My glasses pinged my qi rating to a 6 after gaining constant, but that wasn’t the end of it. While I slowly gained a little more qi with every breath, the only usable qi was a 6. If I could stimulate that power on my own, my number would increase.

Instead of breathing, I focused on my technique and slowly freed the power. That proved more difficult than I thought. While the power began to generate, and my output went from 6 to 10, it wasn’t stable. My grip on that power vanished, and the technique fell apart. Island obliterating fist was truly a powerful technique. But were there other techniques I might be capable of since I consumed some of the forest god’s flesh.

“Can you teach me a forest god technique?” I asked.

“How far do your senses stretch? Can you feel my qi from where you’re standing?” Zosimael asked.

I focused on her and stretched as far as the limited sensation would let me to no avail. She was less than 10yrds away, but I couldn’t sense her.

“Don’t strain yourself; not many are gifted enough to sense even their whole bodies after gaining constant so soon. Besides, it won’t serve you well to learn god light techniques in your duel. Tell me when you can feel the qi of those around you, and we’ll return to it. But, for now, I have another potion for you.” Zosimael said.

“Is it another god potion?” I asked.

“This one appeared on our coast a few centuries back when Glorael’s mother was chief. Its body was silver, and it could deflect god light techniques. Fortunately, it was an enemy of the god-king, and the great benevolent one finished the silver god off. Unfortunately, scraps of the silver god’s body fell all over the forest, and I managed to secret a piece away. I planned to give it to a promising young elf, but you give a fantastic blowjob.” She uncapped her pot, revealing a bubbling silver potion that smelled like pennies.

“Why don’t you drink it? I thought you would want more power to take revenge on the ones who,” Zosimael put her hand over my mouth. When she removed it, I spoke again. “You must be aware of what they did to you by now,” I said.

“I’m still waiting for the leopard to leap. Even if it's true, I don’t want to believe my tribe would hurt me. My children died in a war against the skull tribe. If I believe what you suggest, then everything falls into question. I am not the only potion maker in the tribe, but I am the oldest and most experienced in the craft. I have experimented with others and created potions that can break worship's limits of a single god. Our gods are jealous creatures, and pantheonism is forbidden.” Zosimael said.

I looked down at the completed third objective of my challenge. Her dementia was based on a poison-laced in her food. While there were other possible vectors to poison her, I made sure to hunt for her. Zosimael has already begun hunting for herself and watching her food, from what I understand. She also takes a strange potion every day. I could only assume that it helped defend them from whatever poison had been used on her. Really it was amazing; all I had to do was open my damn mouth and ask a question to complete my task.

Of course, there was also the threat of the chief getting involved. The minister might not have acted alone, and it’s doubtful she would be able to continue to act alone. So, if the chief was involved, what would I do.

“Sometimes it's better to do things slowly. You might not have much time, but some progress is better than none, and drink the potion.” Zosimael said.

I turned it up and drank the thing down. This time I could feel the effects. My own qi attacked the ingredients, breaking them down and adding power to my body. The attack was vicious as it was quick.

“A forest god user would have trouble with that potion; the element doesn’t work well with ours. Your water god should have been subsumed by the forest god, and you would have died. But because it was a stillbirth, the qi within was inert. Congratulations, you now have as much god flesh in you as Samael.” Zosimael said.

I checked my reserve, and it read 5 instead of 6, but with every breath, that changed. The amount of qi I absorbed increased, and I slowly awoke my qi without using my breathing technique. At first, it was small, but then I felt my strength increase. My reading rose until it settled on 10.

“I think my body has more potential than Samael or any other elf.”

“Yes, I noticed your muscle mass is much denser, your center of balanced is built for combat, and your qi rises in you much easier. If there was a body made for combat, it is yours. However, be careful you don’t flaunt it too much. Some would use you in their desires to expand our territory.” Zosimael said.

I let my technique rise slowly and held it. From what I could, the technique was nothing more than a way to agitate my qi and force out more power. Using it, I unleashed more power for a short time to match the qi output of a kaiju waving its paws. That kind of power was destructive to me and to those around me.