Chapter 9
It was until dawn when Nora had left Abel’s room . After his mother was gone, Abel sat quietly on a chair and contemplated his life over the last two years .
Despite his appearance, Abel was a forty-year-old man on the inside . It wasn’t like he didn’t know what the Knight of Bennett was thinking . He agreed very much with the decision that was made for him . If he wasn’t so gifted at such an early age, everything could’ve been normal for him . Instead of leaving to an unknown place at an age as early as twelve, he could’ve left the family when he reached adulthood .
Abel saw what was coming for him, and he was ready to take it . He took out his Horadric Cube, revealed a bottle of the golden qi condensing pill, and opened its cap . He wanted to save it for later, but the challenge ahead would not let him delay . Not long ago, the Bennett Castle was a safeguard that protected Abel’s safety . Without it, he had learned to protect himself with whatever he could lay his hands on .
As the amber-colored liquid slid inside his throat, Abel could feel his inside filled with a vigorous essence . The qi kept on channeling through his muscles, but unlike most regular potions, it did not take away any of the food that he had eaten before . It quickly materialized and was turned into his third meridian . It was doing this at a very steady pace, too . Unlike most times, when he had tried to do it on his own, Abel didn’t have to worry if the process was going to fail .
Abel practiced his breathing techniques every night, but he was never so successful as he was now . On a regular night, he could do twenty sets at most . He would have to take breaks between each one of them . Things were very different tonight . He was going very strong . Even the curtains were moving at the rhythm of his breathing .
It took about half an hour for the potion to wear off . By this time, there were three stabilized meridians inside Abel’s body and some excess qi which could’ve filled in half more . Abel was surprised about this, of course . As it turned, the master’s potion was much more powerful than what Yvette had told him .
Were the rumors wrong, then? Well, not exactly . Technically speaking, a master’s potion was still far from being a “perfect” potion . As skilled as a potion master might be, human craftsmanship still had its limitations . The Horadric Cube was free from such a flaw, though . Since Abel was crafting his qi condensing potion mechanically, every little detail—proportions and such—were all taken into consideration and was in respect to the “Power of the Rule . ”
this was, to put it simply, was a force that belonged to the gods . As a divine item, the Horadric could utilize a fraction of this power to transform whatever item that it contained . This was the reason why the Master’s potion Abel created was much more potent than a regular one . It was like asking a God to help with a novice knight’s training, and what kind of god would be so bored to do that?
It was hard to resist the temptation once it started to kick in . After leveling himself up in just half an hour, Abel decided to take in another bottle of his master’s potion .
And there it was again . In virtually no time whatsoever, qi quickly emerged and became Abel’s fourth meridian . The effect of the potion quickly vanished after it had done its job .
Abel quickly stood up from the ground . He noticed that his entire body was covered in dark, stinky stains . After enhancing his bodily function in such a short period of time, all the dirty substances inside of him were quickly excreted out .
Abel quickly ran to the bathroom to clean himself up . Having used three bucketfuls of water, he tried as hard as he could to scrub away the stench off him . After he was done, he opened up his room’s window and tried to let the wind take the smell away .
Abel was half-naked while he was doing this . He had grown 10 centimeters over the past six months, putting him at 160 cm in height . He was just a kid but the muscles on him were already pronounced .
As buff as he was, Abel was still very humble . He had great respect for the fighters in this world . Whether it was a mercenary or a knight, anyone with a weapon could pull off a very impressive fight . That being said, though, most of them wouldn’t know how to fight properly with their own bodies . If two men were to fight against each other with nothing but their bare fists, they would simply throw straight punches at each other and watch who went down first .
As a former gym trainer, Abel was acquainted with the use of several types of martial arts . He knew boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, and Tai Chi . He wasn’t an expert, so to speak, but the knowledge he possessed has made him a very formidable opponent in any type of hand-to-hand combat .
If it was hand-to-hand combat, Abel could easily defeat Zach, who was, obviously, much taller and stronger than him . Strength wasn’t everything, so they said . With the power of sports science on his side, everyone in this world seemed clumsy to Abel when they fought with nothing but their bare fists .
And very rightly so . In this world, there was hardly any need to develop any hand-to-hand combat system . The humans’ biggest foes were the orcs . Brawling with those monsters head-on was just suicide .
What about against other humans, then? Well, royals solved their disagreements with sword duels . Fighting with no weapon was considered foul and in some way, very disrespectful to one’s opponent .
As Abel practiced a few reps of his standard punches, he could felt a significant increase in his power and speed . It was good and all, but such an improvement was kind of hard to get used to . Just when he was grabbing his wooden cup for a sip of water, his fingers snapped it into shreds .
Too much progress could have their downturns, so it seemed . But that was fine . Abel was twelve years old now, with only one month left before his thirteenth birthday . By that time, he would’ve already made the same achievement as Zach did when he was eighteen .
Abel readied himself for his Tai Chi practice . While he was repeating the moves that were taught to him, he tried to remember what his instructors used to say . From what he could remember, the instructor said that Tai Chi was the best martial art for holding back one’s brute force . Tai Chi was about reserving one’s power, moving in an unending sequence of movements, being able to both escalate and deescalate at the same time and having a natural rhythm while fulfilling all these conditions . It was about harmonizing one’s entire being into a collected whole—which was much easier said than done .
Abel had to calm himself down after taking that second potion . After stabilizing himself from a state of excitement, he began to act out all 74 postures of his Tai Chi sequence . It was the beginning posture, the vajra pounds mortar, grasp and tuck clothes, all the way until the 74th posture . The Sun was very much up high after he was finally done .
As it turned out, Tai Chi didn’t make you have a weaker punch . It just made you appear weaker than you were . With his Tai Chi techniques activated, Abel noticed that he was much weaker than he truly was when he was looking at himself in the mirror . If he was to tone down his Tai Chi, he was a rank four Novice Knight . But if he was to activate it, he could appear in whatever rank which he so desired . He could not pretend to be at a level that was higher than what he was actually at .
This was very convenient . It was hard to make up a reason to explain why he had ranked up for two in just a single night, but having a camouflage meant that there was no need in doing so . Abel could just keep putting himself at rank two while he was packing up his luggage .
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