Levi stood, his back to one of the alley's walls. " Maybe i should kill them all?" He mumbled under his breath. He was getting genuinly annoyed. " No...if i crated a commotion, that old man might appear again...I got away from him earlier, but i have a feeling that he didn't put his all into catching me..." He spoke softly. " I got away from the old man a while ago, but was chased all around the city by these soldiers until it was this late..." His eyes were back to normal, cold with a hint of anger and irritation. ' The only thing that improves my mood is getting stronger...sigh..what kind of person am i? how did i become like this?....it doesn't matter.' He thought, as he removed his hands from his chest, and began walking out of the alley absent-mindedly. " Crap!" He came back to reality after hearing the heavy steps of soldiers. Looking around, there were no more alleys in sight, and running back into the one he juzt left would be suspicious, so he walked into an open building. " hmmm?" After walking in, he stayed silent for a few seconds, before taking in the sight. The inside of the building was spacious and almost empty, including the second floor. Tables were overturned, and chairs laying on their sides. In the center of the room, an elivated platform stood, where 3 women in revealing garments danced. They were all in sync, when they turned, the cloth in their hands flowed through the air gracefully. "hmmm?! well if it ain't the boy!" A shout caused Levi to snap his head around. " Old gray?" Levi mumbled, as he watched old gray down a cup of red liquid, as old lin shouted something inaudible.
"...Good evening." Levi walked up to them before speaking a few seconds later. " Why so formal! hmm?! Sit, sit!" Old gray shouted as he slapped the side of the table, his face flushed. "..." Levi silently sat on the stool. ' What is going on? He is acting strange.' Levi thought. " Sigh, this old man loves to drink but can't hold his alcohol!" Old lin sighed, while levi's eyes shined with realization. " So, boy, how'd the war go?! d'ja gain anything!?" Old gray shouted. Levi's head turned to the door, his eyes wide. Only when he saw the doorway still empty did he sigh in relief. " You should stop." Levi said, as he looked at the clay jug. A strong scent wafted from the jug, burning Levi's throat as he sniffed it. " What'er you saying! I just got here!" Old gray shouted, as he poured another cup. " No, we have been here the entire day. Even when everyone ran off, you still insisted on staying." Old lin pinched his nosebridge with irritation. " How can i leave these ladies here, all alone?!" Old gray peaked at the dancing girls, as his expression grew strange. " Exposing all of that skin, but covering their faces with veils! Those naughty...heh heh.." He laughed weirdly as his mind wandered. " Sir, your lascivious gaze is making the girls shiver, disrupting the dance." A waitress suddenly appeared. She sighed helplessly as if this was a common occurrence. " Not possible, not possible! The great me would never have such a gaze!" Old gray shouted and downed another cup. ' You say that every time.' The waiter sighed and left.
Thonk!
"..." Levi looked silently at the cup of purple-ish red liquid that was slammed down in front of him, then to Old gray, who had a ' go on' expression on his face. " You sure got it rough, boy." Old lin's face held an amused expression. "..." Levi silently picked up the cup, before sipping it's contents. " pfttt! cough! cough!" He held his burning throat as he coughed, while old gray burst out laughing. " Hahaha, This heartless old man! Giving the boy this flaming mermaid wine!" Old lin laughed slyly. ' Flaming mermaid wine?....i'm getting dizzy..' Levi thought as he held his forehead. " Old lin..." He called out after a few seconds. boom! A large book landed on the wooden table, causing the wine glases to chatter. " I will not be able to make use of this...i only realised recently, but, i can't focus on both inscriptions and pill refining...." Levi said after a while. "....Sigh...i had a feeling...only insane or stupid people would try to walk two paths after all..." Old lin spoke with a weak smile. " So-" Levi was inturupted. " Keep it. It should be of use to you at some point, i have no use for it anyway." Old lin said. " Ok." Levi nodded. pfluuuumph! The sound of a horn being blown caused levi to turn his head. " Hmm, they are recalling the soldiers...i wonder what they were looking for in the city for the entire day..well, it could only be those soldiers who got in..." Old lin mumbled under his breath. "...I will be taking my leave, then." Levi got up and grasped his fist respectfully before turning around. " Eh, eh! were'r you goin boy?! Come and drink with this old man!" Old gray shouted, as Levi kept walking. " C'mon, don't be so uptight! You should instead find something tight to...open up! Bwahahaha! Are you listening boy?! Take this old man's advice, your mood will improve! You'll thank me later, hic, hahahaha!" Old gray's voice became fainter as Levi walked through the streets.
After a few minutes of walking, he arrived back at the inn. The sun was already down as he walked in. " Good night, young master!" The old inn keeper said loudly, as Levi nodded at him. " Where are they?" Levi asked. " Lady Aria and young Aron are in the bottom left room sleeping. While master Larck is in the bottom right room. As for mister don...Well, he is in the upper left room." The old inn keeper said. "....Why is in here such a mess?" Levi then asked, as he swept his gaze over the broken tables and chairs. " Well, a soldier in green armor came in and half destroyed the place. Mister don, along with lady aria and young aron were scared. In the end, it was master larck that drove the soldier away, bare handedly." The inn keeper's eyes sparkled as spoke about this. "....Hmm.." Levi hmmed in reply, before walking up to his room. Without pause, he sat cross-legged on his bed and closed his eyes.
After absorbing qi for a few minutes, he opened his eyes. " I can only absorb a small amout of qi...When i try to circulate this qi, it seemingly dissapears...." He mumbled to himself as he lost himself in thought. " Could it be that...i have to nurture these primordial meridians before being able to use them freely?....I also felt that....the qi i absorb never seems to go below my skin...do i have to nurture the merdians in layers? Or do i only have primordial merdians in my skin?" He thought about these things silently for a few minutes. "....hmm, in any case, i will stay up for a while longer before going to sleep. I will nurture these primordial meridians in this time, so that i can at least get a bit of sleep before leaving the imperial city tomorrow." He muttered softly.
...
Morning.
"..." Levi's eyelids cracked open silently, as he got up. He absorbed qi for most of the night and didn't get a chance to bathe. He had the inn keeper prepare some water for him, before going to wash himself. " Should i bring them along with me?" Levi thought as he stood in the steam filled bathroom. " No." He said as he put on a white robe. Looking at himself in the cloudy mirror, he found that his hair was a bit long, reaching the nape of his neck. After leaving the bath, he went to the front of the inn, only to find the four ex-gladiators sitting at one of the crudely repaired tables. " Good morning, young master." As she saw him, Aria said with a nervous expression. " ...Hmm....What is it?" He nodded his head before asking. " W-well..." She turned to face don, who's face was twisting in pain. " Hmm?" Looking down at his chest, Levi found bandages wraped around him tightly. Looking closely, he could see that the bandages had a large discolored stain. The sound of cloth ripping rang out, as levi grew out one of his fingernails and tore the bandages. Underneath, he found a large sword wound. It was smelly, with white puss flowing out ocasionally, and small boils lined it. ' Why does it look like this? He should have got this yesterday when the soldier destroyed all of the tables and chairs, right?' Levi thought silently, as a green liquid flowed down his palm. " Ahhh!" Don screamed in agony, his bald head sweating as the ant acid ate away his flesh, the puss, the boils, and everything else that was in the wound. " You-young master...What are you doing?" Aria asked, horrified, as Aron turned his head away. Larck sat as silent as a stone, some of his long black hair falling over his shoulder.
' Should i use my blood and try to heal him?...No, that would be wasting my blood. For now, i should try to utilize his blood.' Levi thought silently, as he ignored aria's question. " Hmm?" After removing the acid, he tried to control don's blood, but found that it resisted him. "..." After trying for a few minutes, he got the blood to move to his will by force, but it was quite hard to control. "Stop resisting." He spoke with annoyance as he looked at don, who flinched. "..." Half an hour later, the large sword wound was gone and replaced with a smooth scar. " How..." Don looked at his chest slack jawed, before his stomach rumbled in protest. "..." Levi watched this scene silently. ' It is good to know that i can also heal people other than myself. But, they should eat before, since i am basically using the nutrients in their bodies to heal them.' He thought, as he wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve. " I am leaving the imperial city today. All of you, wait here until i return. Help the old man work or something until then." Levi said without emotion. " Wait, young master! You should at least take me along! I may not be much, but...i could at least....satisfy those desires..." Aria said as she looked down towards levi's lower half. ' Desires? I have no interest in that kind of nonsense.' Levi's sharp gaze swept over aria's body, but he kept silent. " I will be going alone. Since i am going back to a certain dangerous place, i cannot bring you with me. After training at this place for a while, i will visit an old friend to pay him what i owe." Levi said coldly as he walked towards the door.
...
After flying for a while, he reached the south gate of the imperial city. He flew over it before landing. " Since praticing the cloud or water commandment right now would be pointless, i might as well practice the wind commandment." Levi spoke as he flicked his finger, causing a small book to appear. He stood silently as he revised the wind commandment. "It says that this agility technique should be used while asisting your body with qi...but i don't have any qi, so i will just practice it lightly..." He mumbled. ' If i practice it wothout the assistance of qi, then when i do use qi in the future, it should be easier.' As he thought of this, he began running like the book described. He could not be too forceful or lax with his movements. All of his steps had to be the same distance, and timed, down to the second. And the book forbade heavy steps, as it would disrupt the important calmness that came from using the skill. So he had to run with force, but not too much, each step had to be the same distance and for the same duration. And finally, he had to take light steps, even while doing all of the above. " Huff! huff!" After only about 10 minutes, levi was already at his limit.