Flute (1)

Chapter 30 — Flute (1)

After it was time for my appointment, I went to the Music Guild.

"Teach me the flute." I uttered with a clear tone at the person before me.

A mute idol.

And a flute expert.

We were currently sitting inside a musical studio.

The man wore a surprised expression. He then began writing on a paper.

[Why choose a mute like me?]

His question made sense.

Why would someone want to learn from a mute person?

A mute can't utter proper words. Let alone proper communication, they would find it hard to teach people.

But I already have a clear answer to his question.

"Your flute can sincerely convey realistic emotions with sounds even if you don't use your soul ability. It's a skill honed from your unique experiences and hard work that not anyone can learn."

I calmly pointed at his strength, not his disability nor his weaknesses.

And to learn our family's special technique, I need to learn how to use emotions with sounds.

"Besides, I learn the best by simply watching, analyzing, and comprehending the actions."

He contemplated while showing signs of hesitation and nervousness.

[I'm Li Yu.]

Li Yu wrote his name.

His name was written with elegant penmanship.

I nodded my head.

Li Yu then resolutely began writing on his paper.

[Fine, I'll teach you.]

[And as a token of my gratitude for saving my life in the past…]

Li Yu simply gestured for me to wait before going out somewhere.

"I need to learn sign language since it's a good way to also improve my body language."

The universal language was said to be body language.

There exist many languages, but they can still communicate using body language.

"It can also pave the way to deceive people."

As I patiently waited, Li Yu soon came back while carrying a long brown wooden box.

[I'll give this to you.]

[A flute I bought from a merchant, but I haven't used it since I've awakened my Spirit Flute.]

Li Yu wrote those words before opening the box to reveal the content.

An exquisite black flute.

"Are you sure…?" I asked him after seeing it looked expensive.

Li Yu nodded with a light smile.

[This is nothing compared to my life.]

[You've saved me.]

In that case, I knew rejecting his goodwill now would be too rude.

"I'll use it well."

I gently caressed the black flute which was smooth and cold.

[How do you want me to teach you?]

"I'll observe your performances before trying it out with my body."

Li Yu nodded slightly. He then showed the proper posture when using the flute.

[Now. Try to use the posture I've displayed to you.]

I lifted the black flute to my lips based on how I observed him.

[Amazing. Your posture looks great already.]

Li Yu then went around me to gradually correct the subtle places I missed. He told me to relax the whole body and mind—wanting me to feel and sense my flute as if it was my dearest love.

[That's the standard posture, but you can eventually make adjustments that will suit your own style.]

"I see…"

I then began performing the posture several times to engrain them into my muscle memories. Along the way, I fine tuned into my ideal posture which looked ethereal and natural with nature.

The body phenomena from the elemental stars were helping me reach the most natural posture. At this rate, It seemed possible to perform the flute properly from any position.

Even Li Yu appeared mesmerized from my ethereal posture.

He soon, however, started to demonstrate how to play the flute.

There were various kinds of sounds that I've distinctly heard.

[The next thing you must do is to practice the basics of flute by memorizing the keys.]

[You must also practice your fingering, the tonguing, the mouth, and the proper breath control.]

"I'll keep that in mind."

[You can also try studying about music in general on your own. There are notes, sheets, scores, and other essential things you need to understand.]

"I will naturally study them earnestly since I've chosen to learn it. Is there anything I should take note of?"

[You must always practice. That's the only way to master the flute.]

"I'll do my best."

Today starts my flute training session that happens once a while.

Not only did I allocate some time to study music, I also seriously practiced playing the flute.

A large part of playing the flute has to do with muscle memory.

Li Yu told me to always play the flute to create habitual patterns in my muscle memory. Those habitual patterns were mostly about playing each note and their various combinations.

This was similar to the training with my spiritual power to use Steel Hardening. I created a command pattern on my spiritual power back then to instantly activate Steel Hardening with just a single thought.

When I played the flute, It felt similar to solving puzzles.

It wasn't something that could be simply taught through words.

Most of the learning process occurs by experimenting with the flute. Of course, I knew guidance was still necessary.

I learned to piece various kinds of sounds from the flute to produce music. From its timbre, the notes, the rhythm, the tempo, the pitch, and the tone—there were many different kinds of them that will ultimately determine the outcome, so they must fit and harmonize well.

Fortunately, I was able to smoothly learn about flute.

It felt like my body and mind was moving naturally as I played the flute.

Maybe it was the blood influence of the bards that flowed across my veins.

My ancient ancestors from billions of years ago…

There were many important things I learned from the flute sessions. I could now feel my imagination coming up with various ideas that I could also apply outside of flute.

I was even able to think of applying the force of life and death into my flute.

There was also a possibility to create a command pattern to always use the Steel Breathing.

(A/N: I actually don't know much about flute and music, a level lower than beginner. If you see any errors, please correct me since I'm still learning.)

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It was night.

The night sky was partly covered in dark clouds.

And there were raging dark flames that rose to the sky.

Another base of the Lobster Famillia was destroyed by a massive explosion that turned the base into ruins and claimed many lives.

"The Red Rose is invading..!"

"Haaaa… Haaa… Run away!"

"We need to escape…!"

The gangsters were desperately running away to escape.

As I stood calmly on the highest point of their base, there were only emotionless eyes looking over the destruction I created.

"The song of death will play tonight…"

The piercing caws of crows sounded as they flew around me, their black feathers falling.

I lifted the black flute to my lips and took a powerful breath.

Then—

The shrill timbre of the flute sounded like an arrow—slicing through the night sky and shooting directly into the hearts.

A series of trill notes were emerging like invisible hands that pulled the heartstrings of the listeners deeply down into a swamp of blood and flesh.

The sounds only bestowed a single crippling sensation to their hearts—Death!

"What is that strange melody…?"

"Stop it….!"

The gangsters plugged their ears, but the sounds seemed to enter directly into their hearts.

Their hearts pounded loudly to the point it rapidly sounded like horrifying drums in their ears, worsening their fears and the sense of rapidly approaching death.

"Please stop…!"

The echoes of the flute that came from far away were like horrifying wails from the deceased who they sinned against.

"They are coming for revenge… The dead are coming for revenge…!"

There were some gangsters who were losing their minds, their eyes completely bloodshot with tears.

The timbre of the flute hummed with cold-blooded sharpness; akin to the sensation of a blade slowly inching closer to their neck, carrying the bleak chills of death.

The sound of the notes then changed and emerged piercingly like the eerie caws of crows—the pitch was higher and overwhelming, piercing through the sky with suffocating bloodlust to seemingly clear the dark clouds.

The night descended into a bloody night with a crimson moon reflected clearly before their eyes.

"Ahh… Vlad the Bloodsucker!"

All of them were frozen in their place by the suffocating bloodlust that flooded the entirety of their lungs.

Their bleak eyes silently reflected the dark figure that stood from high above with the red moon behind him—his eyes calmly closed with his arms raised to play a black flute.

When has Vlad ever failed his hunt?

None.

An ominous sense of horror drowned their entire beings, their mind and body too heavy to even move, so they started to kneel one by one on the ground to beg for forgiveness.

"Please forgive us…"

"We'll repent…"

"Please…"

Yet the flute continued to play out the horrifying sounds that rapidly emerged like claws of death reaching out for their souls—the sound of death muting the screams of terror and cries for repentance into utter darkness.

The sounds of flute then stopped, but the sudden silence was like a cold declaration that echoed deeply in the soul.

The Song Of Death ended.

The utter silence handed down the final verdict.

"Guilty."

My black fist was suddenly covered by purplish clouds.

BANG!

I fell down from the sky and slammed my fist against the heads of the nearby criminals into melting mushes of hideous remains.

This was also the signal for Red Rose to appear and take care of the remaining criminals.

Meanwhile, I continued to play the flute to strike fear into the enemies.

The criminals died one after another without much resistance. Red Rose then took control over the base.

After everything was over, I soon left the place.

I played the flute to play a light melody that wafted spiritedly through the air.

Gentle and serene.

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The method to learn the Sound Of Heart was to connect to others' hearts through sounds.

This special technique can also be used as a weapon.

This special technique required some parts of spiritual power. However, there were still many unclear things that halted my completion.

But that was how I infused spiritual power into the flute to corporate death and also release my uncontrollable bloodlust to overwhelm the will of my enemies, thoroughly breaking down their will to resist.

And to continue mastering the special technique, I decided to perform my flute in the plaza.

I went near a large water fountain before sitting on the ground.

As I sat on the ground, I stared at my reflection on the fountain.

I wore a white mask that only covered the upper portion of my face. There were also a white martial sleeves bought from the Tailor Guild.

After gazing at my new appearance, I brought out a sign which contained some words.

'Tell your stories for flute music about it.'

"Woah, that masked youth looks so handsome and graceful…"

The ladies couldn't help but stare in my direction.

I appeared like an otherworldly immortal to them.

A given since the aura around me were tainted by the Life-Death Wheel and Elemental Stars.

"Dang, the clothes of that brother look so good. Where did he buy it?"

"From Red Rose."

A beautiful girl replied next to him.

"No wonder, but why haven't I seen it?"

The girl mysteriously smiled.

After all, those clothes were specially tailor-made for their God, Vlad the Bloodsucker!

This girl was Ning Shui.

After she heard that Vlad will train his flute skills outside, Ning Shui disguised herself to watch Vlad.

"Oh, there are other employees slacking from their work."

Ning Shui managed to see some familiar faces from Red Rose.

All of them wanted to watch Vlad.

"Ahhh… Vlad looks so heavenly as usual…"

Their eyes were extremely fanatic, as if they were some kind of religious cult.

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Fuck, this is really hard to write because I have to really research to not embarrass myself. However, I know this chapter about flute looks like trash to the eyes of expert ;-;

Ah, all those research made me feel quite burnt out.

Thanks for the new review, supply of power stones, and those who comments. Really appreciate it. Quite shame I don't have donations, though I didn't expect much.

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