As the teen continued to explain she had no say in her family to do anything, Leroy tuned most of it out at first. It was not until the end he said anything in regards to how she could actually still do something.
"Lies. A broken lying thing who says she has a will but to prideful to do something actually. Cry outrage but do not help." Leroy pulled out an envelope and handed it to Old Jin. "If you wish to do right by the people or whatever. That will help. But if you don't help, not my fault in the end."
"I will look at this later." Old Jin tucked it away. He had much to think about after what his student revealed but the Akademy still had certain rules that prevent them from acting out. Not to mention the strength of the Dark Rose Family. He decided to change the subject. "Now lastly you. What does it mean for you?"
"Power to change what I see before me." Leroy said with a straight face. "To break what is pressing down wrongly like a weak Family that is eating away at the land. Or useless children getting married off to horrible people causing those who try to the right thing to suffer due to false promises of freedom." His eyes flared with malice. "To kill those who wish to destroy the innocent without just cause. The good stuff that is in front of me must be mine. Not going to go looking for trouble that's for sure. That would be stupid and keep me from being a decent Doctor."
"I see." Old Jin had a lot to think about in regards to all of them. "Go rest, all of you." He left first.
"Hmmm." Leroy went back to the pit. The dagger he left inside had been there long enough. "To pierce the heart and hope for the best… " The Champion was not ready to do this part and it didn't help he was lacking in his time with surgery regarding Cardiology. But the call for power was strong.
Placing it back in the pit, he checked something in the book once again to make sure before trying.
The other two looked at him slightly between talks with each other. Startled seeing him plunge a bright red dagger into his chest a few moments later. In a hurry, they ran over to try to help.
"Raaah!" Leroy cried out blasting the two away with power Fire Qi. In the center of his chest, a metal seed appeared. it was made from the countless traces of small bits of iron from the blood. The skin around blistered in irritation. "Ha.. ha.. ha…"
*Ting!* The handle dropped into the pit. The blade completely compressed into his chest as the metal seed started to send traces of Metalic Qi to make up for the iron loss.
With a circulation of his Qi, a thin barrier of Fire Qi formed. With a push of his will it moved around and became thicker as needed. However, the expenditure was faster when he moved it about. The Fire Body and Metal Seed were just what he needed. Both were defensive based but provided a little to offensive at the same time.
"Ok.. that will make things easier to protect in the future. Just have a weird metal seed inside me." Leroy put out the fire completely and was about to leave. 'Gonna take a nice long shower. Oh wait… they don't have those. Guess a soak it is.' He did not notice the two he injured at all since they fell into some bushes.
It was also easy since he did not care and thought any one who didn't know what was going on wouldn't approach the process just then.
The enriched blood sucked in oxygen so efficiently he was grateful for the Longevity Burn to increase his future Cultivation Base. Within, his Qi turned thicker in its gaseous state currently.
The change of his Screen brought some thoughts to mind. His power and defense increased by one. Willpower went up due to the process as well. But the best was from his Qi as a whole that increased.
.
Night time-
.
Leroy had read a few more books as he soaked in the tub finalizing a few electric generators' creation. His body was naturally warmer now due to Fire Body. Circulating his Qi through the gates as well as through the Metal Seed was exhausting. But it was easier as time passed.
Fire Body giving a little protection against other Flame Martial Artists as well as the fire of all types of techniques. The stronger his own cultivation in fire attainment the stronger his defense against various fires.
"Ok, the seed gathers a bit of my Qi in passing naturally. Which slows it down slightly for growth since I am not actively controlling it. But each pass also creates Metalic Qi that improves my Dantian use of Qi. Which seems to strengthen it from Qi that needs to be refined."
Leroy felt the weight increase in his muscles and bones when he exhausted himself in a quick workout but if that was the only issue, that was not to bad. The Metal Seed was a nice little Body Technique for the internal organs and muscles.
Since the passageways that carried his Qi became stronger, he could now pass bigger strings of gases through them. Which would cut his cultivating down a bit if he did it before healing. He would hate to let his body become injured from rushing too quickly.
"Oh!" The water started to heat up. A byproduct of the Fire Body Technique. Which might be a problem down the road if he ends up screwing over his own cultivation. "Ah well, at least it doesn't hurt any more."
Hours passed till Leroy switched to the other set up he needed to do. He had metal rods all across the courtyard and several washtubs with potatoes inside.
Inserting a coin and the strands of copper wire into potatoes so that they are pressed together inside the spud
Wrap the loose end of the wire around one of the nails and insert it into the other potato
Push a nail into the potato with the coin in it and wrap the end of a piece of wire around the top of the nail
Insert a coin and the end of one piece of copper wire into the potato that has no coin in it
As the spuds were building up electricity he switched to the other method that was simpler. changing to some cheap wool clothing, it even itched the moment he put it on. Leroy started shuffling across the carpet in the room.
Detecting the static charge with his senses, a bit of Qi was added to it with devastating results.
*Bzzt!* A small discharged shot towards a pile a broken sword pieces. The metal instantly became charged and circled around oddly.
"Well shoot, at least they are not building up speed or anything. Maybe I can remove the charge from them?" Reaching out, Leroy tried to pull the lighting mixed inside. That was a bad move. "Oh, crap!"
All the broken swords came spinning towards him. Channeling his Qi, Leroy blocked as best he could. No way could he outrun them since they were coming directly towards him with even greater speed.
"Ouch!" A few tips pierced his flesh with the rest breaking against his knuckles that were infused with Qi. "Good thing the magnetic level was so week. I need to study Qi and how it effects stuff better in a few days."
Cleaning up but leaving the setup alone itself, he went back inside to brush up on other reading material. His Qi had increased more than with just the single Fire Body and his Intellect did as well.
Lighting was feeding his bioelectrical impulses within his body. The brain signals were stronger and faster as far as he knew. Pulling up information was easier and thinking was better. Even more so that what he gained from breaking into the Qi Refining Realm.
For next few days of light teaching, Leroy mostly focused on fixing anything in the Flamelighting Martial Arts that may have gone wrong from his mutation. As well as brushing up the different techniques available in the library with his own understanding.
The Qi that left from the Flame Vortex Core nurturing the Dantian that contained formed was quite the sight. It rages out like spinning a dancing fire with sparks of lighting popping off.
With the richer Qi, the Dantian Fusion Stage was fixed and very stable from every check he made. Making it easier for him to circulate through his passageways better of both Qi usage. Time was about all he needed to make sure things were perfect for something he was planning.
He also broke into the Qi Refining II Rank just this morning. It was a complete accident and he was surprised that it happened from pushing out all of the Qi from the Flame Vortex Core when pushing the Fire component of his Body Refining Technique. It was enough to push the Flame Lighting Dantian.
Which brought the question if she continued to empty out the other to make the lesser better to improve quicker. But then again it felt wrong to do so since the time he improved the Flame Vortex Core he understood everything he read better.
Now was time to go and meet with the others. About the time for Old Jin to start teaching them actual fighting moves.
Victoria was wearing a standard female outfit and was devoid of any Dark Rose markings. Sleeveless showing a good bit of her arms as well as a bit of her back and shoulders. It was very weird considering she said she wanted to be unbothered.
The boys and girls had paid closer attention when she left from the eating area.
Chu Xue was wearing some loose robes that looked to be hand-me-downs from an older relative. The different mixtures of green were quite eye-catching more than anything. The shoes were the only thing that looked right but Leroy could swear he saw an insignia of a bird.
As for Leroy, he was wearing some stylish black robes with blue and white accents he designed. His sewing had improved a bit since he was trying to wove in Inscription Patterns into clothing.
"For the past seven days, I have instructed you to channel your Qi only, but from today onwards I'll be teaching you martial arts more." Old Jin said solemnly. Letting his words sink in for his disciples. His eyes stopped on Victoria first making his decision. "My dear, you will go first."
"Yes." Victoria saluted respectively. Jin her taught her well in private as well as Chu Xue to catch up with the other. 'Time to show what I can do! Can't believe he left us in the bushes after hurting us!'
"Leroy, you also come watch and learn, Chu Xue you still haven't broken into the Qi Refining Realm. So go back and practice Qi circulation first." Old Jin looked at the blank look on Old Jin's face. "What is it?"
"He has made it to the Qi Refining Realm already. Right on the forefront of the breaking into the II Qi Refining Rank ..." Leroy closed his eyes and took a small breath. "Focusing on the air around him and you will detect the traces of medicine. Guess he lucked out and gained a lot of medicine to improve his cultivation quicker. The benefit of a Life Martial Artist they say. people always coming to them to get fixed up."
"What!?" Victoria was surprised and wondered where he got it from.
"I see." Old Jin kept better control of himself but was surprised as well. The Pills he gave him would only push him to the Body Tempering Peak, which meant he got it additional from somewhere else.
"You did it in a mere seven days?!" She gave a look towards Leroy who was not bothered in the least. Both were Seven Branch Spiritual Root and she had a Fifth Branch Spiritual Root. "We just broke through the First Rank when Teacher Jin taught us."