Ki Horizons - [Litrpg, Adventure, Power Levels]

Time passed, the leaves budded, and as days became night, the city began to warm. Spring began to approach. And soon, weeks had begun to pass but now… everything was different.

I walked into the Dojo, a smile on my face, same as Vincent. We sat down and without a word, Master began. Today, I immediately laid on my back, a pillow and a longer mat already ready. But I didn't stare at the ceiling. Instead, I closed my eyes and did as I always did these days. I paid attention.

The near fire like levels of Master's Ki. The room full of it, pressing in, dominating, practically or nearly evil in its suffocation of anything and all of everything.

The way my muscles and body even now, tensed up, waiting for a fight from the oppressive and scary atmosphere, as if I was on the brink of death again or in a life or death fight, instead of standing still. The stress only relenting somewhat from acclimation.

The universe, not so much as an element but as a strange pressured absence. As if the poking of the road was trying to take a gentler path to reach me and yet Master's Ki prevented it. How strange, how odd.

And… my own Ki. My very own lifeforce flowing through me, more real than blood and yet so much more ethereal. It was there, always there, and yet… just beyond my reach. Just beyond my sights. Just beyond… the…. Horizons…

I let it go. I let it pass. I forced nothing, merely letting myself observe, acknowledging it all, and letting it pass me by.

And as it did, my mind fell into a trance, tinkering on new ways to use what martial arts skills I had learned and knew and picked up. I'd had a burst of inspiration as I'd remembered an earlier conversation with Cooler. How he'd learned martial arts from Video of all things. And now… I let all that I'd seen and watched over the last month flow through my mind.

The positions, the poses, how they'd fought, how they hadn't, the mistakes, the manuals, everything and anything. Tearing it down, deconstructing it, imagining new moves, responses, reactions, what each would mean, what each would need, what training would be required. All for my own Ultimate Martial Arts I'd finally make one day to tear Vega apart.

Vega. My family. The memories came hot and harsh and burning. I let them come. The bloodlust, the intense need to kill! I let it flow through me, all the rage and pain and heartbreak…

And I let it go by. I was- My family was more than trauma.

They flew by now as well, like the summer sun after a rain cloud. Sweeping me away.

More thoughts, more feelings, more acknowledgments, more memories, they all came and went. Sometimes I would dive deep into them, sometimes my mind would stir, sometimes I'd feel like crying or yelling or even screaming with joy, sometimes I'd simply not think a single thing at all. And yet…

I paid attention. I let it all go through me and I paid attention.

I opened my eyes, already knowing the eight hours had passed, sitting up. Master wasn't leaving this time, instead feeding Sparky a few batteries and using his finger to somehow make a Ki laser pointer. It didn't seem to be causing any damage, just a straight beam of thin light. I had no idea how but Master, as always, acted like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I hadn't seen much of Master's Ki but it tended to take a particular color. Icy blue. I could practically taste the ice covered steel mountain that would crush someone into an eternal abyss just from seeing it. How peculiar that despite that, his Ki radiated a kind of demonic horrifying bloodlust when he normally released it that would see me destroyed utterly, perfectly matching his martial arts.

"Stare long enough, you're going to lose an eye." Master muttered at me.

I quickly turned away.

"Mutai." Vincent called out to me. "We still on for today?"

"Of course."

I went into my room, where I'd begun to sleep. I still found the tank more comfortable but… Vincent's words had pierced me. I was, had been, lost. Maybe, no, I definitely still was. More a force of nature or living spirit of revenge than a person. I could feel it. That intense desire to just… fight. Or wait. And nothing in between. Like a weapon either being on or off. Yet slowly, I had begun eroding it, taking the lessons I knew I'd needed to learn from when I'd walked around on Rabagahdan. I needed progress and to progress was to experience. Weapons hadn't worked on Vega, another one was bound to fail. I needed to be far more than that and even more so? I wanted to be. To be more than a weapon.

Vega would not strip me down like an unruly ghost pulling off the meat from my skeleton till nothing was left.

I grabbed a change of clothes and left, still feeling a smile on my face. My mind was… off today. But in a good way. More introspective, more lost, more wandering. It was a good state to be in. I could practically feel the bubbling curiosity and wonder in me and I was more than excited to feel what came next.

I met Vincent outside, seeing a chicken leg in his hand.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Are you sure you should be eating right before going swimming?"

"Eh. I'm hungry."

Well, I couldn't argue with that. Still, I'd wait till after. We walked slowly, simply taking in the evening sky. The sun was still out but it was lower. The days had begun to get longer. Winter was ending and spring was beginning to appear. Birds were singing lowly and the heat was rising. The passing of the seasons… they felt invigorating for some reason. A month or two ago, they probably would've brought despair that I was training too slowly, not making enough progress, that I was a failure waiting to happen. That last one, I hadn't even known I'd felt like until the last few weeks of meditation.

So many worries I hadn't even known or realized I'd had, had plagued me. Still did plague me. Acknowledgment wasn't a magical cure for trauma, pain, or fear. It was, however, an excellent way to make some first few steps. I don't even know if I had thought of everything I'd been through as trauma till after that conversation with Vincent.

I felt like a new man these days. The world was broad and I had time. A monster wasn't murdered in a day. Well, not this one. I had a very long journey to go and rushing it wasn't going to help. Forcing it wasn't either. I needed… the breath of life.

"Are you okay Mutai?" Vincent asked.

I turned to him, taking him in fully out of whim. His silver hair, his red eyes, his grey skin, his peak athletic physique that even with an unimaginable amount of exercise and regular outings I just couldn't quite match. But that wasn't all. I wasn't the only one growing and learning and changing. Vincent had honed some of that rage and fury and fire in him and put it towards his craft. These days, we didn't spend most of our free time together, though we had the first few weeks after our talk. He spent them out in a forge or doing his own thing and it showed. He wore two earrings and before then, I don't know if I had ever thought of earrings as 'manly' but Vincent pulled it off.

Two symbols, a blacksmith hammer crossed with a fist, hung on each ear. A necklace with a red gem, somehow with a yellow hammer engraved and floating inside it, hung around his neck. Small metal bands of iron or steel, I couldn't tell which, adorned his fingers as rings. Two small black pieces of metal above and below his left eyebrow now adorned him and he'd gotten a tattoo across his back that simply said "Clan Valorious" with the same Hammer and Fist symbol below it. I don't know why I found it as surprising as I did. People across the city had wild appearances, and they changed their looks drastically at times. I'd seen some people who must've been shapeshifters look nearly entirely different at times. And yet, it was a lot to see my brother change in even these small ways for me. It made me think and wonder. How different would I look in a few years time?

I shook my head.

"Just having my mind drift kind off a lot today. In a good way."

"Well what's good is good. Hope you're not having second thoughts on swimming? I could use the company today."

I nodded, before his words caught me.

"Today? What's so special about today?"

He laughed and he smiled, but there was a slight edge to it today.

"You are not the only one that gets to have birthdays."

My eyes opened wide.

"It's your birthday today?! I mean, happy birthday Vincent! How old are you turning?"

He snorted.

"Already forgot my age? Such a lame brother you are."

"Hehe…" I said scratching the back of my head.

"I'm turning twenty four little bro."

My whole body stilled at that as I glared at Vincent.

I could see a smirk showing as his true nature began to come out.

"Oh? If anyone's the little bro, that's you."

"I'm older."

"I was Master's disciple first. I have seniority there."

He scowled at that, his pride poked.

"Oh? You really think you're the older brother here?"

"I do. Why don't you try proving me wrong little bro?"

It was like sparks clashed as we both glared at each other.

"Let's see who outswims the other today."

"I was born on an island you floating rock. Good luck with that."

We tied. Then we partied and celebrated as he got dead drunk and ate like there was no tomorrow.

The days passed. Some were full of laughter, others felt like they were days full of nothing but studying, some felt empty. And yet, I swam, I laughed, I tried out a few new things, I walked around the city a little bit, I hung out with my brother, I even tried to get into the things he said was 'normal' like TV Shows, movies, and games.

It was small steps, but I was taking them.

It wasn't that day or that week that I got closer to finally cracking through Ki.

But it did happen.

********

I could feel it. I wasn't laying down today. I'd moved the pillow and the longer mat to the side, without even realizing the why of it. But the second I sat down cross legged, I knew.

Today was the day. Today was the day something happened.

I hadn't even felt that close yesterday and yet… thirty minutes later, I could feel it.

I could feel it as my very soul, body, and mind, my very ki, connected to the whole universe, all at once.

My vision swam as the golden bridge once more appeared in my eyes. Only now, it was fully rainbow across itself. So… beautiful. I was standing on it. I was sitting and yet, I was standing on it. But that wasn't what took up my whole mind, causing it to falter. It wasn't what enraptured me, that mysterious place that always reached out to me. No, instead…

That was the floating blue ball of energy above my palms.