Kai used the moment while Lira was talking to launch another combination.

Not because he expected it to work differently.

Because he kept searching.

Side kick — she twisted her torso five degrees.

Jab — deflection with two fingers, angle outward.

Elbow — this time Lira dodged backward instead of taking it with her forearm.

She changed again.

Every time she finds something new in my pattern, she adjusts.

But the adjustments are responses to what I do. Not anticipations.

She’s still responding, not predicting.

How long before she starts predicting?

---

’System,’ Kai thought, never stopping moving. ’Is Lira right? Is there something I don’t know?’

[The system confirms Lira’s observation is correct]

[The user has an ability they haven’t used consciously until now]

[Qi — Internal Energy]

[Definition: the force that every martial arts practitioner develops over time through real physical training]

[User’s current status: accumulated passively over years of training in their previous world and continued in Aethon]

[The user has used it unconsciously in every technique — it’s the reason their strikes have more impact than physical size justifies]

[The system notes that the Resonant Impact technique the user bought at the shop is an external application of Qi]

[The system notes that if the user learned to use it consciously and with control, shop techniques would be unnecessary]

[The system also notes that this has been available since day 1]

[The system does not judge]

[The system points it out anyway]

Kai read the entire notification between dodges and counterattacks.

Then he looked at his own hands for a second.

Qi.

I’ve had it since the beginning.

And I’ve been using it without knowing.

---

[GarcíaFTW: QI. THE SYSTEM FINALLY EXPLAINED IT.]

[NocheEterna99: "has been available since day 1" — THE SYSTEM AGAIN]

[StreamerHunter: the reason his strikes do more damage than they should. It was Qi all along.]

[DragonicLegacy: so when he beat the A-rank bear in three hits it was because of Qi without knowing???]

[Jac_Moore: @DragonicLegacy exactly. And when he used the bought technique too.]

[Mist_Of_Death: "the system does not judge. the system points it out anyway." — the system has personality and it’s amazing] 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

[xSorinx: Kai is looking at his hands. Lira is watching him look at his hands.]

[Pedro_Sierra: (°ロ°) KAI PROCESSING (°ロ°)]

---

[Gift received: Gold Coin x1000 — DragonicLegacy]

[DragonicLegacy: used my parents’ card. worth every cent. KAI UNLOCK THE QI.]

[Gift received: Gold Coin x500 — Jac_Moore]

[Jac_Moore: also used my parents’ card. no regrets.]

[Gift received: Gold Coin x200 — Mist_Of_Death]

[Mist_Of_Death: mine was debit so technically I didn’t steal anything]

[NocheEterna99: HAHAHAHAHAHA]

[GarcíaFTW: MIST_OF_DEATH WITH THE MOST SOLID LOGIC IN CHAT]

[StreamerHunter: sending too. Kai needs this.]

[Gift received: Gold Coin x300 — StreamerHunter]

[Pedro_Sierra: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ EVERYONE PITCHING IN ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Gift received: Gold Coin x400 — Pedro_Sierra]

[System — notification]

[Gifts received in the last 60 seconds: 2,400 Interdimensional Gold Coins]

[Total balance: 4,447 Coins]

[The system notes that chat donated massively the moment Kai processed information about Qi]

[The system considers that chat has good timing]

---

Lira watched Kai looking at his hands.

"Did your system tell you something interesting?" she said.

"Something I should have known before."

"About the energy?"

Kai looked at her.

"Yes."

Lira nodded — not with surprise.

"The others I found didn’t reach that," she said.

"None lasted long enough in real combat for their bodies to develop it."

She looked at Kai with something that wasn’t exactly respect but occupied the same space.

"You’ve been in Aethon for weeks fighting things that outmatch you. That has a cost." A pause.

"And also a benefit."

"Is that why you’re forcing me to fight seriously?"

"Only those at my level force me to fight seriously." Her eyes moved toward Serah briefly.

"She’s one of them." Back to Kai.

"You..." A longer pause than usual. "You’re something different."

---

[NocheEterna99: "you’re something different" — LIRA SAID IT]

[GarcíaFTW: she didn’t say he was on her level. she said different. THAT’S MORE INTERESTING.]

[StreamerHunter: Lira is fighting seriously because Kai forces her to adapt. Not because he’s equal to her in power.]

[DragonicLegacy: the difference between raw power and adaptation. Kai wins in adaptation.]

[Jac_Moore: @DragonicLegacy exactly. And Qi is going to change that even more.]

[Mist_Of_Death: Serah heard "something different" and her markings pulsed]

[xSorinx: Serah heard everything. She’s processing.]

[Pedro_Sierra: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Lira speaking well of Kai while fighting him ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Serah listening ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

---

Kai repositioned.

Hands forward — not in the Muay Thai stance from before. Something calmer. More centered.

He breathed from his diaphragm — the pre-combat concentration technique, but this time with a different instruction for his body.

Not emptying the environment.

Finding what was already inside.

Qi, he thought. I’ve been using it without knowing. Like when I breathe without thinking about breathing.

If I do it without thinking, I can do it while thinking.

What does it feel like when I use it?

He remembered the Resonant Impact against Eris — the vibration he’d felt propagating forward through her body.

He remembered the strike on the corrupted A-rank bear when he ended the first real combat in Aethon.

He remembered every moment a strike had gotten more result than his body weight should justify.

They all had something in common.

It wasn’t the technique.

It was the state just before the technique.

The breathing.

The center of gravity dropping.

The exact moment before contact when the whole body aligned without him deciding it.

There it is.

---

He threw a kick.

Normal from the outside.

Different from the inside — for the first time in the fight, Kai felt the alignment moment that normally happened on its own and actively sought it, found it in the last second before impact, and held it.

The kick reached Lira.

Lira deflected it with her palm — the same motion that had stopped the knee before.

This time she stepped back two paces.

Not one. Two.

She looked at her own palm.

Then at Kai.

And for the first time since she emerged from the darkness in the previous Chapter, Lira said nothing.

---

[GarcíaFTW: TWO STEPS]

[NocheEterna99: THE SAME KICK. TWO STEPS INSTEAD OF ONE.]

[StreamerHunter: Kai used Qi consciously for the first time. And it showed.]

[DragonicLegacy: LIRA LOOKED AT HER OWN HAND. THAT NEVER HAPPENED.]

[Jac_Moore: @DragonicLegacy exactly. Lira speechless. FIRST TIME.]

[Mist_Of_Death: Lira’s silence is worth more than anything she’s said]

[xSorinx: Kai felt it too. I saw it on his face when the kick connected.]

[Pedro_Sierra: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ CONSCIOUS QI ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ FIRST TIME ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[System — update]

[User has accessed Qi consciously for the first time]

[Progress: External Qi — Beginner Level]

[The system notes that this changes the classification of several existing abilities]

[The system notes that Lira stepped back two paces]

[The system considers that significant]

[The system also considers that Kai just understood something that normally takes years to understand]