The door to the martial arts hall slid open with a hiss.
Ethan stepped in, cracking his knuckles.
The chamber was massive—polished floors, reinforced walls, and energy-dampening machines etched across the perimeter, just in case things got too intense.
"Computer," he said, stretching his shoulders, "pull up the martial techniques I designed. Start with basics, then scale up."
A soft chime responded.
[Confirmed. Displaying selected martial arts database. Projected modules initialized.]
Before him, a holographic figure appeared—featureless, but with perfect anatomical precision. It dropped into a flowing stance, then began to move.
Ethan watched carefully.
The first was a smooth, flowing combat style—minimal effort, maximum deflection. The kind that danced through attacks like a stream cutting through stone.
But it was precise. Evasive. Relentless.
His muscles tensed with anticipation.
Each step mirrored the hologram. Awkward at first. Jerky. Off-tempo.
But that didn’t last long.
Within minutes, his body adapted. His muscles remembered.
His instincts caught on.
The techniques flowed more cleanly with every repetition—palms sweeping, feet gliding, strikes redirecting imaginary force. His body shifted from imitation... to intuition.
Strike. Parry. Redirect. Counter.
Breath matched motion. Posture aligned with force.
He wiped sweat from his brow and said, "Alright. Next."
The hologram shifted.
A new form emerged—this one brutal, direct. A hardstyle—explosive bursts, heavy footfalls, rigid blocks that cracked momentum rather than absorbing it. An aggressive beast of a martial art.
Ethan’s expression shifted with it.
His stance changed. Shoulders squared. Wrists tightened.
He lunged, fist crashing into a padded pillar with a dull boom. The force reverberated through the floor.
He grinned. "Oh yeah. This one’s fun."
Strike after strike, his tempo climbed. Palms. Elbows. Kicks. Spinning strikes that thundered into the reinforced pads around him.
And as he caught his breath between styles, he called out, "Computer—start working on stronger materials for the martial bots. At this rate, I’ll break them by the time I’m done warming up."
[Understood. Reinforcement protocols engaged. Estimating construction of enhanced alloy frames within two hours.]
"Good," he muttered, flicking sweat off his fingers. "Because I’m only getting started."
Back in position, he continued cycling through styles.
From evasive redirection to brutal offense... to techniques built on precision, pressure points, or momentum.
He wasn’t just learning moves.
He was absorbing philosophies—how each art thought, breathed, flowed.
And for someone like Ethan, understanding was evolution.
He grinned, already moving into the next form.
He exhaled slowly, sweat still clinging to his brow, chest rising with the steady rhythm of someone who had spent hours drilling movement into muscle.
His stance relaxed, but his eyes gleamed.
"That’s enough practice."
He turned toward the center of the room. "Computer, deploy the martial bots I designed."
[Deploying: Combat Units — Type-MK2. Estimated opponent count: 12. Configuration: Balanced. Awaiting further instruction.]
A section of the floor split open with a hydraulic hiss, and from the rising platform, sleek humanoid bots stepped forward. Each one stood about six feet tall, their limbs constructed of reinforced alloy and kinetic dampeners. A dim red glow flickered in their optic sensors.
"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves."
He raised one hand and pointed. "Send out one bot first."
[Confirmed. Bot One: Activated.]
One of the machines stepped forward. The rest froze in standby.
"Also," Ethan added, "upload all the martial arts I’ve been practicing into their database—overlay them with their base combat style."
[Processing... Combat protocols enhanced. Martial bot upgraded.]
The red light in the bot’s eyes pulsed.
Ethan rolled his shoulders.
"Good. Now..." He slid one foot back and raised both arms loosely, his body flowing into a low, fluid stance—elbows tucked, palms loose, knees bent.
"I’ll only use the Ripple Vein Flowing Fist."
(He’d coined the name moments ago. It felt right.)
No flashy power-ups. No Null manipulation.
Its first strike was a vertical chop toward his shoulder—efficient, powerful.
Ethan didn’t meet it head-on.
He turned his wrist, slid beneath the strike, and tapped the bot’s arm with just enough pressure to redirect its momentum.
Its fist buried into the floor instead of him.
Then came a low kick—Ethan pivoted, letting the force pass through his center as he nudged the bot’s leg wide, causing it to stumble slightly.
The room echoed with a symphony of whirring joints, scuffed floors, and the soft thud of limbs colliding.
Ethan kept moving—dodging, sliding, guiding the bot’s force away from him and turning it back. But the bot was learning, adapting. It switched styles mid-fight, throwing sharp jabs, then heavy grapples, then unpredictable feints.
A punch caught him clean across the cheek.
His head snapped to the side, body sliding back a few feet.
He blinked, shook it off—and smiled.
He spit to the side, flexed his jaw once, and grinned wider.
"Nice. Let’s go again."
This time, he moved sharper.
He deflected a rising knee, used the force to spin around the bot’s back, and brought his elbow down—but didn’t strike. He guided the bot into its own stance and tripped it forward.
It recovered instantly, swinging low, but Ethan dropped with it, brushing the bot’s arm aside with a flowing parry and delivering a counter to the midsection that sent a visible dent into the alloy shell.
They clashed again—palm to palm, fist to elbow, body twisting like a ribbon through steel.
One mistake from the bot—an overextension.
That was all it took.
Ethan let the momentum slide past him, grabbed the arm, and rolled with it. The bot’s own strength multiplied against it as he redirected the full punch into its torso.
His hand went straight through the chestplate—ripping out the back, sparks trailing from his knuckles.
The bot’s limbs froze, then collapsed, twitching.
He stood over it, breathing hard—but not winded. Just... thrilled.
"Alright," he said, shaking out his arms. "That was good."
He turned to the standby units, flexing his fingers again.
"Now let’s fight all of you."
But before the bots moved, the computer’s voice chimed in sharply:
[Alert: Multiple Energy Ore Formations Detected.]
Ethan blinked. "Wait. Already?"
He stepped back instinctively. "Are you saying... energy ores just formed?"
[Confirmed. High-density energy crystallization detected in multiple zones.]
He looked at the sparking bot beside him.
His eyes narrowed, thoughts spinning.
This changed everything.