Leon gradually opened his eyes and instantly felt a soreness all over his body. Wincing at the pain that surrounded his body like tiny pricking needles, he glanced around him to determine where he was.
Noticing the many bunks and dim lighting inside the small room, he quickly realized he was in one of the rooms meant for rest in the training facility and remembered the previous fight that had landed him in his current state.
Sighing, he clutched his head while he slowly sat up right on the bunk.
'Alright, so draining all my energy is probably not the smartest thing to do. Especially when I'm in a massive fight.
I should try to conserve energy or escape in order to avoid this unconscious state and avoid this painful rebound that leaves me quite vulnerable.'
Leon understood after experiencing the painful feeling of having not much energy left in his dan tian that draining all his energy could be fatal, especially if he was amidst enemies.
Pushing this issue to the back of his mind, he positioned himself into a meditative stature to accumulate and circulate qi through his pores and guide it into his dan tian like he learned at the Shuangdao sect.
After a few hours the energy he had drained in the fight was replenished in his dark dan tian or lower sphere, and he exited the room to return to the underground compound.
He didn't know how long he had slept and asked one of the medical personnel for an account of how many days he slept for.
"Oh, you've been asleep for about two and a half days. Your body was extremely drained and needed to rest in order to replenish your vitality so this is only to be expected."
Hearing the amount of time that had been wasted within the month that he had to prepare himself for the incoming experts from the west, where every day counted, his headache increased further as he furrowed his brows after listening to the staff.
'Shit...'
Leon grumpily stomped into the underground compound to cultivate with his remaining supplies and gather the intel of the past two days he had missed.
"Four!"
An operative from amongst his elite team arrived at his call awaiting his boss's instruction.
"Gather me the intel you've all gathered for the past two days about the west's experts."
Nodding to the request of his boss, four disappeared and then reappeared a moment later with three files that he handed to him.
"Thanks, you can go now."
Silently nodding again, four left to resume his business as Leon curiously opened the files containing information about the incoming experts.
'Huh, that's funny! I recognize one of them.'
Glossing over the files, Leon's attention was fixed to the last file as an image of a young man with jet black hair and hazel eyes appeared in the documents.
'That's Carson! He will someday become a crucial player in Armani's forces in the next five years. I remember meeting him a year after I met Armani...'
Frowning as he contemplated the actions he should take, he threw the documents on the table across from him as they slid across its surface.
'According to the intel, the highest realm of the bunch is his, at the peak of mortal realm, with the other two at the second layer. I remember Carson's attribute was green but we don't know the other two's.'
Leon recalled the king of kissing Armani's ass and chuckled to himself before becoming serious again.
He knew the pathetic behaviors and tendencies of his opponent but was still concerned about his strength since he was at the peak of the mortal realm.
'That snobby bastard loved to toy with people he knew were below him, so coming to the east will look like a playground or vacation for him.
But we cannot let him just mess around here as he pleases! The situation here is completely different from before, especially now that I've returned.'
He was familiar with Carson's disgusting personality and habits but was still cautious of the potential damages he could create.
His favorite technique that he often used to torture his opponents was whispering blades.
This technique was specifically cultivated by martial artists who held the green colored attribute representing wind and was often their best technique in their arsenal.
By condensing the qi in their bodies, circulating it through their hands to a blade, and then cutting with this blade would create an extended slash in the air made of wind that was a sharp as the blades they held.
The technique got its name from the eerie whistling sound it created as the invisible force slashed through the air towards its opponent.
Only by concentrating on sensing the disturbance of energy around them in the air could an opponent determine its location in an effort to dodge or counter.
Against opponents in higher realms, above mortal realm, this technique was sub par and even laughable.
However, for those in the mortal realm who had just begun cultivating it was quite dangerous.
Stepping into the mortal realm allowed practitioners to finally sense just a fraction of the qi within the atmosphere around them and were by no means experts at comprehending the changes of the qi around them.
Leon understood this match up would definitely be troublesome.
He searched for a solution to enable them to counter this obstacle but was only able to come up with the simple answer of just increasing their realms.
But they didn't have that amount of time before the expert's arrival!
'Screw it! An answer will eventually reveal itself if there is one. For now I should focus on strengthening myself and the comprehension of my techniques just like everyone else.'
Leon returned to his isolated cultivation room in the underground compound as he kept searching for a solution in his mind as he trained.
A week passed by quickly with only a week and a half remaining before the arrival of Carson and the two others.
Within this period of time, Leon had managed to increase the energy within his lower dan tian exponentially and stabilize his control over his techniques more but was still more than three quarters away from his next breakthrough.
'Damn! There isn't enough time for me to gather qi from the surroundings to breakthrough again. I need to find a better location with denser qi at some point!'
Realizing the pathetic amount of qi that resided in the east sector was hindering his cultivation frustrated him, but there weren't any other options present.
Leon forcefully pushed open the door exiting his cultivation room filled with annoyance with their situation and returned to the main room of the underground compound that housed a bunch of tech and monitors.
He dug through the different boxes that stored his operatives' gadgets until he found a familiar one. The small belt he was holding housed an odd stone in the center that was drawing his attention.
'This could hide the energy emitted by its owner by sucking in the small amount of energy emitted. The main piece of this equipment is this stone but I'm not even sure what it is.'
Cracking open the belt's housing case for the stone, Leon grabbed the bluish translucent orb it held and studied it.
After releasing some energy through his hand that was holding the peculiar stone, he felt a small suction force emitting from the stone that greedily ate the energy.
Pushing some more energy into the small thumb sized stone, its translucent color gradually become more muddled and its bluish color became denser.
Leon was intrigued by the small piece of stone's properties as he continued to study its odd characteristics.
After sensing no more energy could enter the stone after half his energy was consumed, he tried to draw the pure energy in the stone back into his body, but was unable to do so.
'What the hell!'
Leon didn't care about the small amount of energy and curiously crushed the stone with the strength of his body and was surprised by the small influx of qi that erupted from the crushed orb.
Quickly he urged the energy to enter his pores like he did while cultivating and felt the energy traveling back into his system.
Leon revealed a small smile as an idea was soon formed after his little experiment and quickly grabbed the rest of the belts out from their storage.
After placing all the equipment on a table, he began to break all of them and retrieve the stones they held while putting them all in a pile together.
He then grabbed his cell phone and dialed Lawrence's number since he was the one who ordered these pieces of equipment for his elite squad.
"Ah! Brother, what can I do for you?"
Lawrence's tired voice echoed from the phone and Leon could tell the recent developments and hectic atmosphere of FallenStar was keeping him busy.
"I was wondering where you ordered some of the equipment for my team. Specifically those belts that hinder detection of energy."
There was a slight pause on the other end of the call as Leon could hear some ruffling of papers.
"I'm searching through our transaction records and it looks like we actually got them from the Agnolo family."
Leon smirked and was excited that the supplier was so close to their location. They were even inside of the east sector!
"Alright thanks! Can you send me a car in a couple minutes. I want to head over there myself."
Ending the call, Leon grabbed a few of the peculiar stones and left the compound.
The same tinted Mercedes sedan picked him up outside the training facility and quickly made its way to a familiar street.
Leon recognized the pawnshop across the street where he got the coin for his admittance before and did the same thing again.
Finally after getting through the security, he was greeted by the luxurious lobby that led to Agnolo's Alley.
However, instead of entering the elevator like last time, he walked over towards the butler at the reception counter and made a request in a humble manner.
"Pardon me, I'm here to see the young master of the Agnolo family. I have some great business for him that he would be interested in."
The butler eyed the dark clothed youth before him disdainfully before widening his eyes after seeing the FallenStar crest on his shoulder.
"Ah! Sorry, just give me one moment."
The butler grabbed a black phone from behind the counter and called the higher ups before letting Leon know it would be a few minutes.
While waiting in the lobby, Leon walked around and took a closer inspection of the different antiques on display that he had just brushed past on his previous visits.
Having the knowledge of his past life was helpful as he was familiar with the antiques present after inquiring about them before, and casually glanced at each of them before slowly shaking his head.
"What's wrong little brother? Could it be the display of our ancient antiques doesn't suite your taste?"
A husky voice startled Leon slightly as he quickly turned around to be greeted by some curious eyes.
The youth who was only a little older than himself wore a lavish Italian suit that made him look like a young mafia boss and a sparkling expensive gold watch on his wrist.
"Ah, excuse my impoliteness young master! I guess you could say copies and frauds just don't suit my liking. I'm Leon Jackson from FallenStar."
The eyes of the Agnolo's young master widened slightly before squinting in discontent at the rash like words of the youth in front of him, but didn't take offense after hearing his background.
"Could Mr. Jackson enlighten me on how these antiques are not adequate?"
Leon squinted at the young master as he knew that he was being tested.
"First of all these relics are listed in the wrong dynasty. The craftsmen ship during their era was considered lost due to the invasions of barbarians that had finally succeeded and destroyed most of their work.
You can clearly see the delicate features on a few of them that are quite exquisite. However, the techniques used to create these types of treasures were not discovered until at least a hundred years after the time period they are listed as.
Lastly, if there were indeed artifacts recovered from this lost dynasty then they would not simply be on display even in the wealthiest lobby in the world due to their absolutely priceless value. But I'm sure the young master was already aware of this commonality."
Leon finished his hypothesis with a polite bow with a cunning glint flashing from the corners of his eyes as he gaged the reaction of his peer.
Noticing the warm and bright smile coming from the young master, Leon was able to relinquish his tense expression, which relaxed the nerve-racking atmosphere.
"Ah, I didn't know our little brother here was an expert! Please come with me two our private VIP transaction room to discuss the business you have brought us!"
"You are too kind, I am no expert. I just dabble a little and have an appreciation for the histories."
Leon followed the now talkative young master, who was excited to talk to a fellow connoisseur, and was almost bored to death through the droning information drumming from him.
Leon knew that the Agnolo's current young master was a fanatic of antiques and their history and had played this card to create a familiarity between them to further the opposing party's trust.
Before reaching the private room, the young master continued to ramble on about the different dynasties' and each of their unique styles of craftmanship.
Leon was somewhat interested at first, but due to the inlet of information never ceasing he became bored and decided to ignore him.
Finally, the Agnolo's young master pushed open a black door with golden accent marks of dragons carved into its surface, which led to the private room, and took a seat on an opposite couch before motioning opposite from himself to Leon.
Leon accepted the friendly gesture and took his seat on the opposite black leather couch while folding his hands in his lap and leaning back in a relaxed manner.
"Ah, I was so engaged with our discussion I forgot to introduce myself! You can call me Alonzo since we share a love for the same interests and you seem to be a refined gentleman as well. So, what business have you brought me?"
Leon was thankful for the information dump to have finally ended and eager to continue his research on the peculiar stone's usages so he got straight to the point.
"I heard from one of my subordinates, Lawrence whom you're familiar with, that a while back he had purchased some gadgets in bulk from your business.
I've become interested in one of these aforementioned gadgets and its components and was wondering whether you could provide me with some more information."
Leon leaned forward, adjusting his relaxed and slouching posture, and stared intently at Alonzo attempting to engrave all the incoming information into his mind.
"Ah, yes! He did buy a bunch of peculiar things such as the absorption belts. Hm, the components that device is comprised of are actually quite intriguing including the main ingredient that it derives its source from. Of course this information won't be for free."
It was then Alonzo took a relaxed posture and leaned back like Leon had done before.
But resumed his speech with a wide grin as a stack of cash was placed on the small table between them.
"It looks like your pretty interested in this information, aren't you. Unfortunately, we don't have access to these stones at the moment since the last annual shipment has already been used or sold. That Jiaolong head sure is a pain in the ass."
Alonzo released a small chuckle from behind his grinning teeth as he lifted his gaze from Leon towards the ceiling of the private room.
"The Jiaolong family is quite well off due to their ancestor's little find. Well, I wouldn't call it little considering the amount of wealth its accumulated.
Nevertheless, they have ownership of a special mountain range from which a towering mountain in the center, that their ancestor found way back when, housed the remains of a flood dragon.
Apparently some of its ridiculous amount of energy seeped into the mountains core and the nearby mountains as well, filling the different minerals inside them with this special energy.
Supposedly over the course of thousands of years, the minerals within these mountains developed a unique constitution from the continuous absorption. Which is how the stone that you are seeking today gained its absorption properties."
Alonzo's gaze returned from the ceiling to meet Leon's inquisitive eyes and shrugged his shoulders.
"Unfortunately the Jiaolong are pretty stingy! My father, his grandfather, and his father's father had created a business relationship with them to purchase these stones to resell and manufacture some special goods, but the contract remains unchanged even after all these years despite the increasing demand.
The amount of profits I could make if it weren't for their measly batch they transport here once a year could be exponential, but unfortunately they don't want to diverge from the previous agreement a couple hundred years ago."
Alonzo ended the meeting as he stood up with his hands raised and shook his head.
"We don't have the product you wish to purchase here but if you would like I can contact the Jiaolong family for you to try to negotiate. Although, I don't believe your pockets or hands will be full afterwards."
Leon sighed and shook Alonzo's hand before shaking his head as well.
"Don't worry, I believe I should be able to handle this myself. I don't want to put anymore burdens on the young master as is."
Alonzo smiled before patting Leon's back and led him back to the lobby with some departing words.
"Hey, no need for the honorifics! Men with similar tastes should stick together right?"
Leon laughed before turning to leave Agnolo's Alley's lobby while waving his hand over his shoulder.
"If what you say is true then don't be shy when visiting near FallenStar's headquarters and come in for a drink."
Exiting the building Leon's smile slowly reverted back to his cold and calm demeanor as he plotted on how to get his hands on the absorption stones.
'Luckily I have some familiarity with the Jiaolong family. I just hope I can get a good deal and hopefully some more insight on the stones uses.'
Staring towards the silhouette of mountains behind the buildings of East Fuyo, Leon smirked and sauntered off towards the black Mercedes sedan with his hands in his pockets.