Chapter 68 - Nerun's Small Improvements

As far as techniques went, Nerun did not have that many. <Flash Walk> that was taught by Elijah and <Qi Revolution> were his most used techniques. The last one was his trump card, and even with Nerun using mixed energies, it was even stronger than when Nerun first learned the technique. However, the cons of the technique still remained, and Nerun was seriously working on improving its difficulty of usage on the go.

It was actually <Flash Walk> that gave Nerun a headache. Since it was a quite explosive and useful technique, Nerun had loved to use it as a child, however now it had become a bit of a burden.

The main reasons for it were two. First and foremost, <Flash Walk> was a pure Qi technique, that used explosive Qi at the feet soles to unleash a great bout of acceleration and launching oneself towards the direction one has chosen. As linear acceleration and velocity went, it was quite a good technique, and partnered with Elijah and Maikal's explosiveness and way of fighting it actually paired quite well. However Nerun did not only use Qi or Mana alone but both.

Nerun's power did not come from using just one of the energies, but the syncing of both, therefore for Nerun, who actually was a level 10 Qi Grandmaster, and not the normal level 20, the energy he employed with Qi techniques was a lot lower, and therefore the techniques were less powerful and effective. For that reason, magickal powers would also suffer the same restraint. It was as if Nerun had a very shallow foundation behind his Core meridians and Heavenly Gates. It was obviously not so, but Nerun was certainly threading on a new path.

Only if Nerun managed to use both Qi and Mana while performing Qi techniques or Magick powers, could these make a qualitative change and make full use of Nerun's power. However Nerun had no idea yet how to perform this feat.

The second reason actually had to do with Nerun's martial art, the Free Flowing Fist. The style and spirit of the Martial Art didn't go too well towards explosiveness, but towards overcoming force with gentleness and maintaining balance between the energies. It also had its deficiencies, but Nerun was quite attuned to it, especially since he had even modified the forms and made them his own.

Therefore Nerun needed to find a new movement technique that he could call his own, and that would make full use of his strengths and power.

Nerun had also learned one Mana Technique from the book left by Menke, the steward from House Corona. Nerun managed to learn one particular spell that was quite basic, but that had a great affinity with Nerun's first Core Meridian and Heavenly Gate.

As for his ocular technique, Nerun got a pleasant surprise, since with Arbak's blessing, Nerun noticed that the technique had become a part of himself and it would grow in strength and effects as Nerun grew up in power as well. And since Magical Beasts used the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth directly, which could be made out of Qi or Mana, Nerun could actually use this technique while using both energies, though it was hard to pull off, and Nerun could only do it 3 out of 5 times.

Actually, each full form of the Free Flowing Fist came with a particular technique that could be used when complete mastery of the form was made. Nerun was quite happy about this, however, as of now, he still could not use even the technique annexed to the First Form, due to Nerun's modification. He was thinking in ways of transforming these techniques, which would be the very first ones that Nerun could call his own, and specifically made for his new path.

Nerun finally decided to rest for a bit, when all of a sudden, he noticed a bit of a commotion nearby. He heard screams and some voices coming from a small field close to his current position. Nerun would usually pay no mind, but the screaming certainly got his attention.

He decided to approach the area carefully and he was a bit flabbergasted by what he saw. There were several children, some of them tied by their hands and feet, and surrounded by a group of men in different kinds of armor. There was a little girl standing in front of the robbers with a valiant look on her face.

Nerun wanted to jump over and help the children with their predicament, but the reason he was so shocked earlier was precisely because the ones with fear in their eyes were not exactly the children, nor the little girl but the men around them. Some of them were on the ground with injuries in their faces, one of them was even close to losing one eye and screaming profusely.

The would-be robbers/kidnappers were being tied down by a small bird that was darting around, and making the men flinch with some trepidation. Even Nerun had some trouble following the bird's movement.

"Damn it! What a freakish bird this is. Quick, catch that girl, she seems to be the owner. If we have her with us, the beast will cease its attack, and it might even be likely to capture it" said the leader of the men with some greed as well as fear in his eyes. Eventually it was the former that overtook his reason.

"You are truly a bunch of lowlives. How dare you try to kidnap me?" was shouting the girl furiously. The rest of the children were a bit scared, and were cowering behind the girl, but they took solace at the fact that the small looking bird was quite strong.

"Careful. Try to attack her from different places at the same time". When the leader said that he noticed the nearby Nerun who was looking at the scene, thinking that some of the men looked very familiar. One of the men turned and looked towards Nerun and then started yelling,

"Boss, boss.. That is the child we told you about earlier today. He was the one who ruined our business and made us lose 2 targets. He is quite strong, boss, you would have to take care of him yourself", said the man. It was the leader of the band of men that Nerun had wasted before arriving at the city.

"Is that him. You really got floored by a pretty boy. Useless idiots. Boy, Hades does not want you, but you still go knocking at its doors. Since you came, then don't even think about leaving. Number 3, Number 4, take care of the boy. Number 2, come with me and take care of this girl. That bird is malicious, we have to do something quickly." said the Boss.

"Really… I mean, your men were a bit… but you are even more cliche… I guess that my fishing worked. Though a bit different from what I expected. Ok, little fish, come and be caught. I know you'll net me some gold", said Nerun as he smiled showing all of his teeth.

When the robbers heard Nerun, some of them got really infuriated. However the ones that had beaten black and blue knew better than anyone else that the "pretty boy" in front of them was a vicious beast in sheep skin.

Number 3 and number 4 were a couple of stocky looking guys, one of them bald, the other having some scars on his face. They were quite mundane looking, except for the fact that both seemed to be somewhat strong. One of them was a high level Qi Master, and the other was a Qi Grandmaster. Both quickly went towards Nerun, who quickly assumed a sideways stand and started moving his hands slowly.

Both men were quite ferocious, and started pummeling Nerun, however there seemed to be an impassable wall in front of him. Nerun's hand quickly and accurately hit the two men's attack at their weakest spot, and in a matter of seconds, but men found themselves feeling as if they were stranded on a quagmire. They felt as if all their strength was being siphoned out, and they started noticing that a strange energy was blocking their meridians little by little.

This was the Second Form of the Free Flowing Fist, and one that was centered on defense. Nerun favored it a lot, and simply named it Unbreakable. Nerun's movements were fast, using the minimum effort and strength to deviate the opponent's attack's energy towards the environment, and returned part of the energy alongside Nerun's own Qi and Mana into the enemy in small traces. These traces eventually clogged the opponent's meridian, making the energy enter a stagnated state.

If a person kept attacking Nerun blindly without realizing soon what was happening, he could very well lose the ability to mobilize their energy. Also, paired with Nerun's ocular meridians, his movements were quite incisive, and effectively robbed the enemies of their strength. With the Unbreakable form, Nerun could even fight for short periods of time with enemies that were stronger than himself.

When the two robbers noticed that something wrong was happening with them, it was already too late. They were already tangled with Nerun's rhythm, and in a moment where one of them lost focus, Nerun quickly opened his hand and grabbing the enemy's face, he stamped it against the ground.

The Qi Grandmaster among the enemies was completely amazed by these kid's power and could not help but shout: "Boss. This kid is not normal. His martial art is strange and his power is no lower than a Qi Grandmaster".

The man tried to recover and create some distance from Nerun, while using his energy to ram over the energy blockage in his meridians. This would take hardly any time, but how could Nerun let the opportunity pass him by. Nerun used <Flash Walk> and appeared behind the man, and using his elbow he hit the man's spine making him lose all ways of any comeback whatsoever.

The other men were shocked, and the boss got even a bit flustered, since they had not been able to capture the girl or the bird yet, and in only a matter of seconds, this kid had already knocked down two of the gang's best fighters.

The bird was constantly attacking and keeping away the attackers that tried to get close to the children. It was quite fast and strong, as much as a Qi Grandmaster, perhaps a bit higher, but the robbers were attacking in too many fronts. Soon enough it would be overwhelmed.

When the girl that was protecting the children saw the situation, she couldn't help but pout and then shouted to Nerun: "Hey there, you brat. Are you going to help us or what? Can you stop playing around and quickly get rid of the riff raff?"

Nerun stoped and grimaced a bit when the kid started hollering at him, and could not help but lampoon a little 'Who are you calling a little kid? Lot at yourself, you are the little brat'. However he laughed a bit and said: "Yes Ma'am. Whitey. Show them what you're made of".

When Nerun said that, a shadow came running at subsonic speed from the woods nearby. Whitey had stayed outside the city from the beginning, since Magical Beasts were chased down constantly in the big cities. Unless Nerun could prove that they were partners, they decided to take no chances, and for Whitey to wait outside and later rejoin him. Besides, Whitey could more than fend for himself easily.

The shadow that came running was a small looking puppy that quickly jumped towards the man named number 2, who was about to catch one of the children to try and coerce the mean talking girl and her bloody bird. However Whitey jumped towards him, much quicker than what the man could react to, and even though Whitey looked quite small, the man was sent flying away. Several of his bones had been broken from the collision. After all, even though Whitey's body had shrunked, his overall mass had not decreased at all, and as a Rank 3 beast, his momentum was nothing to scoff at. The man felt as if he had been trampled by a hundred bulls and lost his conscience right then and there.

"Wow, a Blizzard Direwolf. That's not a common especies" said the girl… She then started looking at Nerun as if he was a big enemy of her, for some reason only known to her.

The boss was appalled at the turn of events, and had decided to run away and let the big boss know of what had transpired here, but on this occasion Nerun had other plans.

Nerun shouted: "Whitey don't let them run off, maim them but do not kill them".

Afterwards, Nerun went towards the leader. The leader was a Level 28 Qi Grandmaster, and was a harsh looking fellow with a huge beard. He was named Leto, and had quite the reputation in the county. Nevertheless it all seemed to be for naught when fighting with this couple of monsters.

The Leader tried to run towards one of the openings, when all of a sudden he felt something on his back and jumped hastily out of the way.

"Χέρι φωτιάς - /Chéri fotiás/*"

A small fireball went right through the place he had been before, and made a small explosion. BOOOM.

He turned around and quickly noticed that Nerun had been the one to throw it. In his left hand, on each finger, except for the pinky, there was a small fireball floating there. Nerun had used the one mana technique he had learned from Mr. Menke's book.

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* Χέρι φωτιάς: Fire Hand