Chapter 203: Modified stolen technique
In the cool forest, Noah stood at the center of a vacant field. He entered a state of motionless focus. He allowed the cold wind to assault him without flinching.
Imari and Julie watched. They subconsciously held their breaths because they don't want to disturb his focus.
Fwoosh
A light breeze swept past the area, taking leaves along with it.
Noah inhaled deeply as his muscles tensed up.
He pulled his fist back as if his body is the bow and his fist is the pulled bowstring. The power within him started moving towards his fist.
Brm
Light filled the area as he condensed his energy into his fist.
In a second, the lights merged to form a golden spiral on Noah's fist.
Upon closer inspection, Noah's muscle fiber vibrated rapidly. The muscles of his arm started twitching.
Then, Noah opened his eyes.
"Yah!"
Noah unleashed his meteoric punch with a right hook.
Boom
The spiral exploded in a terrifying shockwave that expanded outwards.
His punch beam landed on a tree in front of him.
Boom
The tree exploded.
The feeble trunk got shattered by his punch beam.
Even so, the punch beam didn't stop with just a tree, it took down more trees behind the initial tree.
Crash crash crash crash
His punch beam swept past the trees, making trees in its way burst in a rain of bark and leaves.
Finally, the commotion died down.
No, it's not completely peaceful yet.
Trees are still falling down and branches are still strewn all over. His punch beam devastated the area.
When everything returned to normal, Noah is still in his punching stance. He gouged out a trail about 2 meters wide and 30 meters long with his punch beam.
The trees and boulders in the range of his punch beam got smashed into the void.
Dust wafted up from the trail.
Imari and Julie watched with gaping mouths. One of them is just shocked to see so much damage. The other one is amazed by what she's seeing.
"Phew..."
Noah flexed and relaxed the hand he used to unleash that punch beam. He can feel the pain coming from his entire arm. He sighed.
"It seems like the modification still failed to reduce the negative feedback."
Extinguishing strike.
That's the name of the technique he stole from Tooru.
It's different compared to the technique Tooru uses. Firstly, he tried to minimize the negative feedback with the aim of negating it. He tried to modify the devastating punch Tooru can use.
This modification gave rise to the Extinguishing strike.
Rather than modification, it's more accurate to say he added his skills to the technique he learned from Tooru.
He made his muscles vibrate while punching.
That is the minor difference that gave rise to an entirely different effect.
Tooru's attack had so much negative feedback because he never tried to reduce the opposite force acting on the user's body for unleashing such a powerful punch.
The vibration reduced the negative feedback. After tweaking the technique further, he reduced the negative feedback greatly.
With the negative feedback out of his mind, he can focus on unleashing more power. Since he doesn't need to control the output to reduce negative feedback, he can unleash a more ferocious punch beam.
Thus, he devised a punch beam attack that is several times stronger than Tooru's punch while being able to use it multiple times.
Tooru said he can only use his punch two times at most. Using it a third time will make him collapse.
However, Noah can use Extinguishing Strike multiple times. Using it seven times will put Noah out of commission.
At least, that's what happens when Noah is still using a Rank I Exceed's stats.
Imari and Julie rushed over when Noah exited his stance.
"That's the technique you stole from another guy?"
Imari looked at the gouged ground. She couldn't help but praise him.
"I think even an Exceed will be on the verge of death if they got hit by something like that. Heck, they might even die, no?"
Julie tugged Noah's sleeve. She stared into Noah's eyes.
"Can you teach me this skill?"
"Julie wants to learn too?"
He rubbed Julie's head apologetically.
"Sorry, I modified the technique but it's still not something a girl should learn. Plus, you're petite so I am afraid you're going to hurt yourself learning such a terrifying technique."
Julie's bright eyes dimmed down.
"That's too bad."
"Man, I am so fortunate I didn't fight you during the enrollment."
Imari stuck her tongue out.
"Okay, it's about time for class. Let's go!"
Noah and Julie nodded.
"..."
The classroom felt heavy the moment the trio entered.
Imari, Julie, and Noah knew the reason.
Since the start of this semester, specifically, since three days ago, a few students dropped out because they couldn't deal with the pressure.
Plus, the students that stayed are tired mentally and physically. This heavy mood came as a reasonable confluence of multiple factors.
Noah also saw Miyabi sitting at her seat with a lowered head. She looked crestfallen and shattered. Tachibana sat by her side while trying to cheer her up.
Miyabi's been like this ever since the marathon where she almost collapsed in fatigue.
The draconian training adversely affected this soft girl.
Imari voiced her concern when she saw Miyabi's state.
"Is she going to be okay?"
Noah picked up a list Usa-sensei gave everyone.
It's a list containing the names of the students still here.
The list had pictures, basic details, and combat stats.
It revealed whether a student had martial abilities or athletic background.
It's a list of names designed so that students can pick their Duos.