“What? Sado, you finally came around? That’s great!”
The moment the call connected and Tatsuki learned he wanted to observe karate, she was delighted.
Someone like him was a super weapon in any competition.
Even knowing nothing at all, he could walk up and put an opponent down with one punch.
He would be an unbeatable presence.
Unfortunately she had invited him many times before, and he had never had the slightest intention of joining.
“Hold on, Tatsuki, don’t get excited yet. I’m only coming to observe. I’m not joining the dojo.”
Lucas explained immediately.
He did not want any misunderstandings taking root over this.
“Observe? Observing is fine too. I’ll go arrange it now. Just come by tomorrow.”
Tatsuki did not care about that part at all.
If he was coming to observe, he had to be interested.
Which meant the odds of pulling him in were quite high.
“Is there any need to be this excited?”
Looking at the already disconnected call, Lucas was left dumbfounded.
But his goal was achieved, so he could not be bothered about the rest.
Early the next morning, he arrived at the Tatsuoka Dojo at the agreed time, where Tatsuki had been waiting for a while already.
Short hair, dojo uniform, and a look about her that was full of spirit.
Years of practicing had given her a figure without a flaw in it, if you set aside her being a little flat.
Three years from now, once she grew her hair out, that would fill in as well.
It had to be said, that spirited, boyish look suited her well in his eyes.
“Sado, you’re finally here. Come on, follow me inside. Everything’s ready.”
Knowing he was coming, Tatsuki had given the dojo advance notice.
She did not live there, but she had been learning at the place since childhood.
Combined with her real talent for it, she was something close to a treasure inside that dojo.
She had already told everyone that his physical conditioning was terrifying, and asked them to perform well today and do their best to keep him.
The dojo members were curious about him too.
By Tatsuki’s description, the man was a humanoid monster, and nobody could take a single punch from him.
“You’re a bit too excited, Tatsuki.”
Lucas could not help the remark.
“Can I not be excited? I invited you so many times and you never agreed. Now you’ve finally come.”
Tatsuki rolled her eyes.
When she first met him through Ichigo and learned how terrifying his physique was, she had been amazed.
But unfortunately, he had no interest in boxing at all.
No matter how she invited him, he never came.
Lucas had nothing to say to that.
She really had invited him many times.
And this time he did not intend to join either.
He was here to learn on the sly.
Led by Tatsuki, the two of them went inside.
There were not many observers today.
It had been a last-minute decision, so the turnout was less than half the usual.
For a while after that, Lucas simply followed her around.
The early part of the tour was a bit boring, all introductions to the dojo and its various facilities.
It was not until the hands-on portion that he finally became interested.
Moreover, this session had a sparring segment added to it, run by the dojo’s veteran members.
His whole purpose in coming was to see real combat with his own eyes.
Dojo sparring was certainly not as serious as a competition.
But all he needed was to observe the moves, the way force was generated, the breathing.
His five senses were extremely sharp now.
Not the slightest motion could hide from him.
The rhythm of a breath, the way a body loads and releases force.
He could see it clearly at a single glance.
As the sparring began, two of the dojo’s veterans went at each other.
To a layman that kind of sparring was undoubtedly intense.
Their movements were very fast, and an ordinary person would struggle to react to attacks like that.
But in Lucas’s eyes it was a little for show, because he could clearly see they were holding back for most of it.
Some of the stances and movements were also plainly rehearsed in advance.
He did not mind, though.
These two were not using the real thing the way they would in competition.
But their stances and their movements could not be faked.
They were only holding back their strength.
In his eyes, he already understood what was going on.
However, truly mastering it would still take time.
Just because his brain understood something did not mean his body did.
His mind was working like a high-speed computer at that moment, analyzing their movements without pause.
“Sado, do you want to go down and try it?”
As the sparring ended, seeing how intently he was watching, Tatsuki decided to strike while the iron was hot.
“Sure.”
He did want to test it out, so he agreed.
“Oh, and when you go down, hold back your strength. Otherwise nobody here will survive a single punch.”
Tatsuki suddenly remembered that monstrous physique of his and got the reminder in.
Technique was powerful, yes.
But in the face of absolute strength, technique was truly useless.
She still remembered the time he punched clean through a wall.
Even now she could not forget it.
If a punch like that landed on a person, there would be no point calling an ambulance.
You would go straight to the funeral home.
“Don’t worry. I know my limits.”
Lucas nodded.
He knew perfectly well how terrifying his strength was.
But his control over his physical power was very precise now.
As long as he did not intend to hurt someone, he simply would not.
In fact, he had a feeling that if he pushed a step further, he could develop a capability similar to Reishi Manipulation.
Only this time it would be controlling his own body.
The mainstream of this world was spiritual power, because that was how the rules of the world were written.
But Lucas, with his limiter open, could step outside those rules easily enough.
So he valued his body no less than his spiritual power.
It was only that this was a direction he would have to explore on his own.