Chương 8: Abuse of Power (1)
"Thank you so much!"
The first thing that William did when he returned to his room was to kowtow in front of his benefactor. A loud thud resonated when his forehead knocked on the hardwood floor.
"...Huh?"
Meanwhile, the recipient of his gratitude was dumbstruck.
"Thank you! If not for your pointer, I wouldn't have cleared the blockage in my meridian!"
"...Oh," the fourth prince squinted. "And these are...?"
He pointed at a bowl of oranges on the table. William had brought them out of nowhere when he returned around dusk.
"Well... my old master told me to always pay back people's good deeds. But I'm poor, so..."
It seemed that he'd stolen some oranges from the academy's plantation. William didn't know that, though. Back in his village, the villagers shared everything together, so he thought the same concept applied here.
Still, paying someone back with fruits?
"...Pu."
The fourth prince stifled a laughter. When William noticed it, his heart jolted a bit.
"Alright, I'll accept it."
His hand reached for an orange. Thin, slender fingers methodically peeled the skin, revealing the juicy flesh underneath. His lips parted as a piece of the orange slipped in.
The taste was a bit sour, but sweet.
"It seems that you have reached qi condensation stage."
"Y-yes!" William replied in a hurry. Somehow, he had been watching the fourth prince eating this entire time, as if entranced.
Heh, that was a stupid idea, right?
"Ah, Your Majesty-"
"No need to call me that," the fourth prince cut him mid-sentence. "Calling me by name is enough."
William blinked a few times. Was that really proper though? He had been here for a month, and even a country bumpkin like him had finally realized that for these nobles, face was everything. Calling them without honorific usually didn't end well.
William gulped. He didn't know what devil possessed him, but he somehow wanted to test that boundary.
"...Elias."
"Hmm."
The prince took another piece of orange, his movement as smooth as a calm river.
Perhaps, William really had been bewitched...
"How did you know that my qi flow was... bad?"
He couldn't find a good word for it. Calling it 'wrong' wasn't really proper. Everyone, even his old master and instructor Robert, flowed their qi the same way. There was no way everyone in his life would be involved in a kind of scheme to misdirect him, right?
Finishing the last bit of the orange, Elias wiped his lips with his thumb. Stretching his hand, he touched William's chest with his index finger.
"Your body has a special constitution. For this kind of abnormality, the proper qi flow wouldn't do."
Special constitution?
"What is that?" William was confused. "My master and the instructor never told me something like that!"
"They wouldn't know. Nobody in this academy would know."
Elias retracted his finger. And then, he peeled another orange.
"But- you knew. How?"
Hearing William's question, Elias flashed him a thin smile.
"I just knew."
The smile parted as another piece of orange entered.
Somehow, William understood that asking him further wouldn't yield him any result. In the end, he gave up the idea for now, and pursued another topic.
"Then... your falling down the lake this afternoon, is it because of the third prince?"
Elias didn't reply. Instead, he countered with a question of his own.
"You seems to be acquainted with third brother. Why didn't you accept his proposal?"
Eh wait, he knew?
"Ah, I..."
"Saying crap like 'this humble servant isn't worthy' wouldn't put you in a good book with him, you know."
He kneeeeew!
William was just going with the flow! He was just too impulsive because he had just finished his breakthrough, causing blood to run up his head! When he had cooled down later on, he finally realized that he had been super impolite back then!
Elias continued to consume the oranges as William drowned in his depression. When it was down to the last orange, the prince didn't peel it right away. Instead, he played around with it, rolling it on his palm.
"I guess you didn't poison these oranges, huh?"
"Why would I?!"
Suddenly, a disturbing idea popped up in William's mind.
"Don't tell me, your previous roommate..."
Elias threw the orange to the air, his head bobbing up and down as he watched the round fruit rising and falling continuously.
"I've been an inner disciple of the royal academy for two years now. The last one was just some laxative, nothing serious. As for the perpetrator, I guess he had fled back home, afraid that I would tell the King."
He might be instigated by the third prince, but tampering with a royal family member's food was still a serious offense, no matter how harmless. As for the true culprit, he would just feign ignorance.
"That little...!"
William abruptly stood up in anger. However, this time he calmed down much faster than before. His face grew red from shame.
"Calling a prince 'that little', you got big guts."
A mischievous smile appeared on Elias's face.
"Amm... no, I..."
"Just kidding."
Aargh!
"Your Majesty... please don't tease this humble servant any longer.. "
William crumbled on the floor, feeling way more tired than the most rigorous training he'd done so far. Was this how it was like to accompany a royalty?
Elias's smile receded, his expression turned serious once again.
"Third brother is petty. He'll make things difficult for you. Be prepared."
After dropping that bomb, he threw the orange on his hand toward William's face. The latter caught it out of reflex.
"That's for you. Now, let me sleep."
He was now facing Elias's back. He felt that no matter what he said, the prince wouldn't respond anymore.
That was the end of today's royal interaction.
"Haah..."
Without bothering to peel off the skin, he bit through the orange, consuming it whole.
---
"Middle rank qi condensation stage!"
Robert was both horrified and elated at the same time. This kid who was in the peak elementary stage yesterday had finally broken through. Not to mention, to jump ranks in an instant! It was too bizarre!
One need to know that even the geniuses like Christina and Charles Altair had raised their strength gradually, albeit faster than normal. Jumping ranks were another thing altogether!
"Instructor... I think it's because I've accumulated too much qi before."
"Ah, yes, makes sense!"
Robert nodded enthusiastically. Anyway, his evaluation wasn't wrong. This kid was surely talented! He might not be in the rank of great geniuses, but he was clearly above average!
This sort of talent must be nurtured carefully. He might have to request a meeting with the Fist Saint Elder in the near future...
"Alright, now that you're in qi condensation stage, you can attend class with other disciples. You're a bit late, but it's not a problem. I'll give you permission to borrow the books about basic theory from the library. You can catch up that way."
"Many thanks, instructor!"
William bowed down, feeling gratitude over instructor Robert's kindness. He had been helping him for the past months, to the point where he was afraid that he couldn't pay him back.
When he noticed the kid's concern, Robert just casually waved his hand while saying,
"That's the duty of instructor! If you want to pay me back, then work hard and reach foundation establishment stage as soon as possible!"
Of course, it was easier said than done.
Advancing in ranks in elementary stage was easy. From qi condensation stage onward, however, each rank was exponentially harder than the last. If it took a month from first rank to the second, it might take half a year from second rank to third.
That was why, for William to reach middle rank at his age was surprising.
Robert was giddy, wanting to see how far William could go from here.
In the class, William took a seat in the furthest back row, intending to not draw attention. The nobles who had noticed this addition only gave him a short glance before resuming their business.
From what he had observed after a month in the academy, the nobles wouldn't make trouble with commoners on purpose. It was below their status. As long as both parties maintain their distance, all was well in the world.
So William did just that.
The instructor for this class was a lanky man seemingly in his forties. His voice, however, was loud, enough to reach even the furthest corner of the classroom. William would later learned that there was qi infused within, proof the the instructor had paramount degree of control over his qi.
"This week, we'll talk about qi utilization."
A martial artist beyond elementary stage could begin to use qi in their movements.
First, by gathering and refining qi within their bodies, their physique would naturally grow stronger as well. This rate of growth was exponentially faster compared to common physical exercise, and the difference would just getting larger the further they advanced in ranks and stages.
Next, a person in qi condensation stage could manifest their qi into what was called 'aura', a membrane of light that usually cover a martial artist's body.
Aura could provide defense against most physical attack, which made someone in qi condensation stage virtually immune against a person in elementary stage. Of course, aura wasn't an unbreakable shield. It could be broken after sustaining some degree of impact. That was why it would be wiser to just avoid the opponent's attack altogether instead of facing them head-on.
William had experienced this first-hand when he was fighting those thugs on his first day in the capital.
The instructor continued.
"When fighting opponents above elementary stage, however, having aura as your defense wouldn't worth much!"
Manifesting qi could go both ways. If there was a way to do it as defense, then there would be one for offense.
"For those who use their fists, you don't need to think too much. Your aura, your manifested qi, already covered those parts. Just punch and kick as usual. For those who use weapons, you have to direct your aura to cover those objects. Watch."
The instructor unsheathed his sword. Milky-white glow appeared around his body. Slowly, the light over his hands began to stretch out further, covering the sword from its hilt to the tip of its blade.
"As for the difference... I think you already know, but let me show it off to you just in case."
He retracted the light around the sword, and then swung the blade onto his desk. The steel blade sank into the surface of the desk, but couldn't go any further.
Next, he moved the light back onto the blade.
"I've limited the output. This is around the strength of a middle-rank qi condensation stage."
He swung the sword once again.
The blade sunk onto the wooden surface as if it was hot knife slicing through butter. Without showing any effort, the blade cut all the way through, splitting the desk cleanly in two.
Some kids who had reached at least middle-rank didn't pay much attention to the instructor's demonstration, but the rest of the class was extremely excited.
Usually, to produce such a clean cut would require an impossibly sharp blade crafted by renowned blacksmith, but the disciples knew that instructors in the royal academy were only issued standard-quality swords. The one used by this instructor was even slightly chipped.
Him cutting the desk in two was solely because of his qi!
"Don't be too excited now. Cutting through lifeless object like this is easy. Against opponent with aura, you might repel each other if you're at the same level."
The instructor gave out pointers on how to manipulate aura, such as adjusting the level of aura that one let out, or strengthening one part of the body while sacrificing the other. However, that level of detail was difficult for disciples in qi condensation stage.
"Your main goal right now is to enhance the quality of your qi refinement, allowing you to advance in rank. For today's lecture, just treat it as extra information."
What the instructor didn't say was that practicing those control techniques would gave them deeper understanding of qi, thus making it easier to break through into foundation establishment realm. Merely raising in ranks wouldn't suffice.
'Oh well, if they don't get it, then they don't.'
William had furiously written down everything that the instructor had imparted that day. Even though he didn't understand the detail itself, he felt that it would be useful for him in the future. He decided that he would practice these control techniques alongside his usual training.
The class concluded shortly after. The disciples stood up one after another as they proceeded to exit the classroom.
When William was about to follow suit, however, two youths approached his desk. They stood right in front of him, as if intending to block his way.
"William, isn't it? Come with us."
Their undisguised sneer made William frown.
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