Blood Queen Reborn

Chapter 149: A Lesson In Strange Energy

Qi training, or qi in general, was a foreign concept to both of the students there, and they looked forward to an explanation as to what they were experiencing

"Far before the war, and before beast weapons even existed, there was a small group of people who were capable of cutting giant stones with their swords, lift buildings 10 times their weight, and slow down their ageing process," Leo began, "Yet, not a single one of them had what we know today as abilities, but they certainly had powers beyond that of a normal human."

Vorden nodded, taking it in. It was matching what he had seen back when Raten used the drum machine.

"I am a descendant of these types of people, in a way. This isn’t an ability, and in truth, every human out there is capable of achieving such results. Some even achieve it without realizing it, which is likely what happened with you, Vorden."

"But how?" Vorden asked.

"Every human has qi, but the matter of the situation is that you have more than most people," Leo explained, "I’ll admit, you are the first person I’ve met in a long time who has cultivated their qi to this level without knowing about it, but I do have a possible explanation for this."

"You see, whenever I ended up in a life or death situation, I would push myself further beyond my normal limits, and when I did, I noticed the qi within my own body had improved. For your qi to have developed as much as it did, you must’ve had quite the rough life."

Vorden nervously gulped, which did not go unnoticed by Leo. Due to his grandpa’s training, it didn’t come as a shock as to why he was different now. Then, he realized something.

"Wait, but— no offense— You’re blind," Vorden brought up, "How are you able to tell that my qi is apparently stronger than others?"

Leo chuckled, but it wasn’t out of amusement. Rather, it held a long storied history to it, one with regret.

"I’ll spare you the details for now, but I was born blind, and raised by a master of qi. You see, qi lets you feel the energy of living things around you. In a way, my master believed that by teaching me qi, I would gain a vision I never had. After a few years of learning, a strange thing happened. I did not gain vision like he expected, but something different. I had unlocked my ability. The ability to sense auras."

Hearing about Leo’s ability made Vorden curious on how it worked. He wasn’t aware of any chained with the ability, making him want to try copying it.

"At the time, abilities weren’t widespread, so I did not know this was one at the time, but my ability makes it so I can perceive auras and energy that others cannot. This is why I am able to ’see’ your qi."

Both Erin and Vorden listened, enraptured by the little bit of history behind this mysterious energy. However, as much as Erin was interested in hearing stories about the legendary war hero, she couldn’t help but wonder something.

"Not to interrupt this lesson, but why am I here?" She asked.

"And that is my next point. Training," Leo said, "Erin, your aura has been affected by Vorden’s qi, and as a result, you have likely found yourself injured in a way that isn’t visible. It will wear off over time, but I am sure you would like to learn how to remove it now."

With that, Erin’s interest piqued.

"In order for me to pass on this knowledge, one must be first aware of their qi," Leo began, then placed a hand on Erin’s head.

It was the first time that Leo had done this, and it was something he had only experienced himself long ago. Still, he only took out a small grape sized amount of his qi, and prepared to insert it into Erin.

[An unknown energy is attempting to enter your body]

[Allowing this energy to enter your body could have unknown consequences]

[Allow the energy to enter your body?]

[Yes] [No]

Not wasting another second, Erin selected yes, and she could immediately feel a very faint tingly feeling pass through her head.

"That was a fast ’yes’," The system commented.

Erin mentally shushed it, and closed her eyes.

"As my energy passes through, I want you to focus on how it feels. In a moment, my qi will join yours, and I will control it to fix your aura. This is only a small amount as to not further damage it."

Then, Erin began to imagine the qi. A small, glowing energy traveling through her body, as well as the smaller energies that were attached to her aura.

"I think I see it," Erin commented, "Now, how do I get rid of this?"

"Eager, are you? You should learn how to be patient. This is a delicate process, so I will be doing the removing today."

Erin bit her tongue, but she still focused on Leo’s lesson.

Leo began moving his energy around to all of the parts where her aura was affected. Doing his best to be careful, surgically removing every tiny bit of foreign qi. After a while, Erin received a new message.

[Your healing is no longer disrupted]

[Blood bank can be activated again]

"When you learn how to control this feeling yourself, you can start to implement it into things you touch, including weapons, and even removing foreign energies out of your body, but let’s focus on one thing at a time. I will now remove the energy out of you. This can feel a little weird so bear with me, and you may also feel a little weak afterwards."

That was when Leo’s energy traveled to the top of her head, and her own purple aura began to follow it.

[The unknown energy is trying to leave your body]

[Do you want to allow the energy to leave your body?]

[Yes] [No]

Immediately, she selected yes, and the energy returned to Leo without any further incident.

"Huh, that was rather strange, I thought the system was going to activate the blood ritual right then and there," The system commented.

Erin was about to dismiss the idea, as a blood ritual was a very conscious decision she could make, but somehow, there was a feeling like there was a truth to its words. It was as if a certain event was avoided.

Leo retracted his hand, and sensed the aura around it, ensuring there was nothing else going on. There was a slight concern that with Erin’s aura being a different color from his own that there might’ve been a complication, so he was pleasantly surprised that there wasn’t one.

"Now then, onto your qi training," Leo began, facing Vorden.

He placed his hand on Vorden’s head just as he did with Erin, and internally, Raten freaked out.

"What is he doing to our head?!" Raten shouted.

"Is the little one okay?" Vorden asked, looking over his shoulder to see the person in question.

The little one remained in the fetal position on the floor, but instead of having an expressionless face as always, he blinked.

"Hold on, it doesn’t seem harmful," Vorden replied.

"Yeah, for now!" Raten worried.

Leo explained the same thing to Vorden as he did to Erin, but instead of focusing on foreign energies, he moved his qi throughout Vorden’s body. First from his head, then to his finger tips, his toes, and back to his head again. It was rather strangely soothing, like having someone tuck your hair back.

"Once you learn how to control your qi, you can figure out how to place it all into a fist to ensure a strong punch, or throw that same punch, but retract the qi as to not harm someone."

After a while, Leo retracted his qi once again, but this time Vorden’s aura did not try to follow it like Erin’s did.

"Now, I want you two to practice your qi, you especially," Leo faced Vorden, "If you have any further questions, I will be here after class."

—

After the additional lesson from Leo, Erin left the class, and headed to the boy’s dorm room. She was worried about Layla’s well being, especially after being away from her for a while.

While she was deep in thought, a boy called out to her.

"Erin!"

Immediately, she turned toward the source of the sound, and saw a brunette boy with a chiseled jawline running up to her.

"I’m so glad I was able to catch you after class. I need to show you something!"