"That's good then." Seeing that he didn't have to pay, Saitama breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mumen, Genos, you two stay behind. I'll teach you something," Saitama said, turning to the two. "As for Fubuki, you can head back."
"Then I'll be going too?" Saitama asked.
Lexon glanced at him.
The meaning in his eyes was clear.
'You're Genos's master. It's one thing to dump your apprentice on me, but you're actually trying to slip away yourself?'
Saitama naturally understood Lexon's meaning. He scratched his shiny bald head sheepishly and stood to the side without another word.
"Mist Swordsman... could I stay too?" Fubuki, who was about to be sent away, spoke up.
Her tone was incredibly sincere, her expression completely serious.
At this moment, she had abandoned all thoughts of recruiting the two into the Fubuki Group.
In fact, she was even beginning to give up on the idea of forming a combat force through numbers.
Because after witnessing the battle between those two...
Fubuki now realized that no matter how many people were in a group, there were heights that simply could not be reached.
Low-quality quantity could never lead to a qualitative change.
No matter how many people she recruited or how large the Fubuki Group became, she could never become truly powerful that way.
"Your reason?" Lexon didn't refuse her outright, seeing how serious she was.
Although Fubuki had been pestering them lately, they had shared many meals and games together.
"I want to get stronger... I want to be like my sister..." Fubuki responded firmly.
She realized this was an opportunity to grow stronger and refused to let it slip away.
"That doesn't seem to have much to do with me," Lexon replied flatly.
"..." Fubuki bit her lower lip and lowered her head, pleading, "Please."
Saitama, Genos, and Mumen remained silent.
This was Lexon's decision, and they wouldn't interfere.
Lexon didn't speak immediately, watching the bowing Fubuki as if weighing the situation.
"I can agree to it," Lexon finally said.
"Really?!" Surprised, Fubuki snapped her head up.
"But there's a condition."
"I'll agree to any condition!" Fubuki blurted out before he could even explain.
'Any condition?'
For a moment, the expressions of the onlookers became a bit subtle.
"Any condition?" Lexon repeated.
Realizing the impropriety of her words, the surprise on Fubuki's face vanished, and her cheeks flushed crimson.
The curvaceous woman took a small step back, clutching her long green coat with her slender hands, her voice clearly flustered. "I... that's... I didn't mean... *that* kind of thing is definitely off-limits!"
"What's going on in that head of yours?" Lexon gave Fubuki a look that asked if she was okay. "Don't worry, my condition is much more normal than whatever you're thinking."
"Then what is it?" Fubuki asked, her heart finally settling.
"Defeat your sister, and as a condition of your victory, have her stay with me for a while," Lexon proposed.
"What? You want to..."
"Relax, I have no designs on your sister. I just want to research her power."
Knowing his words were slightly ambiguous, Lexon added the explanation before Fubuki could finish.
Lexon's goal was actually quite simple.
He would definitely need to sign-in with Tornado eventually, but his current relationship with her was far from good.
In fact, because he had snatched credit for several incidents, Tornado might even harbor a grudge against him.
Furthermore, Tornado was the type who was all pride and no sweetness.
Reaching a relationship level where he could smoothly sign-in was clearly going to be a hassle.
Therefore, having the supposedly weak Fubuki challenge her overprotective sister to a 'reckless' battle, setting terms like 'giving up playing house with groups' beforehand, and then unexpectedly defeating her to force Tornado to honor the deal... wasn't that a perfectly logical plan?
Yes, Lexon's goal was exactly that simple.
This would save him from having to proactively deal with the troublesome Tornado to earn sign-in eligibility.
Otherwise, given Tornado's personality, a forced interaction might lead to him having to resort to 'signing-in by force' eventually.
If possible, Lexon preferred to use normal means.
Although he was a self-interested person who enjoyed a bit of chaos, he still labeled himself as a righteous character.
Why would Lexon do the things bad guys do?
Right?
"If that's the condition, I accept," Fubuki replied. "But I hope you won't do anything bad to my sister."
As a younger sister, even if she felt looked down upon, she still cared for her sister deep down.
"Yeah, alright," Lexon said with a smile.
Next, Lexon had Mumen, Genos, and Fubuki stand together and listen carefully.
"What I'm going to teach you is a type of taijutsu called the Eight Inner Gates."
Under their expectant gazes, Lexon made his announcement.
That's right, he had chosen to teach the ultimate technique he had obtained from Might Guy: the Eight Inner Gates.
"What are the Eight Inner Gates?" Mumen was the first to ask.
"A technique that removes the body's limits on Chakra, allowing excess energy to be released," Lexon explained.
"What's Chakra?" Fubuki asked, hearing the unfamiliar term.
"You can think of it as a type of life energy," Lexon answered.
Of course, life energy wasn't exactly the same as Chakra.
And naturally, the three who were born in the One Punch Man world didn't possess Chakra.
However, Lexon was fully capable of converting a person's life energy into Chakra and ensuring their bodies would automatically produce it in the future.
This wasn't particularly strange; the Naruto world didn't have Chakra either before Kaguya brought it.
Therefore, the authority to bestow Chakra was something Lexon had acquired through his sign-ins.
So, there was no issue with him putting it that way.
"Then how do we train in the Eight Inner Gates, Mr. Lexon?" Genos asked.
"Like this." Saying so, Lexon walked past the three bewildered students and patted each of them on the head.
Suddenly, Genos and the others felt as if something had been poured into their minds.
It was... everything regarding the Eight Inner Gates.
What the eight gates were... how to flow Chakra through the meridians...
How to use it... how to train...
In an instant, it was all etched into their memories.
At the same time, they could feel that surging 'Chakra' within them...
"This is...?!" The three were utterly shocked.
What kind of power was this?
It completely exceeded their imagination!
"Alright, work's done." Lexon clapped his hands. "Just follow what's in your heads. If you hit a bottleneck, come find me."
"Is that it?" Saitama, watching from the side, had a strange look on his face.
"What else did you expect?" Lexon replied casually. "The method is already stuffed into their brains. As long as they follow it, there shouldn't be any problems... and even if there are, I can easily fix them."
Having signed-in for the Eight Inner Gates hundreds of times, Lexon—who had it deeply imprinted in his body and soul—was that confident.
With his current ability, if he wanted to, he could even open the eight gates for a dog without any issue.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]