Chapter 4: Growth

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

"Arrrgh!!"

A terrified scream echoed across the dome.

Inside a dome-shaped building, multiple people were watching a gruesome scene of battle between two opposing forces. On one side were multiple knocked down bodies of soldiers in training uniforms, on the other side is a lone youngster in bloody training uniforms towering over his opponents in deafening silence.

The dripping of blood flows through his wooden sword before he let go and turn his back to leave the dojo training camp. The terrified opposition sighed in relief seeing the youngster leaving them with only bruises and occasional lacerated injuries but no severe harms.

The pale skin combined with his silver-blonde hair exudes a strong dangerous vibe that the soldiers viewed as dignified and as resplendent as his position. Many of these soldiers witnessed his growing strength and determination to break out of his former enervated shell attitude every training exercises.

In fact, most of them had been loyal to his training as they assisted him to push through his limits as if he suddenly decided to take an overnight shift to pursue strength. The first few days were very underwhelming due to his pale condition but as the days progressed, the youngster continues to improve and develop a mindset over matters concerning his competence.

'Prince Lieutenant Rokuji, his strength already surpass some of the elite clone officers in the army but it still pale in comparison to his brothers and sisters '

A modified humans like princes Ichiji, Niji and Yonji possess a superior martial prowess than any clone soldiers in the Germa Kingdom. Only the top level elites can contain them as well as train them to perform above their battle engagement levels.

Princess Reiju and Princess Lieutenant Gochiji excels in variety of roles and subjects including naval force formation, tactical combat knowledge, military leadership skills. Their martial prowess aren't to be underestimated since they can easily dispatch a dozens of elite clone soldiers all on their own even at their young age.

The Kendo Instructors looked through this youngster's back as for a moment, he saw a shadow of presence on his back that breaks a sweat off his forehead likely from an unexpected pressure for the upcoming days.

There shall be a combat training exercise opportunity to showcase their learning for the previous months. The Kendo Instructor has also provided training for numerous soldiers of Germa Army as far as he is concerned. However, this time the Royal Princes and Princesses shall be participating on the combat training exercise.

At the moment, many Military Instructors makes a number of decisions that would enable their entire department to be of great assistance to the Royal Family as well as they ought to be.

...…

That same youngster, Rokuji breathed the sea breeze as his gait brought him to the bench beside the edge of his Castlean Boat. The ships of Germa Kingdom are a living giant Snail of unknown origins, but these giant snails are strong enough to survive the cold winter climate of the North Blue. The kingdom's territory doesn't stay at one location, it constantly moves around and fluctuates in stable position as a established Kingdom.

The architecture of the Germa Kingdom resembles that of floating castles; every structure has a tower, a turret, a keep, or a complete castle. The Castlean Boat is built partly to house a member of a Royal family like himself but to also serve them as teaching opportunities to become a responsible leader as well as to segregate the population due to the size of Germa's militaristic approach to ruling class.

He slowly drifted his mind to wander his memory. His breathing quickening as his chest began decompressing and gathering oxygen to his lungs.

His mind wandered to a time when the simple medical examination turned quickly into a full blown subject to human test and trial experiments.

The blood were at first drawn from his arm, wrist, and neck. It wasn't as bad at first, as an archetype modified human - he was capable of enduring a tolerable practice that would normally traumatised a child of similar age. Minus the deterioration of mental status due to overdosing on chemicals injected into his brain.

The archetype traits differ slightly to the originals Rebirths. Rebirths' swirling eyebrows represents their unique physiology. While Archetypes illustrate their distinctive features of having multiple hair whorls.

The numbers of hair whorls signify the focal intensity of their genetic compatibility. Gochiji was said to have 5 hair whorls at different locations on her hair while Rokuji only have a 3 comprised hair whorls at the top of his head.

This conformity generated a genuine result after multiple physical tests. The psychometric analysis also revealed their altered behavior, conformity with lack of sadness and fear along with modified threshold of pain receptors.

Rokuji suffered from fatigue and difficulty recuperating physically during his days of experimental treatment - fortunately, he was kept inside a medicinal vat during the entire procedure to reinvigorate his cells. They injected mutiple substances in his body trying to study his body's reaction to each of it, which resulted in physical discomfort and small degree of mental strain.

Fortunately, the scientist and the science-obsessed Father still has had a clear mind of steering clear from full blown chemical torture. There were therapy sessions that involved taking a break from the treatment in order to give his body time to recover properly or observe a longer period in between of the subjec's diagnostic tests.

The diagnosis imply his body constitutions were inadequate for the same treatment most Ghul subjects underwent. The Ghuls' unique antibodies provided Judge a key insight to Lineage Strains Factor, the experimental treatment he undertook just provide Judge a small fraction of hypothetical samples from which disappoints him greatly. Rokuji's antibodies doesn't contain the special properties that makes him immune to most infectious diseases or their associated miraculous mutations that allows them to live longer days without energy supplements. Their cellular structure are much stronger than normal humans. This special antibodies also provides them with recovery factors that delay senescence of the deterioration of cells as most living organisms ages.

Nonetheless, Ghul Tribe is not perfect for his Germa Kingdom's Military. Their reliance on their habitats greatly reduces their effectiveness as a soldier, Ghuls' innate madness also often results unwarranted psychological disorder.

Rokuji's lack of the specific antibodies he desires disappoints him greatly. This is both an unfortunate situation for Judge but a silver-lining for Rokuji.

At the moment, Rokuji's closed eyes suddenly opened.

The day after the last trial that he partake, Rokuji's solacement from summoning him to his office readily abstained him anymore.

Vinsmoke Judge withheld the information about many things and the human experimentation of his own son is one such examples. In order to refocus people's attention from him, Vinsmoke Judge organised a combat training exercise.

Rokuji expects good days to come since Judge discontinued this treatment.

~Whoooooosh

His mind then began grasping for the new sensation as the sea breeze touches his pale skin. As if experiencing a deja vu, he looks around and in a moment, his mind once again remembering the moment he witnessed an amalgam of a majestic silver haired pale individual inside the Void of CHAOS.

At the moment his daydream were cut short as he came back to reality with unnerving visions, the deja vu he felt just now is the same thing he felt during the zenith of the treatment.

The book he read mentioned these things - The Void of CHAOS is a realm of formation containing otherworldly domain — the book describes as the amalgamation of the Origins of Consciousness, the Avatar of Willpower and the Essence of Life constitutes the formation of the LOGOS Entity.

He has manifested an incredible Observation Prowess called Minds Eye, he was sure of it now since only the Minds Eye can constitute an access to the Void Of CHAOS — As well as the power to view directly the LOGOS Enyity. Unfortunately, he has no control or has any way to practice its activation, only a sudden enlightenment can manifest Minds Eye.

Minds Eye is just another variation of Onservation Haki. Spiritual Awakening and Observation Haki have stages and different phases, the brain is the most complex organ in human body. While the soul is the unfettered spiritual body that holds the essence of life.

Rokuji tries look through his past memories to try and remember important knowledge about the Spritual Body and the universal Haki manifestation, a type of energy which derives from spiritual consciousness and willpower. He could try to find a way to learn this aspect through reading about their information in the Royal Library.

Alternatively, he might have full control over his Minds Eye through luck but he won't bet that that can happen.

He stood up from the bench and proceeded to walk straight to the main hallway towards a dining hall. The table were filled with dishes the cooks already brought for him to eat in peace, since there are no other souls in the hall he devoured the meal one plate after the other. His growing body needs food intake to supplement his intense training, the nutrients burned quickly as the lively cells of his body devour the energy from the meat dishes especially thaw raw dishes.

Hours passes without any distractions. The Castlean Boat gives him the luxury to avoid human interaction and disturbances. And he meant the rowdy triplets, their chaotic personalities would stipulate his obligation as the Royal Lieutenant for the three of them and follow them around.

Being a Royal Lieutenant would obviously mean I follow them around to ensure their deference to the Kingdom and in order to keep the allegiance of their citizens and the commitment to the military services.

After dinner, he first wash himself in his private room. The youngster looking back at the mirror is the reflection of an old soul staring right into his eyes.

By now, he already resolved himself to the fact that he was no longer the same enervate ghost of the past. A step outside of the bubble of comfort for the future he looked forward to.

He knew his mind is already affected by the current manner of being this young once again. A time of memory that's already a lifetime away, he started learning the language, writing the new texts, speaking fluent enough to converse with others.

He wiped the mists from the mirror to observe his new features. A characteristic of a youngster, short stature, round eyes, soft eyebrows, pointed ears, pink lips that shows a short fangs.

His particularly unique short silver-blonde hair, pointy ears and unusually pale skin — this cause a burning sensation on his skin whenever he bask under the sun. Because of this condition, Rokuji prefers training during afternoon and deep into the night.

Putting on a pair of trouser, white shirt and army boots. He pulled out his specifically tailored cloak along with a sheathed cutlass.

Even though he lost most of his sensation to cold temperatures both due genetic factors and natural immunity, he still prefers being properly clothed when garb with his tailored cloak. He reach his private training room a few minute later and promptly went to the central dome.

The ceiling was a massive dome, and in the center of the room was a fighting ring. Towards each side of the room there were various weight benches, ropes, sleds, and other equipment.

Looking at the room, Rokuji suspected this place was about an acre in size. Considering it was based on second storey, this also seemed about right to him. After all, this was just the one of the facility in Castlean Boat, there was probably other rooms meant to serve other purposes.

He doesn't need to stretch before performing a full course of exercises. Weightlifting, Rope Climbing with weights, Flexibility exercises in between that releases fatigue of the muscle.

The room became lively even though there is only one person inside. Various training exercises already filled his body with vitality, but no matter how much he sweats or how excessive his blood pumps through his vein, he shows no visible signs of healthy color on his skin.

At the last part of the course, a simple push up. However, there is something different about this meditative push up.

Rokuji breathed in between session of pushing his body from the ground, he focused on the feeling of every muscle in his body to try and control them consequently supplying them with oxygen in his bloodstream. As he progressed in the meditative push up, his body recover from the intense full course exercise.

He felt alive and able. There is no depressing feeling that linger at the back of his mind, the ghost of the past were being purge slowly as he hone his mind to mental peace.

The first time he did the meditative push up, he already felt its effects. Its not much of a physical exercise as it's an effort to practice mental fortitude.

Rokuji's prowess steadily accumulates in a balanced manner throughout this period of growth. He not only trained physically but also mentally preparing himself to whatever may come in the future. Putting the future aside, Rokuji completed the Exercise Course so it's time to begin the weapon training.

He held the sheathed blade in his chest, then visualising a mental image.

Then, he began unsheathing the cutlass and started a series of sword stances. This swordsmanship was taught to aristocratic families throughout the North Blue. It was in a Legend that the Master of this swordsmanship once stood alongside great swordsmen in his time and taught many his sword skills without any form of payment.

The aristocrats prefer this swordsmanship since its elegant and simplistic. The magnificent quick delivery created a mental image of swift devastation to multiple targets. The cutlass weave through the fighting ring as Rokuji moved in quick footsteps as if on a perpetual dance.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

An hour of fighting is enough to exhaust any soldier in the battle but the mental image fighting not only is exhausting physically but it also drains mental energy. Rokuji sat down without caring about the pool of sweat beneath him, his skin color still being pale after the training apparently caused him no trouble except its visual layer.

Rokuji looked around and started cleaning the tools, he adeptly wipe every surface of the equipments, then get the bucket of soapy water to begin wiping the floor that glisten with his own sweat.

After all the therapeutic work, he proceeded to wipe down all wet surfaces of the room before leaving the dome-shaped training room. His end of the day routine consisted of eating, training, cleaning, and then daydreaming again before cleaning up after himself just before he sleep.

The servants of the Castlean Boat never bothered him that much, they perform their duties and refrain from interacting with him since he informed them of this requests.

The 106th Kendo Exercise session should be enough to get me a fighting chance on the outside world. This Kendo Training involves taking kendo arts to the limit, which gave him the foundation to swing a live steel sword for the combat training exercise as well as to to prepare himself for the future challenges when the time comes.