Andrew stood infront of the kneeling Christian, his face battered and bruised with bumps on his head.
"Can i get up now?" Christian asked hesitantly.
"Yea sure, ive already released my anger. And hopefully you released some of that supidity locked away in your head."
"Im probably more stupid now you asshole!"
Andrew sensed the slight tension in Chrsitians body and smiled.
"So, why arent you training at the dojo?" Andrew asked curiously.
"Well, the thing is they were trying to suck up to me so much and recruit me, it made me realize something..."
"I realized that I could do way better than to join that shoddy place, with only an early qi refinement master."
Andrew raised his eyebrows while nodding. He honestly felt the same way once he saw what talent this boy had.
"Okay, you definitely made the right choice in that case. So whats your next move?"
"Well actually, I was thinking I could just stay with you for a period of tim-"
"Dont even finish that sentence… you do know that this is a one person apartment, right? Do you see a second bed anywhere?"
Christian mechanically pointed over to the couch.
"Well, do you atleast got money to cover rent?"
"Nah not really, im kind of broke not gonna lie..."
"…"
Andrew felt like slapping this kid silly once more, but he held himself back. He began to ponder deeply about the possible positives and negatives of this situation.
For about 20 seconds he just sat there, looking out the open window.
Christian didnt seem to really care and plopped down on the nearby couch.
Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Andrews head.
"Christian… let me ask you something."
"Huh?? What is it…?"
Christian began to get shivers down his spine, as Andrew slowly turned around, his face seemingly to be morphing into the devils.
"Does your talent also give you a resistance to poisions?" Andrew spoke rubbing his palms together.
"Wait… whatre you thinking of doing with me?!" Christian reapond, feeling condensation building on his body.
"Hehe… Youll see…"
….
Andrew and his frightened new "roomate" arrived back on the same street where they first met.
This time, they were here for another purpose, as he eyed up a large building about 100 feet away from him.
"Nourishment Pharmaceuticals"
"Thats where we will be going," Andrew spoke.
"Were going to get medicine? With what money? All the shit in there for Martial artists is absurdely expensive."
"I know… but we arent going to buy medicine; were buying ingredients!" Andrew said with wide eyes and a smile.
"Ingredients?? You know how to cook medicine?"
"No, but like you said before. Everything martial arts related is ridiculously expensive…"
"Meaning if we learn how to make medicines we can also become ridiculously wealthy!"
Andrew began to laugh loudly, as if he discovered a forbidden cosmic truth.
"Um, okay yea. That sounds great and all, but isnt doing that extremely hard?"
"Theres only a few actual decent medicine refiners in our entire small town. And if things go wrong you will either end up with nothing or with pois—"
Christian suddenly paused, his face losing its color.
"Your gonna use me as a test dummy?! Are you fucking serious?"
"Haha! I mean your the one who wanted to live with me. Cant expect to freeload with no money!"
Andrew began looking like a demon once again. Christian began to wonder if this was even the same person he met infront of the dojo.
He followed behind Andrew as they approached the medicinal hall.
"Am I walking towards my own demise...?"
He constantly thought of turning back and running as far away as possible.
Andrew could feel his hesitation, but he found it more amusing than anything.
Walking up the steps into the hall, they were greeted with a sight of shelves upon shelves. The fresh smell of medicinal ingredients immediately assaulted their nostrils.
It didnt take longer than 10 seconds before they saw a staff member approaching.
"Hello, are you guys looking for anything in particular?"
Andrew reached into his pocket, pulling out a pre written list of ingredients which he handed over to the clerk.
Upon looking at it, she smiled but with a small hint of contempt.
"Pre body tempering realm pill formula and solution…. Looks like the tip todays gonna be quite small indeed…" she slightly exhaled.
"Ill be right back, sir."
"If this was a cliche martial arts novel, she wouldve thrown the paper in my face wirh disgust, before getting her manager to forcefully kick me out…"
Andrew snorted a bit thinking of this, he really couldn't stand the cliche tropes in which everything that could possibly go wrong does just for the protagonist.
"In the world of martial arts, it's expected there to be endless competition to reach the top…"
"But competition just by trying to buy items at a shop? Absolute absurdity…"
Christian noticed Andrews constantly changing facial expression but decided against asking any questions. Instead, he slowly stepped away from Andrew, moving deeper into the pharmacy.
About ten minutes later, Andrew noticed the staff walking back with a bunch of very large bags.
"Would this be everything?" the clerk asked short of breath from the load.
"Yes, that would be it. Thank you very much…" he nodded, quickly sweeping up everything with one arm.
For him, this measily 100kg or so was insignificant.
What was not insignificant though was the price, causing Andrew to swallow hard as he shakily swiped his card to pay.
Andrew began walking towards the exit, when he felt something approaching from behind him fast. Without even looking, he side stepped out of the way just as a black figure shot passed him and out the door.
"…what the fuck was that?" Andrew thought, confused as to was in such a rush.
"Wait, where the hell is Christian? No way hes still looking around."
He paused reaching for his phone, remembering that he didnt have service anymore.
"He better not have tried to escape from me…"
As Andrew was about to go searching the store for him, he started to hear a commotion somewhere behind him, sounding like faint yells
As he listened more closely, his ears twitched as they caught something before immediately disappearing out the entrance.
"That kid wearing the black took the dragon bones! The one who just bolted out of the store!"
Andrew knew exactly who was wearing the black.
Who else could it be other than his stupid compatriot?
"This kid… atleast he didnt get me involved this time…"
….
Andrew arrived back at his house quickly. As soon as he was more than 50 feet away from the building he used his fastest speed to get out of there asap.
He knew how plots like this usually developed, and knew what he had to do to avoid it, which was simply to not confront it.
He opened his door and sure enough, Christian was hiding underneath the bed, as if he was waiting for a police officer to walk through instead of him.
"Yo, stupid, get out from under there—its safe. Nobody followed me here."
Christian exhaled a sigh of relief crawling out from underneath the bed.
"What were you even thinking? You were alone for like 15 minutes and you end up stealing something."
Andrew felt like he was already losing brain cells the more time they spent together.
"Theres a good explanation actually. I just felt like deep down inside I needed this. As soon as I saw it, I felt drawn to it…."
Christian pulled out a small wooden box from his pocket and opened it, immediately releasing a strange aura into the surroundings.
It felt like it got a couple degrees hotter all of a sudden, and seeing what was inside Andrew knew exactly why Chrsitian felt drawn to it.
"Okay okay, I understand you can close the damn box..."
Christian nodded flipping the kid shut and closing the latch.
Andrew exhaled a breath of relief, "Okay. So now that we settled that, get that gullet ready boy. Its time to start cooking up some pharmaceuticals!"
________