The Months Pass

Every day, Dash asked himself the same question: "Am I alive?"

It was inevitable for Dash to ask himself that question every day due to how unreasonable his new life was. It's not like he was complaining; what he really meant was that everything was too incredible to process in just a few days.

In less than a month, Dash, besides training, did nothing but spend time very slowly and accept that it was a new opportunity for him. To be honest, this was his reward, so he believed he should move forward, no matter what.

"Did you really hit him on the forehead?" asked Devon Lee, looking at the boy named Maicol with a bandaged nose.

"Yes, that book I took didn't have a hard cover, so it's impossible for his nose to be broken just from those little hits."

He promised himself not to feel guilty for hitting a kid his age. As far as he knew, he was only a few years mentally older than most people, which wasn't really scandalous. He had seen many news stories about bullies beating up kids. He also remembered what poor Dre went through in China, so he believed he was involved in a similar plot of events. He just wanted to cut off those annoying problems with a few punches.

"Do you think chocolate fixes that?"

Devon Lee looked at Dash as if she hadn't heard those words, but her expression alone said: How the hell does chocolate fix a broken nose?

It's not that she felt sorry for Maicol, life often gives many people some blows, so what happened to Dash is just one more lesson. In real life, if he had said those words, he would probably have a significantly broken nose, at least with the nose, he could simply see it as a reminder not to feel special around dozens of people.

The problem is that this could escalate to somewhat uncontrollable levels. From what she heard, Maicol has an older brother in higher grades.

"Don't worry, let's go watch that martial arts movie you mentioned?" Dash changed his mind in an instant and looked at Devon, who had offered to watch a movie after school.

Devon Lee also forgot about Maicol and nodded, "You should at least know how to interpret some moves from the movies. You mentioned that you're starting to train your body to unleash those punches, so it's not a bad idea to watch martial arts movies."

"Do you think I'm good enough to copy moves made with cables and stuff?"

"It would feel natural if you train martial arts, just direct your kicks towards the target's head just like they do and hit them hard."

Dash remembered Mr. Han's training method for Dre in the movie. Although he did it three hours before going to bed, he hadn't noticed a very big difference other than gaining muscles.

Also, eating was one of the things he had been doing very quickly, and only thanks to that, his previously slender body started to gain muscle mass very quickly, by the way.

After the school day, Dash had communicated with the person responsible for taking him home that he would go with Devon, and he didn't pick him up this time. This was common; he spent a lot of time at Devon's house, and vice versa since they were very close friends.

But just as they were about to take the bus, Maicol with a group of boys appeared at the school gate, and just in case the occasion called for it, Dash took the crumpled book he had used a few days ago with the guy with the broken nose.

"Don't you remember my warning, Maicol?" Dash, who didn't want to get involved in more fights now that he thought about it, tried to resolve this with dialogue.

Maicol looked at Dash with a slight grudge and said, "You hit me with a book, Dash, you're a coward. Now we must fight fair and square, and for that, my older brother will fight for me."

Dash was about to deny it, and formed a friendly smile, but at that moment, Devon beside him said, "The coward is you for calling your brother. No matter, Dash will kick his ass in front of you."

"Can't you see there are four of them?" Dash whispered, looking at his friend with an urgent look.

He didn't mind fighting, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't know any kind of movement to attack, but if he dared to fight one on one fairly, these kids had no pride, and most likely, they would all jump on him as soon as they had the chance.

This meant that he screwed himself a lot if he fought; he could live after this, but the policy he would receive today would be historic on his good dragon warrior resume.

But Devon didn't care about these stupidities. She rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie and said, "If the one with the broken nose intervenes, I'll handle it. Just give me the book and fight calmly."

"I'm Maicol, Devon, I'm sitting right behind you..." Maicol muttered a little offended.

"Yeah, whatever, on this side, there's an alley where almost no one passes. We can go there," Devon said, taking Dash's arm very excitedly.

Dash, on the other hand, was overwhelmed. He hadn't remembered the kind of girl Devon was, and he regretted it a bit. But truth be told, he wasn't afraid; the only thing he feared was that his reputation would be tarnished after being an invincible fighter.

"I assure you guys, no one will come out unscathed from this." Dash looked around the alley and put Devon behind him to prevent her from getting involved; this is his fight after all.

"Yeah? You seem very confident, that's what you should have thought when you hit my brother from behind," said the tallest guy in the group of four.

"Come on, buddy, I gave your brother a chocolate after the beating I gave him... Anyway, I guess he's stronger now, so there's no reason to be mad."

As he said this, Dash surveyed the terrain and remembered the recommendations a war veteran gave him in the hospital in his previous life. What he knew was that if the fight is inevitable and they outnumber him, he should go for the biggest one and hit him so hard that he doesn't wake up from the nap.

Taking off his sweatshirt, Dash left it on the ground next to his backpack and raised his fists toward the bigger guy.

"I'll take advantage of this lesson, my first fight, so I'm excited." Dash handed his cellphone to Devon and said, "Record this, Devon, we must preserve the memory."

"Oh, you have a point." Devon took Dash's phone and began recording what was about to happen.

But at that moment, Dash, who had focused on the fight, saw the bigger guy moving towards him frantically with raised fists.

Dash felt his heart beating strongly, and adrenaline filled his body with a euphoric sensation. Although he wasn't very sure about fighting, the strange feeling he had made him change his mind.

Dodging the first punch heading for his face, Dash discovered that the guy who wanted to hit him was too slow and brutish. So, he returned the punch right on the chin, and it was so hard that he felt his knuckles burning with pain.

Pum!

"Oh!"

The enormous guy fell backward, and just as he tried to get up, he found that there was no strength in his legs, as if every function of his body had been disconnected.

"Did you see that, Devon? I just kicked this idiot's ass! Haha, that felt good." Dash turned to his friend who was recording, but when he looked at her, she shouted, "Idiot, don't get distracted!"

Pum!

Dash, who had turned around to see if Devon had recorded that, felt a punch right under his eye and other hits on his chest.

"Who the hell is hitting me from behind?" Dash turned very angry and started fighting like a brute against two guys roughly his height who had intervened in the fight.

"Damn idiots, you'll taste the flavor of sensationalist content!" Devon shouted as she threw the thick, crumpled book.

Pum!

Maicol, who wanted to intervene when he saw Dash being attacked by two of his brother's friends but thought that would be abusive, restrained himself. However, at that moment, a red book appeared in his field of view and hit him right on the nose.