8

Chapter 8: Applying KnowledgeChapter Text

The Elder grimaces as he examines the claw marks on his thigh. If the little brat had realized she was able to inflict damage he may have had to push himself. Luckily he was able to hold the wound closed with his Ki until she had left.

That little monster was growing too quickly for his liking. He couldn't simply kill her as he would lose the faith of the villagers, who already saw her as the second coming of the Honorable Ancestor. If he had not known the Ancestor's fate then he may believe it as well.

He could certainly kill any villagers that disagreed with his decision but what then? It is hard to live life luxuriously if you must do all the work yourself.

Certainly, he could slaughter them all, with the exception of the women then repopulate a new society that knew not of the past. Indeed, it would not even be the first time he had done so. Yet it took too much time and energy to keep doing so.

His Ancestor would shame him for wanting to be the big fish in a little pond but what did that fool know! Ibaraki-Douji died yet here the Elder stood, living like a king in this village.

The little monster's next and final trial would be the perfect time to be rid of her without arousing suspicion. Since she chose to be a sage she would be entering the Valley of Despair in order to hone her skill in the Sage Arts.

Since only a practitioner of Senjutsu can enter the Valley nobody would know if he snuck in and killed her before she could return.

His son had been killed because he was fast approaching a level of strength where the Elder would be unable to stop him should he reach that point. His dalliance with the seamstress simply allowed the Elder to remove him publicly while sending a message to anyone else who challenged his rein.

Contemplating the future he decides to enter seclusion, to train for the first time in decades. The meteoric growth of that freak of nature gave the little beast a chance of surpassing him in this lull. That would not do so the Elder resolved himself to reach new heights of strength at the same time.

Its punishment would wait till he returned from seclusion. He already had the perfect idea in mind. With a wicked smile, he approached the Valley of Despair.

Ever since her daughter had returned from the Trial of the Path's she had been far less closed off. Asuga had noticed a stark contrast between the Ibaraki-chan of before and now. Ibaraki-chan still rarely spoke but she sought out her mother far more often, seemingly relishing being in contact with her.

At night she often came and bid her a goodnight where before she would just grunt and walk off. Both were cute but this was preferable.

In an odd display, she came up with her own language. She used it when she was alone but had been using the same word every night. She would walk up and hug Asuga and say 'Goodnight Mother, I love you.'

She hadn't figured out what that word was as it was in the weird language her daughter had developed. The smile her daughter wore when she first repeated the word caused a warmth to well up in her heart and she resolved to one day learn what it meant.

Having my memories in crystal clear quality and all within reach was a powerful sensation. What this could do to help my training especially made me giddy.

I had so many different things I needed to try to copy from so many different sources. My issue was with picking which would be the most beneficial, most likely to work, and the most likely not to cause me to die if I messed them up.

Even with my memories back in full, I had no idea where I was. The only thing's I knew for sure is that Oni and humans exist here along with other Youkai probably. That and that Ki existed and magic almost definitely existed.

I could try to make a guess at what world I was in but why? Stuck in this village there was no reason to even contemplate it. Once I get out I'll try, for now, though it really wasn't a concern. What if I spent time thinking about it only to be wrong? What if I had my universe pegged as some magical fantasy but it turned out that the Oni here were just a Zabrak offshoot; then some Jedi comes to laugh at us for thinking we were using something other than the force? All that time would have been a waste.

Instead, I sit in my room meditating. I found my ki already so now I'm searching for other internal reservoirs of power. I think at least that magic would have a separate pool of energy. In most stories, Ki and magic were separate and distinct powers, so I hoped it would be the same here.

Finding my Ki was easy as I was familiar with it. By storing it below my navel the actual amount I could store was rapidly increasing. My 'Qi sea' was greedily absorbing the purified Ki and regenerated far faster when used than before.

I had begun to circulate my Ki from the Qi sea and around my body in an attempt to passively raise my strength. Clearly, with the size of my body and my weight, my strength couldn't be biological. My hope was that my cells would drink the Ki like the desert drinks rain, increasing their vitality and strength.

I had been… upset when I realized that I looked so different from the Ibaraki-Douji I remembered from the works of Kinoko Nasu. In fact, my looks and coloration reminded me more of Tomoe Gozen. Still cool, yet disappointing.

In response to my desires, my Ki began to circulate following the path of the tattoos on Ibaraki that I remember. Seeing no harm in it I made no attempt to divert the flow of my Ki.

Refining my body would take time so I refocused on finding mana.

Contrary to my attempts to find my Ki which took less than a day the first time, finding my mana took a week. A difference in talent may be the reason.

What I found was confusing. My Ki was at least semi-physical in its manifestation. Mana on the other hand was purely spiritual. I could taste it? Describing a non-physical sense with normal sensory verbs is difficult, that would be the closest definition though.

My mana came from my soul but was also present in everything in the world around me. It may be more accurate to say I possessed mana in my soul. At least that was the impression I got from it.

The confusion was the fact I had another source of energy there. Mana tasted gentle, steady, and smooth. The other source tasted whimsical, addictive, wild, and mercurial. The second source reminded me of how I felt when I shapeshifted last time so it may be related to that.

Tentatively I named this source Youki, as my memories indicated that Youkai often had strange abilities that couldn't be duplicated by humans. I assume this energy is responsible for that.

Curiously, my grudge flames draw from no source that I can find. The grudges themselves being the fuel I suppose. They also are the same grey as always even after the flames that devoured Satori shifted. I can't call upon him in my flames either.

My own Ki can't really hurt me from my experiments. The flames, however, certainly can. I found this out when I was testing them and I thought back to what Byakko's specter had threatened. Normally they're benign when I touch them; when I pretended to give up on the grudges the flames recoiled slipping my control and made to attack me.

Obviously, I was quick to reassure them. Byakko appeared to me again to assure me that they were not playing around and had taken my test as diminishing the depths of their hatred. Scary.

I think it's safe to say that Byakko was the 'ego' of the flames, acting as a terminal for them to speak to me of their goals. I think as long as my goals align with theirs that they will lend their power. Perhaps the flames aren't even my power and are instead a gestalt being that has tied itself to me, a new spirit. I have doubts about this though as my grudges are part of the power of the flames.

I had thought, when the memories all came back initially, that I would be changed by the sudden remembrance. What I forgot was the weight of my experiences here. In the same way that one remembers strong sensations with more clarity; the strength of the experiences in this life far outweighed those of my last. A decade of slaughter was far heavier, molding my personality more than two decades of paradise in comparison.

What stood out the most other than the techniques I could replicate from the memories was the idea of love, familial or otherwise. I hadn't learned much Japanese in my past life and in this life we weren't taught the word for love. I'm not sure the village even has a written record of the word. Even though my mother may never learn what the word meant, I hope I could show her what it meant instead.

In a month I realized that my method of body refining was a failure. My Ki had grown from the constant use which was a boon yet my body had not gained in vitality, strength, or durability.

I had, of course, read through the scrolls the Elder had given me on Senjutsu. I knew it likely to be pointless since he seemed to relish in sabotaging and bullying others so I was not too disappointed. Everything in the scrolls was either too basic or something I had already learned.

Not wanting to give up on body refinement yet I turned to the violent overbearing Ki of nature. While I'm no immortal cultivator and I doubt this is a world that follows those laws, the Oni in me enjoyed the idea of reaching the heavens through violence.

Taking the ethos of cultivation worlds and applying it here reminded me of the idea of forging a sword. A gentle flame and light prodigy doesn't turn metal into a sword, it takes vigorous flames and harsh strikes of a hammer! In the words of the Chinese, 'True gold fears no fire'. If I was going to become strong I had to know that my character was enough to weather any trials ahead of me.

Following the paths, I used with the refined Ki I forced the Ki of nature to run through, guided yet untamed. My body felt like it was on fire and I had to meet the hatred of the world once more. Would that stop me? No, I've come too far in this life to stop because of pain. The only thing to do is grit my teeth and bear it as my body rips apart and is remade constantly.

In the locations of Ibaraki Douji's tattoo's the Ki pools heavily splitting the skin and bathing it in fresh ki infused blood.

I'm unsure if I cycled the energy for a minute or an hour. Eternity is what it felt like.

Still, I know I've gained from this brief experiment in the same way that I know combat instinctively as an Oni. Instead of healing with more refined Ki, I let the wounds heal slowly, naturally, afraid that I may reset progress by doing so.

Not long after I began to see gains from my new body refinement method. They were incremental, unimpressive even yet it had only been another week. Over the week I was able to cycle the energy for longer periods though. Whether in the next year or the next five there would come a time I was able to do it continuously and then I would have a passive way to increase my strength constantly.

I could continue only experimenting with Ki for the entire half-decade till my next trial and I'm sure it would pay dividends when it came to my growth. I refused this method as I needed every method possible to support my strength. A single pillar can not support a house after all.

Today I would touch upon my magic and see where it took me. Magic in broad strokes is reality manipulation fueled by mana. Different settings had different attainable power levels and abilities possible through Magic.

With only five years until my next real test, I have to choose things that will bring the greatest benefits. As an Oni, I hadn't heard of anyone in the village dying from old age, this means I had an eternity to play around with magic later.

Drawing my mana out from my soul, through my body, and into my palm, I form it into a ball and bring it out of my hand. Eagerly watching I see… nothing happen. I demand a redo! Going through the motions again the same lack of things happens.

Okay? This time I draw the mana from my soul, through my head or brain, into my body, through my palm, and into the world! I get a small spark but before I can cheer I'm hit with a massive migraine. What the hell was that?

Is this seriously one of those worlds where I need a spell matrix or something to cast magic? Why can't I just say, 'Imma chargin' my fireball!', then toss a fireball?

I'll see if my mother knows anything about magic later.

As it turns out my mother doesn't know anything about magic either. She asked if I was talking about Ki manipulation while looking at me confused, as I was the one teaching her about Ki manipulation. I may have pouted for a bit after that.

Magic it seems was off the table for now, at least when it came to using mana.

Deciding on another approach I focused on the third energy source, Youki. The only references I had to Yuojutsu in my memories were; Touhou, and those harem anime abominations Rosario+Vampire and High School DxD.

In Touhou, Youjutsu was synonymous with magic and as such wasn't any real help.

Rosario+Vampire's version was, as painful as it is to admit, actually pretty awesome. It basically amounted to punch magic when Tsukune used it and at the highest level was again basically magic but a master use a technique to cut anything with their bare hands, pretty amazing. The technique was centered around spreading your arm through multiple dimensions, a lot like Sting from Worm.

High School DxD Youjutsu was magic that focused on Illusions, poison, and barriers. From the taste of my Youki, earlier this seemed to be the one that was most likely to work.

My memories showed Kuroka forming black symbols with a purple outline in the air to cast the poison spell. This was a focus for the intent behind the spell if I had to guess, with the symbols describing the general purpose. The other spells seemed to be gestureless and instant unless of course, they were pre-prepared.

Guiding the Youki through the same path as I tried the mana I held my palm out forward and imagined a barrier, mimicking Kuroka. I'm embarrassed to admit I was actually surprised that it worked.

Instead of the purple barrier that formed around Kuroka, mine was a dark red and flowed like flames. Laughing gleefully I tried something else.

Pumping a far large amount of energy I followed the same path, this time I imagined a giant flaming hand being shot from my own. The impromptu move drained nearly the entirety of my Youki but I was rewarded with a brilliant recreation of my hand flying forth and crushing a section of the forest before exploding.

In my joy I let the remainder of my Youki seep out in an aura and ended up burning a section of the forest as I was wreathed in flames. Now I just need to keep pushing forward, gaining strength.