The students look on in confusion as Ash grabs Lou by the face. They can't believe their eyes, this fat kid has just defied all reason and logic. He has achieved the impossible and transcended beyond the limits of hard work. Some people are simply born better, and at this moment many silently acknowledged this truth. They acknowledged it when the Sar brothers showed off their qi yesterday afternoon, and they're acknowledging it again in face of this newfound expert. A collective gulp courses through the class.

"D-d-did he say Qi Expert?

Lou tries to pry Ash's fingers off his face, kicking and screaming. Bou from behind punches desperately at Ash's head, before also getting grabbed in the face. Ash sighs, it's not too late. He might be able to play this off as some ridiculous twist of luck and escape before anyone has time to think about it. No. These two Sar brothers are feral, and have just had their egos smeared. No doubt they will be looking for another target if Ash just leaves, and conveniently a new target decided to make herself known.

Noana looks on in awe, she knew Ash wasn't normal but... isn't a fatty like that supposed to be lazy? The power and expertise in his movements were beyond exceptional, maybe better than her combat teachers. It's the efficiency in his step that was most shocking. He didn't just qi-step like Lou did. Ash actually launched himself exactly where he wanted to go, neither too far or too close. It was perfectly calculated, as though using qi to move at high speeds is just second nature. A fat body, with clogged meridians, should not be able to control qi with such precision, common martial sense dictates such precise high speed movement should be near impossible for someone like Ash, so how does he do it? What is his secret?

Ash looks longingly out the window. It's been a few days since he's last strength trained. Yesterday he made up for it by fighting Baro twice and using qi a whole bunch, but the day before there was barely any real exercising besides what was accomplished at home in the morning. A mere warmup, it's basic Khal knowledge that the most gains come at night... when combined with a full night's rest. Which Ash failed to get for two days in a row. Ash's stomach rumbles. He dropped his food last night while fighting Baro, so he had no breakfast. The unhealthy slop served in that cafeteria is not meant for him either. It is what it is, unfortunately. Ash yeets Bou and Lou Sar out the windows. Complete defenestration. The other students look on in horror.

"Run!"

Ash hops up the window, but Noana grabs him by the arm. Her hand trembles, and her voice shakes.

"T-thank y-y-you," she said. Shakily looking into his dull, bored, grey eyes. After all the teasing from the other kids, the last thing Ash wants is to spend time with this little girl. He was hoping to just slip out but of course she had to stop to say thanks. Hopefully it ends with this simple acknowledgement.

"All in a day's work, ma'am," Ash said, turning. She squeezes his hand, Ash could have sworn he felt qi in that moment but on a second look, no way that girl has qi.

"Please teach me how to be strong like you," she said, with determination and hope in her eyes. This Ash stood up in front of everyone, firmly, after letting them relentlessly attack. He just stands there now, deadpan and unhurt. This victory to him is meaningless, and it's clear in his eyes. If only more information could meet Noana's eyes. There is more to Ash than the strange bubbles at the surface... but Noana has absolutely no idea how or why he is so powerful. Is he born like this?

Though Noana cannot utilize qi yet, she has already reached the point where she can sense it. One of the final stages before one becomes a true qi-practitioner. She had mistaken Ash's tiny fluctuations as a sign of weakness, but in reality he was barely using a fraction of his qi to defend. That moment when he struck, his fluctuation made it clear that he has much more left than the Sar brothers did.

Though Noana doesn't understand it now, a priceless lesson has been absorbed into her from witnessing Ash's expert qi usage. The way he used the bare minimum to defend, or the precise amount used in his qi-step. The way he uses it when compared to the Sar brothers, it's night and day. She never realized just how much qi those Sar brothers were wasting, it was just impressive that they even had qi to use. Their punches where glowing with qi and destructive power. When they were showing off yesterday, their attacks would easily smash through trees. Yet Ash only needed a fifth of their qi to block, and it's clear to her why. The Sars brothers were too caught up in the heat of the moment, so they never realized their punches weren't focused. They were spreading qi in directions they weren't even attacking in. Likewise with Lou's qi-step, there was too much wasted movement. He could not properly land behind Ash until the fifth step, by that point he was already sweating and Ash had yet to move. Noana instinctively understood these lessons, and has already subconsciously began looking at Ash as though he were a teacher.

Ash still looks at her with a deadpan gaze. He knows exactly what's going on here. His great qi expertise secret has been revealed, and now the damsel he's saved wishes to use him for reaching that exact same level of expertise, only to realize that his ways go much further beyond. As she stays by him and grows stronger, they also grow closer. Inside jokes, shared secrets, facing hardships with one another, eating, fighting, exercising. They will spend years cultivating together, up until they both become peak experts in this world, and Ash becomes the great trashman he's destined to be. The world will be clean by the end of the story, and they will be star-crossed lovers who live happily ever after.

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"OH HELL NO," Ash yells, pointing away. I am an adult! I refuse to put myself in a position where this child will fall in love with me as I train and discipline her. Five year old body or not, that's basically child grooming.

Noana's jaw drops, as her shoulders slump.

Ash jumps down and nudges her away.

"Go on, shoo, get out of here."

Noana drags her feet.

"But everyone hates me now," she said.

Shadows wash over Ash's eyes as his jaw slacks beyond human capabilities. She totally stood up to everyone and nearly got lynched for it. How can he repay that pain by telling her to get lost... but the fbi... legends say they'll cross heaven, hell, and even parallel dimensions to catch people who cross the disgusting line. Ash gulps. What he said to her back at the sewers was the truth he was feeling at the time, and he still feels it. Miss Belevere tried to lynch Ash over nothing, and Noana reluctantly played a role in it. There was no need for her to play such a role, but she did. Seeing the way Lou tried to slap her... it now makes sense why she was so willing to do what she was told. Still, at the time, he really meant what he said. Seeing her standing around all servile frustrated him, and it put her in a horrible situation too. He said more than he should have, and she took the words to heart. Now she's become a loser like him... and Baro.

Ash's eyes flash. The words that nearly made him vomit must have drove him mad too. It was a subtle bias inserted by the kid's poking fun at him and Noana. That absolutely ridiculous split second premonition about him and Noana was the result of the psychological warfare deployed by the other students. How could he not realize it sooner, the situation does not need to be this way at all. Yes, there is a third person in this picture. Ash fades out of those images, where he and Noana of grow stronger, and closer, creating inside jokes, training, eating, cultivating. Ash in those pictures is replaced with Baro, and Ash self inserts again into the picture, his hand over Xiaojie's shoulder. The solution to all his problems clear as day.

Yes, Baro exists!

Ash grabs Noana by the shoulder.

"Have you seen Baro!"

"What? No, I haven't."

"Without Baro, we can't get started." Ash said.

Noana tilts her head, is that what he meant by shoo?

Ash grabs a letter from his pocket, one he wrote before heading for class. He scribbles some lines out and writes new ones in.

"Your first lesson is to find Baro. Deliver this to him and meet up with me later, he'll know what to do. Do not open it or you're kicked out of my class."

"Sir, yes, sir." Noana said, running off. Ash sighs in relief, the crisis has been averted for now. He was planning on becoming a teacher in this world anyways, so getting a student this early isn't a problem, it's just earlier than he expected. Sect Master Khan taught him how to teach. He did so in anticipation for the day which the true arts can be freely taught to all members of the sect, unfortunately that reality never came to be. In this world though, Ash swears to put all that wisdom to proper use. Though he has the theory more or less figured out, he has never actually formally taught anyone anything before. What does he need to achieve this? Ash ponders as he walks home. His mind not at all occupied about the meal he plans to consume.

Ash has already meal prepped for the upcoming week. He has Lentil soup for sides this week. A high fiber, protein, iron, energy miracle soup. One cup has less calories than a cup of rice, and many times the nutrition. Though unlike rice, the carbohydrates in this soup doesn't give immediate energy. These carbs take longer to break down, so the soup keeps one full for longer, and it's one of the secret reasons Ash can go so long without eating. It's a variation of an ancient Khal Sect Recipe. Ash lacked the ingredients needed to make the real thing, but this is close enough.

His main will be a chicken and fries combo. Shredded chicken breast fruit on a bed of crispy brussel sprout fries, topped with a special Honey Garlic Soy Sauce. About a year ago, Ash extracted some soybeans from their pods, cooked and fermented them along with roasted wheat and a special mold which starches the proteins in the mixture. He mixed the mash with brine and let it ferment until it got nice, dark, and salty. He's been excited to give the soy sauce a go ever since. With a touch of honey he collected from a nearby hive, and some fried garlic, the perfect sauce. Those crispy oven baked soy glazed honey garlic Brussel sprouts will slap flavor into each and every taste bud with each and every bite.

Sect Master Khan always said eating healthy never had to mean eating disgusting.

The chicken breast fruit is a strange miracle indeed. Ash has no idea what it's actually called, but it's near identical to chicken breast in flavor and probably protein. Ash lacks the means to evaluate the true protein content of the fruit, but it makes his body stronger like chicken breast so he just goes with it. It cooks just like chicken breast too. A few minutes on the fire is all it needs. All Ash has to do is crisp up the brussel sprouts he has already cut and frozen, shred the chicken breast and toss it all with that delicious home-made honey garlic soy. Top up with some sesame seeds. Heat up a cup of soup, and serve alongside a cup of bone apple tea and bam that's a super healthy meal in ten minutes.

It's a good thing Ash didn't have to spend a bunch of time thinking about what to eat, and could instead focus on the particularities of how to raise a Khal sect in this new world.