17 Chapter 16 - One Step

"This…this can give us some useful information…" Luna brushed the dust off the book.

She was surprised at Arata's findings and even more so that he did something useful for once. Arata greatly appreciated Luna's thanks and left her to go over the entries. He felt the need to check up on Takumi's training, which didn't seem to be going so well.

Meanwhile in the lake next to the waterfall…

"Ahhhhhhh! This is so frustrating!"

Takumi was at a road block. He just couldn't reach the first stage of ki sensing and it was taking a toll on his mind, it didn't help that Misao was ignorant as to how to assist for she had no idea what the issue was since when she was learning it, she mastered it almost instantly

"Just keep your breathing steady, when you notice my ki we can move on," she commanded as she spun her scythe around her neck.

Aiko was laying flat on her belly with her head in hands, in a lustful trance watching Takumi's chest expand and contract from focused breathing.

An hour later, there was still no progress and Takumi was pretty much ready to give up and he probably would have if Misao wasn't watching over him with an iron fist. She set aside ki sensing for now and instructed him to do some pushups, in preparation for physical training and he did.

About twenty pushups in, Misao felt a presence behind a tree to her right, her fighting instincts kicked in and she reacted instantly, chopping down the tree with one swing of her scythe and exposing the intruder. It was Arata.

"Sorry about the fright," he chuckled as he stepped into the light brushing the leaves off his head, "I've been here for a while and I think I can offer assistance."

Misao cocked an eyebrow at him and wondered why she only sensed his presence now. Takumi, slightly sweating stopped his exercise to greet him asking how he could help.

"I know of this ki and I have a method to find your type," he explained and asked everyone to pay close attention.

Misao was very intrigued as she took a closer look at Arata who was stretching out his hand towards Takumi asking him to breath on it.

Takumi looked around in confusion for a while but eventually did what was asked of him, inhaling deeply he blew on Arata's wrist. A cold air danced across his wrist and he came to a conclusion.

Takumi was of the subtle ki nature and he would need another method to be able to sense and use it. Arata further explained that Misao's way wouldn't help due to the fact that she was giving him the steps to activate ki of the berserk nature.

"How do you know all this?" she asked with her face no less that an inch away from his with a look of suspicion.

Arata raised his hands and backed away laughing as he explained that he was a researcher of martial arts and that comment made Misao have total trust in him since she was one too.

"Okay, Takumi you have two trainers now." Misao threw her hands over Arata and put on a wide creepy smile, "take it away!"

Aiko giggled slightly as Takumi huffed uncomfortably.

After two hours of handing over the baton, it was clear that Arata's method was paying off as Takumi finally was able to sense ki.

He was instructed to stand still with eyes shut while Misao would slice the leaves off trees and he would have to catch all of them, the key to completing this task was to breath slowly in a calm manner, completely clearing the mind until there was nothing else in his consciousness but his surroundings and he managed to do it after many attempts for over an hour.

The effects of this gave him a feeling of being connected to everything around him which was a common sign for cultivators of subtle ki nature, as Arata explained.

Misao had the leading role once more and took the opportunity to test Takumi.

"Try to sense this ki," she instructed him, returning her scythe to the dragon realm.

Takumi took a glance at Arata who just shrugged, he then took a deep breath and began to sense the ki around him. The life energy running through his body felt very soothing and it seemed as if all foreign forces were eradicated.

"Good you're getting the hang of it," Misao rotated her arm and looked Takumi dead in the eyes, she released her berserk ki.

The winds blew erratically, giving off a killing intent so dark that Takumi fell to his knees. He felt as if he was being suffocated and begged Misao to stop, but she wouldn't let up and kept insisting that he had to get used to that amount of killing intent.

Arata began to feel worried for Takumi's safety and intervened, stopping Misao's rampage by grabbing her hand and slightly shaking her. With a firm look he warned her that using that amount of ki on an amateur could destroy his soul and she needed to be more careful.

"Sorry about that, I get carried away sometimes." Misao scratched her head while laughing slightly and went to help up Takumi, who surprisingly managed to stay conscious through all that, unlike Aiko who had totally passed out from the pressure.

After Takumi regained his energy Misao was once again ready to move on with his training. She explained that their next stage was to learn how to manipulate the ki inside the body and use it to attack.

She continued by saying that ki flowed around the body though channels from the 'breath chamber' located in the centre of the chest called 'channels' and are released through points all over the body known in the cultivation world as 'breath points'.

The first phase of this was to learn how to circulate the ki around the body and then be able to release it.

Misao explained that this stage was where the pain would begin due to the fact that all humans are born with blocked channels. These channels would take years to clear up and since they didn't have that time, she would use a technique of destroying the impure ki which blocked these channels by striking him with a precise blow in each of the one hundred breath points located all over the body.

Arata gave Aiko a palm strike to her back which brought her back to consciousness as Misao instructed because her healing would be needed after this procedure.

Takumi had already gotten over the thought of being hurt so he just spread his arms out, ready to receive the blows.

Misao took a stance resembling the 'viper strike' move of ancient kung fu and once again released her ki, Takumi who hadn't stopped sensing could feel the killing intent slicing through him.

"Try to stay upright, if I miss even one of these shots you may become a cripple." Misao warned as her ki levels skyrocketed.

Her ki had manifested itself in a dark red aura and Arata was really impressed that she was this powerful without dragon force.

Takumi focused on his breathing in order to stay conscious and shut his eyes. When Misao's berserk ki had finally reached a specific point, she went for the strike, violently stabbing him with great precision and speed in each point.

Every jab felt like he was being pierced by swords but at the same time he felt as if he was being cleansed. At this point Aiko was back to normal and witnessed the brutal attack, she ran in to try and save him and also tell Misao off but Arata stopped her, saying it was for Takumi's training.

Aiko couldn't stand to see her love being damaged like that and turned away to wait until it was over.

Misao was going around Takumi finishing up the blows. Finally the ordeal ended with Misao stopping in front of him, slightly breathing heavily and nodded indicating that all of Takumi's channels have been opened but he wouldn't be able to move for a week without Aiko's healing. As the sentence was finished, the exhausted Takumi lost all strength and collapsed. Misao decided to take a nap while Aiko would come to his rescue, they would continue when Takumi regained his stamina.

***

Luna paced around the room, stopping ever so often to look at the book she had placed on the floor. She was in a dilemma of whether or not she should read it or wait until everyone was gathered and she didn't seem to be coming up with an answer.

"Watcha doin?"

Ichika landed on her shoulder in her feline form and startled the confused Luna who screamed at her not to do that. Ichika giggled and flipped backwards, changing back to human form in midair and gracefully sticking the landing.

"Hey, what's this?" Ichika pranced over to the book and took it up before Luna could stop her.

She was now forced to explain what the book held. Ichika quickly flipped through the pages after Luna came clean, telling her that it would be better for them to read it now then explain it to the others later, since she didn't want to interrupt Takumi's progress. Luna was persuaded so they sat next to each other on the floor and started to read.

The journal was written by someone going by the name Minori, dating back to over ten thousand years from the present time.