20 minutes before talking with the cardinal.
Tarions office.
The Duke.
I fiddled with my quill while Beatrice came inside with news.
“Our traitor has arrived And has been sent to the underground jail.”
“Great! Perhaps I can see how worse for wear he has become after Susan's torture.”
“And lastly, Your Grace, the lawyer, has been brought up.”
“Bring him in,” I said, relaxing on my large chair.
The once chubby balding man had lost quite a bit of weight, clothes no longer bursting, bags dropped from eyes from rapid weight loss.
“Sit.” Ordered the nervous noble. “You’re looking good.” I lied.
“Thank…you, Your Grace.” a tired man said.
“I wish to speak to you about the trouble you brought on to me.” I could see his brow sweat. “After much asking the king and church may definitely refuse any possible annulment. So I need your advice, Viscount Fabern. How can I change the terms of my marriage contract? Specifically, I want to remove any mention of my assets going to anyone else after my death.”
The slim man was silent.
“If you help I will not care about your dealings with the crown and your old position will be yours again. You will be free.”
The viscount lifted his head. The life in his eyes returned.
“Free under me. So tell me, lawyer. Advice on my predicament?”
The old man thought to himself. “...One way is to convince a Priest of significant influence to help.”
“A cardinal?”
“Yes. But you need a concession as they have many other voices in the church's chamber to outvoice him. The second way is to get the witnesses to void the contract.”
“Ah, most of the witnesses are after my head.”
“T-Then the third option is ceremony”
“A wedding ceremony?” I juggled rings in my hands.
“Yes… In this country, a Vow in front of the gods, the church and a crowd of witnesses supersede any legal document.”
“Then It's decided.” I declared with a large smile. “Beatrice, get the viscount, a quick bath and send him home.”
Fabern fell to the ground near where I had slain Trak, kneeling in a pool of tears. “Thank you, Your Grace!! Oh, Thank you!!”
“Charles,” I called while Fabern was escorted out of my office. My friend stepped into the office and gave me a bow.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Tell the cardinal I am available and tell my uncle I will drink with him if only he does me a very huge favour.”
Next day.
One day until the ball
Underground training room
The Duke.
Zhi smirked at me from across the training platform. Her feet shuffled across the floor and, in an instant, crossed metres. Instinctively, I employed Umbra steps and with a bad hangover, I backed away from her grabbing hand. Her loose clothes flapped, whipping the air as she closed the distance once again. I grabbed her reach hand by her arm and a pulse of qi rebounded my hold. I flew away using mana repulsion, yet she caught up to me with those strange, shuffling steps. My senses allowed me to lean away from her approaching hand and Qi changed its direction. I stumbled, falling on my backside, losing our game of tag for the fourth time.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Amazing! Your movements were so abrupt, that I couldn't catch the timing of them. The explosion of momentum! Yet you were so light.” I picked myself off the floor admiring the demonstration.
“Qinggong,” Zhi explained. “The basis of martial arts is footwork. How you traverse the battlefield, escape enemies, and even how to manoeuvre around the opponent to gain a hit. All can be decided by how well your Qinggong is trained.”
Her feet shuffled on the ground without bending her knees. As if moving on rails, she left behind an afterimage, she appeared far to the left, where my brother, Kurt, Charles, a few trusted Umbra, and Vanessa watched. The doctor’s feet shuffled and she was in front of me, the wind blew my hair at her sudden reappearance.
“What I have shown you is a variation of Qinggong. My speciality: Flash steps.” Doctor Zhi jumped and her feet scuffed my shoulder before she jumped again, reaching high enough to touch the hanging stalactites. I held my shoulder.
I couldn't feel any weight at all.
The doctor's wooden clogs tapped stalactites, bouncing between. A leaf floating in the wind, she sank down from the ceiling arms behind her back. I smiled until the edges of my mouth were sore.
“With Qinggong, even a branch can bear your weight and with enough training, you can run along the rivers and lakes, making the waters ripple under your feet.” Master clicked her fingers and Umbra brought in a tub of water and pieces of paper.
“First exercise. Step off the paper without falling into the water.”
“Yes, Master.”
Hours later
After many tries and soaked breeches, I meditated.
Fourth circle and golden grade. Back to where I had been. But it is much different this time. My body felt free of burden. Free to get stronger. Training Mobile meditation has been worth it as it translated very easily into Qi meditation. The more I learned from Master Zhi the more underdeveloped the Western use of circles was. Qi is easily the most efficient way to use energy. However, the inefficiency makes sense when the origin came from trying to emulate the circles of a Mage. Circles do have their own advantages as a jack of all trades, giving the user a burst of quick strength and the ability to fire off a flurry of damaging mana attacks at the cost of stamina and at fifth circle the ability to use an element is granted. The combination of both strength and magic bore many magic swordsmen, men like my uncle and late father. But to be a jack of trades, the tradeoff was an inferior version of both disciplines. But with Qi in my arsenal, I could deal with the weakness that circles had.
With my eyes still closed, I sat on a cold stone.
Sit and attune your Qi to your body. You still use it like mana. Throwing it about like it is endless. Meld it with your body, let the qi fill every meridian, every vein, and every cell.
In my mind's eyes, I saw the formless white energy. The Qi I have collected is waiting for me. Its essence sparkled around my middle dandtain.
Time to forge.
Using all my focus, Qi bent to my will. Not as unwieldy as mana, it did require mould or I felt the stable energy crumble away. I take my time. Pulling. Squeezing. Shaping.
My mana heart beat five times.
Finally… lands above, FINALLY!
At Fifth Circle bronze grade, I didn't feel much of a change. No surging power. No pain. Just calm.
I opened my eyes.
Status.
Plonk.
image [https://i.imgur.com/2mqi7tT.png]
Attributes increased as they should and the Dantian points have increased by five. Something on the skills menu caught my attention.
BLOODLINE 2MINS
So that's what saved my arse. I click on the skill to read the description of the skill.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZMX0HpR.png]
Well…that is terrifyingly awesome. How do I upgrade it-
Muffled voices call to me. I forgot where I was.
I looked beyond the status screen and saw a wall of wind.
“What the fuck?!”
“TURN IT OFF!” shouted a peeved Joshua behind the raging hurricane. His rapier was stuck in the ground, and he erected a shield to protect his sister-in-law.
Zhi strolled through the storm, hardly minding its power.
“Intriguing.” She examined my power, reaching out. “Do you have any control over it?”
“I don't know... Let me see.” I slowed my circles and the wind settled. My umbra stopped hanging from doors and fell down from walls.
“Lands above, Tarion!” Joshua limped over to the centre of the training platform with his casted leg. “You were already bloody strong, now you can control the wind?!”
“Wind?” Vanessa said as she brought me up from the floor. “Isn’t that supposed to be the rarest-”
“The rarest fucking element in the bloody world!! It's not fair, you know, being your brother.”
“We all have our lot in life. Should have spent less time in the brothel, brother-in-law.” Vanessa jokes.
“Hey! Only my brother can say that to me!”
“She's my wife; what she says, I say,” I said absently while looking at my status. I found a new elements tab.
Elements? Plural. Fucking hell, Tarion... Did you get offed to balance the field?