Ch. 14 - The Great Pretender's entrance

"Fucking stairs." Leo cursed while wiping off the small beads of sweat on his forehead.

It's not like Leo got exhausted from climbing the stairs but imagine taking 5 minutes long just to climb stairs, it just annoyed Leo.

'Thankfully, I'm finally here!' Leo said to himself with excitement, looking forward at the large gates where Po tried to sneak inside in the first movie of Kung Fu Panda.

And since there are no events happening right now, it only serves as the training grounds for the Kung Fu Masters of the Jade Palace.

*Knock!* x2

Knocking on the huge door, Leo waited for a few seconds only to be met with silence.

His lips quivered.

'That old man must be testing me, right?' Leo quipped before sighing and pressed his palms on the large door.

Using all of his strength, Leo surprisingly found it easy to push, as if the huge door had a wheel on its feet.

It didn't take long before Leo fully opened the large door and was met with six figures waiting for him at the training grounds.

What's unusual about them was their expressions.

All of them have stunned expressions on their faces, as if they had just seen something impossible.

"When Master Shifu told us it is someone the five of us know, I didn't expect it to be the young waiter from that noodle shop yesterday." Viper whispered to her fellow Kung Fu Masters.

"So there's indeed something special about that kid." Mantis said while having his claw-like hands underneath his chin.

"Did he just....open the gate by himself? Isn't it impossible for normal civilians to push open the gate without large numbers?" Monkey exclaimed and his words resonated with the others, agreeing to his words.

"I may have....to reevaluate this young man." Master Shifu whispered to himself while his eyes squinted at Leo's figure.

"Hello there....." Releasing his hold on the huge door, Leo noticed the Furious Five along with Master Shifu and greeted them with a wave of his hand.

"....You have finally arrived. Though you arrived earlier than I expected but still." Master Shifu was the first one to break the silent and awkward atmosphere.

"Yeah, I was kinda excited." Leo answered with a simple shrug of his shoulders.

"Now that you're here it is time for your second test." Master Shifu said, revealing to Leo that climbing the long stairs and pushing the huge heavy door was the first test.

"I knew it." Leo whispered to himself, not knowing that it was heard by the six Kung Fu Masters who have sharp and keen senses.

'So he knows that we've been testing him? Hmmm, not even Monkey figured out that the stairs and huge door are the first test.' Master Shifu said to himself, not expecting Leo to be full of surprises.

Slowly but surely, Master Shifu is starting to see why Master Oogway told him to apologize to the young man with an unknown animalistic race.

"Stand in the center and introduce yourself." Master Shifu sternly ordered.

As soon as Leo walked in the center, he introduced himself in a simple yet quick manner.

"My name is Leo, just Leo. I'm from Wakanda."

"And where is this 'Wakanda' to be exact?" Tigress asked in curiosity. Meanwhile, she also raised a question inside her mind.

'He's not from the Valley?'

'Thankfully, her investigation of Black Panther fell short, so she doesn't have enough information to know that the Black Panther hails from Wakanda.' Leo sighed in relief, this is a huge gamble of his. The only reason why he even stated that he's from Wakanda is what else but an increase in his Black Panther Template?

Introducing himself and his background as Wakanda would greatly increase his template.

And he was right! Looking at the transparent screen in front of him, Leo mentally grinned in excitement.

[Status

Name: Leonard Skinwalker

Current Templates:

- Template 1: Black Panther [14.670%]

- Template 2: [Locked]

- Reputation Points: 1,968

- Gacha

- Quest

- Inventory]

Last night, he got a 2% increase in his template when he finished the Sub-Quest #13 where he has to give a good impression to the Furious Five.

And now another 2% increase by simply stating he's from Wakanda to 6 major characters of Kung Fu Panda led to a whopping 4% increase in just a whole day.

'Maybe I should also introduce myself as Wakandan to Master Oogway? I wonder how large I would get from the old turtle.' Leo said to himself, making an important note in his mind.

Speaking of templates, Leo could feel his strength growing stronger upon receiving another 2% increase in his strength.

He feels like he could defeat those hyena bandits without relying on surprise attacks.

However, Leo didn't let himself drown in this feeling as he knows that this is simply a state of false euphoria after feeling the growth in strength.

Although his progress seemed to be slow, Leo believes that as time goes on, he would get more chances to increase his template percentage in the future.

'Wait a minute. Genesis, now that I would be training in Kung Fu, would my strength still increase or not as I'm relying on a template? Or would my template percentage increase by training?'

[Both are wrong, Leo. Your strength would increase but your template will not. In other words, you can still grow your strength by training while also becoming strong by increasing the template percentage. Meaning, if you reached 100% of Black Panther's template, you'd be stronger than Black Panther himself as you have the strength of your original body strength and 100% of Black Panther's template.]

'That sounds too good to be true.' Leo's eyes glowed in excitement, which didn't go unnoticed by Master Shifu's gaze.

'Why did he suddenly turn excited? Tigress just asked him about where he came from, is there something special about this 'Wakanda'?' Master Shifu raised an eyebrow as he questions.

"Master! I am ready to train now!" Without any delay, Leo quickly expressed his desire to start his training.

"Did I tell you that you are ready?" Master Shifu strictly asked in a rhetorical manner with his eyes squinted.

"No, Master. But I deem myself ready." Leo answered.

"Good....then you'll be fighting Monkey, if you're truly ready." Master Shifu with a sarcastic smirk, knowing full well that Leo would soon quit after fighting a Kung Fu Master.

"Wait, me?" Monkey, who was just busy watching the drama, was stunned upon hearing Master Shifu call his name.

"Yes, you Monkey. Spar with our new student here, and don't hold yourself back."

"Don't hold back? But isn't he just a normal citizen?" Monkey said, reluctance can be seen in his face.

"Can a 'normal' citizen push those large doors, Monkey?" Master Shifu snarled at Monkey who shivered in fear.

"Hey, no hard feelings, okay?" Approaching Leo who was standing still in the middle of the training grounds, Monkey made an apologetic gesture.

"...." Feeling insulted of being looked down upon, Leo felt his pride being spat on.

'Although I can't beat Monkey, especially since he won't be holding back but I should still show a surprise, right?' Leo said to himself, promising that he'll give the audience a surprise.

"Ready!" Standing face to face, Master Shifu turned into the referee of the sparring.

"I'm sorry." After apologizing one last time, Monkey quickly dashed forward and grabbed both Leo's ankles before dragging him and slamming him back down on the ground.

*Boom!*

'.....I wasn't expecting that.' Leo said to himself, truly not expecting Monkey to be this fast, sure he could accept Viper being fast but Monkey?

"Sorry again, ma-" just as Monkey was about to apologize again, Leo quickly took this opportunity to sweep his leg off the ground, causing Monkey to fall down on the ground.

"Focus on your opponent, Monkey!" Master Shifu slapped his forehead upon seeing that Monkey was more on apologizing rather than fighting.

Did I teach you Kung Fu or how to apologize!?

"Sorry, Master!" Monkey once again apologized but this time, to his Master.

Meanwhile, Leo was grinning, clearly satisfied with being able to take down a master such as Monkey, sure it was a sneaky one but it's the result that counts.

Before Leo could further grin at his victory, he found himself upside down with his body laying down on the ground.

"Huh?" Leo could only utter a sound of confusion before Monkey's face appeared in front of his vision.

"Are you okay?"

"....I'm fine. Does this mean I didn't pass the test?" Leo said with a bit of a downcast expression.

Not knowing the answer to Leo's question, Monkey looked at his master.

"Master?"

"...." Master Shifu was quiet for a bit before answering.

"He passed. It's not about victory. It's whether he can handle himself in such an impossible situation."

Hearing Master Shifu's words, Leo silently cheered himself inside his mind.

Who knew that was the test all along, right?

"Get up, both of you. Master Shifu ordered, both of them quickly removed their asses from the ground.

"As you have passed the second test, it's time for the last test." Hearing that there's one more test and it's the last one, Leo quickly straightened his back.

"The last test will be the test of strength, durability, and patience....." Master Shifu then paused, letting the tension build up before continuing.

"You shall clean the entire Jade Palace all by yourself."

*Crack!*

"Sorry what was that?" Leo cleaned his right ear.

"The entire Jade Palace. you'll clean it." Master Shifu repeated.

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[Slime is hungry for power Stones! Slime wants to achieve his past glory. Slime is willing to trade one of his extra chapters to reach top 10 in rankings or Slime will be sad.]

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 15 - The Great Pretender's Cleaning Adventure]

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