Three weeks earlier, while Kira was still unconscious.
Suzuki Clan, Clan Hall.
“The message has been sent. All that’s left now is to wait.”
Clan Leader Suzuki Koto sat on his chair at the head of the Clan Hall. His wife, Naomi, sat by his side as he addressed the Clan’s Elders. Despite his worry about Kira’s condition, he could only trust Doctor Furuka to do what she could to help her while he settled the business of the clan. However, he wouldn’t just leave his only daughter’s side for just any business.
Those Elders of the clan nodded in acknowledgement. What the Clan Leader spoke of was, of course, the rejection of the Oda Clan’s marriage proposal. Once the Clan Leader had outlined his plan, they had unanimously agreed. This was what was best for the Clan. However…
“Clan Leader, is the Young Miss up to the task? Whatever the Oda Clan’s retaliation may be, it will definitely not be light.”
“I second that. She may be talented but she isn’t even eight years old. While she may be safe at Doctor Furuka’s clinic, she will still be in a weakened state when she returns. Also, in terms of raw talent, Young Master Kagetsuna is far beyond her.”
“Elder Jushirou, Elder Hane, don’t worry about my daughter. I’m sure all of you are aware of yesterday’s incident.”
The Elders nodded. How could they not be? The turbulent winds and strong energy fluctuations had actually startled them out of their cultivation states. With their level of cultivation, they could identify each of the individual clan members by the energy currents when releasing Skills alone. That was why when they realised that Kira was giving off that kind of power, it shocked them to the core.
“As you know, the source of that strange occurrence was none other than my own daughter, haha. The esteemed Elders should give her more credit.”
The faces of those Elder’s present visibly paled. Although they did not have much contact with Kira, they were well aware of her current strength. Being at the Foundation rank, the strongest Skill she could muster should only be at the high-level of the Basic rank. Yet, her skill was at the very least of the low-level Advanced-rank, if not middle-level.
“Although she failed in the end and we have no idea where she learned a Skill that powerful, the fact remains that she may have been hiding her true strength from all of us. Therefore, I feel that the honourable Elders shouldn’t have reason to worry.”
A soft, clear voice rose from the side which silenced all the others present. When the Clan Leader’s wife spoke, even the heavens had to listen.
In the past, when there was great debate within the Suzuki Clan’s upper echelons, her words always seemed to cut straight to the heart of the issue and solve it within the span of a few sentences. Even those stubborn Elders listened intently when she spoke.
No one knew where the easygoing and straightforward Clan Leader found this wise and intelligent woman who was much more than just a crystal vase, let alone managed to capture her heart.
Some rumours say that she was an advisor to the Moonsilver Empire’s Imperial Family while others speculated that she was once the leader of an underground intelligence network. Naomi had heard all of these rumours before and could only smile to herself. Was a woman that was clever really so rare?
“Very well then, us Elders will entrust this matter to the Clan Leader’s children. However, if something goes awry, we will have to intervene.”
“As will we.”
Said Naomi and Koto in unison.
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On the Easternmost part of the city of Edge stood a complex. It laid within the city but was cut-off from the rest of it by a large stone wall several meters high. Beyond the wall’s large oaken gate, which was always guarded by two Soul Spirit-ranked clansmen, were the living- and training quarters of Edge’s powerful Oda Clan.
Due to their long history and position in the city, the Oda clan members enjoyed a certain level of both wealth and status. They controlled about 40% of all the trade goods coming in and out of Edge and it might even be said that those Oda Clan members were the wealthiest in the city.
In the centre of this complex was a large mansion built from solid stone blocks which looked almost like a castle. Its fortified walls had endured many attacks during times of war with the border states and it was large enough to house the entire Oda Clan should a dangerous situation occur. In these times of peace, however, it served as the abode of the Oda Clan’s Clan Leader, Oda Takaharu.
This Oda Clan Leader was enjoying a cup of fine sake in his chambers, contemplating how to expand his influence on Edge when there was a rhythmic knock at his door.
“Enter.”
The door creaked open and one of his personal messengers stood there, breathless. Seeing the scroll in the messenger’s hand, Oda Takaharu was excited beyond words. If it was what he thought it was, then his opportunity to have the entirety of Edge in his grasp was just a few steps away. However, he remembered that girl’s reaction to his proposal and his joy was somewhat dulled.
After dismissing the messenger, he tore open the seal on the scroll, unfurled it and read. As his eyes scanned the page, his expression grew darker and darker.
“She humbly refuses…Will take full responsibility when she recovers…Sincere apologies...What is this rubbish?!”
A flicker of bright blue light flashed across his palm and the scroll was incinerated. Dark ashes scattered to the floor becoming embedded in the thick rug that covered the floor, the ashes as black as the Clan Leader's mood. He was not a patient man. Although he had been insulted, he had given them some leeway because he knew that, in the end, it would only be to his benefit. But now they had still refused him. What’s more, he couldn’t touch that girl until she was back in the clan. For her to die in the clinic was far too conspicuous.
“Fine, seeing as you intend to take full responsibility, Suzuki Kira, as soon as you leave that place, don’t expect me to be merciful.”
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Present time.
Kira’s eyebrows were slightly knit together due to her intense concentration. While cultivating this morning, she had sensed something unusual happening within her. Her usually calm and tranquil gaseous Soul Energy had suddenly become active throughout her entire body and begun to circulate wildly without her controlling it.
‘Is this it? Am I finally breaking through?’
The night after Kira had regained consciousness she had begun cultivating but realised that she had hit her first bottleneck. After awakening from her unconscious state the previous day, she had found that her Soul Energy had greatly increased after her ordeal with Burning Soul and now she finally had the chance to advance to the next stage.
Although she had continued cultivating throughout the entire night, there didn’t seem to be any change within her until now, in the middling hours of the morning.
She had read countless scrolls on how to go about breaking through into the Core rank, but reading about it and actually having to do it were two very different things, especially as her energy control was severely lacking. Right now, though, her skin was like a vacuum, unceasingly and violently drawing more and more energy into her body at a rate that was faster than she could refine it.
At the same time, she knew that, aside from refining energy at maximum speed, she had to consciously form that liquid Core that would be the source of her Soul Energy. For now, though, her instincts told her that she didn’t quite have enough energy yet and focused on refining the torrent of incoming natural energy into Soul Energy.
As the refined Soul Energy was deposited into her dantian, she could feel that gaseous cloud of energy becoming denser and denser, condensing from a fine mist into a translucent cloud that spiralled around a central point.
‘Now. It’s time to begin.’
When she shifted her focus from refining, she was surprised to find that her body seemed to be running on autopilot, just about keeping up with the refining. Putting that thought aside she focused her mental strength on that cloud of gas, trying her utmost to compress and condense it into a liquid form. However, the gaseous energy kept squeezing out from between her mental “fingers” as soon as it was placed under any kind of pressure.
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After trying in vain for the space of ten breaths, Kira gave up and searched through her memories of the countless scrolls. After a while an idea hit her.
‘I must be a fool. Just when I thought I was getting used to this world. Energy control is just too important.’
Kira’s mental strength delved into her muscles and skin withdrawing a semi-liquid-like substance that was blood-red in colour. Compared to the calmness of her Soul Energy, her Life Energy was brimming with vitality. Forcefully moulding it into a hollow sphere-like shape around that translucent blue cloud, she then used her mental strength to apply pressure to that pulsating blood-red sphere.
The results were much better than before. Although her Life Energy was more volatile, under her careful watch, she made sure that the sphere didn’t rupture as it slowly but surely got increasingly smaller and that translucent cloud became more and more opaque. After some time, that blue Soul Energy within began to shine with a gentle radiance.
When the red orb with blue light now shining out of it reached the size of a golf ball, to Kira’s dismay, it suddenly refused to become any smaller.
‘What’s happening? I can feel that it’s not yet completely formed the Core so why is it stopping?’
Rivulets of sweat had long since been running down Kira’s face as she concentrated. The compression had gone at a steady rate until now, when it seemed to have hit a wall.
‘I think, what I need, is more energy.’
This entire time her body had continued refining energy and a thin blue haze of energy was surrounding the red-blue orb at its centre. Although Kira wasn’t completely certain of what to do at this point, as the scrolls she had read hadn’t mentioned these kinds of difficulties, she now had to improvise.
While maintaining the small orb at her centre, she formed another layer of Life Energy around the free blue mist and began compressing that as well, hoping that the additional compression force she exerted on both Life Energy layers would push through this blockage she faced. As the outer red sphere got smaller, the amount of force Kira had to manage between the two layers and from the Soul Energy pushing back against her efforts made her furrow her brows as she pushed herself to her limits.
It was then that that dark fear in her heart rose up from its slumber once more.
‘Wait, if I continue like this, under all this pressure, won’t these Twin Energies fuse into Quintessence? With the large amount of energy I’m just about controlling right now, it would be like creating Quintessence using all my body’s energy!’
This thought caused Kira’s focus to waver and the layered spheres of Life Energy started to tremble, threatening to break apart.
Just as the cold tendrils of fear were starting to invade her mind, the inner Life Energy sphere suddenly trembled and, all at once, compressed to the size of a marble. With Kira’s mental strength, she saw that the brightly glowing blue Soul Energy inside that red marble was no longer exerting any outward force. At the same time, it refused to be compressed any further, the energy within swirling around harmoniously in varying shades of blue.
Before she had a chance to express her joy, that marble-sized sphere of Soul Energy began to spin rapidly and, as it did so, was emitting a massive suction force. Quickly she realised that she needed to withdraw her Life Energy. If that blood-red Life Energy was pulled in under that kind of force, there was no question that it would forcibly mix with that condensed Soul Energy and form a concentrated mass of Quintessence, enough to burn through her body a million times over.
Fighting every urge to give in to the panic induced by her fear of Burning Soul occurring again, Kira's already greatly expended mental strength was driven to action once more, forcibly tearing away those spherical shells of Life Energy from the suction force and transferring it back into her muscles and blood vessels while the blue marble of Soul Energy greedily absorbed streams of the gaseous Soul Energy around it.
When that blue mist was completely absorbed, the marble temporarily paused before linking itself directly to Kira’s Soul Paths. That violent suction force on Kira skin from when her breakthrough started greatly increased once again, to the point that Kira felt like a black hole, as the natural energy was forcibly drawn from the surroundings into her Soul Paths and dragged through her cultivation route before being directly deposited into that blue marble.
Due to the sheer amount of energy passing through the Soul Paths, they were under much more strain than usual. Unknown to Kira, if it wasn’t for that light tempering due to using Burning Soul the first time, they may not have endured it and ripped open. Luckily, the heavens were smiling on her and, instead, with their extra flexibility and toughness, they compressed the mass of incoming energy into a liquid form instead of becoming damaged.
Once she withdrew the Life Energy shells, Kira was no longer in control of what was happening and could only relax and let things take its course. Although she hated not being in control of her fate, this was something unavoidable and would only be of benefit to her when it succeeded.
It had to be said that Kira’s heart was pounding wildly. Now that things were proceeding smoothly again, that darkness in her heart receded again and the fear slowly faded but she was still visibly shaken, her fast breathing uneven.
‘One wrong move and I would’ve died again. This is just ridiculous. I can’t keep going on fearing that I’ll make a mistake and kill myself. Continuing to live in fear like this can’t be called living.’
Kira thought bitterly as, eventually, the bright light from blue marble faded to a gentle glow as the marble’s spinning gradually slowed down to a halt and the excessive suction force also gently disappeared.
Kira took a deep breath as she observed the changes inside herself. Despite being mentally exhausted her body felt completely invigorated by the abundance of energy. Her Soul Energy now was likely four, or even five, times as much as before. Not only that, but this condensed liquid form of Soul Energy was purer and more potent than the original gaseous form. For the same volume of energy, she could probably unleash five times as many Skills! This glowing marble in her dantian was the true form of her Soul Core and was her first step to becoming truly powerful!
Elated, Kira opened her eyes to find herself covered in sweat but she didn’t care too much. Now that she had broken through to the Core rank, although the next rank, Soul Spirit, was still far away, her limits had been dramatically increased. All that was left right now was to make sure that her Life Energy training didn’t fall behind and to obtain a better cultivation route and stronger Weapon Skills.
After all, there wasn't much point in just having a better quantity and quality of Soul Energy if she couldn't make use of it to an even greater extent. The difference in strength between Weapon Skill ranks and Soul Energy cultivation ranks may not be equal but they were definitely very close and naturally fed off of each other. Without greater Soul Energy cultivation, higher-ranked Weapon Skills were impossible and without high-ranked Weapon Skills, she wouldn't be able to make use of the larger quatity of Soul Energy in larger explosive bursts.
When Kira thought about her Life Energy, she smiled grimly. Although, through a stroke of luck, her first experience with Burning Soul had increased her Soul Energy level somewhat, she knew for a fact that Life Energy training had no shortcuts. As far as Life Energy cultivation went, she was still at the initial rank, Skin Tempering. Above that was still Muscle-, Tendon and Ligament Tempering followed by several more. Only once she had obtained a body that was at the pinnacle on earth would she have a vessel that could transcend the heavens.
While she didn’t completely reject the idea of immortality, the thought of outliving all her loved ones and watching them die around her while she lived on sickened her. But by reaching the greatest heights of power, no one would dare to touch her family, clan or anyone else she chose to protect.
‘‘Transcend the heavens’ my face! If I live to be thirteen with this…this death technique, Burning Soul, it would really be a miracle…I really don’t have the luxury to waste time on daydreams. I can only focus on what is within my ability to do right now and to give it my all.’
Kira chastised herself as she washed herself using the ever-present basin of water in her room. Afterwards, she changed into a fresh robe before flopping onto her futon to fall asleep. After the amount of mental strain she went through to reach the Core rank, sleep was the best way to recover…
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Three weeks prior, on the day of Kira’s Incident.
A small tavern in Edge.
Tlok!
“Aaaaah. This place really has good sake. I should come visit more often.”
A middle-aged man with an unkempt beard and a patchwork cloak slammed down his wooden cup onto the bar.
“That you should. Our Edge Ale is famous around these parts.”
The bartender smiled proudly for someone who did nothing but buy and sell the alcohol.
‘He probably never saw a rice paddy in his life.’
The middle-aged man smirked as he thought cynically. He tapped his long pipe against the wooden bar before taking a deep pull. He blew out a few fragrant smoke rings before speaking.
“Here’s a tip. Sell this bar, go and travel a bit. Maybe you’ll learn something about good sake. Hopefully enough to make your own instead of leeching off someone else’s recipe.”
“What did you just say? You dare to insult me in my own establishment!”
“Like I said, just a piece of advice. Do with it what you want.”
The bartender’s ruddy face turned an even uglier shade of maroon as the ragged middle-aged man tossed a few coins on the counter, almost twice the cost of his drinks, and stood up to leave.
‘Does he really think my honour is so cheap?’
The bartender thought incredulously as he saw the money, his rage reaching a peak.
Before they could come to blows, a commotion outside drew the bartender’s- and everyone else in the bar’s attention. As they got up to take a look, that scruffy man was already blocking the doorway.
Pipe in mouth, he leisurely leaned against the doorframe and looked to the side and saw three people, a robust man, a slender woman and a spiky-haired boy in similar clothing rushing down the street, pushing aside the people in their way. To his experienced eye, while their actions looked violent, they used just enough force to move the people but not injure them.
‘Not bad control, but where exactly are they going in such a rush?’
While curious, he wasn’t motivated enough to follow those people and was about to walk off down the street in the other direction when he noticed something. A girl, looking about seven or eight years-old and dressed in the same attire, was slung over the man’s shoulder.
While she didn’t seem to be in danger, her lack of external injuries caused the ragged man to take a closer look. In his eyes flickered a wisp of blue.
As the family passed, he remained standing in the doorway of the tavern, eyes wide, mouth agape in shock. He just barely caught his pipe as he thought to himself.
‘No way. What are one of them doing in a backwater city like this?’