Chapter 31: The Spiral (1)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Garen sat on the chair without moving as hot and cold Qi continuously circulated through his body.
It was not because he did not want to move, but actually that he could not move at all. As the hot and cold Qi continuously circulated, it would increase with every revolution. Within more than ten minutes, the growth of the hot and cold Qi had actually reached a level where it had spread to his entire body; he could not even distinguish the feeling between circulation and flow.
As Garen sat on his chair, the muscles in his body alternated between red and white. When they were red, he felt they burned like a cooked shrimp whose shell was peeled. When they were white, he was like a patient that had just recovered from a serious illness.
After an uncertain amount of time, a crashing noise sounded out.
Garen suddenly opened his eyes; they were extremely clear, as if a black pearl was embedded within a top-grade red jade.
Ssss...
When he breathed in deeply, there seemed to be a faint wind in the room, even his clothes hanging nearby on the hanger were fluttering. The clothes were four meters away and not directly in front of Garen; it was bizarre that they would be affected by his breathing.
As Garen opened his eyes, he slowly raised up his right arm—it was stiff like a robot’s—he arduously and slowly lifted it up from the armrest of the chair.
Kaka... A series of bone cracking noises came from his arm.
It was followed by the rest of his body: left arm, both legs, chest, and neck. As Garen slowly stood up, his entire body made a series of creaking noises at once.
"This happened because the sudden increase forced by my special ability was excessive, which caused my physique to improve by too much. If it were those experts that had been training for a long time, the result wouldn't be this exaggerated."
He didn’t know how strong he currently was. Even his master and senior sister had only reached the third level of the White Cloud Secret Arts. He was only able to reach the fourth level by forcefully increasing it with his attribute points.
It was a state that no one had reached before.
"Even though I’m so strong right now, my body is still not used to it. The increase in strength this time is too large, so it will take me a long amount of time to acclimate. Otherwise, I might accidentally kill someone again." After some thinking, Garen immediately understood his current situation.
"And I am only physically strong right now, my combat skills are still too weak. If only I could greatly increase the amount of attribute points I have, then I would be able to save the time I need to increase my proficiency and just improve my combat ability."
Shaking his head, Garen pulled on the clothes on the hanger. However, he forgot to adjust his strength.
The sound of cloth tearing echoed out.
His clothes were immediately torn into two.
He looked at his clothes in surprise: a corner of them was caught on a nail on the hanger. If it was another person, they would’ve stopped when they felt the resistance.
However, he could not. He was too strong, and thus the little resistance was completely negligible for him.
"I knew it."
Shaking his head, he walked out of the room, still shirtless.
As he walked out of the room, he immediately noticed a group of youths wearing yellow gi in the hall. They were chattering among themselves while a young female instructor was leading them.
Two of the headquarter staff were standing by the side, greeting them.
A beautiful woman with a cold aura stood up from a chair nearby. She wore a white top with a matching tight black skirt. She had dark red pupils with dark brown hair combed to the side and glowing, fair skin. Her eyes were slightly squinting as she walked next to Garen, and automatically received the clothes in his hands.
"They're the second batch of new students visiting the headquarters this month. What's wrong with your clothes?"
This woman of course was Grace. After accompanying Garen in his Critical Fist Technique practice for a month, her internal organs received extremely serious damage and it took a while before she fully recovered. However, her dispute with the White Cloud Dojo was found out by her company. Perhaps it was the company's arrangement or maybe her own volition, but either way, she became Garen’s personal assistant.
"I accidentally tore them just now. How is your body?" Garen casually asked. "Even though I intentionally held back during the practice, your internal organs were still injured. Even if you rested for a month, you couldn't have recovered so quickly."
"After taking the secret medicine provided by the dojo, I feel much better now. This result is already better than expected, so there's no need for you to worry."
The both of them chatted as they walked. They passed by the new students in the hall and headed toward the practice hall on the second floor.
"You're more or less a part of our dojo now, so are you still participating in your company's activities?"
"Not anymore, my current mission is to take care of your daily life. In fact, I've basically been abandoned by the company as a compensation for the previous incident." Grace bitterly smiled, "Master Fei is currently away. The person currently in charge is your senior sister, Rosetta. She's currently training in the private room, and I am not sure when she will leave."
Garen nodded and said, "As long as there is no major incident, the external instructors and the management staff can handle it. There's no need for us to worry about it. Your connections are better than mine, so do you know whether there's any progress with the case on Dale Quicksilver's side?"
"I am not sure, but I heard that detective Quicksilver returned to the Dolphin Antiques that you mentioned previously, these past few days. I don't know what happened, and the men that I sent didn't receive any information either. My previous connections were actually the company's, and since now I don't have any funds on hand, I can't make use of the other connections," Grace said with a frown.
"If you're looking for detailed information, you could try asking your seniors. They have their own connections and would know more than we do."
"We'll see." Garen accepted a white towel that a girl handed to him and wiped the sweat on his body.
He rested at the practice hall and ate lunch. As it was a weekend, Garen let Grace drive him to Pennington Road and stopped at Dolphin Antiques.
The furniture within the store had already been changed to black from the original red.
The old man was still sitting in front of a bookshelf, wearing reading glasses as he carefully adjusted the brass pocket watch in his hands. When Garen entered, he only glanced at his direction without even lifting his head.
"There's new stock that just came in, do you want to take a look?"
Garen looked around the store and saw that there was actually a customer: an elegantly dressed old lady with white hair. From her clothing he could tell that she was not from an ordinary family.
The old lady was carefully looking at a black necklace in her hands, and she seemed to be slightly preoccupied.
"Old man, where did you get that pocket watch? It looks like an authentic Buvich, doesn’t it?" He walked toward the old man and sat down on a chair in front of him.
"What do you mean by it looks authentic? It is authentic!" The old man glared at him. "That old lady is trying to pawn this. I am checking whether the internal structure is original."
"You're a pawnbroker as well?" Garen was speechless. "By the way, Dale Quicksilver came back, right? Did he find out anything?"
He had already obtained the emblem, but did not dare tell the old man. He had come to inquire about Dale Quicksilver's situation.
After all, getting the emblem back had something to do with the company behind Grace. Dale Quicksilver might one day trace it back to him.
Also, during the exchange of information with the old man, he felt that Dale Quicksilver's recent actions were strange.
"He's still chasing after the Golden Hoop. Anyway, I've already given up. I didn't lose much anyway. The Golden Hoop isn't just an ordinary thief, but a powerful killer as well!" Old Man Gregor put down the pocket watch and wiped its surface with a microfiber cloth.
Garen's eyes slightly flashed. "You mentioned the other time that the detective is also interested in troublesome antiques, just like me. What did you mean?"
"I am not sure. Anyway, he chose a few pieces of those kind of antiques from the ones I had just gotten. I made twice the profit from just reselling it, so that transaction was definitely worth it!" The old man had a triumphant look on his face.
"He preselected from this batch again?" Garen knitted his eyebrows. It was not the first time that it happened.
"What? You want it as well?" The old man glanced at him. "I'll sell it to you as long as you can pay for it. Let me tell you this, it's not only happening here. Dale Quicksilver has bought all the antiques of this kind that are being sold in the entirety of Huaishan City."
"So he has collected a lot of them?" Garen's eyes lit up. "Honestly, I am very interested in these kind of strange and dangerous antiques. They excite me."
With a loud thump, the old man's hand viciously landed on Garen's head.
"Exciting, your head! You don't even have an income and you want to collect antiques like him, you wastrel!"
Garen did not get angry and only laughed. "Oh and where's that book? You already got it back from your friend, right? Can you let me see it again?"
"I already said, there's no point if you have no talent. Nothing will change no matter how many times you look at it." The old man impatiently waved him off. "Alright, hurry and do whatever you need to do."
"It's not like it would disappear if you just let me see it once more. Stupid old man, you're still so stingy." Garen shook his head.
The both of them happily chatted for a while, before Garen got up and left.
After a while, Old Man Gregor stood up and closed the entrance of the shop.
The old lady put down the necklace in her hand and looked at Old Man Gregor with a complicated look.
"It's been a while, and you've completely turned into an ordinary person."
The old man smiled, but strangely did not refute.
"This is fate. This was the choice that I made. I am merely reaping what I sowed."
"How long do you plan to stay here?"
"How long? Until they find me, I guess." The old man sighed and sullenly replied, "I've been avoiding and escaping from them for so many years..."
"Are you really fine with spending your days like this?" The old lady calmly said. "We've already entered this circle, it's not possible for us to leave anymore. They've already come looking for you."
"Are you threatening me?" The old man's expression darkened.
"I am only here to give you a reminder. They won't let go of anyone who has come in contact with you, including that boy. "
"He's only an ordinary person, don't get him involved with this!" The old man's expression became solemn. There was no longer the usual joviality in his eyes, only a slight gloomy sharpness remained.
"You're saying that to the wrong person." The old lady walked toward him and sat on the chair that Garen sat on. "He saw that book as well, right? There's no need to deny it, I heard your conversation. That boy really resembles you when you were younger. He really does..."
She silently looked at the old man, eyes glimmering like the sea.