"Grab the rocks, brats, we're leaving town. Now" I speak, still savoring the thrill of brutalizing one of the Gray Flame bastards.
"Okay, but what about our injuries?" Baha asks holding tight the arm with the dislocated shoulder.
"I'll take care of that as soon as you sync me." I answer without thinking.
"Sync on you? Like training?" Baha asks more nervously than at any time during the battle.
"Exactly like that." Oh, that's why he's nervous.
I have to stop myself from laughing at this one, calm down Kaz, don't scare the kid any more.
"Just sync, okay." It's not like you're in any condition to run any other way "I'll take care of your injuries on the way"
"Ahhr, right." Baha responds, resigned? At least that's what it looks like. "It's not like we have much choice."
"Mingten?" I ask for confirmation from Mingten.
She just nods her head in agreement. Is it exhaustion or my presence that makes her quieter?
A disproportionate combination of the two probably, not something I should be worried about. Let's get out of here.
I start to slow down my breathing and my heartbeat, and Mingten and Baha synchronize each of these aspects respectively and due to the difference between stages I become the anchor of the connection.
Great, let's run brats.
And so we ran through the alleys and alleys until we reached the exit of the city, without the patience to pretend to be a tourist I passed the guards with a whisper: fear.
They get lost in the sight of all the fears I've ever synced with, don't hang around too long brats.
I cut the guards' connection and before they recover from their stupor we run past them. Now to treat the wounds of the two idiots, I use the fact that it's possible to recreate parts of what's on one side of the sync on the other, similar to how I recreated the ten path coin.
I might as well have tested her, couldn't I? Now for later, getting rid of the brats' wounds comes first.
As I said, principle of recreation, I feed Ki through our connection as I guide the tissues of their bodies to mimic mine that are not injured, the wounds begin to close at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Lucky brats, as it's a recreation of my skin and muscles they basically got a small upgrade as a result of their injuries, well I intended to do something similar when they reached their natural limit.
I think I can be a little more demanding with their training now.
"Hide that liquor stealing smile, I can see it from your back." The fugitive really has great instincts.
"I'm just thinking about how to give you the best of my 'basic' training before we get to the Tower" I say trying to tone down my sadistic amusement.
I also need somewhere I can settle for longer than any of these random cities, and with more resources, if I'm going to try to research/practice the techniques Yanan gave me.
"Have you thought about what weapon you want me to make?" Let's change the subject and solve other problems in the meantime.
"I think a saber (Dao) is a good option, or if not a bastard sword like the one I currently use." Mingten responds a little inattentively.
"I can change the size of the saber so you can wield it with either a two-handed or one-handed grip." I have to check the materials to see if it's worth doing, but it's a possibility.
"Oh, let's try this then." Mingten responds as absently as before.
"Hey Kaz, since you look happier." Yes, Baha I'm happier, massacring cultists is more therapeutic than I remembered, but there are no cultists close to us right now, so don't ruin my day. "Can you explain why my flame and those guys' flames are different?"
"Synchro is not the only way to transcend human limits, it is the most common and probably the most versatile, but not the only one. Bloodlines, blessings, curses, forging among others also exist or existed." Honestly the brats probably don't need to know all this, but since they asked.
"Existed"
"Existed. Most of those powers were lost along with the fragmentation of the God Realm, what was left was combined with Synchro to create some unique abilities like the gray flame that gives that damn cult its name." Be satisfied with this lazy summary.
"Those practitioners of other powers, if they weren't Synchroners what were they?" Baha contain your curiosity please.
"Cultivators."
"Cultivators like farmers?" No, Baha.
"No." I reply with an 'enough of questions' look.
"What you do to paralyze your opponents, is it one of those Synchro combinations with some other power?" Mintten asks with renewed focus.
"So-so." For now it's more Synchro than any other technique I've bothered to name.
"Besides Synchro, what is the other power?" Mingten, Mingten, you didn't ask that, did you?
"I don't remember accepting disciples to have to teach the fundamentals of my techniques." I speak, stopping suddenly making them stop too, I turn and face the brats halfway through activating fear, causing my eyes to glow a pale blue. "Right, Assistant Mingten?"
"Right." She responds, with even more focus than before, this time focus caused by the adrenaline both brats are feeling.
"We will continue to travel until the moon is high in the sky, tomorrow you resume your training routines, no more questions." And as ordered, no one asked anyone else anything.
I kept running, and consequently forcing the brats to run, until close to midnight, when I cut our connection.
"Sleep." I say dryly.
The brats look at me with a face that is a mixture of hatred and resignation, but they try to sleep almost immediately. It's not like they really have a choice.
After about twenty minutes, when the brats have actually fallen asleep, I open one of my rum bottles, the clear one.
"Do you want to introduce yourself as a priest of the ashes?" Obviously our little theft wasn't going to go unnoticed, for now that's not a problem, in fact it could even be good luck. My years hiding among mortals have made me very isolated and away from pertinent information like: How much of the organizations I antagonized remember me? Of those how many think I'm dead? How recognizable am I really?
This idiot will clear some of these doubts for me.
"As expected of a master of your caliber, I could not deceive your senses." A muscular man with gray hair, black and gray robes and a white mask that covers the nose and around the eyes, in the hole where the eyes would be, there was a translucent black stone, lapis. He approaches slowly, hands clasped in front of him and stops fifteen paces from me.
Too close to the brats.
"Like a master of my caliber indeed" I reply after drinking some of my rum "There's only one problem, I have no idea what that means."
"Excuse me, what do you mean you have no idea what that means?" The priest asks trying to sound as cordial as possible.
"I have amnesia." Not really, maybe it's better to have it, if it doesn't work out this time, I'll drink until I forget who I am. "I have no idea what my caliber is."
"You don't remember your own power, but do you remember the title of a simple servant of an organization hostile to you? Not only that, you clearly know the value of the stones your pupils have taken as you know how to use your strength with proficiency and versatility, and you still don't know what stage you are in because of some kind of amnesia?" The priest begins to speak, unwittingly implying that he's been watching me for some time, even better. "If this is a joke, it wasn't fun."
"It's not a joke, like I said, I don't remember how awesome I'm supposed to be so why don't you tell me, who the hell am I?" I ask with a smile from end to end on my lips.
"Please" The priest starts talking probably bordering on a nervous tic, hard to say for sure because of the mask "Lord Kaz you don't have to play this kind of game with me, I'm just here to understand the reason for the sudden attack on our members. "
Seems like most stories about me have been hushed up enough that even the name 'Kaz' doesn't make you suspect anything thank you, priest, now fuck off I don't have enough alcohol to pretend to be civil any longer in front of a idiot cultist.
"I just wanted to give the stones as a gift to my pupils, but I decided to take the opportunity to train them in the process." The order and my relationship with the brats is a little distorted when compared to reality, but it's not exactly a lie.
"My lord, you surely understand that I cannot return empty-handed, could you please be a little more honest?" the idiot priest asks.
"Did you ask for honesty?" I get up and start walking towards the cultist, "So let's be honest. The truth is, you're going to go back to wherever your base is and report this mess, not understanding anything." The priest tries to walk away, but I cross the distance between us with one step and stand right in front of him. "Or you can ask for more than that, in which case, I'll put your adoration to the test" I activate 'fear' partially as I look down a little where the priest's eyes would be "Setting fire to everything I can feel , you and I included, to see which of us ends up 'purified' first." Deactivating 'fear' the priest stands in place, covered in cold sweat, for a few seconds.
"Run." It's not a bluff, idiot.
He bends over, turns and runs out of my sight.
"Too bad, I actually wanted to test the differences between a cultist's flames and mine." I sit down, one leg outstretched, and go back to drinking my rum, slowly, to still have half the bottle when dawn.
As the sun rises, I close the bottle of rum, Mingten wakes up, and twenty minutes later Baha wakes up too.
"Start with the exercises brats!" Let's speed up the pace, and increase the difficulty.
"Already?" Are you deaf Baha?
"Yes now."
"The same as always?" Mintten asks.
"Yes, but I will be supplying less Ki from today, so you must be feeling fatigued and exhausted sooner than usual." I answer.
"You mean the intervals are going to be longer?" Baha asks next.
"No." I just said that the only thing that has changed is that I won't provide any more Ki.
Now the brats start training.
Soon we'll reach the Tower, I wonder if Old Star, left my room alone or had to tinker with it while expanding the organization?
The last one is probably all right as long as he's kept my notes.
Especially about the reincarnation cycle and how to benefit from it, in theory, as it's probably something similar to the results that my research has come up with that is happening to my soul.
Of course I could be wrong, but better prepare for the worst.