Magnetic Bands

Jin sat near the copper hoe for a break. Even though he had the chi of the treant, he was losing too much due to the lack of control.

"Perhaps, I can circulate my chi around the magnetic bands? I wonder if that will help?" he thought of the way magnetism works, the stuff he learned in university and high school and wondered if he could stimulate chi energy into electromagnetic force.

However, he later abandoned the idea as he realised that magnetic force was a force that was too complicated without proper computation of numbers. He also had to derive atomic structures and electrons to simulate the magnetism through his chi. If he could not control his chi to that kind of degree, he might as well think of something else.

Right now, all Jin was doing with his chi was counteracting the effect of the magnetic bands through brute force. Forcing all his chi to move throughout his muscles so that he could withstand the repelling and attraction of the magnets.

The brute force method would actually have worked if he had substantial understanding of the anatomy of his body in relation to his chi points. Unfortunately, he was not a medical student nor was he well versed with the chi points of his body.

He knew the basics but not enough to make much of a difference. However, assuming he had an unlimited amount of chi, the brute force method would actually work. All he needed to do was burst his chi throughout his body. Even if he did have an unlimited amount of chi, maintaining it required a tremendous amount of chi and the extent of the strenuous damage to his body would eventually kill him within a day.

At the moment, as he was using his own chi to control his muscle movements, he was able to cope with the strain using his current cultivation grade but he would not be able to maintain it all the time for five days consecutively. The way his chi flowed wastefully out of him into the surroundings made him feel like he was an overheated piece of metal just out from the furnace.

"Overheated….that's right! Magnets might lose their magnetism if intense heat is applied to them. Or maybe it could reduce the strength of magnetism. Argh, I guess I really returned what I learnt back to my lecturers." Jin sighed even though he finally remembered a part of his studies during his high school days. The reason why heat could destroy magnetism was that magnetism followed a strict degree of order. If one creates chaotic movement in the atoms, the atoms in the metal would lose their electron pairing.

"But I don't exactly remember the right temperature. All I do know is that the correct temperature is somewhere around water's boiling point for ferromagnetic materials. Let's see if the method works….if I can concentrate enough chi to produce heat near the bands and not scald or burn myself in the process hahaha!" Jin bitterly laughed to himself.

Jin went further away from the campsite, in case he accidentally burned the whole place down. When he felt that he had adequately distanced himself away from the campsite, he concentrated his chi circulation and focused it on his hands. At first, it started to get warm slowly but at approximately 50 degrees Celsius, not only his hands got hot, the surroundings were scorching too.

"Damn, I should focus it within my palms and not radiate it out. Or else I will be the one burning up and not the magnet." Jin wiped his sweat away with his sleeves.

"What if I follow those useless motivational workshops that I had to attend in university for points. Those image training exercises to attain a specific goal." Jin thought to himself before he took a deep breath and tried again.

With an image of carrying a bowling ball, he imagined concentrating the chi between his three fingers. He figured that it was better to think something smaller and detailed than abstract ideas like being rotated in a microwave or imagining that you were one with the chi. Jin was a science oriented person, he needed theory and hands-on experience to understand something fully. However, when it comes to the mysterious system that he was bestowed with, he could only grudgingly accept the fact that trying to understand it would be a waste of time for now.

Initially, the chi within his three fingers began to gather but it was leaking chi out to the surroundings again. However, it was a start. At least it flowed to where he wanted it to be.

Next, he imaged a container. Not a simple plastic container but a container with many layers of protection. Something like keeping a priceless national jewel in a safe box that was placed in a vault, which was protected by multiple layers of security and hidden hundreds of metres under the ground. That was his image of moving the chi in an enclosed environment. Slowly, his chi was circulating within his three phalanges but it was not hot enough, he probably felt it was roughly 40 degrees Celsius.

"Not enough, I need it to be at least boiling point of water to let it lose some of its ferromagnetism." Jin seemed a little more confident and the chi that pulsed through him was no longer just Shu's chi. His dantian seemed to have adapted to the consumption of chi that Jin needed to overcome his trial and started to produce more.

In addition, the surroundings did not feel as hot as he had been feeling previously although the sun was still blazing right above him. "Next, I need to ensure I do not get burnt by my own chi or have it explode in front of me." Jin now imaged himself to have duplicated layers of skins and those skins were the layers of chi he needed to form in order for the chi to envelope him.

Soon, he felt that it was hot enough for the experiment. He slowly showed an eagle claw gesture with his three fingers and placed it near the magnetic wristband. Suddenly, the wristband moved by itself the moment it got in contact with the heat and it started to crawl along Jin's body!

"What the?!" Jin was surprised by the change of circumstances and saw that not just that particular wristband that was behaving that way. The other three bands immediately move around Jin like a centipede crawling hastily all around his body.

"So, you finally found the trick to defeat the living armour?" Shu spoke to Jin as it saw the metal bands crawling alonghis body.

"What? You mean these are not magnetic bands?" Jin was finally able to relax without being restricted into a cross figure.

"They are a sort of training gift by Master Zeru. He knew that you would be able to break the living armour quickly because you are too lazy for your own good so he decided to add the traditional option in the living armour with a little twist." Shu purposely sneezed and suddenly Jin felt something weighing him down.

"The traditional option?" Jin then realised it was the living armour that became heavier.

"Aye, the living armour now adds weight but it will randomly move around your body. This way, you will have to shift and handle the weight of your body during your farming. In addition, the weight will increase by 10 kg every hour. Right now, it's 50kg per living armour." Shu laughed loudly.

"Wait, is this living armour weak to heat?" Jin was a bit concerned.

"Nah it can withstand more. This was meant to be just a test to see if you were using your brains or if you were going to force your way out through the ordeal. Either way, you completed your task and received this gift from your master." Shu yawned when it was explaining.

"Also, you looked like you have grasped the basic idea of controlling your chi from this part of training too."

"Then it is time to do the manual labour fast." Jin figured he wasted an hour or two in the Farm World trying to figure out how to solve the magnetic bands but things would only get harder if he did not continue fast enough. Not to mention, he was already exhausted from expending his chi even though his Dantian was producing a higher quantity of fresh chi quicker than before.

Jin finally picked up the copper hoe and started to plough the land with the additional 200kg of weight shifting all around his body.