6 Chapter 6
With everything decided, the clan head excused himself and left the room, leaving me and my mother alone. She looked down at me and confirmed once more that I was okay. She tried to pick me up, but despite the fact that I was only four and a half, I proved to be too heavy for her fragile body. This fact caused a depressed look to cross her face momentarily before it morphed back into her signature neutral half-smile. I felt kinda bad since my father, and I had never shown her much affection. On top of not having her own family give her any attention, she was also a bit of a social outcast from the clan.
Her visions of the future didn't paint the clan's future in a cheery light. She predicted that it wouldn't be long until about half of the sorcerers in the clan die. To be fair, most of them are only grade twos and threes, but the surge in power and frequency of cursed spirits after Satoru's birth as well as my own, would kill many weaker sorcerers. Her macabre visions deeply distressed her and alienated her from almost all but the clan head. She struggled under the pressure of the clan as well as the toll that her visions placed on her already weak body.
I decided to do something kind and reached out to hold my mother's hand. I didn't say a word to her, but her head snapped around to look at me due to my unprompted show of affection. I had never been one to show my emotions or displays of affection to others easily, but I decided that I would try and make a greater effort with my mother from now on. She looked at me deeply for a moment before starting to cry, and even though it made me a bit uncomfortable, I leaned in and gave her a gentle hug.
As my mother sobbed and vented the stress of the current situation as well as all the stress associated with being in her position, I opened up my system screen to see if I received anything new after my beatdown and hospitalization. To my mild surprise, I did gain a new passive skill.
[New Passive Skill - Pain Tolerance (Lv. 1): +0.9% Pain Reduction, -0.9% Chance to get stunned]
I grinned as I looked at the skill. It made the beating I had received more bearable, especially since it had already leveled to 7 just from that one encounter. Once I had seen a new skill, I just sat there in my mother's embrace until she felt satisfied. Then we both got up and left the room. As we left the big central house of the clan, I noted that my suspicion that I was on the second floor was confirmed. I also noticed some of the guards and servants give up some looks that let me know our family was the subject of some gossip as we passed.
My mother seemed used to the looks, and I didn't care about the looks. They were just servants of the clan while I was a direct descendant, they could talk about me all they wanted to, but it wouldn't change our stations. I strode forward while paying them no mind, hearing their frantic whispers as we passed. I did notice that my mother's grip tightened around my hand as we passed the servants. She looked down at me, obviously concerned, but I just gave her a shrug in return. She smiled and nodded before we both continued home. The next day I was up before dawn and out of the house, heading for the training fields.
I found the clan head waiting for me when I arrived, "Good to see that you are punctual, unlike my son," he said neutrally as he regarded me.
"To be fair, Satoru's situation is special. He is the first one to be born with both the Six Eyes and Limitless in multiple centuries, after all," I said, just stating a fact but hoping it would give me at least a few points in his book.
He just replied with a shot and blunt, "True,"
Before needing to be asked, I got into a hand-to-hand combat stance and faced the training dummies. They reminded me of the ones in the training hall from Kung-Fu Panda. They had many wooden limbs sticking out and at random intervals at multiple locations throughout their body. These dummies alone were the reason I was able to reach level 50 Swordsmanship so quickly. As I began practicing with the dummies, the clan head stood back and observed me quietly. Since my skill level was so low, it didn't take long until the skill levels came pouring in.
I couldn't see the man behind me, but I heard an intake of breath after a while, "Remind me when your birthday is, Arima?" he said, using my name for the first time ever.
"In about 6 months, sir," I said without turning, still struggling with the dummies but visibly improving quickly.
"I was going to say we need to ramp up the intensity of your training, but at this rate, you'll already be done with non-cursed energy-based disciplines by the time you turn five." He said with a clear note of relief in his voice.
At first, I was confused by his relief, but he clarified a moment later, "I am glad that the clan's future doesn't only lay on my son's shoulders alone. If you have the same potential with cursed energy that you have with swordplay and fist fighting, then you may be more talented than my son, truthfully,"
"Why would we have needed to ramp up my training before my fifth birthday, clan head?" I asked, pretty sure I already knew the answer from the way he had spoken in the first place.
"Your mother had a vision that you would awaken your cursed energy soon after your fifth birthday. You said that you wanted swordplay and hand-to-hand combat securely under your belt by then, I am just following what you want," He said, walking in front of me and stopping the training dummy.
As I processed his words, he showed me some better techniques to practice and how to have more fluid movements. My excitement peaked as I thought about how it will only be a few months until I have access to cursed energy. The sheer possibilities that would open up to me then were extremely captivating, but I was living in the here and now, not the future. With the knowledge of when I would awaken my cursed energy firmly in my mind, I began to train even harder and longer. The clan head nodded as he saw that I wasn't too excited about the future and that it didn't mess up my current training.
"Once you gain access to your cursed energy, you must immediately tell your cursed technique to me," He must have seen me stiffen slightly as he added on to his statement, "Of course, if you wish for your technique to remain a secret then only the current clan head will have access to that information. Not even my son will have access to that information until he replaces me as clan head. On the flip side, I also reserve the right to keep your technique hidden if I deem it to be necessary, do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," I said, knowing I would be ordered to keep my technique a secret as soon as I reveal it to the clan head.
After all, a technique as powerful as mine is a good trump card for a clan to keep hidden. Plus, it is an easy technique to hide since I can reveal one of my replicated techniques while keeping the others as a hidden ace up my sleeve. The potential of my technique would no doubt be clear to the clan head. He had also seen that I am a monster since not only do I have immense talent already, but I have a system to give me bonuses on top of my talent. These two factors more or less guarantee that I am going to become a top-of-the-verse powerhouse in the future.
Just like that, 6 months passed by in a blur of training and sparring with guards from the clan. The sparring had been my way to get real-world experience with Swordsmanship and Hand-to-Hand Combat since I had gotten them both stuck at level 50. As it turned out, my plan worked to a certain extent. I quickly glanced at my status as I lay awake in my bed the night before my fifth birthday. I didn't know for sure that I would get my cursed energy tomorrow, but I had a feeling that I would.
- - -
Name: Arima Gojo
Age: 4
Grade: None
Cursed Tool: None
Perks: - - -
Faster Leveling
High Cursed Energy Output [Locked]
Immense Cursed Energy Reserves [Locked]
Active Skills: - - -
Cursed Energy Manipulation (Lv. 1) [Locked]
Replication Cursed Technique (Lv. 1) [Locked]
Passive Skills: - - -
Swordsmanship (Lv. 54), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lv. 57), Pain Tolerance (Lv. 32)
Technique Slots: - - -
1) None
2) [Locked Until Lv. 25]
3) [Locked Until Lv. 50]
4) [Locked Until Lv. 75]
- - -
I grinned in pride as my theory about actual experience to raise skills past level 50 was proven correct. However, I still have yet to see if life-threatening situations improved my skills faster. I put that out of my mind as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, ready to start a new chapter of my life tomorrow.
