Chapter 55: Battle Preparation

After leaving the old man's home, Mwana first returned to the school library before passing by the main village library and the village temple. He then made a visit to a Medicine shop to buy some items for training. By the time he was done, the small allowance he had received after the awakening ceremony was close to exhaustion. Apart from borrowing some techniques from the libraries, he also bought some potions and special minerals to help advance his training.

When he returned home, Mwana was greeted by a figure jumping towards him. It was their dog Fana, medium-sized brown dog. The family had owned 3 dogs since Mwana was young: Simba, Fana, and Nameless. However, apart from Fana, the other 2 has already died. One was injured by other dogs while the other died after eating poisoned crops at a neighbor's farm. After playing around with the dog for a while, he went to help his mother with the house chores.

Mwana and Jana were usually on milk duty to milk the cows in the morning and sometimes in the evening. Mwana's mother owned one cow which the young children had named 'Red' while his uncles and aunts also had a few cows and goats. The livestock kept by the family was mostly to provide milk essential for the growing youngsters. As for taking care of the animals, Mwana's younger cousins, Sawa and Chenga, were usually in charge of herding whenever they did not have learning activities.

After finishing up his evening chores, Mwana went on to help his mother and aunts in preparing dinner while telling them about his day. The young man was a jack of all trades. He could even be considered a great cook.

"I hear your fight against that Majimaji brat is coming up. Was it really necessary to challenge him?"

"He insulted you…" Mwana answered his mother in a low tone. He understood that she was concerned for him and would never even want him to fight a single time in his life if she had a say.

"So you are using me as an excuse? You know it might feel good if you win but will it be enjoyable if you lose."

"No, but the challenge has already been made. I can't think of such things now."

"I am not speaking about only right now. What about in the future? Will you keep fighting anyone who throws an insult at your family? How many people do you think that is? Can you guarantee you will win any and every challenge you make over some petty comments?"

"Eish, eish, Sana take it easy on the boy. He's still young and it is a fact the Maji boys have poked him too many times. I know you are worried but let him stand up for himself sometimes." Luckily, Mwana's aunt Jumatatu came to his rescue just as Sana's questions transformed into scolding.

Gaining a bit more courage, Mwana finally articulated his true feelings on the matter, "I might not have said anything back then but not being able to do something in retaliation was suffocating; and then the bullying stopped but the Maji cousins just got away with it like that. No one punished them and I never retaliated."

'Sigh.' To some extent Sana understood, it is just that she did not want her child to be hurt.

After their violent encounter with Malkia, the Maji cousins stopped bullying Mwana physically however, their scathing words especially with Maji 1 never stopped. On Mwana's side, he did not feel as if he had gotten enough 'revenge' yet. Only by pummeling on Maji 1's detestable face would he put their past behind him.

After the cooking was done, the tables were set in the central hut and everyone sat to eat. The entire family usually ate together but there were times when some of the adults were unavailable due to work reasons. However, they still tried their best to enjoy a meal together whenever they could. Tonight, even some of Mwana's married female cousins, Shera and Mengi, had visited the family which made the dinner table much livelier.

At the end of the long day, Mwana narrated a bedtime story to little Pendo. The little girl kept fighting off the sleep but in the end she lost the battle and fell asleep. As for Mwana, he could not sleep just yet. He was planning on starting his night training.

After settling down, Mwana first examined the sword he had gotten from Waya's father. This was not an ordinary weapon but a Silver ranked sword. Weapons were divided into several ranks: Earth Rank, Sky Rank, Heaven Rank, and Spirit Rank. The Earth rank of weapons had several levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Black. The short silver sword Mwana had gotten from old man Fisi was a silver ranked weapon. Usually such a weapon could deal with an Intermediate warrior.

If one used an ordinary weapon against a warrior who had already surpassed the 3rd level of skin hardening, it probably would not leave even a shallow mark on the skin let alone injure them. Bronze level weapons could deal with junior warriors while silver ranked weapons could deal with intermediate warriors. As for gold level and black level weapons, they were used by senior warriors and warriors at the apex respectively.

Mwana also extracted an extra sword sheath from his sisal bag. He had received it as a bonus from the old man after a round of begging. This sword sheath was many times more valuable than the silver rank sword. It was very important to Mwana as he could use it for his father's sword style. The most valuable thing Mwana's father, Jua Dhahabu, had left him was his sword was called the [Sword Dragon Ita].

The [Ita sword] was said to have been forged from the bones of a dead dragon. Mwana could not use this sword due to its extremely high level as it was a Spiritual weapon! In the entire village the Sword Elder was probably the only person who could use it. However, just because Mwana could not use the sword did not mean he could not benefit from its inheritance.

The [Sword Dragon Mantra] was the inherited technique that came along with the Ita sword. It was a sword technique that Mwana had been learning for a while now and the additional sheath would make this learning process easier.

Apart from the [Sword Dragon Mantra], Mwana planned to learn the other techniques he had picked up on the way home after following Waya's advice. One could get martial arts techniques in the village in places like the martial road, school library, village library, temple, or directly from a teacher or mentor.

From his mentor in the field of art and painting, Jua Urembo, Mwana had received the [Demon Sealing Portrait manual] and a standard [Telekinesis spell]. He then visited the school library where he borrowed the [Magic Amplification meditation technique] and the [Solar Scorching Fist]; a supplementary technique and a complementary technique respectively.

The solar scorching fist was a complementary technique that combined nature energy and magic. Complementary techniques were techniques that served to complement other techniques or abilities. In the case of the solar scorching fist, it complemented the [Sun Divine arts] section of the [Sun and Moon arts] that everyone in the village practiced.

As the school librarian described it, "This fist art simply allows you to channel the solar energy you have already absorbed to basically punch people with it. That is all. In the end, its strength depends on how well you have practiced the [Sun and Moon arts]."

In addition to the school library, Mwana visited the general village library to get a basic magic skill – the [Linear Wind Spell]. After-all Mwana was someone who relied majorly on his speed during combat. Even without bringing martial techniques into play, Mwana had a talent for speed. In his class only Duma could outmatch him and the latter had awakened the bloodline of a Cheetah-type spiritual creature. Additionally, in the days following his awakening Mwana had already made great progress in the [100 steps in an instant] movement technique. Therefore, training in the linear wind spell would boost his speed even further.

The last technique in his hands was one he had extorted from Jua Mzee, the village priest. This old man had long noticed Mwana's spiritual talent so he did not make things too hard for the boy. From the temple, Mwana returned with a Spiritual technique titled [Soul Breaker]. Although he had gone to the temple to seek advice on strengthening the soul, it turned out soul power was not an issue for Mwana. In fact, according to Mzee, Mwana's soul was overflowing with spiritual energy. However, he could not advance to the next level as if a barrier was blocking his progress.

"Your soul is overflowing with power but you are still in a semi-awakened state. This soul breaker art will fix that problem albeit with temporary side effects."

Indeed, Mwana's soul power had more than doubled since the day his bloodline awakened. He had gone through an awakening ceremony which boosted his spiritual power further. Several weeks since then, he had felt the higher levels calling to him but he failed to make that last step.

Tonight Mwana set his first goal as capitalizing on his soul talent to advance the speed of his soul training. Mwana's soul was currently semi-awakened, that is to say he was at the second level of the Spirit Sense Novice Realm. A person in this realm was only considered a Rank 1 Divine Spiritualist which was a far distance from Rank 4 Divine Spiritualists like the village priest who could even part a river with pure spiritual might.

The Spirit Sense Novice Realm had 10 levels which were: Sensing the Soul and Spiritual power, Spirit energy absorption, Spirit energy circulation, Spirit energy shrouding, Spirit energy shaping, Spirit energy expulsion, Spirit energy imbuement, external manipulation of Spirit energy, Spirit energy retrieval, and Spirit Force.

Most of Mwana's age-mates were at the 2nd or 3rd level. The technique that many of the children used to strengthen the soul was the True Spirit Canon. However, the canon was more of a way of life rather than a spiritual technique therefore one could not advance as fast in soul training while relying on it.

The first 3 levels of the Spirit Sense Novice realm had almost no external application thus one was considered semi-awakened when in those levels.

Mwana sat up on his bed and started meditating on the Soul breaker technique to break through to the next level. However, he was not just aiming for the 3rd level but the 4th level – Spirit energy shrouding; this would allow him to shroud his body in armor made up of pure spiritual energy.