In week three, he focused on scenario training. The AI generated virtual opponents with different styles, sizes, and strategies.
James practiced adapting his approach based on the opponent. Learning to read patterns. Identify weaknesses. Exploit openings.
In week four, weapons training began. Practice knives first, learning Filipino martial arts blade work. Kali. Escrima. The patterns of attack and defense. Then expandable batons. Short sticks. Impact weapons.
By the end of the month, James had achieved what would normally take two years of dedicated training.
He tested his skills at Hoshi's dojo.
The difference was dramatic. Marcus couldn't touch him anymore. James's movement was too refined. His timing too precise. His counters too effective.
Hoshi watched one sparring session and stopped it after three minutes. Marcus was on the ground, breathing hard, having been thrown and submitted repeatedly.
"James, stay after class," Hoshi said quietly.
After the other students left, Hoshi closed the dojo doors.
"What did you do?" the instructor asked.
"You've improved in one month more than most students improve in five years."
James had prepared his cover story carefully. "I've been training intensively. Private instruction. Multiple instructors. Eight to ten hours per day."
"Multiple instructors? Where?"
"Various places. I hired specialists. Each one teaching a different aspect."
Hoshi studied him. "That's expensive."
"I have money now."
"Money doesn't buy skill this quickly. Something else is happening."
James met his gaze. "I practice more efficiently than most people. I analyze everything. Find optimal learning paths. My methods are unconventional, but they work."
It wasn't a lie exactly. Just not the complete truth.
Hoshi was silent for a long moment. Then nodded slowly. "You're no longer a student at this dojo. You've surpassed what I can teach you in a general class. If you want to continue training here, it would have to be as a private student. Advanced instruction only."
"What would that cost?"
"Five hundred per session. Two sessions per week. You would spar against me and my advanced students only."
James agreed immediately. It was worth the money to have high-level training partners and to maintain his connection to the dojo.
More importantly, it gave him a plausible explanation for his skills.
Anyone who asked could be told he trained privately with multiple instructors.
Expensive but not impossible. Rich people did that sort of thing.
His cover story was holding.
---
Two months after beginning his intensive training, James hit a wall.
Not a physical wall. His body was adapting well to the routine. He was stronger, faster, more coordinated than when he'd started.
The wall was technical.
His skills had improved dramatically through the Neural Interface, but he was learning something troubling. Knowledge wasn't the same as mastery.
He could execute techniques perfectly in controlled environments. Could drill combinations endlessly. Could beat training partners who were less skilled than him.
But against truly skilled opponents, he struggled.
He discovered this during a private session with Hoshi. The instructor was in his fifties, not physically imposing, but had been training for forty years. Pure skill and experience.
They sparred. James came at him with everything he'd learned. Perfect technique. Optimal form. All the combinations he'd drilled.
Hoshi made him look like a child.
The instructor flowed around his attacks. Didn't block or parry. Just moved slightly, changing angles, making James's strikes miss by millimeters. Then countered with minimal effort. A tap here. A push there. Off-balancing James constantly.
After five minutes, James was exhausted and hadn't landed a single clean technique.
Hoshi stopped the session. "You've learned much. Your technique is excellent. Your physical capability is good. But you lack something crucial."
"What?"
"Experience. Real experience. You've drilled movements until they're perfect, but you've never truly fought. Never adapted under real pressure. Never had to solve problems in real-time against an opponent who wants to hurt you."
Read till Chapter 28 (Batman's Acknowledgement) on Patreon marvelstark