SSS SKILL: DUPLICATE

Seanlu is left alone. He wants to keep practicing. He took a karate stance and practiced straight punches.

His practice is interrupted by the sudden, loud laughter of several people.

"Hahahaha, I can't believe that guy is really not joking! He said he saw four eyes practicing martial art! Hahahaha, look, four eyes is really there, clumsily punching. My eight-year-old cousin is even better at punching!" said a young man wearing t-shirts with basketball jerseys and shorts. He is wearing a cap put in a backward position. He has short yellow hair and an earring on his lips. His left hand is holding a basketball. His name is Renz.

The three boys around him also laugh.

Seanlu stopped practicing. He is standing straight and gripping his fists hard when he heard the mockery of Renz and their laughter. His head is down, and he looks at the ground.

Renz held the road barrier with his right hand, then jumped. He slides on the slope while holding the basketball with his left hand.

He landed on the ground and approached Seanlu with a grin.

The young men on top of the elevated land are smiling. They are expecting a good show to happen.

Renz chuckles as he looks at Seanlu.

"Four eyes, stop doing useless things and just do your role. You will always be our errand boy and toy. If you become disobedient, I will slap you until your face cannot be recognized even by your parents. Do you understand?" said Renz.

Seanlu is still looking at the ground. He is biting his lips as he endures his anger.

Renz lowers his head and looks at the face of Seanlu, who is looking down on the ground.

"Do you understand?" Renz asked again. Seanlu still did not answer. Renz grins. His face turns hideous.

He raised his head, then raised his left arm with the basketball above his head.

"I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!" Shouted Renz as he slammed down the ball to Seanlu's head. A sudden shout stopped his movement.

"Seanluuu!"Bart shouted. He is running on the ground beside the creek.

Their other fellow apprentices are also approaching on the top of the elevated land.

Renz saw the others approaching. They even outnumbered them.

He moved his head closer to Seanlu and said,"Summer vacation will be ending soon. See you in school, Four Eyes."

Renz chuckled as he turned around. He climbed the slope and returned to the top. He left with his cronies.

"Seanlu, you forgot to give the key to the dojo when you cleaned it," said Bart as he approached.

Seanlu took the key from his pocket and silently gave it to Bart.

Bart looks at the backs of the leaving young men.

"Is it them?" asked Bart, then he tried to move and chased them.

Seanlu moved and blocked him.

"It's not them, senior brother," said Seanlu.

"There is a hyperbeing behind them. Senior brother and even master are just ordinary humans. Senior brother has a little sister who is fully dependent on him. I can't let them get involved. I can't bear it if something bad happens to them," thought Seanlu.

Bart is silent, then he sighs. He patted Seanlu's shoulder.

"You are a good young man, but you should not bear it alone, or else it will crush you," said Bart.

Seanlu nods, then Bart leaves. The other apprentices were there by coincidence.

Seanlu is left alone again. He walks toward the creek and kneels. There are small wild plants beside the creek. He washes his hands.

He looks at his face in the clear water. The images of his parents appear in his vision. They always have a look of concern on their faces when they see bruises on his face and body. Seanlu excused that it was because he is clumsy during sports activities in school. He does not want to inform them because he does not want to burden them. Letting them go to school and report the bullying will not change anything. Those people will not stop. It will become worse. They have ways to teach him a lesson without getting their hands dirty. If they become more cruel, they might target his parents. A hyperbeing who thinks too highly of himself can easily trample lives like nothing.

The tired faces of his parents when they got home after work always made Seanlu have teary eyes.

"Mom, Dad, I can bear it," said Seanlu as tears falls from his eyes.

A man's voice reaches Seanlu's ears.

"There is a wide variety of martial arts."

Seanlu raised his head and looks at the source of the voice.

A man is standing on a concrete corner of the barrier on top of the elevated land. His black hair, gray robe, and loose clothes are swaying.

Edgar stepped his left foot and let himself fall onto the slope. He changed his posture in mid-air to a sideward position. He landed on the slope and started sliding.

WOOSH! He rotates his body while sliding down the slope. He raised his right hand. His right palm is facing his body. As he rotates his body, he continues speaking.

"One is as fluid as water"

WOOSH! His body rotates for one hundred eighty degrees.

Grasses on the slope where Edgar rotated flew and rotate together with him.

Edgar rotates for ninety more degrees on the slope.

"But-"

He jumped from the slope. He rotates his body to the right while in mid-air. He did not use magic, but there are faint threads of wind around him. Grasses are flying around him. He completed the three hundred sixty-degree rotation. He is already near the ground. He is moving his right hand to the right.

"As strong as an explosion when one learns how to direct the force."

BANG! There is a strong sound of shockwaves. Strong blows of wind move to the right. Seanlu's hair, the grasses, and the wild plants are swaying to the right.

Edgar's whole body is shifted to the right. Many grasses that were moving around him are all blown in the same direction.

Seanlu's face looks so shocked, but his heart is quickly beating, as that is the kind of movement that he has been trying hard to control. Sometimes he succeeds, but more often he fails.

Edgar stands straight and looks at the astonished face of the young man.

"Do you want to learn?"

Seanlu is even more shocked that the man is willing to teach him, but he feels ecstatic and quickly stands up.

"Y-Yes! Please teach me!" Answered Seanlu as he bowed his head.

Edgar nodded and said,"Follow me."

He turned to his back and walks toward the slope.

"Yes!" Seanlu excitedly crossed the creek, but he stepped on a slippery stone.

"Ahhh!" screams Seanlu.

Splash! He fell on the creek, and his clothes got wet.

Edgar turned his head and chuckled.

"It seems Feiyu's Legatee candidate is a little clumsy," thought Edgar.

He took out a towel and gray shirt from his storage space but pretended to take them from the car. He can't inform him yet that he is a hyperbeing. He has to scrutinize him first. He has a good eye for judgment on people. He knows a good or evil one from his observation without truly knowing that person. He thinks the young man is a good person, but he has to know more about him.

Seanlu changed his upper clothes. His white robe karate uniform is hanging on the barrier to dry. He is wearing a gray shirt given to him by Edgar. He is wiping his body with a towel.

Edgar approaches him while holding two cans of soft drinks. He gives the other one to Seanlu.

"Here," said Edgar.

Seanlu thanked Edgar. They are sitting on the slope. Edgar introduced his name, and Seanlu did the same.

"Why do you want to learn martial arts?" asked Edgar.

Seanlu's grip on the can became stronger.

"To protect myself."

Seanlu's family was living in another city when the business where his father was working closed. His father had to find another job. His father found a job, but it was too far from their apartment. They decided to find an apartment closer there. Seanlu had to transfer schools because of that. School days were fine.He even met his childhood friend, but one day, when he was walking near an alley, he heard his friend's voice pleading. He rushed to the alley, and he saw his friend being hit by his classmates.

His friend saw him. Tears flowed from his friend's eyes, and he said, "M-Move away, Seanlu! Hurry!"

Seanlu cannot leave his friend like that. He rushes forward, but they were pummeled to the ground together. His days of nightmares began at that time.