Chapter 25: The Test & The Journey (Part 4)
Rei slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust with the lighting of the room. He found himself lying down on the bed, feeling sore all over his body.
"Ugghhh...where am I?"
Rei looked up at the familiar ceiling above him as he slowly noticed that he was already inside of his room.
"Did I?..."
'Oh, you're finally awake...Kiritsuka.'
Ray's voice came out inside his head.
"Houston?"
'Yeah it's me...and yes, you fell unconscious after that fight.'
Rei looked up at the ceiling once again, still trying to gather his soul from his previous state of unconsciousness.
"Did I...pass the test? Did I won?"
'...Yes...yes you did.'
"I see."
'....'
Ray went silent after hearing his reply. He's confused and concerned because he saw the frustrated look on his face.
'Are you...not happy with the result?'
"Why are you asking me that?"
'You've just defeated a former knight. A little celebration wouldn't hurt.'
"...."
Rei took his time to answer that,
"Say, Houston. What do you think about uncle Nel's strength?"
'Huh? Why?'
"Just answer me."
Ray sighed and started to speak again, 'Well I can see he is much stronger than everything we have fought before.'
"Yeah...but do you ever wonder, if he was in his prime...could we even defeated him?"
'....'
Ray seemed to realize something but stayed quiet and continued to listen.
"It frustrated me somehow...the fact that I won with these advantages in front of my eyes."
"If he weren't in his old age, I would probably lost...and if you weren't there to help me, I might...die."
"...knowing that I'm still weak...despite being given so many advantages and yet...I still need someone's help."
Tears start streaming down his cheeks through his eyes.
'I see...how could I forget, despite having such a calm attitude towards any kind of difficulty and a strength of warrior...deep inside, he's still a kid.' Ray thought.
Ray kept on listening and after some time, he began to speak...
'Does it frustrate you that much...after knowing them all?'
"Yes..."
'Does it hurt you...knowing that you still weak after trained so hard these 2 years.'
Rei sniffed, looking away as he hardened his eyes. "Yes"
'Then that's the proof...that you aware of your own weaknesses...aware that everyone still can defeat you despite having more experiences but lacking in strength...'
'And it also stops you from underestimating other people.'
'....' Rei pursed his lips, listening to him quietly.
'The world is big, if you started your own journey and travelled around the world... it would not only broaden your view but you would also find a lot of people who are stronger than you.'
'But if you still think that you are weak...'
'Then stop whining and...i don't know, get stronger!'
Rei widened his eyes at that, as if he just remembered something very important.
'Stronger than anyone else...so no one can oppress or stop you from achieving your goal.'
Rei felt something thumping inside his chest, it's warm yet the heat got even stronger.
'And when you think that you already did your best yet you still lost...then get up! Stop making excuses to limit yourself from growing.'
Rei steeled himself. As if moved by Ray's speech, he forced his body to get up and endured the pain which crawled all over him.
'Kiritsuka...my journey already ended long ago...I met a lot of people that I could call a friend...and a lover...'
'But that journey already ended...until you came into this world'
'Now...it's your turn to continue that journey
He wiped the tears from his eyes and opened his [Inventory].
'I will continue to watch…and help you grow to become the strongest [Knight] that you dreamed for.'
He pulled out a green potion from his [Inventory] and gulped it down to the last drop. As his body shined a bit, the pain was lifted up as well.
'Now...the choice is in your hands.'
'Are you going to keep yourself down like this...or take that sword of yours to mow down all your enemies?!'
Rei wiped his lips and grinned as his eyes glinted for moment in the dark.
"Do you even have to ask?...of course...I will take this sword to eliminate any enemies that will be blocking my path" Rei huffed, "Even if I have to use whatever it takes to do that."
Ray chuckled and smiled inside of his mind.
'Good.'
Rei chuckled as well, regaining his energy after being lectured and healing his body with potion.
"Thanks...Houston."
'Heh, you've already done enough for me, it's kinda hard for me to repay you more so this is the least I can do.'
"Hahaha, sure sure." Rei stood up from the bed then stretched his arms and legs.
"That was a good motivation words"
'Huh?? Which one?' Ray asked.
"The one...[I don't know, get stronger!], Pfft..Hahaha! That was the most forceful way to motivate someone I ever seen." Rei laughed as he recalled his words again.
'Seriously this kid...' Ray sighed but at least he's relieved that Rei gained his confidence back.
"Say, where did you learn such things like that?"
'I didn't really learn it but...I guess it's from my master's influence.'
"Your Master? I wonder what kind of person your master is…"
'Well he is–'
"No like, I know you are going to say how stubborn he is who always nags on you and the only one who willingly taught you how to wield a sword." Rei cut him in the middle.
"But what I'm curious is how he teach you stuffs." Rei asked curiously.
Ray chuckled and smiled, 'If I were you, I wouldn't ask something like that.'
Rei blinked, "Why?"
'Heh, well try to imagine your training with me but this time...it's 10 times much harder when you are with him.' Ray spoke while smirking.
Rei shivered for a moment when he tried to do exactly that, "Umm...I guess I should stop." Rei murmured while chuckling nervously.
'Good answer.' Ray nodded with a smug smile.
"Since it's still a long night, what should we do?"
'Well first, how about we check our status? After you fell unconscious I heard a [Notice].'
"A [Notice]? from system?"
'Yeah, it said that you acquired a skill.'
"A skill huh? Okay then."
As Rei sat down on the bed, he spoke, "Status..."
=======================================
[STATUS]
NAME: Kiritsuka Rei / Ray Houston
JOB : Blacksmith
TITLE : [The Reincarnator], [Time Traveler], [Quick Learner], [Beast Slayer], [Die Hard], [Jack of All Trade]
Level: 30
[HP: 3500/4000]
[MP: 475/475]
[FATIGUE: 600]orange
EXP: 500/36500
STATUS POINT : 2
__
STRENGTH : 100
AGILITY : 70(+5)
VITALITY : 75
INTELLIGENCE : 60(+5)
SENSE : 65(+5)
[SKILL]
Blacksmith Mastery Lv6; Sword Mastery Lv6; Battle Instinct Lv6; Super Growth LvMax; Fire Magic Lv4; Aura Lv5; Cooking Mastery Lv3; Knitting Mastery Lv3; Alchemy Mastery Lv2; Pain Resistance Lv1
Fire LvMax
Blacksmith Flame Lv1
Horizontal Slash LvMax
Vertical Slash LvMax
Omni Slash Lv3
Persona LvMax [Locked]
Imitation Fire Sword Lv3
Shukuchi Lv5
Weapon Breaker Lv1 !!NEW!!
Intimidate Lv1 !!NEW!!
Sprint Lv1 !!NEW!!
Focused Block !!NEW!!
=======================================
Rei scrolled down his status towards the skill board as he saw three new skills showed up on there.
Rei read out the name, "[Weapon Breaker]."
=======================================
[Weapon Breaker]
Active Skill
MP Cost: 100
Cooldown: 60 sec
By striking the enemy' weapon, the user could decrease the durability of a certain weapon to the point where it could break. (Chance of completely breaking the weapon is 10%)
=======================================
'[Intimidate].' This time Ray spoke.
=======================================
[Intimidate]
Active Skill
MP Cost: 0
By releasing one's aura, it allows the user to cause paralyze, dizziness, and fear towards anyone with levels lower than the user.
=======================================
"[Pain Resistance]" Rei continue.
=======================================
[Pain Resistance]
Passive Skill
The user could resist any kind of pain (low)
=======================================
'[Sprint].' Ray spoke again.
=======================================
[Sprint]
Active Skill
MP Cost: 50
Duration : 40 Sec
Cooldown : 80 Sec
A skill that allows the user to temporarily increase their AGILITY by 60.
=======================================
"And finally...[Focus Block]"
=======================================
[Focus Block]
Active Skill
MP Cost: 50
Maintain the skill: -5 MP/1 sec.
By focusing one's aura and covering them into a single point, it can create unbreakable (low) block by its user.
=======================================
Rei's lips slowly formed into a grin as he was somewhat happy after seeing those skills.
"Woah...Four skill at the same time?! Not only that, two of them are [Debuff Skill] and [Buff Skill]." Rei spoke in delight as he couldn't stop himself from smiling.
'It seems you are quite lucky...from that fight you fulfilled all the requirements for these skills.' Ray explained.
"The requirements? how come they got fulfilled now?"
'Skills can be learned or acquired randomly based on what you do, so probably they finally got fulfilled after you face a strong foe, remember...there are two kinds of growth from each people.'
'First, is the one who can grow through training.'
'And secondly, is the one who can grow through battle.'
'In your case, you are the second option...so every time you fought with strong enemies...the more you get stronger.' Ray concluded.
"So is that why I couldn't gain another skill because I trained with you for these... 2 years?" Rei asked.
'That's the only possibility...but at least in that 2 years your other skills have improved and your sense in battle is now on par with veteran adventurer.'
"I guess so?"
'And also this could be your reason to start your journey now, since you need to fight those strong beings outside of this village in order to become stronger.'
"I see, understood.'"
'We can test out these skills next time...but what do you want to do now? We have plenty of time...since you had enough rest and already drunk the potion, are you going back to sleep again?'
"Nope, I was thinking to meet uncle Nel soon if he is still awake."
'Uh…why?'
Rei slowly smiled, "A secret." after he spoke, he heard something from the outside through the slightly opened window.
"Hmm? did something happen?" Rei asked.
'Ahhh...I forgot to tell you, tonight is that night huh.'
"What night?"
Ray chuckled, 'Come on, go down and see it for yourself.'
Rei decided to go out from his room and went downstairs, the sound got louder the closer he was.
When he reached for the door and opened it, he was greeted by a loud laughter and singing.
"YAAAY!~"
"HAHAHA~"
A bright light came from the center of the village, like a beacon. It was a large bon fire and everyone from the village was dancing and singing, some of them talking in festive atmosphere.
"Woah..."
Rei was taken off guard after seeing this. He was stunned into silence by the party and from the distance, he noticed a little girl running towards him.
*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*
*THUD*
"Onii-chan!!" Emily tackled him , giving him the tightest hug.
"Emily!" Rei chuckled as he hugged her back.
However, the little girl stayed quiet and didn't budge when he tried to move her.
Rei could tell from what she's thinking and what her silence meant, "Emily...I'm sorry for making you worry again, I promise I won't do it again okay?"
Emily shook her head and looked up at him as she tried her best to hold back her tears, "Don't worry... sniff I'm not worried at all!" she said while sniffling her nose.
Rei widened his eyes for a moment seeing how hard she tried not to cry in front of him, it made him smile.
He gave her a gentle stroke to her head, "I see...you did a great job, Emily." he praised softly.
Emily nodded as she quickly wiped the tears on her eyes, "Let's go Onii-chan! Mommy and Daddy are waiting!" She beamed while holding his hand, pulling him along.
Rei could only follow her from behind, letting himself being dragged by the much smaller girl.
They soon found their parents who were talking with other villagers.
"Ray!"
Their mother, Sheila quickly stood up from her seat and ran towards them, hugging Rei in the same manners like Emily.
"I'm so worried! Please stop doing this!" Sheila said between her sobs.
"I'm sorry Mom...I ended up making you worried again." Rei said with a small smile as he hugged her back.
Adam stood up and walked towards them, ruffling his son's head.
"Ray...I won't ask about what happen today but just you know...we both are really proud of you." Adam nodded.
"Thank you...Dad." Rei replied, still smiling.
"Oh! You're finally awake huh, Ray!"
A voice came from behind Adam. The voice belonged to a familiar blue haired man as he eventually came into view while holding a giant glass of beer.
"Hello, Uncle Nel."
"How is your body? Do you feel hurt?" Nel asked while standing beside Adam.
"No, I'm fine now so don't worry" Rei replied reassuringly.
"Tsk tsk, don't say that...of course I would be worried about you, since that move I used was a very dangerous one and you need to avoid it as much as you can."
"But instead, you were facing it head on which could jumble up your internal organ. Which is why I was very worried." Nel spoke seriously.
"Don't worry Uncle, my body is fine now." Rei shook his head.
Nel sighed,
"Fine, but next time, if you meet such a strong attack like that, the best choice is to dodge it instead of blocking it, understood?" Nel said while giving his head a firm ruffle, grinning through his ears.
"Yes, I understand Uncle Nel!" Rei responded by grinning as well.
"Well now go play with other kids, tonight we celebrate to thank our founder for giving birth to this new young warrior!" Nel shouted as the villagers responded with another shout, getting much louder now.
"YEAAAHH!!"
Rei chuckled but still wondered about what he meant about the founder.
Ray took that as his cue to explain things to him, 'There's a legend from this village, it is said that a mysterious man showed up out of nowhere here and created this village. They don't know the origin of the man but what they know is that, the man was strong.'
'By defeating the monsters that came to disrupt this village by a single sword, he protected us every day and every night until the day of his death.'
'And tonight is when the founder died.' Ray explained.
'I see, but…why we celebrate it now? I mean, going by the last 2 years, there's no such things before.' Rei retorted.
'Well of course, because the reason this was celebrated is…you.'
'Me?'
'Yea, the celebration is to thank the founder for giving them a blessing for this village, which is you'
'Blessing?' Rei got even more confused.
'Well why not? I mean they found a young boy in this village who is less than 10 years old doing the exact same thing as the founder did back then, furthermore, he had proven his ability by defeating the guard who was a former knight.'
'Uhhh...somehow when you said that, it will create more trouble than the usual.'
'You already did.'
As they both keep on bickering inside of Rei's head, he went to Nel first before he looked for the other kids.
"Uncle Nel." Rei called.
Nel who was drinking, turned his head to look at him, "Hmm? Oh, it's Ray what's wrong? Do you need something? I thought you went to your friends?"
"No I will look for them later, but before that...can I have a request?"
"A request? What kind of request does this young warrior want?"
Rei smirked as he stared at him,
"Uncle Nel."
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Do you have an instruction book about [Spear Arts]?"
To be continue...