Chapter 10: The Arcane Empire

When Lei and Chu arrived at the training rooms the next morning he once again found the king waiting for him. Lei and Chu started to bow but the king stopped them, "Lei, I think we know each other well enough to stop the formalities. Don't treat me like a king when we are not in public. Chu, I've told you that you don't always have to be so formal." Lei answered with, "Thank you." While Chu answered with, "Sire, I will always treat you with reverence. I won't ever stop." Chu then bowed and left the room. The king looked after Chu's retreating figure before sighing and beckoning for Lei to come closer. "Lei, please demonstrate your progress with the fluttering winds technique." Lei cycled his qi and began flying around the room at a great speed. When he was finished the king nodded and said, "That was acceptable. I'm confident that with more practice you will be able to master it. Now, today, we will be working on the arcane empire technique. This technique is known as a domain technique and allows you to more influence that space. Some domains allow you to slow time or take control of an opponent's qi. The arcane empire, however, affects attacks and mindset. It will make your attacks slightly stronger and weaken the attacks of your enemies. It will also weaken the mind of your enemy making them lose concentration and increasing their fear of you. It is extremely expensive to maintain, though." He handed Lei a sheaf of papers which he began to study. 

Lei stood up and started cycling the arcane empire. He was about to activate it when the king said, "Ah, we need an attack for you to perform, don't we? Alright, I want you to cycle the arcane empire and then activate it then I want you to gather qi into the tip of your finger and imagine that you are flicking out. This will serve as a rudimentary attack."

Lei began cycling and followed the king's instructions.. First he cycled and activated the arcane empire. The arcane empire caused the air around him to turn a faint shade of purple. For around a metre. The he gathered the qi in his finger and flicked it out sending a purple bolt through the air where it then hit the wall and was dissipated by glowing scripts that activated when the attack hit. Lei had to drop the arcane empire as it started to strain him. As he dropped it he realised that he had expended almost all his qi. "It will have more of an effect as you advance. Right now it doesn't grant much of an advantage but once you reach my level it will dissipate lesser enemies attacks like they weren't even there; the qi cost will also decrease as you advance. Now what I recommend for the rest of the day is for you to refill your dantian when it gets empty and practise the arcane empire until your soul feels strained. Then I want you to practise your harvesting and advancement cycling techniques until Chu comes to find you at which point he will take you to your quarters where you will prepare yourself for a dinner with my family." Before Lei had a chance to say anything, the king walked out of the room. Lei sighed and got to work.

Lei managed to execute the arcane empire three more times before he felt his soul tiring. At that point he followed the king's instructions and began to harvest and purify qi. He had been doing this for a couple of hours when he suddenly felt his dantian collapse and become denser. At the same time purple lightning and fire struck and ignited the air around. It was at that point that he realised that he had broken through to the manifestation stage. If the information he had found was correct, his qi should now be more powerful and his techniques should be quicker and more powerful. His spirit should also take longer to tire and finally his body should be augmented again, becoming both stronger and faster. Lei realised that his purifying technique would now do nothing for him. His body did it automatically. So as he waited for Chu he began to harvest qi from the air around him pulling it through his meridians and into his dantian. 

Finally Chu arrived to escort Lei to his quarters. When they made it back to his quarters Lei realised he had run out of showy robes good enough for the dinner. They had all been taken to be cleaned. "Chu, is there any way for you to bring me robes suitable for the dinner. I seem to have run out; not that my original 'showy' robes were suitable anyway." "Of course Master Kun. I should have them for you in the next five minutes." Chu bowed and left the living room. While he was gone, Lei took a shower and put his underrobes on and waited for Chu. 

Chu arrived holding a set of folded robes in his hands and held them out to Lei who gratefully thanked Chu. They were a lot showier than his normal robes but Lei was grateful in any case.

Finally Lei was ready and asked Chu to escort him down. Once again Lei was led through a myriad of passages and Stairways before arriving at a set of doors with the words, "The great eating hall inscribed above it."