CHAPTER 15
The sun was out, rising over looming shadows as always. The skies were stripped pink with a golden hue, and under the graceful gaze of the grateful orange horizon, a boy stood atop a snow-veiled mountain, his hands clutching a strange obsidian object.
What he was holding was a talisman, a charm or magical item that was capable of providing sorcerers and items alike with enchantments—whether good or bad—that could enhance their overall capabilities, grant them temporary abilities, or cause a handicap to whoever the wielder wished.
However, charms or talismans had a condition that made them practically useless in the hands of someone like Megumi: that was the fact that they had to be constantly imbued with both innate and external energy for their enchantments to begin working.
He stared at the black gemstone of the talisman for a while, trailing his hands through the imperfect obsidian facets, and after heaving a sigh, threw the cord of the charm over his head and pulled it down his neck.
The item now gently dangled around his neck, swaying from side to side as he stared at it intently. He dwelled in thought for a long while, searching in the deepest depths of his mind in an attempt to summon something that he believed was supposed to exist within him, somewhere in his mind.
But once again, an attempt to summon the system by himself proved futile. It only ever appeared when he accomplished new things or either accomplished or severed a bond, but he believed the system was somewhere deep within him; he just had to call it out somehow.
Sighing in despair, he quickly got down on the floor of ice. He sat down, straightened his back, and inwardly bent both of his legs until they crossed each other at the ankle. Then, he placed his palms together, both of them facing each other, and brought his hands just below his chin.
He could still remember the instructions Rikiyo had given him regarding what he was doing and the talisman, and those very words echoed in his head as he began concentrating on the pool of innate energy that swirled within the confines of his being.
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Immediately after she handed him the talisman, she bent down and began carving some strange lines onto the icy layers of the mountain. It was a strange drawing that he had never seen before and couldn't make any proper sense of either.
After she was done carving the lines into the layers of thick ice, she stood up and looked straight at him, her gaze indifferent as it always was. Then she stretched out her right hand before him and said a few words.
"Channeling innate energy outward requires immense focus, as it will be immediately dispelled by external energy if you extend it past its limit."
Megumi shivered at the sound of her words, slowly reaching out his hand. Their hands touched, and instantly he felt a strange tingling sensation going through his body. It felt the same as back when he had first awakened his external attribute, but slightly different as well.
While the sensation he felt back when he had finally awakened his latent talent felt like it had engulfed every inch of his skin and was trying to move inward, this was the complete opposite. The tingling sensation was the same, but the swirling dark energy was suddenly rushing through every inch of his being, trying to break free from within.
The sensation quickly went from faintly pleasant to subtly painful as his energy began to overwhelm him. He twisted his face in a grimace of pain, flinching back as he attempted to pull his hand away from her, but it felt like it was trapped underneath a massive boulder.
He began breathing heavily, each breath hoarse and creaking. His mind felt hazy, his gaze phasing in and out as his eyes tried hard not to give up on him. He could feel every cell, every tissue, every organ, and every fiber of his body reacting as the overwhelming well of innate energy washed over them.
It was vigorously devouring him from the inside, and then, just as he opened his mouth wide to let out a loud scream, Rikiyo let go of his hand. He fell on his back on the veil of ice, drawing in hoarse breaths.
The pain of the swirling well of innate energy overwhelming the insides of his being lingered, but it had subsided considerably now that Rikiyo had let go of him.
"Try to remember that feeling when you begin channeling your innate energy into the talisman. The pain is only normal; something you have to endure if you truly want to master control of your innate energy."
Her words cut deep into his mind like sharp daggers. He had heard them loud and clear, and his mind momentarily trailed toward the memory of the spar he had with her yesterday.
If she had gone through the same harrowing pain he had gone through just now, then who knew what other precarious things she must have put herself through to reach the level she was at now? And yet, to think she was only thirteen years of age.
'Just how much was she holding back?'
In the end, he tried not to dwell too much on the thought. What she was offering him now was priceless, and if he could perhaps overcome the torment of infusing every inch of his inner being with innate energy simultaneously, then he would finally be able to move on to the next stage of his training.
He slowly got up from the floor and straightened his back. His gaze shifted forward, looming over the strange lines and curves his sister had carved into the ground—a magnificently nonsensical piece of art.
Whatever it was he was looking at simply made no sense, and the longer he looked at it, the more stupid it seemed. It may sound a bit stupid, but he was even beginning to imagine that he would become stupid if he stared at the drawing any longer.
He raised his head, throwing a contorted glance at his sister, who simply stood still, staring at him without any particular expression on her face.
"What is the strange carving you left on the ice for? Is it perhaps some ancient spell to aid me in my training?"
For a while, there was nothing but silence between the two of them, which left him confused and a bit furious. His brow was now slightly furrowed, and a visible frown had crept onto his face.
However, Rikiyo soon spoke, her expression still unchanged…
"Oh… These scribbles?"
'What? Scribbles?'
"They're all meaningless strokes. I simply drew them in that manner so I wouldn't have to go through the stress of drawing lines down the entirety of this path… There are a thousand of them, and for every considerable piece of progress you make today, I'll clean one of them off."
She paused for a moment, her gaze slowly shifting down the path they had taken up here, towards the plateau where the other three currently were.
"We have three days until the others arrive here. I won't have time to train you then, brother, so before then, I want to make sure you master the shadow strike."
Megumi shivered; his thoughts wandering.
'Three days?"