’I knew it,’ Liam thought, the soreness in his left arm dispersing as he stretched it. ’I truly haven’t made use of this at all.’

As time had gone by, Liam had relied less and less on his physical gifts, instead prioritizing martial arts. That had been the right call, but it had also limited him.

Without knowing how to use Qi, Liam had kept up with Lucy. His foundation had been complete back then, but that remained an incredible feat.

Afterward, Liam had mostly relied on a passive use of his physical gifts, abusing his resilience rather than his sheer strength. He had indulged in those approaches during the Primal Urge and with his body-enhancing pills, but never in his basic state, not in any meaningful way.

Truth was, even those times, there wasn’t much to show. As strong as Liam was, he had too few minor roots for his physical prowess to be significant.

However, Liam now had fifty-seven minor roots, and his inborn gifts had started to show even in his normal state. If he had to guess, his body could match a rank 1 martial art, and that was when it came to the strength it could exert.

With Qi and proper battle stances, Liam could push that power further, maybe even touching upon rank 2 martial arts once he reached the stage’s peak, especially once he added his black energy to the equation.

The Divine Cult had beaten the beast out of Liam, but he felt as if he had forgotten too much. It was time to bring part of the monkey-boy back, putting it up to speed with everything else he had developed.

’Let’s try for real,’ Liam decided, his black eyes behind the mask going on the rugged man. His left arm had a big bruise from where Liam had hit him earlier, but he still seemed able to use it.

The debris under Liam blew away similarly to what the Lightning Step caused, but no thunderous noises unfolded. He merely ran, unleashing all his legs could do and perfectly synchronizing them with his Qi.

Fighting rooting experts with body alone was already idiotic, especially when they wielded rank 2 martial arts, so Liam had to at least stop holding back within the limits he had imposed on himself.

The rugged man wasn’t fine. He pretended to be, but his left arm hurt whenever he tried to move it. Even his hand had gone numb, but his masked opponent gave him no time to think.

Liam was so fast that his figure disappeared at times, surpassing what the rugged man could perceive without techniques. To make things worse, Liam’s speed increased.

Kicking the ground as hard as possible wasn’t the only way to achieve forward propulsion. It honestly was a very basic approach that wasted power and could create all sorts of problems in troublesome environments, exactly like it had happened to the level three bear.

Still, Liam was no brute. For all his primal upbringing, swinging on trees demanded a great deal of finesse. He had done it subconsciously in the past, but he saw that trait now and could actively pursue it.

There were better ways of running, more optimized and less wasteful methods to use muscles. Liam had only focused on Qi mastery, but he now realized that he could polish how everything about him moved.

Anyone could swing a sword, but few could make it dance. Technique was key, and Liam already had it. He just had to bring it up to speed with his current level.

Liam’s steps grew softer and softer. He perfected the way he unleashed his superior strength, prioritizing elasticity to generate greater propulsion, gradually wasting less power, until all of it went to make him faster.

That wasn’t a realm mortals could touch. Liam’s figure was basically horizontal, only his toes hitting the ground rapidly, cracks opening on the floor every time. Yet, his opponent’s face more than confirmed his success.

The rugged man was struggling to follow Liam but had been ready to intercept him, only for him to suddenly appear in front of him, taking him by surprise in ways comparable to the Ghost Step.

Also, Liam didn’t stop to perform any fancy move. No matter how swift he was, relying on a battle stance to maximize the power his accumulated momentum could unleash would waste some time, so he just crashed onto his opponent.

At that speed, Liam was nothing short of a magical wrecking ball. His crossed arms slammed on the rugged man’s torso, knocking the wind out of him, lifting him, and continuing to push him until his back slammed on the wall.

The rugged man looked tougher than Liam’s first opponent. He endured the blow and tried to react, but Liam had the initiative there, and his palm was already in front of his face.

Liam slammed his opponent deeper into the wall. Something cracked, but the rugged man was still conscious. Liam heard that, so he performed the follow-up he had discovered just a few exchanges ago.

After a sharp half-turn, Liam slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest, sending him even deeper into the wall, pieces of stone falling from the cracks around that hole.

Even then, the rugged man was still awake, but words and blood splashed out of his mouth before Liam could attack again. "I surrender!"

Liam halted his assault, only for a now-familiar pressure to spread from his side. He turned sharply again, this time unleashing one of the Disciplinary Elder’s battle stances, thrusting his fist in the direction of the threat.

A clanging noise resounded. Liam’s punch hit a javelin aimed at his head, deflecting it, sending it to his right where it stabbed the floor. His knuckles bled, but the Metal Hand’s conditioning had kept the injury shallow.

The impact had also been nothing compared to the rugged man’s spell. Liam’s foothold didn’t falter. He experienced no pushback, so he charged ahead, aiming for the old woman.