-439- Reiki(Spirit Chi), Spirit energy, Jutsuryoku(Cursed energy)

"Phew!"

A gentle breeze drifted in from the garden, causing the newcomer's dress to flutter gracefully. Rozen gazed at the approaching figure, and his previous nonchalance gradually faded away.

On the other side of the walkway, a girl was making her way towards him. She appeared to be around the same age as Rozen, and she was undeniably adorable.

The girl was dressed in a white sundress, wearing a wide-brimmed hat on her head. Her long, straight hair was a deep blue that almost bordered on black and purple.

It seemed like she had been waiting for Rozen for a while because when she spotted him, she rushed over excitedly.

However, after a moment, she realized she might have been too enthusiastic. Blushing, she pulled down her hat to cover her face, giving off a shy aura.

Without a doubt, her cute demeanor reminded Rozen of his precious daughter. Consequently, he couldn't help but let a hint of indulgence show on his face as he called her by name.

"It's you, Natsume."

Natsume's full name was Tsuchimikado Natsume. She belonged to one of the Tsuchimikado branch families.

Within the Tsuchimikado lineage, there were not only branch families like Kurahashi and Wakasugi but also direct branch families with the same name, Tsuchimikado.

Currently, the branch families, including the Kurahashi and Wakasugi clans, had established their own careers and power structures. In contrast, the main Tsuchimikado family had declined in the field of magic, despite being closely related to the branch families.

Only the Tsuchimikado branch family, which had always shared a close relationship with the main family, had also declined and was now reduced to a couple and their child.

Natsume was an abandoned baby discovered by Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi, who decided to adopt her into the Tsuchimikado branch family as their adopted daughter.

Thus, Natsume became the adopted younger sister of Rozen, like her brother, being related to the branch family and spending a lot of time at the main family estate.

Naturally, Rozen became the playmate of these two individuals, spending time together during their visits to the main family estate.

Over time, Natsume had grown attached to Rozen and often followed him around.

He still remembered their first encounter when Natsume had been an extremely shy child, only daring to hide behind her parents, too timid to speak to Rozen.

However, Rozen got along quite well with Natsume's older brother, and they often spent time together when visiting the main family estate. Gradually, they also pulled Natsume into their circle, and she became more familiar with Rozen.

Observing the initially shy girl who was now blushing as she approached him, Rozen couldn't help but smile.

"You're here again, Natsume," Rozen said, smiling. "Did Uncle and Aunt come to see my father again?"

Formally, Rozen still referred to Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi as his father. Despite their somewhat strained relationship, Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi had adopted Rozen, and on that basis alone, Rozen could still address him as his father.

As for Uncle and Aunt, they naturally referred to Natsume's adoptive parents.

"Yes," Natsume nodded cautiously and said, "Dad and Mom are waiting for Uncle in the hall."

From the affectionate way Natsume addressed her adoptive parents, it was evident that their branch family had a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere.

"Is that so?" Rozen didn't show any particular reaction to this information, nor did he suggest that they go call Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi out.

Instead, he turned and started walking in another direction, casually asking, "What about Harutora?"

"Big brother?" Natsume was momentarily surprised but quickly caught up with Rozen. She puffed her cheeks slightly and said, "Big brother also came, but he said he spotted a large rhinoceros beetle and went to catch it."

It was indeed a relatively common interest considering their backgrounds.

"And how about you, Akikan?" Natsume peeked under her hat to gauge Rozen's reaction and cautiously asked, "Did you just finish your training with Uncle?"

"Yes," Rozen replied without hiding anything and nodded.

Speaking of which, it was necessary to mention that in this world, there were no magus.

Instead, there were various mysterious forms of jujutsu. Some jujutsu originated from Onmyoudou, others from Shintoism, esoteric Buddhism, or the Shugendo tradition.

However, without a doubt, they all possessed supernatural powers, making them akin to the concept of magic, albeit via different paths.

The reason for this is that the source of jujutsu is jutsuryoku, just as magic power is to magic, akin to the relationship between gasoline and a car.

The source of jutsuryoku, in turn, is Reiki(Spirit Chi).

According to this world's beliefs, everything possesses Reiki. Rozen still remembered that when he first heard this concept, he immediately thought of something – the "Mana."

This immense life force filled the existence known as the planet.

Everything had life force, and its manifestation was the Mana that permeated the world.

In other words, what they referred to as Reiki was essentially the breath emanating from this life force.

Different things emitted distinct types of breath. For example, males emitted yang energy, females emitted yin energy, fire emitted fiery energy, water sources emitted watery vapor, and so on.

To perceive Reiki, one needed a special ability called "Spirit Sight," a unique form of spirit vision.

Only those with this ability could see Reiki clearly and harness their own spiritual power, becoming onmyouji – practitioners of Onmyoudou.

Jutsuryoku was the power refined from Reiki and spiritual energy. It was this power that enabled them to perform jujutsu, much like how those with magic power could use magic – it was essentially the same concept.

Thanks to this, Rozen naturally possessed the talent to become an onmyouji, even though the terminology differed. Still, from the concept of reiki, it was evident that jutsuryoku fundamentally stemmed from life force.

Therefore, there was no way Rozen couldn't become an onmyouji.

This was why Rozen claimed that magic and jujutsu followed similar paths. The key difference lay in the method of harnessing this power.

Magus used their magic circuits within their bodies to convert life force into magic power, storing it for later use.

Onmyouji, on the other hand, did not possess magic circuits and did not store jutsuryoku. Instead, they extracted their own Reiki when using jujutsu.

Rozen had compared magic and jutsuryoku and found, unsurprisingly, that due to their shared source, magic and jutsuryoku were essentially the same power.

Given his inherent talent for manipulating life force as a magus, coupled with his ability to tap into the Mana, which was essentially Reiki or reiki-like energy, Rozen naturally possessed the so-called "Spirit Sight" talent, making him eligible to become an onmyouji.

In fact, because magic and jujutsu followed parallel paths, Rozen's innate talent as a magus also extended to his jujutsu abilities. This talent had manifested in Rozen's actions and understanding of jujutsu from a very young age.

However, Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi had never shown any surprise at Rozen's talent. Instead, he had calmly decided to position Rozen as the next head of the Tsuchimikado family and began teaching him jujutsu when Rozen was only two years old.

This was Rozen's life in this world.

//// I really hope these names work out.... had my friends come up with some of them too lol ////