Purposes

"Austėja's Sheath", said Youchi.

"Why did you say it twice?" asked Khusus.

"I did? I don't remember saying it twice." replied Youchi.

"You said it at the end of the last chapter and the beginning of this one." explained Khusus.

"?"

"Never mind." sighed Khusus.

Youchi ignored what just happened and walked over to pick up the artifact. He didn't do anything special and it came right off of the display. Youchi handed it over to Khusus without saying anything. The artifact was a little longer than Khusus' height, so when he grabbed it it fell to the ground. Youchi smiled and picked up the artifact, he didn't walk over to put it back though.

"In the future this will be your responsiblity, but for now your training will begin," stated Youchi as he began to lift the artifact, "Your training will be studying."

Youchi finished while pointing at a stack of old books with the artifact. Youchi explained that the books teach about the family history and the history of the world. Khusus' mother taught him basic things like how to read and write at a young age so he would be able to read the big words that were in the books. But Khusus was interested on the artifact still and didn't turn his head to look at the books.

"What does Austėja's Sheath do?" Khusus asked.

"...If you read the books and understand them, you will know." Youchi hesitated before answering.

After hearing this, Khusus' attention was now on the old books. He walked over to them and picked one up. He took his hand and tried to dust off the book. After clearing it off as much as he could he read the title and table of contents.

'The Time of Wars'

Table of Contents:

pg.3-Peace

pg.8-Humans and Dwarves

pg.53-Corruption and First War

pg.360-The Great Desert War

pg.643-Forest Destructions

pg.710-Trolls

pg.750-Elves Join The War

pg.852-Attacks on Trolls

pg.1025-The Ancient Tree

pg.1476-Tower of Evil

pg.1565-Generals and The Heros

pg.1738-1863-End of The War

Khusus didn't understand how this had anything to do with learning about the artifact, but the book looked interesting so he began reading. After reaching the part about the tower of evil he decided to take a break. He didn't stop because he was tired of reading all those pages. He stopped because Tower of Evil sounds stupid.

Khusus looked through the books for something else. He read titles like 'Monsters and Where They Come From' or 'Birth Powers'. All the titles weren't interesting or were just weird and the books didn't talk about anything related to the artifact. Khusus started to get upset and started losing interest in reading. He found no point in reading if he wasn't learning what he wanted. Then he came across an old book named 'Cultivation in the Time of Wars'. Not knowing what the word "Cultivation" meant he opened it.

As Khusus began reading he forgot about the artifact. 'Cultivation is pretty cool' thought Khusus. The book was about how people discovered cultivation during the time of wars. He turned the pages and eventually came across "How to Cultivate like the Generals". Right as he began to read Youchi had took the book out of his hands.

"Not yet, not even I could master these techniques.", Youchi frowned. "If you prove your strength and show that these techniques won't hurt you, I'll let you read it."

Khusus was handed a different book named "Austėja Legacy Part 1". This is what he's been looking for. He wanted a book that talked about his families. The book about cultivation was kept in his father's drawer.

The book about his family was interesting, but it contained 26 parts. The first one started out by mentioning his ancestor was the first female general during the Time of Wars. The books were in chronological order and eventually mentioned his grandfather. The books were very long and hard to understand and the more he read the more he disliked reading. Not only because family history is boring, it was because Austėja's Sheath was only mentioned not explained. It took Khusus 2 years to read and understand them and he didn't learn anything about the family artifact. At times where he wasn't reading he was physically training. His motivation was becoming a powerful adventurer like his grandfather.

Khusus' grandfather was named Odom. He was a notorious adventurer and solved a lot of problems for the adventurer's guilds. He never mentioned his real last name to the public and went by Odom Forrest. He didn't do this because of a Forest obsession. He actually didn't come up with that last name. After Odom cleared out a ghoul infestation from a forest called 'dead forest', people started giving him the surname Forrest since he didn't tell them his real name.

Odom was an expert ^Cosmic Channeler. Even though he was a good guy he was better at controlling cosmic energy with more traces of death(fire,earth,darkness,etc.) rather than life force(water,plant,light,etc.). He was best at using fire skills and even created two of his own. Fire flash and Fire armor. The skills weren't compatible enough to ^fuse with and they didn't become hereditary. Some people say he succeeded though because of how fast he could activate them.

In the books he also learned a little bit about his father. Youchi trained under his Grandfather for many years. Youchi had an injury during his birth and is missing an arm and an eye. If your wondering why you didn't learn this earlier, that's because it was only hinted at. Youchi doesn't like to talk about it though. He has an artificial arm and eye, they both look very cool but they have no special abilities. As compensation,

Odom tried something that would be called insane by many people. He tried to fuse his skills with another person(Youchi). The attempt to do this was inside of the adventurer's guild because they had the necessary materials.

Every history book records it as a failure, but Odom was happy after the experiment. As Youchi grew up people recognized that nothing was special about him. He was only capable of low level skills, his lacking of body parts as an infant was the cause of this. Youchi decided to dedicated his life into teaching his father's training at the Adventurer's Guild of Er. There were pages that talked about Youchi twenty years ago, but those were ripped out.

After learning even more about his grandfather, Khusus was so excited that a person like Odom was related to him that he didn't pay attention to the ripped out pages. Though he still felt bad for his dad. He decided to learn first hand from the son of Odom. After 5 years of intense training with his father. He eventually was able to beat other kids his age or a few years older in mock duels. When it came to how well he was able to control his cosmic energy, he was lacking. He showed that his body was able to handle immense amount of energy without dying. Khusus body usually went temporarily paralyzed after that though. He wasn't able to control the energy inside of him and his multiple attempts made a mark appear on his left arm.

After Khusus realized he couldn't become a Cosmic Channeler he decided on becoming a ^Cosmic Caster. The problem with this is that the cosmic energy around him would cause the same reaction as within his body and he would collapse. After two more years of trying different methods, he realized he wasn't compatible with cosmic energy. After realizing he couldn't become powerful like Odom he gave up on being an Adventurer. Khusus went back into reading and realized he never learned what Austėja's Sheath does.

After going through the books in the old room he realized none of them answered his question. He decided the only thing he could do was ask Youchi.

"What does Austėja's Sheath do?" Khusus(12) finally asked again.

"..." Youchi(65) remained silent with his head down.

"I read all the books you told me to read," complained Khusus, "how do you expect me to carry the weight of the family without even knowing what it is?!"

"Don't talk to your father that way!" said Rei(52) as she entered the room.

"No, he's right." Youchi raised his head. "I'll tell him."

Youchi walked out of the room and Khusus followed, leaving Rei behind. They went back into the old room where the artifact was displayed. Youchi went over to pick it up. He remained silent and handed it over to Khusus. Khusus grabbed it and was able to lift it. Seeing this, Youchi's eyes(including fake eye) widened.

"Now will you tell me?" asked Khusus.

Youchi hesitated at first, then he nodded in agreement.

"It doesn't do anything. It doesn't have any special abilities, It doesn't have any history, It doesn't let you pick it up unless you are worthy to carry the family's weight, but most of all…"

"IT DOESN'T EVEN FREAKING OPEN! THE SWORD DOESN'T COME OUT OF ITS FREAKING CASE."

Youchi's face got red and he yelled in anger and frustration. Khusus tried pulling on the sword and it felt as if it was attached to the case. Khusus was very disappointed after learning this and just dropped the "artifact" onto the ground and prepared to leave. Youchi grabbed Khusus' shoulder to stop him.

"After history of this artifact was loss and the knowledge for some reason wasn't passed down, our family decided on finding a way of opening it."

Khusus decided that can be a goal to replace becoming an adventurer. He finally found something that he could accomplish.

"How do I start?" Khusus regained his interest on the artifact.

"You first need to know how to protect it, even if it meant killing someone." replied Youchi.

Khusus was only twelve and wasn't mentally prepared enough to kill someone. Looking on Khusus' expression Youchi decided on mentally preparing the young boy.

"Compare the person to yourself. If they are a worse person then think of it as killing scum, good people you don't have to kill." explained Youchi.

Khusus was sent back to his room with Austėja's Sheath to think about it. Khusus sat on his bed and stared at the artifact. He couldn't imagine killing anyone and it took him a few days to get over the thought. 'If they are worse than me' thought Khusus. 'Anyone who tries to take my family's belongings is a bad person. There life has no value'. Khusus was finally coming up with an answer. He left his house the next day with the artifact after breakfast to sit and watch people walking by on the streets. Khusus decided to analyze people the same way he did as a kid.

He witnessed pickpockets, lying merchants, and cruel slave merchants. There was a really suspicious person carrying two swords on his back, who stared at Khusus for a few minutes. After that the person smiled and walked away. Being a curious twelve-year old, Khusus followed him. He followed him to a dark building with a sign that couldn't be read since it was in such a bad shape. The building didn't have any windows and Khusus only saw a glimpse of what was inside when the suspicious man entered. It was very messy and filled with weird looking items.

Khusus was very curious at this point and he went in after waiting for a bit. It was weird because he didn't hear or see anyone inside. He walked over to pick up a book when suddenly he was grabbed. He felt a pain in his body and he couldn't move.

"I got him!" he heard the voice of a man.

"Are you sure he's the one?" asked a woman.

"Yeah of course it's him, look at his arm." explained the man.

"He can't control cosmic energy at can he!" laughed the woman.

"He was so stupid and he followed me right here. He was easier to catch than a Pokémon!" exclaimed the man.

"What's a pokey man?"

"..."

Khusus was brought into an empty room and chained to a wall. The man took the artifact from Khusus and examined it. Khusus was unable to stop him and could only lay limply. He listened to the man and woman talk amongst themselves.

"Let's see if his body reacts the way we were told." said the woman.

The man simply nodded. He then looked in Khusus' direction and pulled out a tool Khusus recognized. A medical tool that his father always had in his handy dandy bag.

The Forced Channeler.

The man pointed the device at Khusus and activated it after a few seconds. Khusus felt as if cosmic energy was being forced into his body. Not only was he paralyzed he also felt pain. Khusus usually stopped at this point when he tried as a kid, but the man kept going. There was one time Khusus went this far, but Youchi stopped him before anything happened. Khusus wasn't able to handle the pain and just when he thought he would pass out the forced channeler exploded.

At that moment all the cosmic energy that was stored in Khusus' body was released. The two people who kidnapped him collapsed to the ground hugging their bodies yelling. Khusus stared at them blankly. "Kill them as if they were scum." The words of his father repeated in his head. Khusus got up, since the chain broke and picked up Austėja's Sheath.

All he did was two simple motions.

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*Cosmic Channeler/Cosmic Caster: A person who absorbs the cosmic energy around them and turns it into strength is called a Cosmic Channeler. A person who commands the cosmic energy outside of their body is a Cosmic Caster.

*Skill Fusion: When a person becomes one with the skill they made so they would become better at using it and so it can become hereditary. This skill would usually show up at age 10. Khusus had no ability.

*Rape: When you force your cosmic energy into someone else's body without their consent.