## Chapter 24 – Before the Hunt
Since we weren't leaving until eleven, I still had nearly five hours before entering the Hidden World for the first time.
That wasn't enough time to learn anything new. But it was more than enough to sharpen what I already possessed.
There was no point sitting around. Training had always been my way of preparing for uncertainty.
I changed into my training clothes and walked downstairs.
The house was quiet. Mom was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, while Dad read something on his Veil Watch. Neither of them interrupted me.
Dad simply looked up as I walked past. "Training?"
"I'll be back before breakfast," I said, nodding.
He gave a satisfied smile. "Don't overdo it."
"I know my limits."
The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. "I'm hoping that's actually true."
I laughed and headed toward the underground training facility.
The biometric scanner recognized me immediately, confirming my identity with a quick beep. The reinforced steel door slid open with a low mechanical hum, releasing a drift of cool air.
The familiar scent of metal, rubber mats, and machine oil filled my lungs. This room had become my second home over the years.
Every wall carried the scars of my progress. Deep dents left by blunt weapons, scratches from bladed practice, and black scorch marks created by my Laser Eyes. Each mark represented countless hours spent becoming stronger.
I walked toward the equipment rack where my weighted gear rested neatly on its stand. The vest alone weighed nearly thirty kilograms, supplemented by heavy steel wraps for my wrists and ankles.
After strapping everything on, my body instantly felt heavier. Even lifting my arms required a conscious, heavy effort. Normal people would struggle to walk wearing this much weight.
For me, it had become routine.
I walked to the center of the room and took a slow, grounding breath.
Today’s objective wasn’t raw strength. It was efficiency.
I lowered myself into a push-up position. "Begin."
The timer started.
One. Two. Three.
Each repetition was slow, deliberate, and focused entirely on perfect form. Every muscle contracted exactly when it should. Every joint moved along its ideal path, my breathing perfectly matching the rhythm of the movement.
By the fiftieth repetition, heat began to spread through my shoulders. At seventy, my chest trembled. By one hundred, my muscles screamed as tiny tears formed throughout the fibers.
Normally, this was where people stopped. Not because of physical failure, but because pain convinced their brain they had reached their limit.
Pain existed to protect the body. Without it, humans would destroy themselves.
Fortunately, pain and physical failure were not the same thing.
I activated Perfect Control.
Instantly, my awareness expanded inward. Every muscle fiber became as clear as if it were displayed on a medical scan. My breathing, my heartbeat, blood circulation, and oxygen consumption—everything appeared vividly within my mind.
The burning sensation remained. Perfect Control didn’t erase pain; it simply allowed me to separate the sensation from actual damage.
A muscle that was merely exhausted could still continue working safely. A muscle on the verge of tearing needed rest. The distinction was crystal clear.
That was the true value of Perfect Control. It didn’t make me superhuman. It just prevented me from wasting my own potential.
One hundred and one. One hundred and two. One hundred and three.
The numbers gradually lost meaning as sweat dripped from my forehead, splashing onto the floor. After another minute, I finally stopped.
I didn't stop because I wanted to, but because continuing would cross the line into actual tissue damage. Perfect Control told me precisely where that line was.
I slowly stood up. No unnecessary fatigue, no wasted repetitions. Maximum efficiency. Exactly as intended.
Next came pull-ups, then squats, weighted lunges, and skipping rope. Each exercise targeted a different muscle group, pushing my body right to its safe limit.
By the time I finished, sweat completely soaked my shirt. My breathing was heavy, and steam almost rose from my skin.
Most people would call the workout finished. For me, this was merely the warm-up.
I removed the weighted gear and thoroughly stretched every major muscle group, letting my heartbeat gradually slow.
After drinking nearly an entire bottle of water, I walked toward the thick, reinforced door leading to my favorite place: the combat chamber.
A smile touched my face. Physical conditioning was necessary, but combat training was fun.
I pressed my palm against the scanner. Heavy mechanical locks disengaged one after another, and the enormous circular door slowly rolled open.
A wave of cool air flowed past me. The chamber stretched nearly thirty meters across, its floor made of a special alloy capable of surviving attacks from a Rank Three Awakened. Ancient runes covered the walls from floor to ceiling, remaining dark in standby mode.
I stepped into the center. The door closed behind me with a deep, metallic boom.
For a moment, there was complete silence. Then I pressed the activation switch.
One rune lit up, then another, and another. Within seconds, thousands of glowing blue runes illuminated the chamber, a low hum echoing through the room as mana flowed through the formations.
Training mode activated.
I slowly rolled my shoulders. Today's first session was Laser Eyes control.
I deactivated Perfect Control. If I relied on it all the time, I would eventually become dependent on it. Sometimes, raw practice mattered more.
I raised my head toward the reinforced target wall. A tiny amount of energy gathered behind my eyes, and I deliberately released the weakest beam I could produce.
A pencil-thin crimson ray shot forward.
*Bang.*
A small black mark appeared on the target. Too weak.
I increased the output slightly. This time, the beam remained stable for nearly three seconds, heating the reinforced alloy to a bright orange before it cooled. Better.
Again. This time I reduced the beam's width while increasing its penetration. A tiny, clean hole appeared in the target.
Narrower beams sacrificed area for destructive power. Interesting.
Then I switched to kinetic mode. Instead of burning the target, the beam struck like an invisible hammer.
*Boom!*
The entire target shook violently, showing no signs of melting. Completely different properties. Thermal energy destroyed through heat, while kinetic energy destroyed through sheer force.
Theoretically, nothing prevented me from switching between both during combat. Or perhaps using both together.
The thought lingered in my mind as an idea worth experimenting with later.
I spent the next several minutes testing every variable I could think of: power output, beam width, duration, thermal energy, and kinetic force.
One after another, crimson beams flashed across the chamber. Some left shallow, smoking scorch marks, while others drilled clean holes through the targets.
The wider beams spread heat over a larger area, making them perfect for suppressing multiple enemies at once. The narrower beams concentrated all their power into a single point, dramatically increasing their penetration.
There wasn't a "better" choice. Each had its own purpose.
That was something I had begun to understand after awakening. A superpower wasn't just an ability. It was a weapon. And like any weapon, its effectiveness depended entirely on the person wielding it.
The stronger I became, the more I realized that mastering an ability wasn't about raw power alone. Control mattered just as much. Maybe even more.
Satisfied with the results, I shut down the target wall and walked toward another control panel. A blue holographic screen appeared in front of me.
> **Accuracy Training Program**
> * **Difficulty:** Intermediate
> * **Targets:** 10
> * **Movement Pattern:** Random
> * **Reaction Speed:** Adaptive
>
I pressed Start.
Mechanical sounds echoed throughout the chamber as ten metallic, baseball-sized spheres slowly rose from hidden compartments in the floor. Fine runes covered their surfaces, glowing faintly as they activated.
Although I casually called them alchemy spheres, they were actually sophisticated training devices designed by both engineers and alchemists. Each one could change speed, trajectory, and attack patterns independently, making them excellent sparring partners.
I took a deep breath. Today's goal wasn't simply to destroy them. That would have been too easy.
Instead, I had to strike each sphere with just enough force to knock it away without damaging it. Too little force, and the attack wouldn't count. Too much, and the sphere would be destroyed, ending the exercise immediately.
At the same time, I had to avoid every counterattack. It was a test of precision rather than firepower.
The countdown appeared above the control panel.
3...
I lowered my center of gravity.
2...
My breathing slowed, and every muscle relaxed.
1...
The chamber erupted into motion.
One sphere accelerated directly toward my forehead. I tilted my head barely two centimeters, letting the sphere brush past my hair.
Before it had even crossed my shoulder, a thin laser shot from my eyes.
*Ping!*
The sphere spun backward.
+1
A second sphere rushed toward my ribs. Instead of stepping away, I simply twisted my waist, letting the attack miss by the width of a finger before firing another precise laser.
+2
Then two more attacked simultaneously, one from above and one from behind.
I bent my knees, letting the first pass over my head. I pivoted without lifting my feet, firing two separate beams almost at the same time.
+4
The training chamber became a blur. The spheres moved faster with every passing second, no longer attacking one at a time. Sometimes three came together, sometimes five, and sometimes one acted as a distraction while another silently approached from behind.
At the beginning of my training, I always panicked whenever that happened. My body moved too much. I jumped, I rolled, and I wasted precious energy.
Now, things were different. Perfect Control had fundamentally changed the way I fought.
Most people dodged based on instinct, creating large safety margins. If an attack only required moving five centimeters, they moved twenty because their brains prioritized survival over efficiency. There was nothing wrong with that; it was simply how humans were built.
Perfect Control ignored those instincts.
The moment an attack entered my field of vision, my brain calculated its speed, its angle, and its point of impact, then determined the minimum movement necessary to avoid it.
Not six centimeters. Not four. Exactly three point two centimeters. No more, no less.
Every dodge became economical, and every movement flowed directly into the next attack.
Watching recordings of my old training almost felt embarrassing now. Back then I looked clumsy. Now, I barely seemed to move at all.
The spheres whistled past me. I leaned, turned my shoulders, or simply shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Tiny movements, maximum results.
A sphere shot toward my left eye; I inclined my head. Another aimed for my knee; I lifted my foot just enough for it to pass underneath. A third targeted my chest; I rotated slightly, letting the metallic sphere miss by less than an inch.
Laser. Laser. Laser.
Every shot landed perfectly. The chamber echoed with metallic impacts.
+18
+21
+25
Sweat rolled down my forehead. Not because I was struggling, but because maintaining this level of concentration demanded complete focus. Even a single lapse would be punished immediately.
Thirty seconds passed, and the attack speed increased again. Now the spheres moved so quickly they resembled silver streaks.
Good. This was the part I enjoyed most. Pressure forced improvement; without it, growth slowed.
I smiled. "Come on. Faster."
Almost as if responding to my challenge, the training system increased the difficulty once more. All ten spheres attacked together, turning the chamber into chaos.
One targeted my shoulder, another my ankle, two came from opposite directions, and three approached from above.
I stopped thinking. Instead, I simply moved.
Left. Turn. Lean. Step. Laser. Laser. Pivot. Duck.
Every action connected naturally with the next, my body flowing like water.
When the timer finally reached sixty seconds, the spheres instantly froze. Silence filled the chamber once again.
A holographic screen appeared.
> **Accuracy Test Complete**
> * **Successful Hits:** 32
> * **Successful Dodges:** 32
> * **Damage Received:** 0
> * **Final Rating:** Perfect
>
I let out a slow breath, a smile spreading across my face.
Perfect. Not because I had become unbeatable, but because this score represented proof. Proof that every hour I had spent training wasn't wasted.
Still, one result wasn't enough. I wasn't interested in becoming dependent on Perfect Control. It was my greatest strength, but it could also become my greatest weakness if I relied on it for everything.
I reached toward the control panel. With a single tap, I deactivated Perfect Control.
The strange sensation of absolute precision disappeared. Immediately, my awareness of my own body became duller, less perfect, and less complete.
I clenched my fist. "Now... let's see how far I've come with Prana alone."
I stood quietly in the center of the chamber. Without Perfect Control, everything immediately felt different. It wasn't that my body had become weaker, but rather that the overwhelming clarity I had grown accustomed to was gone. The perfect awareness of every muscle, joint, and heartbeat had vanished.
For a moment, it felt uncomfortable. I smiled bitterly. "This is exactly why I shouldn't rely on Perfect Control all the time."
If I became addicted to that feeling, I would eventually forget how to fight using my own instincts. That would be a fatal mistake.
I slowly closed my eyes. Instead of activating Perfect Control again, I focused inward.
The countless streams of Prana flowing through my body entered my awareness. Unlike earlier this morning, I wasn't merely observing them. This time, I intended to use them.
Over the past few weeks, my understanding of Prana had grown tremendously. During my meditation sessions, I had discovered one of the most fundamental techniques of every martial artist: Enhancement.
Every Prana user learned Enhancement sooner or later; without it, becoming a true martial artist was impossible. However, there were different levels to it.
The simplest method was wrapping Prana around a part of the body—arms, legs, eyes, skin, or even weapons. By coating an object with Prana, its natural properties improved. Strength, defense, speed, and stamina all increased. It was simple, reliable, and easy to learn. Almost every Rank One martial artist could do it.
Unfortunately, it was also highly inefficient.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Imagine holding a sword. One method would be coating its surface with Prana. The sword would naturally become stronger, sharper, and more durable. That was the method most people used.
Now imagine something different. Instead of merely coating the sword, imagine Prana flowing through every microscopic crack within the metal itself, supporting the entire structure from the inside. The result would naturally be far superior.
The human body worked exactly the same way.
Our bodies already possessed natural pathways through which Prana circulated, but most people simply ignored them. Instead of following those pathways, they forced Prana around the outside of their muscles. It worked, but it wasted enormous amounts of energy.
True Enhancement meant allowing Prana to circulate through those natural pathways, just as blood flowed through veins.
The moment I understood that principle, everything changed. Strength wasn't the only thing being enhanced anymore; every connected system improved together. Muscles, bones, ligaments, blood circulation, reaction speed, and even nerve transmission.
Take the eyes as an example. Simply wrapping Prana around the eyes increased vision. Objects farther away became clearer, movement became easier to follow, and some martial artists could even perceive traces of energy. Useful, but limited.
Now, imagine allowing Prana to flow naturally through the eyes, then into the optic nerves, and then directly into the brain.
Suddenly, it wasn't just eyesight improving. The communication between the eyes and brain became faster, visual processing accelerated, decision-making improved, reflexes sharpened, and even tiny injuries inside the eyes recovered more quickly.
The difference between the two methods was like comparing a candle to the sun.
Normally, only experienced Rank Three martial artists could circulate Prana through their natural pathways so precisely. Even many Rank Two experts failed to achieve it.
So how had I done it? The answer was surprisingly simple.
I cheated.
A grin spread across my face.
When I first discovered those natural pathways, I couldn't control Prana precisely enough to guide it through them. So, I activated Perfect Control. Again, and again, and again. Every single day.
Perfect Control forced every stream of Prana through the correct pathways with absolute precision. Eventually, my body adapted. Just as muscles developed muscle memory after repeating the same movement thousands of times, my Prana developed its own memory.
Now, even after disabling Perfect Control, it naturally flowed through those same pathways. I hadn't skipped the process; I had simply accelerated it.
"I really do love cheating."
The empty chamber offered no response.
I activated the training system once more.
> **Difficulty:** Intermediate
> **Targets:** 10
>
The metallic spheres floated into the air again. This time: no Perfect Control. Only Prana.
The countdown reached zero, and the spheres exploded into motion.
One attacked my shoulder, and I stepped aside instinctively. Another came from behind. Before I even heard it, I felt it—the subtle disturbance in the air, a tiny fluctuation like a ripple spreading across still water.
I ducked, and the sphere shot harmlessly overhead. Interesting. I hadn't consciously seen it; my body had simply reacted.
Another sphere rushed toward my ribs, its movement compressing the surrounding air ever so slightly. My skin detected that pressure before my eyes confirmed the attack. I twisted, and the sphere missed.
A third attacked from above, the sound of spinning metal echoing through the chamber. Without thinking, I stepped forward, and it crashed into the empty space behind me.
A smile slowly spread across my face. "So this is what true Enhancement feels like..."
Everything around me seemed sharper. Not because the world had slowed down, but because my brain was processing information faster. My hearing, touch, vision, and balance—every sense worked together. Instead of relying on one source of information, my brain combined all of them into a single picture.
I barely needed to look anymore. The air told me where attacks were coming from, the sound revealed their speed, and tiny vibrations beneath my feet hinted at their direction. No wonder experienced martial artists often fought with their eyes closed. Their eyes weren't their only senses anymore.
One sphere accelerated directly toward my chest. I fired, a crimson beam bursting from my eyes.
*BOOM!*
The chamber shook violently. The metallic sphere didn't merely stop—it exploded, scattering fragments throughout the room. Several nearby runes flickered as the shockwave spread across the walls.
Warning lights flashed red on the console.
> **Training Object Destroyed.**
> **Exercise Terminated.**
>
Silence fell. I stared at the floating fragments.
"...What?"
That wasn't supposed to happen. I had deliberately lowered the output before firing. If anything, the beam should have been weaker than usual.
Slowly, I looked down at my hands, then touched my eyes. No pain, no discomfort. Everything felt normal. Then why...
I replayed the attack inside my mind, and the answer appeared almost immediately.
Before firing, I had unconsciously enhanced my eyes with Prana. Not by wrapping them, but by allowing Prana to circulate naturally through the entire visual system—eyes, optic nerves, and brain, all enhanced simultaneously.
Could that really explain such a massive increase?
I walked toward the destroyed sphere. The edges of the broken metal had melted, and the impact point had completely vaporized.
This wasn't a slight improvement. This was an entirely different level of destructive power. Even when I activated Perfect Control and pushed Laser Eyes to its absolute limit, I had never produced an attack like this.
A realization struck me.
For years, people had repeated the same saying: *Those who successfully combine their superpower with Prana or Magic will always surpass those who rely on only one path.*
Until now, those words had simply sounded impressive. Today, I finally understood their meaning.
The increase wasn't additive. It was multiplicative.
Prana hadn't merely strengthened my eyes; it had strengthened the very organ responsible for releasing my superpower. That meant the stronger the enhancement, the greater the output.
My heart began beating faster.
If enhancing just my eyes could increase Laser Eyes to this extent, then what would happen if I enhanced my entire body? What if I enhanced my muscles before throwing a punch? My legs before sprinting? My brain before making decisions? My heart and lungs to endure long, brutal battles?
Then another thought appeared, one far more dangerous than the others.
What if I combined full-body Prana Enhancement with Perfect Control at the same time?
For several seconds, I simply stood there, imagining the possibilities. Perfect Control could optimize every movement, Prana could strengthen every organ, and Laser Eyes could become exponentially stronger. The combination wasn't one plus one. It was something entirely different.
A smile slowly spread across my face.
This wasn't just another improvement. It was the beginning of a completely new fighting style. One that belonged to me alone.
I looked toward the closed entrance of the training chamber. Beyond those walls, a dimension awaited.
For the first time in my life, I wasn't merely excited. I was impatient. I couldn't wait to test my strength against real monsters.