Still excited, Damien quickly returned to his room with the five chips containing the techniques.
There was a lot of time for him to check them out as it was midday, the bright sun steadily continuing its gallant task of providing light and warmth.
Hank and Frank weren't around but had left him a note, informing him that they were heading out to sort some matters.
Damien didn't mind at all. In fact, he was used to it.
The two brothers rarely stayed indoors. Though they didn't tell Damien where they went or what they did, Damien knew they were seriously training.
This motivated him even further because he knew this was his opportunity.
Now that Damien thought about it, power felt… good.
Each day, he came to appreciate his awakened powers and coupled with the many boons he had received from them like his insane regeneration, Damien's subconscious was slowly revering the feeling of power he felt whenever he used it.
How this development would affect Damien was all in the future and for now, Damien's sole focus was on the display function of his comm.
After a quick thought, he had decided to view the Karate technique first.
Body based techniques were very straightforward and easy to learn. Damien knew that he would be able to understand the technique and use it to a certain standard relatively quickly.
Only time would tell how long it would take him.
A 1-star technique like Karate was said to have existed long before the appearance of the Voronoi but its power then couldn't compare to its power now.
Before the appearance of the aliens, body techniques were known as Martial Arts.
Those in the Eastern sector were said to have been very proficient in it and even without Enlightenment fluid, some martial arts masters were as strong as low level Enlightenment Realm awakened!
This discovery stunned Damien.
He continued to watch the pre-tutorial video which was explaining the origin of the 1-star body technique known as Karate.
Apparently, after Earth was introduced to Awakening, everyone thought it was a good idea to maintain Martial arts and even develop it further into body techniques awakened could use.
Thus, many martial arts like Karate, Judo, Wing Chun, Capoeira, and even boxing were all developed into 1-star martial arts by the government.
Using them as a base, they were then used to produce other body techniques which made use of elements or other special attributes.
Body techniques like Exploding Fist, Lightning Fist and Iron Fist all made use of elements and were much powerful than Karate and other martial arts but they were made based on the moves of arts like Karate and Kung-Fu.
The pre-tutorial video ended and the real deal was about to start!
At this moment, a middle aged man with sharp Eastern sector features appeared on Damien's screen.
He wore a simple black Gi and a black belt.
His hair had been tied into a bun and he stood as straight as a javelin.
Even while watching the display, Damien could sense the calm aura around the man which contradictorily fluctuated and became fierce sometimes.
What was this?
The man bowed deeply and straightened his posture.
"Heya!" suddenly the man shouted and took a strange stance, as if he was riding a horse!
He threw a flurry of punches, changed his stance and delivered a solid kick into the air!
Moving fluidly around the screen, the man delivered straightforward, precise and solid kicks and punches in the air.
Damien was fully focused as his mind worked at rapid speeds to decipher the moves used by the man and ingrain them into his mind.
The man came to a stop and took a bow.
"Karate means empty handed. Instead of you to use a weapon like a sword, spear or a stick, you rather use your body as a weapon.
The human body is a wonderful thing and it's far stronger than it looks.
With awakening, its power has tripled exponentially and there is very little that the human body cannot do.
Karate will unearth the potential in your body and make your body your weapon," the man spoke solemnly.
He then proceeded to take stances, explaining what kind of stances they were and what it was for before demonstrating and explaining the punch and kicks patiently.
The explanation was so concise that Damien easily grasped what the man was talking about. He was sure that he could even perform some of the moves the man had used but he decided to be patient and continue to absorb the technique.
The man then demonstrated how mana could be circulated to different parts of the body to enhance its strength and lethality in karate, a thing Damien had practiced when he was home.
Finally, two men appeared on the training screen and attacked the Karate teacher.
Damien watched as he calmly dealt with each of their attacks with blocks and delivered fierce punches and kicks.
The kick was so strong that one of the men was sent flying off the screen!
With only one opponent now, the Karate master switched into attack. There were no wasted movements.
Every punch and kick set his opponent up for even more ruthless punches and kicks.
The other man was put on the back foot and forced to retreat while the Karate master stayed on his opponent and finished him with a beautiful kick!
The master turned to face Damien and bowed again.
Then the technique display ended.
"That was interesting," Damien mused as he slowly went through what he had seen in his mind. He got up from the desk and took one of the basic stances in his room and began to practice what he had seen.
Damien lost track of time as he got lost in the movements and punches of the technique.
He moved around his room rapidly throwing punches and kicks.
As he continued, he could slowly feel a weird sensation, as if he was almost grasping at something but was quite unable to reach out for it.
What was this feeling?
Damien noticed that as the sensation increased, his moves also became much more fluid and natural, almost like the teacher's own.
His skill in the technique was increasing at a visible rate!
This invigorated Damien as he now moved on to complex combinations used by the man on the screen.
All this while, his punches and kicks had not been integrated or enforced with mana.
Damien decided to now make an attempt to combine them. Perhaps he would finally be able to grasp the technique!
"Heya!" Damien roared and threw out his fist!
Inwardly, he urged his mana to flow into that part of his fist and the result was surprising to say the least!
The final punch was so powerful that the air in the room whistled and blew frantically!
BOOM!
At that moment, Damien felt and knew that he had grasped the technique!
Everything the man did suddenly made sense to Damien now and his comprehension of the technique increased.
Damien's eyes went wide with enlightenment.
"So that's how it is!' Damien exclaimed joyfully.
He switched his stance and threw a casual punch. Though he had no machine at hand to evaluate the power behind it, Damien knew that this casual punch surpassed the strength of the punches he threw when he was training the technique!
Stupendous!
Feeling elated, Damien got out of his room.
He was drenched in sweat but he didn't care!
"Hey Damien. What's good?" Frank called as he looked up from his comm. He was the only one around. Hank wasn't back yet.
"I comprehended the 1-star Karate technique!" Damien said.
Frank's eyes widened. "That's great. Wait. When did you start learning it?" he asked.
"Just today. I went to buy it around midday and I've been training in it since. I've finally comprehended it," Damien replied.
"Wow! You used three hours to grasp this technique? That is rapid! Come with me, let's go to the testing center and see how it looks," Frank said with excitement.
Damien nodded and left the house with Frank.
He had to test out his newly learnt technique!
At the Testing Center, Frank pulled Damien to one of the numerous machines around.
It was a rectangular set up which had a circle embedded midway.
"Punch that circle and let's see the force of your punch," Frank said.
Damien nodded and looked at the note on the machine. It listed the strength and power of punches and kicks from an average untrained person to an awakened with a powerful body path.
Taking a deep breath, Damien punched the circle without adding mana to his punch.
A screen came alive and rapidly numbers flitted across it.
It then landed at 450 kg.
Damien looked at Frank.
"Wtf! That was a casual punch right? Your normal punch is as powerful as a top professional boxer before the awakening!" Frank exclaimed.
Damien's eyes widened.
That much?
Didn't it mean that his casual punch could easily knock out any unawakened or even awakened with weak bodies?
Sweet!
"Try it with mana and let's see," Frank urged.
Damien nodded. He readied himself and threw a fierce punch imbued with mana!
PUUH!
His fist impacted the middle of the circle with ferocity and the screen rapidly flitted past numbers!
It finally came to a stop at 900 kg.
900 kg!
That was twice the power of his casual punch!
Damien and Frank exchanged shocked glances.
"Damn, Damien. You're a monster!" he exclaimed.
If Damien's first casual punch could break bones, then his mana infused attack could pulverize bones!
"Your body 's punching force is better than mine," Frank observed with a wry smile.
He and Damien walked out the center.
"Do you know how I can train to increase the power of my fists and kicks?" Damien asked.
"Just exercise more, improve your control over your body and mana, then you regularly practice your technique," Frank advised.
Damien nodded and the two returned home.
Damien decided to hold off learning more techniques for the day and decided to rest and prepare for his class tomorrow.
He was ready to learn new things which would increase his power!