Dark-silver metal made the entire exoskeleton of the puppet. The training dummy was a few centimeters short of being two meters tall, and it featured large spheres instead of fingers and hands.
White light shone from the puppet's joints and made it visible in the faint darkness of the training hall. The neon and the glow of the writing on the wall were the only forms of illumination inside the area, but they were bright enough to avoid any issue linked to vision.
"Can I break it?" Khan asked as his legs started to itch.
"You must to get to the next level," Lieutenant Unchai explained. "Don't bother thinking about the cost of these things. The Global Army will pay for everything during these two weeks."
"What level should I reach?" Khan asked while stretching his arms and legs.
"You must be a first-level warrior to handle the levels past ten," Lieutenant Unchai replied. "Reaching that point means that you have achieved a competent proficiency level with your martial arts. Of course, that evaluation only involves the base techniques, not their version with mana."
"No mana then?" Khan asked as a tinge of disappointment seeped into his voice.
"The puppets capable of testing actual proficiency levels are far more expensive," Lieutenant Unchai announced. "The Global Army can't give them for free, especially for a recruit who can't control mana correctly. You have to stick to the base techniques this time."
Khan nodded and prepared himself to fight, but Lieutenant Unchai continued to explain the puppet's features. "The training program will analyze your fighting style and try to counter it as you advance through the levels. Its system contains hundreds of martial arts that reach up to fifty points, and it can mix them if needed."
Lieutenant Unchai's words were a sweet melody that entered Khan's ears. Lieutenant Dyester had stressed the importance of training halls, but Khan had never managed to understand how useful they were. However, everything became clear when he heard those explanations.
"The system resets every time you exit the training program," Lieutenant Unchai added. "I suggest you work your way through the various levels and learn the different functions before creating targeted exercises. You might be unable to cross the fifth level after starting from zero, but things can go differently if you go directly to that difficulty."
Lieutenant Unchai glanced at Khan to see if the boy had understood his words, and the latter nodded. Everything was quite clear, and Khan even tapped the floor to review the various options and commands that the training program had to offer.
Khan only had access to a few menus with his genetic signature, so browsing through them was extremely easy. The meaning behind Lieutenant Unchai recent explanation became clear after he reached the list of martial arts in the training program. The various levels became harsher depending on how much time the system had spent adapting to his battle style.
"I'll see where the system stops me before trying to reach my highest," Khan announced, and Lieutenant Unchai nodded at those words.
"That's for the best," Lieutenant Unchai continued. "Every martial art has positive and negative matchups. Try to focus on the overall level of the puppet to gain an idea of your proficiency. Remember that this only serves to give you battle experience in different fields. A lot will change once you start relying on mana."
Khan nodded before starting to jump on the spot. He was ready, and Lieutenant Unchai sensed his excitement. The soldier turned to approach the exit before giving some last directives.
"The training hall will automatically warn you when the lessons are up," Lieutenant Unchai explained. "You can spend as much time as you want inside here after them. I'll only bother you if some of your companions turn out to be suitable opponents or when it's time to fight the Ef'i."
"Can I order food from here?" Khan asked before the Lieutenant could leave the training hall.
"Just connect your phone to the floor," Lieutenant Unchai explained. "The soldiers can't bring much here, but I don't think that's an issue for you."
"Not at all!" Khan shouted, and his expression grew aloof when he heard the metal doors sliding behind him.
Khan took his phone out of his pocket and placed it inside an opening on the floor. Menus lit up there, but he ignored them for the time being.
Khan removed his shoes and took off the upper part of his uniform. His opponent couldn't die or suffer permanent injuries. He could finally go all-out without worrying about nasty consequences.
'Defeating level ten will put the proficiency of my basic techniques on competent,' Khan thought before taking a deep breath and bending forward.
Khan shot forward, deploying one of his best acceleration. The puppet began to move its arms around its chest to prepare for the imminent clash, but a kick landed on its head before it could even understand where Khan was aiming.
The puppet flew backward as the metal on its head bent. A heel-shaped mark had appeared on its face, and the writing on the wall immediately turned green.
'Did I win already?' Khan wondered, and the training program soon confirmed his guess.
The puppet crawled back toward the wall, which opened and started to modify its limbs and damaged parts. Khan could see many metal arms tinkering with the machine before the zero on the wall transformed into a one.
"Level one," The mechanical voice announced inside the training hall while the puppet walked outside the wall. "Enhanced reflexes."
A red light had appeared at the center of the puppet's face. A harmless beam shot out of that new feature and pointed at the center of Khan's chest.
'Is it scanning me?' Khan wondered, but he didn't let his doubts waste his time.
Khan shot ahead again and raised his leg to deliver a precise attack toward its head. However, the dummy managed to lift its arms and cover its face before the arrival of the kick.
'Still slow,' Khan thought while his raised leg continued to rotate instead of landing on the metal arms.
Khan's roundhouse frontal kick transformed into an airborne circular attack that used his other leg to hit the uncovered part of the puppet's head.
The attack flung the puppet away. Khan had amassed far more momentum while flowing in the second technique, and the metal carried proofs of its power. His shinbone had pierced the side of the dummy's head and had disfigured its face.
Even the red eye had broken after the kick. The puppet seemed unable to work properly while the training program announced that Khan had cleared the level. The dummy couldn't move back inside the wall due to the damages suffered in the exchange.
'Do I have to push it inside now?' Khan wondered, but a metal rope suddenly shot out of the wall and attached itself on the puppet's back.
The rope seemed to have a magnetic field that kept the puppet stuck to its surface. The gears inside the wall then spun to retract the cord and bring the dummy inside the workshop.
"Level two," The metallic voice shouted. "Enhanced reflexes, enhanced mobility, enhanced resilience."
The new puppet that came out of the wall was far different from before. It now had three red eyes, and new joints had appeared on its wrists, elbows, shoulders, and knees. Its dark-silver metal also appeared darker after the modifications.
Khan didn't bother to take a few steps back. Testing one of his most efficient techniques over and over again was pointless. He was there to improve, and that approach wasn't working.
His ankles twisted to make him sprint toward the puppet's side. The three red eyes followed Khan and made the dummy tilt its guard according to his position.
'He can follow my movements now!' Khan shouted in his mind when he saw that the puppet's actions had no delays.
His figure performed a sharp turn and made him approach the puppet frontally. Khan raised his leg to deliver a circular kick aimed at the dummy's head, but metal arms appeared on the trajectory of his attack.
Khan immediately flowed into another technique at that point. His waist spun until it faced the ground and altered the trajectory of his leg.
His attack transformed into a descending kick that aimed at the puppet's right leg. The sharp turn during his technique accumulated more momentum than before. Khan felt almost confident in cutting through the metal with that power.
Yet, the puppet suddenly raised its leg and made its metal shinbone collide with its leg. Khan's attack bent that limb, but the dummy seemed to have reinforcements in that spot.
The puppet didn't waste that chance. Khan was standing on one leg, and his almost horizontal body was facing the ground. His side was completely open.
The dummy's arms tilted forward as its torso bent. The metal spheres on top of those limbs were about to land on Khan's side, but the latter quickly pulled with the leg still connected to the metal shinbone.
Khan's leg arched until his foot touched the back of the puppet's legs and pulled it forward. The dummy inevitably lost its balance and began to fall on its back.
Khan put power on the foot connected to the floor to jump. His horizontal body spun mid-air as it crossed the puppet's body and delivered a kick to its face before it could complete its fall.
The entirety of the puppet's face shattered when it collided with the floor. Khan had stomped its head so hard that shards of metal and wires flew everywhere in the hall. Even the second level couldn't make him sweat.
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