The next morning, Ryan stepped into the dojo.
Commander
Moroboshi Dan
was already there.
So was
Takeshi.
Dan glanced over and motioned toward Takeshi.
"Ryu, spar with Takeshi first. I want to see your basics—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
Ryan had dark circles under both eyes.
Dan frowned.
"…What happened to you?"
Ryan waved a hand.
"It's nothing, Commander. A cat kept me up last night."
He quickly changed into his training uniform and stepped onto the mat.
"I'm ready."
Despite everything the strange black cat had said, Ryan felt unusually good today.
Actually… better than ever.
When he woke up that morning, his body felt completely different.
According to System 001, the light particles inside him had always been improving his body slowly.
The changes used to be so small he barely noticed them.
But after learning Leo's basic combat techniques in the training space last night, something shifted.
His battle instincts had awakened.
And for some reason, the mysterious brainwave from his nightmare seemed to trigger a huge reaction.
The light particles surged.
Small changes added up overnight.
By morning, his body had improved across the board.
Before this, Ryan probably couldn't last two rounds against Takeshi.
Now?
He felt like they were evenly matched.
Maybe even slightly in his favor.
And there was more.
After that strange nightmare, his light-particle activation had risen again.
Fifteen percent.
Ryan ran a quick calculation in his head.
If he transformed into
Ultraman Leo
now, his total power should be two or three times stronger than when he fought
Alien Zoruk.
More importantly, Ryan himself could probably control around eighty percent of Leo's strength.
That was close to the level Leo had when he finally defeated Zoruk in the original story.
Ryan sighed.
If he had this level of power back then…
He wouldn't have needed Overclock.
That ability came with too big a cost.
Only the system's emergency protection mode was worse.
In this unpredictable world, losing the ability to transform was extremely dangerous.
"Ryu!"
Takeshi's voice pulled him back to reality.
Both men stepped forward and bowed.
They raised their guards.
Takeshi took a standard karate stance.
Ryan's posture looked different.
More like Leo's.
Balanced.
Aggressive.
Even before the fight started, Dan's eyes lit up slightly.
Interesting.
Ryan had already exceeded his expectations.
That meant less time on basics.
More time for specialized training.
Since this was just sparring, Ryan avoided Leo's cosmic martial arts.
He stuck to normal karate.
Using alien combat techniques here would be dangerous.
After a few probing exchanges, the two closed in.
Ryan struck first.
A clean straight punch.
Then he waited.
The moment Takeshi left a small opening, Ryan snapped a knife-hand strike toward his ribs.
They exchanged more than a dozen moves.
Takeshi tried several times to throw him.
Ryan countered smoothly every time.
Anyone watching would think he had trained in karate for over ten years.
Dan nodded quietly from the sidelines.
"Stop."
Both fighters stepped back.
Takeshi stared at Ryan in disbelief.
"Ryu… when did you get this good?"
He scratched his head.
"If we kept going, I might've lost."
Ryan grinned.
"Trade secret."
In truth, the awakening of the light particles had also awakened
Gen Ohtori's combat instincts.
Ryan hadn't planned to show so much skill.
After all, it would be hard to explain such a sudden improvement.
But once the fight started, his body moved naturally.
The more he fought, the smoother it became.
At this rate, Ryan thought, he might one day reach Gen's level.
A martial artist capable of fighting even miniature monsters in human form.
The thought made him grin.
For the first time since arriving in this dangerous world, Ryan felt a little safer.
Because of Ryan's sudden progress, Dan changed his training plan.
Later that day, he brought Ryan to the outskirts of Tokyo.
Dan turned to him with a serious expression.
"Ryu, your strength is already impressive for a normal human."
"But it isn't enough."
Whenever the topic involved monsters, Dan became strict.
"Protecting this planet requires far more than that."
Ryan nodded firmly.
"I understand, Commander."
"I'll keep improving."
Dan placed his cane across Ryan's shoulder.
"In a life-or-death battle, recklessness will get you killed."
"You have to think."
"Fighting monsters with nothing but passion leads to disaster."
Dan's eyes hardened.
"I watched your battle with Zoruk."
"I don't know why your power increased at the end."
"But that strength clearly came with a cost."
He demonstrated with the cane, mimicking Zoruk's two-stage blade attack.
"What if you didn't have that power?"
"What if the monster struck first like this?"
"If Leo had fallen…"
"Earth would have been in danger again because of your mistake."
Ryan fell silent.
Dan was right.
He had no reason to feel proud yet.
His current strength only gave him a chance to survive.
But survival wasn't the goal.
His responsibility was to protect the planet.
Leo's second home.
And Zoruk wasn't even a major threat in this world.
Just one of the early monsters.
Dan continued.
"Zoruk's double attack is powerful."
"To defeat it, you must block both strikes…"
"Then counter with a third attack."
Ryan blinked.
"But Commander… Zoruk is already dead."
Dan shook his head.
"Maybe."
"But another monster could appear with the same fighting style."
He pointed toward a small waterfall nearby.
"Your special training begins there."
Ryan followed his gaze.
Water rushed down a rocky cliff.
Dan spoke calmly.
"Your task is to master the third strike."
"When you can split that waterfall with your kick…"
"You'll be ready."
Ryan stared at the rushing water.
Split a waterfall?
That sounded impossible.
More importantly…
He had no idea what that had to do with a triple attack.
"Commander… I don't understand."
"You'll figure it out yourself."
Dan gave him a long look.
Then he turned and walked away, leaning on his cane.
Ryan watched his slightly bent figure disappear.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he turned toward the waterfall.
I can do this.
The waterfall wasn't large.
But the current was strong.
Even from several meters away, Ryan could feel the spray.
He thought back to the original story.
Gen had trained at a waterfall too.
Eventually he mastered the triple attack.
In that battle, Leo blocked both blades with reinforced arms.
Then delivered the final strike—
With his leg.
Ryan's eyes lit up.
So the training wasn't about cutting water.
It was about building speed and power in the legs.
Ryan smiled.
"Got it."
Days passed.
Ryan trained every day.
Time slipped by quickly.
Soon, the day before his transformation ability returned arrived.
Ryan stood in the water.
A flower petal drifted downstream.
His left leg snapped out.
The petal split cleanly in half.
Ryan froze.
Then he laughed.
"I did it!"
Compared to learning basic combat through the system, this training was much harder.
In the original story, Gen had mastered it quickly.
Ryan took far longer.
But he finally succeeded.
He flexed his leg.
Power surged through the muscles.
Once he transformed again…
He would be able to use one hundred percent of Leo's strength.
If he fought Zoruk now?
It would be a complete one-sided fight.
Ryan looked up at the sky.
His fist tightened.
His eyes burned with determination.
"Time to report back to the Commander."