Higher state

On the airplane, John told everything he did during the time he spent in China, since he didn't have the time to do it previously when he went to explore the cavern with Robert, and during the way back through the mountains.

-... And there you have it. That was how I defeated the vampires.

-... You crazy lad...

-Oh yeah, I have a gift for you.

I took out the Stone mask from my bag.

-THIS IS?! Is this the one?! I thought you told me it fell on the caverns.

-Yeah… It's like this…

…

-I see. I imagine you want me to take her back to England with me, right?

-There are better facilities there, and this time, you have the mask to research. Although I consider the mask a menace, its existence points out to the untapped potential in the human mind. Having a complete mask might help in figuring it out.

-Even so…

-Do it like this, just add a failsafe to it. Like a bomb, that will go off if anyone tries to use it out of the appropriate time.

-... I think we can do it if it's like this… Let's leave this talk for later, what I want to ask you is your plans. Are you just going to go from temple to temple until when? If you decide to stop, I have a place for you to go. There is this place in Italy…

(From here on there will be a big timeskip, I will do a briefing later)

/9 years later/(From June 1, 1929, to June 1, 1938) /Protag has 20.5/

In a city filled with small river canals, a man and a woman were enjoying some drinks in a street bar.

There weren't that many people in the bar but the ones in it couldn't take their eyes of the two people in particular.

-You always drink water. She said to the man

-And you always drink this expensive wine. He said back to her.

-You look worried. I said

-It's nothing.

-A Hamon master's sense of danger isn't something to be ignored.

-...

We just received a letter from Speedwagon saying he found a strange temple in Mexico, and that he needed our help. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the mediterranean sea, perfecting a technique, losing the chance to go with him.

Why would I go with him? Apart from all of the help he gave me over the years, I have a twinkling of suspicion that this trip will be the one where he "dies".

This isn't the anime so I would like to make sure he is alright, but at this point in time, there is little I can do.

Considering the time he will take to reach there from when he started, he should be there around July, a little bit earlier than in the original story.

-If you want, how about I take a look at the kid? I bet you have been worried about him after so long.

-Do what you wish.

-No need to be like this. I promise to bring back some photos.

We paid for the drinks and left.

-I have something to do, I will meet you on the island later.

And she left just like that. Jumping from roof to roof.

-She really left just like that, huh? She's always trying to show a strong woman front. That's not bad but… She needs to let go sometimes. Perhaps receiving some news from her son is going to help.

I have been living here in Italy for a few months already, spending most of my time researching and training.

I took a step forward, disappearing from my position and reappearing on the roof of a house. It wasn't teleportation, I was just moving at a speed too fast for the human eye to keep up with.

Looking into the distance I started to remember my progress so far.

9 years ago I went towards Japan with Speedwagon, in order to learn their craft. They were surprisingly welcoming, even more, after learning I was Japanese.

Japan doesn't have a big clan, instead, they have multiple smaller clans that meet every year in a competition to see who is the best.

Each clan only has a few dozen members, as Japan doesn't have that much space for them to build larger training places.

Their Hamon training is more focused on the supernatural, like the soul and spirit, they created many techniques in order to "deal" with ghosts and demons.

I was always skeptical about such techniques, but I do know that ghosts do exist somewhere, so I still learned all of them. I visited all of the minor clans and special sites. After that, I went to my next area: RUSSIA.

Russia is a very… "interesting" place. Their way of training is pretty basic, they try to do the most while doing the least amount of work. Russian techniques often involve near crazy/suicidal training with a pinch of creative concepts.

From Liquor that can stimulate your Hamon, to strange chest vests that interrupt your breathing. Did I talk about the seasonal Bear Grappling event?

Russia doesn't have clans, nor does it have temples. They have something akin to a training camp. They are completely self-sufficient, but they don't refuse outside help, they will get out of their way and interact with normal civilians if they find it fun.

I still remember when I first met my instructor...

-...Here in Russia, we do things the true way. Not like you pussy Southlands, here, you will learn to build "good" muscle and to move the energy in your body. Just like them.

He pointed to a group of people that were eating food in the snow. They weren't wearing any shirts and were eating some meat with a bit of liquor. I could feel intense energy radiating from them. But…

-Why is there a bear there?

-Oh. That's Babushka, don't mind him, he is also an apprentice just like you. Unfortunately, he still doesn't understand the "true spirit" like his forefathers.

-Now, drink this! And let's start.

I looked at what seemed to be alcohol.

-I am still a minor…

-I know, that's why I reduced it from 90% to 20%. Don't worry, you will get there.

…

-Those were some tense times.

After Russia, I traveled all across the world, from the scalding hot sands of Egypt to the wet rainforests of South America. After I felt it was enough, I talked with Robert, and he sent me here to Italy, to "learn" with Lisa Lisa.

She is a genius, but she didn't really have anything to teach me. So I decided to make this place my long-term base as I research the limits of my body and look at the source energy of this world.

During the years Speedwagon also made many discoveries related to Hamon and the Human body, and although the mysteries of the human mind remain behind a veil, he still found out many lost ruins and techniques.

Starting from 9 years ago, the first and probably the biggest he ever and his team ever made was the discovery of the "neutral" wave.

When you transfer your Hamon from your body to another place, you do it in the form of a wave, (that's why I sometimes refer to it as "Wave"). There are two main forms of waves, Repulsive and attractive. All forms of techniques are made by combining these two.

But they have their flaws. These waves can only be transferred properly through malleable substances like water and oil. Material from animal and plant origins tends to be the best.

Unfortunately, metals tend to resist these waves, while it's almost impossible to transfer them in gases. Since they are a bit "too" malleable.

But the neutral wave is different. As in its name, this wave has no attributes. theoretically, this should be impossible, even if it is minimal, the wave will have an attribute, no matter how great your control, you can't create a truly neutral wave.

But all of those years ago, in an experiment using an Aja stone, the scientists managed to convert sunlight into this strange energy that later was classified as a Hamon wave.

It took some time for this though, because it was too different.

The Aja stone can focus light in such a way that it will amplify its power into a single light beam. Hence, it's seen as the perfect Hamon conductor. But never had anyone been capable of transforming sunlight into Hamon.

They(Hamon and sunlight) were just associated due to its visual characteristics and its effects on Vampires. But now they could be directly associated.

But there is a problem with this, and that is its "Neutral" aspect. Remember that all waves have an "attribute" but this one doesn't. And for some reason, I can't give it one. This wave is incredibly stable, I can't give it an attribute, and since it's impossible for me with my current level of control, to transform those other two forms of waves into Neutral ones, I had to find a way to make it usable.

After all, I can't carry an Aja stone with me all of the time and hope that in every fight that I have, the sun will be visible.

But it is exactly because of this feature that I managed to achieve my current strength.

With this wave, the mystery of the three items passed down in the golden city all make sense now. It was teaching equipment, showing someone how to achieve what I call "External Breathing".

The name might sound goofy, but it's nothing of the sort. The very nature of the neutral wave indicates something: That it can be produced in nature. The easiest way is to use the Aja stone when all of the conditions are met, but we can use the same principle of the other waves to create one.

By controlling the air around you in a certain way, one can create this form of a wave. Just like how we create the ripples by breathing. This idea was made after an explorer from the Speedwagon Foundation found a rock formation in the desert that was producing this wave when the air entered the rock holes. He was almost zapped to death but luckily survived the encounter.

The reason why this wave is produced outside the body while the other two are inside the body is still unknown, but I theorize it might have something to do with the life force hidden inside someone.

At the end of the day, you are using normal waves to move the air slightly, in a certain pattern around you, then you use this newly created wave to move the air itself. Creating a closed-loop under your control.

It can't really fuel itself, the user still needs to use small amounts of stamina to control it.

And differently from the other waves, it can be transferred easily in the air, while the resistance of metals is greatly reduced, which might explain the legend of the first city lord in China...

This opens new horizons for Hamon users. We aren't limited to only our bodies anymore. We don't need to breathe constantly in order to fight, as long as we have this loop under our control, we can still fight even without breathing.

But we still have massive weaknesses, we first need to breathe, then start the loop. This takes time,a lot of time. And this method is severely limited or rendered useless if we don't have air around us.

And finally. It's a pain in the ass to learn. If a master is born in 100 trainees, then one in 20 masters would have the qualifications for this.

(Zapelli explains that only one in 10000 has the ability to be a Ripple user in practice. In effect, only a few people have the willpower and therefore the discipline to breathe correctly. "From the wiki")