waves of fog. Linley was hidden within those roiling waves of azurish-black battle-qi.
“Big bro?”
“Lord?”
Wharton, Barker, and the others all looked at each other. Although training was important, resting was as well.
“Don’t bother the Boss.” Bebe, resting in the corner of the courtyard, ordered.
“It is dinner time. Big bro should take a rest.” As he spoke, Wharton headed towards Linley. Bebe and Haeru glanced at each other, but didn’t block him.
Linley had already instructed Bebe and Haeru not to go near him, as they would otherwise be injured by those waves.
“Time to let this little punk learn a lesson.” Bebe secretly said to himself.
Wharton remained cautious. The battle-qi around Linley was quite dense, but he was still fairly far away from Linley. The battle-qi here was still rather sparse. How could Wharton be truly worried about such a small amount of battle-qi?
But once he reached the edges of that azurish-black battle-qi, Wharton suddenly felt a bizarre surge of energy strike at him.
“Bang!”
Wharton was sent flying away. Wharton had the sensation of being struck dozens of times in an instant, and each time he felt as though he had been struck by a meteor.
“Wharton.” Gates was the first to go forward and catch Wharton.
“Wharton, are you okay?” Gates asked.
“I’m fine.” Wharton put his hand against his chest, the taste of blood in his mouth. He stared at Linley in disbelief. “Big bro is releasing his battle-qi, but I only touched the outermost perimeter. How could the power be so intense?”
Wharton didn’t believe it. The battle-qi density closer to Linley was far higher, and it would most likely be far more dangerous as well.
“Wharton, his Lordship still hasn’t stopped his training despite what just happened. Clearly, he must be at a critical juncture in his training. It’s best if we don’t disturb him.” Barker said seriously.
Wharton nodded as well. “I will order the guards to prevent anyone from disturbing him.”
“No need. Haeru and I will look after him.” Bebe said disdainfully. “You can leave now. If the Boss doesn’t finish his training, don’t disturb him.”
Wharton, Barker, and the others glanced at each other, then left.
At the same time, Wharton and Barker instructed everyone else not to interrupt Linley’s training. That night, at dinner, Jenne, Nina, and the others were all astonished at how hard Linley was training.
“He’s training so hard that he won’t even eat dinner. Big lunk, your big bro really is hard working.” Nina murmured.
But unexpectedly, the second day, Linley continued to train like this. The third day, the same…and just like that, one day after another went by.
In the blink of an eye, over ten days passed. May had arrived.
“In a few more days, it will be time for the duel between Olivier and Haydson. My big bro wouldn’t be so caught up in his training that he will miss it, would he?” Wharton said to Barker and his brothers.
Wharton, Barker, and his brothers were all standing at the doorway to the courtyard.
Every day, after they finished their training, they would come visit Linley. Linley hadn’t changed at all, and he was still surrounded by that azurish-black battle-qi. Only, compared to ten days past, that azurish-black battle-qi had actually shrunk quite a bit in area.
“I wonder how big brother’s training is progressing.” Wharton simply couldn’t understand what he was seeing.
Barker and his brothers shook their heads as well. In terms of level of understanding, Barker and his brothers weren’t much better off than Wharton, and weren’t able to understand much of anything regarding the Elemental Laws.
“Whew.” The sound of an exhaling breath.
Wharton and the Barker brothers, who had just turned and prepared to leave, all turned and looked back. Indeed, the azurish-black battle-qi had returned to Linley’s body, and Linley was currently smiling while stretching.
“Wharton, you are here as well.” Linley laughed.
“Big bro, you finally finished your training.” Wharton said with excitement.
“Oh, right. Wharton, how much time have I spent in training?” Linley laughed.
“Almost fifteen days! Today is May 1st. In three days, it will be May 4th. That night, Olivier and Haydson will be dueling.” Wharton said quickly.
“Fifteen days?”
Linley was slightly startled. Actually, he had been totally concentrating on sensing the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ and constantly modifying and upgrading his Pulseguard Defense technique. He hadn’t noticed time pass at all.
Unexpectedly, after closing his eyes, fifteen days had passed.
“Although I already had a high understanding of the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ and also understood the general principles behind the Pulseguard, the actual development of the technique took fifteen days.”
But Linley was actually quite satisfied.
In the past, his ‘battle-qi armor’ was created through the application of battle-qi in a very simple, crude manner. His current ‘Pulseguard Defense’ used the same amount of battle-qi, but was several dozen times stronger.
“But it seems my defense is different from Haydson’s.”
When he was developing his technique, Linley had thought their techniques were the same. But after developing it, Linley realized…that Haydson’s defense was actually just a simple way of utilizing the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’. Haydson’s understanding of the Throbbing Pulse of the World definitely was not as deep as Linley’s own level of understanding.
However, Haydon’s defense was still frightfully powerful.
This was because the ‘Throbbing Pulse of the World’ was just a supportive part of Haydson’s defense. His true power most likely lay in a different mystery of the Laws of the Earth.
“I wonder how my pure ‘Pulseguard Defense’ technique matches up against Haydson’s defense.” Linley secretly wondered to himself.
“Big bro, what are you thinking about? Let’s go eat dinner.” Wharton called out.
“Alright.”
Linley turned to look at Bebe and Haeru. “Bebe, Haeru, let’s go.” Linley could guess that Bebe and Haeru hadn’t left his side during these past fifteen days.
“And here I was thinking that the Boss had forgotten about us.” Bebe hopped onto Linley’s shoulders, then pursed his lips. “But Boss, I’ve gotta say, although we haven’t left the courtyard a single time during these past ten or so days, those servants still delivered food to us every day. Alas, but tonight, nobody will deliver food. I, Bebe, will have to personally go get something to eat.”
Linley, Wharton, and Barker and his brothers all couldn’t help but laugh.