"Ugh," Tiyun groaned, his consciousness slowly dragging itself out of the dark. "By the Emperor... my entire body hurts."
"Ah~? You're finally up?" a light, feminine voice chimed.
As his blurry vision slowly cleared, the smiling face of Annie came into focus, peering down at him from above. Startled, Tiyun let out a short yell and instinctively shot up into a sitting position.
It was a massive mistake.
White-hot pain flared through every muscle and bone in his body.
"Damn it!" he hissed, immediately clutching his bruised side.
"Don't move around so much. You took one hell of a beating," a familiar voice warned.
Tiyun turned his head, wincing, and saw Zamin sitting on a small wooden stool a few paces away.
"Zamin? Wait, where am I? What happened..." Tiyun trailed off. The memories of the street duel rushed back into his mind. The absolute inability to land a single solid strike. The crushing force. Being dismantled with terrifying ease. "Oh... I remember now," he muttered, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
Annie giggled softly. "Don't look like such a wet cat just because you lost. You did better than most others I've fought." She tapped the fabric of her sleeve, right over whatever hidden protection had completely absorbed his sword strikes. "I actually had to block your attacks."
Zamin spoke up again to answer his earlier question. "We're in the back of the bar. The owner told us we could use the storage room to rest up because your little fight out there drew a lot of paying customers inside."
Tiyun slowly looked around. They were indeed in a storage room, but it was surprisingly clean and neatly organized. Crates of alcohol and preserved food were stacked securely against the walls. A small plate of fresh food had even been set on the floor near him—a courtesy from the grateful owner, no doubt. He realized he was resting on a woven straw mat. It was far from comfortable, but it beat lying out on the dirt road or storage room floor.
"That's... good, I suppose," Tiyun remarked, before another sharp hiss of pain escaped his lips as he shifted his weight.
"I told you, don't move too much," Zamin scolded. "Heal yourself first."
Tiyun gave a tight nod.
"Oh~? So this 'chi' can be used to heal as well?" Annie asked, tilting her head with genuine curiosity.
Tiyun narrowed his eyes despite the pain. "You know about chi?"
Annie gave a small, careless shrug. "I knew a little bit about it beforehand, but I've been talking to Zamin here to learn more while you were out."
Tiyun shot a questioning glance at his friend.
"That's one of the things she wanted information about," Zamin explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "That, and... another thing. But we'll talk about all of that after you've healed up a bit."
Knowing he was in no condition to argue, Tiyun let out a long sigh. He closed his eyes, focusing his mind inward, and began circulating his chi through his battered body to kickstart the healing process.
Annie watched Tiyun in silence for a few seconds, studying the subtle shifts of his breathing before letting out a thoughtful hum. "This is slower than magic in terms of healing," she remarked.
Zamin nodded in agreement. "It is. Chi requires more focus, more time, and a lot more mastery. But on the bright side, we can purge diseases, illnesses, and things of that nature much better than magic can."
Annie continued to watch the meditating swordsman. A sudden thought popped into her head, and a mischievous smirk curled her lips. "Hey~ what happens if I just poke him right now?" she asked, playfully wiggling her fingers in Tiyun's direction.
Zamin gave her a bewildered look. "Why would you do that? His concentration would break immediately, and he wouldn't be able to heal."
Annie let out a light chuckle, dropping her hand. "I'm not actually going to do it. I just wanted to know what would happen."
"Okay..." Zamin said slowly, his tone laced with suspicion. "Is this because you want to know if you can do the same to—"
Before he could finish his question, Tiyun exhaled a long breath and opened his eyes, cutting him off.
"Alright, I'm finished," Tiyun announced. He rolled his shoulders slightly to test his mobility, grimacing but looking much better than before. "The internal damage wasn't too bad, so I could heal it rather quickly. Now, besides chi, what else did you want information on?"
He looked directly at Annie. Instead of answering, she simply shifted her gaze over to Zamin, silently prompting him to explain.
The straw-hatted hunter let out a long, heavy sigh, rubbing his face with one hand. "Okay. Besides chi, the other thing she wants information on... and help finding... and maybe even help fighting..." Zamin paused, bracing himself as he looked at his partner. "Is The Grand Lotus, Joshua Ambrose."