Nakahara Ryuji's POV:
My name is Nakahara Ryuji and I think I'm in love. You never quite know where life is going to take you, one moment you're running down a hall with a slice of bread in your mouth, the next you're being beaten senseless by your first love.
I had accidentally fallen asleep while waiting for the opening ceremony for the greatest alchemy event of the year and rushed out the door while munching on some toast I had made right before dozing off. I ran at full speed down the halls towards my destination, while chatting with my master.
My master's name is Ren. He is a mysterious ghost possessing an ancient alchemy pill I swallowed a long time ago. He was apparently a great alchemist in the past and has been teaching me the ways of alchemy and cultivation for several years now. I am thankful every day for our fateful encounter as his insight and assistance have saved my life on countless occasions. However, his advice came a little late this time.
'HEY, LOOK OUT, THERE IS A-!'
*BANG**BANG*
'-GIRL!'
I had been too focused on my conversation to pay much attention to where I was going and accidentally ran down a woman. I turned around to quickly apologize, but…
"*munch* Oh, shorry! *gulp* Are you oo… Shit did I kill her?"
'I'd say so! No nascent soul could survive a head injury this bad! You can even see the brain leaking out!'
'I know I had been running at full speed, but I didn't think I hit her with that much force.' I thought in the telepathic link.
'Maybe not if she was a cultivator, but it seems this lass was a mortal! Still, you have gotten much stronger in a short amount of time, so do keep in mind to try and adjust to your new strength so that accidents like this do not happen again!' my master replied.
With a heavy heart for accidentally taking this young girl's life I was about to turn to leave when something unexpected happened.
"Silly baka yusha! The powers of toast powered shoes are nothing before the power of magical girls! Now away!"
Suddenly hopping back on her feet she spoke with an energetic voice as blood came shooting out of the back of her head. She did a ton of weird poses and gestures while waving a purple wand with a yellow star at the end, before she started walking away.
'Oh, I see!'
*Thud*
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked in worry as the girl suddenly fell forwards.
'You must have hit a strange spot, and she managed to somehow maintain consciousness in her final moments of life!'
"…ow…e…ds…e…ust…ing…qui…hell..." I could hear her mumble incoherently.
'Poor thing! It should be over soo-! Hm!'
Just as her mumbling stopped completely, a blue fire suddenly appeared over her wound and started healing the injury. When it was done, her injury had been completely closed, leaving only a scar in the shape of my shoelace hidden under a tuft of silver hair.
'Master?'
'I don't know! I think it might have been some form of aura, but I've never seen someone capable of activating it like this postmortem!'
'So, does that mean she'll live?'
I moved closer to take a look to check on her condition, but the moment I reached out to touch her.
'Hm! NO STOP!!!'
*Swoosh*
In an instant, she suddenly flew towards my head at a surprising speed, missing me by a hairs breadth as I managed to react in time. I then watched her cling to the walls and roof, as she bolted around the place at speeds I thought was impossible for a mortal. She would move down on all fours like an animal as she clawed, kicked and punched at superhuman speeds.
*Swoosh*
Though she was incredibly fast, I could still keep up with her speed thanks to my high level of cultivation.
'Good! Keep dodging her attacks! She might be a mortal, but her mastery of aura changes things! Depending on the individual, it could even harm immortals, so do not take her lightly!'
"Noted"
"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?!"
"Huh? Oh, shi-!"
*Bang**Bang**Bang*
I had been distracted by the guards who just arrived, giving her an opening to strike. I was then knocked to the ground with her on top of me, as she started pummeling me. I grabbed her arms to try and restrain her, but then she headbutted me, causing what turned out to be a mask to become visible for a split second before disappearing.
Luckily, the guards swiftly came to pry her off me, but unfortunately, they were not much help after that, as she suddenly started targeting them instead. They were all incapacitated in seconds. However, the violence soon stopped as she suddenly fell over again after taking down the guards.
"Did she just fall asleep?" I muttered as I could hear her cute little snores.
'Hm? I don't think she was conscious to begin with!'
"What do you mean?"
'I noticed it, when she attacked, it was faint, but she was snoring just like she is now!'
"Are you suggesting that she was fighting in her sleep?"
'To acquire a mastery of aura to the stage she seems to have reached, you would require several lifetimes worth of experience! For a mortal to acquire it at her age would suggest the lass has had quite the tough life! She may have learned to subconsciously respond to danger signals as a result of her experiences! Though, even still, it's impressive she can still move like that without the need for conscious thought!'
"So, as long as I don't go near her, I should be fine right?"
'Probably?'
"What do you mean probably?"
'Look, I'm an alchemist, not a psychiatrist! I am still struggling to understand how she recovered from a lethal head injury on aura alone, so give me a break!'
With my useless master being out of his depths.
'I heard that!'
I slowly backed away like I saw a bear in the woods, while trying not to make any sounds in case it might trigger her.
*Cough**cough*
"Ugh! What happ-!"
*Bang*
Suddenly, one of the guards close to her woke up prematurely, which was swiftly met with a kick to the head before she sprang up and tackled me into a wall as she started pummeling me senseless. She would continue to slam her fist into my face, even after it had turned into a mangled mess from striking the face of a blue core nascent soul, she just kept punching until she finally woke up.
"Oopsie daisy! You activated my self-defense mode! Here's an apology kick of justice to say I'm sowwy!" She said, before striking me in the place that should never be targeted.
*Bang*
*Thud*
*Sharp inhale*
While I collapsed to the ground, trying to hold in the scream of agony while clutching my injured crotch, I could see her scamper away into the distance.
'That's got to hurt! It's at times like this that I am glad I no longer have a physical form!' My master said, as I struggled to get back on my feet.
Once I recovered, I made my way to the opening ceremony, in hopes that I might catch the end of it at the very least. However, I was thunderstruck by what I saw when I looked out at the stage.
"STEALS YOUR BREATH THEN TAKES YOUR HEART!♪"
It was her. Out on stage, was the woman who had beaten me senseless just a moment ago. She was singing a cheerful song while dancing through the air like a fairy in the wind. I had never seen something so beautiful before in my entire life. I could feel my heart skip a beat as I saw her pretty face blow me a kiss before disappearing into the fog on the ground. I knew then and there I found the thing people call love.
'You know that could have been directed towards anyone in your general direction, right?'
Ignoring my stupid master's words.
'Stupid?!'
I went down to show off my skills in hopes of catching her attention, but never could I have expected she would be participating in the competition as well. However, …
"Contestant Su, you are disqualified!"
"Huh? Wait what?!"
It seemed like she had gotten into some trouble after that hallway beatdown and was about to get disqualified. Not going to look a gift horse in the mouth I jumped in to save her.
"SMO-!"
"WAIT!"
"Please, let her stay!"
"Contestant Nakahara Ryuji?"
"What happened was just as much my fault as lady Su's, and since we both seem capable of competing, I beseech you to overlook this incident just this once!" I said, showing off what a patient and forgiving person I am.
"You were the victim of this offence! Are you sure, you don't want to press the issue?"
"How could I possibly do that against such a beautiful maiden!" He said, as I smiled and winked at her.
I had been a little disappointed we didn't have time to talk after that before the 1st round started, but at least I know my charms worked on her as is evident of those eyes of longing directed towards me. It would have been so much better if my workbench was located farther in the back, for I would rather have a better view of her than this stupid floating cube.
'I think your mistaking greed for longing, my young disciple! Either way, you need to focus if you want to win this competition!'
'Speaking of the competition! She is a mortal, right? How is she supposed to make pills if she is not even a nascent soul?'
'You are too narrow-minded, my young disciple! There is more than one road to becoming an alchemist, but for now, you need to focus on your own!'
'She looks so cute when she's focusing!'
'*sigh* Love makes fools of us all! You know, winning this competition would be a good way to win her heart!'
'Huh?'
'Since time immemorial, females have developed an instinctual attraction towards the dominant male as a way to protect themselves! If you wish to win her heart, then you can do so by winning this competition as a way to show her you are better than the other alchemists here!'
'Is that true?'
'Yes, now stop dawdling and get to work! Even that lass you're so interested in is already ahead of you!'
Seeing that I was already behind, I rushed to create as many pills as I could with the time I had left, but even though I started later than the others, I ended up winning the 1st round with ease.
'That is only because of that lass destroying half her pills with her own hands'
'Now that you mention it! How did she make that laser shoot out like that? Did she hide an artifact inside her death-moon?'
My crush's creation for the 1st round had been a large sphere assembled from intricately shaped alchemy pills of various shapes and sizes. It seemed rather strange and even one of the judges looked like they were about to give her a scolding when she presented it, but then she pushed in one of the pieces on the pills and an incredibly bright and colorful laser came shooting out the top and lit up the sky. Everyone here could feel the power within that one shot, hence none of the judges dared utter a word of complaint when she started pointing it at them. It had taken some time, but when they finished dismantling the death-moon, they counted 12 different pills used in making the outer layer along with a burned mass in the center of it.
'I understand why you might think that, but if you looked closely at the burned mass they found inside that death-moon as she called it, you would know that it was entirely made using alchemy pills! The charred black core of her contraption contains residue from various types of pills! She most likely utilized the characteristics of various pills to create that laser we saw!'
'Is that even possible?'
'Theoretically, yes! But it requires a lot of knowledge and skill to craft something like this! It's not something just anyone can throw together in an hour or two! Whatever the case, we are fortunate she seems to be such a klutz and ruined her chances, or she might have won this round!'
Either way, since I won the 1st round, I took the opportunity to try and talk to her while we waited for the next round to start, but…
"He-!"
"DON'T CELEBRATE YOUR VICTORY JUST YET EVIL PHANTOM-TOAST, FOR THIS DRUG WAR IS STILL FAR FROM OVER! YOU MAY HAVE THE BIGGER DRUG PROBLEM, BUT I STILL HAVE THE BETTER STYLE! SMOKE BOMB!!!"
*Cough**Cough*
"Huh? Where did she go?"
Before I could even get a word in, she disappeared. Luckily, with my trusty and reliable master, I just knew I could track her down.
'*sigh* I suppose we have nothing better to do! Now let's see, she is …?"
'Come on! Tell me where she went already! If I don't ask her out soon, I feel I might lose my nerve!'
'On second thought, there is still a whole 2 rounds ahead of us! Chasing girls will only distract you, so why not take some time to prepare your mind for the trials ahead!'
'I already did that before the competition started! It's the reason I got so exhausted I ended up being late for the ceremony! Now hurry up and tell me already!'
'Well, the thing is! Hehe! You're going to think this is funny, but I don't know where she is!'
'Say that again?'
'My tracking methods can't find her anymore!'
While there are downsides to having this senile old ghost inside my body.
'WHO ARE YOU CALLING SENILE!!!'
Like never having any privacy, even inside my own head, but there are certain perks that make it all worth it, one of which is his divine sense. In fact, it was one of the main reasons why I agreed to take him into my body. If I recall he said that he could detect anything under heaven and earth, but neglected to say its range is limited by my cultivation stage. Though it was not as great as advertised, it was still good for locating treasures or enemies hiding their presence, but now he can't even locate a single mortal girl.
'SHUT UP! My divine sense can see through anything! She must have teleported outside of range or something!'
"Oh, is that her? Why is she wearing that?"
As my master was no help, I had decided to go look for her myself. I ended up seeing her in the hallway where we first met, covered head to toe in tinfoil. I almost didn't recognize her because the only thing not covered in tinfoil was the mask I had caught a glimpse of when she headbutted me.
"Lady Su, you left before I cou-!"
"SMOKE BOMB!!!"
"WAIT WHAT! NO! I JUST WANT TO TALK!!!"
'…?'
I then began frantically rushing all over the place to look for her, as I couldn't rely on my master's faulty senses anymore.
'Faulty?! Boy, you are getting a bit too bold again! Does this master have to teach his unruly disciple another lesson in humility?'
"Oh, look! She really was where you said! I knew I could rely on my wise master!" I said, not wanting to experience that explosive diarrhea ever again.
'Hmph! Of course she was, my divine sense is never wrong!'
Except for when I found her in the hallway.
'What did you say?!'
"MISS SU!!!" I shouted as I waved at her, with joy on my face.
However, my joy soon turned to anger as I noticed who she was talking to. Mori Akira, a blue core grandmaster alchemist and the lord of the green palace. He is one of the top officers of that despicable dark lord who is responsible for the misery of the countless masses.
"Lady Su, is this man bothering you?!" I asked in worry.
Whatever they want with miss Su, it can't be good.
"Oh, would you look at the clock! Got to go! Bye Bye! Magical girl out!" She said, before disappearing again.
*Cough**Cough*
"Ugh! Not again! Hey, you!"
Upset I lost track of her again, I set my sights on the man in the tinfoil hat standing before me.
"Hm?"
"What does the green palace want with her?!" I asked, as my blue stage qi came bursting out.
'Don't be rash child! You may have gotten stronger, but you are still too inexperienced to take this one on!'
'I know, but I can't just do nothing! What if they set their sights on her next! I can't let them take her too!'
The Dark Empire had ruined countless people's lives when they rampaged across the continent. Just 1 year ago, they were only in control over a third of the continent, but somehow, after just the few short months I spent in seclusion, they had managed to conquer all of the continent. Those who did not bend the knee willingly were slaughtered without mercy. My clan had chosen to resist until the bitter end, hence when I returned from seclusion, there was nothing left but rotting corpses.
"Have we met before? You seem familiar somehow."
*BOOM*
His calm and nonchalant attitude ended up sending me over the edge and I attacked.
"Oh, that's something! Now, that's something you don't see every day! To think there was another like his majesty out there? Yet, I still can't remember you!" He said, before suddenly appeared behind me with his blade held against my neck.
'I warned you this was a bad idea!'
"SHUT UP!!!"
*BOOM*
Feeling the rage overflowing, I snapped and just released a bunch of my qi to create a shockwave to push him back.
"Tsk!"
After pushing him back, I swiftly used the spatial footwork I was taught to move up close and channeled my lightning qi into my fist as I struck down with all my might.
"DIE!"
*CRACKLE*
*BOOM*
"Ugh! *cough*"
I coughed up blood as I pulled out the sword from my stomach. Just before my strike sent him flying, the bastard had given up on defense to attempt a fatal blow to my dantien, but fortunately, his aim was a little off, hitting a few inches too high.
*Zap**Crackle**Zap*
Standing up from the ruble was Mori Akira, his clothes covered in dirt and sparks, while his face was bruised from my strike. He looked at me with murder in his eyes, before his expression suddenly changed. Soon after, darkness covered his body before fading away to reveal his new attire. His robe had been swapped out for a black overcoat with a bunch of flashy decorations, he had also for some reason put on a top hat and a party mask, before pointing at me dramatically.
"COME AND FACE ME IF YOU DARE! FOR AS LONG AS THE MOON HANGS IN THE SKY, THIS PHANTOM DETECTIVE SHALL NOT REST UNTIL ALL EVILDOERS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO JUSTICE!!!" He said as he covered his right eye.
"Me? Evil?"
These guys had slaughtered countless innocent people, and he dared call me evil.
'Hey, calm down! Don't let him provoke you!'
*Swoosh*
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME ABOUT JUSTICE UNTIL YOU GO APOLOGIZE TO THE PEOPLE YOU KILLED!!!" I shouted as I pulled out my 'Holy blade Kusanagi' and charged at him in a blind rage.
*BOOM*
*Thud*
'You need to learn to listen when your elders speak boy!'
"AHA! ANOTHER BAD GUY HAS FALLEN BEFORE THESE GLOVES OF JUSTICE! FOR NO EVIL CAN STAND BEFORE THE POWER OF THE PHANTOM DETECTIVE MORIARTY!!!" He shouted as he rubbed my face in the dirt.
I had moved to slash him in half, but his figure faded away into a dark mist before he appeared behind me. He then twisted my arm behind my back and pinned me to the ground, before making a whistling sound, and his blade came flying into his hand.
"NOW TIME TO PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES EVILDOER!"
*Clang*
Just as he was about to cut off my head, another man came to my rescue. He was a well-built man with serious eyes and sturdy gray armor wielding a halberd.
"First, your lord destroys a section of the city, and now his underlings interrupt my festival! You Dark Empire brats really take us too lightly!" The well-built man said.
"*Sigh* It would seem as though my play will truly have to wait until the next festival!"
"You really think there will be a next for you?" The man said, as he suddenly released a suffocating pressure.
"Ugh! I believe there has been a misunderstanding here! I was not the aggressor in this bout so please calm your anger, your highness!"
"Hm? We'll have to see about that! I'll be taking you in for questioning, and you Nakahara, was it not? The 2nd round is about to start! This is a flesh and bone restoration pill! It's not ideal, but it should fix your injuries to a point where it won't affect your performance in the competition!" The man said, handing me a pill, before dragging that bastard Mori Akira away.
'Seems fate is on our side this night! Had it not been for that youngster's help, we would have been forced to use our trump card to survive!'
"DAMN IT!!!" I shouted in frustration as tears stung my eyes.
I have been training and cultivating nonstop for months, taking countless risks to boost my cultivation and sharpen my skills, but in the end, I could barely even land a hit on just one man in the same stage as my own. I am a blue core multielement nascent soul, yet I lost so easily to a single element cultivator.
'Was all my hard work for nothing?!'
'No!'
'Then why did I lose like that?!'
The upside with cultivating more than one element is that you gain both versatility and power at the cost of slower cultivation and a higher risk of qi deviation. Yet, I lost to one single man that should have been weaker than me, in a matter of seconds.
'You are thinking of this all wrong! Truth is, while there is an advantage in having multiple elements, that in itself does not make you stronger than those with a single element!'
"Then what's the point in having it!"
'You can think of the elements we cultivate as tools, or weapons! A single element cultivator is wielding a single blade, while a double element cultivator is dual wielding two blades! While wielding multiple weapons might seem to be the better option, more does not always mean better! It is much easier to master a single weapon than two, let alone nine! This man you just faced has had more than three times the years you have lived to master his weapon, while you are still a novice at wielding yours! The fact you could even land a single strike under these circumstances is something to be proud of, so cheer up!'
"Thanks, master!"
'That's the spirit! Now we have a competition to win and a girl to impress!'
"That's right! I can't afford to mope around while lady Su is being targeted by the Empire!"
It is unquestionable that lady Su is a rare excentric talent, anyone who watched the 1st round could ascertain that. If the Dark Empire is trying to get their hands on her, then her only hope of escaping them would be in this festival. With the continent under their control, the only place left she could take shelter from them would be on the impartial 2nd moon, but that is only a temporary solution. She must be trying to gain favor with an expert from the 3rd continent just like me. If I can just find someone from the 3rd continent to protect us until I get stronger, I can protect both me and her from the Dark Empires clutches.
With a clear goal in mind, I set foot into the 2nd round of the competition