The Prodigy

[Yuito's POV]

"I will break your arm. I will not repeat myself."

He increased his strength again.

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.

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"Tap."

At that moment, all excitement died down. My arm was at the mercy of another man, he could break it at any moment if he chose to.

Then it hit me.

'I could lose.'

This realization filled me with storage-searing strength. It was a power of unknown origin as if I had achieved inner peace. The pain that shot up from my arm no longer bother me.

This ignited the fighting spirit in me, filling me with great determination-

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.

.

.

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"Nah. no shounen power-ups for me." I said and stopped struggling.

To be completely honest, through this whole fight and even the tournament, I have been acting dramatic.

I did not know why I did it. I did not know when I began doing it.

But I have been acting dramatic whenever I fought. And I don't think it began only during this tournament, but it started way back.

I think it's a way of trying to excite myself and enjoy fighting again. I have been subconsciously holding myself back.

Being strong was a blessing but being too strong was a curse. It follows the same concept as too much is always bad.

I thought it would be different with these Korean fighters, but I can't keep lying to myself anymore.

Okay, here is the truth. The complete, naked truth.

Munseoung was weak as fuck.

And I have been constantly holding myself back against him to try and enjoy the fight. In my mind too, I was acting like he was as strong as me. I could feel that we were equals but it was not in a sense that we were equal in power.

More like we were equal as in 'We are both fighters above the rest'

It was true that his punches felt like getting hit by a truck.

But that is if I was ordinary.

It was true that my arms should've felt numb after blocking his kicks.

But that is again, if I was ordinary.

But sadly, I had 35 stats in endurance. And endurance here does not only mean stamina, it also showcases how durable I am.

That was one of the cheats that comes with having a system status.

My stats remain the same even if I get fat, get thin, or if I stopped working out and training altogether. I stayed constant.

And if I increase my strength stats by doing a deadlift. My squats, my bench press, and everything related to strength will increase as well. I did not need to train them specifically.

It addresses one attribute as a whole and levels them up. That was the boon of having a status screen.

it might not look like it at first but I was always overpowered even without my special skills.

It was true that he was wrapping his limbs tightly around me and using his body weight to stop me from getting up.

But his 'body weight' stopped me from getting up. Really? He weighs like a toothpick.

[Title : Gym rat]

I looked at Munseoung who was gritting his teeth and pulling my arm in an armbar. His image slowly faded away and I saw a dumbbell instead of him.

How heavy is his pull? What is that, like 100 kg?

A 100kg dumbbell, I had no problem curling such a lightweight

[Strength : 25]

I curled my arm and along with it, Munseoung's torso.

Then I planted my feet on the canvas and slowly stood up while raising my arm. My opponent only weighs around 90 kg. That was so light it's not even funny.

In my image, I was doing a squat as I slowly stood up. And I raised my hand as if I was doing a shoulder press.

[Powerlifting : Intermediate]

I stood up, unfazed while Museoung still held my arm. He was up in the air, above my shoulder.

The crowd went wild as the cheering of amazement resounded throughout the stadium. Completely filling the space and shaking the air itself.

There was a reason why I never picked up jiu-jitsu whereas I learned many different martial arts. It was completely useless for me.

Jiu-jitsu is a martial art that deals with battle while you are on the ground with someone else. Why the hell will I fight on the ground? What is going to put me on the ground for that long?

When you are as strong as I am, jiu-jitsu is not useful. It was designed with the thought that me and my opponent would be on the ground but I could always just stand up and easily slam them on the ground when it really came to it.

Or maybe it was useful but I haven't realized it yet.

"Why tap? Go sleep?" I said while looking up at Museoung who I was holding up.

It must've been a comical sight. He was way bigger than me but I was manhandling him as if he was my younger brother.

But that's how it works. When you reached my level of strength, the art of combat changed drastically.

It's a different landscape here. Crucialartial arts in the lower level did not matter anymore. Weight difference does not dictate who will win or lose.

I brought my hands down and slammed Musneoung's right on the hard mat of the octagon. A loud banging sound exploded when his body hit the canvas.

it was like a WWE slam, only this one was real and with bad intentions.

*BAAAAAAM!!!*

I watched as Munseoung got the air knocked out of his lungs. After taking such blunt force on his back, I was sure he wouldn't be able to breathe for quite some time.

But I was not done, I pulled at his arm and lay down on the mat with him. I wrapped my legs around his neck and we were in the same position as before, but the roles have been reversed.

Sure jiu-jitsu was not that useful, but it wouldn't hurt picking up a thing or two.

"Is this how you do it?" I asked while putting him in the same triangle choke, except that I was stronger than him and squeezed harder.

[New skill :

jiu-jitsu : Novice.]

There it is. That was extremely easy.

I played around with his body and practiced Jiu-Jitsu. I limited my strength and used my body weight to anchor him to the ground.

I quickly learned the concept and the basis of jiu-jitsu. I grabbed him at his wrist and learned to use his own body against him.

I learned where to apply strength in his joints, where the human body was the weakest and which angle I should apply strength to.

And I made sure to always disrupt ymy opponent's balance and never allow him in a position where he would be able to use his full strength.

"Interesting." I said and pulled his arm and put it under my armpits. He screamed in retaliation but it was of no use.

Useless effort. He can't win in a contest of strength. If I want your arm. I will take your arm

I put him in an armbar, exactly like how he did it to me.

[Jiu-Jitsu : Intermediate]

There it is. My blessing turned to curse.

My eyes glowed eerie purple..

.

[Title : The Prodigy].

.

"Tap." I said and put pressure on his arm.

It was already easy to snap an arm with my strength alone but jiu-jitsu made it even easier.

He put his other arm froward and pulled at his arm that was in an armbar. He was struggling.

Luckily.

*TIng!!* *Ting!!* *Ting!*

The sound of the bell saved him. The round had ended before he could tap.

I let him go and got up. I walked towards my corner and the crowd cheered for me as if I had already won the fight.

I put my arms up and waved at them.

Hobin came in and I stood at my corner while taking the water bottle from him and taking a few gulps. I looked towards my opponent and saw him getting his arm massaged.

He was taken care of by many people and the coach was yelling at him, telling him words of encouragement and reminding him of their strategy

Curious, I listened in on them which was easy since they were shouting.

"Focus!! Munseoung Kim!! Focus!! Why the hell would you play a ground game with him?! I told you how strong he was and he is a wrestling champion for God's sake!!" The coach told him.

"It's going to be the 3rd round!! Remember the plan, tire him out. He will find himself exhausted soon and that is when you will get a knockout. Focus kid. Focus. He wouldn't be able to do it forever, rasing you above his head like that will have used tons of strength. It wouldn't be long!! Survive!! Make sure you survive the next round and he will be nothing but an exhausted fighter."

I paused. Then I said, "Status, show stats."

[Stats :-

Charm : 26

Vitality : 25

Endurance : 35

Strength : 25

Agility : 30

Intelligence : 18

...close]

I focused on my biggest stat, Endurance at 35. Then I turned to look at the coach who was discussing their strategy with dumbfounded eyes.

Their strategy was tiring me out in the early rounds and finishing me off in the later rounds.

"Pfttf Hahahahaha!!" I couldn't stop the laughter that slipped out of my throat.

"What's so funny?" Hobin asked curiously but I couldn't even answer it. I continued laughing.

Then in the midst of my laughter, an idea popped up in my head that caused me to laugh harder. I even felt tears coming out of my eyes.

"Man, this fight is fun." I commented before quickly getting down on the canvas and doing the idea that came to me.

{Nah, you wouldn't..}

'Yes, I will. We do a little bit of trolling.'

I got into a push-up position and said, "Hobin, sit on my back?"

"What! Why?"

"Just do it."

He slowly sat on my back and after he was done, I started doping push-ups with Hobin behind my back. I had a huge smile on my face while looking at Munseoung and his team in amusement.

They turned towards me and froze. Even the coach turned around and cold sweat started showing on his aged forehead.

What happens when the fighter you were trying to tire out - the fighter you thought had bad stamina and endurance .

Started doing weighted push-ups during the break?

What does that do to a person psychologically? Will they ever recover?

The crowd cheer intensified and some of the experienced fighters and coaches soon started realizing what I was doing as well.

Some laughed while others felt sorry for Munseoug and his team.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Jamie, are you seeing this? The kid's awesome." Joe Rogan said, laughing his ass off while watching the match.

But my opponents did not laugh and just watched me do the push-ups nonstop throughout the whole break.

I did not even get slower but actually got faster as time went on with my push-ups.

It was safe to say,

I took their souls.

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