“Excellent! EXCELLENT!” the madman roared as patted Lex on the shoulders with gusto, shaking him to his very core. Marlo’s cultivation was definitely very high. “I love it when a masochist joins the class! They have so much energy, so much vigor!”
“I’m not a masochist!” Lex quickly defended himself, but Marlo didn’t seem to be paying attention.
“You can stop for today, I have other appointnts to keep so I have to close down for now. The next class is on Saturday, I hope I’ll see you there. That’s when the fun really begins. Oh, and all faction and organization mbers are welco to join my class except Ultimate Fighting Fortress.” His expression suddenly darkened, and for a mont he seed lost in thought, but quickly recovered. “So if you are planning on joining soone you should not be worried that coming to might be a conflict of interest. My class has quite the reputation. In fact, if you pass my class before joining the army you can get recruited directly at the rank of Captain. It’s quite beneficial.”
“I don’t plan on joining anyone at the mont,” Lex said, rubbing his aching shoulders. “And I do plan on continuing your classes. I am very attached to my life, you know, I’d like to keep it if I can.”
Marlo burst into a roaring laughter at Lex’s comnt, and gave Lex another pat on the back that sent him flying off the stage..
“That’s the spirit! See you Saturday then. The full self-defense course costs $1.7 million, you can pay upfront or sign a working clause since you won’t be having an organization sponsor you.” Marlo walked away, still laughing , the floor trembling at his footsteps, with a line of minions following him.
Lex left, ignoring the fact that he had once again ripped his sneakers and tracksuit, thinking of ways he could recruit Marlo as a valet without revealing his identity. He seed like a very straight forward man, but Lex would have to spend more ti with him to figure out his personality completely. It was currently Thursday morning, so the next class was two days away. It was enough ti for him to plan how to try and get closer to the excitable giant.
He returned ho and went directly into the shower. It occurred to him that he wasn’t hurt at all, and he was only sore where Marlo had patted him, whereas everyone else who had left the session looked considerably hard. He smiled. Regal Embrace was already impressive, and it would only get better as he raised his cultivation.
The next two days went by quickly. Bastet and Falak still had not made an appearance and no one had used his golden key, so there was no progress there. He had however spent a lot of ti planning on what he would take with him when he traveled to the other world for the first ti. He didn’t want to be too conspicuous so he had prepared a backpack with a first aid kit, a swiss army knife, a flashlight, so rations and a firestarter. He would add more things as he thought of them, and currently he was too poor or unqualified for Spirit Tech that might be useful. He had also spent more ti trying to get used to his strength. He exercised for strength control and played video gas for delicate control, trying to avoid breaking his controller (that’s totally the only reason he pulled an all nighter playing gas).
Finally Saturday morning he went back to Marlo’s follow up class and surprisingly only two other people from the previous 15 showed up, a young woman Lex hadn’t really talked with and surprisingly Larry. Larry was one of those who had been beaten till he passed out, and judging from his behavior before class Lex hadn’t expected him to be so dedicated as to co back for another class. But here he was, bruised but smiling and trying to flirt with the woman.
“Lex my good man, good to see you again! I knew you were a tough one when I saw you, unlike all the others who ran away. Co co, let introduce you. This is Matilda, she cleared her training last ti pretty quickly.”
“Hello,” Matilda said, her tone very formal, as she looked at Lex. It was clear that although Larry had been trying to get closer to her, she didn’t want to beco too familiar. Matilda was a fair bit shorter than the two of them, and healthier too, but she had a handso face.
“Is it just us or will more people co?” Lex asked after greeting Matilda, but Larry shook his head.
“I expect more won’t join. Honestly, Marlo has a bit of a reputation. His training gets only tougher as it progresses and if you don’t have a strong ntality you can’t really get through. Most people just want to pass his class because you get better perks from your organization if you do, but passing it is not easy.”
“Is that why you’re here?” Lex asked. He was slightly curious about Larry now, and it wasn’t a bad idea to try and develop a few connections of his own. A potential future army captain wasn’t a bad person to know.
“? I guess you could just say I’m trying to make the most of my ti…” Larry’s usually chipper was laced with a tinge of defeat and exhaustion as he said so, but he quickly recovered as if nothing happened. “What about you, my talented fellow? When I left you were still taking quite the beating, I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“I just want to learn how to defend myself. I don’t know much about the cultivation world, but everything I’ve heard and seen makes think it’s a very dangerous place.”
“INDEED!” ca a roaring voice from behind them, followed by the hulking Marlo with his trademark grin. “Life is hard and living is harder. A man must know how to defend himself. A woman more so!”
Compared to last ti, when Marlo was dressed casually, this ti he ca wearing a suit. His hair was properly kempt and he had a clean shave. Though his eyes were still filled with madness, he looked much more civilized.
“Once again I would like to welco you to Marlo’s Self Defense for new cultivators. Just by being here today, you have proven yourself worthy of the title of cultivators. Just by being here today, you have earned the right to tell your nas. Just by being here today you have earned the right to hear my self-introduction.”
Marlo paused and took a look at his three future students, carefully studying each one of their faces as if he was etching them into his mory forever.
“You may have done your own research about before joining this class, but nonetheless I will tell you a little bit about myself so you know whose hands you will be in in the future.” He paused for a mont, looking at his small audience, before continuing with a hint of solemnity in his voice.
“My na is Hanson Marlo Bravi III. The III cos not from my family having predecessors with the sa na, but is sothing I added myself for each ti I faced death and erged victorious. For each ti I erged a new, stronger man.
“The first ti was when I was eight years old, and my village was attacked by a pack of jackals that had gone through spiritual awakening. For hours I escaped through the wilderness, sotis running, sotis tumbling, carrying a newborn child with until I eventually ran into an army unit conducting training in the wild. I led them back to my village, only to discover nothing left. Only the child and I survived.” He paused once again, his grin completely gone from his face this ti as looked his three students in their eyes. He studied their expressions in silence, then he continued.
“The second ti was when I was 28 years old, during the Australian Beast tide of 1981. A new Beast Alpha was expanding its territory and many other Alphas were using that opportunity to expand their own territories. I was a mber of the Nosso private military at the ti, and we were stationed near where the Beast Tide originated. Four days,” Marlo paused again, to give emphasis to his words. “When the Beast Tide erged our base was overwheld and for four days I was stuck in what was a red zone, surrounded by enraged beasts with no knowledge of what was going on as we had lost communication. Out of the entire army base, I was the only survivor. When the UN response team found , I was hiding in the carcass of an Inner Core level beast that I had killed. At the ti I had only just entered the Foundation Realm.”
Larry visibly trembled when he heard Marlo and Matilda’s complexion visibly paled. Lex was also quite shocked; an Inner Core level beast was equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator.
“The third ti was during the war of 99 between Navo Corp. and the Pelican Sect in Western Europe. Navo Corp had provoked quite a few people here in the US as well, and I was acting as an escort for a diplomatic mission to France to see if we could potentially ally to put pressure on them, but were ambushed en route. 36 Golden Core experts against a team of 9. That incident later ca to be known as The Day of the Red Dawn. Every ti a Golden Core expert dies the sky is covered in a red hue by the spirit energy released from the body, and that day the sun rose to a red sky.
“Every ti I’ve been closest to death, it was during sothing unforeseen. It was during sothing no one could have predicted, but that didn’t change the fact that any of those incidents could have killed . That is why a man must know how to defend himself, and how to survive. The world is a tough place and dying in it is the easiest thing to do, it’s surviving and living on that’s hard.”
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