"Senior Brother, please stop, you won't learn faster by sparring with all of us one by one…" Lora begged him to stop, her face twitching with every hit he took. However, Theo insisted, and the girls steeled themselves to stop him once he looked dizzy or seriously injured.
When Theodor finished the second round, there still wasn't a ding from the system, meaning it knew his intentions. Which was a little scary, but maybe it meant the system was part of him.
"Good, now, Sect Leader, what sequence of basic moves do you want me to practice a few thousand times?"
"Senior Brother, should we leave?" Lilia asked awkwardly, unsure if she should stay and watch him learn everything from scratch.
"No, please stay for a while longer," Theo stopped her from leaving. She was his precious training partner for the next year, he couldn't let her leave.
"Mm, okay," she agreed without refusing. The other girls didn't have any objection, either. After all, it was the first time their senior brother had practiced martial arts and they felt happy and excited for him.
Lora, a sensitive one, was on the verge of tears thinking how much he had grown compared to ten years ago when he was a snotty brat who kept tickling her.
The sect leader felt it was inappropriate to keep everyone waiting, but everyone accepted, so she showed him the sequence. 'It's their honor to see little Theo grow up anyway, they can't complain,' she thought.
Theo followed the sequence once, which took about 20 seconds.
*Ding!*
[Basic martial art training detected. Does the host wish to spend cultivation years on basic martial arts?]
[Yes / No]
'Yes!' Theo immediately agreed.
[Spend one year on training in basic martial arts with Veronica, Maria, Lilia, Lora, Shaia, and the basic martial arts sequence for mastery?]
[Spend three years on training in basic martial arts with Veronica, Maria, Lilia, Lora, Shaia, and the basic martial arts sequence for perfect mastery?]
Theo was surprised to learn that a new option appeared. Well, perfect mastery sounded better.
He didn't rush to initiate his training, though. Instead, he sprinted toward the unguarded Veronica, and when she dodged him easily and gave him a little push so he would fall on his own, he flailed his arms, accidentally brushing the back of his palm against her butt.
"Theo?" Veronica squinted her eyes in suspicion. She couldn't tell if it was an honest accident or that naughty boy was fooling around instead of training. He did stop his sequence after one completion and not a thousand, which irked her a little.
However, the youth seemed out. He lay on the ground without moving for a few seconds. "Theo, are you alright?" This time she was worried he had been injured.
Just as the girls were about to enter full panic mode, Theodor jerked up and stood on his feet lightly. "Sorry for worrying you, I suddenly got enlightened in my fall and swiftly learned how to fight," he declared confidently.
While four women were bewildered, the sect leader blushed crimson red. 'He did it on purpose! Enlightenment my ass! I mean, not my ass. His enlightenment has nothing to do with my ass!' she almost fainted from confusion.
"Come at me, then," Veronica gritted her teeth in frustration and stepped forward. If he was really enlightened, it would be as good as admitting her butt had special properties. She never imagined she'd pray that her precious adopted son wouldn't be enlightened.
Others have unique constitutions that help them harness the power of lightning or summon ice phoenixes, so why hers is concentrated in her butt wholly, and it only benefits others?!
Theodor didn't feel worried at all. He had realized how amazing the system was. He had clashed with the five ladies for whole three years while practicing the sequence Veronica taught him in between.
Usually, three years in the system would equal 12-15 years in the real world because of the lack of need to rest, complete missions, duties, events, distractions, and other variables.
But with combat training, it was even more excessive. If he truly sparred with the girls, he'd have to rest for a few days after each session because of the injuries he would sustain. But with the system, he had fought day and night for a whole three years!
It could be said that his combat experience of the greatest in the sect with a big gap from the second place.
In the first few months, Theo made major progress with his martial arts, but the girls kept mopping the floor with his face. Then, he would slowly learn their habits, his instincts were sharpened by battle, and his motions became natural. Every day he would pose a greater challenge to his five opponents.
He might have even defeated them at some point, but here's the second amazing thing about the system. The girls had improved with time too! They were also practicing all this time!
Thus, a vicious cycle of endless practice continued for three years, and he had never won once due to his lower stage. All six of them turned into monsters when it came to fighting, and they knew each other habits perfectly.
At the end of the third year, they were battling like crazy, basically to the point of life-and-death duels. This provided precious experience to the shielded young man.
'His aura feels different from a minute ago,' the girls couldn't help but notice.
Meanwhile, Theo was pondering whether the girls' improvement in the system's dimension would follow them to the real world. Probably not, but who knows?
Seeing Veronica stepping up, Theo charged forward immediately. But it was different this time; there were no obvious openings to take advantage of.
'She's going to counter me by sliding under my fist and bomb my liver with some punches of her own,' Theo could read her like an open book after sparring with her for so long. Evidently, the improvement didn't latch onto the real humans outside the system's extra dimension, not even a portion of it.
Theo stopped abruptly, and Veronica fell into his trap. Now he simply sent a straight jab to counter her momentum.
'Crap!' Veronica thought in astonishment. She wasn't keen on getting punched in her face by a seedling, so she cheated and didn't hold back her strength, quickly circling around her opponent to evade his strike.
"You were enlightened…" she looked at him, dumbstruck. She gave up on common sense entirely that day. 'I will just cuddle him every night so he can grow faster…' she swore in her heart. Although the ordeal rolled in an infuriating manner, she'd pick a special constitution that benefited Theo over one that would benefit herself any day.
"Really? Senior Brother, spar with me?" Shaia asked coyly. The whole thing looked like a ploy orchestrated by the sect leader and her naughty son, but why would they waste their time like that?
"Sure," Theo smirked. Shaia would be easy to bully. Her realm was only slightly higher than his.
Hence, he ran and sent a low kick.
'Crap, I hate dealing with low kicks!' Shaia thought but still dodged by retreating. Then, another low kick followed, and she almost lost her balance, but this time she chose to block with her calf.
Unfortunately, Theo knew exactly what was going to happen, so he simply switched from a low kick to a push with his foot, forcing the girl to stumble after she shifted her pose to resist that fake low kick.
'A feint!' Shaia's mind was in turmoil. Before she knew what happened, her senior brother was already underneath her, and a leg sweep made the introduction between the floor and her.
"Seriously?" The other three gaped. "Senior Brother, let me try!" Lora, unwilling to believe it was true, took the initiative to strike first. It didn't help, she was defeated soon.
"Senior Brother, me too!" Lilia couldn't believe her eyes. She had been fighting 1v2 against the other two before Theo interrupted their spar, so she knew how powerful they were.
This fight was a little harder for Theo because of the bigger difference in realm. However, he knew the weak spots in her defenses, and Lilia got struck in her shoulder multiple times before she couldn't continue without risking an injury.
"Senior Brother, you are amazing," the girls didn't hold back with praises. They felt like they knew now why they had been admiring him all this time for no particular reason other than being caught up in Veronica's rhythm.
"Can I try, too?" Maria asked awkwardly.
"No, your stage is too high."
"Oh, ok…"
While Veronica was questioning the meaning of her life, Theo took his three junior sisters away from the ring. "Junior sisters, have you hunted outside before?"
"We have," they answered. As the only three Body Refinement cultivators in the sect, they formed a natural party for their missions and often practiced together.
"Do you mind taking me out for a hunting session?" Veronica couldn't complain anymore, he had mastered martial arts to a greater extent than her. Thus, it was time to venture out!