Chương 81: chapter 79

My eyes remain fixed on the description of the technique called Dragon's Grip as I reread it for the third time, not because I need to confirm what it says, but because a part of me needs to linger on the words to savor what they mean. A technique that allows the user to project their mind at a distance in order to grasp, move, or crush an object or living being within its range. In other words, in terms that nearly anyone from my former world would understand without further explanation, it is the Force Grip.

The damned Force Grip. The ability dreamed of by millions of children, and not-so-children, the world over. The ability that everyone who has ever sat in front of a screen watching Darth Vader grab someone by the throat has wished they had at least once in their life, even if only to summon the TV remote from the sofa without having to get up. And here it is, written on paper in elegant ink and listed as just another item in an auction catalogue, as though it were the most normal thing in the world.

I take a deep breath as I try to keep the rational part of my brain in control of the geek part, which at this moment is screaming with the intensity of a Krayt Dragon, and raise my gaze to Lianhua.

"Lianhua", I say with all the calm I can muster, which frankly isn't much.

"The spirit stones I told you to bring, do you have them?" Lianhua looks at me and nods with her customary composure.

"Yes, Zhāohuán Wen", she replies.

"They're safely kept." Perfect. That means I can now bid on it. At my side, Master Mu, who has evidently been observing my every reaction since I started reading the list, arches an eyebrow with a curiosity she doesn't bother to disguise.

"Is there something that caught your eye?" she asks in a tone brimming with contained amusement, as though she already knows the answer but wants to hear it from my lips. I turn to her and try to compose the most serene expression my face can produce under the circumstances, which is probably not very convincing.

"Yes", I say.

"The technique called Dragon's Grip." Master Mu blinks once, and it's a slow blink, the kind she does when something genuinely surprises her.

"Dragon's Grip?" she repeats, and in her tone there is a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

"What would you want with a technique you can't use yet and one as simple as that?" And her question sets my mind racing at full speed, because I can't tell her I want it because that technique is, quite literally, the iconic ability of one of the most recognizable villains in the history of entertainment from my former world.

I can't explain to her who Darth Vader is, or what Star Wars is, or why the image of a black-gloved hand strangling an imperial officer was seared into the collective memory of several generations. So for an instant, just an instant, I hesitate as my mind discards the truth and searches for the next best answer, which fortunately exists and is also entirely true.

"It may be a simple technique to you, Master Mu", I say at last, and this time my voice carries a weight I don't need to feign.

"But for me, that technique is the difference between having to ask someone to pick up an object for me and being able to pick it up myself." Master Mu looks as though she's about to respond, but I don't give her the chance.

"I know the Empire has techniques that probably do the same thing", I continue before she can interrupt.

"But if the Dragon's Grip technique is being auctioned here, that means it's of better quality than anything I might find later. And I'd rather make sure I have it now than have to settle for something inferior afterward." Master Mu listens in silence until I finish, and when I do, the expression on her face shifts in a way that is subtle but perceptible.

The amusement fades and in its place appears something that could be understanding, or perhaps the recognition of having overlooked something that should have been obvious. A sigh escapes her lips, a soft sigh without drama.

"I hadn't thought of it from your point of view", she acknowledges, and in her words there is an honesty I appreciate.

"And from that point of view, it's clearly a good fit for you." She pauses, and just as I'm starting to wonder whether to say something, the smile that appears on her face tells me the conversation isn't over.

"But that technique isn't the best you can find for that purpose either", she tells me, and the mischief coloring her voice is unmistakable.

"So, as a reward for being such a good student, I'm going to give you a gift." And before I can process what she's just said, Master Mu seems to concentrate on something and her hand moves toward her sleeve with a gesture that is already familiar to me, though what follows is anything but.

"It's not here", she murmurs, as though searching for something in the apparently infinite interior of her sleeve.

"Where did I put it?" Her brow furrows slightly as she continues rummaging, and I hear her mutter in a tone that mixes irritation and resignation in equal measure as she says to herself under her breath "One of these days I really need to organize this." Meanwhile, in the main hall stretching below our box, the sound of the bronze bell rings out clearly and the auctioneer's voice, carrying that rehearsed cadence common to everyone in the profession, announces the start of the auction.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. But I ignore it, and Master Mu doesn't seem to pay it the slightest attention either. At last, Master Mu lets out a quiet exclamation of triumph, barely audible, as she says "Found it." I watch her pull a jade tablet from her sleeve and hold it out to me with a casual gesture, the smile on her face intensifying.

"It's for you", she says simply. I take it with both hands and examine it. It's a jade tablet of a pale green color, polished but with edges slightly worn by what I sense is the passage of time, and on its surface five symbols are clearly engraved with a sharpness that contrasts with the object's general condition.

Though what strikes me most is the distribution of the symbols, since they're spaced in a way that clearly suggests there were once more, as if the tablet had originally contained a greater number that have been erased for some reason.

"What is it you've just given me?" I ask Master Mu as my fingers trace the symbols with care.

"A tablet containing a technique called Myriad of Hands", she answers in the tone of someone explaining something she considers straightforward.

"Unlike the Dragon's Grip technique, this one allows you to manipulate multiple objects very efficiently, almost as though you were handling them with your own hands." My fingers stop on the tablet as I process the words describing what the technique is supposed to do, and it's more than I expected. Considerably more. But Master Mu isn't finished, because while I'm thinking she continues.

"Although the technique does have one small drawback", she tells me, and her tone acquires that hint of warning I've learned to recognize as the signal that what comes next is important.

"It has a feedback effect on the user. If you try to grab something too heavy, or something that's anchored and can't be moved, instead of moving the object toward you, it will be you who moves toward the object." She pauses to let the information settle, and I can see in her eyes that she's evaluating whether I've understood the implications.

"So be careful what you try to move", she adds in a tone that sounds light but carries a warning behind it.

"Just in case." I nod slowly, because the implications are clear. If I try to move something immovable, the one who might go flying is me. Which, considering I'm in a wheelchair, could produce results ranging from the comical to the disastrous depending on the circumstances.

"And one more thing", Master Mu says, and this time her tone is completely serious.

"Techniques of this type, unless they state otherwise like the Dragon's Grip, cannot grasp living beings. Keep that in mind." After hearing her words, I lean toward her as far as my body will allow, my fingers closing tightly around the jade tablet.

"Thank you, Master Mu", I tell her, and I make no attempt to disguise the sincerity behind those words, because it is genuine and deep.

"Truly, thank you so much." Master Mu makes a gesture with her hand that waves away my gratitude, though the smile she's wearing doesn't entirely disappear.

"It's not that big a deal", she tells me with that nonchalance of hers that sometimes catches me off guard.

"It was just something I had no use for anymore and had lost somewhere or other." Though she makes a brief pause and adds "The tablet isn't single-use. It still has five charges left. I hope you won't waste them." I lean forward again, with more emphasis this time, the tablet resting between my hands as though it were the most valuable object I've touched in this life, and for me it very well might be, given what it could mean for my relationship with my surroundings.

"Don't worry", I tell her with a determination that springs from the deepest part of my chest.

"I'll put them to the best use I'm capable of." Master Mu nods with satisfaction at my words while behind us the auctioneer's voice continues its work and the murmur of bids rises and falls like a background tide that neither she nor I bother to listen to.

"Now that you have that technique", Master Mu continues in a tone I recognize as the one she uses during lessons.

"And since you're still in Body Tempering, let me give you some advice. When you meditate to absorb Qi, try to grasp the maximum number of Qi particles you can. That's beneficial for the technique." And the moment those words leave her mouth, something lights up, because I know exactly what she's trying to tell me. And more importantly, I know something she doesn't know I know.

A mischievous thought crosses my mind as I spot another opportunity to surprise Master Mu, one of those opportunities that appear only rarely and that it would be a waste to let pass.

"Master Mu", I interrupt in a tone I hope sounds respectful rather than conspiratorial.

"I have a question about that." Master Mu looks at me with an arched eyebrow but nods.

"Go ahead", she says.

"Ask."

"Is it true that the maximum number of Qi particles, as you've called them, or Qi specks, as I call them, that one can grasp upon fully completing Body Tempering is ten?" I ask, looking her straight in the eyes while composing the most earnest face I'm capable of producing. The effect is immediate. The question seems to throw Master Mu off in a way I don't see very often, and her expression shifts from casual curiosity to something that looks very much like suspicion in the space of a blink.

"How many Qi specks, as you call them, are you able to grasp?" she asks, and in her voice there is a tone that admits no evasion as she looks at me as though trying to see through me.

"Right now, eight", I reply with an honesty that comes naturally.

"I've noticed that's the maximum I can grasp after finishing the Tempering of Bones and Tendons." Master Mu sighs, and it's a sigh I know well, the one she makes when something I tell her forces her to recalculate the assumptions she had about me.

"Who told you about this?" she asks at last, and I can tell from her expression that she's trying to trace a line connecting my knowledge to some source that makes sense to her.

"Nobody", I reply, and the answer is entirely true.

"I discovered it by accident and, perhaps, through a bit of stubbornness about seeing how far I could go." Master Mu sighs again, and this time the sigh is longer, bearing the weight of someone who should be accustomed to this kind of answer from me by now but apparently isn't quite.

"Yes", she tells me finally.

"Ten is the maximum." The confirmation produces a flash of satisfaction that spurs me on to the question whose answer I've been wanting to know for a long time.

"And why is ten the maximum?" I ask, because if there's anyone within my reach who can give me the answer to that mystery, it's her.

"I have no idea", Master Mu replies with a tone of complete sincerity. I look at her with an expression of genuine surprise I don't need to manufacture, because I honestly wasn't expecting that answer. Seeing my face, Master Mu smiles again, and this time the smile carries a hint of satisfaction, as though she's enjoying the rare pleasure of being able to surprise me too.

"I don't have answers to everything", she tells me in a tone that blends amusement with something that could be modesty.

"The reason has never interested me, so I've never asked, and therefore I don't know." I feel my spirits deflate as I hear her answer, like a balloon with a hole poked in it, since the mystery of why the limit is ten is going to remain a mystery for me, at least for now. But I recover quickly, because there's something more important than an answer I'm not going to get today, and I look at Master Mu with gravity.

"Master Mu", I say, and this time my tone holds not a shred of playfulness.

"I have a question for you." She returns my gaze with renewed attention.

"It's not that I don't appreciate your gift", I continue, my fingers tightening further around the jade tablet as if to underscore the sincerity of my words.

"Because I appreciate it deeply." I pause, just long enough to draw a breath and think about how to phrase what I want to say so it sounds as best it can, and then I put my question to Master Mu "But I'd like to know whether it would bother you if I went ahead and bid to try to win the Dragon's Grip technique anyway."