Ren just watched the fighting in the arena, mostly to distract himself, but then he heard some chants from the people around him.
MARK! MARK! MARK!
It was probably the name of one of the fighters.
Ren followed the direction everyone was looking and spotted a tall, muscular teenager with a torn-up T-shirt and blond hair. He couldn't really tell much else—he was too far away—but what he could tell was that the guy was currently beating the living shit out of three people at once.
One of them had blades coming out of his arms.
One had glowing hands.
The third didn't have any visible features at all.
The one with the blades tried to stab him with a punch, but Mark dodged it and punched him straight in the exposed ribs, taking him down. He didn't let him fall, though, because the one with the glowing hands formed glowing spheres and launched them toward Mark.
Mark reacted instantly, using the blade guy as a shield. The spheres slammed into him instead.
They didn't burn him or anything—just caused heavy bruising on his back—so it must have been kinetic energy.
Once the glowing-hands guy realized he was hitting his teammate, he stopped. Before he could react further, Mark grabbed the blade guy and threw him straight at him.
At the same time, the normal-looking guy rushed in from the side and threw a flurry of punches. Mark managed to block most of them, countering whenever he found an opening.
Then something odd happened.
Mark tried to block a punch—but it went past him and disappeared.
A split second later, he felt a sharp impact on his cheek.
He had been punched by the normal-looking guy.
Mark looked confused for a moment, but as the fight continued, he immediately realized what was happening.
This guy could create illusions.
He was making fake arm illusions—throwing punches from one direction while the real attack came from another. Once Mark figured that out, it became much easier to deal with.
The illusion was pretty bad. It only worked because Mark hadn't been expecting it. The fake arm always looked slightly off—the body posture didn't match the direction of the punch—so once he focused, he could predict where the real strike was coming from.
After one clean punch to the face, the illusion user went down.
Ren, who had been watching the entire thing, was genuinely impressed.
"Hey, Kai," he said quietly, eyes still locked on the arena. "Are you seeing that guy? He's beating three people without using his superpower."
Kai, who was also watching the match closely, replied without hesitation.
"I don't think that guy has powers. I think he's just a martial artist."
Ren was surprised. Becoming stronger in this world wasn't necessarily restricted to having powers. After all, not everyone could have them, and just because someone didn't have powers didn't mean they would stop wanting to become stronger. So they practiced with what they had.
They could train in martial arts to the point where they could beat multiple men by themselves. They could even defeat superpowered individuals through relentless practice. Some martial artists had even become heroes or villains, strong in their own right, and even people with powers wouldn't defeat them easily in close combat.
The only other way for a normal person to become stronger was through intellect. You could invent special weapons or use existing ones—gadgets, armor, or pretty much anything you could get your hands on. Technology made the path of strength for normal humans much easier. Still, regardless of that, it required effort, which made this path the least popular.
Even so, the path of normal strength and the path of superpowers were only two of the five ways of gaining power in this world.
Ren looked back at the fight with new eyes. He was currently practicing martial arts himself, so seeing someone beat three people using it alone was incredible to him. But it also showed just how much better Mark was compared to him right now. Ren couldn't even imagine doing the same thing Mark was doing. They were on completely different levels.
Back in the fight, Mark noticed another guy approaching him.
"Your Jackie Chan moves are good and all," the guy said, "but you're still a normal nobody. You can't harm me."
As soon as he finished speaking, his body turned rocky. His skin hardened into stone, and without hesitation, he rushed forward—no defense, no caution. He was confident in his rock skin.
Mark simply reached into his pocket, pulled something out, and slipped it over his hand. As soon as the rock guy got close enough, Mark punched him with the knuckle duster.
The impact sent the rock guy flying, unconscious.
Kai, who saw everything, spoke up. "I've seen a couple of incredible martial artists before—heroes, to be exact—from my family, and some non-heroes as well. Those guys could've sent that rock guy flying without a knuckle duster, and without hurting their hands."
He paused, still watching Mark.
"So compared to real masters, this guy still has a long way to go."
Ren was completely shocked. If Mark still had a long way to go, then what about him? He couldn't imagine himself punching that rock guy and sending him flying with his bare hand. Could he ever reach that point? He honestly didn't know. He had just started practicing martial arts, so he couldn't tell if he was talented, average, or if he just sucked. There was no way for him to judge yet.
Once again, he looked back at the arena where Mark was fighting—and then he saw what happened next.
Mark caught a punch, snapped the arm he was holding, and shoved the guy away. Then another girl who approached him got beaten badly. She started bleeding from her nose, and after another punch, teeth were sent flying.
Mark wasn't just winning anymore. He was beating people brutally.
Ren immediately remembered where he was. For a moment, he had forgotten. Arenas were a thing on Star Island, but unlike this place, fights didn't reach the point where people deliberately broke arms or caused severe injuries like that. That kind of damage wasn't allowed.
This place is terrible.
That thought reminded him of what he had seen earlier in the strip club area, and he tried to distract himself from it. He glanced at Kai.
Kai's parents had trained him—or more specifically, prepared him to become stronger—from a young age. He had practiced martial arts, learned about powers, and trained his body for years. But even though the two of them had gotten closer over the past week, there was still some distance between them. So Ren hadn't asked Kai for help with getting stronger.
But now, after Kai had shared some of his knowledge on his own, Ren felt like he could ask.
"Hey, Kai," Ren said. "I know it's weird to ask this out of nowhere, but do you have any advice on how I can get stronger with my power?"
Kai looked at him. "Dude, why are you asking me? You should already know this. With everyone having unique powers, the only way you can really get advice is from someone with a similar power. Other than that, you have to become stronger on your own."
Ren already knew this. Even the hero course reflected that reality. They trained students in general situations and gave them access to training rooms and different classes. They helped in many ways—but when it came to training your power specifically, they only provided tools and environments. You had to figure it out yourself.
"I know," Ren said. "I just thought… since you've studied powers for so long, maybe you'd have an idea that could help me."
Kai shook his head. "I didn't study powers similar to yours. But—"
That word made Ren pay attention.
"I can give you one piece of advice," Kai continued. "The first step to becoming stronger with your power is almost always the same. Maybe not for everyone, but for most people."
He looked back toward the arena briefly.
"The first step is figuring out how your power is manifested. Right now, I'm working on something that'll boost my strength by a lot, and it's all because I figured out how my power manifests. And I think your power has a similar first step."
Kai met Ren's eyes.
"So you should figure out how yours does."
Ren fell silent, thinking deeply.
The manifestation of my power…
(author Note The martial artist in this novel are on the level of DC and Marvel martial artist so you should know how crazy they are)