Chapter 90: Explosive Flames and Qi
Robert and Johnny were unaware of the events involving the Saint Master and Valon. After briefly discussing the recent happenings with Robert, Johnny unhesitatingly handed over the Dragon Talisman to Robert.
When Johnny first received the Dragon Talisman, he was excited. He looked forward to using it in battle, but now, he was just exhausted. All he wanted was a good sleep and to go home to fix up his house...
"Goodbye, Robert..." Johnny and Susan waved at Robert, watching as he vanished into thin air before turning away.
"It's over, the extraordinary world has nothing to do with me anymore. You don't have to worry..." Johnny felt a slight reluctance in losing the Dragon Talisman but quickly adjusted his mindset.
"Yeah, the extraordinary world has nothing to do with us anymore. Are we not going to see Robert again?" Susan seemed a bit more disappointed than Johnny.
"Eh? Susan, my older sister, you're not thinking about robbing the cradle, are you?" Johnny exaggeratedly exclaimed to Susan.
"What are you talking about?" Susan blushed and glared at Johnny. "I just felt that he saved my life, and I didn't even get a chance to thank him. It seems like he didn't even care..."
"People from the extraordinary world think differently from us ordinary folks, right? Hmm?" Johnny said with a laugh, waving his hand. Suddenly, he paused; his fingertips glowed red for a moment, with a flash of fire, but it disappeared when Johnny looked closely.
"What's wrong?" Susan asked, puzzled, looking at the paused Johnny.
"Nothing, probably just an illusion!" Johnny shook his hand again, and the fire didn't reappear, leading him to believe he was just tired and seeing things. "Let's go find a place to rest. I'm exhausted..."
Meanwhile, after receiving the Dragon Talisman, Robert studied its power. The explosive flame power was something Robert didn't possess.
Qi waves were more like pure energy. There were few techniques with attributes like lightning, like the Shocking Palm of All Nations. However, if one could evolve the Shocking Palm to have lightning attributes, there should be a way to develop fire attributes as well.
Especially since Qi waves could release extremely high temperatures and explosive power, even transforming into pure light like the Solar Flare. This gave Robert hope.
Robert quickly contacted Jackie Chan, expressing his desire to study the Dragon Talisman for a few days. Jackie, who was on his way, agreed without much hesitation and left an address for Robert.
Despite limited interaction, Jackie had a good grasp of Robert's character. He knew Robert must have found something interesting in the Dragon Talisman and wanted to explore it. He wasn't worried about Robert claiming the talisman for himself.
Frankly, Jackie felt that the talisman might be safer with Robert than in the world's most secure Area 13. Jackie had to admit that there was some truth to what Jade had said earlier...
After contacting Jackie, Robert had no intention of returning to the Kent Farm. With Johnny and Susan's incident as a lesson, Robert couldn't risk taking the Dragon Talisman back and exposing the farm's location.
Robert transformed back into Kakarot and found a place to train and study the Dragon Talisman's power. It wasn't that Robert deliberately skipped classes, but he worried that his presence in school might cause an explosion.
Even if the school wasn't destroyed, the possibility of the Shadow Ninjas appearing and harming or scaring students and teachers wasn't something he wanted.
Robert explained this to Clark, who was helpless but understood he couldn't allow Robert to bring the Dragon Talisman to school, knowing the Shadow Ninjas might appear.
For this reason, Clark once again contacted Robert's teacher, Selina, and was even forced to agree to a dinner with her. Then, Clark experienced a headache.
Somehow, Lana learned about the dinner between Selina and Clark and also scheduled a dinner on the same day. Clark felt like he was surrounded by spies!
Fortunately, everything was resolved smoothly. Clark prepared two sets of clothes and attended both dinners at superhuman speed. Selina didn't notice anything unusual, but Lana's smirking gaze made Clark uncomfortable.
Clark certainly didn't forget Robert, the root cause of it all. If it weren't for Robert's research on the Dragon Talisman, none of this would have happened.
Clark thought about making Robert experience the same awkwardness, but eventually gave up. Kara and Diana's powers were far beyond Lana and Selina's. Clark didn't know Diana well, but he knew Kara's temper. If it came to it, one Kent Farm wouldn't be enough to contain the fallout, and Robert might not even feel embarrassed...
Robert was unaware of Clark's thoughts but got first-hand gossip about Clark's experiences, as Kara was right beside him.
In fact, the reason Lana knew about Clark and Selina's dinner was also because of Kara, not Martha.
Influenced by Martha, both Robert and Kara were keeping a closer eye on Lana, especially since she knew about Clark's abilities for many years. Lana was more reliable than Selina.
"This Dragon Talisman is that interesting? You've been studying it for days without going home," Kara said after recounting Clark's story, looking at the talisman in Robert's hand with discontent.
"Almost there. I'm not just studying the talisman. My focus is on converting Qi into other types of energy," Robert shook his head, explaining seriously. "Like you and Clark, you have heat vision and freeze breath, the ability to create hurricanes. These are all evolutions of the energy from the sun in your bodies!"
"Qi is pure energy, without inherent attributes, but it should also be able to develop in these directions. If I can figure this out, my understanding and development of Qi will rapidly improve, possibly allowing me to use a fraction of the Qi for tenfold the effect!"
"Similarly, I hope to completely suppress the Great Ape's power into my normal state using Qi, which would significantly enhance my combat strength!"
"I get it, it's about increasing combat strength. But isn't training the same?" Kara pouted, somewhat disinterested.
"No! It's different!" Robert shook his head, his thoughts drifting away.