For the next five days, Adrian plunged into rigorous, secretive training. His goal was to push the boundaries of his new powers, quietly honing his abilities to harness and manipulate time itself. He was fully aware of the potential within him—he just needed to draw it out, refine it, and become as precise with these skills as he was in close combat.
Adrian's training began with a deceptively simple exercise: dodging a single training dummy. But this time, he wasn't just sidestepping; he was testing his perception, bending each second slightly to catch subtle variations in the dummy's movement.
He dodged a swing, feeling his perception stretch, as though he were slipping between moments. His body responded faster, his instincts sharper. The sensation was disorienting at first, like dipping into a river's current and trying to predict the next wave. But with each maneuver, he grew more attuned to this edge, learning to ride the subtle flows of time itself.
