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Ding!
<You have learned the movement-type martial art, Tiger Flash Steps>
<You have gained proficiency in using the Tiger Flash Step>
<Basic-level Tiger Flash Steps → Intermediate-level Tiger Flash Steps>
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Having memorized Bram Krauss’s micro-movements, including his muscles, with Omni-Sense, Vaan easily mimicked his movement-type martial art.
And with a single attempt, he improved his mastery to the intermediate level.
Nevertheless, Bram Krauss’s proficiency in the Tiger Flash Steps was at the expert level. As such, the person was not too shocked by Vaan’s use of it.
If Bram Krauss knew Vaan had replicated his movement-type martial art after seeing it once, he would have been shocked out of his mind.
After all, it was a skill that took five years to master to the expert level.
“I hope that wasn’t your best shot, Vahn. The strength was a little lacking. I only felt a little sting. You need to put your back into it. I can take hits like that all day,” Bram Krauss goaded back, not falling for Vaan’s provocation.
“We’ll see about that too,” Vaan smiled before lunging forward.
Boom!
Vaan executed the Tiger Flash Steps, which relied on instantaneous movement to generate a high burst of speed, and closed the distance between them.
“Hahaha, come!” Bram Krauss welcomed Vaan’s attack openly with joy.
Bam!
Vaan’s fist struck squarely into Bram Krauss’s palm.
But before Bram Krauss could grapple his fist, Vaan retracted his fist swiftly and followed up with a right-hand swing at his left ribs, which were guarded by an elbow.
However, a flurry of kicks and punches followed right after, forcing Bram Krauss to defend, not giving him an opportunity to retaliate.
Nevertheless, Bram Krauss was a Peak Rank 1 Aura Warrior. With the augmentation of aura, his defense, strength, and speed were all at ninety points or above.
Bram Krauss couldn’t retaliate. But sometimes, in order to advance, one must first retreat, which was what he did.
With a single-step retreat, Bram Krauss escaped from Vaan’s rain of attacks, followed by lunging forward with Tiger Flash Steps.
Boom!
At such proximity, Vaan couldn’t entirely evade Bram Krauss’s fist with Cloud Evading Steps. Thus, he took it head-on with his bare body in exchange for two hits.
Pow! Pow!
Before Bram Krauss could make any sense of Vaan’s unnaturally sturdy chest when his fist connected, his left and right cheeks were struck by Vaan.
The consecutive blows to Bram Krauss’s head disorientated him, allowing Vaan to deliver a chain of attacks, followed by a knee to the upper stomach, the diaphragm.
Vaan’s strength was lacking but sufficient enough to deal some damage, resulting in Bram Krauss getting winded from the attack.
Afterward, he grappled the person’s arm and hurled him over his shoulder, tossing Bram Krauss onto his back. But as that happened, Bram Krauss also forcefully grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him forward before giving him a kick to the stomach.
The two were separated by several yards in an instance.
Bram Krauss coughed several times before he recovered from the previous blows, while Vaan didn’t suffer any damage.
His defense was too high.
Furthermore, he also had a passive regeneration ability to recover from any minor injuries he may or may not sustain in the fight.
“Not bad, Vahn. I can see where you get your confidence,” Bram Krauss commented.
“You have solid hand-to-hand combat skills, and your defense is ridiculously high. If your strength and speed didn’t fall short, I might not stand a chance against you at all. As you said, we have much to gain from our duel. I apologize for pulling my punches because you weren’t using aura.”
“I will be using my martial arts now. I’ll definitely make you use your aura, Vahn!” Bram Krauss declared.
“That’s more like it. Show me everything you got, Bram,” Vaan smiled and said, “Otherwise, there won’t be any point to this duel.”
Right after he spoke, Vaan watched Bram Krauss perform a set of moves.
Although these moves didn’t seem to do anything, they directed the flow of blood within Bram Krauss’s body in a very specific way and made his aura seem more violent.
<Ding! You have gained some insight into a higher-rank internal aura circulation method>
“I’m coming!” Bram Krauss alerted, giving Vaan a fair warning out of goodwill. But it also showed his concern over the power of his upcoming attack.
Boom!
Bram Krauss closed the distance with Tiger Flash Step before thrusting out with a right palm, packed with a violent red aura that turned white as it revolved around his palm like a cyclone.
“White Tiger Palm!”
Vaan narrowly evaded the palm strike with his mimicked Tiger Flash Step, which raised to the expert level.
<Intermediate-level Tiger Flash Steps → Expert-level Tiger Flash Steps>
However, the violent white aura shredded his black shirt to pieces, revealing his front upper body and exciting the crowd.
“White Tiger Kick!”
Peng!
A followed-up attack struck Vaan in the stomach, sending him flying over ten yards. At the same time, he also felt some pain from the hit, but only a little.
If the previous attacks were only around ninety points, the last one was over a hundred, reaching Early-level Rank 2.
The martial art skill Bram Krauss used was at a higher level as it also involved aura manipulation.
<You have learned an offensive-type martial art, White Tiger Palm (Mid rank)>
<You have learned an offensive-type martial art, White Tiger Kick (Mid rank)>
However, Bram Krauss did not give him a moment to rest as he had already closed the distance again.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Vaan was struck repeatedly in various parts of his body.
However, each time he was struck, his body also reacted accordingly to negate some of the damage, reducing Bram Krauss’s offensive martial art skills to a level that could be recovered within moments.
At the same time, Vaan continued to gain insights into Bram Krauss’s higher-level martial arts and aura circulation method.
The spectators saw Bram Krauss completely suppressing Vaan with his flurry of attacks.
But unlike Vaan, who retained steady breathing throughout the onslaught, Bram Krauss’s breathing was increasingly erratic from exhaustion.