Jacob's legs were killing him, and he could barely stand. However, his hate for Frederick kept him steady on his feet.
Few people could irritate him as much as the principal's son. Even now, his arrogant gaze swept over him with a sardonic smile painted on his lips. His built was muscular and tall, a stark contrast with Jacob's short and skinny one.
"Juliet," Jacob looked at the girl, who understood instantly. She went by his side and put an arm over his waist.
Helena went by Frederick's side and stared at him.
"Well, what—" Frederick tried to ask a question.
"Shut it, idiot," Juliet barked.
Jacob slowly put a foot forward and turned their back to the two popular kids, going toward his house.
"You think you can just go like that?" Frederick asked from behind his shoulders.
Jacob raised his middle finger without turning his head.
"Juliet, bring me to the school. I'll stay in the secretary's office and cultivate by myself. Get me the satchel with all the herbs I gathered. I might be able to mix something and cross the threshold to the 2nd level by tomorrow morning. It's a hard maybe, however. These few fights have made my Meridians more resistant and helped my body get accustomed to Qi; however, my talent is what it is. I can only hope."
Juliet could feel his sadness and disappointment. Jacob had just killed a hazardous monster, but his frustration was overwhelming.
"Jake, don't beat yourself up. You killed another fuc**ng monster."
Jacob glanced behind his shoulders and found that Helena had just stopped Frederick from following them.
"Yeah. Whatever."
…
Jacob was lying down in the Secretary's office by himself.
He was meditating and trying to clear his mind. He was now trying to raise his Qi level to the 2nd level of the Cockroach realm.
It would take time before he could fight without wrecking his own body. It was not like he didn't know what he was in for when he reincarnated, but at the same time, everything had already gone wrong.
Events were changing rapidly and a few significant changes, like Helena's talent, were impossible to explain.
No one knew time better than Jacob. No one. However, he could only think that he had somehow influenced reality itself when reincarnating.
Everything he knew about Cultivation, Alchemy, and fighting was still the same. But, on the contrary, everything he knew about these people and the events surrounding the early St. Peter was not valid anymore.
He had almost died. It was hard to accept, but without Frederick, he might not have lasted another ten seconds. His solution had been reckless, and only a very powerful Forbidden Technique would have saved his own life.
Jacob needed to refactor. He needed a little respite. Everything had been so frenetic since he had come back that he had barely had any time to think.
In the few hours he had been able to cultivate, he had had to keep healing his internal wounds. And now, after this latest exploit, he would have to focus on healing again.
"Goddammit," he banged his fist on the secretary's desk.
I need to get my sh*t together.
Going back to the past with his current knowledge was a massive boon, but apparently, it did not guarantee success as he had thought before.
His past life was a treasure trove of information, and he could now somehow game the system. However, precisely because he had all that knowledge, he had underestimated the world.
If he had stopped to think a few seconds more about Helena's talent, it would have become evident that something would have gone as it had.
I could have foreseen the appearance of a powerful Demonic Beast.
And he had. Just not in time.
Jacob's head was not empty enough to focus on meditation. So, he decided to go through the motions of a Martial Technique to calm himself.
He got up and started moving slowly, like a karateka practicing a kata.
Going through the familiar motions was like cold water had just washed him over. It reconnected this body with his past one. It was one thing he could use to get a grasp on this new reality.
After ten minutes or so, he felt a knock on the door.
Juliet appeared in front of him, covered in blood. Some of which was hers.
Jacob showed a pained expression.
"No need for pity," Juliet could feel his emotions through the Ancestral Bond, "there were two Demonic Wolves. I got rid of both by myself. I scoured the woods around St. Peter, and I did not find anything else."
Jacob nodded. Her wounds would close on their own very soon. The higher the Qi cultivation, the more the body would become tougher and heal faster. At higher levels, even lost limbs were just a temporary setback. And with Juliet's constitution, the wounds were already healing visibly.
"What's up with you and Fred, by the way?" she asked.
"I already told you. The guy's a little shit. He cannot be trusted", Jacob said, annoyed.
"But he kind of saved your life," Juliet remarked.
"Indeed… I don't know, Juliet. I need time to think. I made a mistake with the Hellspawn Chameleon that I barely afforded. I cannot afford another one: it would put all of us in danger. So, for now, Frederick is an asset. But don't trust him, never. Never put yourself in a situation where he's watching your shoulders. Frederick's first and only thought is Frederick."
Juliet felt his solid emotions and just nodded.
"Anyway, we have something more important than Frederick to discuss. If we are safe for the moment, we need to pick up where we left."
"Where?" asked Juliet.
"Well, from the Martial Technique, I was going to teach you."
Jacob smiled.