Suta POV
Shoba watched carefully whilst Granny Baba's gaze softened. He already sensed something was out of place judging by her change in demeanor. But now, he was almost dreading to hear what the revelation about Suta’s bodily constitution was. Hal expecting to be told he had a few weeks to live or something along those lines.
‘Is it that bad?’ sigh, guess I should prepare for the worst.’
After exhaling a deadpan breath. The frail old woman began rehashing the detailed backstory concerning Raito Suta’s origins. Shoba made sure his facial expressions weren't too alien to how a prepubescent child might respond after being told such things.
“Yin and Yang. Opposing states, almost contradictory in their essence and yet both stand side by side to ensure the true balance of all things. One cannot know the splendors of the day without the cold shadows of the night. And Mana exists through the same means. We have positive and Negative energies, flowing around and through us in parts. Negative energy is an essence we weave and create, whilst positive energy exists in the world around us.
Knowing that should tell you which spectrum Mana falls under?”
Shoba thought about it for a few moments, he was unsure if his suspicions were right but he felt it made sense to say.
“Negative energy?”
He felt his tension slowly release upon watching the old womans mouth crease into a smile.
“Correct. The process of weaving mana is considered as gathering and purifying Negative energy. Although incantations and certain spell formulas fall into the positive energy aspect. The complexities of this aren’t important right now. But I digress.
The Cold Yin Meridian Disease, it’s a rare condition where ones body fails to draw in and store enough positive Yang energy from the world. This may be due to harsh climates, or being exposed to foul toxins. Whatever the case may be, the Ying energy attempts to overcompensate what it’s missing from the Yang energy. The results of which, can be quite...devastating.”
Shoba made some sense out of her explanation, and only held one question on his thoughts about it.
“Can it be cured”
Granny’s slight wavering gaze shifted away from his own for a few moments. That response told Shoba everything he needed to know.
‘Well...guess obtaining power wasn’t going to be as straightforward as I first thought. Sigh, it’s just on brand though I guess. Nothing in life is ever easy.’ Shoba told himself with a wry smile
Despite the daunting news about this body's condition. He did have something to be glad about, he had achieved his first goal in managing to convince someone close to Suta to divulge important information about his origins.
Luckily for him the old woman never minced her words and rather straightforwardly broke down the truth concerning Suta's past as well, the topic of main importance started with the old woman explaining how Suta was sold to her a couple of weeks after being born.
Granny Baba never delved too deeply into the whys, but she insinuated it was a deal 'both parties were happy with' Shoba understood there was no need to further press on the issue. Demoria was already living with her, and her parents went through something similar which forced them to leave her with Granny.
And although the sketchy tale about that was filled with so many holes, Shoba didn’t pry too much in the blue haired girls past. Somehow it felt rather distasteful to pry further since he wasn’t exactly familiar with her.
Granny Baba also further explained to him in layman's terms of course, that his birth had brought about complications, more than likely he had developed a virus that wasn't cured fast enough after he was born, she also emphasized this was quite common for babies born in rural and poorer areas during the ember months.
The lack of resources and medical attention, left a lasting damage inside his internal organs and respiratory system, to the depths that Granny Baba even started hypothesizing that his life span had been halved.
From the symptoms Granny Baba explained, Shoba understood he was carrying some sort of mutated version of pneumonia. In this world, they called that the cold Yin meridian illness. Since his inner energy pathways had been blocked with a hardened substance likened to ice. It was almost 4 times harder for him to weave mana through his channels. Virtually close to impossible for him to be able to acquire the full use of a particular strange core existing within his body, what the old woman called a Mana core.
Shoba's brow remained furrowed during the entire explanation, this new information had certainly meant he had to find a way to accelerate his growth whilst bearing in mind he had reincarnated into a body riddled with problems. He took a deep breath before making sure his facial demeanor wasn't giving too much of his inner self away.
'Just when I thought I had made progress, another spanner gets tossed into the mix. Heh!- how depressing, but it's not the end of the world. Surely there's a solution to this problem considering the type of world this is.'
He creased an empty smile before nodding a few times. Granny Baba seemed not to have caught anything strange as he continued to diverse possible measures to help him through this problem.
Afterward, her voice even felt a little more softer towards him.
"I'm not too sure if you've lost your memories again, or if you're faking it to see if there is a way for you to start studying the art…could it be…Demoria?"
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Shoba flinched a little once that name was spoken. Even he wasn't sure why his body reacted that way, but the pretty face blue-haired girl appeared in his mind. Before he was poised to answer, the old woman spoke up again.
"I can tell it is. You should understand regardless if you're able to miraculously solve your Body constitution problems. Demoria's talent is…how shall I put this? One of a kind. You worrying about staying beside her is nothing more than a fantasy.’
‘Right, so the little girl is talented. Not surprised considering she was a damn S rank.’
“Little su, my words may sound harsh but I can only tell you the truth concerning these types of things. No one least Demoria would want to see you hurt."
Shoba's eyes trailed down, he feigned a fellow who was saddened by the news while Inwardly he was piecing together how the old woman and possibly Demoria herself viewed their relationship.
'That girl is probably the one doing the protecting between us. Hence why the old woman is all concerned about me bringing her down? Understandably so given that she's an S-rank talent. But then was she able to leave that church without being forced to stay like Briallah was? unless...she didn't go to the church in the first place?
Suta quickly deduced that the strange Old lady held something to do with that. He had a lot to think about, as per usual.
But after their lengthy discussion, Shoba did feel he was making some real progress, especially when he considered before stepping foot onto the farm, that most of his memories from his previous world had been locked.
'I can't forget that ward she mentioned, 9 out of 10 times that's probably how I got my memories back. My goodness, this world of magic and stuff feels like quite the headache. '
***
Throughout the day, Shoba remained mostly silent, his focus absorbed by the myriad of different potions Granny Baba meticulously crafted within a short time. Gradually, her initial wariness of his sudden curiosity seemed to fade, replaced by a willingness to share her arcane knowledge.
Shoba quickly realized, much like the stories from Earth, that practitioners of Arcane held a deep passion for both acquiring and imparting wisdom.
'That helpful fellow I shared a carriage with mentioned something about Arcanists and their mantra, I think he said.'
If all Arcanists were this helpful then Shoba felt his fortunes might not be so bleak when it came down to him acquiring information.
All it took was Shoba to show some kind of interest, and the old woman began her explanations, it was as though a dam had broken; she delved into the complexities of her craft with an enthusiasm that was both infectious and overwhelming at times.
‘Potioneering.’ Shoba repeated to himself. Making a mental note of the practice. It was probably self explanatory but nothing would prepare him for the things Granny explained about it.
The barrage of unfamiliar terms and the exotic components required for each concoction were daunting after a while. The potions themselves ranged from simple healing elixirs to more complex brews that promised effects Shoba could barely comprehend. Such as the ability to breathe fire and ice, turning invisible, or physical buffs such as fast runner and jumper or hardened skin.
Amidst the flood of information, he found solace in his ability to still absorb and retain high levels of knowledge—a skill that had not abandoned him in this new world.
This was the same way he dealt with most things. Since he was very young he found it somewhat easy to retain information. It wasn't actually what one would consider a photographic memory, but it was a very meticulous and sort of automatic response his mind conducted whenever he was trying to process or learn a lot of information.
Shoba found, to his surprise, that his time spent alongside the voluble Granny Baba was not just informative but also unexpectedly enjoyable.
The old womans repeated warnings that his prospects of mastering the arcane arts were virtually nonexistent did little to deter him. And very little to deter her from talking to him about it.
But all the while, in the back of his mind Shoba clung to the conviction imparted by Helvetios—that he must...
"Get stronger by any means."
As the day hastened to its close, Shoba pondered the possibility that time might flow differently in this new world, the hours seemed to slip by more swiftly than he was accustomed to.
Nightfall's arrival had placed him inside a modest-sized room, its simplicity marked by a tall bookstand housing weathered volumes of thin books, and a quaint bed adorned with furs layers instead of a traditional bedspread he was used too. Turning to the other side of the box sized room he saw a diminutive window barely large enough for a cat's passage.
Settling into the rustic bed, protesting under his weight with a creak of discontent, Shoba wrapped himself in the warm bundle of furs. It smelt of the outdoors but with a slight scent of soap. He lay there, comforted by the soft embrace of the bedding, his gaze drawn to the window where the moon's pale light spilled through, casting a serene glow that mingled with the star-stitched sky.
In the quiet of the night, Shoba's thoughts meandered through the tumultuous events of recent days. The surreal experience of his family's disappearance, Ringo's haunting departure, and the chaos that had enveloped his world. All these things were enough to shatter his resolve but now, since he had come to grips with the unbeliveable situation, those things flickered through his mind like scenes from a vivid, but unsettling dream.
He lowered his eyelids gently and recalled his Dad's jovial smile admonishing him for attempting to give up.
"You would be doing yourself a disservice if you refused to chase your goals until the very end, my boy.
"The cosmos are life-giving! And you are part of the magic of the universe, that's your birthright as a human being."
"So press on, stay courageous."
"Be vigilant but also be caring and soft, love everyone, and hate no one."
"And always remember, never grow up inside."
"Always remain youthful at heart."
With a heart fortified by resolve and a mind adrift in the possibilities that lay ahead, Shoba finally surrendered to sleep
'I will get stronger, by any means necessary...Mom...Dad...Ringo. Wait for me'