Chapter 19 : Henry gets a new toy.

Henry and Ping were sitting side by side with each other in a dark corner booth of the Rising Star whispering conspiratorially. They had a fat stack of loot between the two of them and were both cackling like mad men. There was five hundred gold coins, another fifteen hundred gold worth of cultivation regents and about ten small ki stones.Henry gave Ping all the cultivation regents as part of the extra percentage he was due for getting kicked in the nuts. Then they split everything else right down the middle. Ping was shocked that Henry was so quick with handing the cultivation regents over and quickly stored them away before he could change his mind.Henry ordered them some beer and meats and paid with a ki stone asking for change. The waitress just raised her eyebrow at him and left to get their food and drinks. She returned shortly carrying a tray laden with meats and two tankards of beer as well as a heavy bag of gold coins. Henry stored the gold away quickly doing a mental tally. He had seven hundred and fifty gold coins in storage."Cheers man, that was one hell of a show," Henry said, raising his glass."It was quite the spectacle was it not," Ping said, clinking his glass with Henry.They both drained their glasses and belched loudly. Ping dug into his food as Henry dug into his gold. Henry needed to juice up. He went slowly starting with two gold coins at a time. Henry let the potential energy absorb into his body controlling how fast it traveled to his core. Henry realized that just like any drug, if he let it hit him all at once he would overdose and the gold madness would take over.Henry's cultivation was strange, it preached gathering as much loot as possible but also warned against excess. The process of handling the ki was very difficult for Henry. His ki control was shit and making this thick ki obey him was proving to be quite tricky. After what felt like an eternity the coins in Henry's hand crumbled to dust. He had gotten just the faintest bit of ki from the coins but there was no hint of the gold madness. Henry felt like he was making progress.Henry opened his eyes and was met with Ping, who looked like he wanted to ask him a question. Henry had totally forgotten that the rat man was watching him the whole time he was cultivating."That's a very peculiar cultivation technique you got there Hen Ri," Ping said as he popped a morsel of food into his mouth. Chewing thoughtfully Ping said, "you do not gather ki from the world but from some other source."Henry just remained silent, he had to assume that his cultivation method was not a normal one and didn't want to reveal all his cards."The ki I felt you circulate was incredibly potent even though the quantity was lacking. Everyone here has their secrets so I won't press you for yours.""Appreciate that Ping, you seem like a level headed fella so why are you here scraping for pocket change?"Ping relays his tale to Henry about his past and present woes, about how he was trying to raise funds to get a bakery of his own and was running into money problems. Prejudice and ignorance seemed to be prevalent everywhere, in his past dimension and this one. Ping just wanted to be a baker, had someone given him a chance early on he wouldn't have to turn to a life of banditry. Henry just sighs, new world same shit, people kinda suck sometimes."So are you gonna fight here till you get enough money to buy that property?""That's the plan Hen Ri, I know that the sects won't loan to me and neither will the human, so this is really the only feasible way to drum up some capital," Ping said in a resigned fashion.Something weird was happening inside Henry, a strange desire not like the gold madness. This feeling was different instead of seeing the potential energy in currency or things he saw it shimmer off of Ping himself.This rat man with his dreams of baking was giving off some crazy waves of energy. Henry wanted this potential energy no he needed it but he also knew instinctively he could not just absorb it into himself. It needed to be given freely or bartered for."Ping we should all be allowed to attempt our dreams and I totally understand your money problems. I really do, so let me offer you a deal. I'll lend you 700 hundred gold if you'll let me try something with one of my techniques."Ping looked at the human in front of him with hooded eyes, Hen Ri never struck him as a loan shark. Ping had found a space with an oven where the sketchy owner didn't care who he did business with. The smarmy guy had told Ping that he would sell it to him, but he had to come up with all the money by the end of the week.Ping was desperate; the building had everything he needed to start a bakery and was even located in a high foot traffic area. He really mulled it over and realized to himself why not. Besides if Hen Ri died here then Ping wouldn't even have to pay back a single coin. There was a good chance he would too, so what did Ping have to lose."If you are offering, it would be rude of me to refuse," Ping said softly.Henry choose the amount of seven hundred gold coins because the number just felt right. He tried to draw in Ping's potential energy but it was still not budging. Henry felt like he needed to push for an actual agreement for this to work."Ping my technique is weird so I have to ask you in a more official manner. Do you Ping, agree to let me try my technique on you in return for a loan of seven hundred gold coins to be repaid at a minimum of 1 percent each month , please answer with a yes or a no."Henry was terrible with legal talk and the agreement seemed rife with holes and exploitable loopholes but he again felt like this deal for the potential energy was gonna be worth it."Yes"Henry hands over a bag with seven hundred gold coins. Immediately there is a slight distortion over Ping's body before his potential energy started to move into Henry's body.Except this time it wasn't ki that Henry was absorbing.Images flashed through his head. Memories of years spent practicing forms and breathing techniques, of trials and tribulations that Ping had to go through all jammed into Henry's head in an instant. Henry could feel that he now knew how to use the Eight Water Whip Technique. He was no master but he knew that he could wield it with passable proficiency.Ping just looked at Henry curiously. Why was the goofy cultivator just staring at him blankly like that. It was starting to get creepy until Henry suddenly jerked violently. Ping felt a slight pressure on his body and a sudden lightheadedness washed over him. Then a burning sensation on his shoulder.Instinctively Ping checked on his shoulder where he felt the burning sensation and on it was a tattoo of a gold claw."What the fuck did you do to me," Ping said drawing a dagger that he had hidden."Whoa whoa buddy," Henry said with both hands held out in a placating manner." I think when we settled our agreement my technique took a copy of your skill and imprinted it into my memories.""YOU STOLE MY TECHNIQUE!!"Ping was on his feet now with eight water tentacles waving menacingly behind him."I mean obviously not," Henry said pointing behind Ping at the tentacles moving in the air. "I think I have at best, a shitty imitation of your abilities."Henry focused on the memories of the copied water tentacles and let a bit of his ki circulate the way he remembered Ping doing it. Instead of eight Henry could only manifest two water tentacles which waved at Ping. They were smaller but seemed denser for some reason."Something in my gut is telling me as long as you make some kind of payment each month that this will be all my technique can take, but if you default or try to book it I get everything."Henry knew this to be true deep down, he didn't know how he knew and that part kind of scared him.Ping looked at him with fear also in his eyes. What a frightening technique. Ping looked at this goofy big idiot with new found trepidation before saying, " well I feel fine and my cultivation base and skills seem to be normal so I guess you didn't do anything too weird."Ping sat back down and started to count his gold as Henry moved his water tentacles around, spearing little pieces of meat and putting them into his mouth."These things are kinda nifty and it's actually making it easier to control my ki."Ping looked at Henry and sighed."For someone with such a fearsome technique you really don't know that much about cultivation do you?"Henry just shook his head while his mouth was full of food."Most martial techniques are ways of channeling pure ki into some kind of shape or form that is more manageable. No one uses pure ki for combat; it's just too unwieldy."Henry nodded like he understood. He did not."Ping you've been a lot of help and I really do hope your business venture takes off but I think its almost my time to fight again and I don't want to be seen leaving this booth with you, no offense.""None taken, I get it, never break kayfabe as you said. How do I pay you? I really don't want to go hunting for you," Ping asked, putting all his things away and throwing on a thick black cloak."That tattoo acts like a one way spatial ring that transfers the money straight to me, I think, don't ask me to explain. I don't know how it works, I just know that it does. ."Henry looked as incredulous as Ping did. How the hell did he do that, and not know how he did it? The plot truly thickens."It is frightening how you can be so clueless and so strong at the same time, it's like a child walking around with a bomb."With that Ping swept out of the booth stealthily like a rat.Henry had about three minutes before his last fight and he absorbed another three more gold coins as he walked over to the pit. He felt like a new man with new toys and couldn't wait to test them out.