Chapter 78: Bonus - : Chikara Dojo

Chapter 78: Bonus Chapter: Chikara Dojo

This is the bonus for 2.5k stones. The next bonus will be at 5k stones.

...

[Volstagg wants to have a serious word with you about Look Back’s ending. +15EP]

[Hogun wants to meet you. +10EP]

[Fandral really enjoyed your work. +10EP]

[Sif wants to teach you a lesson. +20EP]

[Heimdall is intrigued by the narrative you’ve woven.]

[Frigga is concerned over the changes in her son because of your works. +200EP]

[Frigga is considering sending a squad on Midgard to look for you. +100EP]

On the bus, John looked at the new notifications with an incredulous look. Not only these, but there were a bunch of new names popping up after these.

He knew these names, at least the starting ones. But what confused him was how the novels and manga managed to reach Asgard. He didn’t purchase any advertising there, did he?

Still, looking at Nordic names covering his notification bar, John could only sigh.

’Find John Club is going strong.’ Not just Loki, even his mother was almost a member.

Still, thinking about this wouldn’t solve anything. If he had to guess how these stories reached Asgard, Thor was the only answer.

Sif and Warriors Three most likely encountered the stories when they came to meet Thor. That was also guesswork, for all he knew the manga had just used the Bifrost to reach Asgard.

He hadn’t been snooping around news related to New Mexico, since SHIELD was more likely to control and monitor the flow of information regarding that state around this time. It wouldn’t do him well to invite more attention than he already had.

It wasn’t clear if Thor had returned to Asgard or not, but the notifications had kept him up to date with the situation in some way.

[Thor Odinson has questioned the purpose of his own power. +1000 EP]

[Thor Odinson has vowed to become worthy of his name.+2500 EP]

’Did he get his powers back or not?’ John turned into The Thinker while glaring at the notifications that had arrived today. In the end, he didn’t get a clear answer.

That’s why, just like any normal person, he left the problem to the future him and stepped off the bus at the Two Bridges.

Walking down the street, he entered Chinatown and stopped in front of a classic red brick tenement building with the old school fire exits at the front.

A prominent red and white horizontal sign hung above the closed door, with Chikara Dojo written on it in bold black capital letters. John wordlessly used the provided key and entered with the confidence of a regular.

He had been visiting the place for two days now, but the one who invited him hadn’t been around.

John stepped onto the main training floor after leaving his bag to the side. To the left, rows of wooden bokken rested on dark wooden racks against the exposed brick wall. The warm glow of the overhead lights focused on the large yin-yang symbol painted on the back wall.

"We are closed today, you know?" Colleen walked in from the back partition, moving the curtains with her good arm. "How did you get in?"

"Someone gave me a key." John smiled, seemed like he was in luck today.

"Then it’s ok, I suppose." She matched his smile, stepping onto the training floor as well.

If it wasn’t for the sweat running down her brow, he would’ve thought she was just lounging around. But John’s eyes focused on her arm; it was still in a sling.

And it seemed she had picked up a few more injuries.

"Rough few days?" Maybe it had something to do with her absence for the past few days.

"Kind of. I got bored waiting for someone’s arrival and stepped out; one thing led to another, and it exploded in my face. Well, almost exploded." Colleen shrugged; it hadn’t even been ten minutes since she returned. "I think it’ll take me another week to heal this damned arm."

Swinging the katana around with one arm wasn’t as appealing, plus she was losing time on training, so it was making her restless.

"And here I was looking forward to a spar with you." John smiled, loosening his shoulders.

"Don’t lie to me." Colleen had seen him fight; if anyone should be looking forward to a spar, it was her.

And in fact, she did want to spar with him when she recovered fully.

"I am not lying, though." He had been visiting a lot of random martial arts studios around the city for some sparring.

It had mostly been to hand-to-hand fighting styles so far since they have been popping around the place like cabbages. But he also wanted to see how well he could do against a swordswoman.

"Unless you can help me fix this right now, we can only delay the spar." Colleen felt that it was quite unfortunate, especially when she was itching to go.

"Funny you said that." John chuckled.

He indeed had the perfect thing for that, and the perfect chance to test how much better he had gotten with Revered Cursed Technique.

So far, he had been working with it over the past few days; from small cuts to long slashes, he had healed them both inside and outside the specialized training room.

He hadn’t tried it on broken bones yet. Still, what made him so sure that he could just heal others when he didn’t even do that?

That was because of the fine print in the shop. If he had learned the Reversed Cursed Technique the Gojo way, there was a chance he would only be capable of healing himself.

But since he bought it from the system, he not only instantly grasped the concept of positive energy, but his reversed cursed technique was closer to that of Shoko’s.

’Is it another one of his secret techniques?’ Colleen wondered as he sat her down on the floor.

"This is necessary, so pardon me." John carefully moved her T-shirt a little and placed his hand directly on the injured area.

There was no reaction on her part, just a silent nod so he could continue.

’Let’s get started then.’ He was already aware of his own soul, but not with Colleen’s.

Even with Haki and his senses at full power, it would be a bit of a stretch to peer that deep into someone like her. That’s why he needed her help.

"Close your eyes and focus on yourself at your fittest."

"Understood." She didn’t question him and focused her mind with a deep breath.

In a matter of moments, a grey silhouette overlapped with her body in his vision. John read this exact copy of her. The arms built for endurance, the explosiveness in her legs, and her stable core. It was a body trained and tempered over years of practice.

The only place this projection didn’t align with her real body was the right shoulder and a few other small injuries on her abdomen and calves. Seemed like she had pushed her legs a bit too much to make up for the missing arm.

John focused the positive energy out of his palm, letting it seep into her shoulder. The energy stuck to the collarbone and started to fill in the crack.

It was a slow process, since it was his first time doing it on someone else, and John felt the cursed energy drain pretty fast. But it didn’t seem like it would take another attempt. Even if it was his first try, the effectiveness was a bit too good. It had surprised John himself.

Even more so when he started to observe the flow of energy. If he could practice a few more times, it might help with his efficiency.

’Guess reading all those anatomy books helped out as well.’ He wiped away the invisible tears while focusing on fixing the already aligned collarbone.

Colleen, on the other hand, was in deep thought. She had been trying to understand that warm feeling pressing against her like a hot pack. It felt like chi, but also different in a way. Regardless, it was helping a lot.

’The healing speed is quite fast as well.’ The mystery regarding John just kept deepening.

The enhanced strength, his unreal senses, not to mention the hand-to-hand combat and endurance. And now this healing ability that had completely fixed her collarbone and even other scrapes and bruises she had picked up.

If it had also taken the fatigue out of her, it would’ve been just perfect. But this much wasn’t so bad. It was more than she could’ve asked for.

Colleen picked up one of the wooden swords with her right hand and started to swing. She wasn’t being reckless for a start. The slashes had just enough strength to not strain her recently healed shoulder. But it seemed like that was unnecessary.

"How does it feel?" John asked as she finally stopped.

"Good as new." She smiled, pointing the sword at him. "Shall we then?"

"Sure."