Luna couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. Nia should have been on the verge of death bleeding out but instead, here she was, sitting up perfectly fine smiling. Luna's mouth was left agape and she dropped the small pot she carried but Lowen was there and he easily caught it.

"Whoops, that could have been bad, what is this anyway stew?"

Lowen removed the lid giving the contents a look as well as a sniff. The smell was very fragrant and almost sweet, looking in Lowen could see he was mistaken. Luna shook her head.

"It's porridge, I thought I'd help take care of Ben while you took Nia to Jizhen."

Lowen remembered Roland saying Jizhen was at least 5 days away.

"Isn't the town of Jizhen 5 days east, what makes you think I could take Nia all the way there myself?"

Lowen already knew partly what she was going to say, he was slightly interested to know what an average villager thought of him. Luna looked at him cautiously before saying.

"We've all seen it, you're not normal. With that speed, you could surely get to Jizhen within half a day."

Lowen thought for a bit.

(From what Roland told me Jizhen is 220 or so miles eastward. Without using any ki I can push my body to cover a mile in under 2 minutes, so I could definitely get there in less than half a day. With ki, I should theoretically be able to get there in only a few hours.)

Lowen nodded his head in agreement with Luna before Luna continued.

"Everyone acknowledges that your something different even the Chief recognizes that you have value, so everyone is cautious and yet at the same time very curious about you. We know you have power but we don't know what and I think that scares them."

"Tell me, do I scare you, Luna?"

Luna thought for a moment before explaining.

"To me you are scary, but at the same time when I see your cute little face, you don't seem like you could do anything. Only when you fight do you seem terrifying."

Luna thought about the now dead Greg and shuddered slightly. Lowen had murdered a man in front of the entire village but he seemed so distant when he had done it, his facial expression looked completely normal as though he didn't just kill and to Luna that was the most frightening part. Looking at Lowen though she couldn't say that for some reason. Luna continued to stare at Nia and from time to time would switch between Lowen and Ben seeing the pair of brother and sister perfectly fine her mind was filled with questions but the three seemed determined not to answer any of them. Lowen decided to change the subject, wafting the smell of the porridge towards his face, Lowen smiled slyly.

"Can anyone have some of this or just Ben?"

Luna's unanswered questions faded and instead, she put on a warm smile.

"Everyone of course."

(If they don't wish to tell me that's understandable I just wish these kids wouldn't isolate themselves like this.)

Luna understood though why they did. The people of this village were too hot or cold and their thoughts seemed to flip and flop with a few words from Roland. Most of them didn't seem to have a real opinion of their own but there were some exceptions and outliers like Luna but they were few and far between. With such attitudes from the other villagers, why would Nia or Lowen want to really interact with them?

The 4 sat together and ate the porridge with Ben, of course, being the most excited. The food however quickly ran out and Luna went to get more ingredients. After she returned she proceeded to teach the three kids how to make porridge properly so it was both delicious in taste and fragrant in smell and although she refused payment at first, Lowen continued to be pushy and she eventually accepted a bit of meat. Lowen didn't wish to owe her anything plus he knew how difficult it would be for her to replace what she had used for them. After the meal, Luna stayed for another hour or so just talking about her life or the other nearby villages or about the latest gossip, which of course was about Lowen but still, Nia and Lowen enjoyed the conversation. Ben, on the other hand, was sitting quietly in the corner with his eyes shut, he had become bored early on listening to gossip. Both Lowen and Nia could feel ki energy slowly drifting to a meditating Ben. Nia became a bit irritated and anxious she, as the older sister couldn't allow for her little brother to out, do her so after talking a bit more she too went off into a corner and closed her eyes. Luna could see that both Nia and Ben were busy with what she didn't know but she could tell her presence was starting to get in the way. So with consideration in mind, Luna got up and grabbed her cooking pot, with a soft voice she bid everyone farewell before turning around and leaving.

Lowen looked at the two and smiled as they concentrated tirelessly in meditation. Now that the two had become ki manipulators the two had automatically entered the first of the 8 stages of ki, the Body Refining stage. In this stage, one would be refining their body with harsh physical training, as well as infusing every fiber of their being with ki. This would increase their overall physical traits by a huge margin allowing one to go beyond a normal person in every way. Not only that one would learn how to control their body to a finite degree. They'd be able to remove toxins from the body, elevate or lower their bodies temperature, even heal themselves at an incredibly fast rate.

This stage was about hard work and dedication and was kind of like a test to see whether or not one was capable of entering the higher stages. As long as you laid down a great foundation in the Body Refining stage, this would almost guarantee that you enter the second stage, the Aura Body stage.

To enter the Aura Body stage the first requirement was that one's body be incredibly tough, and, Lowen had already reached that level and could technically try to enter the Aura Body stage but he could tell that his body was still strengthing at an incredible rate. Using both earth energy along with ki, his body was becoming something truly monstrous.

(If I wait a little longer and continue to refine my body, it should make me significantly stronger at every other stage. Plus, it will allow my body to hold more power than another at the same stage.)

In order for one to hold ki within the body, they needed a ki seed. After completing a full circulation of ki it expands the ki seed by a tiny fraction the more times you complete a full circulation the more it grows until eventually its almost bursting. With Lowen's tough body his ki seed would compensate trying to balance itself with his body, growing even bigger than a normal ki manipulators ki seed. Because of this Lowen's ki seed was now 3 or 4 times bigger than a normal ki manipulator and it was still growing. Maybe in another few months, Lowen's ki seed would be at its limit almost ready to burst then he could refine it further and make an attempt at the 2nd stage until then he could only practice patiently.

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The next morning Lowen, Nia, and Ben were up bright and early. It had just finished snowing and the ground was covered in a few inches of pure powdered snow. The sky was clear and although the sun shone down, no one seemed to feel its warmth. As the wind howled thru the village, most people couldn't stand to stay outside for more than 30 or 40 minutes, the cold was just too unbearable. But for Lowen, it was mild at best and for the two siblings, this weather was just bearable.

The three stood outside excited, each one held a smile on their face and each one of them had it for a different reason. Ben was excited because he had never felt stronger. Nia was smiling because her back was now almost entirely healed and Lowen had just shown them and given them tips on how to circulate and control their ki better. Lowen, on the other hand, was smiling because he was thinking about the hell he would soon put these two thru. Now that they could absorb and use ki, it was time to push their bodies further, it was time to put the refine in Body refining. Standing outside, the three stood next to 3 logs, each one bigger than the other. Lowen gave the two a signal and Nia and Ben bent down and each picked up a log. Placing it on their shoulders, the two held their logs as though they were fetching water. Ben's log was quite small only weighing around 20 pounds. Nia's was slightly bigger weighing 35 pounds. Lowen's log, on the other hand, was huge, weighing just over 300 pounds the weight alone made his bare feet sink almost an inch into the ground but Lowen could handle it. Looking at the two, brother and sister, Lowen gave a small childish shout.

"Move!"

With that shout, The three while each carrying a log began trekking their way thru the 4 to 5 inches of snow. Walking, running, jumping, squats, Lowen pushed the two harshly as he yelled every few seconds for the two to keep pace. Hearing all the shouting a few curious villagers poked their heads outside to see what all the fuss was about. Seeing the three children running outside in the snow like madmen whilst carrying logs on their shoulders was a frightening scene. The same thought ran in each of their minds before a simple explanation came to mind.

(How is Nia ok? Could Roland have used some magic medicine to heal her? Yes that must be it, there's simply no other way.)

With these villagers having no real understanding of magic, many of them had come to similar conclusions. Although Roland had never been seen with a magic medicine the villagers assumed he had one, for them that was the only explanation.

Still, seeing these children in the snow like this, many of the villagers couldn't help but shout in concern.

"What are ya kids doing? Hurry inside before you catch your deaths!"

After this old lady shouted an old man's shout soon followed.

"She's right, Y'all need to quit playing around and get back home before this cold takes ya."

Even though Roland had told the villagers not to interfere with Lowen and his business but these older people couldn't help it, they had lived for many years and knew of the horrors of the extreme cold. Seeing kids running around in freezing weather while physically exhausting themselves, some of the villagers held a real concern. Lowen though simply shook his head ignoring them. With more shouts, he ordered Nia and Ben forward.

5 minutes passed then 10, then 20, still the children ran around the village carrying the heavy objects with them. 1 hour then two then three, finally Lowen Nia and Ben were back inside sitting by the fire having a meal. Although the three could easily replace a meal or two or three with ki, using it like that was wasteful. Instead, they could eat a healthy meal and using the ki energy they would have expended replacing a meal they could use it on themselves, improving their muscles and bones and other things of that nature. As they finished their meal Lowen sat behind them, placing a palm on both of their backs he used his ki to push theirs forward helping them to circulate their ki faster. If this continued then the two, brother and sister, may be able to enter the Aura Body realm within a year and a half possibly even sooner. As Lowen thought about the two of them improving he couldn't help but grow excited at their future possibilities.

After an hour or so everyone's stomach had settled and they were right back outside doing it again this process repeated 2 more times before they were completely done for the day. The amount of food the three ate after all was said and done was around 6 pounds each, together they had consumed 18 pounds of food for a family of 6 or 7 this would make total sense but the three of them had really eaten this much. The amount of energy they used was terrifying and in order not to waste ki and compensate for it, they simply had to consume food.

As the night came and people all over the village were bundled up with their family sitting close to their fires, Nia, and Ben were instead following along with Lowen as he demonstrated to them his Shadow Steps. Each time the two tried to pivot and move like him they would quickly fall over landing face first or straight on their butts but just as quickly they would spring to their feet. With a fire burning in their heart they were again roaring to go. So like this, a funny sight occurred, one in which these two, brother and sister, would run as fast as possible and then while trying to pivot and turn they would fall down foolishly, in this way these pair of siblings were trained over and over again.