The blood had already dried on his skin. His breathing had returned to normal. And Mo Han's body, curled beneath a stone overhang, remained silent.Not from fear.But from analysis.
He had won. Survived. Killed.But now came the most important part: understanding how.
Activated runes:
Reflective Listening
Muscular Response
Impact FocusEstimated duration: 6 to 8 seconds under stressPhysiological cost: high
Mo Han began mentally reconstructing the fight.Movement by movement.The enemy's attack cycle.The timing between the arm raise and the lunge.The micro-adjustments in posture.
More than recalling it—he repeated it.Internally, in cycles.
With his back against the stone, he initiated a deep breathing protocol.As his lungs expanded and contracted, his mind layered the fight's movements over his muscle memory.
— "Entry... evasion... counter-pressure. Disarm. Arterial strike…"
It was a ritual. A neurological mapping.And more than that, it was a prototype.
Here, in this blood-soaked hollow, the Adaptive Combat System was born.
It wasn't a fighting style. It was a framework.A set of mental instructions activated by external patterns.
Detection: sound, breath, posture
Prediction: comparison to stored patterns
Adjustment: activation of the optimal response rune
Execution: movement based on lowest physical cost
It was like running a program within his nervous system.
Mo Han opened his eyes.The pain remained. His heartbeat still raced.But there was clarity.Power.
Not the raw power of Qi.But the power to win without the enemy ever knowing why they lost.
He stood.Walked to the body of his attacker.Studied the wounds. Measured the damage.
Too much force in the final strike. Wasted energy.Suggested adjustment: indirect pressure, silent fracture.
Logged.
Right there, on the dried blood, with fingers stained in slime and dirt, Mo Han drew a series of interlinked symbols into the ground.
Three runes. Three triggers. One simulation flow.
This is only the beginning.