“Although you say foot technique, it still counts as a martial technique, right…?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow…”

Jay was impressed to see a martial technique for first time, after all, they were a prized commodity of every pugilist’s sect, something that would only be given to the sect disciples at a minimum!

Just as the magicians had spells, the pugilists on the other hand had martial techniques, some were techniques used to defend themselves, like Iron Body, which gave the pugilist a defense similar to that of this metal for a short time.

There were others with a high offensive power, the most known technique was Fire Fist, which as its name indicated, gave the pugilist the ability to cover their fists in fire, thus increasing his attack power.

At last, there were others that had many uses, like Phantom Trace that could be used to increase the speed, agility and evasiveness of the person using it.

All these techniques were also divided into ranks, depending on their capabilities and the power they demonstrated.

After hearing what James said, Sarah asked with an ice cream in one hand, no one had seen where she got it, but there it was.

“Won’t you get in trouble with your sect if you just give it to him…? Because if that’s the case I think we can just buy it…”

What Sarah had said was true, although James had an important position in his sect, there were some rules that even he couldn’t break, so she wasn’t sure if James giving this to Jay just like that was allowed or not.

A sect was the name given to the large groups of pugilists who formed an organization, James in fact not only belonged to a sect, he was the heir to one of the largest sects in the country!

The sect was called “The Emperor’s Gate”, an ancient and powerful organization with vast resources, according to the records, they had served as the personal army of an emperor a really long time ago.

It even was said that they were the reason the emperor was able to come to the throne, hence the reason for their name.

“Haha, don’t worry about it, as for the price, consider it as my gift for Jay’s awakening, besides, I can afford these luxuries as the heir~. He replied with a proud smile.

Although the smile might seem arrogant to some, in reality it was very well justified considering his position in his sect.

The hierarchy of the sects as to the disciples was divided into three, from the lowest to the highest:_.

Official Disciple, they were considered the main force of a sect, here they could receive resources, low level methods of body strengthening and medium level martial techniques.

As part of the sect, they have to follow its rules and teachings, however, the sect also protects them if they were to encounter any problem.

Central Disciple, only the most exceptional disciples of the sect could advance to this rank, a great amount of merits and considerable strenght was needed to be elegible for this position.

But it was all worth it as they received a great amount of resources, techniques and methods of body strengthening of medium and high level, they were a really important part of the sect.

While one could get away with it if he messed with an official disciple, one would have to pay a heavy price if they wanted to look for problems with some central disciple, since not only the sect protected them, but also the strength of each one of them was considerable.

Heir, this was a unique position as there was only one heir per sect, being the most talented and exceptional disciple of all, the one who had managed to defeat all the central disciples and accumulate a huge amount of merits, receiving the greatest amount of resources and access to all the techniques along with the methods of strengthening that the sect had at its disposal.

Finally, with his master being the same master of the sect, any outside power had to be careful with a descendant since not only were they really strong, but also because messing with them was the same as messing with the entire sect!

“Thanks James, I’ll definitely treat you to a nice meal some other time.” Said Jay, giving James a thumbs up, “And…is there a requirement to use this…?”

“There’s no need to repay me, just train hard and I’ll be happy, as for the requirements…yes and no, in order to use the full potential of this technique like I did, you have to use Qi, but you can still use it even if you don’t have Qi, although it will be a bit slower.” James explained.

“Well, if you say so…then let’s get started~!” said Jay, eager to learn how to move even a bit like James.

“I’ll watch you both from here then~” Added Sarah, who was floating again, since watching them train while she did nothing didn’t feel right for her.

As for the ice cream she had earlier, it was nowhere to be seen.

“Alright, then the first thing you have to do is…”

That way, Jay began to learn his first martial technique.

***

“…Ha…ha…damn” Jay was on the floor, panting from exhaustion.

The sun had already set, and now the only thing that was illuminating the backyard was the light coming from the living room.

“Woah, it seems like Jay managed to tire you out eh, James~” said Sarah still floating, while her voice sounded as carefree as ever, she was pretty tired too.

They had been training for several hours without stopping after all, mostly because Jay seemed to recover incredibly fast, surprising even James, who was a pugilist.

“This…is also part of your skill…?” He asked.

“Who…who knows…haha” Answered Jay from the ground, even though he had almost no energy in his body anymore, he had a big smile on his face because he had learned a lot today.

‘Ha…seriously, who’s the pugilist here, me or you…’ thought James as he smiled bitterly, recalling the training they’d just done.

The Phantom Trace consisted of six steps, the first two steps were for dodging, the third and fourth were for counterattacking and the fifth and sixth were for fading out just like James did.

James had started by teaching him the first two steps as they were rather simple to learn.

One has to know that in order to learn martial techniques, a strong body and considerable mental strength were required because they consumed a lot of energy and concentration.

James thought that it would take Jay at least a few days to learn the first step, because even though the Phantom Trace technique was not difficult to learn, his body would not have the energy to train much.

However, who would have thought that even though Jay’s stamina was nothing special, his recovery rate was stupidly high?

Normally one would rest for an hour or two after using the first and second steps, but Jay only needed a 20 minute break before continuing to train!

Right then, before James could continue with his line of thought, his smartwatch started to buzz.

*Buzz*

“Oh, it seems that my break is over~” Said James before turning off the alarm and putting on the shirt that he had taken off on the ground when they started training.

“T-Thanks for coming, James…I…I have some water bottles in the fridge if you want one…”

“Thanks, but don’t worry, I’ll drink something at my place, then I’m off guys, see you later.”

The next moment, James jumped back onto the roof and then onto the sidewalk, disappearing from the sight of Jay and Sarah.

“…It looks like he was in a hurry…” Said Jay, staring at the roof of his house.

“That’s normal, if I’m not mistaken, I think he’s managed to touch the limit, can’t blame him for being eager…” Sarah added with one hand on her chin, remembering the moment she tried to lift him with her magic.

“Wow, that’s fast, as expected of him…”

Although they both didn’t know exactly what James’ rank was, that he had touched the limit certainly meant he wasn’t too far off the (C) rank, giving them an urge to improve.

While Sarah was a rank (C-) mage, the difference between rank (C-) and (C) was quite wide, as for Jay…there was no need to mention him.

“I’ll keep training, and you…?” Sarah asked, her competitive spirit had awakened once again, making her want to train more even though she was already tired.

“Haha…I’ll do the same, of course~”

After saying that, Jay got up slowly while letting out an “ouch”, although his energy recovered quickly, the muscle pain from doing something he wasn’t used to was still there.

A few more hours passed like this, with Sarah and Jay trying their hardest, until finally, their bodies reached the limit.

“…I…don’t even know how I’m standing right now…” Said Jay, who at this point was standing with a look of disbelief on his face.

His legs were trembling and it seemed that he might fall due to his instability at any moment.

“Urgh…just…a little more…!”

But before he could continue to be amazed by that fact, Sarah’s voice caught his attention, causing Jay to look up, which is where she was right now.

Although both of them had been somewhat estranged at the beginning of the training, Jay had slowly approached her while practicing the Phantom Trace.

Sarah was floating above Jay, about 13 ft off the ground, higher than before.

However, she was very unstable right now, she was trying to get down but she was doing it erratically and slowly, it was clear that she was having some serious difficulties right now.

The reason this was happening was because Sarah’s mana reserve was almost depleted, she had wanted to push her limits, but unfortunately she had miscalculated, resulting in this scene.

“…Ah.”

Then, just at that moment, the mana she possessed was no longer enough to maintain the spell, and she began to fall.

Seeing that, Jay reacted quickly and extended his arms to catch her.

“I got yo-!”

*BAM*

Unfortunately, Jay wasn’t in condition to catch Sarah, so he simply ended up as a shock absorber for her fall.

“OH MY GOD I THINK MY LEGS ARE BROKEN!” Shouted Jay as his legs screamed in pain, the movement had been too abrupt.

“I…feel really dizzy….urgh.”

Sarah on the other hand was also suffering, although not from physical pain like Jay, instead she was quite dizzy, in addition to the feeling that her whole body was heavier than usual.

After a few seconds, they both managed to calm down a bit, and at that moment they realized the position they were in.

“…Why aren’t you wearing your shirt…?” Sarah asked, looking at Jay’s naked torso.

“I felt too hot when I was practicing the Phantom Trace…and why did YOU take off your sweatshirt…?” he asked, seeing that Sarah was only wearing a sports top.

“…Same as you…”

At this moment, Jay was lying on the floor, without his T-shirt, he was only wearing one of the typical sports pants that he always used.

Sarah on the other hand was on top of him, with her chin resting on his chest and a sports top that exposed her abdomen and lower back, as well as some black leggings that accentuated her curves.

“Pfft.”

“Hahahah”

Suddenly, both began laughing about this situation, until slowly calming down and remaining silent, Jay dropped his head back on the ground while Sarah layed hers on Jay’s chest, both enjoying the breeze in the backyard.

“I think we went a little overboard…don’t you think…?” Sarah asked, moving her gaze to meet Jay’s.

“Just a little~?” He replied, laughing a little, raising his head slightly to look at Sarah.

“Heh, well…maybe more than a little…” She added, also laughing and with a small smile on her face.

Being so close, Sarah couldn’t help but look closely into Jay’s eyes, which although they usually looked nothing special, at this moment they were like two emeralds that inexplicably attracted her attention.

Jay on the other hand had also fallen into the same situation as Sarah, momentarily mesmerized by Sarah’s bright blue eyes that were like beautiful pristine lakes.

With both of them momentarily lost in each other’s gaze, they did not realize that slowly and surely, they were getting closer.

The distance between each other decreasing, until they could practically feel each other’s breath.

“Ahem!”

“AH!”

“OUCH!”

However, just at that moment, someone’s voice broke the calm atmosphere, making Sarah float away slightly above the ground with the little mana she had recovered in this short amount of time, and one could see that her white cheeks were a little flushed.

Jay on the other hand, amid incredible pain, quickly got up before moving away from the voice, he had even used the Phantom Trace to move faster.

Although it had ended this way, there was no doubt that they would not forget this training session soon.