Chapter 28: Boidokī

'At least that's the same.' Iori thought wryly,' The Nekomata are still Senjutsu crazy.'

He knew that amount it nerve it took to ask someone for the name of a technique that nearly killed them multiple times over. Especially after he so thoroughly humiliated their clan. It didn't matter if it was now or centuries in the past, those maniacs would always have their priorities messed up.

But even then, even he felt it was a bit much to name a whipping technique something fancy like 'Flowing Motions, Thrashing Eel'. He just infused Ki into a fishing rod and used the line to whip his opponent into submission. Really nothing that deserved such a name.

'At least it'll be funny if a school pops up from this. Just a bunch of fisherman who had enough. ' He paused,' But I can also see where this might go awry..'

Ki infused whipping? Yeah he really wasn't looking forward to the amount of doors that would open if he introduced such a thing to these youngsters. Madame Yuki had taught him a lot after all…

Despite his break day being ruined, there were at least a few good things that came out of it. Iori not only got to see what Modern Senjutsu was like and gotten a brand new toy for him to play with later.

While the Practitioners left much to be desired, at least their weapons are something to be admired. Back in his day, the development of weapons capable of channeling Ki was in it's infancy. Usually blacksmiths would just use Ki infused ingots to make items that has a resonance with the life energy. Using it to create channels like a living thing directly into the material.

But even then, it was an expensive luxury with not a lot of upsides. Such a process only made the weapon or item more durable, nothing of any real note unlike magic items that can cast literal fire through its' surface. It wasn't strange for Practitioners then to walk around with wooden weapons or nothing at all.

Material that was once living was obviously better at handling Ki than anything else. And wood being at the forefront in the competition. Closely followed by coral. They were commonly used to create artifacts with ready to use techniques that seem to be the only survive method of casting for humans.

So color him surprise when he had scanned over the Nekomata family heirloom and noticed the blade expedited similar properties to wood in certain ways. First, the channels were uniform and perfect in every way. No matter how many times he scanned over the blade with his sense did he come across even a single imperfection with the energy channels itself.

And the metal itself seem to have come from something living. How metal can naturally grow on living being was beyond him but this was a magical world so he wouldn't discount anything.

Combine those two factors together, it wasn't a surprise when he found multiple inscribed into it's inner structure.

"Sharpness, durability…" He murmured, completely lost in his own inspections. There were upsides to having a disciple who was a big-shot, no one would dare to visit her home unannounced. Leaving him plenty of time to scrape at any secrets the future holds," Self-repair? That's kinda novel.."

All these inscriptions were somewhat mundane to what he found next.

"Spatial?"

Iori mumbled in disbelief, focusing in closer to that subcutaneously smaller but more complex inscription. In the hilt itself, a technique tasting of something strange laid. Now he could never claim to be a specialist at anything space based. Spatial Ki was just..different from any other flavors of the life energy. It wasn't as destructive as Fire nor as durable as Earth but it made up for it with it's mysterious nature.

From what he could remember, none of those techniques were simple enough to be used without the deployment of flags and symbols to help focus in on the desired effect. And even then, they were mostly used techniques in escape formations the Orthodoxy were fond of using.

He knew at the time that these techniques were being severely underused and had great potential to wrought untold damage on the very fabric of reality itself. So it served to both stroke his ever swelling ego and wiggle at his nerves.

'Hopefully no one made a blackhole...'

Putting that aside, Iori decided to insert a small thread of Ki into that inscription just to test everything out. Space rippled, twisted uncomfortably and he found himself somewhere..strange? The world around looked the same at first. Like it was some kind of strange copy rendition of his surrounding.

But then he 'moved'. Not in the same classic up, down, left or right, back or forward. No. He didn't know exactly how to explain it but just that little bit of movement immediately kicked him out of that strange space with a churning stomach. Looking over at the space he previously was, he felt both awe and a bit of disappointment.

'A marvel…' He thought, holding up the now warm to the touch blade,' I really shouldn't have underestimated the future so much!'

He was willing to admit that he had looked down heavily on the future, especially given how this new water down version of Senjutsu was the norm. But if items like this were just out and about, then maybe he would have no choice but to be more cautious. Less he underestimate some scrub and let them get a lucky shot on him. Ruined robes would for sure shatter his image of invincibility.

'It's too bad this isn't actually a technique. I'm sure it would burn out any channels of anyone who tried such a thing!'

The immortal was sure that this only worked because of the metal's high melting point, flesh would for sure just boil away under the pressure. Shifting back and forth between this world and another plane wasn't suited for those made of flesh and blood.

"Boidokī.." Iori thought aloud, truly appreciating the marvels of the future," Void Key indeed…"