Farewell

The big shot seemed amused by their shocked faces and felt quite proud of himself. He led the project and was the person to propose working with civilians this time around. Mike was famous for being one of the best, and their information on him showed he was virtually unbeatable over the last five years.

"This is crazy. We planned to unite some of the USA's best experts, but this exceeds our biggest hopes for this Bootcamp. The USA is something else for sure," Yuri commented.

Uri had been one of the head instructors of Israel's most elite special force, but he had never seen anything like this. He knew Americans liked to go big, but in his opinion, this was almost the same as throwing money out the window. Not that he'd tell them that, though.

"You are one of the first to arrive. Most of the civilian MMA gyms have not arrived yet, except for Jackson-Wink MMA. Our service branches and sports scientists are ready, though. It would be best if you got to know them and the local facilities. If you are tired, you can, of course, rest inside one of the rooms we have prepared for you."

A few officials took their luggage towards a hotel-looking building next to the entrance and informed them of their room numbers, but no one from Mike's group felt like resting. This whole situation was far too exciting to rest now.

The big shot led them towards a giant conference room inside another building. His movements were smooth and almost silent. Mike's survival instincts urged him to move away, but doing so could cause a misunderstanding. Instead of backing away, he feigned to be distracted by something, so the group would leave him slightly behind. The moment Mike "noticed" and caught up, Uri, Alexander, and Saenchai stood between him and the big shot.

<<Sorry, guys. I like challenges, not suicide.>>

In the end, nothing happened and the group arrived at the conference room. Hundreds of scientists in white coats were immersed in discussions between themselves and dozens of military personnel.

Uri approached a group of soldiers that looked like special forces while Saenchai and Alexander walked over to the people from Jackson-Wink MMA in one of the corners. While Mike was undoubtedly interested in other professional coaches, fighters, and special forces, he had already met many of those. What he was genuinely interested in were the scientists.

<<Let's look for the craziest and most passionate scientists. Those that skip hours of sleep for their research.>>

And certainly, there was a group of white coats that embodied exactly what Mike was looking for. Their eyes were shining, and they were gesticulating as if they were leading an orchestra. They barely held themselves back to let the others finish speaking, and when they did, at least four of them tried to talk at the same time.

Mike approached them to get their opinion on a few doubts he had. At first, they seemed kind of uninterested, and it seemed like he was bothering them, but after describing a few theories of his manuals, they suddenly went quiet.

"If you take that thought a bit further…"

"Is that realistic? We would have to check the numbers on that…"

"It certainly seems logical. Why has not anyone tried that before?"

Half a minute later, all of them started mumbling to themselves. Thus began five days of continuous research. Mike and the five scientists did not sleep for more than two hours during those days and used hundreds of medical equipment for tests. It got to a point where the soldiers, professional fighters, weapon experts, and other scientists started avoiding them, as anyone who got into their sight got forcefully recruited for their experiments.

This was the first time in five years that Mike had neglected his basic training. His research had never progressed this easily, and he quickly lost himself in it. His first chapter improved by leaps and bounds. What he was uncertain of got certain, what did not show sufficient results got removed and what neared perfection got perfected.

Even though exhaustion was killing Mike, all this new knowledge had to be applied. Just the first chapter alone required an investment of around ten hours every day. For the rest of the time, his training with the other participants of the camp finally started.

Everyone was much better than expected. It was no wonder these were the elites of the world. Mike did not feel too good about himself.

<<I have gotten complacent. I may have been fighting professional fighters over the last years, but among them have been few world champions. You just cannot compare these two groups.>>

If any of the current world champions in the camp heard that, they would probably start having suicidal thoughts. Mike made it sound like he had been struggling in his spars, but reality was not anything like that. He had been destroying everyone at the camp, no matter if they were current champions or not.

It was just that a few of the most talented fighters of the last decade were present, some of them even undefeated in their professional careers. When Mike sparred with them, he had to put in slightly more effort, but that was virtually undetectable from the outside. Little did he know that after humbling those prodigies, almost all of them would proceed to make history and enter the lists of greatest of all times.

Nonetheless, Mike still learned a lot from them, especially for his third chapter, which detailed the most efficient way for all fundamental movements. His techniques got sharper, faster, and more efficient. The fighters, personal trainers, and sports scientists also taught him more efficient ways to train.

They tried to talk Mike into using fitness equipment, but he insisted on bodyweight exercises. There was probably no gym equipment in the other world, so he tried to use other means to achieve the same result. In the end, they could at least convince him to use a weight vest to increase the effectiveness.

One of the sports scientists was also a famous Yoga instructor who started teaching him different forms that benefited his calisthenics, muscle regeneration, and flexibility. The results surprised Mike since not only his third chapter improved, but it also had a faint effect on the development of his senses.

<<I probably should've gone to India to study Yoga and meditation. What a missed opportunity.>>

While meditation was already a part of Mike's first chapter, which some Buddhist monks had taught him, the effect of Yoga showed that the Indians had developed their own methods to improve the mind, instincts, and senses through physical exercise. They had a unique view and interpretation of meditation.

It was too late to visit India, so the only choice he had left was to learn as much as he could from the Yoga instructor at the Bootcamp and read as much as he could on the subject himself.

Mike's schedule was packed, and the things he had to do were endless. In the morning, his training consisted of what he called cognitive training, which started with Yoga to wake him up. It included dodging stick swings with his eyes closed and ears covered. After that, he removed the noise-canceling earmuffs to listen to various quiet jazz songs that would constantly play in the background, trying to identify every single note from all the instruments. At the same time, he kept dodging the wooden stick that would now audibly buzz with every swing.

Peripheral vision training, tasting different aromas in the air, reflex training, meditation, and a few more exercises followed by mental training to round the cognitive training off. Afterward, athletes would typically start their workouts with cardio, but Mike opted against it as he preferred to be at his peak with his muscles only slightly stretched and warmed up. This would allow him to be at peak performance for most of his daily routine.

That did not mean he would neglect cardio; he would just do it afterward. At noon it was technique training followed by physical training. The rest of the day consisted of sparring in all kinds of environments. Fighting against a weapons expert on a mountain, sparring with a professional fighter in the swamp, escaping from a whole group in the desert, or even hunting wild animals in the jungle, the government prepared for any kind of scenario. These animals were all lethal predators that would not hesitate to kill them if they did not kill them first.

At night he would meet up with the five crazy scientists to review his training footage and exchange ideas. Mike never showed them his four chapters and was careful in only mentioning isolated parts to different scientists.

It was egotistical, but it was his creation, and there was no obligation to share it with anyone, especially not the whole American army. It was not like they did not benefit from him anyways since the unification and improvement of all the different service branches' combat systems were coming along well.

There was not one day where Mike relaxed, faithfully following his training regime. The final day of his stay on earth finally arrived, and he got up with a nervous smile.

<<If nothing happens, I will feel really shitty about myself.>>

After going through his daily routine for one last time, Mike went to look for Saenchai, Alexander, and Uri.

"So, why did you want to see us? It's not like the camp will end today. There are still two days left."

Uri had been in discussion with some Navy Seals and did not know what could be so important that all of them had to stop what they were doing to be here now.

"It's goodbye. I'm leaving tonight. Thank you all for everything, and I will never forget you."

Seeing Mike bow towards them made the group realize it was serious.

"Why so soon? Stay until the end. You owe us at least that much. We went through a lot of trouble to organize this for you."

Even though Uri knew Mike had some plans for after the camp, he had been confident that Mike would use every single second at the Bootcamp. The man he got to know over the last years would never let an opportunity like this go.

"I'm sorry. I cannot tell you why, but trust me that I have my reasons."

They had never seen Mike being so serious about something that did not involve training or fighting, so they knew it was the truth.

"You do not have to apologize! We may be friends, but you also paid our salaries over the last five years. You do not owe us anything, nor do you have to justify yourself in front of us."

"I do not think Alex is right. You do owe us!"

Before anyone could respond to that, Saenchai took out a big bottle of Rum and exclaimed.

"A drink! Or maybe even a few!"

He laughed and poured everyone a drink. Mike hesitated, but Saenchai was right. He at least owed them this much.

They drank, laughed, and partied for hours before everyone went back to their rooms and instantly fell asleep.

(The following morning in the sleeping quarters)

„Hey, has anyone seen Mike?"

A professional fighter wanted to ask him a few questions, but he could not be found in any of his usual locations. Mike had been following the same schedule for the last seven weeks, so it was very strange that this suddenly changed.

„Go ask Alexander, Saenchai, or Uri. They usually know where he is."

One of the scientists gave the fighter Alexander's room number as he was the most organized out of the trio. He did not directly give him Mike's number as he only stayed inside his room for sleep.

With a loud knock, Alexander got woken up. Cursing, he held his head between his hands to ease the pain from his hangover.

<<This better be important, or I'll get angry.>>

He opened the door and met the fighter, who promptly explained the situation.

„We drank a lot yesterday, so he is probably sleeping in his room. He will leave today, so we had a small farewell party."

Alexander accompanied the visitor to Mike's room and knocked a few times.

„Hey, wake up! I got woken up because of you, so come out and share my pain!"

Five minutes of knocking, and there was still no response. Alexander asked the fighter to check with the security guards if Mike had already left. A while later, the fighter returned.

„He has not left the building. The guard even checked the security footage for us. That's why it took so long. They gave me a keycard for his room."

„Ha! Sometimes he sleeps like a rock! Let's wake him up loudly, so I have someone to share my pain with."

With a good portion of schadenfreude, the usually more serious Alexander opened the door and stepped inside the room.

„Hey, Mike! You should know better than having people wake up a German HEMA practitioner who is having a hangover, so you should take respons…"

The bed inside the room was empty. All of Mike's belongings except the book he liked to write in were present. Confused, Alexander went to check again with the security guard. Mike had indeed not left the building.

For a few hours, the staff tried to figure out where he went. The American government officials were worried he was trying to break the confidentiality agreement and searched every corner for clues to no avail.

Mike was gone without a trace.

"Interesting. That one already went on his way," commented a familiar figure while smoking a cigar.