Thirty minutes passed quickly, and in their end, I managed to absorb Qi while concentrating. Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out automatic absorption yet, meaning strengthening the body with the Qi absorbed would deplete the Qi rather quickly.
'Time to take a shower.'
A quick sniff of myself made me cough in disgust at the foul stench. I grabbed a few clean clothes and headed to the shower. The mirror at the entrance revealed the image of a handsome young man, majestic and powerful-
Okay never mind, it was just me. I did get more handsome if to say so myself. The man in the mirror had a taller posture and strong shoulder blades without any hint of hunch. I might not have become a superhuman yet, but everything was better and healthier now.
The tanned skin was smoother to the touch, I concluded as my fingers caressed the muscles that were magically added on top of my previously skinny figure. Yup, looking down, that thing was as good as before. No idea what kind of effects cultivation had on it.
"Bleh" I grunted when I took another handful of air and smelled myself, breaking my concentration on my reflection. It was time to take a quick shower and sleep; going through a day without enough sleep hours was horrible enough, there was no need to waste even more of this precious time.
---
*knock knock knock*
Ten seconds. A ten-second pause, exactly like every other day.
"I'm up, thank you, Nikko!" Merry's voice came through the door, as sweet as always. If Nyssa's voice was cold and indifferent, Merry's made you feel like she really cared. It was just a feeling though, she usually didn't. I often thought that the Roses ranking was biased as it relied on sight, but my sister had other charming points in other areas.
"I'm cooking an omelet today," I informed her and went to the kitchen to begin my daily routine. A big yawn told the beholders, which was nobody, that I stayed up late last night.
'Mm, what's meeting Nyssa today going to be like?'
Breaking eggs, pouring them onto the pan, sprinkling salt, oregano, and ground black pepper. Everything passed quickly when thinking about my next encounter with Nyssa.
"Is it ready yet?" Merry's always-so-cheerful voice came as she took a seat by the dining table. Or just a table, it was the only table in the shared space of the house.
"Yes," I served her the first piece on a white porcelain plate. She sighed when she realized she had to move her little butt and heat bread for herself. "Don't forget to heat some for me," I asked and she added two other slices to the microwave.
"How was last night?" Merry raised the question again, probably remembering she never got an answer for it. She stood next to the microwave, waiting for it to ring. She wore tight blue jeans that accentuated her slim figure and a cashmere sweater that I had no idea where she got from.
It was ivory cream colored, by the way, not that it'd mean anything to you if you are sane people who just call it light yellow. It hugged her small breasts well, showing two small mounds that I estimated were B cup, perhaps even C if she searched for a brand with smaller measures.
"It was fun. It's weird that we have lived together our whole lives and I didn't know you could sing so well. You might do well as an idol with your playful and sprightful personality. A normal singer would be fine too, you are very talented."
She looked at me in surprise before one of her big contagious grins assaulted me, forcing me to smile without knowing why.
"Thank you. It's not weird, we have never gone to a karaoke together before. I was practicing secretly by following WeTube videos that explained how to develop my voice and singing techniques."
Yet another surprise, yet another thing I didn't know about my twin sister. Hopefully, many people did not know their siblings' big secrets. Otherwise, I'm just an embarrassment for all twin brothers out there.
"Wait," she stopped me with a pout, "You are changing the subject! I didn't mean the karaoke, it was only one song long! What about after that, when you went to be a white knight and watch over those bad boys so they can't take advantage of Nyssa?"
I wanted to trust her and tell her my secrets, I really did, but we simply weren't close enough. It was impossible to trust someone you only got to learn to know recently, even if the person in question was your twin sister.
"Nothing happened. They went home and left me alone with her," I said carefully. Lying could backfire if they somehow brought it up at school, so it was unwise to say we became best buddies and played cards until Nyssa's parents arrived.
"Hmm, and what happened between you and Nyssa while you two were alone? Did you make the uni's number one rose fall in love with you?" She squinted her eyes in suspicion, giving the weird idea she didn't like it at all.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. don't speak nonsense if you don't want another spank. Now eat," I threatened jokingly and dodged her questions again. I stabbed a piece of omelet with my fork and shoved it into her mouth to distract her. Merry said nothing, letting me feed her and leaving that other matter in peace.
Merely thinking about the fact I made a perfect princess fall in love with me made me too happy, and I quickly got up and took my still half-full plate to the sink to hide the big smirk spreading on my face. Last night was like a miracle, how often does one prepare himself to ask out the hottest woman he knows and get a yes for an answer?
It wasn't even the best part. Nyssa had many other cute sides to her than what people think from their shallow understanding of her. The woman who seemed indifferent and cold was caring and warm.
"You look different today. I thought I saw something strange yesterday, but you look… better," Merry woke me up from my reveries. I guess my change was noticeable even with clothes thanks to my new posture.
"I learned how to correct my walking and standing to look more charismatic and confident," I made something up.
"Hmm, is that so?" she sounded somewhat contemplative, but I was pretty sure she couldn't have noticed a bit of muscle growth underneath my clothes.
"Let's go to school." The clock on the wall pointed at 7:28, meaning we had two minutes to leave.
"Merry, I don't want you to hang out with those three guys anymore, they are dangerous and will be a bad influence on you," I eventually talked as we walked out of our neighborhood, leaving behind the grey buildings and welcoming neatly organized rows of fenced houses, grouped in fours with narrow tertiary roads between them.
"Hmm, why do you think so? Didn't they take care of Nyssa yesterday until you arrived?" Her bubbly nature made her look everywhere in curiosity despite knowing everything in our proximity.
'1… 2… 3…' I recognized the next house and counted to three, knowing I'd be interrupted if I answered now.
*RUFF RUFF RUFF*
A huge dog that always waited to ambush pedestrians started screaming its soul out as soon as we passed by its spot. I waited a few seconds for us to pass the house and let it shut up before I continued our conversation.
"I think they wanted to take advantage of her situation and assault her," I said, "My presence just stopped them so they left right away since they didn't care enough about Nyssa to stay if they couldn't touch her," The fact that they were threatened to leave by a brave guy and a camera was conveniently forgotten.
"No, I'm sure they wanted that," I added, fixing my terminology to sound surer of myself.
"That's horrible! Good thing you were there!" Merry covered her mouth, but I could swear it was hiding a little smile. Must have been my imagination as she took it off rather soon, and her expression was shocked. Her hand gripped my sleeve nervously as though she imagined what might have happened if she was the one staying alone with them.
"Will you protect me if they will be too aggressive in their advances?"
Merry got closer to me, rubbing her side against mine for a moment. My arm brushed against her chest before it nestled in her hand as she hugged it. This girl will be the death of me.
"Ahm, yes, of course. It's my role as a big brother," I reassured her. At least now I didn't have to be afraid of being roughed up by those three guys. If I'm truly as physically strong as a pro wrestler when I use Qi to empower myself, it should be enough to deal with them even without practicing any martial arts.
'It will be fun to run into them soon,' I mused.