The second Leo placed his hand on top of Quinn's head, he started to try and transfer a part of his own Qi into his body, but unlike how he thought it would go, it proved to be a bit of struggle.
'It feels like something is trying to block the process; the strange purple energy is cutting off my own energy.' Leo thought.
Leo had never tried this before, so he was unsure if this was the standard procedure or was it because Quinn wasn't exactly human. He attempted again, only this time, being a bit more forceful. Even with humans, some bodies were more willing to accept outside forces of power than others.
At the same time, this was happening. A message had appeared in front of Quinn.
[An unknown energy is attempting to enter your body]
[Allowing this to enter your body could have unknown consequences]
[Allow the energy to enter your body?]
[Yes] [No]
"System, I need to ask you, do you think it will be a problem if I accept this Qi?" Quinn asked.
"I honestly don't know either." The system replied. "Just like you, I have never heard of this before. The things that he described humans being capable of doing, a strong vampire would have been able to do them anyway. Our bodies would naturally start to get stronger as we progressed our skills. So we mainly focused on those aspects.
"This doesn't mean we can't learn Qi, but I guess that there was never a need for it in the first place."
Quinn was struggling with what to do. If he could learn something that even the vampires didn't know, then wouldn't this allow him to gain a slight edge? At the same time, the system itself seemed always to want to help him, unlike the System AI who chose to keep secrets.
However, judging by the fact that the system had named "Qi" an unknown substance, would most likely also mean that whoever created the system didn't know of Qi either.
'So, is the system just trying to be extra safe?'
"If it were me, I would do it." The system said. "I don't see a huge downside, and I can't imagine this teacher of yours wanting to hurt you. Besides, it would be quite an interesting experiment to see, don't you think?
"Yeah with me as the lab rat who's the one going take the fall for it if anything went wrong," Quinn replied.
After thinking about it for a while, he eventually decided to take the plunge.
[Yes]
'If Leo can give this strange power to me, then if anything went wrong he should be able to take it back as well. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done so many times already. And this is his leaving gift. Too many people have already left, and I have nothing to remember them by.' Quinn thought.
The energy that Leo was trying to share suddenly started to go through; there was nothing different on his end, apart from being more forceful. He didn't quite understand what was happening but went along with it anyway.
The only frame of reference he had, was what his master had done to him.
"As this energy passes through I want you to remember this feeling. In a moment my Qi will join with yours. I have put in a small amount that shouldn't be able to take or damage yours in any way. I have only done this to guide it around your body."
With his eyes closed, Quinn started to imagine it. He could feel a glowing feeling travelling from down his head into his body like a little ball of bright light. It carried on moving through his body until it eventually reached his belly. That's when the size of the energy started to grow.
"The two energies appear to have attached." Said Quinn.
"Good, good you're a fast learner like I was."
Still attached to Quinn's head, Leo started to move the energy around so Quinn could get the hang of the feeling. He moved it from his hand to the edge of his fingertips all the way to his toes and continued to move it around his body.
"When you learn to control this feeling yourself, you can start to implement it into things you touch, including weapons. Not only will you be able to activate beast gear as others do, but you will be able to do a second unlocking. Now, this doesn't work on all equipment and usually only high-level equipment. This second unlocking is basically what we currently call a weapon skill.
"Have you ever thought why when forgers create a weapon, even if they both use the same material, one weapon can have a skill attached to it and one can not? It's because without realising it, they have learnt how to harness Qi into their forging techniques to create this second unlocking."
It had been a long time since the two had been doing this and Quinn hadn't even realised. He had been so calm and focused on the feeling. It was as if he had entered a peaceful state. He couldn't tell what was going on outside and only focused on the energy.
"Okay the session is over, I will now move the energy out of your body. This can feel a little weird, so bear with me, and you may also feel a little weak after." Leo explained.
The force that was in his stomach suddenly split from the larger force. It felt as if someone had reached down into his throat and pulled something from Quinn's stomach. It surely was an uncomfortable feeling for him.
The energy travelled upward and eventually stopped at the top of his head, where Leo's hand was placed. Once again, Leo could feel his energy stuck there. The purple aura that surrounds Quinn's body started to gather around the top half of Quinn's upper body as if it didn't like what Leo was trying to do.
[The unknown energy is trying to leave your body]
[Do you want to allow the energy to leave your body?]
[Yes] [No]
The same type of message had appeared when Leo tried to take out the Qi, but before Quinn could reply and while he was reading the message. Leo continued to try to take the energy out from Quinn forcefully.
'Last time, I struggled a bit as well, maybe I just need to be a little more forceful? At worst, I will only take some of the boy's energy that he will reign over time.'
"Okay, I'm just going to pull a little harder, it shouldn't hurt but that strange feeling, you might feel it again," Leo explained.
"No, wait!" Quinn shouted, but it was too late.
The energy had been forcefully pulled from Quinn, and the message had disappeared. Quickly opening his eyes, he could see Leo standing back with his arm held out as if it was on fire, but Quinn was unable to see what he could see.
When forcefully pulling the energy out, he had not only pulled out his and Quinn's Qi into his body, but the strange purple aura surrounding it. He could see the force entering his body from his arm, and it was quickly taking over and spreading.
"Are you okay ?" Quinn asked worriedly.
"It's not your fault boy. I was too rash. I should have known you were different, so your body may have reacted differently. Just don't say another word while I concentrate." Leo said as he sat down on the floor and closed his eyes.
He tried his best to combat the strange purple energy that was now inside him with his own. Moving his Qi to combat it, but it was a force he was unfamiliar with.
'System, what's going on?'
As Quinn asked that question, his dull brown eyes started to light up red, and a connection was starting to be felt between his energy and the one flowing through Leo's body as well.
[Blood ritual Skill activated]
"No, what have I done. Cancel! Cancel!" Quinn shouted out loud, not caring if Leo heard or not. This was something he never expected; this wasn't what he wanted to happen. It wasn't his decision to turn someone like this.
No matter how much Leo tried to get rid of the strange purple energy, the only thing he could do was slow it down. Eventually, he realised that the purple energy would take over his entire body.
"I'm sorry," Quinn said as his knees hit the floor and he knelt down in front of Leo.
Leo opened his eyes, even if he couldn't see out of them, it was a natural reaction for him when talking to someone. His eyes looked, different to before, they too had started to glow red.
He could hear the sniffles and sobs coming from Quinn. It gave him an idea of what was happening to him. For the boy known as Peter once had regular human energy flowing through him. That one day changed to purple as well.
"This is not your fault boy. This is partially my fault as well. We, as humans all make mistakes, that's how we learn. Whatever is about to happen, I'm ready."
He no longer fought back the purple energy, and now it was able to spread across his whole body freely. But Leo didn't feel weak as such; he felt stronger and more alive than ever.
[Blood ritual was a success]
[The human has successfully been blooded 2/3]
….
*****
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