Luke.
He was oddly calm now considering how much of a tempest he was once his anger was triggered. He was known as the demon for more than just his brutal fighting and training methods. He also possessed a bloodthirsty temper that terrified those that had witnessed it. Upon arriving home he could only see red and had proceeded to destroy everything he could get his hands on and then in a moment of clarity he realised the futility of his actions and opted to go spend some time on the punching back instead. He thought it could help him calm down and stop him from lashing out at those around him in a fit of mad anger.
Unfortunately, the bag did little to exhaust his violent desires, oddly enough he found himself visualising the snake in its place and was punching away at it with the force of a jackhammer. At certain points, he didn't realise that some of his punches would channel the chi and cause massive tears in the punching back. He kept whaling at it for hours and got so lost in it that he did not even notice that the kid was home. He only sensed something watching him once he had been standing there for a good 5 minutes.
When he turned, he didn't register him for a second or two and almost attacked but then he realised who he was and he was hit by a wave of shame which threatened to blend with his other negative emotions. However, before that could happen, the kid just came in and laid a surprise hug on him. It was such an odd thing to expect from a kid as guarded as Leo so he was taken off guard. But then the negative feeling seemed to dissipate as he hugged his kid back. Then somehow the kid knew.
So now here they sat and he was feeling oddly at peace with slight wonder at the mysteries of the kid. He told him the history of martial arts gladly as he was about to impart his family's greatest heritage. He explained how initially all around the world combat had mostly been depended on brute force and training the body to externally be able to achieve the highest potential humanity could achieve. However, because something felt missing from what they sought to achieve then they decided to look towards the unconventional.
They looked to the east and its concepts on energy manipulation. They discovered the concept of chi and chi flow which was something quite popular across all of Asia although under different names. They brought the concepts back home and tweaked them and used their advanced understanding of the human body combined with the information gleaned from other cultures with similar concepts. They determined that a profound understanding of the soul and energy was necessary. And thus martial arts world came together. 8 geniuses were picked from all around the world, 1from Africa, 2 from Europe, 2 from the Americas and 3 from Asia and they were taken into a program that sought to make the most powerful experts all around.
They were pushed physically until they were the most efficient specimens. Then they were sent through powerful courses on metaphysics and human biology until they knew all known human circulatory systems like the back of their hands. After that, they were sent on pilgrimages all across Asia to learn from the greatest masters. They were also given the best care and assistance. Suffice it to say with their level of genius and the number of resources injected into them on behalf of this project. They just couldn't fail.
Each one developed their own unique style of energy manipulation which may have differed from the other however had one central theme. It was dependent on life force to use. They would cultivate their own life force in tandem with their bodies. The better you were at internal energy cultivation the more efficiently you could use your body. It was like internal energy cultivation would simply push the potential already possessed to 100% which boosted the output the body could produce. For instance, eyesight became much sharper and muscles were more focused with zero wastages of movement. It was theorised that if a method to increased the internal energy was discovered it would be an alternative way to boost body potential past the limits of what was humanely possible all risk-free. Unfortunately, such an energy source had never been found. Until now but more on that later.
"As you have probably guessed the martial art hegemony clans all descended from these 8 geniuses. Moyo, Veritas, Wulfgar, Norris, Torres, Gao, Xuan and Sakurai. These were names of the 8 men and women who began the new era of martial arts we belong to the Demon-heart Moyo family of Africa," Luke said proudly as he put a fist to his chest in what Leo guessed was a common salute in the clan of theirs. He liked the sound of the Demon-heart of the Moyo family. It was equal parts terrifying and worthy of respect.
" So now my junior brother I will impart the cultivation technique of the Moyo family and you will finally join the ranks of the true experts of this world we live in. Master this and you will fear no man at your level of physical ability regardless what kind of abilities they got from the system," Luke confidently proclaimed to the dazzled eyes of Leo.
He stood up and moved to his bedside where took out a booklet from the drawer that he had beside his bed. He then handed the booklet to Leo. It was a standard A5 booklet and didn't have any labels on the cover. Leo opened it up to discover in concise and legible scripts the words 'Way of the Chi heart.'
" Our family is the Moyo family and our ancestor was one who truly believed in the potential of the heart. Our forefather developed his whole technique around the heart. How it pumps and circulates nutrients all around the body systematically and unceasingly for your whole life," Luke explained in a relaxed voice.
He told Leo that the heart was able to pump blood all across the body and have it cycle back to be replenished and strengthened and sent out once again. This cycle defined life. So the forefather had devised a technique that created an energy heart to run parallel to the normal heart. They would use a combination of some serious acupuncture techniques and powerful visualisations to create an 'energy' heart on the right side of the body. The technique had the ability to create tiny microelements that would get charged with chi at the heart and then sent on a cycle through the body which would then stimulate the body's potential and aid in using the gifts endowed in the body, be it muscle, blood or DNA almost like a powered-up state.
Initially, the boosts were negligible since the heart was not powerful enough on the onset and the circulation system was not branched out enough to truly root out all the potential of the body. The skill had 5 realms. The first one was the infant heart which had the circulation connecting to simplistic points at the brain, arms and legs to create a five-point system before returning the de-energised microelements back to the charges up and start up the cycle again. In order to break through the realm of cultivation, he would need to open all five points and link them up in order to create an unending and seamless cycle of the chi. Upon linking them up he would have to gather enough microelements within the cycle to upgrade his heart into the next realm.
Thus the goal at this moment was to create the Chi heart with the help of Luke. " Okay kid, what I need you to do is get to learn these visualisation techniques and fully incorporate them into your day so that you can enter the state where you visualise the Chi heart beating in your chest as easily as breathing," Luke told him while gesturing to a large detailed text inside the notebook about the necessary mental work at the beginning and afterwards. Leo nodded his head as his mind was already working with the highest efficiency his Hyper Cognition could afford him to incorporate the visualisation to his core techniques and already prepare his body for regular use.
He memorised all the descriptions of the technique within minutes much to Luke's slight jealousy since it had taken him hours with all his genius to have enough of a grasp on everything to actually discard the book. Leo was already preparing for himself for the acupuncture. " is it possible to do the acupuncture to open the energy gate in my body today if I am confident in the ability of my visualisations?" Luke was surprised, to say the least. He asked Leo to describe and also to draw the image of the heart he visualised for himself.
Leo was able to describe quite the complex visualisation as well as draw many pictures of it a few times before Luke was satisfied. He stood up and rose to go into the wardrobe, he came back with a bundle of red wrapped cloth. When he sat in front of Leo he then started to unwrap it to reveal a set of 12 needles that seemed to be made from a unique metal. They all had an odd shine that seemed as if it was being generated by them. "okay kid, take off your shirt and lie on the bed and calm your mind and heart. You need most of your body processes to be at peace and reduce adrenaline or fear and heart rate. When I tell you to begin your visualisations then you can start."
Leo took off his shirt to reveal his now toned upper body, he had not gained a lot of body mass but had replaced his lanky figure with a tighter figure with the past few months of training and punishment. He laid his back on the bed and began to calm himself which was quite easy and achieved in seconds. "Okay begin your visualisations now," Luke said as he grabbed a needle between two fingers and then it started to hum as he channelled his chi through it. Leo visualised a powerful heart beating slowly in his right side parallel to his normal heart when he suddenly felt a jab and was bombarded by pain that was beyond a simple needle prick.
It felt like some he had been burned with a very hot flame on the skin of his torso and while it was still raw, someone then hooked up a cable to the seared flesh and sent a powerful voltage of electricity through it causing him to writhe in pain however a part of his mind still maintained the visualisation of the heart. He imagined that the pulse of energy was light a transfusion of blooded to help a deficiency within his own body and slowly blocked out the pain. The writhing stopped as his breathing also calmed down and his visualisation became stronger and stronger to the extent that he felt a pulse within his core with every beat of his visualised heart. The heartbeat became stronger and stronger as time went on until an audible sound filled the room.
The duh-doom, duh-doom, duh-doom sound was the sign Luke was waiting for to remove the needle and use a tiny seal of chi from his finger to close of leakage as Leo's Chi heart stabilised. " kid, start the chanting from the book immediately."
Leo slowly chanted the words in the Swahili derived language that the forefather had used in devising his technique. He found the pulsing becoming stronger and actually felt a new power within his body although it was beyond his control at the moment he already felt more a bit more energetic. This went on for another hour before his Chi heart was stabilised at the opening of the Birth or Infant heart realm.