Chapter 44 (1/2)

“Commander, you’re here.” The virtual construct generated by Corona stood before him when he opened his eyes. “I’ve looked into and compiled all the martial arts techniques, both new and old, local and foreign, found online, and I’ve developed a training plan tailored to develop your combat skills. Would you like to begin immediately?”

“Begin.” Zhang Heng nodded.

Countless pieces of wood appeared midair, which were used to construct a massive room with a radius of a kilometer according to certain patterns. Zhang Heng was able to see his surroundings clearly in just the blink of an eye and found himself in a Japanese-styled dojo.

The attire that Zhang Heng and Corona wore changed at the same time, changing into something that resembled a loose-fitting white Judo gi. Both of them were standing barefoot on the squeaky clean wooden flooring.

Corona pulled back her smile and bowed to him very solemnly, before saying, “I’ve designed three classes for you, and every class had three lessons, making nine lessons in total. I shall begin with the first lesson of the first class focusing on military combat, which is developed by combining traits and specialties derived from Judo, Karate, Jeet Kune Do, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, and some other styles of combat. The combat techniques are tailored specifically for you, and I implore you to master all those techniques as quickly as possible. After you’ve mastered all of that, we shall begin with the second lesson, where I’ll be training and honing your defensive capabilities, as well as to further hone your mastery of the aforementioned techniques. In the third lesson, I’ll fight you using all manner of combat techniques. There is only one thing you’ll need to focus on throughout the lesson, which is to do your best and kill me. Regardless of the tools and methods employed, your goal would be to kill me as quickly and cleanly as possible.”

Corona’s appearance was designed based on a popular Japanese idol, which made her look pretty and weak, which was not all that different from the archetypical girl-next-door. However, everything she said so far would make all who hear her break out in cold sweat.

“In the second class, I shall train you in handling all manner of firearms and how to incorporate them in your fighting arts,” she continued. “I would be having you develop abilities to fight humans in actual battlefield situations. In the final class, the focus will be on training you to fight against extraterrestrial creatures, in this case being xenomorphs, as well as to develop your survivability in extreme conditions, as to increase the chances of you surviving your next mission.”

Zhang Heng nodded, he particularly asked for such training in the third class, as he was making preparations to head to the Alien plane on his next mission given by the Dimensional Star. As such, it was well within reason for him to get used to fighting xenomorphs.

Corona smiled satisfactorily after seeing that Zhang Heng agreed to her plans. “Let’s begin the lessons now. First of all, do you know what the main objective of combat is?”

“I’d say the focus of combat would be doing damage. The more damage one could do, the better one could protect oneself,” Zhang Heng answered after thinking about it for a bit.

“You are correct and incorrect at the same time.” Corona shook head and continued, “There is only one thing to remember when it comes to doing combat in life and death situations—do not use combat techniques unless you’re forced to do so. Your main objective is to kill your enemy using all means available while minimizing any damage done to you.”

Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows and asked, “So you’re saying that true combat means killing your enemies by all means necessary while protecting yourself?”

“Correct, that is true combat. All notions of fairness and ethics, all notions of means being honorable or despicable, hold no meaning in actual combat. What is considered as the best combat methods are what would allow you to kill your enemy.” Corona’s eyes sparkled. “From here on out, all the combat techniques that I will be imparting to you are definitely not ones to allow you to play the cool protagonist in situations favorable to you, but the last resort made available when you become truly backed to a corner. You might find this form of combat to contradict your existing views on combat, but do not forget that you’re not fighting a match on the ring. Your battles are fundamentally different from combat sports meant solely for the ring. These techniques may not have any notions of aesthetics and charm inherent in the ethics of martial arts, but they would definitely be lethal techniques.”

“I know. The goal of making use of fighting techniques is not doing combat for the sake of doing combat, but doing combat for the sake of survival.” Zhang Heng chuckled and nodded.