Chapter 13
Elijah sat on the floor of the empty bar upstairs, his back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. The afternoon light filtered through the grimy windows, casting long shadows across the room. Dust hung in the air, undisturbed, waiting.
Kai had gone to get food. Something about a place three blocks away that sold decent rice and meat for cheap. Elijah hadn't been listening. His mind was on other things.
Move the air inside your body.
He closed his eyes and let the breathing technique settle into him. In. Hold. Out. The rhythm was automatic now, something his body did without instruction. But this was different. He wasn't just breathing. He was trying to do what Kai had said—to move the air, to make it do something inside him.
The technique's knowledge was there, stored in his mind like a book he'd read a hundred times. Level 1 was simple: awareness. Feeling the Ki and moving the Ki.
He breathed in, and instead of letting the air fill his lungs and leave, he tried to hold it.Somewhere the air could become something else.
Nothing happened.
He tried again. Slower this time. He imagined the air moving from his lungs into his chest, spreading through his stomach, his arms, his legs. Like water finding channels in dry earth.
Nothing.
He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "You have one too," he said to himself, remembering Kai's smile. The way he hadn't answered. The way he'd just looked at Elijah like he knew something Elijah was only beginning to understand.
If Kai could do it, Elijah could do it.
He closed his eyes again and this time, instead of forcing the air, he let it move. Let it move the way the Eternal Ground Tree Breathing technique showed him and to be grounded.
He felt it—a thread of warmth unspooling from his chest, moving down through his stomach, pooling in his legs. It was small, barely there, but it was moving. He was moving it.
He pushed more breath into the thread, feeding it, and the warmth spread. Into his arms. Into his back. Into his fingers and toes. Then into his mind and heart, as his blood started moving faster and a warm feeling rushing all over him like a wave.
[Skill Acquired: Ki Circulation (Level 1)]
The notification flashed in the corner of his vision, but Elijah barely noticed. He was too focused on the feeling. The power humming through him, waiting to be used. He felt like he could lift the building. Like he could run for hours. Like he could—
The warmth vanished.
His arms dropped to his sides. His chest heaved. Sweat coated his forehead, and his muscles trembled like he'd just run a marathon. The exhaustion hit him all at once, a wave that left him slumped against the wall, gasping for air.
He checked the system.
[Ki Circulation (Level 1) - Active skill. Increases all physical stats by 50% while active. Duration varies based on the host.]
Fifty percent.
Elijah stared at the numbers. He knew what breathing techniques were supposed to do. The book he'd read this morning—the history book—had mentioned them. A basic technique increased strength by ten to twenty percent. The best techniques, the ones held by Tier 1 families and passed down for generations, capped at thirty percent.
His technique was fifty percent. At Level 1.
He closed the screen and focused on his breathing, letting his body recover. The warmth in his chest was quiet now, settled, but he could feel it waiting. Ready.
He tried to estimate how long he'd held it. Ten seconds? Fifteen? Not long. But it was enough to know. If he pushed, if he trained, he could hold it for minutes. Maybe longer.
The front door opened. Kai walked in carrying two plastic bags that smelled of grilled meat and spices.
"Eat," he said, setting the bags down on the bar. "You'll need it."
Elijah pushed himself up, his legs still unsteady, and moved toward the food. Kai pulled out containers and passed him one. Rice, beans, grilled chicken, some kind of sauce that stained the rice orange.
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Elijah's body drank in the food, the exhaustion fading with each bite.
Kai finished first, setting his container aside. "The ring is in a warehouse on the south side of the 9th. But the rules are simple: two rounds, three minutes each. If no one's down at the end, the crowd decides. And the crowd always bets on whoever made them bleed more."
Elijah kept eating. "What's my cut?"
"First fight, nothing. You're the new guy. You win, you get respect. You win again, you get money." Kai pulled out his phone, setting it on the bar between them. "I'm betting this. My phone. It's not worth much to people in the middle or higher, but down here, it's something."
Elijah looked at the phone. "You're betting your phone on me."
"I'm betting my phone on your first fight. If you win, we use the money from that to bet on your second. That's where the real money is." Kai leaned back. "If you lose, I lose the phone. We find another way."
Elijah set his container down. "What do you know about the guy I'm fighting?"
"Nothing. That's the point. No names, no records. You find out when you step in."
"So I could be fighting someone who's done this a hundred times."
"Or someone who's never done it at all." Kai shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You're not fighting them. You're fighting yourself. Your fear, your hesitation, your need to think before you move. The other person is just the mirror."
Elijah stared at the bar. The wood was scarred, stained, worn smooth in places from years of hands resting on it.
"You said I freeze when there's time to think."
"I said you move when there isn't."
"So don't think."
Kai smiled. "That's the worst advice I've ever given anyone, and it's the only advice that works." He stood up, gathering the empty containers. "One more thing."
Elijah looked up.
"The way you copy people, The way they walk, the way someone moves, the way they do something. Your still doing that right."
Elijah frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Use it. Watch how they fight, how they stand, how they throw their weight. Copy what works. But don't just copy. Add something of yourself at the end." Kai dumped the containers in a trash bag and turned back. "That's how you get better at fighting fast."
Elijah sat with the words, letting them settle.
Copy, Add, Make it yours.
"I need to practice," Elijah said.
Kai raised an eyebrow. "Practice what?"
"The circulation. The breathing technique. I had it for maybe ten seconds before I gassed out."
Kai's expression shifted—interest, maybe approval. "How long do you need to hold it?"
"Three minutes. Maybe five if I push."
"You have four hours."
Elijah stood up, moving toward the back of the bar where the floor was open, where there was space to move. He sat cross-legged on the dusty boards and closed his eyes.
"Wake me when it's time."
He heard Kai chuckle, heard him move to the other side of the room, heard the creak of the bar stool as he sat.
Elijah breathed.
In, Hold, Out.
The warmth stirred in his chest, patient, waiting. He didn't push it. Not yet. He let it wake on its own, let it stretch through his limbs like something waking from sleep.
The first time he tried to circulate, he held it for twelve seconds.
He rested, Tried again, Fourteen seconds.
Again. Eleven seconds.
His body was tired, the earlier training still heavy in his muscles.
He checked the system. Ki Circulation had a note now, something new.
[Ki Circulation (Level 1) - Duration increases with practice. Current maximum: 17 seconds.]
He could do better.
Elijah closed his eyes and let the warmth build. He didn't rush. He let it fill him completely before he moved it, let it pool in his chest until it was heavy with potential. Then he pushed.
The power surged through him, stronger than before, and for a moment he felt like he could do anything. His muscles tightened, his senses sharpened, his mind cleared.
Twenty-three seconds.
He let go, gasping, and the system updated.
[Current maximum: 23 seconds]
Better.
He rested, ate more of the rice Kai had left, drank water from a bottle Kai passed him without a word. Then he sat again.
Twenty-eight seconds.
Then thirty-one.
Then twenty-five. He was pushing too hard, not letting his body recover.
He slowed down.
Thirty-five seconds.
When Kai stood up and said, "Time to go," Elijah opened his eyes. His body was heavy, his mind clear, and somewhere in his chest, the warmth waited.
He checked the screen one last time.
[Ki Circulation (Level 1) - Maximum duration: 42 seconds]