Chapter 257
Garvin's instincts had been correct.
Jay wasn't using any energy in his attacks—not because he was hiding it, but because he couldn't. His body had never awakened. Unlike the countless gifted who had absorbed essence and transcended their limits, Jay's physique rejected it entirely.
To most of the world, such people were labeled zeros—mundane, powerless humans doomed to remain weak for life.
But Jay was anything but powerless.
Where others relied on energy, he relied on blood, sweat, and pain. He had trained endlessly, breaking his body and rebuilding it countless times.
Martial arts became his only weapon, discipline his only shield. From the time he was young, he had faced obstacles that would have crushed ordinary men—starvation, life-and-death duels, beast hunts gone wrong, betrayals that left him bleeding in the dirt.
Every scar etched into his body had been a lesson, every near-death encounter a step forward.
