Aunt Vilo

Khusus reached in the drawer and grabbed a familiar looking book.

'Cultivation in the Time of Wars'

Khusus remembered his father taking this book away from him when he was a kid. He learned that people cultivated to become stronger in the past before they had cosmic energy. People still do it today just they use different methods. Khusus had to report his parents death to his Aunt Vilo. He packed a bag with the books his father stacked in his room and the one in the drawer along with his dad's arm and eye. Khusus also thought of writing a message of the details about the situation at his home. When he was done he pulled out the location to his aunt's home.

Youchi's instructions to her house were very precise. He told him the safest way to go without being picked up by a stranger or attacked. He arrived there rather quickly because she isn't far and lives in the same town. When he got closer to the home he was astonished. The house-no mansion was enormous and it had to be one of the biggest places he has ever seen(not many). If he didn't know this was his Aunt's home he would have mistaken it for a luxurious school or clan. Khusus wasn't able to get close to the hou- mansion because of the front gates. He stood there for a moment admiring the garden in front of the mansion when he noticed the doo- luxurious entrance open.

A woman wearing a beautiful dress with long hair exited the building. They were pretty and taller than his father(who was 1.7m tall). She was carrying a couple a bags and closed the door behind her. Seeing this, Khusus realized there were no butlers, maids, or guards around. He was wondering why such a big mansion wouldn't have any. While he was thinking the lady had turned around and saw a boy standing in front of her gates.

"Hello?" said the woman.

Khusus was startled to be brought out of his deep thought and paused for a moment before replying.

"Um. I was looking for Aunt Vilo." Khusus was halfway mumbling.

"Aunt? Are you looking for me?" the woman was quite confused why a boy would be looking for her. "Why?"

Khusus didn't speak and pulled out the message he had written. Vilo started to approach him and set one of the bags down to grab the letter. She reached through the gate and read it for a few minutes. While she was reading you could hear a gasp or a "oh no". When she was done reading she wasn't crying, but wasn't in a good mood either. Vilo looked at Khusus up and down for a second before putting the message in one of her bags. She held up her hands and the gates swung open, Khusus had to step out of the way to avoid getting hit.

"Come in, I was just heading over to the Adventurers' Guild. I'll report this incident about your parents dea- mishap shortly." Aunt Vilo tried to avoid saying 'deaths' because she thought Khusus had emotions. She didn't know Khusus got over his parents death already because his father wouldn't want to be mourned over.

Khusus was quickly guided into his Aunt's home. She pointed to one of the couches in the big entrance room for Khusus to sit. She said something like "make yourself comfortable", but Khusus was too absorbed in the extravagance of the room. He sat down on the couch while he was looking around.

The inside of the mansion was a nice brownish yellow. You could see a nicely decorated stairway heading upwards. The windows, like everything else was embellished with flowers. This woman loved her flowers. The inside of the place also smelt really good. It smelt like.. flowers I guess. What ever aroma flowers give off that is what the inside of the mansion smells like. It was pretty quiet though. Not a bad quiet, one you'd use for reading.

That reminded Khusus of the books he received from his father. Youchi described them as skills that didn't require cosmic energy or something like that. He was more in the mood to read because he could possibly be able to combat his father's murderer. Khusus also cared about his mom, but she wasn't killed.

Khusus picked up one of the books and read the title "Analyzing Skills". The book was filled with tips on how to make a thorough analysis. It was also a fundamental skill that everyone should have, one Khusus already had. He was happy that he improved, but he was looking for combat skills.

Khusus looked at the next book and the title. "How to make quick deductions". Khusus already knew he wouldn't learn anything about fighting in this book, but he thought he should read it anyway. After he finished it he thought he could use the information in the book to help him find his father's killer. Khusus didn't feel like reading anymore because he didn't learn what he wanted to, but decided he should at least look at the rest.

The next few books were as useless as the first two, and didn't tell Khusus how to fight without cosmic energy, "How to maintain a healthy body", "Testosterone Advantage", "Looking at the little details.". All the books were either to keep his body strong or his mind. Khusus got carried away and read them anyway though. He was happy to learn about keeping his body healthy, but he would use the other skills in the books to help him think better.

It may sound like Khusus was happy that he at least learned something from the books, but he actually didn't. He was very disappointed and had his hopes up till the very end. Khusus put the books back into his bag and read his father's three steps on possibly gaining control over his cosmic energy.

—1. Use the forced channeler on you again and put the cosmic energy into your body(painful). 2. Use a high-level priest to use a healing skill on you to undo the effect(costly). 3. Give you a ^cosmic machine to help you control cosmic energy(dangerous).—

Khusus thought his Aunt Vilo was quite a nice person and could probably ask her to perform the second option. Khusus began to wonder what his Aunt could possibly be doing in order to get a place like this. Khusus' thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of the door opening and shutting.

Aunt Vilo saw Khusus laying on the couch staring at a piece of paper.

"What's that?" asked Vilo.

"A note left by my father." replied Khusus.

Vilo was curious, but decided not to ask because the boy's parents just died and he might not feel like talking. She decided it was a good time to give him a tour of the home. Khusus was motioned to follow Vilo and they went to almost every room in the house.

The kitchen, the bedroom, the guest bedroom(1-6), the living room, the dining room, the library, his bedroom, etc. The process probably took an hour or so. Vilo stopped in front of a door that was in a hallway that wasn't as decorated as the others. She told Khusus to never bother her in her work room.

"What do you do for a living?" Khusus was curious.

Aunt Vilo explained that she was mainly an armor and weapon designer. She designs the armor that female adventurers wear and weapons for all. She sends the sketches to someone else who makes them and they split the money. She also does ^alchemy as a hobby, but didn't go into that much detail. She was also humble and said that she was well-off, but Khusus could see that she was obviously ^rich.

After Vilo finished explaining, Khusus thanked her. He was waiting for an opportunity to ask the question he really wanted to ask.

"Can you help me with something?" asked Khusus.

Khusus explained how he was unable to control cosmic energy and his father gave him three ways he could possibly gain control. He only told her about the high priest because he wanted to get straight to the point.

"Sure!"

Aunt Vilo didn't even hesitate or think about it. She said she already knew of his inability to control cosmic energy and that many other people know as well. She believed that people would stop talking bad about him if he became normal. Khusus already knew about how others talked about him and that was his reason for beating up other kids when he was younger. He is barely able to beat anyone up now because his bullies were able to control their cosmic energy to that point where they surpassed his strength. Because of this Khusus stopped going outside so he barely got bullied or bothered. But that isn't important.

The high-priest is the highest authority in the church. The church worships a god called Mīhole'. Khusus thought the god had a stupid name because it sounded like "My Hole", but that isn't important right now. In order to speak with the high-priest you need to have high status or have a lot of money. Since Vilo didn't really have high status she had to pay to go see him. The high-priest has a name, but he just goes by high-priest.

When Vilo payed to go see the high-priest the nuns told her that she had to pay twice in order for the healing skill to be casted. Khusus felt uncomfortable because the nuns just stared at his arm with worried looks on their faces. After paying we were guided to the high-priest's quarters.

The high-priest was a tall white man who wore white robes and was pretty white all around. He looked old, but not wrinkly, elderly old. He looked down on Khusus because he was really freaking tall. Probably about 1.9 meters.

"Is this the boy?" said the high-priest while looking at Khusus

"Yes" Vilo answered. She was smiling politely, but Khusus could see in her face that she was quite stunned to see a man so tall. The man looked at Khusus' arm for a few seconds before speaking.

"15 gold coins." The priest said with a straight face.

Vilo reached into her pocket and pulled out a bag. She placed the amount the man said into an offering tray. Khusus had never seen that much money in his life and his Aunt pulled out and handed it over like it was nothing.

The high-priest picked up the offering tray and lifted it in the air. A light shined on the tray and when he brought it back down the money was gone. He then told Khusus to sit in a chair that was in the room and asked Vilo to leave. After Khusus was sitting and Vilo left the priest stared at Khusus' arm.

"You have a cosmic energy related illness. I will use a cosmic energy restoration skill."

The priest lifted his hand without saying anything else and held it against Khusus' arm. I light shown from his hand for a few seconds before the high-priest removed it. Khusus' arm looked the same. The man's face looked stunned and he tried the skill again. Nothing. He stared at it for a few more seconds before speaking.

"Impure." The priest said as he reached to grab Khusus.

Right when Khusus was grabbed Vilo entered the room.

"I forgot to tell you, Khusus' reaction might effect you if-" Aunt Vilo paused because saw the high-priest holding onto her nephew's arm. The high-priest slowly let go of Khusus who was just confused and stood up. Khusus quickly got out of the seat and walked over to his Aunt. High-priest didn't say anything and went back to him showing off his height. Well he wasn't actually showing it off it just look that way.

Khusus and Vilo quickly left the church and returned to the mansion. On the way Vilo was rambling on how she wouldn't let him be in a situation like that again or to yell out if something bad was happening. She also said she uses cosmic energy for alchemy, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know how to fight.

Khusus didn't believe she'd be able to fight the high-priest, but she looked pretty confident. He also didn't understand why the high-priest had grabbed him, but didn't feel like thinking about it so he took a mental note if he saw him again. Khusus was more concerned about the overall result. He didn't feel anything after the priest used his skill and was disappointed as always. He decided it was a good idea to test it out in his room...

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*Alchemy: Turning cosmic energy into a substance called a Potion. Different portions have different effects. If you turn the priests healing skill into a potion you will have a Bottle of Holy Healing.

*Rich: The currency in this world is 1000 copper coins=1 bronze coins. 1000 bronze coins=1 silver. This applies to all currencies. copper< bronze< silver< gold < platinum.

Bonus:

*Artifact: A tool that contains an ancient skill or cultivation technique. Austėja's Sheath was referenced as a artifact in the history books that is why they still consider it one now.