Chapter 3: A Hotel
We soon arrived at Heaven's Gate, which was considered the best restaurant in New York. with foods ranging in the hundreds. this wasn't a place you came to eat to get full, but a place you came to show off you had the money.
before we could enter, we had to show we had already booked a seat. people couldn't just enter this place, one needed the money. but that was just the most basic of seats, for the VIP, money wasn't everything. one needed both money and statues.
We soon arrived at our seat, which was next to the window. allowing us to enjoy the view of the city from above. already, Collin's girlfriend was sitting with 3 other girls awaiting our arrival. We were all wearing clothing that fit the moment, with me being the only one with a suit.
I was quite handsome, handsome enough to take a beauty like Lisa even when I was at my lowest. I was young, currently 19 years old. I had short black hair and an appearance that was 8/10. adding the suit which brought out my charm, and my eyes which were slightly blue at the moment, which had increased to a 9/10.
as for how Collin and the others didn't notice why eyes... well, I couldn't even remember the color of their eyes. It was not like we were looking deeply into each other eyes. I was well built, mostly skinny as I didn't eat much, even so, my physique was lining more towards a balanced physique since I also worked out.
we were all charming in our way. we were no pretty boys, although I fit that role more than the others. Anyway, we all took a seat with Collin sitting opposite his girlfriend, while we followed after.
"Collin, these are my roommates. Emma, Sarah, and Sophia." Collin's girlfriend said, introducing her dormmates in order. Collin's girlfriend was called Hannah, she was a beautiful white girl with long blonde hair.
next to her was Emma, a black girl with a good physique which showed she was into sports, among them she seemed to be the least interested in beauty and such, as she had on a simple dress and little makeup.
next to Emma, was Sarah. a Light-skinned girl, she seemed to be the pretty girl of the group. she had the most makeup, painted nails, and an expensive dress. she also had this cocky air about her.
lastly, Sophia. She looked Latino, but I didn't want to be the racest. she is a beautiful woman with the best figure in the group. but she was currently on her phone, ignoring everyone.
"These are my dormmates. Abel, Alex, and Abdi." Collin said, introducing us in order as well. Abel sat opposite Emma, I sat opposite Sarah, and Abdi sat opposite Sophia. we all greeted each other, but with Sophia on her phone and half-assly greeting Abdi, Abdi got annoyed. but I slapped his leg to make sure this guy watched himself.
"so, what took you guys so long?" Hannah asked with an interested look, as we were a few minutes late.
"you know, traffic," Collin said with a smile, since I wanted to keep my findings to myself, we all agreed not to tell anyone.
"I'm Sarah, nice to meet you," Sarah said with a charming smile, while sizing up the suit I was wearing. her eyes were sharp and could tell I had some money. She held her hand out to shake mine and I did the same.
"I'm Alexander, but I go by Alex," I said with a slight smile. and with that, we all began talking while waiting for someone to come get our order. which didn't take long, we all ordered and returned to talking to each other, and soon food arrived.
once the food arrived we all shut our mouths and began eating. it was not every day you could eat something that cost hundreds. We had good wine, and good food to enjoy. although I rather have Sprite or something like that, I wasn't complaining.
"I should get going..." Sophia said calmly after finishing her meal and left, I looked at her with a speechless look before looking at Collin. Abdi and Abel also looked at him with a stunned look. from start to finish, she never even acknowledged Collin's existence, all she did was use her phone and half-assly talk to Abdi who was trying to do something, eat, and leave.
Collin looked at us for a moment, before looking at Hanna, Sarah, and Emma, before shaking his head. he had offered to take them out and pay. so he couldn't take back his words. Of course, he was displeased with Sophia. but he was unwilling to take his word back,
things were a bit awkward after this, with Hannah lowering her head in embarrassment. she didn't expect Sophia to act like this. well, we quickly finished up our meal. Collin was the one to pay, a shocking bill of over 2k. shockingly, Sophia's bill was the highest. We got up to leave, but just as we were about to, Sarah came up to me.
"Can I get your number? I would like to hang out some other time." She said with a smile, at her words, I froze for a moment before I shook my head.
"Sorry, but I lost my phone. I will get a new phone on Friday. " I said with a smile, today was Wednesday. Sarah was stunned at my words, but she nodded slightly in understanding before she grabbed a pen to write her number down, and gave it to me.
"... why didn't you give her your number?" Abdi asked thinking my actions were stupid,
"she is only interested in me because she can see how expansive the suit is. plus, she isn't my type. if you want it, then here." I said with a shrug, giving Abdi the number which he happily took. after getting the cold shoulder from Sophia, he wanted to vent.
"drop me off, I wish to go for a walk," I said softly seeing Collin stopping at a red light. Collin frowned for a moment, but remembering how Lisa dumped me, he said nothing and gave me some space. saying bye, they drove off.
"what's wrong?" Nami's voice entered my head, I looked at the busy streets of New York, and at the sun which would soon set, before frowning.
'I felt a strange ripple... wait, are your senses not good?' I asked with a frown as I could sense something the phone couldn't sense.
"well... I didn't know I was the super sensing phone. give me one second to see if something is wrong." Nami said in annoyance,
'No need to get smart.' I thought while walking towards where I felt the energy. eye senses were pushed to their fullest, not wanting to walk into something I couldn't handle.
on top of a rood down apartment building, an old man was fleeing at top speed while dark blue robes assassins followed after, swords in hands. this old man was a Japanese man.
the speed they were running at was at least 50 mph. they could easily jump from rooftop to rooftop, giving the illusion that they were gliding. what was weird was that even when they landed on the ground before others, no one could see them as if they were ghosts. ahead of the old man was a Japanese woman, she had on a beautiful blue dress, but at the moment it was covered in her blood.
"Leady Rin! Go on ahead, I will hold them off." the Japanese man roared, with how things were going, the young miss wouldn't be able to quick up her escape at top speed, so he planned to buy time, while she went to go hide.
the woman, called Rin bit her lips hearing this. With slight tears in her eyes, she disappeared, using the buildings as a cover, before continuing to run straight. She was reaching her limit, she was poisoned. the poison wasn't strong enough to kill her, but if she didn't take the time to sit down and deal with the poison, she would surely die.
seeing up ahead, a forest. she sighed softly. She could hide in there, while slowly dealing with the poison, but this sense of relief led to her body relaxing slightly. leading her to feel pain. thanks to the pressure she was under, it had suppressed the pain for her, to make things worse, she had lost a lot of blood, making her head light.
due to this, she tripped, sending her falling off the roof, and on top of a trashcan below. moaning in pain, she forced herself to get up. She looked at the alleyway she was in before her eyes landed on someone entering the alleyway. She ignored him, due to a special item, normal humans couldn't even sense her. She had to leave before those assassins caught up,
"you okay?" the young man looking right at her asked, causing her to freeze. who else could this be than Alex? he was just walking over when he saw this girl falling from the roof. by the looks of things, the fall didn't hurt her.
"you can see me... you must leave." She said quickly, before her face paled, she looked up just to see a kunai shooting toward her and Alex. Gritting her teeth, she forced her body to move forward, where she pulled a sword from seemingly nowhere, to block the kunai that was going to hit Alex.
"This is between me and my brother. it's shameful to bring others into this." She said through deep breath, she wanted to stand but she fell to one knee, unable to stay standing.
the assassin jumped off the roof and walked towards her. he pulled out his sword, ready to cut her head off, but at the last moment, the assassin shot backward, looking at me with an unguarded look. I looked at the assassin with a stunned look, just when I thought of attacking him, this assassin sensed my intent and acted.
"So, since you can sense my intent to attack, that means there is such a thing as killing intent? That's so cool." I asked with a smile while walking towards the assassin. who took a step back, but I stopped looking at him and turned to look towards the girl who was kneeling. in my eyes, the assassin had left behind an after image, while he shot toward this girl.
"so slow," I said while disappearing, appearing before the assassin and punching him hard in the stomach. the assassin instantly coughed up mouthfuls of blood, before falling to the ground, leaving me stunned.
"my bad, I thought I was holding back," I said not used to seeing so much blood. but to my horror, the assassin stopped moving, dead. I stood there froze for a moment. this was the first time I killed someone... but I quickly got used to it after a moment, which shocked me.
"thank you." struggling to stand, the Japanese woman tried her best. but all she could do was stand on one knee. She breathed heavily, her eyes slowly losing some light.
"... I will take you to the hospital," I said while walking up to her to help her stand up, but she shook her head slightly.
"take me to the Soft Sky Hotel... please," She said weakly, stunning me slightly. but I nodded at her request. I didn't know if these people couldn't go to hospitals or something, so I would do as she asked. So, I helped her up, before placing her on my back, which she was uneasy about at first. but once I began running, she held onto me for dear life.
"Alright, we're now here... now what?" I asked after arriving at the hotel, to which she went on to tell me to book a room on the highest floor. She gave me a golden card which allowed me to get the best room possible, after which we took the stairs. By taking the stairs, I mean I easily jumped to the highest floor, leaving her stunned at my physique as she couldn't sense me using Qi.
upon arrival at our floor, I went to the room I bought and went on to place her on the bed. just as I was about to leave, the woman who was sighing in relief at being safe spoke.
"... can you be my bodyguard for the night? I will pay you well, I promise?" she said weakly, I looked at her for a moment, before sighing and nodding my head. I went on to make sure the windows were covered, I didn't want my face to be seen by others.
"So, can I get a name?" I asked while going to look for something to eat, and she went on to sit down and crossed her legs. at my words, she hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Rin Minamoto." She said softly, but I did not react while still looking for food, she was stunned as she was famous within the cultivation world. grabbing a few things to drink and eat, while giving her my name. I said nothing else and simply watched as Rin used a technique to speed up her natural recovery speed.
under my eyes, I could see how her cuts were being closed. the poison in her body was destroyed, while her blood was empowered by the energy in the air she was absorbing, leading to the cell division speeding up greatly
after 30 minutes, Rin had regained some of her strength. She could be said to have reached 70%. letting out a deep breath, before getting up. sure she had used the Qi in the air to restore, but this left her body low on energy.
She looked towards Alex, only to see me going through the TV channels searching for something to watch. she hesitated for a moment, before speaking.
"Might I know what power you came from?" She asked. she got a good look at Alex. Alex is a light-skinned young man with show hair, she was stunned at how young he looked, and the fact she had never seen him before.
"I have no power backing me," I said, stunning Rin. She fell into deep thought for a moment, before her eyes brightened for a moment.
"then, what do you think of joining my Minamoto family," Rin said causing my eyebrow to raise for a moment, before shaking my head.
"I'm currently in high school. I have no interest in getting my hands dirty with troublesome stuff." I said making Rin's eyes narrow, she looked deeply at me for a moment, and I just looked back at her.
"alright. so you want to keep a normal life. how about we work together, Sir Alex? You help me and I help you with anything you might wish for." She said with a slight bow. She remembered seeing the punch Alex gave that assassin, one punch, and the guy was dead, and all done without the need for Qi.
"What type of help do you want?" I asked lazily, while looking at her face which was covered with dry blood.
"Before that, you should understand why I was being targeted." She said before taking a deep breath. it turned out Rin was the young daughter of one of the most powerful clans in Japan. She had come to New York with her uncle on a business trip.
but the people they were doing business with suddenly attacked them. it turned out they were working with her twin brother. As for why her brother wanted her dead, it was so his path to being the next clan leader would be smooth. what she needed my help with was to support her in becoming the next clan leader.
"Tell me a thing or two about cultivation. why isn't it so popular? just so you know, I know nothing about it." I said calmly, Rin was stunned for a moment but she still told me.
cultivation wasn't a thing for hundreds of years. it only returned about 18 years ago, and ever since people around the world have begun to cultivate once more. but it was not so simple, not everyone could cultivate. because of this, cultivation was kept top secret by all of the powers around the world, slowly allowing the world to cultivate and slowly allow others to cultivate when the time was right.
those stories of people going 49 days or so without eating? all were cultivators, but they were coming from an era where cultivation was dying. form stories of ascending and going to heaven and so on. They were all cultivators, and among the very last to do so, cultivation was getting harder and harder over the passage of years.
"Qi is the main thing needed to cultivate, with it we can use it to strengthen our body, improve our lifespan, and so many more. but it had disappeared, only a small amount is in the air for now." Rin said to which I nodded slightly, before looking towards the door.
"the door isn't locked. you can enter." I said calmly, after a moment, the door opened and a middle-aged man wearing robes entered. Rin seeing this man jumped in joy and flew into his arms, the middle-aged man hugged her deeply before looking towards me.
"thank you for protecting my nephew, please name a price." the middle-aged man said while copping his fist, and bowing slightly.
"anything?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, to which the middle-aged man nodded slightly. during the chaos, he wasn't there and his nephew was nearly killed. She was the one he was supporting to be the next in line to be the clan leader, if she had been killed when she was under his watch, he didn't know how he would face his brother.
"I already promised him a payment... but, what do you think about our agreement?" Rin asked with hopeful eyes.
"I don't know how I could support you from all the way here," I said calmly,
"I want you to be my teacher." She said with a smile, leaving me and her uncle stunned. Rin looked at me deeply before speaking.
"you didn't use Qi, but I feel like you used something else. I wish to learn to use that other thing... I will pay you. 100 billion Yen a month?" She said leaving me confused as I didn't know the conversion rate
"around $690 million... but I will round it up to 700 million." She said, leaving me stunned. was she so rich? meanwhile, her Uncle frowned, looking at RIn and me for some time,
"Sir... I mean no disrespect. but can I test your skills to see what my daughter sees in you?" He asked to which I shrugged slightly, before getting up. this guy was strong. I wanted to know what he could do as well.
"My name is Riki Minamoto." He said while pulling out his sword, I nodded slightly before giving him my name as well. Riki's eyed me for some time. we both eyed each other, with Riki easily finding a bunch of openings since I didn't have my guard up.
With a slight frown, he stepped forward. at a speed that his normal eye couldn't keep up with, he flashed before me, with his sword cutting through the air toward me. but it was the dull end of his sword.
To his shock, the blade stopped before me, unable to touch me. I looked at the sword for a moment before I took a step forward while increasing the power of the wall of Infinity. Riki tried to stand his ground, but he was forced to step back. seeing this, I shook my head while turning to leave.
"If you can find me then sure, I don't mind," I said while going to the window, and jumping out. this scene shocked Rin as they were on the tallest floor of the building more than 250 meters above the ground. but when they looked out the window, I was nowhere to be found, long gone.
"... Rin. tell me everything you know about that man." Riki said seriously.
Weekly Power Status
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