Villain: The Play of Destiny

"He seems happy."

A voice called out from behind him, and Keith turned around to find Amelia walking over to him. 

"You were out for a run?" He curiously asked when he found her wearing a tracksuit.

"Yes." She nodded as she came to stand by his side, watching the two young men going all out against each other. 

Ryou's movements were calculated, efficient, and focused more on countering, whereas, Victor was just fighting like a raging bull. The latter aimed every punch and kick with the intent of knocking out his enemy, but unfortunately for him, he was still a little slow when compared to the boy who had been trained as an Assassin since his childhood. 

The lithe boy somersaulted backwards, baiting his opponent, and the latter fell for it, going in for the prize, however, the result was a well-connected hook-kick right on his blocking arm, followed by a ruthless double-kick, and before Victor could stabilise himself, he received a 360 Kick turned into a knee-kick, which landed right into his abdomen, knocking the breath out of him. 

Ryouta did not follow up and let Victor catch his breath. He had simply mastered the art of tricking, and even if he had been constantly duelling against Victor for the last month, the latter had still not got a hold of his movements. Sometimes he even wondered why an unintelligent fighter such as Victor was even by Keith's side. 

"Let's go again!" The Muscle-head stood up on his feet, wearing a bright smile, ready for another beating. 

"Master, why does he love getting beat up?" Ingrid could not help but ask after watching Victor still insisting on another round. 

"Because he's a Muscle-head." He simply said and smiled. "But, he's a special guy." He whispered.

Even if it was a whisper, Ingrid heard him clearly, but before she could ask anything about it, Keith started walking into the lawn where the two boys were fighting. 

"That's enough for today." He said, and both Ryou and Victor dropped their fighting stance. 

"But Master, I want to test my limit..." Victor complained. 

He had locked himself up since last week, sensing that he was on the verge of a breakthrough, and he was successful in his attempt. Now, this burly young man was in the early stage of the Great Profound Realm, far stronger than before, but it was not enough to counter the speed of Ryou, who was only at the peak of the Nascent Profound Realm. 

"Why? Are you not interested in learning a new method of getting stronger?" He playfully smiled. 

"Of course, I am!" The burly boy excitedly shook his head. "Who's teaching?" 

"I." 

"Master... Do you even know how to fight?" He hesitated but still asked, which made Keith narrow his eyes at him. 

"Want to try?" He harmlessly smiled, and for some reason, Yingying sensed his intentions and flinched. 

"No, no. I must not fight you." Victor frowned and shook his head. 

"Then shut up and listen." He sighed and nodded to Ryou. "Take off your shirt." 

The boy did it without asking any questions, and soon his scarred body was bare before everyone. 

"Sit, cross-legged." Keith approached him and stood behind him. 

Everyone else gathered around without him needing to ask them to do it, and they watched as he placed the tip of his finger on Ryou's back. 

"Pay attention. I am going to point out the Key Aura Nodes of the Technique I intend to teach you." He said and patiently pointed out exactly 27 Points on both the front and back of Ryou's torso. "Have you got them?" He looked straight at Victor, who embarrassedly smiled and shook his head. 

"I lost the count after 13." 

"Come and show me which ones you remember." Keith smiled and stepped aside. 

Victor kept frowning as he tried to point out the Aura Nodes Keith had marked, but after only pointing out 8, he made a mistake. 

"Wrong." It was Ryou who called out.

"Sorry." He apologized and tried to remember the locations of the rest, but failed again. 

"Sit down and take off your shirt too." Keith helplessly shook his head, and Victor did as asked, baring his muscular body in front of them. "Ryou." 

The dark-haired boy nodded and started pointing out the Aura Nodes on Victor's back. 

"Good job!" Keith was seriously impressed that the boy managed to remember the positions just after one demonstration. "How many have you got, Victor?" 

"Do I need to remember them in order?" He sheepishly asked. 

"Not necessarily, but you should remember them in that order." He lightly said. "Ryou, demonstrate it to him five more times, and if he fails to remember their positions even after that, he won't be learning this Technique." 

"Master..."

"Stop complaining, and pay attention." He strictly said, which made Victor flinch and nod his head.

After five demonstrations, where everyone present had well-versed all the 27 Aura Nodes, Victor still failed to remember all of them as he tried to point them out on Ryou's Body. 

"That's 24. You fail." Keith simply said, but before Victor could depressedly lower his head, he found his Master crouching by his side, holding his hand, helping him point out all 27 of them. "These were the three you missed." He smiled and said. 

"Thank you, Master!" The burly man sincerely said and showed him that he had got them all now. And he did get them right in the end. 

"Now that you all remember these 27 Aura Nodes, I should tell you about the Technique I want to teach you." Keith seriously looked at them. "It is not a Cultivation Technique, but something called a Recovery Art. The name of this Technique is One-Fold Heart Pulse, and it is one of the most precious among the Basic Recovery Arts. As you might have guessed from the name, Recovery Arts are meant to help you heal faster, better, and safely." 

Everyone paid their full attention to his words, remembering each detail by their heart, and even Victor remembered everything once Keith explained again how to activate this Recovery Art. 

"Once you have charged at least 9 of these 27 Nodes, you can start the Recovery Process." 

"If we only need 9 of them, why do we need to learn about all 27?" Victor frowned. 

"What would you do if you are injured and the Aura Node you remembered is damaged?" Ryou asked the obvious. 

"Oh... Sorry." Victor sheepishly smiled and nodded to Keith to continue. 

"Ryou is right. It is possible that some of these 27 Aura Nodes may not be available to you. Therefore you must always remember the positions of all 27 of these Nodes. Now, after charging the 9, the first thing you must do is try to recover the damaged Aura Nodes before guiding your Aura to aid the recovery process of your physical injuries. Try to focus on the serious injuries first before focusing on the minor ones if your life is in danger, and if it is not, you must always start with the minor injuries. Remember that this is not a Life-saving Technique. If you are fatally injured, you need help. Understood?" 

"Yes!" 

Keith proceeded to give them more detail about how this Technique worked. It was a simple Technique, but very technical. And he was sure that Victor needed to experience it himself to understand it fully. 

"Now I will tell you how you can get stronger by using this Technique. Firstly, you can keep exercising, pushing your body to its limits, and then sit down to recover using this Technique. Secondly, you can ask for a skilled doctor's help to aid you with the training. And I will be helping you with the second method." He evilly smiled, and it sent chills up Victor's spine because Keith was looking at him. "This will hurt, but don't move." 

Keith made him stay in the cross-legged sitting position as he started using his medical skills to carefully break down the muscles in his body with the help of his Aura. 

Just a couple of minutes later, all of Victor's upper body, including his face, was flushed pink, and tears were streaming out of his eyes in the excruciating pain he was suffering. 

"Master... you are cruel!" He complained. 

"I know." Keith happily smiled. "Now, recover." 

"How long would it take?" Amelia frowned and asked. 

"Should take him 4 hours before the pain subsides, and another 6 to completely recover." He revealed to them. 

"Do we have to do this?" Yingying frowned and asked. 

If she spent 10 hours recovering every day, who would stay by Keith's side to protect him?

"Your choice." Keith shrugged. "You can use the first method, and at best, you will fully recover after three hours. Also, even if you are using the second method, you need to alternate between the two to keep your body in optimal condition." 

"What's the benefit of the Second Method?" Ryou asked keeping his eyes on Victor, who seemed to be in immense pain. 

"High pain tolerance, higher immunity and natural recovery rate. More flexible and stronger muscles, and you can tighten and soften your muscles to a great extent. In short, an overall better physique which otherwise is hard to achieve. And most importantly, it will not let any unnecessary muscles build up on your body, therefore, you won't have to gain more muscles to exert more strength." He informed them, and his last words piqued the interest of the ladies. 

"If your natural recovery rate improves, you will eventually heal faster by using this Technique?" Ingrid raised her brow and asked. 

"Yes." He smiled at her. "So it depends from person to person. Someone like Ryou doesn't need 10 hours to fully recover. His natural recovery rate is better than Victor's, and I think he would only require 8 hours to recover. Yingying will need around 9, and you..." He leaned near her ear. "Just 3 without needing fresh blood." He whispered so only she could hear him. "However, the thirst will eventually kick in, harder and stronger."

"I see." She frowned and contemplated the matter. 

"Alright, Ryou. Time to make you suffer." Keith devilishly smiled, and his words brought a light smile to the dark-haired boy's face. 

He was used to pain all his life, and he was confident that it could not be worse than what he had already experienced in life. 

However, he was in for a rude awakening once Keith started breaking down his body. 

The pain was simply unbearable, and he was shocked in his heart when he realized that Victor had not let out a single cry when Keith did it to him. And here he was, trying his best to not scream. And for the first time since he had met Victor, he felt that the Muscle-head was not so simple. 

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