MTLNOVEL Chapter 4: FIRST STEPS.
"Suddenly, his mother introduced him to a figure he never imagined he'd have. A stepfather".
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But well, before we get to this disconcerting event, let's recap a bit on the events that have happened in the last 6 years since my first class with Yoshida-sensei.
First of all, my classes with Yoshida-sensei lasted 3 long years. They didn't end because I was some kind of rare genius who could learn all the knowledge that a Yokai like Yoshida-sensei took centuries to acquire in just 3 years. No, they ended mainly because, as he told me, his magic specializations weren't suitable for me. He had specialized in using both Youjutsu (magic exclusive to us Yokai) and human magic (which can be learned by any species) for earth attribute elemental attacks.
You see, I'm a Kitsune, mixed with God knows what. My mother never told me about my father, and when I asked, she said she'd tell me when I was older, and since then I never insisted. I've already grown up without one in one life, what difference does it make to grow up without one in another?
Anyway, even though I'm mixed with whatever that other species is, my Kitsune attributes are the most prevalent in me. So, as I've studied all this time with Yoshida-sensei and a few others, the best path for my future development would be to focus on both illusions and the fire element, which are the areas my race is known for.
So, during one of our classes:
"Kaito-san."
Hearing his voice, I raised my head from the book I was reading, titled 'Practical Applications of Yojutsu for Beginners.'
"Yes, Yoshida-sensei?" I said, looking at his face, trying to understand what he wanted. It was very unusual for him to interrupt me during self-study time.
"Kaito-san, today marks the day of our last class!"
Slowly, as I processed this information, my eyes widened in surprise. I didn't expect this. Whether I wanted to or not, this Tanuki had taught me since my first year in this world, so him leaving so suddenly is quite surprising and a little sad.
"If I may ask, Yoshida-sensei, why now? I'm sure there are still many subjects you can teach me!" I said with a slightly disconcerted voice. I really didn't know how to feel at the moment.
"Well, I've already explained the situation to your mother, but you say there are still many things I can teach you, that's correct, but, whether you want to or not, you'll have to change teachers sooner or later, and I've already taught you everything in the basic curriculum. It's not very beneficial for me to continue teaching you magical theory, because, you see, I'm a Tanuki. We Tanuki have a great inclination for earth magic, but you, Kaito, are a Kitsune, your natural inclination is fire. So, talking with your mother, we thought it best that from now on you start taking classes with a Kitsune, just like you."
I listened carefully to his words and understood the reason behind it. He was right, it wasn't very proper for a Tanuki to guide a Kitsune in advanced magical theory.
But even understanding that, it still left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. I don't know if it was the fear of change, since every day for 3 years I've come to this room and received his lessons, or if it was something else, but I think it was a bit of my anxiety with changes, since Yoshida-sensei and I weren't that close.
So, after class ended, I said goodbye to him, and during the night, my mother came to my room. When I was 4, I asked her for a room. I still remember the hurt look she gave me when she heard my request, it seemed like I had stolen something from her.
Even today, she sometimes tries to drag me to sleep with her. When that happens, she hugs me from behind and spends the whole night murmuring with a laughing voice, 'my little cub.'
But well, she came to my room and told me that changes would be made to my schedules. First of all, practical magic, etiquette, and human and Yokai customs classes would be included.
I can't help but say how excited I was with the idea of finally being able to do magic. I had never been allowed or taught how to do magic practically, only the theory of how magic works had been passed on to me during these years.
In addition to these two additions, other changes were also made, starting with the fact that what was previously together, history and politics classes, were now separated. My mother also added two new activities: Youjutsu training, Touki utilization, and physical conditioning.
In my previous world, it would be crazy to put a 4-year-old child to do physical training, but the difference is that I'm no longer in my previous world, I'm not even human anymore.
We Yokai are very different from humans. First of all, since I was 3, I could run and lift heavier things than I could in my past life. Literally, a 3-year-old child has more strength than an adult man.
But well, then, after that day, my routine became much busier.
And soon a year passed, and now, at 5 years old, after 1 year of learning magic, I can say with all clarity: MAGIC IS AWESOME, what a powerful thing magic is.
Literally, on my first day of practical magic class, my magic teacher, who is a Futa-kuchi-onna.
At first, I was a little scared of the thing behind her head, but I've seen worse things in the palace corridors.
She quickly created a teleportation circle to a mountainous environment, and she looked at me as I was still recovering from the surprise of being teleported and said.
"You see, my student, the true power of human magic is not in how much magic you can use, but in the control you have over it!" And she said this while raising one hand and pointing to a mound over 10 m (32 ft 10 in) high.
And quickly an extremely complex red magic circle came out of her hand that was pointed at the mound, and suddenly.
Blast!
Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
Ka-boom! Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
Crack! Crack!
Crash!
Wooosh!
Quickly, I closed my eyes as a strong wind hit me. After the wind subsided, I quickly widened my eyes and my jaw dropped as I looked at the sight that greeted me.
⊙△⊙
Sniff!
The mound that was previously there had turned into a pile of charred rocks, it was possible to see that with all the heat of the explosion, several rocks had melted and were now dripping.
It looked like an apocalyptic scene, not even the scene that occasionally appeared on TV of a missionary who fell into a war zone compared to the vision I was having now.
And while I was still in my trance, the voice of my new teacher, Riko-sensei, quickly pulled me out of it.
"This is something that, if you train hard for 2 or 3 years, you'll be able to do easily."
"Rea... really? I would be able to... cause all this?"
"You are Yasaka's son, if you train enough, even destroying this whole place would be as simple as a wave of the hand!"
That sentence from Riko-sensei made me reconsider everything I thought I knew about the power levels of this world. Hearing it from someone is one thing, but personally seeing a woman less than 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) tall destroy such a colossal area with a simple raise of her hand!? That really puts things in perspective.
After that, she created the teleportation circle again over our feet and we returned to the castle.
Soon after, she started teaching me magic, and man, I have to say, magic is simply a very strange thing to practice, you have to feel a sensation that you can't even comprehend and make that 'sensation' travel through your body.
It reminds me of the alchemy in Harry Potter, where, to make a potion, you had to stir the mixture so many times to the left, because if you stirred to the right, the potion would have a different effect.
It's the same with human magic here, if I want, for example, to do one of the simplest spells, fireball, I have to make this 'sensation' follow the following path:
Heart (start) → make it circulate exactly 4 times around your chest region in the vertical direction clockwise → then guide it to the hand you want to shoot it from.
It took 3 days before I could do that, no wonder they say human magic is very different from Yokai magic.
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During my Youjutsu classes, the magic exclusive to Yokai, I must say, it's hundreds of times easier than human magic. If human magic needs a good memory and excellent reasoning, Yokai magic needs excellent instinct, it's knowing the right moment to do it.
"For example, if I want to make a fireball using Youjutsu, the process is much simpler:
Focus the energy in your hand that you want to use to shoot → start spinning the energy until you feel it get hot → felt it get hot? Throw it!
Ready, just like that.
The good thing is that magic and Youjutsu don't cancel each other out, which I find very strange. For example, if I want to release a fireball using magic as fuel in one hand and in the other a fireball using Youjutsu as fuel, I can. If I want to release both from a single hand!? I can also, because the 2 energies don't interact inside the body, almost as if they were in different spatial dimensions.
But of course, in this scenario of releasing 2 fireballs by 2 different energy systems from a single hand, there would be 2 problems: the concentration needed to prepare the 2 spells and the fact that, if they come out at the same time, they might end up hitting each other and exploding next to the caster, causing serious damage.
But, in general, from what I've heard from my teachers, all advanced-level Yokai fight using the 2 systems intermittently, now one, now the other, while supreme-level ones, like my mother, fight using both at the same time.
This happens mainly for a few reasons, such as the fact that many don't have the ability to do 2 different things at the same time, or simply don't have large energy reserves in both systems, because yes, the 2 systems don't use the same energy 'pool', so it's quite common to see, in the case of us Yokai, beings who have a lot of energy in Youjutsu and little in human magic, me and my mother are exceptions, since we have A LOT of energy in both systems.
Like, literally a lot, my teachers said that my energy level is already at the advanced class level.
But, speaking of which, it's time for me to explain the power levels of this world:
Low Class: beings strong enough to destroy houses and small buildings with one attack.
Middle Class: beings capable of destroying villages and small cities with one attack.
Advanced Class: beings capable of destroying large cities with one attack.
Supreme Class: beings capable of destroying entire countries.
And, lastly, the 2 dragon gods, said to have the strength to destroy the world.
Gods in general fall into the supreme category, but this scale only serves more as a general visualization, since this isn't a cultivation world where a being of a higher class can massacre countless beings of the classes below, quite the contrary, there have been countless cases in history of middle-level beings killing advanced beings, even cases of low-level beings, with good planning, killing advanced-level beings, but in relation to the class of supreme beings, the story is different.
There have been very few cases of advanced-class beings killing supreme-class beings, and most of them occurred when the supreme-class being was severely weakened.
And well, now you must be wondering, how is the class of a being measured? The answer is simple, by their deeds, kill in a 'clean' fight a being of a higher class or defeat or draw, and- Snap!- you now have a class.
But some other criteria can be used to define the class of a being, one of them is the amount of energy that leaks from them, there's a whole calculation behind the area that their leaked magic occupies in relation to its density and the mana control coefficient and blah-blah-blah.
But, in summary, the level of magic that I leak from not having much control easily puts me at the advanced level, but, even though I'm assigned that, I know very well that even a being of lower classes can wipe the floor with me.
If I want to advance to that class, I have to have great control and a much larger repertoire of spells for both my Youjutsu and my magic.
And if I want to advance to the supreme class, I'm going to have to have very great control of all of this: Magic, Youjutsu, Physical Combat, Touki, My fox flame and, lastly, something that my mother didn't want to tell me, because she said I wasn't ready for it yet.
In other words, the path is still quite long, since I haven't even started training my touki and my fox flame yet.
My mother wants me to have greater control of my energies before starting to use the flames, and my Touki hasn't awakened yet, because, as Aoi-sensei said, 'Your body is still too weak to manifest Touki, you will probably have to be at least 3 times stronger than you are before you can manifest it.'
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Well, in summary, that's what happened before we got to this disconcerting event.
Well, all this happened on a day like any other, I was going to my physical training in the morning with Aoi-sensei, when suddenly my mother stopped me in the middle of the hallway.
She had an anxious look on her face as she quickly told me.
"Son! Can we talk for a bit? Mommy has something very important to tell you."
It was very rare for her to act like this, over these 7 years I can count on one hand the number of times she acted like this.
I quickly replied with a hint of urgency in my voice.
"Of course, mom, we can go now!"
After I replied, she quickly guided me through the hallways to a room. Upon opening the room door, I saw something I hadn't seen in a long time, or more precisely, had never seen in this life – a human.
I was surprised to have a human in the palace, not even those arrogant jerks from the 5 clans are allowed to enter the palace. Usually, when my mother has meetings with these pathetic beings from the 5 clans, she uses the outer courtyard, which is right on the border between the small Yokai pocket dimension and the human world.
But, looking closely, he doesn't seem to be from the 5 clans, he doesn't have that arrogant way that I've heard so much about from my mother, or I could be wrong in my judgment.
But then I realized that something very strange happened when my mother and I entered the traditional Japanese room, there were only 3 zabutons, and 2 of them were side by side, but what I really found strange was the fact that they were on the other side of the table - next to that human.
Which was strange, I received education in politics from my first year of life, so it was already 6 years of accumulated knowledge, so I knew very well that in meeting rooms like this, the arrangement of seats meant much more than it seemed - 'why were the seats next to him?'
But, as if she heard my internal doubts and answered my questions, my mother went around the room and sat next to the human.
I raised an eyebrow at this attitude while my eyes narrowed.
Then my mother waved her hand for me to sit down while speaking in a calm tone of voice, but I could notice the hidden fragility in her tone of voice.
"Please, sit down, son."
While still keeping a close eye on the two, I sat down slowly, my mind racing over the possibilities of what was happening there.
The man was sweating a lot, and thanks to my Yokai senses, I could even hear his accelerated heartbeat.
Then, something happened that made my eyes narrow even more.
My mother took his hand and I saw when he gave a surprised look to my mother and quickly gave a smile.
The feelings in that smile seemed like gratitude, relief and a hint of... love?
I think I know where this is going...
Then my mother spoke in a firm voice, but this time it wasn't just a hint of fragility that I felt from her voice, no, it was a handful!
"M... My... so... son I... I have a revelation to make to you!"
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*If you are enjoying the story so far, I humbly ask you to leave a comment or donate your power stones or rate the story, so I can understand if you are enjoying it and what you are enjoying. If it's a criticism, please comment on it as well so I can know how to improve the story. As I already wrote in the comments section, I'm not sure which will be the first Multiverse world, but I intend to do something a bit unconventional, like TWD, Scooby-Doo, Zero no Tsukaima, so if there's any anime or cartoon that you really liked and would like to see here, comment.