"Well, that didn't work," Arthur groused, lying on his back. Not just once, but half a dozen times, his Imbued Strike had broken down. It had happened almost every time he had over-extended the amount of attacks in a short space, his body and energy techniques insufficient to keeping up with the expenditure.
"It does a lot of damage though, before you run out," Uswah said. "I might want to see if I can learn how to use that with my tentacles."
"Yeah, that'd be... scary." Just imagining shadow tentacles grabbing and holding people, forcing them to be drained by the Yin energy was scary. "Expensive though. Your techniques pretty costly already, no?"
"It is," Uswah admitted. "Have to take traits to make it cheaper, and even then..." She shook her head.
"No fair lah, using that," Eric grumbled. He had been victim of her tentacles - while she had been using them - more than once.
"It's because you're too dangerous to let you free," Uswah said. Her attempts at mollification worked, making the man grin a bit. Of course, Eric had nearly taken out his opponent the first time before being ganged up, unlike the rest of the boys.
"What were you working on?" Arthur asked, curiously. "I couldn't tell."
"Nothing," Eric said.
"What? Why would you waste training time like that?" Rick asked.
"No, lah, wasn't wasting it. I working on using nothing, right?" Eric said. "Only martial arts, only skill." He clenched his fist and raised it upwards. "Real strength."
"Don't you start," Leia said, warningly and Eric subsided. Mostly because Noor and some of the others were looking quite admiring already and, in Yao Jing's case, contemplative.
"It's not really fair, this training. I'm literally handicapped," Rick said. "None of my techniques really work without my guns."
"Maybe you should have thought about that first, eh?" Noor said. "Anyway, you got that weird skimming thing."
"My movement technique? The Gunslinger Slide?" Rick said. "It's good for dodging the first few times, but I don't have control of where I end up."
"Yet," Li Sun said. "You don't have control yet. Let me show you how, we'll fix that."
"Really?" Now Rick looked interested, while Li Sun was nodding.
Arthur listened to the others kept talking, tuning out the conversations as he considered what he'd learnt. Li Sun had kept utilizing various techniques, pulling out three by the time they were done. He hadn't gotten a name for them yet, but he was more interested in what they could teach him. Or she could, from what she'd showed.
The first had been that vibrating aura technique, basically adding a degree of resonance to what she hit. Painful and dangerous if she hit an individual too often, really good at cracking through armor or - as she said - giving concussions. Luckily, she'd mostly targeted his weapon rather than his chest and heart.
The second technique had been a movement one, allowing her to literally skate across the floor. She had used that one to traverse the floor and attack various members of the opposition, and she had kept that one up for a number of fights before everyone wised to her and started calling out her location.
After that, she'd utilized the least flashy technique, a simple buff that was similar to his own Heavenly Sage's Mischief. Unlike his though, she seemed to be able to pulse or adjust the amount of energy and strength to her technique, varying how hard she hit or how far she'd move. It was an unpleasant experience, as she managed to overpower her opponents at times, but it also seemed the most taxing in terms of concentration. More than once, she had reacted too slow to a change in circumstance, whether it was a Mana Dart that blew them over or a new technique pulled on her.
Fascinating, and Arthur really wanted more time with Li Sun. But first, he had to figure out his own Imbued Strike. The first, and rather obvious refinement was to work out how to keep the Yin energy flowing while he was striking. The second, and less obvious, was figure out why it had been so easy, when he was unarmed to transfer his attacks to his opponents and not so much while using the staff.
Without thinking about it, he closed his eyes, replaying the feeling of each strike, the moment of contact. He tried to trace what had happened, how his own Yin energy in the aura had flowed through and over, and then compared it when he was striking overall. It took him a few tries, before he sat up, eyes flying open.
"That's it! I'm expecting it!" Arthur threw a punch, grinning. Then, flushed, as everyone looked at him. "Sorry!"
"Worked something out, eh?" Jan said. "So, you volunteering, then?"
"Uh, for what?" Arthur said.
"To watch the place, tonight."
"What? No...." Arthur looked around, considered. No one had hit the place before because it was empty, other than some lights. And while they were valuable, they weren't that valuable - and they were also hung right above, which made actually taking them down a pain and a half. Even with Climber movement techniques, it still wouldn't be simple. "Why?"
"Better to get used to it," Mel said. "If we keep a watch now, even when there's nothing worth stealing, then no one will even think about breaking in."
Arthur grimaced but they weren't wrong. And it wasn't as though he needed his room to actually practise his techniques. If anything, the larger space might be useful. It was while he was getting used to the idea that he'd been voluntold that the rest of them had been prepping to leave, making him reluctantly ask.
"Can someone stay? We shouldn't be in here alone anyway." Again, he reflected, it probably wasn't very leaderlike to ask like this, but then again, these were just as much his friends as they were his subordinates.
"I'll stay," Rick offered. "I could use a night away from the building." That, of course, raised the question which he was happy to explain when asked. "No one cares what time it is if they've got a complaint. Broken sink, too loud neighbors, too quiet neighbors, funny smells..." He rolled his eyes.
"Huh," Arthur said. "That's... not great. Maybe we really should get Casey to hire her manager to us."
"Or we get someone else to work the night shift," Noor said. "One of my girls could."
"Or that." Arthur nodded. "Get Rick a list tomorrow, he can do interviews."
Noor grinned, happy to sneak another member of the White Lotuses into power. Not that she was really sneaking it, if Arthur was being generous. Then again, her objectives had always been clear.
After that, the group broke off, some muttering about the need to get working showers and clothing together. As for Arthur, well, he got back to training.