Months have passed since then, and the day has come for Master to train me.
"Haa!"
We are currently in the middle of training.
The content involves dodging Master's attacks. The attacks themselves are not with weapons, but with bare hands.
In addition, I can tell he is holding back very—very, veeery, incredibly—much, but Master is still the giant Soul Reaper known as the Gatekeeper of the Seireimon.
The unleashed blows conceal a definite power, and if they hit, I won't get off scot-free.
I desperately continue to dodge.
Simultaneous with completing an evasion, I take a light step to distance myself, and by the time I fix my posture, Master's next blow arrives.
This time, I dodge it by parrying it with my arm.
So as not to be swayed by the evasion movement. Being conscious of my center of gravity so as not to lose my balance.
I move while being conscious of moving in a way that connects to the next movement, and the movement after that.
Eventually, just as I dodged an attack—I don't know how many it had been—Master stopped his hand.
"Hrm. Well, this should do. You pass."
"Ah... Thank you very much!"
My chest fills with the joy of finally receiving a passing grade, and I instinctively tear up.
"Well, a year has passed, after all. It is about time you passed."
"Ugh... I am sorry for being an unworthy disciple..."
Tears fall from my eyes again. This time, my chest is full of misery and apology.
Yes.
A year has already passed since the first day I had Master train me.
I work hard at self-training during the day, and help out at the izakaya at night. Occasionally, I receive instruction from the masseur. After continuing such a life for a year, finally... finally...
"With this, we can finally begin your training as an apprentice Soul Reaper."
Finally, I have become able to start proper training.
Yes, until now, it was just physical conditioning and special training in spiritual power control. It took a year to finally reach the level of a normal person.
By the way, to reach my current level—a normal person would take a month. If someone has talent, they would apparently improve to this level in just a few days.
And yet I... No, it's not that I wasn't improving.
It's just that while normal people grow from Level 1 to 2, in my case, it feels like a slow speed of growing from Level 1 to 1.1...
If things go poorly, aren't babies stronger than me? That's about the level it is...
...If you want to laugh, go ahead and laugh! You're wrong! I am just a late bloomer!! I am the type that rises rapidly from Level 101! I'm amazing!!
"Well, it is little by little, but your movements are getting better. At this rate, passing the Spiritual Arts Academy exam is also—"
"Really!?"
"—Hrm... it will take time, though..."
The sarashi is great. Thanks to it, moving has become much easier. Ah, underneath is a fundoshi. A Mokko loincloth. It tightens the mind and body.
However, even subtracting those, I am only at this level, huh...
Master made a troubled face at my question, which I instinctively asked with too much eagerness, but he managed to nod. I am sorry for making you worry.
"Well, putting that aside. From today, we enter full-scale training. First, how to swing a sword."
I accept a wooden sword from Master.
This was also prepared about half a year ago, you know... But because I was such a clutz, it was postponed again and again until today. I am truly sorry.
Now then, holding the wooden sword, I try to practice swinging—
"Ngh!? Awawawawawa!?"
—When I tried to, I almost lost my posture. But I somehow braced myself and held on. As a result, I ended up displaying a swing that was unsightly to behold.
Master's eyes instantly changed to eyes looking at something disappointing.
This time for sure! I psyched myself up, but the result was the same. I cannot swing the sword well.
My, my breasts! My breasts are too much in the way!!
Grrr! Even coming this far, will you still stand in my way!! I thought I overcame this with the sarashi!!
"...Well, I suppose you have no choice but to do it steadily."
Master's voice, which sounded enlightened if put nicely, or as if he had given up on everything if put poorly, pierced my heart.
The time for physical training, which was like a nightmare, finally ended, and next is the time for spiritual power training.
"Regarding spiritual power, we will also enter full-scale training from today."
"Yes!"
"Well, regarding the control of spiritual pressure, you are—well, how to put it. Compared to swordsmanship and such, you are on the better side."
"Master... I am happy for your concern, but um... you can say it clearly."
If you are going to hesitate and use that phrasing, please just say it clearly. I am self-aware!!
As a result of repeated self-training after that, I can now fire Cero or Bala twice without collapsing.
The power has also increased, and now I can somehow manage to shoot down leaves attached to branches with Bala.
...Yes, only that level! What, go ahead and laugh.
"Well, do not be so desperate. Parallel to spiritual power training, I shall teach you one Kido."
"Eh...!? R-Really!?"
"Of course. Well, partly because I fight utilizing this giant body, I am weak at Kido. Besides, I am teaching you, who are not even an apprentice Soul Reaper yet. Naturally, it will be the easiest and simplest one, but you don't mind, right?"
"Yes! Of course!! That is fine!!"
Should I say it is as he looks? It seems Master was bad at Kido. Besides, teaching powerful Kido to a general civilian (who finally took one step forward today) like me would be a problem in various ways.
Everything he says is absolutely correct.
Even so, I can finally learn Kido! There is no reason to dislike it or refuse!
"Then, here I go... Way of Destruction Number 1, Shō!"
When he chanted the technique name, spiritual pressure was released from the fingertip Master held up. Aimed at the ground, it released a shock as if striking the earth.
"I kept the power quite modest and abandoned the chant. How is it? Your impression of seeing Kido?"
This is... this is real Kido! Amazing! It is different from my imitation.
When I was unable to speak due to happiness and emotion, Master seemed convinced by that reaction.
"I may have told you already, but there are two types of Kido: Hado (Way of Destruction) and Bakudo (Way of Binding). Hado is used for attacks, and Bakudo is used for defense and such; there are techniques from Number 1 to Number 99 for each."
Heeh, so the maximum was up to Number 99. I didn't know that.
"The larger the number, the more advanced and powerful the technique becomes, and the handling becomes more difficult. Also, as I did just now, it is possible to fire immediately by abandoning the chant. However, the efficacy drops by that amount, so training is required."
Ah, it was as I thought. The adverse effect of chant abandonment; my memory was not wrong.
If you abandon the chant, you can use it easily, but it becomes weaker.
In symbolic expression, firing while shouting the technique name is like a trope. But if you actually use it, having a method to use powerful attacks easily is definitely more convenient.
Not just abandoning the chant, but abandoning the technique name too—in other words, omitting even the words "Hado no Ichi: Shō" from earlier—yet the usability doesn't change.
That would be ideal. Is there such a method?
"Um, Master. Then, is there a method to fire Kido where the power doesn't change even if you abandon the chant?"
"Wahahahaha! Certainly, that would be ideal if possible. But I have never heard of such a method."
"As I thought, it doesn't exist..."
"Well, it means things do not go so conveniently."
Mmm, as I thought. Well, let's just try searching for this method without giving up.
Perhaps Master just doesn't know, and among Soul Reapers who are good at Kido, there might be someone who has created "such a means."
"Even if you try to learn the easy way from the start, it will not go well."
No, it is not particularly that I want to take it easy from the start. I just thought there might be such a convenient method as an application, with basics being basics.
"Besides, Kido is an art one can finally handle by stacking training. If there is such a convenient method, it would only be through steady accumulation. Come, first, try doing it."
"Yes!"
Just as Master did, I put spiritual pressure into it and thrust out my fingertip—
"Hado no Ichi! Shō!!"
—Pfft!
From my fingertip, a deflated sound like a fart echoed. At the same time, a tiny, tiny shock like a gentle breeze was created.
...Even with chant abandonment, which should be easier to use because the power is small, it's this, huh... As I thought, my talent is only this level.
"...Well, as I said earlier, you will not improve unless you stack training steadily."
I made Master follow up desperately; I am truly sorry.
—Wait, surely not! Just because of that sound and the gentle breeze, you aren't misunderstanding that I farted, are you!? That's wrong, okay!!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]