"It's okay, Mei, what are you doing here?" said Kaan, rubbing his chest after the fright.
"I was just wandering around and wondered what you've been up to, my saviour," said Mei sarcastically. "I just thought we would go do some shopping together, could we?" asked Mei, with eyes like a little puppy. Kaan couldn't say no.
"Okay, let me change real quick and we will go," said Kaan. This would be his first time truly discovering the city of Guolu, so he got a little excited. He wore his Spatial Ring, which he had plundered from the assassin. He had experimented with the ring a little bit and made the security protocols stricter by adding more layers on top of it; now it only activates when a certain Qi-path is used.
They got out of the building and started wandering around. "Actually, I need a bigger spatial ring, so let's go to the store," said Mei. They walked to the store and were immediately greeted by guards.
"We greet the Great Elder Chu's Daughter, Miss Mei!" the guards said in unison and opened the door.
They walked in and were greeted by a middle-aged woman, approximately in her 30's. "I greet the Great Elder Chu's Daughter, Miss Mei!" the woman said while joining her hands together. She looked at Kaan and said, "Who might this gentleman be?"
Kaan took out his identification plaque and handed it to the woman. As soon as the woman saw the plaque, she said, "Oh my, so you are the rumored student of the Great Elder. Welcome to my shop. How can I help you today?"
"I need a bigger spatial ring, mine is not enough," said Mei.
"We can help you with that, Miss Mei." The woman said, turning to Kaan. "But I have to say, you have a very complex spatial ring, young man. May I ask you where did it come from?" The woman said, her eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion.
"I bought it in the city of Shu," Kaan lied, maintaining his composure. "How did she notice that?" he wondered internally.
The woman got close to Kaan's finger, took a look at the ring, and tried to infuse some Qi. As soon as she infused the Qi, she suffered enormous pain from a Qi backlash. "What is this security protocol, young man? I've never seen a protocol that is so hard to break; it causes Qi backlash. Do you know who made it?"
"Yes, I know who made it," Kaan said, seizing the opportunity immediately. "This protocol is inspired by the Tor protocol; it changes every few minutes, so it's normal that she suffered a backlash. I am really glad that I paid attention in that computer science class," Kaan thought, linking his modern knowledge to his defense.
"Who is the master that's capable of writing a security protocol like this?" the woman demanded, awe now replacing suspicion.
"Do you mind?" said Kaan, taking one of the store's spatial rings. "What do you plan to do? Don't tell me, is it you?" the woman gasped.
Kaan was already in the middle of re-writing the security protocol on the store's ring. He focused his Qi to engrave millions of different paths across the 'circuit board' of the ring and added a logic gate that only activates when the right person's Qi enters the stream. He also added a resistor-type mechanism in order to save the unique Qi type. Even if someone somehow bypassed the identification stage, they would come across millions of possible paths, making it impossible to break in.
"Amazing! Young man, I've got to say this, I didn't expect that you would be the one to make this. Please teach me how to do it," said the woman, completely astonished by his skill.
"I can teach you but give my student-sister a ring that suits her needs first, and then please teach me how to make a spatial ring!" Kaan said.
"Spatial Ring making is hard, what is your current level?" said the woman, assessing Kaan's cultivator level.
"Circulation Level 1 Peak," Kaan stated.
The woman looked disappointed. "While I really want to learn how you make that security, it is impossible for you to make a spatial ring for now. You at least need to open your Left or Right Arm Meridian in order to turn your Qi to fire. If you come back later, I can teach you, and you can teach me!"
Kaan, feeling a little discouraged, said, "Okay, I will come back later." Mei got her brand-new spatial ring that had 50 m³ spatial storage, and the two went back to their building.
Kaan immediately started working on formations again in order to improve the sound muffling formation. "Let's try the shapes and see what they do," Kaan thought. Because his Jade Stone stock was abundant, he tried every shape he could individually. "So, this is basically a layered circuit board print, and shapes act differently according to their size and place. This is like three-dimensional coding," Kaan muttered, completely unaware of his Master standing at the opposite corner of the room.
He experimented more and all of a sudden, he felt his body temperature started to rise.
"Don't tell me!" Master Chu muttered and immediately created a protective field around Kaan.
Kaan felt like he was in heaven, with a little warmth around his stomach. His Qi started to surge; it surged so much that it opened the blockade to his stomach. At that moment, Kaan heard another pop!
"Congratulations, kid. You had an enlightenment, which caused your Qi to surge and a breakthrough," Master Chu said.
Kaan felt more alive than ever. His always-upset stomach had finally healed through the infusion of Qi. "Thank you, Master."
"Now stabilize your Qi and we will learn a new technique tomorrow. It is a refinement technique," said Master Chu and disappeared.
Master Chu went into his building and got a parchment from his drawer.
"You don't dare!"