41

When Pef woke up, he was held tight at the generous chest of his wife, and his qi had nearly recovered. His nerves stopped firing erratically from the wild electricity as well.

He checked his soul place, and noticed to his surprise a lighting bulb now illuminating his spiritual palace. The last piece that he missed was there.

But still, his rank was only peak of Sky rank, and not yet an Emperor. Pef sighed and hugged Xie as a relief.

"Most men would have hit harder, killed their target and claim the rank directly." another woman spoke from Xie's body.

"Even a Sky ranked sword wouldn't have killed Uncle Ang. Emperors are though. He got stronger from that lightning" Pef explained in a soft whisper. Even himself got stronger.

There was a clue here. Maybe that Heavenly Lightning could be used as a source of divine qi, transcending the limitations of a Tier 1 universe. You just needed to survive it. Somehow.

"So, you're not actually an idiot. Good. You used the least damaging means to win, instead of splitting open his armor, and forcing him to conjure his sword qi. Then you'd have been trashed and beaten bloody, instead of being the wonder boy" Xia continued in a warm tone.

"So, my light bulb is lit now" Pef said as an explanation.

"Oh, the sauna? That's wonderful! You just need something to cross you over. Well, Xie won't mind if I indulge..." the silver eyed woman mused, after thinking for a minute.

Pef was surprised at being molested but, in the end, he grew to enjoy it. "Hey, what did you mean...oh. Don't stop..."

A few torturous hours later, our hero was conquered by a dead goddess and crossed, barely, into Emperor rank.

A huge volume of senses assaulted him, coming from everywhere, from inside, from the glove, from Xie's body....

Slowly, the senses arranged themselves, his internal constitution now visible, meridians and acupuncture points defined and obvious to his inner eyes. Sadly, most of them were blocked.

No wonder the glove hinted at pills to cleanse his meridians. He could become ten times stronger, just from refining those pills.

Xie was over half her Earth rank, quite amazing for someone who barely received the Xi method. But he suspected the other woman had a role, sustaining her growth somehow.

A pulse of qi drew his attention, the Emperor of the province sending and receiving reports from far away, using coded pulses.

A qi network appeared in his mind, 31 scattered Emperors and a huge beacon far away.

'I'm Pef Xi, age 18. Nice to meet you all!' he sent after compiling a message of his own.

'Oh, yea. The boy is staying with me for now. And he sort of beat me, in a tournament' Ang Xi sent into the family network, with a tinge of shame.

'And he wears the glove, isn't he?' a stern voice came from the Wix province.

'Hey dad, mom was murdered. How are you?' Pef responded in fake joy.

That user disconnected, and soon everyone else did. Only the huge beacon remained, now

focused on the new family member.

'The glove spirit. What number it gave you?' an old voice asked with a grave tone.

'Oh that. It was 0.0018 before. Let me ask again.'

'You want a refreshed compatibility number, Aspirant? Pef Xi 0.0019 Still 98 percent away from minimal Soldier status'

'Don't worry, my orange glove. I just need a good sword' Pef answered in a cheerful tone.

He felt like he could bench press mountains. The high of the new rank was a bit overwhelming.

'And? What did the holy spirit say?' Deng Xi asked after waiting a minute.

'New number is 0.0019. The glove is happy' Pef sent after a minute.

The glove wasn't happy, but it didn't bother to intervene. The user will 'accidentally' faceplant soon.

'You may indeed be the one, young Xi. Forget whatever Wixtal did. Go and serve at the Wall. For a year. You need to understand why we do things this way' the old Patriarch demanded in a kinder voice.

The network closed after this, shutting Pef off.

Pef got dressed, then helped Xie dress up too.

Then they went to meet their Uncle. Who was in council with some officers, like usual.

"Hey Uncle. So, Old Deng says I should guard the Wall, for one year..." Pef said in a light voice.

"Sure, go. There're plenty beasts though." Ang Xi answered with a smile.

"Tasty beasts?" Xie asked curious. The Majors at the table choked and had to breathe deeply.

"Well, the four legged ones can be eaten, I guess. Why would anyone bother though? We have the maize..." The Emperor answered after blinking a bit confused.

"To fry them and then eat them, of course. Come, show me where's your kitchen Uncle. I'll cook something for you and these officers. And then we talk again..." Pef declared with a confident smile.

An hour later the leaders of the Tan Ang province had to agree. Spiders or snakes, pork or turtle, even locusts or crabs. Anything Pef magically cooked tasted better than anything they've eaten.

The Emperor did notice Pef's technique, and grinned. He would experiment with that heat exchange later.

Truly, the boy was full of wonders, not only flying airships, or his incredibly fast rank, but also skills and metals.

"So, what did you win, my nephew? Name it and it's yours. Though not my wives!" Ang Xi told him with a stern look.

"Well, I will need some officers of my own. Like Major Wu, or Lady Erin from 443. Others as well, just need to pick when I see them" Pef explained, but leaving room for negotiations.

"Granted. Not my staff, but you can get a couple Majors and a hundred lower ranks. Must be hard for your lady wife, doing all the work by herself. Build yourself a harem worthy of an Emperor, like the manual says!" Ang Xi proclaimed in a heroic voice.

Xie smiled sweetly, patting Pef on his head.

'I could go for 10, right?' the young man asked himself.

'Sure, why not! And if you die, at least you die happy!' the glove replied amused.