(Akatsuki’s POV)

I teleported us to the same mountain that where I trained the twins. Looking around, Lilulana, asks me.

(Lilulana): “This mountain is surely strange. I didn’t knew that there was this kind of thing here.”

(Akatsuki): “There isn’t. this mountains is like this due one of my battles here.”

(Lilulana): “… Is this serious?”

(Akatsuki): “Yeah. And you better get used to it, since you will see much more absurd things.”

(Lilulana): “…Understood.”

(Akatsuki): “Come with me, let’s go to the cave where we will be staying for now on.”

I guide her to the cave, where I prepare two beds with fur from the creatures that I have killed. Sitting on my fur pile, I speak to her.

(Akatsuki): “So, what are those spirit arts?”

She sat on the pile that I made for her, not far from mine.

(Lilulana): “Spirit Arts are what differ us spiritual power users from the mages. Do you know the difference between magic and spiritual power, right?”

(Akatsuki): “Yeah, magic is the power to create, and spiritual power is to manipulate, right?”

She smiled and denied with her head.

(Lilulana): “It’s a common mistake if you don’t know magic and spirit arts deep enough. Actually, magic is the power to manipulate, and spiritual power to create.”

Hoh~! That something new. That means that the goddess may have lied to me. Or not. Using the way that she explained to me, I could survive until now, using the earth, air and even my enemy’s own attacks against them.

(Akatsuki): “Can you explain it better for me?”

(Lilulana): “Of course. Let’s start with magic. Magic was created to manipulate mana, and create any kind of phenomena trough formulas and symbols. In essence, magic is a mean to manipulate mana into what you want it to be.”

(Akatsuki): “I thought that mana was just energy that fueled magic.”

(Lilulana): “Mana is much more than that. In the old tales, the gods created life this way: the created the flesh, organs and blood with spirit, the conscience with mana and the soul with divine power. Mana is the power of the mind that directly interacts with the body and the will of the user.”

(Akatsuki): “I understand. So why most people can’t use spiritual power? Isn’t their body made of it?”

(Lilulana): “Actually, today, only the monsters are equally made of spiritual power and mana. The sentient races, trough the millennia, forgot the power given by the gods, the spirit arts, and used their own power, the magic, to fight against each other. Seeing this, the gods took from the ability to use such power.”

(Akatsuki): “To imagine that there was such condition…”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

(Lilulana): “Right? Anyway, magic is the power of the mind, and spirit is the power of the will. The Spirit Arts are manifestation of the will of the user.”

(Akatsuki): “Will?”

(Lilulana): “The will of the user represents the physical world, while the soul represents the faith. It is said that the spirit and the soul are split entities, and that the spirit gives power to the body, while the sol preserves the spirit. Basically, the Spirit Arts are normally represented by something important for the user.”

(Akatsuki): “I still don’t understand.”

(Lilulana): “let me phrase it better, your personality reflects in your spirit, thus making your spirit arts. Normally, those with traumas or ling lives have powerful and unique spirit arts. I also have mine… although I’m not strong enough to use it to its fullest.”

(Akatsuki): “What do you mean?”

(Lilulana): “Spirit Arts are extremely consuming, relying on a large amount of spirit power. Since I don’t have enough spirit power, I can’t use the strongest powers from my Spirit Arts.”

(Akatsuki): “I understand. So, how do I learn the spirit arts?”

(Lilulana): “It’s something that you teach to yourself. I can show you the way, but the one who must master it it’s you. What I can say is, think about yourself, and let everything flow. Everyone has their own emotions, and surely they are stuck somewhere inside you.”

My emotions… I understand. Anyway, I must help her as well, so that we can make this thing work.

(Akatsuki): “Thank you for that. Now, I will begin to help you.”

She looks to me with anxiety. I extend my hand.

(Akatsuki): “Take my hand, and gather spiritual energy on it.”

(Lilulana): “Alright.”

She takes my hand and begins to gather spiritual energy on her hand. Ummm. Surely, it’s fast if I were to compare with me in the beginning. But this… is far too slow. If I she would go search for her father with this, she will be killed before she can do anything.

(Akatsuki): “Your speed isn’t bad, but looking at your objective, it’s far too slow. Let’s go to the top of the mountain. Don’t move.”

I teleport us both with Kamui. Now both of us are sitting on the flat mountain.

(Akatsuki): “Next, I want you to close your eyes and tell me how much dots you can feel around us both.”

(Lilulana): “Alright.”

I release her hand and make several balls of spiritual energy float around us. Some of them are small while others are big, and some of them are really small. Many of them are floating close to each other. Closing her eyes, she begins to focus.

After some time, she opens her eyes and says to me.

(Lilulana): “Three hundred fifty-two.”

(Akatsuki): “… You missed. By far.”

(Lilulana): “EH?! Really?!”

(Akatsuki): “Yeah. Your range?”

(Lilulana): “Twenty kilometers.”

(Akatsuki): “Alright, so I have to disconcert the one that I had put beyond twenty kilometers. Still, you missed by far.”

(Lilulana): “…… How many of them you did spread?”

(Akatsuki): “Taking out the ones out of your range, two thousand.”

(Lilulana): “GAH?! That much?!”

(Akatsuki): “Yeah, that much. And this is only the beginning. I won’t tell you how you missed them, or how I spread them around, instead, I will train you until you can do that by yourself. Ok, next lesson.”

(Lilulana): “A-alright.”

I get up and she follows my movements.

(Akatsuki): “We will have a spar right now, so attack me with all you have. I won’t attack you, and you don’t have to worry in attacking me, since you won’t be able to injury me.”

(Lilulana): “Normally, I would be angry at this kind of words… but since it’s coming from you, I can’t say anything… alright, I won’t hold back.”

(Akatsuki): “Great.”

In one jump, I get a few meters away from her, around twenty or so. She breathes in slowly, closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she looks at me with determination. I feel a large amount of spiritual energy being gathered by her. Ah~, so slow~.

I patiently wait. She touches the ground, screaming:

(Lilulana): “White Bloom: Magnificent Forest!”

Suddenly, various giant flower stalks come out from the ground, all of them with enormous thorns and flower buds. They surround me, covering a large area. Above me, they almost cover the sky. The buds bloom in beautiful white roses, and each one of them begins to gather mana.

Mana!? Seriously?! Her power allows her to use mana?! Awesome! Those white roses glow, and magic circles appear above the roses, and all of them shoot magic at me at the same time. Thunder, fire, water, wind, earth. A lot of elements are shot towards me.  I let them hit me. Something of this level won’t do anything to me.

After half an hour, the flowers stop shooting me and wither in an astonishing speed, turning into dust. Kneeling on the ground, Lilulana breathes heavily. Oh, she’s also sweating a lot. I approach her and ask.

(Akatsuki): “Was that your strongest attack?”

(Lilulana): “you talk like it was nothing... but yes, that’s the greatest firepower that I have on my arsenal that I can actually use without dying.”

(Akatsuki): “I see. Alright, you will rest for today. After we go back to the cave, rest. I will hunt something for you.”

(Lilulana): “Yes…”

I teleported back to the cave with the Kamui, and let her resting on the cave. After that, I went out and hunted a nostalgic prey, a giant boar.