Von cleared his throat, “Before we start, let me introduce you to some terms with regards to qi essence cultivation.”

Zachariel sat down, placing the polearm on his side.

“Qi essence cultivators measure their strength in terms of qi force. It is the amount of Harvonic force generated for every cubic meter of liquefied qi essence applied when doing a specific action.”

“This application could be done through one’s body, external weapons, weight lifting, speed, and other sorts that you could think of.”

“Anyway, it’s not that much helpful in battles since it’s mostly used to gauge your power. Raw power isn’t everything, one needs to be creative on how to apply the liquefied qi essence as well.”

Von reminded. He had met several Prospects who became cocky enough when they saw their qi force on the measurement platforms.

He didn’t want Zachariel to end up like that.

Zachariel nodded.

“Alright, let’s proceed on how to apply the liquefied qi essence inside your body. First, it’s very similar to gathering mana essence. However, take note that this time, the liquefied qi essence will be heavier to gather and manipulate. Moreover, the liquefied qi essence from your core will go from the roots and transfuse it to the surrounding blood vessels that the roots attached themselves into.”

“Go have a try.”, Von waved his hands.

Zachariel closed his eyes and focused on gathering the liquefied qi essence from his dantian core.

Sweat rolled over him.

“Focus, brat.”, Von reminded. He knew that it was hard to adapt since liquefied qi essence was way heavier and more unpredictable than mana essence.

`I’ve done this before, though I wonder if it will be any different right now.`, Zachariel thought.

The liquefied qi essence felt addictive and refreshing. The feeling made him almost lose control.

The dantian core’s roots were connected to the main arteries and veins near his belly and chest.

The liquefied qi essence didn’t seem to interfere with blood itself.

“Now that it is in your blood vessels, slowly guide it to your arm. Once it’s in there, do not let go or else it will pour down to your forearm, making it heavy, or tear it apart.”, Von warned.

“Slowly inject the liquefied qi essence throughout your entire left arm. It will feel painful at first, but you’ll manage.”, he continued.

Zachariel did as what Von said and a prickling pain resonated from his left arm. He endured and continued the injection until a bluish aura started to emanate from his enlarged arm.

Von noticed this and was stupefied, `Bluish? Haven’t seen that sort of aura before.`

“Good, try to deliver a punch to me. See how it goes.”

Zachariel gruntled. He was clearly having a hard time adjusting from the augmentation of his left arm.

“Hah!”, he shouted, blasting a punch towards Von while staggering.

He accidentally tripped to the ground.

The punch generated a huge shockwave. It left a mark on the ground, though Von remained unharmed.

However, his narrowed face said otherwise.

`His qi force is strong. Should be around a hundred or so.`, Von analyzed.

“How was it, senior?”, Zachariel asked.

“Not bad. Keep doing it until you’ve mastered it. We’ll stop once it’s lunchtime.”, Von replied.

Zachariel heaved a deep breath. He was going to use his right arm to punch.

`The arms too heavy. I should be able to feel the right balance if I do more.`

He tightened his grip and started the process again.

`Gather.`

`Inject.`

`Attack.`

‘Boom!’

The shockwave this time intensified.

`Again!`, Zachariel gritted.

He wanted to hasten his gathering process so that he could increase his speed of attacks.

“Hah!”

Another shockwave was sent again. This time, it only took 3 seconds.

Zachariel paused.

`My body feels unbalanced whenever I try to apply qi essence in one of my arms. Maybe if I try to apply a little bit of qi essence on the other arm, it should stabilize my footing.`

He did what he thought and launched another attack.

This time, his bearing was more stable.

Von was surprised, `Oh, did he figure it out?`

“Hah!”

A stronger shockwave was sent, this time, without Zachariel tripping to the ground.

He heaved a sigh of relief and regained his focus.

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The lake was soon filled with loud booming of shockwaves, though the demon beasts remained unperturbed.

Time passed by.

Zachariel’s attacks then varied. He was only going for punches at first, then decided to use slaps, kicks, and even running.

He was applying qi essence in his entire body, even though he was only using his legs to run around.

Von stood on the sides. He was elated to see the quick progress Zachariel made.

“Alright, that’s enough. Let’s rest and eat for a while.”

They had lunch and Zachariel was served with another yet massive serving of dishes he couldn’t fathom fully digest.

“Blergh!”, Zachariel felt nausea.

Von felt smug about it.

“Alright, you should rest for an hour. It’s not good for your body if you keep on straining it with such hard training. We’ll continue later.”

“Thank you, senior.”, Zachariel stuttered. His body was heavy and he seemed to have ripped his muscles apart from the qi essence training he did earlier.

He walked to a nearby tree, carrying his polearm, and laid back on it.

`I wonder how the others are doing right now…`

Zachariel was thinking of Anastasia and his classmates. Being suspended for two weeks from school wasn’t that of a harsh punishment for him.

He looked at the orange sky above, extending his left arm.

`Amelia… just where the hell are you…`

“Longing for her?”, Von stood beside the tree.

“Senior…”, Zachariel looked at him, pausing for a moment before saying, “Senior. I want to know. Why do you want to help me?”

“Haven’t I told you the reason about that already?”, Von replied.

“I know, but even if the Templars are targeting me, it shouldn’t be that much of a reason, yes? Unless senior is part of a group against the Templars…”

Von sighed, “Zachariel, it’s not time for you to know these things. Keep your curiosity inside for now, I’ll tell you when the time is right.”

“As for helping you… well, I kind of see my past back in you.”

Zachariel was intrigued.

“The previous Lord of the Summer Household took me in, some lowly peasant from an unknown village just in the outskirts of the Great Human Imperium. He said I had some good skills and he wanted to train me and bring me under him.”

“I didn’t have any family, and I didn’t even understand why he would go that far to help me. When I arrived in the mansion, I realized I wasn’t the only one there. He took in other children like me as well.”

“At first, there were many oppositions from the other family members. It resulted in an event where half of us were brutally murdered under Lune’s light.”, there was coldness in Von’s voice.

{Note: Lune’s light - Night time}

“Luckily, I survived. The Lord searched out the mastermind of the event and publicly executed them.”

The smile on his face returned.

“He was the compassionate person, always rooting for the success of others. I still remember the days he would personally teach us cultivation and brought us cultivation materials as well. I couldn’t dare to forget the kindness he showed to me that day.”

Von teared up.

“Because of his efforts, I was able to go inside the Great Schools. It was shocking to me, and it didn’t stop there. I became a Prospect, and even enrolled at the Supreme Academy.”

Von laughed. He felt that it was way too unimaginable that a lowly peasant like him could rise that high just from being taken in by a noble and trained up to become an excellent fighter.

“That’s why I’m working for the Summer Household, brat. I don’t want to be ungrateful to the person who brought me where I am now.”, Von emphasized.

“Right now, I wanted to try out what that old man did to me in the past, helping out young people like you to become a great fighter one day.”

Zachariel finally understood.

“That, and the fact that you were able to do something about the dark mist.”, Von sighed, “I don’t know why Madame Lena would try to set you up like this.”

Zachariel widened his eyes, `So he knew all along?`

“You must be thinking about why didn’t I tell you earlier. Well, it was just a part of my secondary tests. I didn’t expect for you to realize her plots quickly.”, Von praised.

“I have no power to stop Madame’s plots and thoughts. I’m only somewhat a guest or maybe another servant in the household. Tell you what, I also planned to train you so that you could ready yourself up if you were unable to realize her plans when the two of you met yesterday.”

“Anyway, since you now know her plans, she wouldn’t act that insidious now, so that other reason of mine is no longer valid.”, Von waved his hands, walking away from Zachariel.

Zachariel didn’t know what to say.

Should he feel grateful? Maybe. He remained doubtful of Von’s intentions, secretly glancing at him.

`There’s also Victoria. I wonder why he didn’t include her at all.`

Victoria was able to manipulate the dark mist. Her skills should be on Von’s ceiling as well.

`Is it because of the threat of the Templars? If this is the case, senior should be a part of a secret group. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be as certain that it was the Templars who kidnapped Amelia, and the reasoning behind it.`

He closed his eyes, cultivating his qi essence.

`Enough of that, I’ll get to it later.`

His dantian core was almost empty and he wanted to refill it.

`I wonder why that thing inside my head isn’t acting up right now. Is that incision stuff only applicable to my organs?`, Zachariel wondered.

…

An hour later, he and Von continued with the training. Von set up two small tents and camped lakeside.

The demon beasts didn’t attack regardless of the time of the day, putting Zachariel at ease.

`I wonder why these demon beasts here aren’t aggressive. There must be something in this place.`, he thought.

The days passed quickly.

After a week of continuous training, Zachariel underwent several hardships. Von taught him a variety of qi essence related skills, ranging from punches, kicks, to body augmentation.

The two were currently sparring with Zachariel on the lead.

He slashed his polearm at Von in quick succession, generating turbulent winds on the sides.

Von evaded them all easily.

He grabbed Zachariel’s arms and kicked the polearm far away using his left leg.

Zachariel didn’t falter and used his arms and legs to attack instead.

Qi mana essence gathered in his left arm, which he then slowly twisted counter-clockwise.

Power swirled towards his fist as he aimed his punch at Von’s right side.

`Breaking Punch!`

It hit Von’s flesh, though he remained uninjured.

Zachariel then jumped off his right leg and spun mid-air, gathering qi essence to his left leg, and smacked it at Von’s face.

Von was able to block it with his left arm and then backed away.

Zachariel charged, delivering a combo of punches and kicks.

“Right, brat. Let’s stop here for now. It’s almost lunch now.”, Von told him.

Zachariel nodded and went to retrieve his polearm.

They took lunch.

Zachariel could not get over the enormous servings Von served even until now.

`Although the food helps my cultivation… this is too much…`

‘Blergh!’, he almost vomited.

Von had a satisfied look on his face.

`With this pace, he could really go over the top of the entire great schools in just two years.`

This included the Great Schools of the Eldens and the Voids.

`His power-level is definitely at gold-level. However, his absurd mana and qi essence capacity and their quality should be included in the equation.`

He eyed Zachariel who knelt on all fours, trying to digest his recent lunch dishes.

`His mana and qi essence’s unique characteristics would prove difficult for one to accurately identify this brat’s true power-level. At one point, it emits a higher power-level aura, and at some other point, it emits lower like that of a silver-level fighter.`

`The aura fluctuates, but the power remains constant. And lastly, that Supreme Elder’s help back on the school selection event greatly boosted this brat’s early cultivation path.`

Von felt envy for Zachariel’s lucky encounter with Supreme Elder Azzad.

`However, if you think of it, that was a divine demon beast to boast. The accumulated cultivation resource of that demon beast should’ve sufficed to level this brat up to a peak diamond-level fighter. Even if the Supreme Elder only gave him a third or fourth of that, his power-level should be greater than gold.`

He shook his head and put that thought someplace in his mind.

“Brat, you’ve got some really good talent. I’m super impressed. Now, for your next test…”, Von’s voice became serious.

“I’ll teleport you back to the Dark Forest and try your very best to make your way back here before nighttime. Do that and I’ll let you sleep in the tent. Otherwise, you’ll spend the night outside and I’ll teleport you back while you’re at it.”

Zachariel was challenged. Even though there was a lot of time left before nighttime, he didn’t dare forget Von’s unpredictability.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll be teleported on the other side of the dark forest, far away from the lake.

“We’ll start when you feel good.”

“I’m ready to go, senior.”, Zachariel quickly responded.

Von smirked, `Good, that’s the spirit, brat!`

He tapped Zachariel, teleporting the young one out of the area.