After they sat down in the shadow of one of the nearby trees, Alex continued, “Most of the teenage boys often think like beasts. They have hard time to restrain their carnal desires and what do you think will happen when a bunch of such youths with superhuman strength and abilities, who consider everyone beneath them go outside and intend to satisfy their desires? Especially if they bring a saint with them?”

Nabia furrowed her brows, but Alex didn’t expect her to understand his point yet and continued, “You see – they will find some poor girl or a woman, use some kind of a mind technique on her and rape her! The poor thing wouldn’t even know she was abused, but the bastards would only cheer and laugh! On the other hand there are women who had taken up a craft of pleasuring men for money and all I did yesterday was to bring that bunch of idiots to the place such women work at.”

“And?” Nabia asked staring at him closely.

“And what? I came back and cultivated through the night like I always do.” Alex shrugged.

“So you didn’t …” She blushed again.

“Not for a mountain of gold!” Alex shuddered remembering the time he spent as the doctor’s assistant in the College of evangelism.

“Why not?” Contrary to him Nabia had no clue what the consequences promiscuous sexual life led to.

“Let’s put it this way – if I can’t be together with only one partner whom I love, I’d rather die alone.” Alex smiled back.

He knew it was the ‘correct’ answer to give to a girl, but in his case he actually meant it. The memories of those inflamed and purulent penises haunted him after a lifetime and he never intended to allow his little Alex become like that.

“But … how do you know all of this? How did you know where those … women were?” Nabia asked in a quiet voice, blushing all over for who knows which time.

“We never actually spoke to each other about our lives before the academy, right? If you think about it – we don’t know anything about each other at all!” Alex happily said. Her being like this meant she wasn’t angry anymore and for some reason he enjoyed it.

“But regarding yesterday – I had no clue where to go. I just went up to few people and asked. They pointed us to the right direction, that’s all.” He explained.

They sat in silence for a while each thinking their own thing.

“But you’re in big trouble now.” Nabia broke the silence, “You might get expelled or even executed. I don’t think people will believe you.”

“I think you are wrong here.” Alex grinned, “Not only I won’t get expelled, this event will somehow become forgotten within few months. Do you think those old geezers are idiots? They have been young too! And with the extra eyes they have they clearly see what’s going on. I bet what will happen is – the guys will get instructed to keep a low profile when they go out and the girls will be told we were appropriately punished.”

Alex had no clue he hit the nail on the head, except this event was forgotten after half a month when the academy was visited by the emperor himself. The event was of such importance, students spoke about it for another year! Not every day his imperial majesty gives lectures for three days straight!

But currently Nabia sat staring at Alex’s face trying to figure out if he was actually telling the truth or just sweet talking her.

“Alright!” She finally said, “I’ll believe you! But on one condition.”

Alex first reaction was to grin and ask ‘why would I care’, but he managed to swallow the wrong answer and ask, “And that would be?”

“I’ll check your memories from the last night to see if you’re lying!” She plainly said.

‘Wtf! She’s not joking!’ Alex almost jolted to his feet, ‘The ability to read someone’s memories belong solely to the saints and even then they have to be skilled enough to not cripple the person! And she is confident she can do it!’

“What … what kind of monster are you?!” He blurted out, but seeing her expression change, immediately added, “No, no! Don’t get me wrong! That’s a compliment! I mean – you have the highest grade talent, you can go head to head with men in a fight, you know mind techniques … do you see my point?”

“Hmph!” Nabia snorted in return, “Look who’s talking! Just a short while back you were a total waste! I haven’t heard a case when someone could recover from Qi deprivation to this extent and so fast! It’s simply not possible!”

“Ok, ok.” Alex waved his hands defensively, “I’m sorry. We’re two monsters. Are you confident?”

She immediately guessed his meaning and said, “Ye. I can do a short scan, but you’ll have to focus your memories. And no cheating! I can tell if a person is lying!”

Alex held back from asking if she had done it before and thought for a bit.

“No. Under no circumstances I’ll teach you this technique!” Nabia guessed his train of thought and immediately interrupted it. But then added, “But … if … if you’re not a pervert, I could teach you the other one.”

With ‘the other one’ she meant the technique she used to blank Alex’s vision and he actually found the offer interesting. In the holy empire the pope and one of the bishops used somewhat similar technique on him, but they had to touch his head for that. On the other hand quite a few people here knew how to attack others mentally from a distance, but unfortunately they were quite unwilling to share their secrets.

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“Alright.” After a moment of thinking, Alex agreed, “In return I’ll teach you how can I sense my opponent. So, what do I need to do?”

“Just close your eyes and focus on what you did yesterday! No fooling around!” Nabia seriously said.

‘This will be an interesting experience.’ Alex thought to himself, ‘The main task is to never slip a thought about the Qi pond. How the hell can I do that?’

When Wazir and the other saint checked him in Haldenburg, it was under different circumstances and they were certainly using different techniques, and had more experience than this madam here. Although she could cripple him, for some reason Alex knew she was only weird in her own way and not evil.

When Nabia put her palm on his forehead, Alex felt a slight tingling sensation that slowly sent him in to trance. Somewhere far in the distance he heard a pleasant voice saying, “Where did you go yesterday evening?”

It felt weird how his thoughts naturally switched to the last day’s events and one by one relived them. From the moment he met Jamil, till the time he returned to the academy Alex saw everything happen as if he was watching a move, except it was fast forwarded. When the crucial moment neared, he managed to focus on his breathing immediately sensing the familiar scent of lilies and he got a mischievous idea – he pictured Nabia sitting in a field of white flowers gently smiling back at him. For some reason the picture was so realistic he had hard time coming back to reality even though a burning pain came from his cheek.

Alex instinctively touched it and from what it looked like someone, probably the blushed girl covered in perspiration, slapped him.

“I said – no fooling around!” She angrily barked.

“I’m sorry!” Alex smiled back, “I was curious if my technique worked in that state as well.”

“I could’ve disabled you!” Nabia kicked Alex’s back and sat down next to him. From the perspiration on her forehead one could tell that the previous exercise was not easy task at all.

“And? Did it work?” She asked.

“I did get slapped, didn’t I.” Alex laughed.

“Suits you well! Pervert!” She said.

Alex was not sure if she was upset, but at least he was certain he managed to control his train of thoughts. For now it had to be good enough, bet after another year he planned to finally begin working on his soul brand.

“How exactly those mind techniques work?” Alex asked after Nabia got to rest a bit.

“It’s actually something related to one’s soul brand.” She explained, “You have seen how some people are able to move objects telekinetically, right? They do so by connecting their soul brand with the Qi brand on an object by sending an extremely thin stream of concentrated Qi. Similarly, in order to influence one’s mind from a distance, you have to also use Qi on a particular part of the person’s brain.”

“So basically we use Qi as a medium and our ability to manipulate it and the actual amount of Qi we possess dictates our success, correct?” Alex asked.

Nabia thought for a bit and nodded, “In principle, yes. But there is also the technique that allows you to control the correct frequency of Qi. And you have to know the anatomy of the brain, otherwise you might only disable someone’s speech for a second while they kick you in the face.”

“Wouldn’t it mean that if I was constantly moving no one could attack me mentally? Doesn’t sound right.” Alex said.

“Because it isn’t. But you have to start from the basics and then switch to applying the technique in combat situations.” She said.

“It’s fine. I like to learn new skills.” Alex smiled, “Truth to be said, I kind of feel silly for thinking mind techniques were only the innate abilities of saints.”

“Hmph!” Nabia snorted, “That’s why you’re still a hillbilly despite spending years in the library.”

“Come on! Don’t be like that.” Alex said, “I did learn a bit. I know the main characteristics of trikutas, I know some of the struggle the saints are having …”

“You only know what they write in their essays.” Nabia retorted.

“Obviously they are secretive, but …” Alex wanted to explain, but got immediately interrupted again.

“Ok, what are the characteristics of trikutas?”

“As far as I could tell they give the owner ability to see a different spectrum or frequency and as a result the third eye basically sees Qi.” Alex gave the best explanation he had.

“And that is why I call you an idiot!” Nabia victoriously pointed at his nose.

“Would the kind lady please enlighten me?” Alex was long used to her insults, in fact, he rarely noticed them.

“Hmph!” She theatrically snorted, but then grew serious, “I’ll tell you … as a repayment for the earlier. But you can’t tell another living being even if you get tortured, ok?”

“Seems a bit harsh, but I promise!” He said.

“Mhm.” Nabia nodded and continued in whisper, “There are two other very rare characteristics that sometimes appear on saints – the ability to see one’s soul particles and the ability to see everything in a different flow of time. But I can’t tell you more …”

“Huh … so his imperial majesty has all three abilities.” Alex immediately applied the new information, “No wonder he is the strongest monster of them all.”

Nabia didn’t respond to that, but she didn’t need to. The information she gave already provided Alex with a lot to think about.

“Your turn.” While Alex fell in thought she said.

“I trained a sense of smell since I was a toddler. My father invented a technique and I don’t think he would have something against for me to teach it to you. It’s not that hard.” Alex said.

“Wait! You actually could tell my location just by my smell? Are you a dog or something?” Nabia wrinkled her nose in displeasure.

“You can say so.” Alex nonchalantly shrugged. He has been born as a wolf so it was not completely wrong, “But regarding you it’s simply not fair. For some reason your scent is incredibly strong and makes me loose my concentration. That was also the reason I tried to avoid you all this time. Well, that and the fact that you are a bit moody.”

“How does it work?” Nabia asked.

“Sigh … I don’t know.” He shook his head, “It’s nice and sweet, and …”

“Smells like lilies.” She interrupted, but seeing Alex’s confusion, said, “I saw your perverted thoughts! I meant – how the technique works?”

“Hahaha!” Alex awkwardly laughed and apologized, “Sorry about that.”

They sat near the library till the evening patiently explaining their respective techniques until the other party was certain they learned it and even tried it out. Both had quick minds and the exchange of Qi diagrams didn’t take too long.

Other students were passing by and sending strange looks towards the pair. Under the light of the recent events it was unthinkable for any female student to converse with the biggest pervert of them all, much less in such friendly manner.

Neither Alex nor Nabia cared about the rest, especially since both had a new door opened in their cultivation world and found additional aspect of development to focus on.