Days passed and Luna was still stuck in the coral building with Storm Rider. The frozen wasteland was still stuck in endless twilight and the blizzard hadn’t dared to slow down even one bit.

  During those days, Luna spent her time meditating and trying to communicate with the life essence inside her body. When she wasn’t meditating, she was doing some reruns and trying to adapt to a short blade after being used to a katana for a long time.

  And when she wasn’t doing either of the two, Luna spent her time sleeping or talking to Storm who always had the time to talk. She often flew out to fight off cursed abominations because she needed their life essence to fuel the complex sorcery that she refused to share with her. Which she was okay with, by the way.

  On the second day in the frozen building, Luna came to notice that the Fire Keeper didn’t even sleep. Instead, she spent most of her silent time hovering in the air, cultivating energy and saving her power for the coming fight.

  Yes, the pair had come to a stupendous agreement to kill the Kraken after a reasonable period of three weeks after Luna had acquired at least some level of skill. However, three weeks now felt far-fetched because to manipulate the qi in her body, Luna had to start by learning to control her physical strength without the need for a limiter.

  Before the limiter, Luna relied on breathing exercises and keeping her emotions balanced. As a child, her strength only grew whenever her emotions went rogue. She didn’t remember much of course, but she was sure raising a kid with super strength wasn’t easy.

  “Now!”

  As soon as she heard Storm Rider’s voice, Luna’s eyes snapped open and she pounced with great might.

  Storm Rider smirked as she braced herself for the attacking Lunaris. None of them held any weapons. This was a hand-to-hand fight meant to see how much control Luna had over her strength in general. She had grown so dependent on the limiter that she might have forgotten how to hold back.

  From the start, Luna’s first punch was a soft one because she wanted it to be. Storm Rider blocked it with her own palm and nodded with approval. “Good start. Now control the essence with your breathing, just like I showed you.”

  Keeping her concentration, Luna slowed her breathing and let the essence in her body flow wildly. She felt a rush of energy as she sparred with Storm. Despite how fast they got with each throw, Storm was quick at evading and parrying her blows. Luna wasn’t surprised by this of course. Being old as she was, Storm Rider might have fancied martial arts at some point in her eternal life. Qi and Martial arts were usually paired together in the mortal realm, after all.

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  Luna changed movement and twisted her body as she kicked. She aimed for Storm’s neck but she easily blocked it with her arm and pushed her back without any effort. Her strike left a shockwave in the air, though which meant that it was much stronger than she had planned.

  “You forgot to hold back.”

  Luna landed well and wiped her hand over her forehead to clean the sweat gathered around her face. “Well… it's very hard to do when you’re trying to manipulate essence.”

  “I can do it.”

  ‘ Of course you can.’ Luna tried not to roll her eyes and scoffed. “Well said, the immortal mage who technically mastered manipulation to the fullest.”

  Storm crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a crybaby. You need to control your strength. If you can control it, your body will adapt and you’ll be able to draw out its full capacity. Have you ever wondered what 100% looks like?”

  Luna attacked again, unleashing a whirlwind of quick kicks aimed at Storm’s midsection. Storm deftly sidestepped, smoothly evading the strikes with a dancer’s grace.

  “Now release some of it…let your strength flow by letting your will guide it. Remember Qi is Life Essence, it only listens if you give in to it. It's a part of you.”

  Without warning, Storm exploded into motion, her footsteps sending tremors through the floor. She threw a massive punch, the air whistling around her fist. Luna reacted with lightning speed, ducking under the blow and countering with an uppercut that connected with Storm’s jaw.

  Because her strength was now at play, the impact of her blow reverberated through the room. But Storm staggered back. There was a look of surprise mingled with respect crossing her face. She would’ve never thought that this delicate-looking girl was capable of doing this much.

  ‘What a gift.’

  Luna pressed her advantage, launching another series of rapid strikes. Each punch and kick cost her a lot of stamina as she struggled to keep her balance without letting her strength fully take over. She was constantly fighting to keep the agitation, nervousness, dread, and excitement bottled up.

  And due to that, she wore a harrowing calmness on her face. The only sign of her struggle was the sweat on her pale face.

  Each punch and kick landed with the force of a sledgehammer, the white coral walls shaking with every impact. Storm Rider grunted, blocking and absorbing the hits, her eyes narrowing as studied the flow of qi in Luna’s body.

  To her surprise, it flowed gently through her channels. They were overflowing of course. But at the moment, Luna was like a true master.

  ‘How astonishing. So this is what ‘his blood’ can do…intriguing.’

  After that thought, Storm proudly smiled, planted her feet, and swung a haymaker punch that collided with Luna’s shoulder. The blow sent the small girl crashing into a white wall, cracks spider webbing out from the point of impact where Luna had landed.

  “You seem familiar with qi manipulation. I’m guessing it's the breathing techniques?”

  Storm's nonchalant voice echoed throughout the room they were in. She ignored the fact that the entire building was trembling after that attack.

  Luna heard but didn’t respond to Storm’s words. Her mind was focused on the fact that her body was suddenly familiar with qi manipulation. She felt her body awaken as it let the essence in her veins respond to her thoughts or maybe intent.

  Just then, she also noticed that something had protected both her back and shoulder at the last moment before Storm’s strike. The strike wasn't going to kill her, but it was going to inflict a great deal of pain. However, she barely felt any after getting slammed into a wall with all that force.

  The essence had protected her as a response to her thought.

  “This is getting interesting.” Luna then shook off the debris and a fierce grin spread across her beautiful face.

  She also didn’t know what was happening to her. She had spent the previous week in constant meditation, trying to form a connection with her life essence.

  And now, that connection had been materialized. It now felt like she was reaching the peak of martial combat.

  With a sigh, Luna launched herself back into the fray. This time feeling more excited to see the results.