Playing Waterbending (Avatar: Last Aibender SI)

[300k experience points have been used.]

[Chi bending has leveled up.]

[You have achieved the level of a beginner grandmaster.]

[Chi bending has been elevated.]

[Chi bending level 13.]

[You have achieved the level of a complete grandmaster.]

[You can now absorb Chi from the atmosphere and spiritual places to increase spiritual energy. Recommended places compatible with host: Ocean and Full Moon days.]

Great, I've become a Superman who now needs the ocean or the moon.

[Chi usage has been reduced by 70%.]

[You can now use Chi outside the body and shoot it.]

[The effects of previous skills have been upgraded by 50%.]

[Waterbending Skill Tree has detected a compatible skill tree.]

[You have now unlocked Bloodbending.]

Numerous notifications hit my ears.

Despite the continuous 'Ding' sounds, a big smile appeared on my face.

It drew the attention of everyone here.

"Someone looks happy," Katara said, looking at me strangely. "What's so funny?"

Right now, I was just lying on Lucy's fur, smiling like an idiot.

Of course, I'd look like an idiot since no one but me could see the system's screen.

"Well, he didn't orgasm, that's for sure," Toph commented.

"Can't you hear how ridiculous you sound?" Katara replied, annoyed.

I raised my hand and said, "I just remembered something funny from the past."

"Seriously? You guys have funny stuff at the South Pole?" Toph wondered, pointing at Sokka with her thumb. "This guy said you only had old people and children to take care of, and he boasted that he taught you how to fish."

"He's lying," I replied. "But his sister taught me waterbending."

"The basics of the basics," Katara replied. "But you discovered the rest on your own and ended up becoming my teacher."

"That only means your talent is just as bad," Toph said.

Katara raised her hand and made a V symbol while turning her head toward Toph.

Toph quickly reached out, grabbed Sokka by the shoulder, and pulled him in front of her. The earthbenders had strong bodies, so she could carry him with one arm.

Sokka quickly held his crotch and winced in pain.

"What the hell…" Sokka groaned.

"Oops… Sorry," Katara replied, biting her tongue.

I smiled, amused.

This would be the perfect time to use the weed I'd looted from the Fire Nation.

At least, that is, until I find a dangerous place to learn bloodbending.

Well, not exactly learn, but test it.

The system had a great feature called instant learning when leveling up.

Man….

I closed my eyes and decided to forget about bloodbending for a moment. Though I wouldn't forget it anytime soon—I'd been dying to achieve it—I decided to think about Chi bending.

Apparently, I could now increase my own spiritual power by breathing in the air.

Not only that, but I could use the Chi outside my body.

I was so curious that I didn't want to test it in secret.

I raised my hand and looked at it.

A blue, steam-like aura appeared above my hand.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked, seeming to have recovered.

"Just using my bending energy," I explained simply. I pointed my hand at the ceiling and shot the energy.

A blue beam of light shot from my hand and pierced the ceiling.

I felt 25% of my energy deplete.

But it was worth it.

It was so instant, so fast, and so damaging.

A perfect hole was created in the wooden ceiling.

"Sorry. I'll pay for that," I yelled.

"Are you sure that's steam?" Katara looked up. "Doesn't feel like one."

"I didn't feel anything," said Toph. "What did you do?"

"Aren't you supposed to not see when your feet aren't touching the ground?"

"Though I wonder how you know that. Yes. But I'm still wondering what you did. I'm not deaf, you know," she scolded.

"Don't worry about it. A technique I'm working on," I said. "Speaking of techniques, there's something I want to do."

"Is it about waterbending?" Katara asked, sounding interested.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Can I tag along?" she asked.

"Sure," I gave her a thumbs up.

-x-X-x-

"I don't recommend stopping by this place," the carriage driver advised as we stopped in front of a valley.

Dead trees were scattered all around.

The land seemed dry and lacked any source of water.

Not to mention, the smell of rotten flesh and the metallic scent of blood filled the air.

"He's got a point," Toph said, putting her hand on the ground. "There are beasts—large ones—living underground. They're like insects. Ewww… Cockroaches… but big ones."

"What's a cockroach?" Katara asked.

"Why, don't you have insects at the South Pole?" Toph asked, genuinely confused.

Katara and Sokka looked at each other, sounding equally confused.

"She's talking about the little animals," I said, looking forward, remembering my PTSD from facing that giant centipede. "They couldn't possibly survive the cold, Toph. So no, other than beasts that can survive the cold weather, there aren't any."

"Makes sense. And here I thought you guys were living under a rock… well, rocks have insects under them," Toph shrugged. "Anyways, are you serious about going in there with your woman just to test new techniques? Shouldn't you wait for new bounty hunters to show up?"

She seemed to be the voice of reason.

"Yes. I don't want my sister to get trapped by beasts in a closed location," Sokka said, glaring at me threateningly.

"But I want to go, and I'll be fine," Katara argued with Sokka.

"But you won't have enough water. It's too dangerous to go," Sokka insisted.

"You know, animals, big or small, all breed," I raised my hand. "In the worst case, Katara won't be trapped. The beasts will be trapped with her."

"Fine. But I swear if anything happens to her…"

"So, you're saying she's my responsibility?"

"Obviously," he crossed his arms, scowling.

"Thanks for acknowledging me, brother-in-law," I smiled and bumped his shoulder with my fist.

A few veins appeared on his face, but he didn't say a word.

And so, I walked with Katara into the valley.

"I'm excited," I admitted after we had put some distance between us.

Katara looked at me with wide eyes.

She scolded, "Unbelievable. Just because you got excited and wanted some alone time, you brought me to the most dangerous place possible."

"Uh…" I looked at her, my jaw dropping a bit. I think she misunderstood what I meant by excitement.

"Don't give me the 'Uh.' Couldn't you hold yourself back a little until we found a private place? My brother is worried to death." she replied, blushing a bit. She seemed flattered and angry at the same time but she suppressed her happiness and tried to keep a scowling face. 

"That's not what I was excited about," I said, about to clear up the misunderstanding.

But then, a giant centipede, about 5 meters long, appeared.

I pointed at it.

"What?" Katara yelped, raising her guard and grabbing water from her water pouch.

"That's a small one," I commented, thinking about how I should approach bloodbending.

The system had allowed me to gain instant muscle memory when I leveled up.

But this time, I didn't gain a new level. Instead, I received the movement set for bloodbending.

'Should I try to bend with my mind, or should I familiarize myself with the blood?'

"Ryuk," Katara said. "I don't think we can bend this one."

I smirked. "What else does it have besides the liquid of life?"

She rolled her eyes. "Flesh, bones, blood, power enough to kill us."

The centipede stood tall before charging at us.

I pointed my hands at it, then thrust to the left.

The small centipede's trajectory shifted, and it flew into a nearby rock.

"God, this is heavy," I complained. 'I need more practice, the moon, or more spiritual power.'

I waved my hands again, making the creature float in the air before slamming it down.

"What in the Polar Bears is that?" Katara was clearly dazed. "You're bending its whole body."

"Yes," I replied. Feeling a bit tired, I decided to finish the fight. As I lifted the centipede for another slam, its body froze completely. When it hit the ground, it shattered into pieces.

[Defeating a young 20-year-old Centipede King]

[+8k accumulated experience points.]

"That's bloodbending," I panted. "Well, the first part of it. The human body is mostly made of water. If you can bend the water, you can freeze it. If not, just focus on freezing the blood."

"It feels quite heavy," she said.

Only then did I realize she was pointing her hands at me. I could feel a slight tingle, but she was quite weak.

She got the hang of it instantly, but she wasn't capable of doing it yet.

I gave her a glare, a look of shock and betrayal.

"What? I was being gentle," Katara smiled bitterly.

"What about that?" I pointed at the centipede.

"You see how big that thing is?" she asked.

"Forget about it," I said. "Don't attempt it until the full moon. Well, actually, you have tonight and tomorrow."

"Why? Wasn't the full moon yesterday?"

"It lasts between two and three days."

"Awesome," she said. "I get why you were excited now."

"We'll have to do plenty of practice," I replied, looking at her. "For now, we should practice until we no longer need the full moon. Well, that's in your case, if you can do it."

In my case, I would keep practicing until I could do it with my mind.

And with the ability to increase my Chi in the ocean or during the full moon, I'd definitely have an easier time in a few months or years. Anyways, I might need to increase my Chi bending levels.

"I don't know. It seems interesting," Katara said.

I didn't think she'd approve of this technique, unlike in the original timeline. But in the original timeline, the old crazy woman used bloodbending to kidnap innocent civilians of the Fire Nation. Well, not innocent, but not as criminal as soldiers.

"It can be painful, very powerful, and considered very evil."

"More evil than what you did last night?" she asked.

"No… But it's not about Evil or Good. Bending is a tool, and you can use it accordingly." I scratched my chin. I felt a pang of guilt, to be honest. But I had desperately wanted to be a bloodbender. Imagine how awesome it would be to go to the Fire Nation, invade the Fire Lord's palace, bloodbend everyone, humiliate them, and end the war before walking out.

"Makes sense," she said, her voice worried. "Besides, with this, it'll be easy to protect our people if the Fire Nation decides to go after the South Pole."

"No need to worry. They have a bunch of metalbenders and dustbenders expanding knowledge about explosives and metalbending to worry about," I said. "Let's continue hunting small animals."

"Remind me what's small again?" Katara asked, giving the remains of the centipede a side glance.