The next day in the training room of the Dread castle, Morgan and Kai were sitting on the ground facing each other as Morgan began speaking.
"The Five elephant Palm technique is rather simple to use. All you need to do is inscribe these symbols into your palm. Then, when you focus your mana into those symbols, you will be able to activate the technique anytime. However, if any part of the symbol receives an injury which causes the shape of the symbol to be affected, you will not be able to use the technique until you inscribe those words once more in your other hand."
The Baron said as he pulled out his right palm, to show the tiny symbols scared into his flash. However, then he pulled up his left palm and showed a large slash going over the palm. Looking closer, Kai found out that the same symbols as the right palm were scared into the Baron's flesh here.
"As you can see, I initially wanted to use the technique on my left hand; that way I would be able to wield a sword with my right, and the technique with my left. Unfortunately, in a battle, an enemy slashed my left palm, so I was forced to put the technique onto my right palm."
"Oh… but Pops, does it hurt?"
"Hurt? Haha! Of course. You will experience a lot of pain if you were to try this normally."
"Then-"
"Abababab! Hold on. Let me finish first. I will give you a herb. Eat it, and you will go to sleep for a few weeks. Generally, it is not longer than 2 weeks, but sometimes the effect of the herb can last for longer. I don't want to dilute it and give it to you since it might prevent you from fully being unconscious and the pain from this process is not something ordinary people like us can bear. When you wake up, the technique will already be on your palm. Just tell me which palm you want it to be on."
"Can I have it on both? That way, if one gets destroyed, I can use the other?"
"…"
"…"
"Y- Maybe? I am honestly not sure. No one in the family has done this before, and I'm sure that there has to be some reason for this… It is best to exercise caution when it comes to External Arts Kai. You never know what kind of backlash they might have."
"Oh… alright. Pops, I chose my left palm for the technique. That way, I will be able to use a sword with my right just like you before."
"An excellent choice. Now, take this and go to sleep." The Baron said as he handed Kai a blue coloured flower petal. It didn't look too impressive, however, Kai decided to use the function of the system to scan this object.
[Establishing task]
[Time until completion: 20s]
[19]
[18]
…
[1]
[0]
[Task complete]
[Unknown flower petal]
[Contains moderate amounts of Angiotensin receptor blockers and Calcium channel blockers. It will likely cause you to lose consciousness from lowered blood pressure within 20 minutes of ingestion. Time for effects to wear off unknown]
[Short-term effects: Dizziness, Fainting, swollen ankles, constipation]
[Long-term effects: None]
'Well, that is pretty detailed… I don't get most of it but it should work exactly how Pops said it would.' Kai shrugged in his mind as he put the petal in his mouth and began chewing before swallowing.
"Now lay down facing the ceiling, and your palms facing up." Morgan said as he turned around to get some tools for the 'carving' of the symbols.
Kai followed through, and soon enough he fell asleep, expecting to wake up in a few weeks. However, that could not be further from the truth.
He suddenly opened his eyes just an instant after closing them and found himself in an empty space of darkness.
Looking around, Ka saw nothing in every direction, until he turned to face his back. Within the empty darkness was something. He could not make out what it was by just looking at it, however, he felt a strange connection to it. Incredibly similar to the one he had felt with the system he had brought to this new body from the bionic chip.
'Then am I inside my mind?' Kai thought as he tried to reach out to the system, which was currently a tiny glowing white light.
However, just as he was reaching out to it, he was pulled out of his own mind as his eyes snapped open.
Unfortunately, he had been asleep for too long and his vision was incredibly blurry, and his body hurt. It was not the physical pain from an injury, but a pain he was rather used to back on Earth. It was a pain stemming from the muscles in his body weakening due to lack of nutrition.
He had lost all the fat he had left on his body. Followed quickly by all his muscle mass, and finally, parts of his body began to sacrifice themselves so that his body could continue functioning.
It was the feeling of immense weakness, the kind that no one should be able to recover from without outside help or intervention. Unfortunately for Kai, no one was here with him, and he would not speak as his mouth and throat were dry to the point of resembling the cracked ground of dying land.
It took a good 10 minutes for his vision to recover to the point Kai could make out where he was, and just as he had predicted, he was still in the training room. It appeared he had not been disturbed while the External Art was being absorbed by his body.
Thankfully for Kai, there was a jug of water right next to his head, and after struggling for a bit, he was able to lift his upper body into a sitting position, a feat not possible by a normal person back on Earth who had been deprived of food and water for over 2 weeks.
He pulled the jug to his face and took in just two small sips of water. Based on what he knew, trying to drink too much, or eat too much after something like that would likely cause the body to go into shock. Instead, taking in just a small bit of water every now and then would allow it to be absorbed by his body, slowly rejuvenating it.
"Hooh" Kai breathed out exaggeratedly in satisfaction of having drunk water, before putting the jug down. He would likely need to repeat this multiple times before he was able to walk again. Then he would need to find food. But that was an issue for later. For now, Kai began to ask the system a bunch of questions.