Learning With A Master

"Master, who is that young girl?" Heian Ciemnosc asked his Master, who smiled lightly and gestured to the young girl hopping around in the distance. As the young girl noticed it, she moved towards them, and Master turned to face him and said. "You mean the young girl who almost accidentally killed you last week? Hmf~, she's called Milyy. She's under my care."

Heian Ciemnosc looked at Master, not knowing how much being under her care meant. But if this Milyy monster was taken care of by Master, then she couldn’t be an inadequate person, only stupid and kinda-cute-actually. Heian Ciemnosc petted the feathers on Evans’s head while the young girl made her way here with his Master, caressing the dumbo’s beak.

“I’m back! W-what is it now? Do I have to apologize? Or something…?” The young girl landed smoothly beside them and asked. Her hands fidgety before her crotch, her shoulders slumped, and her head hung. Looking at this version of this dangerous thing, Heian Ciemnosc looked with widened eyes as his Master lightly smiled again and tapped the young girl’s left shoulder. “He’s here and awake. You even played with his contracted Fauna. Apologize to him immediately.”

Lady Calisneia’s voice was soft, suave. But the young girl’s eyes didn’t waver when she heard the former’s words. As soon as Heian Ciemnosc’s Master finished speaking, the young girl stepped forth with the same appearance and stood before Heian Ciemnosc. With a look into the ceiling, one of resignation and unwillingness, determination appeared within her combined turquoise and hot pink colored eyes that moved in fluctuations and flowed within her irises and pupils. She stepped forth again and brought her arms around his neck.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I was just- you just- okay, it was my fault. I’m also sorry for hiding from you so that I wouldn’t have to say sorry, sorry. And sorry for making your parrot like me more than you just now. Evans says you don’t bring him out to walk or flap lately, so I wanted to play a little. Can you forgive me?”

Heian Ciemnosc: ∩(。・o・。)∩

Milyy: (っ⇀⑃↼)っ

Master: (￣︶ ￣ ;)

Heian Ciemnosc was shocketh. Her words were spoken so softly it managed to turn his legs wobbly. But she wasn’t trying to seduce or coax him. She genuinely expressed with her heart out as their left and right cheek met. Her skin was soft and warm, fuzzy even. Heian Ciemnosc also seemed to feel like there were some parts of her body that were hidden, but they must feel really nice, too. Just as she stopped apologizing and separated from his body, he had a sudden inkling.

“Well, ah… oh, alright, I forgive you.” The young girl looked intently at Heian Ciemnosc with uniquely beautiful eyes… before Heian Ciemnosc realized she was expecting his answer. Milyy sighed in relief as she rubbed her forehead with her left wrist and turned to face his Master. “Is that okay now?”

“Mn, go back to play. You’re still grounded,” Lady Calisneia said, her eyes glaring at Milyy without much softness. Milyy smiled, looking silly, and was about to leave to play again when Heian Ciemnosc halted them with a light shout. “Wait!”

“Little Heian Ciemnosc?” His Master asked, confused. Heian Ciemnosc gulped once before looking intently at the pouty Milyy, who now looked at his so-called molester. Looking into his Master’s eyes, he asked, almost in a begging notion. “May I know about her? Her origins, or… who she is?”

“...” His Master looked at him and was silent, but Milyy wasn’t. She looked at Lady Calisneia and hopped on her spot a few times, exclaiming, “Woo! Yes, a secret for secret! I want to do it, can I?!”

“Sigh…” Lady Calisneia seemed weak to the young girl’s cute appearance. Then she looked at her disciple, nodded, and gestured for Milyy to go on. Milyy smiled and looked at Heian Ciemnosc mischievously. But she looked more playful and fun in exchanging knowledge than anything else. A sentiment Heian Ciemnosc was so keen to. “Let’s start with how Mother found me!”

‘Mother?!’ Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes widened for the umpteenth time today. Milyy rejoiced in his reaction and smiled brightly, her canines showing, and continued. “Mother went with some uncles and aunties to their usual spot to pick up some herbs, some half-herbs, and… uh… and all that stuff!”

“What they didn’t expect at that time, however… Was me!” Milyy spread her arms and legs after jolting into her spot again. She looked dumb but super cute and continued. “I suddenly appeared around my Mom’s feet. She picked me up and tried to see if I was a hidden talented monster trying to sneak into them. But nope! I was just an ordinary feline, furry thing.”

“I used to be a pussy, you know?” Milyy innocently and naively looked at Heian Ciemnosc and pointed at him as she said this part. Heian Ciemnosc, of course, became wordless. “...”

“After ignoring those uncles and aunties’ words and scoffs for scaring them off, Mother decided to bring me. Hehe, after evolving, I can clearly remember Mom’s beautiful smile. Ahe-he-hem! After a couple months of taking care of me, I suddenly popped in the air into a humanoid form, a little girl.” Milyy made a face, pouty but not pouting at the same time, slumped her back, and continued. “Since then, I was adopted by Mommy. I love her very much… teehee.”

“Oh. Then… how old are you?” Heian Ciemnosc asked after hearing this brief introduction. He noticed his Master with a gentle, tiny smile on her lips, clearly hiding it from him. This was a matter of face!

“I’m 14, why?”

Heian Ciemnosc’s left eyebrow jumped. He had found yet another little sister. Meanwhile, a pouty Milyy no longer acted cute and just looked at Heian Ciemnosc with false cold eyes. Her attitude was as if she was a richy bitchy girly dealing with a peasant. But after hearing these words and knowing he didn’t have a senior apprentice sister and that Milyy was someone his Master regarded so closely, Heian Ciemnosc went to the point.

“May I use my dark Power Energy? I… seem to have found something similar… before… in my past.” Heian Ciemnosc’s words made the aged granny and young girl twinkle and become crystal serious. But Milyy’s eyes quickly turned into excitement. She seemed to see Heian Ciemnosc in another light as she excitedly shouted, “Sure! Go ahead, touch me! Let me know anything you find out about, though.”

“...” Heian Ciemnosc quickly blinked several times, ignored her strange words as did his Master, and lifted his right hand. At last, without his Vocón Link or a tool’s or Mortal weapon’s help, Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy went out of his body to slide through the black, empty floor towards Milyy. She looked disgusted by the color and seemingly sludge-like appearance of his dark Power Energy. But immediately relaxed after quickly glancing over to her Mother’s side.

Lady Calisneia could stop this at the moment but didn’t. And she even seemed very curious to see if Heian Ciemnosc’s findings on her adopted daughter would give some more information… At least, it appeared like so in Heian Ciemnosc’s understanding.

Pshift~, pshiiifht~. Heian Ciemnosc’s dark Power Energy coiled around Milyy’s right thin foot, then thin leg, and up to her waist. Milyy had an ‘ewwwwww’ face, but she kept still and let his dark Power Energy send tiny, barely impactful ripples to her body before returning to the dark Power Energy. Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes were closed, and while this was one of the ways to use one’s energy in general, for First Step cultivators, it was the only way to deeply analyze someone.

Whatever could be discovered depended on the cultivator’s use of Power Energy. As for how Heian Ciemnosc used it, even his Master praised it with her eyes, but she was more focused on her adopted daughter’s possible origins…

“It… is as I expected,” Heian Ciemnosc said, retracting his dark Power Energy and opening his eyes as he saw Milyy with her tongue out and disgusted to hell. Heian Ciemnosc blinked at her antics, speechless, but his thoughts were interrupted by his Master’s voice. “Little Heian Ciemnosc, could you elaborate? This is important for her and me.”

Heian Ciemnosc nodded, not needing to hesitate. He looked towards Milyy and began, “Oh, I once found a… little girl with a smell and… qualities that reminded me of this yo- of Milyy.”

“OH!” Milyy exclaimed out loudly. She didn’t stop there and began spitting words as dangerously as her hands breaking Heian Ciemnosc’s body like clay. “Who was it? Impossible! Wow, really?! Could it be the Heavenly Lion?! Did you see her? What happened to her?! Yupii~~eeh!”

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“...” Lady Calisneia kept looking at Heian Ciemnosc, patiently waiting. He didn’t linger for long and, despite his eyes losing focus for an instant, answered her with tranquility. “When I and her elder ‘brother’ were about to be sneak attacked by someone above our realm, she teleported me out of the way and was killed by someone.”

“!?!”

“... Then, they must’ve paid it horrendously!” Milyy became silent before suddenly becoming bloodthirsty. Her dark-dull orange hair and ponytails floated and looked like a simple force filled with wrath incarnated to truth. She sounded vicious and hopeless but insanely death-bringing. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the left and looked at the floor, then darted his eyes up to meet the terrifying Milyy before slowly speaking each word smoothly. “Oh, they did. In the end.”

“... Good…” Milyy’s previous ‘normal’ appearance, enough to charm entire Universes into idiots, returned. But she hugged her left arm as she seemed so down even Heian Ciemnosc felt her mood without sensing. She added as she turned around and walked into the dark, one that Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t see as it was some sort of mechanism from this place. “Well then, I’ll leave first. Please tell me your secret before you leave, so I can cultivate early…”

“Ah?” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes gazed at that lonely, overshadowed figure. But he became startled hearing she still wanted to know his secret. Looking at his Master, she simply responded with a flat demeanor. “A secret for a secret, Heian Ciemnosc. That’s how things work.”

Heian Ciemnosc remembered Milyy’s voice right now. So weak, like a mosquito and very light, almost gentle. He looked at the floor again, then at her departing, noticing it was walking away slower. His darkest eyes kept locking that lonely figure for some time before saying without any ripple in his voice.

“During my yet short-lived life, there’s a reason I always target Humans over any other Race after participating in massacres and being the one to orchestrate them. They aren’t tasty, but their Dantian region is always filled with a whisk of incredibly nutritious pure energy. To those with actually good talent in Spirit Sense, they do no nurture my Spirit Sense, but eating them is like… um, like kissing a lover, I suppose.”

“!...” Milyy stopped in her tracks, most of her left upper back disappearing under the shadows as she jolted and halted. After a few moments, she kept walking forward and lightly voiced out. “Okay...”

Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head a whole lot to the right. He didn’t understand what was going on here! He could only turn to face his Master, then ask after Milyy was gone sight. “Master, what is her cultivation base?”

“Mn… well, as a 14 year old Cat-type Beast Race, she is at the Universal God realm, 10th stage.” Lady Calisneia spoke clearly. However, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes were turned into wide circles, bigger than sauces. “!!!”

That was the Fourth Step’s utmost peak!! How could a teenager reach that realm at just 14 years old?! Naturally, Heian Ciemnosc had no fucking clue, and it was even more intriguing when thinking about that little blonde girl from years ago. She was also unusual, but her cultivation realm was too low. Not only compared to Milyy but the world. It’s only a slim portion of the Sub Students below the Phrenic realm older than 16.

“Sigh…” It was Heian Ciemnosc’s turn to slump his shoulders now. Lady Calisneia shook her head ‘scoldingly’ seeing him copy Milyy before opening her lips to soothe him. “Do not be distressed. I also… can’t tell what’s the matter with her, nor why only she can keep her Beast features away without any method or pill. But before I knew what kind of monstrous talent she had, I already saw myself as her mother.”

“Little Heian Ciemnosc, from now on, every day. You will come here and learn from me whatever you wish to indulge yourself with. I will additionally send you to pick up those missions so Evans can grow and hunt some Fauna. But don’t think it’s simple, you may face competition. And nobody will be there to protect you. I will also just watch if you are devoured by a Fauna unless someone of a higher realm dares to try something.”

“I’m not a baby,” Heian Ciemnosc looked at his Master and stored Evans away. But from the warm light in Lady Calisneia’s eyes, it didn’t look like she thought the same. She even brought her right hand to slightly caress Heian Ciemnosc’s left cheek, squeezed it, and shook it before letting go. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t have any other choice than to surrender.

“Oh. Starting next, I would like to learn how to craft Artifacts.” Heian Ciemnosc’s words gained her attention, and she looked down at his chest, then up at his face, still not used to his stature, before nodding after her pensive eyes that were always seemingly cold and expressionless blinked. “You are competent enough to start learning. It will take us weeks, and that is considering your talent and potential. Bring Evans out every day. What Milly said was right. Such a heart cannot remain imprisoned mentally.”

“Mn,” Heian Ciemnosc acquiesced, nodded, and bowed to his Master. Then he looked into her eyes curiously before blurting out, “So she just suddenly evolved out of nowhere?”

“Mhm~,” Lady Calisneia nodded and said in a good mood. Tussling some more of Heian Ciemnosc’s hair, to which the latter could only remain still and accept punishment… It felt good, too. “Go to the central building. You can now receive your Universal Conveyance. That way, I can show you some guidance without needing to call you here or for you to come.”

… Meanwhile, even before Heian Ciemnosc exited his Master’s abode, Milyy was sitting in her bedroom full of white, rosy pink floor, ceiling, and walls, respectively. As she returned to her bedroom, with a bed of an orange mattress and pillow, she was still down, but her pretty face frowned and scrunched up as she lunged to her bed.

“Who’s that fellow? Why does he think he’s all that? Knowing so much, making Mom suffer so much, and now bothering me so much! Ugh!” Milyy vented until here before continuing in her mind as she brought her left hand up to her face and sat on her pillow. A digital screen with perfect and flawless realistic resolution. ‘That country bumpkin… I hadn’t needed to apologize in a long time since that time to that turtle’s family since I had eaten one of their sons. I was just a kid, but now this. Tsk tsk tsk…’

‘Huh? What’s this… word? Mmm? Slang? They’re called slangs? Oooh, whatevs… Tha- thi- that’s what this means?! How the-... So many?! Oh my- what?! What did he do to be called all this? Fighting? Uhuh, whate- oh, there are some videos. Hmm, why are some darker than others? …gasp! It’s… his... How is this possible?! Mom will be furious! Oh, the videos are recently upl- oh, deleted. Someone’s in trouble… … … Where can I find them again?...’

. . .

Pshift~~...

Heian Ciemnosc and a few thousand others came down the teleportation base and began walking towards their path for today. Meanwhile, riding Evans as a terrestrial mount, Heian Ciemnosc rushed towards the next class. It was soon noon, and a set of lessons for Students was about to start. He had to hurry if he wanted to get there on time and not lose a single word the teacher said.

Each phrase, word, intonation, and face while speaking was meaningful to notice. Every single bit was crucial. Civilians wouldn’t have this kind of class. But for a cultivator who can sit for days or weeks cultivating or undergoing a breakthrough. It was as simple as pie.

“Big Bro!” Just as he was rushing forth, a fast-approaching Elena almost knocked him off his Cloudless Eagle’s back but instead ended up sitting on his right thigh with her left leg flashing before him. She sat on his lap, though it was just his right leg, and turned her head to face him with an invigorated smile. “Howdy?!”

“Oh, Elena.” Greeting her back, Heian Ciemnosc folded her left leg, touching her all around without considering her female dignity. Elena didn’t even respond to any of that as he let him touch and move her body with ease. “Sit properly, or you may fall next time. You weren’t even close to kicking me off, Not even with your 9th stage, look.”

Pshift. With that, Heian Ciemnosc lifted his left arm and faced the sky with his palm. Dark Power Energy rose from his skin as the side of his arm touched Elena’s left arm. Her eyes widened, and she looked into Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes, intensely. She was seemingly conveying her words of ‘how dare you leave me behind?!’ as a defiant glint increased in her eyes and soul.

“Sigh,” Heian Ciemnosc simply shook his head and made a smug face at her. If only she knew how heavy it was for him to not tell her that no matter how good they were in cultivation, there was always someone bigger. More than that, he could make Elena feel better if he did told her and then mentioned how dumb this ‘bigger person’ is, actually looking more like a teenager than Elena herself.

“Ready for class? I couldn’t take the same as you before, but now I can! Wanna bet who does better?” Elena surprised Heian Ciemnosc after a couple seconds, with the Department already near sight. Heian Ciemnosc looked at her, and she looked back up at him simultaneously, their chin and nose very close to one another. “What are we betting on?”

“Mmm, it has to be something fun, so the punishment has to be dealt when we spar!” Elena said with great excitement covering her body. “Like, for example. If I win, you will receive a non-harmful move from my Art. And if you win, you get to do the same. All for the sake of training without going all-out, limiting our bodies, and honing our manipulation. How’s that?”

“Are you sure? My innate Art is really… something. It may not be harmful at all sometimes.” Heian Ciemnosc said with innocent eyes, but he noticed a tinge of warmth suddenly spread throughout Elena’s body when he spoke these words. His new cultivation level and ‘liberation’ have really improved and changed some things.

“I-I… ah, I don’t mind…”

A first in the world, Heian Ciemnosc’s eyes went round for the umpteenth time… again… today. Elena responded somewhat shyly, evading his gaze and strongly holding onto Evans’s feathers. But knowing the boss, he kept quiet and even mentally winked at Heian Ciemnosc, which the latter somehow received as a semi-mental message.

“Okay then, see you after classes. I will be studying under Master from dawn to morning.” Heian Ciemnosc placed his hands on Elena’s shoulders, which she let him do, she even lowered her gaze, her short eyelids covering the rest of her eyes that her eyelids didn’t cover. “Right, your master is so unique and special. You’re so lucky, I’m glad. But bring me to see her once or twice, yeah?”

“Mmm…” Heian Ciemnosc made a grimace and appeared unwilling to even think about it. At that time, Elena’s eyes became cold and detached as she grabbed Heian Ciemnosc’s hands and…

THUD!

Heian Ciemnosc fell face first on the floor in the middle of the Department’s gates.

…