[Unfortunately, you couldn’t manage to refine a Gu no matter what method or ingredient you used]
[This was just part of the grind, you assured yourself]
[In the future, you’d surely be able to refine Gu just as easily as you would boil an egg.
After all, you knew that Gu refinement was indeed possible in this world]
[Without a Gu Worm, your options as a Gu Master were limited.
However, that didn’t mean you had none as you made sure to keep nourishing the walls of your Aperture to increase your cultivation base]
[It was one night in late summer did you finally reach a milestone…]
The next scene opened with Michizane sitting in a lotus position, seeming to be in deep meditation.
The dream zoomed in on him as the immediate surroundings blurred out of the way.
After which, I saw him sweating considerably as a faint green mist began to emanate from his body.
Like a drawn comic, the inside of his body became visible as I saw the Aperture glow brightly.
The green coppery ocean within it stirred against the walls, rising into enormous waves that crashed in all directions.
Suddenly, the four-armed boy stood up with a tense expression on his face as he exclaimed, “Come on, break through!”
Cracks began to show upon the Aperture’s surface before the light membrane completely shattered!
Immediately, a new membrane began to form from Michizane’s Primeval Essence.
If once the light of his Aperture’s membrane was dim and flickering, it was now flowing freely, like water in a river’s stream.
Furthermore, the colour of his Primeval Sea changed slightly from its previous bright teal, now adopting an emerald green hue.
That being said, this process had definitely expended a large amount of Primeval Essence as only a tiny portion of his Primeval Sea remained.
He exhaled repeatedly, his chest heaving with each breath as sweat clung to every part of his body.
Glancing at his own hands, he pulled them back before throwing them to the sky, “Hell yeah!!!”
After five years, Michizane had finally broken through to the Rank 1 Middle Stage!
…Seeing this, I couldn’t help but cringe.
‘It really took you that long?’
If this was an omen to my own cultivation journey, then I might as well just end it all right now.
However, I think the reason for Michizane’s glacially slow cultivation was his piss poor aptitude, which must be even lower than mine.
Gu Masters had their aptitudes graded by letter.
Mine was C-grade, and that was already bad enough, but it appeared this version of me had even shittier luck.
Considering the speed of his cultivation, his aptitude must be at the bottom end of D-grade, the lowest possible grade of aptitude.
Nourishing one’s Aperture walls consumed a certain amount of Primeval Essence.
Those with higher aptitude not only had a greater amount of Primeval Essence, but recovered them at a much faster pace, allowing them to cultivate for longer periods of time without rest.
This was the unfair reality of talent as hardwork alone could not triumph against it.
Only by cheating the system could one hope to defy all odds…
Anyway, I didn’t fail to notice how weirdly confident he was that refining Gu was possible in this world.
Even I wasn’t that confident…
Could this have some connection to how he had obtained his Aperture?
[Year 6: It was during the start of this year that your father brought you along to the New Year’s Celebration]
[As an aristocratic lord, it was of utmost importance that your father graced his territory and gave his blessings for the year to come, praying to the Gods for good harvest and peace for the common man’s livelihood] You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
[Your older brothers had become accustomed to attending these celebrations since they were your age.
Naturally, you were to join them as well now that you had turned 6.
That being said, both didn’t seem too pleased to be associated with you]
[When the peasantry saw your two-faced, four-armed appearance, they immediately became frightened!]
The first thing I saw after the scroll’s description was Michizane in a thick gray robe.
This robe could not hide his extra pair of limbs, nor did it hide his malformed face.
However, it did hide the huge, toothy mouth on his navel that directly lead to his stomach lining.
Thank God it did.
Could you imagine the reactions if those peasants saw it?
Sure, his other features were abnormal enough, but they weren’t completely unheard of in this era.
An extra arm or two could be attributed to incest, whereas an extra mouth on the navel seemed downright demonic.
My eyes naturally took in the scene before me.
As nobles, the Sugawara Clan obviously had their own dedicated territory and the current city looked exactly like how I’d imagine such a territory to be.
Though calling it a city was probably doing too much as it more closely resembled a village with an antiquated vibe that perfectly matched the Heian era.
The roads that were paved here were mostly just dirt and stone, and the stench of sweat and collected dung could occasionally be found in the less affluent parts of the city.
The Sugawara Clan Head raised his hands as he addressed the gathered commoners, “People of Miyama, we have been blessed with bountiful harvests and prosperous trade these last few years, as is the will of the Gods!
This year, we shall strive for…”
I mentally tuned out of the speech as the sight of him on that raised wooden podium brought back memories of those long-winded orientation ceremonies that I’ve frankly never enjoyed a second of.
Unless the speaker had the charisma of Alexander the Great himself, I didn’t really think it was necessary to pay attention.
I instead focused on the protagonist of the simulated dream as Michizane similarly ignored his father’s speech, completely distracted with what appeared to be a…
frog?
It was an ordinary frog all things considered.
Maybe a toad, actually.
It was green with a yellowish underbelly, and for a moment, I briefly wondered if Michizane wasn’t actually looking at it and was rather just zoning out.
But then I noticed that the frog seemed to have 6 fingers on each limb, a notably anomalous trait that he no doubt noticed as well.
Michizane glanced at the ceremony, decided it was way too boring, and then quietly tried to sneak out with a lowered head, not wanting to attract any attention as he did so.
However, before he could manage to slip away unseen, a small gathering of children blocked his path.
“Well, what do we have here…?”
Standing at the helm of this group was none other than the same brother who had bullied him in the previous sequence, now appearing to be appropriately older.
“I think it’s a wild Kappa, Michikana-san.” Another boy snickered as they surrounded him.
Michizane raised an eyebrow at this sight, probably realizing that the crowd was mostly composed of commoners.
“He must have wandered off from the river, haha!”
Usually, these peasant children would never have the courage to openly ostracize a noble like Michizane.
However, because it was his own older brother that sponsored them, they suddenly became very brave…
“What do you want, brother?” The four-armed boy spoke with narrowed eyes as I crossed my invisible arms behind him.
“Nothing much, just wanted to play a game with you, that’s all,” the older boy smirked as he nudged his friend.
“I figured you’d be bored with this whole thing as much as I am, isn’t that right?
As any good older brother, I—”
You know, this kid’s rather eloquent for someone his age.
The literacy rate for Heian era nobles must be quite high…
Unfortunately, Michizane didn’t seem to appreciate his brother’s eloquence as much as I did as he interrupted him with a cold smirk, “Funny how you’ve never wanted to ‘play a game’ when it’s just the two us.”
“Guess you needed an audience to feel brave, huh?
Compensating for something?”
Of course, a penis joke like that flew over the other boy’s head.
But judging from the tone alone, Michikana knew that was an insult.
“Y-You!” Michikana stumbled on his words as his face scrunched up in child-like fury, easily falling for the ragebait as he lifted his hands and…
…Took a swing, attempting to knock his brother down a peg or two with a quick jab.
Unfortunately, Michizane was no longer 3-years-old and didn’t need to pretend to be a hapless toddler anymore.
Michizane simply and swiftly stepped aside, dodging Michikana’s strike with ease as the older boy gave a startled expression.
He soon fell face forward as his feet slipped from the motion.
Michikana fell to the ground, which just so happened to be muddy with wet soil.
His clothes became tarnished with the dirt and filth, and his face couldn’t escape from that fate either as he looked up with a stupified and provoked glare.
His eyes narrowed as the surrounding children struggled to suppress their laughter.
He shouted with pure indignation.
“Why are you all laughing!?
I’ll kill you all if you don’t shut up!”
They quickly quieted down as Michikana ascended back to his own two feet, his eyes firmly planted on Michizane’s smirking face.
[Your older brother, Sugawara no Michikana, hated you for reasons you couldn’t possibly control]
[He even rallied the peasant children of Miyama in an attempt to harass you]
[Faced with this treatment, you decided to…]
[A.
Lash out and display your strength by assaulting your older brother]
[B.
Try and placate them, showing that despite your monstrous appearance, you actually possessed a heart of gold]
[C.
Ignore them.
What were they to you, anyway?
Mere insects don’t deserve your attention]