*Breath*

*Breath*

*PLOP*

*Sigh*

John opened his eye and looked over the koi pond. The fish were jumping up at some bugs skittering across its surface, having a little snack before their morning meal of pellets he would feed them. 

He had woken up in the middle of the night, still lying in the living room, with Anan now cuddled to his side. He carefully extracted himself from her partial embrace, not wanting to wake her, then went in search of something to eat. Rumi had left a note in the kitchen saying she and Yu had left for a late-night patrol, while Mei was staying with her grandmother that night.

He just shook his head at that. If nothing else, Rumi was dedicated to her job as a pro hero. 

After devouring a plate of leftovers, he moved out to the koi pond, leaned back against a tree, and started practicing moving this Ki around his body. Unlike the more liquid feel of his mana, it felt like he was trying to squeeze Play-Doh down his limbs, the energy coating everything as it moved, unlike the channels the mana seemed to follow like arteries.

With significant effort, he could spread it everywhere inside of him, though it felt… lumpy. It seemed to have different densities at different locations in his body. Not knowing what else to do with it, he tried to smooth it out, only to create even more lumps. He retracted it all and started again, hoping to get a different result. He wanted to try to train with it, but it was still incredibly early, and he didn’t want to wake Anan. 

His focus kept slipping as his mind drifted to everything that was going on in this world. He had thought that Infinite Frontiers was chaotic, and it was, but this world was like an onion with how many layers it seemed to have, and there were problems within every layer.

He had more students to interview, counsel, and help them get to the root of their problems. From Shoto’s issues with his father and Bakugo’s anger issues, to a list of other, more minor things that have seemed to come up during his initial interviews. There was a lot happening within their lives, and he still had well over a hundred more students to talk to in the next month or so. Not to mention, he had taken on the task of training Midoriya in basic martial arts, helping the young man try to wield the awesome power of his Quirk. 

I need to touch base with him today to schedule training times for next week. I’ll check with Rumi later to see if we can use the dojo, otherwise I’ll have to head back to the school every day.

Next was his own training. He was already pushing himself as hard as he could to improve his body, and with just a quick glance at his stats yesterday, he could see that it was paying off. Between his mana cycling, Substance X, and his party menu, his stats were moving up as they had in The Great Cleric when he levelled up, albeit slower. If he could find more people he could trust to add to his party, and had the prerequisite feelings for him, he could see pushing out years of hard training into as little as another month. That would require them to remain nearby while he trained, but it was possible.

Then there were these villains. They were planning something big; they had to be. You don’t interrupt one of the most-watched sporting events to recruit people for no reason. That gassy guy, Kurogiri, didn’t seem to be in charge, but John would lay money down that he was very important to whatever operations they were doing. 

Which led him to yet another layer. The Takeyamas seemed to have their hands in everything, yet didn’t seem overly concerned with the League of Villains; their entire focus was on this other villain in India. Well, not their entire focus; they were trying to matchmake for Yu and Mei so they could produce someone else who could wield their main weapon against this threat. He had offered to help there, but as it stood, unless he brought out the Pelican and doomed everyone inside to live in this weird world, he currently wasn’t in a position to do much. 

I guess I do have that Mech… but unless we went to war, marching a 20- to 35-ton war machine through those palaces wasn’t going to do much. And my luck, some pro hero with super strength would rip the mech open like an Elemental before I even got close. Even the Pelican would only let me get in quickly, but I have no idea who I’m even looking for. A woman in a mask, surrounded by other women in masks, who might all be decoys.

Finally, there was Twinkle, his actual sister, and this multiverse-travelling wizard, chasing after a dimensional thief. The woman, or rather the dragon, was odd. Both times he had spoken with her, her attire and strange speech patterns had thrown him off, even more so than Mia and Bryn back in Battletech. After using him as a guinea pig to test what those fruits did, then tossing them aside like they were worthless, he wasn’t sure what her objective was in robbing the Takeyamas. She said he knew her father or something like that, but John was drawing a blank. He didn’t know any dragons. That he was aware of anyway.

He wanted to help everyone, but it was too much for one person to handle, mainly since that one person had a day job. He would need to focus on what was important and just deal with the other things if and when they came up. In his mind, the kids and his own training were the most important things, with the villains and the Takeyama issues a distant third. His sister was important, but whether he was the thief’s test subject or not, he didn’t have the bandwidth to help them in their search for a teleporting dragonlady. 

He continued practicing, moving the Ki around his body for another hour before standing and moving to the dojo. He cycled through both energies as he started practicing katas, wanting first to focus on his body’s movements rather than how hard he could strike the heavy bag. His body could barely handle striking it with his mana cycling; striking it now might start breaking things if his form wasn’t perfect.

Once daylight slowly began to leak into the dojo, he wrapped his knuckles and moved to the speed bag, wanting to warm his joints up on the lighter equipment first before finishing his training on the heavy bag. 

*Thump-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta, Thump-ta*

…

*Thump-ta, Thump-ta, Thump-ta*

…

*Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump*

He was impressed by how fast he could move his hands now, cycling water rather than wind to improve his reaction speed. He lost himself in the movement, his focus drifting to the last issue he was having. He was horny, really horny. He had no explanation for this, but ever since he woke up in the infirmary, he swore every other thought he had was sexual in nature. Rumi, Yu, and Anan were the current focus of these lecherous thoughts; he wanted nothing more than to pump life into the three women’s bellies, immediately. 

This worried him a bit, as until this point, he considered nearly every relationship he had cultivated to be based in love and mutual respect… for the most part. In his mind, his relationship with Jaina was still a bit problematic, but he was sure it would improve as he spent more time in that world. Now… well, he left the house to get away from Anan before he acted on these new feelings. He knew she would be happy that he did, but he wasn’t ready to take that step. Not yet.

After another thirty minutes, he moved over to the heavy bag. Cycling healing magic, he started light. With focused and precise strikes, he gradually ramped up the intensity, the rhythmic motions distracting him from his degenerate thoughts. His Ki seemed to be reinforcing his joints, letting him shift from cycling healing magic to wind.

Combos of punches and kicks rained down on the heavy bag as he tried to visualize an opponent in front of him. Not a villain, but a rabbit woman, a rabbit woman he was suddenly becoming very motivated to win against. He focused on how she had sparred with him, how she moved, the way she reacted, and how she defeated him. 

No, the bag isn’t good enough for this. I need more.

He stepped back from the bag and moved into the centre of the dojo, closed his eye, and began to spar with the shadow of Rumi. She was an incredible instructor, slowing her pace enough for him to follow her motions and teaching him how to counter her moves. He took all that he learned and added it to the shadow he was fighting, then began their dance. 

Strike, counter, dodge, strike. He went through the motions, trying to think several steps ahead. He could visualize landing strikes on her, but he was receiving a beating in return. He kept at it, practicing to quickly change the elements he was channelling while holding this Ki. It was difficult, requiring his undivided focus to maintain his hold on both the energies inside his body. 

He fought the shadow to a stalemate, which he was happy with for a moment, but then stopped and shook his head. This was how she fought him, not how she fought Twinkle. He reset himself and sped up his shadowboxing even more. He was quickly on the defensive, using water magic constantly, unable to mount an offensive at the speeds she could reach. He found himself losing focus; the sheer improbability of defeating this new opponent he had crafted in his mind was beyond his current skills. 

“Slow down, you’re losing your focus.” A voice said from the side of the dojo, startling him out of his shadow boxing match. Rumi was leaning on the wall, still wearing her white and purple Anti Hero Killer Kevlar outfit. She was frowning at him. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

“I know that. I was testing out this new power to find where its limits are.”

“By fighting my shadow?”

“Well, you are the greatest martial artist I know- wait? How did you know it was you?”

“Please, John. I’m not the smartest person around, but I can read a fight easier than you can read a book. Slow down, maintain your focus. I can see you now have the power to fight me, but you need the experience. We can spar in a few days, but I want you to explore this new power more and make using it second nature. Right now, one good hit and you might lose that focus.”

John just blinked a few times, then started to laugh. She tilted her head, cocked one of her ears to the side and looked at him quizzically. “Did I say something funny?”

“A bit. It’s almost the same advice I gave someone else last week. Listen, I have been training one of the students, and wanted to ask if you would mind if I brought him by the dojo? He has control issues with his incredible power, and while I have helped him, I think he could use a little advice from one of the greatest martial artists in the world.”

“John Wayne, are you trying to butter me up or something?”

“Maybe a little. Is it working?”

“Fine. You can bring the kid, though I need something in return.”

“What?”

“Those magic hands of yours. We had a long night, and we could really use a massage.”

“We? Is Yu still here?”

“Yep. She and Anan are cooking breakfast right now, since we slept through dinner last night. So finish up and meet us inside.” She said, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. Are you okay with that? I know you had some hang-ups before.”

“Rumi. Let’s go eat, and I’ll give you both a wonderful massage before you go to sleep.” He said, then gave her a kiss, running his fingers through her long white hair. 

“Good… good.” She said, leaning on his chest. 

John just shook his head, hugging her tightly to his body, while little John was trying to escape from his pants. He was hungry and horny, and wasn’t sure which was more important to deal with right then. His stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl, startling them both.

Well, that answers that. Food first, then we can see if we can deal with the other one.

He chuckled and led Rumi out of the dojo; the pair of them both had large smiles on their faces.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep