Chapter 4: Chapter 3
The village had somewhat gotten stable as houses were being rebuilt. Most of the villagers who survived that tragic incident were mostly the men that were in the mine at the time and some who were in the fields. A handful of women were the survivors who were in the village and a few who managed not to die in the midst of the slaughter. A lot of work had to be done and so the villagers were split in groups of two. The first group would remain with father in the village, helping with the repairs and restructuring of the village and the second group which Reiji now fell in were to resume work at the mines and in the fields.
As the sun rose the next morning, Reiji's new life began. The mines were hot and the intense heat meant better quality ores. Ether-nano crystallised in places with a massive amount of magic in the air including underground. Places that had weird weather conditions such as intense heat or cold had a lot of magic in the air. A book I once read said if the air had too much magic, the magic would need to react in order to counter the imbalance and therefore strange phenomena would occur like abnormal weather or the crystallisation of the magic itself into ores now known as ether-nano. Most ores in the mine were impure and refining it would take a master blacksmith who knew the refining techniques and the process took months to complete and a lot of resources and that is the main reason why Blackbay was not a prominent city or village. Most of the unrefined ore would be sold to merchants, guild traders or nobles for cheap prices. They had the means and resources to process the ore and some would resell the precious metals for ridiculous prices which made them even more profit. Working in the mines was a 10 hour job and exhaustion was the least of my problems. Reiji's muscles ached from all the work and the ores he gathered were nowhere near to what he had anticipated to have harvested. Well it was only the first day and it was was naïve of him to have expected it to go any smoother. He quickly stumbled back home as he knew his father would be waiting. Punctuality was drilled into both Aya and him since the day they were both able to even walk. His father hated tardiness and it was gravely punished. As Reiji reached home, his father was already waiting for me in front of the door.
"Good, now drop off your bags and carry nothing that will hinder your movement."
"Sir"!
They both ran all the way there. His father neither looked back to see if Reiji was coming nor did he slow down. It was freezing but he seemed unfazed. There was snow everywhere and the wind did not seem to ease up. The wind itself was so cold it felt like knives were cutting Reiji's skin. His father stood at the base of the mountain and waited for Reiji to reach him. Reiji was not used to all the sudden physical work so getting to the mountain was already pushing his limit. As he finally caught up to his father, his father finally spoke:
"Now you will learn magic control and precision while building up strength and endurance. Gather your magic close your skin and use it to block your pores. Be careful and lay a thin layer around your skin and only use slightly a bit more to block your pores. Once your pores are blocked, your skin will not be able to breathe so every minute or so, unblock them them for a few seconds without removing the magic enveloping your skin or else you will freeze to death."
'No wonder he suggested we run there. It got the blood circulating and allowed you to feel warm and therefore blocking the skin and pores with magic allows you to trap the heat inside. That was probably how he kept warm in this cold climate', as all these thought raced through his mind Reiji was freezing and had no time to throw a fit. The process was extremely difficult and blocking was a mission on its own. Not to mention unblocking them. The mental weight this puts on you is tremendous, not to mention the physical work he was about to do. He was definitely nowhere close to even mastering it and the cold was not letting up.
-"Practice this until it becomes second nature. Magic precision is something that every mage should master and it will come in handy in the future. Now then, today's physical training will be your basic training that will help build muscle. The more peak your physical and mental conditions are the better. Reaching peak physical conditions allowed faster magical flow from within and without. It also improves your magic replenishment rate and allows more potent magic. The more potent your magic is the less magic is required for the same spell. Not to mention that peak physical condition increases how much magic your body can store (magic pool)."
-"Yes, sir!"
Reiji had to bench press ice boulders and try to break those very same boulders with my bare hands. During all this he had to keep my enhancement magic on the entire day. It would leave me almost dead with fatigue but he not once was he carried home after training. His father left him there to return home on my own and he had to return before day break else he would be late for work at the mines and would be forced to work overtime. Since he had no time to get sleep, he discovered that taking an hour nap twice a day was a work around. He took one nap in the early hours of the morning before he went to the mines and another one between lunch break at work. Two months went by and his bracelet still shown a bright blue, it was relieving but it still worried him to death because he knew that at any time it could change colour and that would be for the worst. During that time training was the only thing on Reiji's mind and the training regimen that kept getting harder but he had to get stronger and stronger than anyone else. Now he that I had to a firm body, he had to learn how to wield a sword properly. The lack of long range combat put Reiji at a major disadvantage. His father was stricter than ever before when it came to swordsmanship. His sword skills were so fast that Reiji could only see his initial motion before an attack and would be cut before he could even blink. Even with his enhancement magic that maximized both his offensive and defensive capabilities, he could barely make out some of his attacks. A few months went by and Reiji's skills improved. He still paled in comparison to his father but he was no novice.
-"Reiji, listen."
-"Yes father?"
-"Your greatest gift is not your physical prowess and at this rate, you will not be strong enough to find Aya. You have improved but you growth curve is stagnating. You have potential but only under someone who is a lot more skilled than I am. Go to a friend of mind who resides at the edge of the next village. He will help you from there. And do not come back until he says you can."
-"Why?"
-"Because I said so." His voice was deep and monotone that it was difficult to tell when he was actually joking.
'Father said he makes weapons and gear and sells them at the edge of the next town. He also once mentioned that he made the former king's weapon that the former king used in fighting in the mage tournament before he was beaten for his title by the current king. Apparently he left the city thereafter and no one truly knows the reason he decided to leave. If he is a master black smith then it does not matter why he left.' That evening after training Reiji went to visited Old man Fujikawa. His house was just like everyone else's except it has an additional chimney out at the back that always had smoke coming out. As soon as Reiji got to the door, it automatically rang a bell. A few moments the door opened and there he was. He had scruffy long white hair and a long beard. He wore goggles on his forehead and wore a grey apron. He wore baggy clothes and boots. He looked very muscular for his age. He was tall which totally destroyed the almost perfect image Reiji had on his mind. Due to the magic in the magic that flowed in during the great monster invasion, people lived long lives because of it. He was approaching three hundred years now, if the rumors Reiji heard around town were true but who really knew if they were true. His hands looked rough from the long hours of working and were black with coal.
-"How may I help you boy?"
He had a deep voice but it was somehow calming. His eyes looked like they were a thousand years old.
-"ah I would like you to make a sword for me."
-"I don't take custom orders anymore. If you want a sword, you could come in the morning and I'll sell you one."
"I'm from the next village east of here and my sister was taken by those horrid monsters that came that day and I need to get her back from where ever they have taken her to."
He had a sceptical look in his eyes but said nothing for a while. Then after that brief pause that felt like an eternity to Reiji, he invited me in. Reiji was gestured to sat down on his leather couch. It was warm considering that Reiji had been in the frost mountains training prior to his arrival at the old man's house.
-"So you say your sister was taken by those heavenly hollows?"
-"Heavenly hollows?"
-"Yes, you haven't been out of the village much have you? They are out world creatures that only appear when commanded to appear or summoned by a high level mage but only a handful have the ability to do so."
-"So they were summoned, by whom?"
-"That, boy is something you might not want to know."
Reiji paused, hesitated for a while. It never once crossed my mind that these monsters were summoned and by a high level mage. He realized he'd currently stand no chance at defeating such a monster but if he did not do something, nothing would ever change. Reiji was quickly snapped out of his anxiety attack by a question from the old man:
-"By the looks of you, you are just like most folk around who cannot cast magic."
-"How did you…"
-"You have a lot to learn boy. Besides you wouldn't be here if you could."
-"That is true but I can cast self-enhancement magic."
He then gave Reiji a piercing stare for a moment and said:
"Follow me."
Reiji followed him to the back of his house where his forge was located. The old man turned around and Reiji felt a crushing aura that began to emanate from the old man. It felt as if Reiji's body was failing me. Reiji fell on my knees and took a glance up at the old man, he had a white aura around him and his eyes glowed with a bright light. Reiji felt like his very soul was being crushed. He vomited so hard he could barely feel his face. Tears flowed down his eyes as the crushing weight of the old man's magic rained down him. Reiji had never felt anything more intense. 'Is this what strength looks like? Is this where I die?'. As Reiji thought long and hard about his fate the old man began to speak once again:
"Do you truly understand what it means to be strong? Those who are strong will always remain on top of the food chain. It is natural law for the strong to devour the weak: Natural selection. Do you understand that hell is other people?"
Reiji was so confused; all he could do was to hang on to his dear life. The pressure abruptly stopped and he could finally breathe. Tears flowed down Reiji's eyes and only sheer will to stay alive kept Reiji from dying.
"Do you still want to go on this suicide mission? There are thousands of beings that are a lot stronger than I am. My best advice to you would be to stop wasting both our time and go home. Try to forget all that happened and live a long a peaceful life. Be fulfilled with what you have and be grateful for all the lives that were sacrificed to keep yours alive."
Reiji gathered the remainder of his strength and whispered: "They have taken everything from me. What is there to lose? *cough cough* I have nothing *cough* but hope that I will one day get back what *cough* I---have---- lost!"
The old man lost his composure for a moment. Chills ran down Old man Fujikawa's spine. He was taken aback by the sheer will the boy in front of him had. His eyes were filled with sadness. The young boy reminded the old man of all the sorrows he had gone through. 'Just may be I can do this one thing right at my old age.' As these thoughts ran across the old man, he cleared his throat and said:
"From now on you will listen to what I say and if I ever hear a complaint, you can go a find another black smith out there to craft you sword for you."
Reiji was paralyzed and deep down he knew that where he was planning to go find his sister he would meet enemies as strong as the old man was or even stronger. He managed to muster to nod then the aura around the old man vanished.
"Get up, you look ridiculous on that floor. You sister is safe for now. If she has not turned 18 years yet, has she?"
As he struggled to get up, he answered:
"No she is still 10 years old now but how do you know that's she is safe."
"Those heavenly hollows are true monsters and are unlike anything I have ever sensed before, and they are normally at S rank or even much worse, Z rank. Even though they were strong, they seemed weakened. You are lucky to even be alive. I could barely fend them off. One was enough to have easily wiped out the whole village but there were dozens of them. They were not even using a tenth of their actual power which could only mean one thing, they were looking for something or someone. That was your sister. She must have had an extremely rare magical talent and magical reserves that could extend one's life for several millennia. It's a forbidden mage craft that grants life and in exchange: another life."
Reiji was filled with nothing but anger and distaste for a person who could take another person's life like it was nothing just to prolong his life their own life. With curiosity he asked the old man:
-"But was does my sister's age have anything to do with what you just said?"
-"One's full potential is drawn out once he has turned 18. That potential can be honed with vigorous training. The more latent potential you have, the more powerful you will become when you turn 18. So that's why the academy of mages from all around the world recruit children from as young as 5 years old to train then in order to increase their latent potential to produce more powerful mages when they are older. That's why you stay in a mage school until you turn 18 with the exception of children who attain rank A and above before that making it to 18 years old. Those rare children have the potential to become rank SSS (pronounced rank triple S) or even rank Z."
-"Are there actual humans out there who are even rank Z?"
-"Yes there are and according my knowledge there are about five in total."
'If only five exist in the world then it is impossible for just anyone to become one but if I want to get my sister back, will I have to become as strong as they are?' while in thought it then dawned to Reiji that he just had to ask:
-"Old man Fujiwara, what rank are you?"
-"Become strong enough and you will be able to tell without asking."
Reiji did not want to ask any more questions that would push the old man's buttons else he would be a flat pancake before he can even regret his decision.
"Will you make my sword now?"
"What made you want to choose the sword? A sword can become a very heavy weapon to wield for even the strongest of swordsman."
"It is not that heavy if you train hard enough, I can wield my father's sword for hours without feeling fatigue for a while."
The old man looked at me with serious look in his eyes and Reiji did not need anyone to tell him that he was answering the wrong question. The old man then went inside and opened a leather satchel from across the room and pulled out a shinken and handed it to Reiji who was still struggling to stand up straight.
"Go and hunt any animal in the woods with this and if you do not have one, then do not come back here. If you complete this task and I might consider making one for you."
True visual prowess is the ability to see when those around you cannot.
-Reiji Hashimoto
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone