!"

Looking towards the source of the voice, Dash saw Devon waving at him from afar and approached her with a similar smile.

"There's a month left for the Karate tournament, have you thought about how amazing it would be if we win? At this point, they should be considering sending invitations to all the dojos, but considering that we're not known, no one might invite us."

Devon had been imagining how many girls she could defeat and prove that with a little training time, she could sweep the competition regardless of the obstacles during the first months of suffering and learning.

Walking towards the classroom, Dash handed a protein bar to Devon and said, "We've been very confident about this; we didn't consider the fact that we'll face stronger and more experienced rivals than us."

"That's what we've trained for. Just imagine if we win with these little flexible tricks; the competition would be a joke..." Devon couldn't get out of her mind what she would do if she won.

"After class, we'll have the uniforms; there will be four in total, and the colors are more than incredible." Dash entered the classroom and sat next to Devon, his desk companion.