Arts

"A scythe? Out of every weapon in front of you, you chose the only one that's not a weapon? I don't know if it's the sign of a genius, or a sign of ignorance. Son, scythes are used to gather wheat, not aid in battle. Are you sure you want this thing?", Yusef said with a perplexed expression, while taking the scythe out of Iono's hands.

This was actually quite an easygoing reaction. If anyone else heard that someone was using a scythe as a weapon, they would roll on the floor laughing. This world hadn't yet witnessed the magnificence of such a weapon.

"Yes dad, this thing feels right. The handle is a bit short though. Do you think you can make me one with a longer handle? I want it to be a bit longer than me."

"Sure, no problem. If you think it suits you, then I have nothing to say about it. But, don't come crying to me if it's useless."

While Yusef was talking, Iono took another look at the weapons, and saw a pair of daggers. He remembered Kyomu, and thought,

"Actually, seeing as Kyomu is a dagger, maybe I should started working on mastering them. I should keep the scythe as a trump card. Seeing as I reached fusion with the scythe last time, I should be unstoppable. After all, weapon mastery is not linked to energy. Even with the small amount I posses, I could overpower even Ballu really easily."

He then picked up the steel daggers and inspected them. They were a pair, and both grey. They were simple daggers made of steel and looked like kitchen knives.

"Dad, I think I want to try the daggers as well, do you think you can teach me? The scythe, I'll train on my own, since there are no arts for it, but I want help with the daggers.", his eyes were glistening while looking at Yusef.

His father revealed a smile and said, " It's going to be tough, mastering two weapons. Especially the ones you picked. I'm not sure about the scythe, but I imagine that both are mostly centered around speed, silence and assassination. You'd be rather weak in a head on fight with these kinds of weapons. I'm going to ask you again, are you sure these are the ones?

"Yeah dad, don't worry, I thought about it a lot, even before you asked me about it...So, do I keep the daggers, or will you make me some better ones? ", he said with a small anticipation in his eyes. Yusef was a very good craftsman, and obviously he was hoping for something good.

"Don't bite off more than you can chew, little monkey, I'm already making you a scythe. Also powerful weapons, will be dangerous for you. I'm surprised we even have this conversation, don't forget you are still four. I know you are excited, but you are still young and weak. Don't worry, once the right time comes, I'll make you weapons even better than mine. Now stop using your influence as my son to get free stuff and let's start training.

Seeing as you picked your weapons, I'll go home and work on your scythe. Don't expect something grand.", he said as he opened his storage pouch, and pulled out something that looked like a papyrus.

Storage pouches, were fairly common, and a great way to store your things. Although Iono had a storage space, it was full with the mysterious egg, so he has been needing one for a while. They were simple, made out of leather, and created by infusing them with energy rings that expanded the space inside them. Of course one couldn't store living things inside, and that's what made the prana storage space very special and highly coveted.

Iono took the papyrus and opened it to see that it was daggers arts. It depicted several stances and positions, as well as attack patterns. There were drawings of a black figure showing the reader the movements. Below every pattern, there was a text, explaining various pros and cons, as well as insights on the art itself. One could use this texts to further understand the weapon they were using and reach higher levels, like Yusef's "one with the sword".

Weapon arts were a rather common thing and were used by many. They came in different shapes and sizes, and also different classes. The one in front of him was a rather high class one, although it was still garbage in front of Iono's eyes. The classes went as such:

Beginner's, Amateur's, Apprentice's, Intermediate's, Graduate's, Master's, Grandmaster's and lastly High Master's class.

The Beginner's class arts could be found basically anywhere, while the High Master's class was so rare, only 10 were found in the whole continent. Yusef possessed two of them. There were even higher tier's, but they were impossible to find in Trissa.

The one in front of Iono, was a simple Apprentice's class, and it was suitable as a starting point.

"Train with the daggers by following the art, until I get back and give you some guidance. Start by reading the whole thing before trying the stances. I'll be back in a jiffy. ", he said and then disappeared, like a shadow.

Iono sat cross legged and opened the papyrus to inspect the art. It wasn't complicated, and he found it easy to comprehend. In half an hour Iono had memorized the whole text, and even seen through most of the basic principles. This surprised even him.

"I almost mastered the principles behind the arts in just half an hour. I don't remember having such clarity of mind and insightfulness. My brain is also still growing. I guess young bodies have indeed terrifying learning abilities.", he shrugged it off, and got up to try out the stances.

Growing bodies were indeed terrifying regarding learning speed, but learning an Apprentice's class art under half an hour, is almost as impossible as the sun rising from the west. Iono didn't know of his prowess, and of course he couldn't compare it with his previous lives, because he didn't have this knowledge last time he was a four year old. This was an unexpected effect of his powerful soul. Although the soul was ethereal and difficult to understand, it was directly connected with the mind. A powerful soul, gave a great boost in intelligence and understanding. Basically, every time his soul was empowered, Iono's IQ rose by a very small amount. And now, although he was not aware of it, his mind was very powerful.

After learning of the principles, he tried out the stances copying the black character depicted on the papyrus.

The first stance was a basic one with his legs firm on the ground and his arms crossed in an X shape, both holding the daggers outwards. This was a protective stance. The next one was fairly simple as well. His right hand was blocking his face and body with the dagger, while the other hand was behind his waist, ready to strike at any time. This was a balance between attack and defence.

They seemed very simple, and not even worth practicing, but the truth is that, they involved much complexity regarding the energy flow in the body. When getting into a stance, one had to control the flow of his energy, and make it go through certain acu-points that resulted in amplifying effects both in the physical, and the energetic properties of the user. This effects were further amplified if the user had his body in certain positions, aka stances.

That's is why although Iono seemed to be simply taking a stance and staying there for a long time, many things were happening underneath the surface. What one had to do, to master weapon arts, was memorize the movement of energy in every stance, and be able to use it unconsciously in battle. While in battle, everything could be decided in the fraction of a millisecond, and so if one had to thing about a strategy, while having to focus on using his own weapon arts, the strain would be bigger, resulting in death.

Iono trained under the scorching sun, accompanied by cicadas, for over three hours. In those three hours, he jumped, he run, he slashed and eventually, he managed to not only memorize every stance and flow, he mastered the arts thoroughly.

Terrifying

Such prowess was unheard of. Completely mastering an art was on a different level than simply learning it. If one learned an art, then he would spend a long time honing it on the battlefield.

But, completely mastering a technique meant that after honing it, one would understand everything there is to it, and then, even improve on it. Many had learned techniques, but mastering them, that was uncommon. Much less, in a time period of three hours.

Iono was ecstatic, he was really happy with his unexpected improvements. Not only did he have prana, chaos, a mysterious egg, and millennia of experience, apparently he was also extremely comprehensive. Some would say he was overpowered, but compared to some monsters he knew in his previous lives, he was as precious as a shit stain.

Therefore even if he was happy, he knew that talent without hard work and opportunity was basically an empty promise. He had to work hard, hard enough to not lose to anyone, because his opponent was once again fate itself.