37 True Qi

"Kid you'd best stop being so arrogant, it will only lead to more troubles." Said the spear knight

The flame princess remained quiet as she stared at me eat. I cut into the steak using a knife and picked up with a fork, afterward I tried a sip of the wine. It had a full-bodied taste to it and fit well with the steak before I could finish the steak the flame princess released a spark.

It was small but the heat it held was terrifying, it lightly tapped the steak before it completely ignited. Leaving only ash, and the spark and flame completely disappeared. My anger bubbled as I grabbed the void sword, as the sword on my glabella shot out sword qi. I swung the void sword heightened by all sorts of terrifying qi.

I swung at the flame princess like lightning, as she was surprised. A strand of her hair fell to the ground, and I retreated in an instant with a lightning step. My channeled sword intent soared as my black sword cut at her hair. She rapidly retreated as her knight and mage attacked me, the knight's spear aiming at my heart.

I brought up my sword and block it, I used Lightning Step to take 15% of the force of the spear and send it back to him. But I was much weaker than both of them, so the mage's enhanced punch landed on me. I tried again to redirect the force with Lightning step again, but my head was pounding from using it earlier. So I went flying back and hit a wall but I quickly got my footing.

"You would dare to attack her highness?" The spear knight said

"I would even dare to kill her, for pissing me off," I said with an icy face, my sword intent permeating out of me with killing intent

"Over a steak, you would bear arms, truly a commoner." She said

"Hmph, my pride is worth far more than your life bitch." I arrogantly said

"Do as you like to him, I will take responsibility. I can't believe father asked me to talk to you." She muttered

With her comment, the mage and knight's determination solidified. They had already felt threatened by my killing intent, and potential so they were ready to stamp out trouble. The knight's spear shined with spear intent, and the mage created a water ball. It was a highly compressed ball of water with great force. He shot it off and the knight spear attacked my heart once again.

But as they approached they were stopped, a powerful sword intent cut through the water and spear intent. With a single swing of a sword, heaven and earth were overturned. I looked over and saw that the sword king had acted. The flame princess looked at him in hostility.

"So they told you the same thing it seems." She said somberly

"None of your business, I just want you to stop the combat. This is a place for eating and not fighting." Sword King said dismissively

I got stuck on that and the flame princess' previous comments

'Was I too dazzling are too many people interested in recruiting me?'

The most important thing was to have balance. Between limelight and secrets, if I have too much limelight, I am at serious risk of my secrets being revealed. If I have little limelight I can't improve and gain the power to guard my secrets. If I were powerful enough, I could actively use my full abilities without fear.

'The power of that sword was impressive, it seems that true qi changed my sword qi a lot?' I thought as I thought about my immense speed.

Before I could follow this train of thought the sword king's sword intent confronted with the flame princesses illusions. They canceled each other out, as she snorted and walked away but before she left she spoke to me.

"Hiding behind others just proves you unworthy." She said arrogantly

"There is nothing, I am unworthy of. You'd best watch your back because I will grant you no mercy." I said in an icy angered voice

She disdained speaking with me further as she swished her sleeves and left. Her guardians quickly following and the spear knight giving me dirty looks.

"Are you okay?" The sword king said kindly to me

"Yes, thank you for your help," I said as I brushed off the debris from my body

"That was impressive handling knights much higher level than you. But with your sword intent that was to be expected."

"What about you cutting magic apart with just a swing," I said self-depreciatingly

"Oh that was nothing, you'll reach that level soon. Anyway, I am interested in that sword code you used."

'Shit, Drrak did I reveal too much?' I can't reveal the fact that I can use the Ancestor King's Sword Code.

'Calm down kid, you only revealed that your sword code for a moment. You don't need to worry to much just bluff him.' Drrak calmly advise

"Oh, that was nothing just a technique, I learned from Grandmaster Isaiah," I said humbly

"A Grand Knight's methods are far beyond my analysis. I thought for a moment you used a heretical power. But who am I to critique the techniques of a Grand Knight." He said apologetically

"Of course I understand it could come across wrong, but I am thankful for the help you have provided," I said to alleviate the awkward situation

"Well I must be going, I hope to see how far sword code will progress." He said with a kind voice

"Thank you, I would love a chance to spar," I responded.

"Then I'll wait for your challenge." He said enthusiastically

'Huh no pitch at all, I thought he was here to recruit me or something along the lines of that.'

He quietly left with his sword nobility who looked at me as though I was undeserving. But I just ignored their existence, they weren't sufficient to warrant my attention. I was tired and the flame princess had ruined my eating experience, so I got some takeout and went to my room.

I focused on my status, I clicked on the true qi once again. This time there was a change, all attacks are passively boosted by true qi. 10% per every 1% of mastery.

When I saw it last the description was a prophecy about the Lord of Shadows, yet now it was gone and like a normal status screen.

'Drrak what in the world is going on?' I asked

'I know a great many things, but you are a puzzle I cannot solve.' Drrak said

'Fine forget it if you want to be cryptic then be so. But I want to tell you I just got an idea.' I said with a sinister smile

I told Drrak my idea as he listened his form appeared out of my shadow. I released sword qi from my glabella and I inundated Drrak with it, as his power rose, his dragon form grew in size and detail.

I activated my magic eyes and saw inside of Drrak appeared a seed of sword intent and slithering along it was a serpent! The seed branched out through Drrak shadow form as it drew magic energy from outside and sealed inside of him at a rapid rate.

"It works then, can you tailor it for my purposes Drrak?" I said filled with hope

"In this case, this will work perfectly you were rather lucky. Otherwise, without this technique, it would take too long to finish. I will have it ready very soon," Drrak said in happiness

This technique wouldn't just help him recover his power, and give me power. It would allow for much greater things to come to fruition. But such schemes were for another time, for now, I decided to sleep and dream of a better tomorrow.