An Intermediary Scale Gathering; Bghorsk, The Trade Hub (2) and More Improvement.
23: Chapter 0008 (Part 2)
An Intermediary Scale Gathering; Bghorsk, The Trade Hub (2) and More Improvement.
10 YEARS AGO, FALL MONTH 1, DAY 7, SAMURAI COUNTRY NAGASUKE
Skrylla Yokuta woke up to the growl of his stomach, the snuffing of a curious hedgehog which he grabbed lightning fast and was about to chew raw when he stuffed it in his mouth before remembering what he was doing.
And not letting the tears in his eyes drop, he kept on walking forward after putting back into a palm to let it dangle in his hand.
He would save it until he had no other choice.
When he looked up, the boy guessed that it was only 1 ¼th a mile away.
So, he swallowed the grief at his lack of satisfying progress, and went on.
The hedgehog had long stopped squirming in his hands that were covered in bruises and shallow cuts.
At some point, Skrylla Yokuta began talking to the Hedgehog and by night fall, he began thinking it had actually been nodding and shaking its head.
Other times, he thought it spoke to him and he heard its voice.
*This thing has a very deep voice for its size.*
Skrylla Yokuta realized that he was only mumbling, so he really appreciated that it was willing to take its time to listen to his ranting.
When it was almost midnight, he reached the last tree before a 3 yards difference between he and the gate.
*What were those stick figures that were just in front?*
When he came to again, he was lying down on the floor and it took him 10 minutes to stand up, his hedgehog friend had left him and it strangely but fiercely broke his heart.
He suddenly looked up and noticed something.
Before him were Jin, Karin and Gejiro who all stood before the gate, and ahead of them but backing him, was Drisnyl Hashna Tsuyo-ya.
The Mistress was waiting for him.
Somehow that felt very good.
That they waited.
Imagine if they had left him behind?
His samurai heart felt ashamed but he accepted that he would have felt terrible.
They were his closest thing to family in 100 miles.
His motivation to finish this, whatever it was, came back to him.
*Who needs a hedgehog?*
They were not even that close too, how could he forget his buddy?
Pain snatched his mind into getting back up more quickly before he pulled out his Wooded sword and his make shift scabbard of an open can before walking to them
Skrylla Yokuta joined them in silence and after a minute, he regarded the woman.
“Sorry.”
“Come.”
The woman hugged him so tightly that he cried.
Then, applied a Healing salve to which he flinched and jumped to.
When she was done, she carried him on her shoulders, his legs dangling over her breasts while Jin was in charge of his box.
He watched his body mend itself before his eyes and let his eyes enjoy the novel experience to ignore his hunger and thirst.
She first took him to the bar she came from and ordered food until his stomach was full.
He cried and ate.
He almost vomited the ale but continued right back after swallowing back down what came up his throat.
The Mistress watched him eat with a motherly smile which made her satisfied that it was worth it.
He was finally letting himself go a little bit.
*Samurai could set apart honor from eating when hungry and starved*, he used that to justify himself knowing it was silly but still went on to finish whatever he saw, however he saw fit.
Gejiro carried him without being told, when he was bloated and couldn’t move, before Drisnyl Hashna Tsuyo-ya told him ‘upstairs,’ so she dropped 10,000 Bronze Hyur for the night to cover both feeding and accommodations, following after her students that had climbed a wooden rickety stairs.
The walls were caked in patches of filth while some parts shone clean, same as the floor.
Happy that Skrylla Yokuta was asleep because of the sounds from the other rooms that made Karin blush red, Jin perked up his ears before walking slower and Gejiro deliberately steeled his face, Drisnyl Hashna Tsuyo-sa ordered that Skrylla be kept at the extreme edge and added an extra thousand Bronze Hyur to know if anyone who wasn’t her, went near Skrylla Yokuta’s room.
Gejiro tapped Karin to see her Mistress’s face and she, in turn, tapped Jin who was at a loss for words.
They split the rooms themselves.
The rooms were like arced squares; bed at the edge, cupboard beside it, washroom at the other end of the wall and window facing the bed.
Skrylla had his, Karin and The Mistress shared one, Genjiro and Jin, theirs.
The Mistress stayed beside him while Gejiro and Jin stayed at the outermost.
Skrylla Yokuta woke up to windows and a rusty smell but it beat being outside and the passive cold.
He was about to run outside the door when he realized this was the only place he could do some things and get them done.
So, he first of all did his exercises and calculated the days he was out for which was 8.
Then this day he woke up in was 9.
So that was 905 swings in every direction.
It hurt that he had to be calm and take his time with each stroke but time was of the essence.
However, he managed to finish it off before settling down to meditate.
Voila!
He saw the Ghost lines and after reviewing a few, he took his stance and danced about his room.
Then, he tried his visualization and reviewed his own movements.
Skrylla Yokuta laughed in glee then quickly covered his mouth before continuing to practice about the room; He could maximize his isolated time!
***
The Mistress had a good idea of what was happening but she decided to extend their stay by a week because of his recovery.
Well, if she knew that he was swinging his sword around she might not be so happy.
But, outside of seeing how he was doing to check if he was okay, she delivered food to his room, making sure she left after he ate so much he was forced to sleep.
She sighed and imagined what it would be like if she actually had her own kids.
A painful memory flitted by her mind and she turned away.
Surprisingly, she found the boys prepping their kinds too.
So, she left to exchange more things that she could.
Karin was reading a book on the bed and she clapped her hands to get the girls attention.
“You want to step out?”
“Um, yeah sure.”
“It wouldn’t harm you if you said no.”
“Okay then… no.”
Nodding, the Mistress walked up to a bag that had not a few Epic Beast parts before heading out.
***
The boy had leapt up immediately after she had left and continued what he had just discovered; when he had once more concentrated Surge 1 Chi on the extremities of his legs and arms.
Finally, he had reached this stage!
Just like how he had bested the Dragonfly.
He had won against a Peak Midnight Rank Unawakened Dragonfly Beast!
Now, though, the next step would be to take it arou-
What!
The Surge Chi was spread over his body.
And though it was not complete as some areas still had empty patches he was at least 50 percent okay.
Smiling to himself he immediately began engaging his Breathing Technique.
He bet he would be done within a week as he threw all his time into it.
If Surge 1 Chi could help him beat a Peak Unawakened Dragonfly, what would Surge 2 Chi do?
Haha!
“Buddy, I’m going to be awesome!”
Kissing his sword, he returned to the Breathing Technique and made sure to go as far as he could.
He only had time to rest, right?
In the evening though, he snuck out and whispered to Gejiro if he could get another Cauldron again and the boy rolled his eyes.
“I think I should really, really do it.”
“Why?”
Skrylla Yokuta sighed and hut the door before showing them his progress with Sword Surge 1 Chi.
Gejiro’s eyes bulged like Jin’s mouth hung agape.
“Wha-how-i-whe-”
Gejiro could not complete his sentences, so Jin attempted to help him.
“What am I seeing exactly?
How did you develop so fast?
I am simply short of words and when did you actually start your Breathing Technique?”
“Oh this is Sword Surge 1 Chi, it is what I was trying to get to after Sword Wind.
I don’t know how it happened, I just know it did.” He paused and smiled brightly.
“I will take that as a compliment to both my buddy and myself.
Um… I started back at Oniga.”
“Im-im-im-”
Jin helped him out again.
“Impossible!”
“Well, I’m just happy I am now here.”
There was silence and then Jin slapped Gejiro back to reality before pulling him towards the door.
The former furtively scanned the hallway before opening the door with a large flourish.
“Good evening Mistress, I would like t-”
She was not around, and nobody was except for Karin with an arced brow.
“Quick, show her!”
Skrylla Yokuta did so and she stared with ogling eyes as Jin and Gejiro fished out the Cauldron before hastily using heated water from the bucket Potent Artefact.
Dumping him into it, Karin kept her eye on the street, Gejiro was downstairs at the bar with his trained on the door and Jin stood outside the room as Skrylla Yokuta absorbed what he needed to.
The rest of the week passed like this until Hashna Drisnyl knocked on his door that morning.