Whispers of A Dead Empire

Chapter 30

I cleared my throat awkwardly as I stared at my underling. His gloved fist curled into a tight fist. He clacked his teeth a few times, clearly asking me something. "He's curious if you are ready or not." I heard Kharon call out behind me.

"Damn, a girl just wakes up from almost dying, and I don't even get a break?"

A quick chitter back was the response I got from Aaron, which my companion quickly translated. "He said that sounds like a personal problem, and to get to it, empress." Though the title of empress seemed to be tacked on as an afterthought, I felt that Kharon left out a few words.

I snickered at Aaron and raised my hands. "Wow, I didn't realize that you were so rude. Maybe you should learn to respect your elders." It was fun being able to talk shit with someone and helped push away some of the guilt that was still coiled tightly in my chest.

He chittered once more and raised his fist. "He said you would have to make him. But anyway, let me go over the general rules of sparing if that's what you want to do. Aaron is a boss, so we can revive him free of cost if you manage to defeat him. He will take it easier on you until you get a few levels, so you aren't hurt too badly. Anything goes really in these kinds of fights."

I bobbed my head in agreement. "Got it. Bear with me for a bit while I get used to some of these skills, please, Aaron." I called over to him as I focused on the power that I felt in my chest. It was much like what I felt in my Ki realm, though compacted into a tight sphere that was rapidly spinning inside of my chest.

Alright, so now that it was compacted, I just had to use it, but how was the question? Now that I have my companion here, why don't I ask him? "Hey Kharon, how do I use Ki? I have the manipulation skill, and I'm just not sure on how to use it."

"Ki is compacted in your chest in a core, and much like a volcano, it's constantly ready to erupt. However, you get to decide when it's released. You just have to point it in the right direction. Now, with that being said, you have to keep two things in mind while using it. The first is that it will flow with the easiest path. The second is that you have to limit how much you use. If you let it out all at once, you will quickly use it up. So it's best to keep a small, steady flow until you have more Ki compressed."

I closed my eyes and thought over his words. So it's like a volcano, huh? I pulled my attention inwards for a moment and felt how it spun around. Small staccatos of power would bounce across its surface before being quickly reabsorbed by the ball of energy. Alright, so I had to limit how much I use, and it would flow with the easiest path. I just had to keep track of these things.

I slightly released my hold on the sphere and directed it towards my legs. Instead of a trickle of energy that I was expecting, it was a torrential flood of power that erupted from my core and quickly rushed through hidden trails in my body. A sense of strength filled me, and I opened my eyes and saw a faint haze of golden orange energy coming from my lower half.

That was so cool! I attempted to do a small bunny hop to see what it was like and instead jumped five feet into the air. My heart was hammering away in my chest as I grew excited. I slowly turned off the Ki that was rushing to my legs and felt that the core had grown a little smaller and turned a little slower. "So Kharon, how quickly does it replenish?"

"Depending on your proficiency with it, anywhere from all day to just a few minutes. It's a skill that also heavily relies on meditation to master, though, so you have to stay on top of that if you want to keep compressing more power into your core." Kharon walked over small cropping of rocks that sat a little ways away from us and sat down and brought down his hood.

"I see, so do I have to ascend realms or anything and cultivate Ki?" All this talk made me think about all those cultivations I've seen on various writing sites and filled me with a bit of fear that I would have to sit here and meditate for years to get anywhere worthwhile.