Assimilation

Waking up in a strange bed I looked around to notice that I was in the same room I woke up the first day I came to lord Ling's manor. The softness of the bed was unparalleled, soft yet comfortable. It made me want to remain on it for the longest possible time. But I don't have time, I have much to learn now, a new goal, a new objective. I must learn magic, all of it and most of what I can. It is not power that I seek, it is knowledge.

"Remain where you are, child." said the gentle voice of an old woman.

I turned around to see her, she was the same woman that I met the first day here… this feels like a déjà vu.

"Yes Mam," I said then added, "Can I ask who are you, Mam?"

"I am the Ling house's Health career, my Name is Shivana, nice to meet you."

So a doctor of sorts…

"Thank you for taking care of me" I politely said

"That is my job, child. However it seems that you are a fond of sleep, you took three days to wake up from that incident… However I must strongly object on what you did last time, you almost died doing that idiotic stunt, though you managed to save the lady's life you almost lost yours in the process…"

"Three days… Is the lady alright, however?"

"She is in perfect condition," said the doctor "She even came and asked about your welfare a few times," she said with a mischievous smile on her…

I don't know why but something stirred inside me, having someone from the Ling house to actually care for my wellbeing is a feat that I should feel proud of, I am but an orphan…

"Tell me, child. What drove you to do what you did there?"

"What? To help the lady?" I said

She nodded

"It is gratitude," I said

"How come? You risked your life for someone that you barely spoke to, barely talked to, not only once but twice. The one who should be grateful is not you but them… so how come you say it is gratitude?"

"You must know by now who I am, my lady. I am but an orphan child, not worth much within this growing world. ;y life is meager compared to the powers of the people around me, however, Lord Ling gave me a new life, a new purpose. He even gave me a hope toward something I sought, a promise to go to Visania, to learn… a wish that many have taken for granted, yet a far from reach dream of mine… he gave me what I wanted… and in his moment of despair, if I was not one to help then I have failed that man…"

"But you have yet to go there, what if the lord was lying? What if he never intended on taking you there? You risked your life for something that is not set in stone…"

"I don't know what you are trying to do my lady but let's make one thing clear, I will forever be indebted to the lord, just him promising to send me to Visania is enough for me to risk my life for him for I have no value in the eyes of many but his…"

"A loyal child…" she said then stood up and left the room.

What was she trying to do? Her way of speech was like if she wanted me to not save the lord… as if she tried to probe me of my true thoughts, though I hid nothing from her I still felt like I was being interrogated than spoken to… strange.

I was dressed in different items of clothing, not my butler clothes but the white silky pajamas.

The same I was given that time, I took a look around and left the room soon after changing back to my old clothes that were near the bed. There was nothing worth doing there and no need to waste more time, three days of rest had made my body feel refreshed, any more and I will be just a lazy slob.

Once out, I looked around for one of three people, Master Shen, The Lord or Milenda. Any of them would be enough to fill me up on what happened and what I am to do next.

The first to meet was Melinda who was walking down the hallway. She looked at me like if she had seen me the first time

"You are awake?!" she said with a voice expressing worry more than surprise

"Yes, is there a problem?" I said

"Heh, the doctors actually said that you would remain in that state for few more days, I truly am surprised"

Doctors? There was only that woman… they must have brought in more to assist her… well no matter

"I am up and awake now, I guess I need to go back to training, I have much to learn…"

"Master Shen is in the courtyard. The Lord is not home yet, once he gets here I will tell him that you have awoken"

I gave her a slight bow after excusing myself, but before I could walk away I turned around and asked

"What about lady Akari? How is she faring?"

"She is doing quite well, the flame no longer welled up within her, her control is firmer than ever… boy whatever you did is nothing short of a miracle, that was a case of severe magical overload, she was not supposed to survive that… I am truly glad you managed to save Lord Ling's only daughter… on his behalf I thank you" she said while giving a deep bow…

I felt awkward after that, I never was bowed to by anyone, all my life I was the one doing so, so seeing someone do it for me made me feel rather uncomfortable

"Please Melinda, that is nothing I owe them more than just that… it is alright"

I took the stairs and went down toward the courtyard where Master Shen was there.

I have been trying to contact Nocturne but it seems that he is unresponsive for the moment, I don't know what happened but I kinda miss the creepy guy's voice…

Once I was in the courtyard near the wooden logs I saw master then resting under the sun, with a round hat covering his face.

"Master Shen," I said

He then slightly lifted his hat and glanced at me with one eye saying

"You are rather up early, good I was feeling bored, are you ready for your training?"

"Yes!" I said with all eagerness.

"Very well," he said and he stood up.

"You seem to have had the gist of Honing, now we will begin with a similar practice, Strengthening"

"What is that?"

"it's rather simple, it is a part of honing too, the energy you use to strengthen the strand of grass and hone it at the same time, yet this time you use it on your body, the only difference is that you need to carefully strengthen your body so that you don't shatter it."

"How so?"

"Unlike honing where you reinforce and sharpen the tool your body is a more delicate matter, you need to understand it, strengthening an arm, for example, can make you punch through a steel door, yet overdo it and your arm will shatter like a piece of glass from the impact. It makes not only your blood vessels strong as steel your skin, muscles and everything becomes rock hard. if you make contact with something of similar density you might break your arm."

"That doesn't sound practical at all, I mean I could just use a tool, hone blades or strengthen clubs for combat if I ever need to."

"One day you will find yourself without tools, and the only tool you will need to rely on is your own body, strengthening is needed for our next practice, I will teach you the Lotus martial art, it may sound girlish but believe me, it is an art derived from an ancient demon, it is strong beyond strength, and will need a body that can practice it."

The prospects of learning a martial art almost made me salivate… I need this, no I want it!

"Alright, how do we strengthen?"

"don't jump the wire, before strengthening you need something else. First, sit in this position," he said as he sat down cross-legged with both arms on his knees.

It wasn't that difficult but the restrains on me made it a bit uncomfortable. I almost forgot I had them…

"You are rather accustomed to the Limiter…this should make it very potent once you master the moves. Alright now, you do remember that breathing technique you use before you used Honing?"

I remembered my body being filled with energy whenever I took a deep breath with the intent to use that technique

"Yes, I do,"

"That is called assimilation, it has many names some even call it cultivation. The idea is that you will harness natural energy within your body and keep it inside you, it will help build up your body bit by bit."

Cultivation? Now this sounds interesting.