A Nerfed Gamer in Avia Chapter 9 - Qi Blind

“So you said you had an idea?” Damien asked, sitting on his bed as I stood in front of him with a grin on my face.

I quickly nodded “Yep, so dad told me the tournament was a team one so I decided to ask if you want to join my team. Once I learned that I was sure I'd lose very early in the tournament but with you and one other person we should be good” I say with a smirk.

Damien raised an eyebrow as he stared at me “Okay, I'm in. It sounds fun” He said with a smile “who’s the third?” he asked.

“I’m going to ask Arthur” I said as Damien grinned, excitement all over his face.

The next day I had father send a letter to the Zeroth Family and soon me, father and Damien were standing in the training room.

“So now it’s time to get onto some more advanced techniques. So based on their names you two can choose which you want to learn first. There are two we can start with, Quad Burst and Qi Counter”. Dad said with a smile.

Me and Damien took one look at each other before we turned to Dad and said “Quad burst” in unison.

Dad laughed as he nodded “I thought so. Quad Burst is a fun technique. A much more powerful version of Qi Fist and Qi Kick. To put it simply you line up four orbs of Qi in your forearm or calf.

Once a kick or punch connects you would blast the first three bursts forward, using the fourth as a propellant to launch the first three out.

Because of the way you perform this technique, if done wrong you could blow your arm and/or leg apart” Dad explained as we both nodded.

“Now we will take this slow, we’ll start with two and you’ll practise propelling one ball of Qi”. Dad showed us how to perform the technique and we both immediately focused.

I activated my Qi Cloak, the cloak wrapping tightly around my body although i barely felt the Qi. I then gathered two separate chunks of Qi in my forearm, putting one in my fist and another in my wrist.

I then followed dad’s instructions and punched forward. As my arm straightened out fully, I pushed the first ball forward as I slammed the second into the back of the first, bursting the second Qi ball, causing the first to be launched out.

The Qi burst from my fist causing a small gust of air to fly forward rustling a bit of father’s hair.

I obviously did something wrong because my arm suddenly started burning in pain as I collapsed to my knees clutching my wrist as I gritted my teeth.

“Fuck! That hurts!” I growled as my Qi set about healing whatever injury I had. Dad immediately rushed over and moved my other arm away and started inspecting my wrist where the pain was.

He nodded “suck it up, you haven't broken through the skin so the damage is relatively minimal, your Qi will heal it. You probably fractured something or whatever. Your Qi will heal it just fine, hell your Qi’s healing properties are better than mine” father said.

I sighed as I sat back and held my wrist, resting it in my lap as I watched Damien. He succeeded after a few tries. He did it the smart way, he lowered the power of the second orb of Qi and slowly increased it as he got better at controlling it.

Soon I was healed, the damage was apparently minimal. I got back to work, succeeding after two tries. At this point Damien could do the full technique.

I wanted to catch up quickly so I got to work. I formed three orbs in my arm before throwing a punch. The first two orbs were just there, you pushed them forward slightly, giving them a nudge but most of the power came from the final orb.

You had to focus heavily on that orb because you had to control the Qi so it only pushed the other orbs out. If you let the Qi explode with no control then it would hurt you, that’s what I did the first time.

As I forcely applied pressure to the final orb and my arm straightened out, I shoved the orb into the two others, letting it explode against them but I forced the Qi into a concentrated and controlled blast.

It was hard to explain, I enforce my will onto it, making it only affect the other Qi orbs. The technique was completed in one try this time so I moved onto the proper way to do it.

I succeeded in one try. Faster than Damien of course so I made sure to give him a smug look. He proceeded to pick up a pebble and lob it at me as I turned to face dad.

It harmlessly bounced off my Qi Cloak and I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

Damien shrugged before turning to father as well.

We wanted to continue but dad was just staring at us with a frown “what the hell is wrong with you two?” he asked, seeming to be in genuine confusion.

I blinked and Damien pointed at his chest mockingly “me?” he said innocently.

I laughed at Damien as dad glared at him “I'm serious, you learn these things too fast, it’s insane!” he pointed accusingly at Damien who shrugged “i’m just good I guess” he said nonchalantly.

Dad face palmed as he let out a frustrated sigh “I’m sure you have a good idea as to what the reason could be for me and I also know the reason why i’m good” I said then pointed to Damien “I have no clue why he is good, honestly when we first started training I thought he’d be terrible” I said.

Damien immediately tried to kick me, I simply ducked before sweeping the leg he was using to stand on, his other leg still in the air.

He fell back and grunted at the force of his landing, his Qi Cloak protecting him from any real damage.

Using Quad Burst with a kick was easy now we knew how to control the final orb.

“Well I guess I should be happy my sons are so strong although I’m fairly sure it’s because me and your mother are so awesome, you two have good genes” dad shrugged with a smirk, he seemed to give up on figuring us out and proceeded with the lesson.

“So! Qi Counter is next, a more advanced version of Qi Block to put it simply. It is easier than Quad Burst and you aren’t at risk of hurting yourself if you do it wrong. Unless you do it really wrong”. Dad shrugged and decided to not tell us how to perform this technique.

He simply did the technique and looked at us expectantly, a bit smug.

Damien and I were offended so we both immediately started analysing the memory we had, we had been watching with our Qi Senses when he started doing the technique.

Honestly I thought this was easier than Qi Fist. That’s probably because I’m just much better at using Qi now.

I applied Qi Block to my arm before gathering more Qi behind it, then had Damien through a small rock at my arm. I blocked it with Qi Block and as it hit, I launched the Qi at it causing it to explode into pieces.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I had a notification.

Two new techniques have been added to Advanced Qi Cloak.

Quad Burst - You create four orbs of Qi in your arm or calf. When a kick or punch connects, you use the fourth orb to launch the three orbs into the point of connection. It must be done with precision and speed. This results in one attack becoming four attacks.

Qi Counter - You apply Qi Block to a part of your body before gathering some more Qi behind it. When an attack makes contact with the blocked area, you expel the Qi into the attack, causing damage to the attacker.

I nodded in satisfaction. At this point father had given up on being frustrated. He then smirked at us “okay since you can learn all of these techniques so quickly I believe you are ready to learn Qi Blind”.

We were both excited but then we noticed the smirk on our dads face. I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious.

“How do we do it?” Damien asked hesitantly.

Fathers smirk got wider “I’m glad you asked son”.

************************************

I ducked under a kick as I slammed a punch into my attackers guard, Quad Burst being used to slam several more attacks into my opponents chest. It did nothing though as my opponent slapped me across the face, sending me face first into the dirt.

Damien wasn’t that far from me, laying down on his back in a muddy puddle. It started raining soon after we started training in the Qi Blind technique.

Father had forced us to stay outside, his reasoning being that it would wash away the sweat that would build on us. Although instead of sweat dirtying our bodies it was mud that was messing up our clothes and bodies.

“How is this supposed to help us!” Damien shouted as he stared up into the rainy sky. Dark clouds had quickly spread across the sky, it was getting dark now, the light the sun gave was slowly disappearing as it lowered in the sky.

“I have already told you, you need to have a small amount of Qi. All of these years you have been circulating Qi around your bodies, it has gotten used to this, your body and your Qi.

Your Qi wants to move around your body so it can protect you at a moment's notice. You need to force it back into your core and it’s easier to do that with a smaller amount of Qi”. Father explained.

“But Ben is an IQU!” Damien shouted.

“He is so it would be easier for him even with most of his Qi but I wanted to beat both of you up soooo” he trailed off and shrugged with a smirk.

I glared at him as I shot forward with Qi Step ducking under a punch before sweeping at dads legs, Damien appeared behind dad, swinging a kick at the back of fathers head.

Dad responded by blocking my kick and grabbing Damiens leg before throwing him at a tree. He then moved faster than either of us were capable of and grabbed me by the leg, lifting me up.

I hung upside down but that didn’t stop me from throwing a punch at my fathers stomach. He caught my fist, throwing it to the side as he slammed three punches against my stomach.

Qi Cloak protected me from most of the damage but I was almost out of Qi at this point. I was then thrown at Damien who had just gotten back up.

I slammed into him, both of us grunting in pain as we rolled across the muddy and squishy ground.

Eventually we stopped, both of us staying laid down. We had given up at this point, we were exhausted.

“Alright that’s enough” dad said as he clapped his hands. He then moved over and sat down in front of us, placing his hands in his lap as we both got up to a sitting position.

“Get as comfy as possible” he said as he watched us both shuffle around until we got comfy.

I had to take off my shirt and use the inside to wipe the mud from my face. Damien seemed to think it was a good idea since he did the same thing as soon as he saw me doing it.

I then threw said shirt off to the side, the rain had gotten worse. We heard lightning strike off in the distance. We didn’t need to worry about a forest fire since the rain was so heavy.

Father then spoke, talking much louder than before because of the loud sound the rain was producing “now grab every little bit of Qi left in your body and drag it back into your core, force it if you have to” he said as he closed his eyes and pulled his Qi into his core.

I followed his example, I shut my eyes and focused inward. I looked through my body, finding every little bit of Qi. I gathered up all of the dregs and forced them all into my core.

It was weird because of the Mp in my core that overlapped the Qi, it was confusing to attempt to push all of my Qi into it.

The QI and Mp seemed to exist in the same space. It was as if two buildings existed in the exact same space. It was impossible yet here it was right in front of me.

I did my best to ignore the Mp, focusing on the Qi. I pushed every bit inside. It was easy to do so but it was much harder to keep it inside. As soon as I relaxed my control of it, it all immediately started seeping out of my core.

It wanted to move throughout my body but I couldn't let it. I continued containing the Qi to my core for a while, focusing all my attention onto it.

Soon I felt a hand on my shoulder. As I opened my eyes I saw it was father. He had placed his hands on mine and Damiens shoulders pulling us both out of our trance.

“It’s time for dinner boys, go get ready” he said as we both got up and stretched out our sore bodies. It had been about an hour since we started.

We then left to go and get cleaned up. Me and Damien were covered in mud thanks to our “training”.

Soon we were all gathered in the dining room, food in front of us all.

“Father I have a question, am I able to apply at the guild? The tournament is soon and I need to start making progress on my cultivation tier” I asked my father who was sitting beside me. Damien on my left, father on my right.

Father nodded “I know the Branch leader, I’ll take you down there tomorrow and we can get your registered” father said with a smile.

I nodded and went back to focusing on eating my food.

Yesterday was quick to arrive. I was dressed in a simple clean white tunic. Brown trousers covering my legs and simple brown leather shoes.

I had let my white hair grow out a little bit, it was longer on top and shorter on the sides.

Me and dad were walking beside each other heading to the Guild Building. Soon I found myself standing in front of a large stone building. The roof was made of dark brown wood.

As we entered the guild we were met by a large man. He had huge muscles, he was dressed in smart attire. A black suit on his body. He wore a huge smile as he immediately embraced dad, both of them laughing as they greeted each other.

“Who is this George?” the large bald man asked.

“This is Benjamin, my youngest” father said as I greeted the man before sticking out my hand. He took my much smaller hand in his and shook it.

After some small talk, the branch leader who was named Johnson took us upstairs and into his office.

“So what can I do for you George? I didn’t expect to see you today after all” Johnson asked.

Dad gestured to me as he spoke “Benjamin wants to apply at the guild, I can vouch for his strength, I also like you to do me a favour. I believe he is strong enough to advance to a higher rank immediately” father said.

I smirked at him with a smug look as father glared at me.

Johnson laughed at us for a second before he nodded “yes I can do that but young Benjamin would have to take a test. I would like to do the test myself. I am intrigued, I want to see the abilities of the son you brag about so much” Johnson said with a chuckle.

Dad glared at me daring me to say something. I simply smirked at him, I was trying hard to keep in my laughter but father could clearly see I was holding it in as he let out a sigh.

Father left me with Branch Leader Johnson, he immediately brought me downstairs then behind the front reception desk. It was quite early in the morning so not many hunters were at the guild.

He brought me into a large backroom. It was completely bare. White walls, floor and ceiling.

“This is our testing arena, usually you’d face a monster but instead you’ll face me. Since you want to advance in some ranks immediately I'll be testing you” he said as he walked further into the room, stopped then turned and faced me.

I shrugged as I dropped into the praying mantis-like stance of WSRSF. Johnson smiled as Qi surged around him before shrinking to his skin. I followed his example, Advanced Qi Cloak covering my body.

“Start whenever” he said as he raised his fists.

I nodded with a smirk. I wasn’t going to bother holding back anything, I wanted to get up in ranks as fast as possible after all. I hadn’t gotten one yet but I was hoping Gacha Tokens could drop from monsters.

I needed to be able to hunt stronger monsters and dungeons so I can get stronger.

I narrowed my eyes as I stared at Branch Leader Johnson before I launched myself forward with Qi Step, the fight starting.