Chapter 96: Progress

"One... Two... Three..." 

"Haah!"

Keith was practicing his warrior frame with the duo. Garion was enforcing his warrior frame and Keith was using his strength trying to penetrate it.

After the fifth punch, the layer of blood-qi dissipated. Sen couldn't withstand Keith's second punch and was blown away as a result.

Garion looked exhausted and tired after the fifth punch.

"25% to be exact."

Keith wanted to accurately assess their strength against his own. While they used their warrior frames, Keith used his blood-qi to attack them.

He started off with 5 percent of his power and it was easily blocked by Garion. He was at the same blood core level as him, but Keith had a higher blood-qi density, which resulted in more explosive power.

The second punch was also blocked relatively easily and had no impact on Garion. From the third punch itself, Garion showed signs of struggle.

And the fourth punch was enough to shake him from the ground. The current punch was Keith's 25% power. He also had to take into account his warrior frame which gave him a massive boost for staying idle.

Even if he didn't activate the warrior frame, just staying idle and providing him with an ample amount of blood-qi comparable to final stage viscounts, his strength was very high.

If he were to fully activate his warrior frame, it would reach the power of early-stage count.

The amount of blood-qi in use was the same at both times. When the warrior frame is deactivated, it only provides blood-qi to the blood core and acts as a quasi-blood core. 

When the warrior frame is activated, however, the strength and defense increase and it utilizes the blood-qi for itself. That time the battle strength rises due to the active power generated by the warrior frame and its integration with the Martial arts. 

Keith relaxed his muscles and approached Garion.

"You did well. Don't worry, the strength I used was the same as an early-stage viscount, so you don't have to feel bad. Your blood-qi is way lower, so it was impressive that you can block these attacks."

Keith patted his shoulders.

"Impressive is not enough. I want to be exceptional. I want to become even stronger to challenge the main family." Garion spat with a determined face.

"You will. Trust me, once we steal that blood-qi technique, your growth will be boundless, so will yours." Keith turned his head and smiled at Sen who was looking rather disappointed.

"I am not even able to withstand a single punch from you, how am I supposed to beat him? I can't even beat Garion." Sen looked down silently.

"You are not hopeless, considering you have a good base. The problem is your technique is not implemented well. I will have to analyze and come up with a revised frame that you can implement easily.

"Secondly, your blood-qi level is abysmally low. You are a middle-stage baron but your blood-qi is barely qualified for that. I misunderstood you for an early stage baron at first sight, if not for my special technique that scanned your blood core. So don't lose hope yet. Maybe your warrior frame is faulty and that's why you can't use your blood-qi to its full potential." Keith assured him.

"Then analyze my warrior frame. I want to practice the revised warrior frame." Sen said enthusiastically to Keith.

"Don't worry. It won't take much time as it did with Garion. Your warrior frame is not that advanced. Active your warrior frame and relax your mind." Keith touched his shoulder and started scanning his physique.

Sen did what Keith had said, and activated his warrior frame to its maximum power.

'So, did you find any irregularities?'

[Hmm.. his warrior frame is full of missing joints. His implementation is completely off. I wonder how he could even keep it running for this long. His warrior frame should be breaking from all these wrong joints.]

'It's that bad?' Keith asked with a voice full of pity.

[ You should've analyzed his warrior frame first. He needs a revised warrior frame soon or his physique will suffer greatly. You can see how he is barely holding on to his blood-qi with the faulty implementation.]

'Just decode the warrior frame and fix the issue as much as you can.'

Keith looked at Sen who was rather enthusiastic.

"I've scanned your warrior frame. I just need some time to fix the issues with your implementation. I have to say, you are in a very dire strait. Barely surviving. If you used that faulty warrior frame implementation, your days of being a blood warrior would be numbered." Keith said.

"But, now that I'm here, you don't have to worry about that. I will fix your implementation and you will be reborn. You will feel as if you're in a completely new body, full of energy."

Hearing his assurance, Sen was back to his determined expression. He kept his warrior frame running steady and didn't even budge from his spot.

Meanwhile, Garion was quietly looking at the duo and smiled. He was very happy that both of them had met Keith. Their start was rather bumpy but they quickly resolved the conflict and formed a good relationship with him. 

Garion himself chose to follow him after implementing the revised warrior frame technique given by Keith. It was without a doubt, a great increase to his overall strength and endurance. He was really grateful to Keith for doing this for him.

It didn't matter to him if Keith had ulterior motives for doing this. Without him, he could never grow as fast. So he didn't choose to follow him because he did this to him, rather the future possibilities Garion could have of he decided to follow him.

Keith was a once-in-a-generation genius. Even if he laughed and joked like them. He was nothing like them. Inside that friendly face of his, a determined and ferocious beast was hiding. 

He was cunning and used the worst situation to his advantage. He used them to lure more students, but it was incredibly helpful to them as well. Garion couldn't imagine a single Vampire doing this even in exchange for a fortune.

After a while, Keith retracted his hands from Sen's shoulder and stood up.

"You are all set. I will give you a revised frame tomorrow on a scroll. Now you should rest and don't practice for the day. You, Garion, practice your warrior frame like always. I'm off to my room."

Keith walked out of the training room and left the facility.

Back in the training room, Garion asked Sen about Keith. How he felt about him.

"I misjudged him, it was my fault. I can see now, how stupid I was. Thanks for bringing me back to the right track." Sen looked at Garion with gratitude.

" don't thank me. I told you what is best for you. It was your decision in the end. You are a good kid, just sometimes you tend to deviate." Garion. Ruffled his hair and turned back.

"As he said, sit back and relax. Or just watch me practice, maybe you'll learn a thing or two." 

Garion dashed to the middle and activated his warrior frame, swinging his arms swiftly in a different orientation. Soon his figure turned into a mirage and his swings became more refined.

He couldn't do this before as his implementation was faulty. Now…

'So this is the improvement he's made after practicing the revised warrior frame.' Sen looked in awe as Garion performed his martial arts.

***

Keith returned to his room and brought another flower of that tiny plant. As he returned to his room, the entire room was shining like they were brand new. 

His room was already looked perfect, but seeing the glittering surface of the furniture and floor, Keith was impressed.

"Young master, do you like what I've done to your room?" Rena asked from behind.

"You did all this," Keith asked, turning back.

Rena nodded fervently.

She looked full of energy and didn't look tired at all.

"This is very good. I haven't seen a cleaner room in my life. You really outdid yourself." Keith praised her.

"Thank you, young master. But that's not the best thing. I don't feel anything after doing all the work. I feel like I did nothing after waking up. No, even that couldn't explain this. That's how good I feel." Rena replied.

"Here, I brought you another flower. Now that I know it doesn't do anything funny and dangerous to your body, I can rest assured. Consume it before going to sleep and…"

Keith stopped for a second.

"And what?" Rena asked back.

"Nothing, just don't leave your room after eating this," Keith warned her.

"Okay, young master."

"Now, go back. I will condense blood-qi now. Bring my dinner when it's time." Keith excused her.

Rena left his room with a face full of smiles.

Keith sat on his bed and took out a scroll. He inscribed the scroll with the revised warrior frame technique.

After finishing the inscription, he put the scroll aside and started to condense blood-qi.

That night, he stood in front of Rena's room and locked it from the outside, and went back to his room after she fell asleep.