Chapter 171 - Jake The Qi-less Martial Artist

Jake was still smiling, even while resting. He sat on a boulder just beside a tree and took a deep breath. He continued to inhale air through his nose and felt his lung expand as a result. Then, he exhaled.

He enjoyed the rest he gave himself until he heard the loud shout of a girl. It was from a distance that made him open his eyes abruptly.

"What was that?" he asked himself, then waited for another shout. When he didn't hear another one, he sighed, then closed his eyes again.

"Ahhh!!!'

Jake suddenly stood up, alarmed. He then searched for the shout but took a pause along the way. He leaped onto a tree branch and prepared his ears to detect the shout.

"Ahhh!!!'

It was from his right. His ears twitched, and he jumped to another tree branch. He continued searching for the shout until he found a girl, running away from two people.

Jake saw two people pursuing this girl. They had huge builds and they were adults based on their faces. And as Jake felt intrigued by their purpose of chasing this girl, he jumped off the tree and then approached them.

He ignored the girl who they were chasing and stopped the two men.

For some reason, he felt thrilled to see these huge men, and he also felt thrilled to fight them.

"Huh? Who is this bastard?" They asked. 

Jake suddenly put in a stance and then moved from the reflex he had registered while practicing what was drawn in the book. He raised his leg and kicked the one man of the two. The man was just puzzled and stood up still. However, as Jake kicked him, the man felt strange with the kick.

He felt pain from the kick. He got hit in the chest, and as he endured the pain, he retracted slightly and pumped his chest.

He grinned and glared at Jake. "What the fuck are you doing?"

The other was so perplexed by it that he instantly looked at his partner. When he saw that he was in pain, he tried to grab Jake's neck, but he dodged.

He ducked and then put his hands on the ground and straightened his two feet, targeting the jaw of the man. And as it got a clean hit, Gabriel retreated.

He suddenly felt that they were difficult to handle, but it was enough for him. He had experience because of the urge in his blood to thrill. And there, he stood up and took another stance. 

He raised his left leg and leaped with his right feet, kicking their heads.

Crack!

"What the fucking hell? What is wrong with you?" They asked infuriated.

Jake smirked and then let out a sigh. This was stress-relieving for him.

Gabriel continued fighting with them. He got hit a few times, but multiplying by three was his clean hit to them. And later on, he finally defeated the two men and smiled widely. He felt relieved at this. It was as if fighting them was healing for him.

No person in the right mind would suddenly jump into other people's businesses. Even though it was kind of heroic, they were just stupid to think they would win, and it was satisfying to die for a stranger.

However, Jake is different. He didn't think of saving the girl; instead, the fight was on in his mind. 

His mind was clouded by his practice, and there, when he saw these two, he suddenly felt the urge to have a fight with them. And then, realizing he had won, he jumped in delight.

"That was great!" He raised his two fists in the air with that shout.

After a few seconds, the small sound of a girl loomed behind him, slightly poking his back. 

Jake suddenly turned, surprised the girl, and then wondered. "Who...? Ah! You are the girl!"

"Thank you for saving me. If you don't mind, will you tell me what your name is? "

Jake continued looking at the girl and was just silent. He didn't know what was happening and continued looking at him with confused eyes. He then raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Why?"

"Hey!"

Jake was taken aback as two people appeared. They were wearing combat gear and looked intimidating. And as they called him, they pointed their weapons at him. 

Jake was still silent until the two people surrounded him. He knew that he wouldn't be able to fight them, so he just remained silent and didn't do anything against them.

"State your name!" The two people shouted at him, but the girl suddenly went in between them.

"Stop! He saved me." The girl said that made the two of them perplexed.

The two of them looked around and saw the two huge men down. They whispered to each other, talked about something, then nodded.

"You did this?" One of them asked.

Jake nodded, then the two of them nodded once again. They lowered their swords and then looked at the girl.

"Please forgive us for our incompetence, young lady. We will escort you back to the estate."

"Wait. I am still asking him. Please wait."

***

Jake was deafeningly quiet with the girl in front of him. The two people turned out to be guards, and they stood a short distance away from them. The girl then let out a sigh and raised a question.

"What is your name?"

"Jake."

The girl nodded. "How about you?" Jake asked.

"Lara, nice to meet you, Jake."

Jake turned silent again, but Lara continued asking him.

"Where do you live?"

"Here."

Lara took a pause then asked again, "Do you mean, here, in the woods?"

Jake nodded, and that made the girl release a sigh. 

"Do you mind if I ask you how I will show you my gratitude?"

"What is that?"

Lara let out a sigh again and then was silent. She then again looked at the guards and went back to looking at Jake.

"How about going with us back to our estate? Will you work for me?"

***

Jake was adopted by the masters of the estate that were also the parents of Lara. He was speechless at what happened, as he didn't expect that it would happen after that simple fight with the two huge men.

Well, at least, why should he regret anything about it? He earned it, and he doesn't have to think about where to live. He got home and food.

At first, he was confused about a few things. He would ask Lara about plenty of things that he didn't understand. And after a month, he finally got used to living on a wide estate.

Even though he was adopted, he didn't have the same privileges as Lara. He still had to work for it and had just earned the surname but not the treatment. However, even with that, he was satisfied.

Jake continued practicing everything he memorized from the book. And as he realized that mysterious energy was filling him with the movements from the book, he kept it a secret from everyone.

Jake was in the training grounds of the estate. With a few people training, he watched them perform a few movements that were registering in their muscle memory.

"Hmmm... Mister Jake, do you mind if we spar?" Someone arrived, and it was a trainee.

Jake was silent and looked at the person. He seemed to be older than him.

"Aren't you embarrassed about asking a kid for a spar?" Jake asked.

The trainee scratched his nape awkwardly and responded, "You are stronger than me. I acknowledge your strength, Mister Jake."

Jake then let out a sigh and stood up from his seat and bowed to the trainee.

"Thank you for inviting me. Let's go."

The trainee smiled widely, and there they went to the battleground.

Jake prepared himself by stretching his body a few times. Then, when the both of them stood on the battleground, they waited for the referee's announcement, and after it, the trainee suddenly rushed to him.

Jake anticipated that this trainee was trying to tackle him. However, he didn't know how to defend himself, so he performed a small movement from the book and filled his body with the mysterious energy.

His lungs widened and then he kicked the trainee sideways. And as he hit the head, he then felt the trainee weaken from his kick.

Jake suddenly stopped and watched the trainee lose his balance, and slowly, he went down and lost consciousness. 

Jake just awkwardly scratched and heard everyone cheering for him. He was too stunned, then again, he let out a sigh.

"This happens a lot, huh."

Jake left the training ground and was greeted by a maid. 

"Sir Jake, the master was looking for you." Jake took a short pause, then nodded.

He went straight to the master's room and knocked on the door. He agreed to enter, and afterward, he greeted his master.

"Master, you called for me?"

His master faced him and uttered, "Yes. You have a new mission."

Just after hearing it, Jake's face lightened in delight as he got excited. He was given another mission, and missions for him were always an enjoyable experience since they were all about fighting.

He was always getting tasked with some mission, and this is how his loyalty was formed to the master.