Preparation For The Tournament

"Why am I being reprimanded?!" Karl said as he stared into Gringo's eyes.

"Because you went to the out-of-bounds zone, you bastard! and don't stare at me like that or I will use a cigarette to burn your face, you fu*king rude kid" Gringo said glaring back at Karl.

"I'm sixteen," Karl said.

"Is that something to be proud of? every other student here is thirteen, you fu*king late bloomer"

"...why do you keep cussing at me"

"Because I hate you and your guts"

"Nah, you are just probably pissed and jealous that I am so powerful and rich at the same time"

"I will kill you before your sponsor comes"

"Can you though, you've not been able to get over what happened at the gate we entered during our examination"

Gringo paused a minute and looked at Karl, he exhaled smoke and was about to raise his hand when Eva entered the room.

"If you put your hand on that kid, I will do all possible to see that you are suspended for at least a year. And with whose permission did you even bring him here"

"Oh, I presume you all wanted to act smart and treat him favourably, because he is the strongest student in the academy, amidst, first and second years," Gringo said.

"Isn't it natural? The strong win all" Eva smiled as she said that to Gringo's face.

He stood up and walked out of the room.

Eva sat in front of Karl,

"I'll be the one questioning you," She said and smiled briefly.

"What did you encounter at the cave?" Eva asked.

"Nothing" Karl replied.

"The footage did show that you engaged something and even seem to have been defeated, it'll be wise of you to just spill it out and let's not drag this too long, the vice-principal could get involved if it's dragging on"

"Mr Winter?" Karl asked surprisingly.

"Yes, Mr Winter" Eva answered him.

"It was rhetoric," Karl said and sat back.

"You really are rude, but I also heard that your character is not consistent," She said.

"And where are you getting at with that?" Karl asked.

"Perhaps you are just putting up a facade, and maybe deep inside, you are that childish boy that wants to laugh and play like every other kid, being the child of Gard Davidsen must not have been easy, everyone assumes it is always well for a rich kid, that they have everything... I've encountered Gard Davidsen a few times, I've seen how monstrous he can be even though he's not an esper"

"Where are you getting at?" Karl asked with a lot of spacing in his speech.

"I'm on your side Karl, we just want to know what you saw in there..."

"This is kind of contradicting the academy's claim on the island, we were told that all in that island was put there by the academy, so naturally even that must've been put there too by the academy, so why are you asking me something that you guys put in there yourself"

~Knock~

~Knock~

~Knock~

Someone knocked on the door, it opened afterwards and the vice principal entered, Eva, sighed and left the room.

Some hours later Karl came out sweating and smiling.

He just went straightway to his room.

"How weird, I get the sweat part but why was he smiling"

Einhard smiled, "He probably found the vice Dean exhilarating"

"Shouldn't it be the other way round though?" Eva said.

Gringo threw his blunt in the waste bin and left.

...

The Winner of the first round of the exam, came out to be Falcon, with Rachel as second, Akinwale as third and Karl as fourth.

Everyone was quite impressed with how Karl managed to make it to fourth. But the programme is yet to even end, the sophomore knows the real part of the programme is the tournament, which is where the winner is decided, the second phase consisted of the paper-based test and fitness test. The paper-based test was of course the most boring part of the programme because from the fourth year down to the sixth year, everything they do is practical.

Karl sat down, with his exam papers in front of him,

'What is this rubbish and nonsense, mathematics? what am I supposed to do with mathematics???'

[Karl, Mathematics has a way to contribute to your thinking speed]

'Are you trying to say my thinking is slow'

[Oh, God, I can't wait for the day you will grow up]

Karl smiled, 'Don't worry Black, I've got this. I can do these things, you know me right I'm a genius

Seven hours later Karl stood in front of the result that had been released five hours after the exam was over, he stood there devastated.

"Wow, nice work man, you got zero," Rachel said with a giggle.

[You really nailed it, Karl]

Black said to his head.

.....

Karl immediately went for his fitness test, since both carried equal points which now adds up to the total points earned in the second phase of the programme.

"This phase of the examination is exclusive to one person, it's just a way of giving you bonus points which are earned by your good physique. So let's start with a 100m race, if you finish with one minute, that's 50 points, between forty and thirty seconds, that's 100 points, between thirty and twenty that's 150 points, between twenty and fifteen seconds is 200 points, between fifteen and twelve seconds that's 250 points, eleven seconds is 270 points, ten seconds is 300 points, between ten and five seconds is 500 points, less than five seconds is 1000 points. Shall we start"

Karl crouched as the Trainer concluded.

"And know that you are not allowed to use any skill of sort" The Trainer included.

~whussslllle~

Immediately the whistled sounded, Karl took off.

"Nice start, now let's see when he will make or back"

The Trainer said with his eyes fixated on the stopwatch.

~whoosh~

Karl arrived.

"9.47 seconds, that's a five hundred point for you," The Trainer said and they went to the next fitness test. Which was a strength test.

"You will have to punch the dummy real hard and the power of your punch is converted to numbers, between hundred to five hundred is a thousand point, between five hundred to one thousand is 2500 points and between one thousand to two thousand is 3500 points, I will stop there because no one has scored above two thousand." The Trainer said

Karl tightened his fist and punched the Dummy, the numbers immediately displayed.

"Five thousand?!!!" The Trainer screamed.

Like from one fitness test to another, Karl continued to surprise the Trainer and when he was done, he was placed second overall in the second phase of the programme, despite having zero in the paper-based test.

The participants were then given a week to prepare for the tournament, the leaderboard was grouped into three classes, the lower class, those with points in tenths, the middle class those with points in hundredths and the top class, those with points in a thousandth. The lower class and middle class were required to fight in the preliminaries in other to reduce the number of participants.

Karl sat in his room meditating by constantly using the dynamic breathing technique. It was the only breathing technique that allowed the use of Tenpo Kempo.

[Do you really think I will let you use the martial art that destroyed your blood vessel once]

"I don't intend to use it, but if it comes down down it, I might have to use it with that Falcon guy. I can't believe such a skill exists"

[You shouldn't worry too much, even if he copies your skill, it cannot be compared to you who has an enormous esp]

"You are right, but that will also mean he probably has a diversity of copied skills that are not even exclusive to him. If we meet in the tournament, depending on what ski he decides to use, it will feel like I'm fighting different persons, just like I felt like I was fighting myself. And one thing I am sure of is, even if he copies Tenpo Kempo, he can't use it or else he will die."

[Why not?]

"See, all martial arts have an energy flow, they have a particular way energies a directed throughout the body circuit, of course, there some basic martial art which has been made to adapt with the general energy flow of human bodies, but the martial art back from my days were a lot more complicated. To use them, one first has to redirect the energy of the flow of one's body to suit the required energy flow for the martial art, the way of then redirecting the energy flow is called breathing techniques. Since I created Tenpo Kempo by perfecting the flaws of all the most powerful 72 martial art that I know of, the energy flow was very difficult but since I have tried many breathing techniques, coming up with a breathing technique was something I could do even though it was not easy."

[So for him to use Tenpo Kempo he has to be able to use dynamic breathing first¿]

"Yes...but to use Tenpo Kempo effectively with no side effects one has to use dynamic breathing continuously every day for at least three years, if it's any other martial art from my age including the forgotten and forbidden ones, one's body has to mature to the age of twenty years old body and for the Tenpo Kempo and some impressive martial art I was good at, I have to complete the muscle reformation, which is something I can only do once my body matures to twenty."

[What happens if you do it now?]

"I die, now if you'd please excuse me to complete my breathing exercise"

[....hmm]

Karl closed his eyes and continued his meditation.

[Karl]

"What?"

[What about I give you a tiny bit of your power, it'll be an excruciating training but in exchange, promise me that you will not use Tenpo Kempo till you are twenty]

"oh-oh?"