Chapter 120: Energy Wave!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 120: Energy Wave!
It all started with a very casual question.
“Tyr. You said your Bloodcraft has gotten weaker, but your physical abilities have improved, right? You knocked Nabi out with a single punch.”
“I know not the reason, but it is so.”
“But in exchange, your ability to control blood outside your body has weakened. Hmm… isn’t that dangerous? I mean, being physically stronger doesn’t do you much good since you can’t die anyway.”
“True. However, I can still command the darkness. Darkness is the ash that remains after life is scorched by light. With that alone, I can summon the dark knights…”
“Those dark knights are completely useless. They disappear with a simple wave of a hand.”
“…O-Originally, the dark knights grow stronger only when clad in blood energy. A dark knight clad in blood energy could once vie with even the greatest of knights.”
“But you said you can’t wrap things in blood energy outside your body anymore. That makes Ralion pretty much the only familiar who’s actually useful.”
“…Ugh.”
Chastised for her incompetence, Tyr hung her head, her spirit crushed.
Me, making the Progenitor bow her head with a single word. The Sanctum should bestow upon me the title of Saint.
“Imagine we ran into the Military State’s army out there. Do you think you could stop them with those dark knights? Ralion would be the only one running himself ragged.”
“I-I, too, have gained some strength.”
“Perhaps. It’s great that you’re strong as an individual, but your existence alone can’t shake a nation or turn the tide of war. Besides, you only just got this new power. You don’t have an objective measure of how strong you are.”
I pointed a finger at a pile of debris in a corner of the prison. A massive steel column was half-buried in the ground there.
“Well then, let’s see that strength. Think you can lift that steel column?”
A colossal steel column that once supported the prison. Could she lift the massive alchemic steel beam that served as the skeleton within the concrete, keeping it from crumbling…?
…Wait a minute. Why is that thing over there? Give it back.
“Very well. Of course.”
“Huh? Wait a…”
Eager to prove her strength, Tyr strode toward the column, swinging her arms. She gripped it firmly with her small hands.
I must show Hu my power so he will not worry. I shall make him realize who stands behind him… But can I truly lift something this large with the power of my Bloodcraft?
Losing confidence at the sheer size of the column, Tyr gripped it with all her might.
Creeeak. The steel groaned, buckling and twisting. The alchemic steel, the pride of the Military State, reshaped itself like clay in the girl’s hands.
The thick column, which an adult man couldn’t even wrap one hand around, molded itself to the shape of her small hand. The part she gripped became a handle.
And then.
“Whoa!”
R-R-R-Rumble.
The ground shook violently. I steadied my staggering body, my eyes wide with shock.
Wait, hold on. This isn’t even the ground, so why is there an earthquake?
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
“Meeeow-! Meeeow-!”
Sensing the precursor to disaster, the animals were the first to bolt out of the building.
“What? What’s happening?”
The vibration was so immense that even the Regressor, who had been deep in her training, came running out barefoot. High above, I could see the Undying carrying Callis and evacuating to the rooftop.
The cause of all this, Tyr, was pulling the steel column out from where it was buried in the floor. Pulling a column rooted deep within the concrete ground with her bare hands.
The floor beneath Tyr’s feet couldn’t withstand the force and began to crumble. Each time it did, the column twisted, its roots gradually being exposed. She looked like a farmer pulling up a weed.
Then, at a certain moment.
Snap. The column, pulled to its limit, snapped in the middle. The vibrations ceased, and Tantalus, which had been lifted up along with its foundation, sank about two centimeters. Thud. The prison building made a short but violent ‘landing.’
Having accomplished a feat impossible for not just a human but even heavy machinery, Tyr lifted the broken piece of the column and spoke weakly.
“…Indeed, my strength seems to have waned. I could lift a mere weight such as this with the darkness I create… This was difficult.”
The Regressor and I stared at Tyr, our mouths agape.
*
I led Tyr to the classroom and tapped the chalkboard.
“Today, we will learn about Qi Art.”
Bloodcraft is a type of Qi Art.
Qi Art is the technique of Qi Practitioners who master control over their bodies.
By infusing their Qi into a sword to make the blade sharper and harder, channeling impacts into the ground, or hardening their own bodies, Qi Practitioners possess a level of combat prowess on a completely different dimension from ordinary humans.
And, from what I had observed…
“Tyr’s Bloodcraft is a form of Qi Art.”
I explained it once more.
“The physical enhancement through Bloodcraft. The extension of life, the regenerative abilities… all of this was possible because your power, Tyr, is a form of Qi Art. It’s just that due to some incident you experienced, your power began to extend outward to consume the world, rather than inward. That has now reverted, now that you have your heart back.”
The Regressor wasn’t surprised, as this was something she already knew well.
She had realized it was a type of Qi Art based on understanding, which was why she had come down to the Abyss in advance to learn it.
“However, it seems Tyr regained her power so suddenly that she doesn’t quite know how to use her overflowing strength. I have no talent for Qi Art myself, so for today, I’ve invited Shei to be our guest instructor. Now, a round of applause!”
Clap, clap, clap.
I ordered the Regressor around as I clapped enthusiastically.
But the one I had called upon, the Regressor, just sat there blankly.
“Me, a guest instructor?”
“Yes!”
“That’s strange. This is the first I’m hearing of it.”
“Because I just said it for the first time.”
‘…This is weird. Nabi’s the one who smokes the mana herbs, but sometimes that guy seems even crazier than she is…’
The Regressor shook her head, looking troubled.
“What I’ve learned isn’t the standard Qi Art. It’s hard to explain, so you do it.”
“Me? Hmm, even if I was the top student at the secondary military school, I never went to the Military Academy, so I never learned Qi Art…”
“There you go, lying so naturally again. You can use Qi Art.”
The Regressor responded without any emotional reaction, as if she were used to it by now.
“You can’t even touch the blade of Chun-aeng without Qi Art.”
“And?”
“It means you’ve at least mastered enough Qi Art to deflect Chun-aeng when I swung it. Which naturally means you can use Qi Art.”
‘So that’s why she mistook me for at least an officer…? No, I wasn’t an ordinary laborer, so it wasn’t a mistake. In any case, that’s what she thought.’
That’s when it started. When she began to overestimate me.
She was right. Just as the Regressor thought, I can use Qi Art.
However, I can only just use it. My total amount of power and output are so pathetic that infusing a single card with energy leaves me gasping for breath. On a scale of 0 to 1, I’m a proud 0.1—a feeble existence.
Honestly, deflecting Chun-aeng was a fluke I could never repeat, but I decided not to let it show.
“If you insist, I suppose it’s only right that I be the one to teach you.”
Returning to the chalkboard, I picked up a piece of chalk and began to draw.
“Alright. Qi Art is generally divided into three types.”
I drew the earth, a person, and the sky.
Then, I drew an arrow extending out from the person’s body.
“Heaven (乾). To scatter one’s energy into all things in the world.”
Next, I drew a line seeping from the person’s feet into the ground.
“Earth (坤). To emit energy into the ground to firmly support one’s body.”
Finally, I depicted energy swirling inside the person’s body.
“Water (坎). To focus energy on oneself to transform the physical body.”
Tap, tap. After tapping the chalkboard a couple of times with the chalk, I spun around.
“This is the basic classification of Qi Art. For your reference, the Military State’s standard Qi Art recommends learning them in the order of Heaven, Earth, and Water. They say it’s the easiest way to learn.”
Hearing the familiar terms, Tyr tilted her head.
“The teaching itself seems similar to what the Taoists of the Order of Gaia once explained.”
“Because it was derived from them. However, unlike the Taoists who expressed the principles of the world and nature in vague terms, this classification of Qi Art is a practical and analytical approach.”
Seeing is believing. It would be much easier to understand if I showed them directly.
I wasn’t sure if it would work with the handful of Qi I possessed, but I’d give it a try.
“Now, I will show you an example of how to use Qi Art.”
I took out a single card and placed it face down in the middle of the teacher’s desk. I hadn’t prepared any other cards, since I wasn’t planning on doing a magic trick today.
Instead, I extended my index finger, stopping it just short of the back of the card.
“The power to pull. Qi Gravitation.”
The card, which had been lying still on the desk, twitched. Then, as I focused, it snapped to the tip of my finger like a magnet.
I pointed the attached card upward.
“The power to repel. Qi Deflection.”
Without even flicking my finger, the card shot up on its own. It spun in the air before falling back down.
“These two are the foundation of all applications. Other techniques are merely derivatives of pushing and pulling. Furthermore, this energy can be applied not only to the body but to objects as well.”
I imbued the card with my Qi. Then I lifted the hem of my clothes and swiped it once with the card’s sharpened edge.
Swish. The razor-sharp edge of the card sliced through the fabric.
Tyr was amazed by my skill.
“A Qi blade? Hu, were you an Expert? Good heavens. I knew there was something unusual about you…”
“No, no. This is a basic Qi Art that anyone who’s even set foot in an advanced military academy can do. What the knights of old called a Qi blade was, in fact, nothing more than a thin layer of Qi Deflection wrapped around the blade.”
A blade meant to cut is inevitably bound to stick to what it cuts. Those who wielded weapons always feared the dead. If a dead man grabbed hold of a powerfully swung weapon and didn’t let go, the next corpse would be their own.
But those who used Qi blades were free from this restriction. Their blades, having carved through bone and muscle, would shake off anything that clung to them with Qi Deflection and pull free. Thus, they did not fear the ones who would die by their weapons.
And so, they became specialists in killing. That is why people called them Experts.
Of course, it’s a bit of an outdated concept now.
“Does that mean anyone can wield a Qi blade these days? No wonder the strength of a common soldier was beyond all reason…”
“That’s right. I may have ruled the back alleys, but I was only somewhat famous. The real masters have learned Qi Art far superior to this. Now do you see why you need to learn how to use your power?”
“I understand. If I do not strive now, I feel I will be unable to protect not only you, but even myself. I will focus.”
Tyr looked at me, her eyes filled with grim determination.
The Regressor, however, just looked dumbfounded.
‘That can’t be right! The ones who came down here weren’t soldiers, they were officers. One was a Mage Officer, another was a general’s adjutant, and the last one was a general… No matter how I look at it, Tyrkanzyaka is on a level that far surpasses even a general!’
The Regressor looked like she was itching to say something, but after seeing Tyr focusing with burning intensity, she changed her mind.
‘Still, it’s good motivation for Tyrkanzyaka. I’ll keep my mouth shut for now.’
Somehow, the teacher and the student were thinking along the same lines. I wonder if they’re starting to resemble each other.
“From what I can see, Tyr, your power is an extreme form of Water (坎) Qi Art. You’re overflowing with power, but you can’t release it outside your body.”
Having more than enough power but being unable to utilize it. A situation the Military State despises most.
But the solution was simple.
“You just need to practice projecting your power.”
“I am trying to train because I cannot project my power. How am I to practice that?”
“Like this.”
I curled my right middle finger and hooked it with my thumb. The classic finger-flick-ready position.
With my left hand, I held up a card, moving it to a distance my finger couldn’t reach. It was clearly farther than my finger could extend; a flick wouldn’t hit it at all.
“Hup.”
But as I flicked my finger, there was the sound of an impact, and the card was knocked backward.
The Qi Art I had projected from my fingertip had struck the card.
“Like this. If you keep flicking at a distance you can’t reach, you’ll slowly get the hang of it.”
This was the skill of a back-alley card flipper. How about that?
Tyr, who had been watching the card intently, was fascinated.
“It clearly did not touch… To strike something from afar. It is like a Kinetic Strike.”
“They used to call it that in the old days. Here. I’ll give you a card, so give it a try.”
Tyr did as I had, holding the card at an unreachable distance and curling the fingers of her other hand. Then, she flicked with all her might.
That was all she did.
BOOM.
The air exploded like a bomb. The wind raged, and the card, caught in the storm, was thrown back. The resulting gust blew my hair about.
“I succeeded!”
Tyr looked at me with a proud expression.
No, that was…
“That’s just actual air pressure. Your power is too strong, Tyr.”
A card wouldn’t do. I gave her a piece of wood instead of the easily bent card. Though she seemed displeased at first, Tyr soon became engrossed in her practice.
Letting her study on her own was so relaxing for both my body and mind. I was just quietly watching Tyr flick her fingers endlessly when…
“Your theory is really solid.”
Perhaps because it was a topic she knew, the Regressor approached me amicably.
“I told you, I was the top student at the secondary military school.”
“But you dropped out. Doesn’t that make you an elementary school graduate like me?”
“Hey. Are you comparing someone who couldn’t even get in the door to someone who was consistently at the top before quitting? That’s absurd.”
The Regressor, who was always scattering her energy in all directions, had Chun-aeng floating above her head again today.
The weightless sword, Chun-aeng, was heavily influenced by Qi Art. If pushed with Qi Deflection, it would be sent flying; if pulled with Qi Gravitation, it would stick right to you.
The Regressor keeping Chun-aeng floating above her head was a form of training in itself. Maintaining a balance of neither pushing nor pulling was impossible without meticulous control.
The reason I was able to flick Chun-aeng away with my finger was also thanks to Qi Art. Although my own energy was but a handful, Chun-aeng was so light that a momentary burst of Qi was enough to push it away.
If that thing had been made of steel… Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it. A one-armed magician.
“Alright, Mr. Top Student. But why didn’t you teach her the last one?”
“The last one?”
“You know. Heaven (乾), Earth (坤), Water (坎). The one that comes after.”
The ideal of all Qi Art. The pinnacle that was said to transcend even magic and reach the divine.
The Regressor calmly brought up that state, a concept one should be cautious even to speak of.
“Sun (離).”
‘A state that even I have yet to reach… A legendary realm that even the most renowned masters have only touched but never grasped.’
She thinks it’s a legend herself, and she wants me to teach it to a beginner? That’s like teaching a toddler who’s just learned to walk how to drive an automaton carriage.
“The state where Qi Art reaches the level of an Axiom and can distort the world? There’s no need to teach that right now. It’s not like she could learn it even if I did. It’s different for everyone, so there’s no standard for it.”
“But some people can use it, can’t they?”
“What are the chances of meeting a Qi Practitioner who has reached an Axiom in our lifetime? And even if they have, it doesn’t make them invincible. I think Tyr could beat them.”
What’s the use of distorting the world? If Tyr just endures it, gets close, and throws a punch, they’ll die.
Even if they’ve reached a divine state, if they’re a weakling, Tyr’s punch will send their head flying. These days, even gods can’t survive if they’re weak.
At my textbook answer, the Regressor didn’t hide her disappointment.
“Looks like you don’t have any clues either.”
“Are there clues? If there are, I’d like to see them. So I can grab one and wield some amazing power myself.”
“…That’s true.”
Just as the Regressor was muttering bitterly, Tyr, who had been flicking her fingers alone, called out to me as if she’d figured something out.
“Hu. I have found a way.”
“What? Already?”
Her body was already filled with Bloodcraft, but in such a short time?
“Alright, show me.”
“Watch closely. I have applied the method I originally used for my Bloodcraft…”
Tyr pressed the tip of her finger with her own nail. The flesh bruised slightly, and blood beaded at the tip.
In that state, Tyr flicked her finger with all her might.
The world split in half.
For a moment, a fan-shaped wave of blood registered on my retinas. The blood that shot out from Tyr’s fingertip swallowed about half of the classroom.
But by the time I blinked, the blood energy had already returned to Tyr’s body.
It was a sight that made even me, a mind-reader, wonder if it was a hallucination.
However, the completely obliterated piece of wood was the only proof that what had just happened was real.
If she had flicked her finger in my direction… Wow. I would have become one with Tyr. In a very physical sense.
“The blood energy does not wish to part from my body. Still, this should be useful enough, would you not agree?”
This was just… her flinging her own blood and flesh as a projectile.
This wasn’t the Qi Art I knew.
Forcing my trembling body to move, I nodded. My mouth remained hanging open the entire time.