Chapter II - Qi Refining

The fictional character Itachi Uchiha once said, "People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts... Their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?"

This quote reassured something in Darius, something that would never be removed out of his psyche, and that was the undoubtable truth that things such as "correct" or "true" are such subjective things, that they should never be accepted by a group but by an individual.

Just like how in the real world, people who are Quirkless that don't get chosen to be the new wielder of One For All along with the people that have quirks that are seen as useless or have no combat capability themselves.

Even people who do have exceptional quirks aren't always fortunate enough to be looked at as the next big hero, and sometimes they flop because of the pressure put on them to be the next hero. These were thoughts that went through his mind during the seven years of what he considered torture for him, however, receiving this blessing after all those years he realized just why people at the very least thought about insulting those without stronger quirks.

This didn't change his opinion in any way though, it just helped him barely understand others a little as he realized that the stronger he gets, the more he'll probably have to fight dangerous villains. People with "weaker" quirks won't be able to defend themselves as well and would only be putting extra pressure on the shoulders of those whose job it is to protect.

That didn't mean anything when attempting to stop a person from going after their dreams, and that remained something he'd never accept nor agree with. Regardless, he stayed in the junkyard after sending his mother a text explaining that he would be staying over at a friend's house for the day. In reality however, he was going to spend this entire day learning as much as he could about his newly acquired power.

He can run pretty fast, he doesn't know his top speed currently but he knows he's probably the fastest human without a quirk that directly enhances his speed. With his current knowledge, he is aware that he's actually 3 stages into the 9 stages of the Qi Refining Realm, which was considered a prodigal advance to go in that many stages during his first training session. He chalked it up to his quirk allowing him to absorb an unlimited amount of the heavenly qi, despite his body not being strong enough to absorb too much of it just yet despite his quirk.

What else could he do? There wasn't much information on heavenly qi as a whole, but there were many techniques using qi as a medium but he was far from being able to use those techniques as they required to be at the very least in the Earth realm, which was a major realm above the Human realm he was currently in. Regardless, he figured that he'd have to get stronger in the future so he'd eventually enter the Earth Realm anyways, on to what's important. He didn't notice at first, but his vision had also seemed to get better, he could see the individual ants crawling across the ground with extreme detail, probably as good as a 16,000 fps professional camera or even better.

He realized just then that even though it felt like his body couldn't hold anymore of that qi, he still has his quirk that allows him to limitlessly absorb heavenly qi. Even if his body wasn't strong enough to break through into the next realm, he'd have the qi of someone in that realm, which would allow him to learn newer techniques much faster.

The potential he got from that thought alone excited him, until a lightning bolt struck down in front of him, decimating the car that he got his foot caught under earlier. Now mentioning it, after he did get out from under that car earlier, his foot healed pretty quickly--another advantage to heavenly qi apparently. That was irrelevant right now though, as he'd turn to his left and look on top of a pile of crumpled cars, seeing a white haired male with purple eyes, the school's other genius Kaito Sasaki.

"What're you doing in my junkyard staring at cars?" Kaito had taken the initiative to speak up to Darius as he did not want to deal with any awkward silences.

Darius was somewhat struck in silence. Even though he was older, Kaito gave off such a threatening presence that it made him question if this was an actual kid. Kaito was pretty known around the school as a ruthless guy with no emotion towards others, mostly because he keeps to himself and sees most things as annoyances.

Despite his young age, it's very well known how powerful he is when using his quirk. What excuse do I have to be here? I can't say anything that makes me seem depressed or suicidal, should I just ignore him? Maybe I should just act like I woke up here. No, that doesn't make any sense..damn I guess I will just have to say I'm isolating myself from others. All these thoughts went through his mind near instantly after hearing Kaito speaking, but he pulled himself together and was finally able to speak up.

"This isn't your junkyard...a-and I'm here to think about my situation in the world - ALONE." He put an extreme amount of emphasis on the word alone, thinking Kaito, of all the people he could have run into here would understand a person wanting to be alone and to themselves. Regardless, he needed to get Kaito off of his case so he could continue his training.

"Whatever." Kaito jumped off the pile of trash, leaving in the opposite direction while actually simply standing behind it, he was interested in whatever that energy inside of Darius's body was. Even his eyes couldn't see exactly what it was, but he simply thought he'd just need more time to understand it.

Believing that he had actually left, Darius sighed a sigh of relief, the pressure that kid was emitting from his eyesight alone was fucking terrifying. Anyway, he shook off the terror from Kaito and sat down calmly once again. Keeping in mind that even though it will feel like his body can't handle the amount of heavenly qi he was about to absorb, he could absorb as much of it as he wanted in all honesty due to his quirk.

It was as if he was born to become the ultimate cultivator, in his mind he kept going over the theoretical statement that he by default would be the strongest cultivator to ever exist, since other cultivators are pre-destined to only reach certain levels of cultivation, while he on the other hand is not limited to that as he can obtain a limitless amount of qi and reach an even higher level of cultivation than ever thought of it.

Though once again, that is all from stories about cultivation meaning he had no idea of confirming or denying any of these claims without trying it out himself. As he began his irregular breathing pattern, Kaito came from around the pile and with his eyes closed, Darius had no idea Kaito was still there. Kaito's Sasaki Eyes allowed him to see how the energy was flowing into him while also leading him to understand how the strange breathing patterns were giving that energy quicker and easier intervals to enter his lungs and then proceed throughout his body instead of dispersing with the oxygen inside of Darius's lungs.

It was the first time in his life he saw something he couldn't describe, but knew exactly how it happened. Not only did it intrigue him, it caught his attention more than anything. Back to Darius, he felt his body being constantly filled up with the qi, this time it was much richer and denser as it was almost noon, where the sun is at its highest.

You see, Heavenly Qi is the theoretical energy that the heavens provide to the earth through the sun, moon and many other things. As the sun was reaching its highest point, his absorption of the qi more than tripled, but that sudden boost ended as soon as 12:01 would have come.

Nine Hours Later

Kaito was gone by now, while he was intrigued by what he had seen; at the end of the day it was still something he knew just about everything about. That was secretly why he kept to himself, as he knew everything he needed to know about a person on the outside and their quirk, which was the only thing that made people interested in him to begin with. Though in the back of his mind, the lingering thought of what kind of energy Darius had been absorbing was however creeping around his subconscious.

Darius on the other hand had finally finished absorbing the qi and while by all means he could have continued, it is also stated that rushing the rate at which you absorb heavenly qi could completely ruin your cultivation and prevent you from cultivating ever again by destroying your dantian.

This was something he wanted to avoid at all cost, even if he could infinitely absorb the qi he couldn't and wouldn't risk ruining seven years of research and bullying over impatience. He sighed though, as now he had no idea what exactly would be a good thing to do here, he couldn't start absorbing the Qi yet as he had the same amount of qi someone in the Earth Realm's second stage would have and that's about the most he can do.

He was now in the fifth stage of the Human Realm however and this was the most Qi he could see himself safely absorbing without risking his cultivation's destruction even if he himself could absorb an unlimited amount of the Qi needed, it was impossible to rush something so important. Maybe when he comprehends more of just what heavenly qi is, maybe then he'll be able to find some form of a loophole to get around this. For now though, he put these thoughts to the back of his mind as he'd position himself flat on the ground, his arms shoulder length apart while his hands created a diamond together.

Descending his body down, he'd use his newly acquired upper body strength to push himself up, beginning the first of many diamond pushups. He'd repeat these same movements for around 2 more hours, realizing he wasn't getting tired at all he stopped the push ups either way for now, as he had confirmed his suspicion.

The reason he wasn't getting tired was because he was testing a theory of his that he's had for a while, if his quirk simply leaves the energy he absorbs within his body to be broken down by his body that would mean he could use any form of energy that he absorbs as a medium for keeping his body energized and preventing himself from fatiguing easily.

During his pushups he was passively absorbing the heavenly qi from the moon's beaming lights, instead of directing the qi to his lungs where he could then more efficiently spread it through his body he decided to send the energy towards his mitochondria.

Normally adding such a foreign form of energy to something like your mitochondria might have been a dangerous move, but his body was like a all-energy solar panel so this didn't apply to him and the powerhouse of his cells weren't just the mitochondria but every cell in his body could be used to absorb energy and give himself a near-limitless level of stamina.

To his own surprise, a familiar chill went down his spine all of a sudden. The same chill and unease he felt when Kaito had stared him down with those devilish eyes, this time it felt way way worse. He turned around frantically, only to be met with the boy's face being right behind him and in fright he took a step back instinctively despite being older than this kid, but age and seniority don't really matter when there's such a prodigy in your way.

Among all the other kids considered prodigies, Kaito was a cut above the rest in terms of raw power due to his control over lightning and electricity. It was already terrifying enough that a 15 year old had the power to tamper with another person's bioelectricity like it was a string of yarn, but imagine what he could do in the future when he starts actually labeling things and people as threats, what would a ruthless guy who feels no emotion for anything do to someone he considers his enemy? Hell, what did such a guy want with him?

What he wasn't aware however, was that even though on the outside his blank stare and facial expression remained indifferent, Kaito was immensely interested in the heavenly qi that he had been absorbing since earlier in the afternoon when the two of them had encountered each other for the first time. For a while, there was that awkward silence that had originally been avoided by Kaito yet this time he kept his silence he just stared, it felt like his soul was being read like a book and he was somewhat on the right lines. You see, the Sasaki family that Kaito comes from is known for having some of the top scientists in the fields of biology and DNA is their hometurf.

From what is known to the public, quirks are naturally occurring morphs and mutations in DNA which creates the quirk factor strand of DNA that then results in the quirk one is given at birth. However, the Sasaki family had secretly experimented with their children for generations in attempts to create their own quirk and had unknowingly succeeded.

That quirk is one nobody knows about except Kaito himself, as he calls them the Sasaki Eyes, and they provided him with a vastly enhanced perception which has kept him aware of all the situations going around him and in his eyesight as if they were being shown in literal frames like a video being cut piece by piece.

With this extra perception and extra work on the mind, the eyes countered this with also enhancing his brain's processing speed and power; so much to the point that 1 second within real time is equivalent to 2 minutes in Kaito's mind with everything being shown like an Ultra-HD camera even if he were to cover his eyes entirely.

Along with all of these things, the most impressive thing about those eyes of his were that anything he'd see, it would be shown in the simplest way possible for said thing, allowing him to break down and fully understand complex things that he witnesses as if they were elementary math equations. Around 3 minutes passed in real time, equivalent to 6 minutes in Kaito's brain and still the silence had not been broken, that is until Kaito finally spoke up and broke the silence once again.

"What is that energy?"

Hearing this question almost made Darius's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. He didn't know what to say. Just earlier he told Kaito that the reason he was out here to begin with was to evaluate his position in life, which was partially true.

Now it seemed he knew exactly what he was doing out here and now he was even being questioned about it. How can he see the energy? I clearly know his quirk is bioelectricity, and it allows him to manipulate bioelectricity for various means, and sense the bioelectricity of others but he shouldn't be able to sense, feel nor see the heavenly qi he had been absorbing so how the hell did he know?

A million other thoughts on the same lines as these ran through his head, but eventually he decided to break the awkward silence on his own this time, there's no point in hiding it now so he might as well put the truth out there.

"Well...I guess you caught me. I'll tell you what it is if you tell me how you were able to see it.." Kaito's eyes brightened up after hearing Darius say this, just barely but they did indeed glow in excitement and anticipation.

"My eyes show me everything. Now tell me!"

On the contrary, Kaito was excited to hear what he was about to say while Darius was disappointed at such a bland explanation. That was until he realized just what exactly it was he said, that means Kaito might be the first person to be born with 2 separate quirks and to have 2 separate quirks.

So, he had Bioelectricity and his eyes that allowed him to "see everything" as he had stated. If that was true, then does that mean he could see people's thoughts? Memories? Just how far did such a quirk go and just what exactly did it mean for the evolution of quirks.

Ever since the age of legendary hero All Might, it has been noted that quirks have been getting stronger and stronger in attempts to keep up with the One For All quirk. It's even been theorized that each time One For All received a new host and got stronger from that, it sent out a sort of worldwide quirk factor ping that would instruct the quirk factors in newborns and in babies that remain in their embryo to grow stronger which has resulted in many quirks from this generation to be considerably more stronger than those from Izuku Midoriya's time as a UA student.

Once again, this was all a theory posed by the hero society, but of course it couldn't be confirmed by anyone.

"It's called Heavenly Qi. It's an energy formed by the heavens, given to earth through the sun, moon and various other sources that could potentially emit it."

While Darius doubted if Kaito would even understand that, he told him anyways with the hopes he'd gain somebody he could talk to about all of this.

"So you're a cultivator like in those manhuas?"

The Next Morning

He made his way home sometime during last night, explaining even though he planned to stay at his friend's house that night, he made his way back to the house after missing his mother. While it wasn't exactly a lie, he did miss his mom due to not being able to spend that much time with her because of his constant urge to test his abilities, that was far from the reason he came home, he just didn't want to stay outside for the entire day into the next morning due to crime rates going up, and he didn't want to continue any of his conversation with Kaito.

It was terrifying already that he could 'see everything' with those freakish eyes of his, but after he told him that he used heavenly qi, he even knew where it came from.

The two of them formed a small friendship after that based on the fact that they shared similar tastes in manhuas and mangas, but other than that Kaito simply left due to his curiosity of him and the energy now acknowledged as heavenly qi no longer being there. He sighed, shaking the thoughts of that Kaito conversation away as he was sitting at his desk in his room, diving into more research on "Alchemy" and not just any alchemy, but specifically the alchemy of cultivators.

In a basic sense, alchemy is when an alchemist or anyone with the knowledge to do so would put together medicinal herbs in a pill furnace to create alchemy or cultivation pills. These pills would have a variety of effects based on the ingredients put into the furnace, some pills might be able to guarantee a person a breakthrough into the next minor realm regardless of which stage of that realm they were in while others might reinforce one's body or soul.

The reason he was researching on this to begin with was simple, he couldn't rely on being limited to how much heavenly qi he could safely absorb before risking the destruction of his cultivation which he still couldn't confirm nor deny but he was not prepared to take that risk so he'd just continue assuming he had to play it safe. It's time for him to get ready for school soon regardless, and for the first time in 7 years, he was happy that it had come time to return to school from the weekend break.

In his mind he was thinking of those 2 boys that always tried making fun of him in the school, at least 1 of them specifically that would go out of their way to try making him look bad and how he would finally get his revenge. Making his way into the school building taking his regular route, pretending to act the same he usually does despite being obviously more buffer, an arm would extend out past his fast and the fist that came with it would smash into a locker just in front of where he was.

"What's up small fry!! You look like you're trying to get stronger than those of us in class, you know we can't let you do that right?"

Despite knowing exactly who it is already, Darius regretfully turned his head to the right with disdain, staring down the 16 year old boy Nagai Satoru. He was infamously known throughout the school as someone who'd bully any of the kids younger than him as long as they couldn't fight back.

It was also even more infamously known that he'd always been Nagai's favorite target as he was a bit of a quiet kid in school despite being the number 1 student in academics, he was far from being the number 1 in social skills. Anyways, he was smiling on the inside as he'd become a nearly completely different person from 2 days ago on Friday.

Not only did he have the ability to fight back, he'd bet money that he could whoop Nagai's ass if it really came down to a street fight. While technically he already knew how to perform martial arts, fruits of the Eskrima self-defense training his mother had him undergo at a younger age but despite that he'd never try fighting back because of the boy's quirk Midas Morph.

It allowed him to turn his body into gold, making him stronger, faster and more durable which gave him a huge advantage over many of the students in their school since most of them either hadn't awakened their quirk or had quirks that would get smashed by that overbearing quirk. Personally, he didn't think that the older kid had a chance at being a professional hero because only being able to increase your physical attributes wasn't going to make him a threat to many of the known villains, let alone ones that prefer to stay hidden. He still kept his thoughts to himself, still pretending to be that helpless boy from not more than 2 days ago.

Nagai's skin started shedding as it had turned into gold and he'd thrown a wild right punch towards the younger kid's chest, he was annoyed that this bastard would dare to ignore him even though he had a useless quirk.

Darius caught the upper part of his fist using his now open right palm, his gripping strength alone was enough for him to grab and redirect the older boy's fist and direct it towards the ground as he'd then bring forth his left arm with his hand open sending it under his chest and lifting his body up. With his hand/arm being pulled down, he was flipped over onto his back and then promptly kicked in the side, being sent across the hallway of the building. Everyone in the hallway was shocked at two things, the fact the infamously easy to bully Darius just sent THE Nagai Satoru flying, but also that it put a dent in the lockers that he was sent into.

Darius was holding himself back, not expecting he'd grown this strong from his last session of absorbing qi he was barely using 2/3rds of his strength and he did that much damage. Luckily, the bully didn't take much damage due to his quirk as he'd soon get up and blitz towards him, he'd go for a quick right hook only for it to be blocked with Darius's left wrist sending it upwards as he'd chop his throat with his right hand. Seven years of torment and bullying were accumulated within Darius right now, as he was not letting up his assault.

Despite knowing that chop alone would more than likely stun Nagai long enough for him to get to his class, he followed up the chop with a front-kick and fury of right and left hooks, each other hook followed up by a gut shot from the opposing arm. After around 20 hooks and 10 gut shots, he sent a right elbow right into his left jaw, immediately knocking him unconscious and out of his golden state. It was sad that he couldn't try out his true strength on his bully, but damn did it feel good to finally fight back and stand up for himself.

This great feeling did not last long as one of the top 10 heroes, Todd Angel grabbed him by the arm, dragging away from the situation and into the UA principal's office, which was hundreds of miles away.

Todd Angel was the #7 Hero currently and was a role model for many people despite his relatively low ranking in the top 10. His quirk, Removal, was also a quirk based around his eyes, similar to how Kaito had a quirk based around his eyes. However, the difference was that Todd's allowed him to see everything on the atomic level including seeing the weakest points of the atomic bonds in anything, allowing him to find the weak and stressed points of absolutely anything.

He knew very well he shouldn't even attempt fighting back against this kidnapping, let alone fighting, he couldn't break his grip without exposing how much stronger he'd gotten and even if he did break the grip he'd get knocked out immediately due to Todd seeing his weak points. As the two of them were immediately at UA High School instead of at his actual school, which he was in absolute awe of.

Entering the principal's office, on the desk was a golden name plate saying << "Japan's #1 Hero, Eve White">>. Eve White is the youngest person in history to ever reach the status of legendary hero. Receiving the title of legendary hero meant that a specific hero has done so much to help the world that they could be compared to military soldiers that protect the country.

During Izuku Midoriya's retirement, villains ran more rampant than any other moment recorded in history as he hadn't publicly announced his successor to One For All at the time, so many villains believed he simply didn't have one. In the wake of what was deemed the "Villain Uprising", Eve White stood beside the aging Legendary Heroes from when Izuku himself was but a child.

Most of them had died in combat during this time due to their old bodies not being able to keep up with this kind of lifestyle anymore, but being a more young and near her physical prime person she used her overbearing quirk, Spatial Manipulation.

It's name alone explains what it does as with it she can interact and manipulate space, the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction, within an area of one's choosing, including an area and whatever is inside of that area. With this overpowered quirk, she had nearly single-handedly cleared out most of the criminal underworld which is why even to this day there are not that many publicly known villains as her existence alone keeps many of them in check.

Due to that and her innate and exceptional intelligence, being able to be compared to former UA principle Nezu with her own natural intelligence which spoke volumes to just how impressive she was. What could this legendary figure want with a 14 year old boy who was just defending himself? Then he saw Kaito's figure standing on the edge of her desk as his eyes widened in shock, and his heart dropped once more. Oh god what did he do?..