Slow, too slow, Margery thought while inspecting Arun's hands. His injuries were healing, but such small scratches should have already disappeared after the healing salve.

"Is everything okay, aunt?" Arun asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it should be all healed up by tomorrow."

Good, then he could finally go back to the smithy. There was an ongoing ban since Margery wasn't particularly keen on seeing Arun injured. Arun and Thomas had to make a united front for most of the night and the following morning to lift the ban. Even then, the condition of Arun being completely healed was put in place. A condition that turned out to be more annoying than expected since the injuries were stubborn. They had expected them to be gone that night, but here they were, two days later, still kicking.

Arun did not spend all this time staring at the walls, though. Consolidating his gains from the smiting session, he realized that reforging the ki pool didn't only serve to fix it, but also to strengthen it. The ki which swirled towards his dantian mixed with his ki pool, making the globe feel just a bit sturdier and larger than before. This had the unfortunate side effect of slowing the healing process by using up part of his energy. For now though, it was still healing bit by bit. Maybe in the future, he would be able to control how the energy is used, similarly to how he controlled his own flow of ki, but that still required experimenting.

And then there was the good news; Arun found himself quite happy when he circulated a minuscule amount of ki in his fingertips. The container had patched up enough that ki wasn't dripping out the moment it was generated anymore. He could keep a small amount now before going overboard. Not much, perhaps just as much as a beginning of ki-gathering baby would have, but still existent nonetheless.

But now he found himself at an impasse. He could not work on his little projects with his meager ki, nor could he work on restoring his dantian. That left him with quite a bit of free, unproductive time. Now, Arun was never the type to laze around too much. Even before the tragedy, the only extracurricular activity besides reading books like a certified bookworm and fiddling with scrap were weekly visits to his friends. Now that he thought about it, he barely interacted with them now, although they were closer than ever. He just found himself so busy. Using his feelings of grief as fuel for his growth did come with disadvantages after all.

"Aunt, where are Eileen and Bohdi? Haven't seen them since the morning."

"Well, Eileen is out in the city with Gabriela, and I believe Bohdi is out playing with his new friends. He should be nearby if you want to see him."

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"I did promise him... so can I go like this?" Arun pulled up his arms, which were decorated by many bandages.

Margery hesitated for a little. "Should be ok. They are nothing serious after all. Just be careful with them."

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It wasn't that hard to find Bohdi and his group. They were only two blocks away, currently playing with a ball in a large field. He only had to follow the noise to get to them.

He stopped just outside the field to take a better look. There were quite a lot of children here, mostly around the same age. They seemed to be split into two teams attempting to score at some improvised gates. Football, he was pretty sure. There was a small group waiting on the other side of the grounds but he decided against joining them, content with just watching for a while.

The match was heated up, and since everybody was quite concentrated on it, they didn't notice Arun at all. As the match progressed, it became clear that this was the sort of game where cultivation held significant sway. Faster and stronger kids were maintaining the ball for a lot longer than the rest. This was especially true for Bohdi and a brunette on the enemy team. They seemed to be responsible for half the clashes by themselves. It was as if they were the generals, and the rest of the weaker army soldiers were just there to support them.

It took a few minutes for the stalemate to be broken. The brunette managed to outplay Bohdi and get by him. By a stroke of luck, or maybe a calculated effort, none of the stronger kids were in a position to delay him until Bohdi caught up. Five seconds later, he was in front of the goalie, two fractions more, and he shot. It was not a carefully placed shot; it homed in directly for the goalie, but it was powerful. The kid responsible for defending the gate planted his feet firmly on the ground and prepared to receive. It was a decent form and impression, however, his difference in cultivation between the brunette and the kid was clear. In fact, the kid had the weakest signature in the bunch. Unfortunately for the weaker opponent, not all problems can be solved with resolve. There was a little resistance before the ball went through his defense, into his gut, and propelled him beyond the gates.

The brunette roared victoriously while his team surrounded him. Even Bohdi and some of the kids on the enemy team went to congratulate the opposition, while the rest bore disappointed looks on their faces. Only the goalie sat on the ground, his hands around his stomach.

"Are you okay?" Arun asked as he approached. The kid slowly rose and dusted himself off. He was clearly still shaken by the impact.

"I've been through worse," he said as he turned back towards Arun. "Don't believe I've seen you around here before. I'm Yowu," he extended a hand which Arun accepted.

"Hey Yowu, c'mon, can you defend something in your life? We picked you on our team and everything!" One of the more displeased losers approached them as the attention around the winners dissipated. "And who is that, your friend?"

"I'm sorry," Yowu bowed his head. "I barely just met him. He is..."

"Arun!" An overjoyed voice resounded as Bohdi finally noticed his friend. "You finally joined us!"