The Cyborg System-Chapter 52: Holding Back

When Lenny woke up the next morning, he went to review his stats. He’d calculated them the day before, but had been too exhausted afterwards and needed to check everything was as expected. "System, stats..."

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[Name: Lenny Hope]

[Ability: Transmogrification]

[Strength: 16]

[Speed: 14]

[Stamina: 10]

[Perception: 8]

[Spirit: 22]

[Health: 15]

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For a long time, he’d debated whether to go with the deltoid or pectoral stimulator. The pectoral enhancement increased his physical stats more, but the health benefit of strengthening his blocking arm was valuable too. In the end, he went with the option which would close the biggest gap between himself and the others: his lack of attacking opportunities. If all went well, he could gain a few more stats through training before the expedition, but no new notifications were waiting for him when he woke up, as he had hoped.

"System, how do I activate the pectoral stimulator?"

"Unlike your other abilities," said the system. "The system can activate the pectoral stimulator as required. The power source has only a moderate output, but sufficient to increase the peak muscle contraction and will last a lifetime. It will be triggered automatically when a certain contraction output is reached."

"What about infrared irises?" Lenny asked.

"Again, this ability can be triggered through the system. Just concentrating on it will be sufficient, like bringing up your HUD. However, be cautioned, your eyes will glow red whilst the skill is in effect."

Lenny concentrated for a moment, and as expected, his eyes took a faint red glow. "Cool," thought Lenny. Though at the same time, he had a growing awareness that as he modified his body further, his reliance on the system was increasing. They really were becoming symbiotic, as the system had first described, but this thought worried Lenny. He still didn’t fully trust it, knowing that it had intentionally kept things from him, even if it also helped to save his life on occasion.

He just had one last thing to test. He raised his hands and began to shadow box around the room. Everything felt similar to how it had done previously at first, but then, as he threw out a hard cross, he felt his fist accelerate with a new intensity. "Woah," said Lenny.

"Can you keep it down?" said James with a yawn. His eyes were bloodshot, as always and he sat up with a yawn.

Lenny had not seen what time he had gone to bed, but he seemed to be very interested in the process that Lenny had shown him and asked lots of follow-up questions. In truth, he did not have many of the answers that he was looking for. In fact, it had just reiterated to him how little he knew about his ability. How on earth did he have an ability that was practically unknown? No, that wasn’t it... "unknown to the humans". What did that even mean?

*

Mondays meant one thing for Lenny: Hand-to-Hand Combat. It was the only session of the week where he didn’t have a conflict with another class, and so, inevitably, he was looking forward to it. Especially with his new Fists of Steel. Actually, Lenny liked that name a lot, and decided it was better, less clinical than what the system had chosen.

Before going, he’d called on Rose. She’d been awake already and was curious what would cause him to call on her so early. When he had shown her his arm, she understood. It had been badly clawed by the Black Scavenger Bird, mutilated, then cleaned up and bandaged with some of his roommate’s supplies.

"Going on your own was dangerous," she said.

Lenny nodded.

"You don’t have to do everything by yourself, you know?"

"I needed to get stronger. Besides, I had help... kinda."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Lenny had gone into what had happened between him and his roommate, giving her a play by play of how he had been caught absorbing the core, but had ended up benefitting from it in the end. Rose hadn’t known about his internal modifications, as this was something he’d kept to himself, so she was a little surprised to hear the extent of them.

"Just be careful," Rose said. "Next time, whoever catches you might not be so benevolent."

*

Master Berg had held true to his promise and used the session that day to teach them some further strikes. They’d distributed some old boxing gloves with the accumulated stench of many heavy training sessions. However, the extra weight and padding made them able to throw a little heavier without getting injured. They spent a long time going through the technical details of the straight punches, hooks and uppercuts. What had surprised Lenny, though, was when they had covered the basic strikes, Master Berg had also shown them the screw shot, halfway between a jab and an uppercut; then an overhand punch, a kind of uppercut from above.

They’d been paired up, throwing the strike they were practicing at half speed, while their partner tried to avoid the shot or block it with the glove. In this way, they were swapping backwards and forwards, practicing both offense and defence. However, the final part of the session seemed to bring everything they had learnt together. The slip from a straight shot would require transferring the weight over to one side, which was the starting movement for a follow-up strike. The head roll away from a hook set up the rotation required to throw a hook of your own and even the simple duck below a punch set up an uppercut too.

As Lenny pieced it all together, this unlocked a wave of attacking opportunities, as he was beginning to gain an understanding of what it meant to counterpunch.

The session was nearly over when Master Berg spoke up again: "I have not forgotten about our little exhibition match," he said, looking at Lenny. "Do you still wish to have a go?"

This put him in an awkward position. Lenny was not the type to back down from a challenge, but his previous performance had demonstrated a level of speed and strength he shouldn’t have been capable of.

"Sure," said Lenny.

"Great! Again, I will not strike, or use my spirit armour. All I want you to do, is land a clean strike on me."

Sam, the green sash with a hardening ability, scoffed. If he wasn’t capable of it, then this was a waste of time. Still, he couldn’t help but feel a little apprehension about the demonstration that was unfolding. If Lenny could move as fast as he had shown in the last session, maybe he could do something?

"Begin," said Master Berg.

Lenny wasted no time. Although they had not practiced many combinations, he’d been running through some possibilities in his head. Besides, he’d had some practice in the Jade Garden too, though his punches were somewhat sloppier then, less precise, and today’s session had taught him a lot.

He threw out a few jabs at first, tentatively feeling out his opponent. He wanted to judge the distance and gain an understanding of how Master Berg would respond to his strikes. He seemed to simply parry the blow with his hand, or slip to one side, or even step off at an angle. This last tactic was somewhat awkward for Lenny, as he would have to reposition his feet to avoid leaving his side exposed. Sure, Berg had no intention of throwing a strike in return, but not only was it bad practice for real fighting, it would limit his attacking opportunities too.

After a dozen or so jabs, Lenny thought he had got a good sense of Master Berg’s movement patterns, distance and timing, so decided to mix it up. He was throwing double jabs into overhand rights; double jab, right hooks; jab, cross, left hook, cross; even throwing in a step-in jab or a screw shot every now and then.

Lenny had decided on the punch combinations in advance, and though they flowed naturally, Berg was somewhat able to read how he positioned himself for the next strike. Always one step ahead. His head movement was flawless, and his hands and arms seemed to protect his whole midsection. Lenny had decided in advance not to use his Adrenaline Rush skill this time, instead simply utilising his newly enhanced stats. However, it seemed like everything he did, Berg had an answer for. Even feeling the increased speed and power of his right hand, he was unable to land a clean strike to the body or head.

That’s when Lenny remembered something important Master Berg had taught them: a straight punch beats a round one every time. He knew what to do. His plan would only work if he set it up carefully first, relying on his opponent to read his body language and transition along the expected path.

He threw a jab and a cross, setting up the combination—as expected both punches were easily slipped. He did the same again for good measure, then transitioned his weight, turning the shoulder as if going for a wide hook—he could see Berg’s shoulders rotating already, preparing for the head roll beneath the punch, but instead a screw shot was fired out with all the power and speed he could muster, aiming not for the head, but along the path the head would roll.

It seemed as if Berg would roll straight into the punch, but at the last moment, Lenny’s fist was blocked by a forearm rising from below.

The students were surprised by the flow of strikes that had been shown, but also the speed of their instructor. Lenny might not have been quite as fast as they had seen last time, but they had to admit, he was a quick learner. Lenny’s real world fight experience with the spirit beasts had given him something the others lacked: patience. Had he gone all out, he would have been tired out before analysing his opponent sufficiently to set up such a strike.

Lenny made a few more attempts, but it was clear now that he had used the best part of his stamina and his chances of landing a strike were now close to none.

"Enough," said Master Berg. "You’ve done well. I’ll keep hold of my gauntlets, for now. When you think you can do better, challenge me again."

Although it wasn’t the result he had hoped for, maybe this was better? Perhaps the instructors would no longer see his actions as suspicious, but instead as the makings of a promising student.