Juba refused to keep fighting and couldn't make the object out of his ability. So he made lemonade and trained his blows on a tree. The sun was setting, and other students were coming to the field to train. He could do this while focusing on something else; the second step had also progressed nicely. Although the headaches and increased senses were always a pain initially, he quickly got used to it. Doing it at night before bed did help quite a lot since he always felt exhausted after doing it.
The hardest part was the faster they processed things; it almost made the world look slow. It took him some time to get used to, and he even learned to slow down to make everything more manageable. He slowly fed the Chi ball beside him, making it larger while maintaining control.
As he punched the tree, he felt his body locking up again, but this time, it wasn't his joints like usual. Instead, it was his fingers. He began removing the gauntlet on his right hand; this locking up was starting to get annoying-
When he got a good look at his hand, the middle of his middle and ring finger looked silver, much like the gauntlets and armor. He was about to rub and clean his hands, thinking maybe some of the silver of the gauntlet had rubbed off on it till the silver spread slightly. He nearly screamed, but something caught his attention in the corner of his eye, and he ducked as the tree he was striking had a hole left in it.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry. Are you okay? " a male voice exclaimed, but Charlotte had other things to worry about. His silvery look spread his fingers to others, and he lost sensation in his hand. He didn't bother answering; instead, he ran into the forest, not wanting to let them see what was happening.
His mind was racing. One of the first thoughts that came to his head was chopping his fingers off. It was quickly thrown off the table as it would probably not work; he didn't want to waste days or weeks growing them back with his Chi. His second thought was to use his Chi to try and fix his hand. That immediately backfired as, instead of stopping, it sped up and nearly encompassed his hand.
Charlotte quickly recalled his Chi and tried doing the opposite; he was trying to starve whatever this was. He knew what it was. He didn't think it could happen. It worked, at least partially, as it slowly receded until only his middle and ring fingers were left that way. It was still slowly spreading as he slid the gauntlet over his hand. He couldn't let the teachers or students find out about this; if he had to have his hand stuck in one position, it might as well be a fist.
Now, he needed information on what to do next; this was all due to the soul bond. This didn't usually happen, though, so the unique metal he used had to be blamed. First, he had to get rid of the chest plate. If he could destroy it, maybe it would stop the soul-bound from ingraining itself more and more. It was a long shot, but he needed time.
By the time he got back, he had lost most of the feeling of his middle finger. He had to find someone who might know about this; Juba was off the table since anything he would ask to learn he might share, his teachers...considering how extreme they were asking them was off the table, Fang wasn't gonna be around for a few months, and he hardly had the time. Asking Iza seemed the way to go since she seemed to be a loner, much like him, but he couldn't bring it up. He had an idea on how to bring it at least up naturally, but it was gonna take a few days. Did he want to wait days?
"Finally, chef, I've been waiting for you. I thought I would have to get you from inside the forest." Juba's voice woke him from his stupor. He looked up at him and shook his head.
"Not Today. Besides, you didn't give me any help on how to create an object...you just kinda said to do it." Juba looked offended, but Charlotte kept walking, not wanting to hear him complain.
"Before I forget, I'm gonna stop picking you up. Just like two to three days, I got something I wanted to try and do. Don't worry, I'll still feed you tomorrow, and if I'm not dead or tired, I will probably do a bit of sparring as well." Charlotte quickly adds before sprinting, not waiting to hear what he might say next; luckily, he didn't have to hear anything. He did an attack launched at him.
The next day, he didn't run into Iza, which wasn't ideal, and checking the classroom yielded nothing. It was empty, and walking inside didn't yield him a sudden surprise fall to his death. So overall, it was a good experience. Visting and falling into his classroom did garner him a few gazes. The student with the weird transformation ability was about to walk up to him, but Charlotte ran to Johnny, who seemed to be constructing a table with teacups and chairs for everyone.
"Hey Johnny, is there...a library or some way for me to get info?" Johnny stared at him before looking back at the table. He went back to setting everything up, including food.
"Johnny, I need to find out something. Can you please help me?" Charlotte tried his best to sound polite and not hurried. It seemed to work as Johnny turned to him with a smile.
"Sure, whatever do you need, Charlotte?" Johnny spoke and sat as he poured himself a cup of tea and a small cake.
"Can I get a book on soul bonds? I heard some talk from Juba and was curious about it." Charlotte had expected a lot of reactions, but anger was not one of them. Johnny seemed ready to go as he carefully put his teacup down and stood up. Holding onto Charlotte's shoulder.
"Please do tell, what did he say? I hope he wasn't trying to trick you into doing such a silly thing.~" Johnny's voice sounded calm, but his face was anything but peaceful. He hadn't expected this at all; he would have to be careful not to get Juba killed or expelled. Could he get expelled...He made it seem like his family was pretty important.