Then came the day when Tatsumi had to leave the Transcendent Academy, returning to his home back in the Hinon Federation.
“Well, that is all.” Tatsumi had all his clothes on his briefcase. After living in the Transcendent Academy for eleven months, he had his own residence as well as basic necessities, including clothes.
That was provided by Yamaguchi so that he could focus on the transcendent-related task he had. Tatsumi did not know the proper way to repay that favor but becoming stronger was never wrong.
Currently, he was waiting in front of the gate. It was because it was the place where the group had to gather.
Then Long Wu appeared with neat clothes and appearance. He did not carry anything since it was all saved in the spatial bag and it was more convenient to do that. Along with Long Wu was the crowd of teachers, transcendents as well as students from the academy along with the headmaster.
“Teacher, that’s a large crowd you have behind.” Tatsumi said while waving his hand excitedly.
“Ah, they are willing to send us off.” Long Wu replied with a bit of a helpless smile plastered on his face.
“You need to tidy up yourself more.” Kushina reminded and Long Wu ironed out his clothes. Even with him doing that, Kushina helped him out, which caused everyone else to look with envy.
Then Long Wu stood by Tatsumi’s side as if the previous matter was inconsequential.
“While we wait, how about a little discussion?” Long Wu suggested something that made Tatsumi wonder about the purpose of doing that. But since there would be no harm in doing that, he nodded his head.
“What should we talk about?” Tatsumi asked.
“How about your current situation? Good?” Long Wu asked something with concern.
Tatsumi felt that the tone of his teacher was a bit strange. His condition? What would someone do knowing that?
“It is good. I get to become stronger and not remain a weak person, so that’s a win for me.” Tatsumi explained, which made Long Wu pleased.
“Other than that? Is there something you need to do?” Long Wu kept asking and Tatsumi felt that his teacher knew something related to him.
“Well, I need to properly define my relationship with someone. I just hope that whatever I am saying will be a good resolution. Otherwise, I don’t know what to do.” Tatsumi said honestly, since he could feel that Long Wu was fishing for certain information.
Long Wu’s eyes glittered and the corner of his lips raised.
“You are still a teenager but already have someone in your heart. But can you manage it?” This time, Long Wu asked with a serious tone and concern.
“Wish me well.” Tatsumi could only reply that way. He felt torn to choose one of the two people but he also had the thought about getting the two for himself.
‘But that is selfish. That also would not be fair to them. What to do?’ Tatsumi was deep in thought, reconsidering his choice.
“You know that the sea is vast, right?” Long Wu suddenly went into a speech and Tatsumi decided to listen to respect his teacher. Long Wu continued, “It can shoulder the burden of many rivers that come its way. Meaning that the sea is capable of holding that much water. You should emulate it, widen your heart so that it will be capable of shouldering the burden of multiple rivers. Do you understand?”
Tatsumi felt a bit lost when Long Wu mentioned the sea and the river. What had that to do with him?
But if Tatsumi assumed that Long Wu knew about his special matter, then the things his teacher had said were actually an analogy.
‘Is it telling me to accommodate both? Can I possibly do that, though?’ Tatsumi was deep in thought that he did not notice a small disturbance.
“Excuse me! I have something to be given to that person!” a familiar voice came from behind the students’ group. They turned their heads and realized that it was actually the usually withdrawn Romanov who was trying to move forward.
The students opened a way for him to go and the teachers were also aware of the disturbance and also gave way.
“You have something to give to them?” Even Kushina was surprised to see that Romanov was gripping a long thing wrapped in cloths.
“This is my present for that young man. This is my latest piece of cold weapon and I intend to give it to him.” Romanov explained.
Kushina then gestured for him to go to the two people who were at the gate. Long Wu noticed the commotion and turned his head to look at Romanov who was coming in his direction.
“What brings you here?” Long Wu asked first.
“Well, I want to give this weapon to that young man. This is actually the latest weapon I want to give him.” Romanov patiently explained once again. His expression was one of excitement.
Long Wu knew that Tatsumi was deep in thought so he roused Tatsumi by tapping his shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” Tatsumi became awake and aware that Romanov was present.
“Why did you come here?” Tatsumi then went to Romanov’s side and checked for something. He only saw the thing that Romanov had brought.
“Here!” Romanov pushed the thing he carried and stuffed it into Tatsumi’s hand. Tatsumi grabbed the item in question and knew that it was actually a cold weapon.
‘If I remember correctly, I once said that I need a good weapon for my personal use. Did Mister Romanov make one for me, too?’ Tatsumi remembered that moment and did not expect that Romanov would truly make one for him.
He knew that Romanov had made many weapons, even Ame got her personal weapon from Romanov before him so he knew the quality of the things created by Romanov was excellent.
Despite being covered by cloth, Tatsumi could faintly feel the hilt and the blade. It was slightly heavier than the standard blade he had held but he believed that the cutting prowess of the blade in his hand would surpass the standard blade by a large margin.
He felt warmth in his heart. To make a dwarf forge a weapon for you was a sign of friendship and trust and Tatsumi felt that he was not worth that.
“Thank you!” Tatsumi could only utter those words. His feelings were overwhelmed by such a favor that he could not express them well.
“Haha, no need for that. I know that you are in your growth spurt so I made the blade to be able to grow with your development. I hope that you are satisfied with that!” Romanov said with a smile.
‘Indeed, he is really suitable with the blade I personally forged. The blade is made from the processed Adamant, Adamantium. I wonder what kind of blade will be created under his hand?’ Romanov thought while looking at the compatible blade and person.
“I will not disappoint the expectation that you have of me!” Tatsumi hastily said that. He then strapped the blade to his back because holding it in his hand was a bit of a hassle since he grabbed his suitcase.
After a few minutes had passed, there were four people approaching. Tatsumi recognized all of the newcomers since it was with them that he came to the Transcendent Academy in the first place.
“You’re already here. Looks like we are a bit behind.” Ame said after getting closer to the two.
“Yeah, I also get to feel my new weapon.” Tatsumi said bashfully. After the last time they exchanged thoughts, Tatsumi became more aware and attentive of Ame.
Ame felt the same as she became more aware of Tatusmi. What she did not expect was that Tatsumi was carrying the wrapped weapon with him on his back.
“Is that your weapon?” Ame asked. Tatsumi looked at her and realized that she had changed the form of her weapon to be in the form of the dagger that she sheathed on her thighs.
“Yes. Mister Romanov gave it to me. I thought I needed to revisit the academy if I wanted to get my weapon.” Tatsumi said while gesturing for her to the place where Romanov stood.
Romanov smiled and his eyes became slitted due to his facial expression.
Ame nodded at him with respect while standing beside Tatsumi’s side.
“Everyone is accounted for.” Yamaguchi said while touching his mustache. He, along with the shadow guards, was ready.
“Alright! Everyone, please send them off with our warm regards!” Kushina said, using the transcendent energy so that it could spread to everyone who was there.
She waved her hand at Long Wu and Long Wu nodded his head in respect. The teachers cheered along with the students. They would not forget that there were two people with great potential to become transcendents who had come to their academy.
Romanov gave a thumbs-up at Tatsumi, and Tatsumi responded with a similar gesture. For Tatsumi, Romanov’s present was the best he had ever received.
“See you later!”
“See you later!”
“See you later!”
It was not a farewell and not a goodbye either, so everyone said that instead. It meant the possibility of seeing each other again.
Just as they said that, the special car arrived to take them to the airport. It was quite large enough for Yamaguchi and the others to accommodate.
Then Ame was the first to go in, followed by the shadow guards. Tatsumi glanced at Romanov before settling his gaze on Kushina. He realized that his teacher and the headmaster were glancing at each other.
Then he entered but he had to stash the weapon in the baggage section since it would be inconvenient to bring the weapon around like that. Furthermore, he had not discovered the function to change the size of the weapon yet so it was better to store it first.
The last was Long Wu and Yamaguchi. After all of them entered and closed the door, the car moved away from the gate of the Transcendent Academy. Everyone saw the car go away on the road that led to the airport.
Then the crowd slowly dispersed but the talk about the two did not fade.
-
“I may not feel well in the aircraft. My ears are ringing strangely.” Tatsumi could feel that but this time, he circulated the Ether in his body to ease that particular feeling.
Now he was in the air, aboard the aircraft that would land at the airport near Giol City in the Hinon Federation territory.
Beside his seat was Ame, who realized what Tatsumi had done.
“That’s one good way to use your power.” She commented.
“Well, use every means available to solve your problem. That’s what I’ve always believed.” Tatsumi replied while looking at her fully.
Ever since Ame confessed, Tatsumi had a strange feeling in his heart. He felt conflicted but with the words that his teacher had said, he had considered taking two people at once.
‘I know that sounds not right but this is the only thing that can solve the problem.’ Tatsumi thought while keeping looking at her.
She had a good face, good figures both in the chest and the rear, only slightly inferior to Charlene but nonetheless a budding beauty. Tatsumi only realized now that she was more beautiful than most people but slightly inferior to Charlene in terms of beauty.
“Ah, that’s disrespectful.” Ame smiled in a teasing manner.
Tatsumi realized that he had stared for a bit longer than usual.
“I apologize. I have many things on my mind.” He said while feeling the blood flow to his face, reddening it. He could not believe that he felt embarrassed doing what he did.
“What are you thinking?” Ame smiled even more, seeing Tatsumi’s face reddened and she leaned in closer.
“Nothing important. Just something related to what we discussed.” Tatsumi said with a serious face and tone.
Ame went back and nodded. She knew that Tatsumi already had someone in his mind but she decided to let Tatsumi decide since she believed that Tatsumi deserved some time to think about his relationship with her.
‘But periodically teasing him is fun, too.’ Ame thought while her eyes gleamed with expectation. She was actually nervous but decided to tease Tatsumi to conceal that.
The flight would be done within four hours and only a quarter of the time had passed from the take-off. Tatsumi looked at the window and saw a lump of clouds in the distance. Some were close to the plane and he realized that it looked like a bundle of white joy if not for his knowledge that the clouds were just a lump of water lighter and could descend to the ground if opportunity presented itself.
‘So many things have happened during the last eleven months of Star Battle.’ Tatsumi began to think about his involvement in giving the planet’s spirituality in the Undead Secret Realm and obeyed it, getting help from the Mikazuki family.
Then the Star Battle had occurred and he and everyone his peers became Reservists. Helping with the logistics was not easy and then he was tasked with intelligence until the end of the Star Battle. There was also escorting the item from the frontline too…so many things had happened.
“Hey, do you want some sausages?” Ame suddenly tapped him on his hand and offered some food.
“Oh! Yes! Give me some of that. It’s delicious.” Tatsumi had liked sausages from the giant beast so much because it was covered with a bit of spice and salt.
“Alright. Here!” Ame gave three small sausages to Tatsumi and Tatsumi grabbed all of them and started to eat them.
“Yes, the taste that cannot be forgotten,” Tatsumi said while chewing the meat and gulping it down. Then the second and third were devoured and he wiped his hand with the tissue before he drank from the bottle that he had carried.
“Don’t you also have some?” Then Tatsumi asked Ame. He almost forgot to ask her due to the temptation of the sausages.
“Oh, I already ate some. You are probably the last person to eat that.” Ame said before letting out a small giggle.
“Damn, I am the last. But thinking about my family is also important.” Tatsumi murmured which was caught by Ame despite the low volume of his voice.
She remembered that his family was as important to him as anyone who managed the hurdle of entering his range of important people. She had realized that entering was hard but once you were in, he would at least help you in times of need.
‘Yes. It is a rare thing for him to care about others, but once he cared, it would be to repay the gratitude he had. But I hope he can improve as a person.’
Then time passed as the two spoke of something related to the transcendent training they had done so far. Tatsumi enjoyed this moment because his knowledge encompassed those things. Ame also enjoyed learning from Tatsumi since it became easier for her, smoothing things for her advancement.
“Is there any question?” Tatsumi asked after a long discussion about the body refining technique.
“How can you simultaneously refine the five aspects in the body refining technique? So far, it is recommended to refine one aspect first like for example, refining your muscles and bones.” Ame gave an example of how things should be done.
“It is because that is the prescribed path for everyone.” Tatsumi clarified. He knew that for everyone, there had to be a way to successfully refine an aspect but he had discovered another method.
“But there are advantages and disadvantages in doing what I do. Simultaneously refining the five aspects causes my speed of refining to slow down; that’s a disadvantage. The advantage is that my body will become more stronger than the usual result since I fully refine them whole.” He explained.
“So in the end, it comes to preferences.” Ame understood but was not tempted to do what Tatsumi did. It was because she knew the suitable path for herself.
“Yes. In the end, the ones who are suitable for you are the best path. To me, exploring the unknown and gaining something from it is my path. What about you, Ame?”
“I prefer stability. That is why I refine my aspect fully until it becomes diminishing returns before I refine the next aspect.” Ame replied with pride.
“I know that you prefer it. Well, good job refining things to a robust aspect. It should make you stronger than the usual transcendent who is also doing body refining in the same heavenstage.” Tatsumi nodded and knew that was truly the case.
They wanted to be stronger than their peers, even entertaining the idea of cross-realm fighting. Theoretically, it was possible but it was dangerous.
“I imagine myself fighting someone in a higher realm than me; it should be quite the fight.” Tatsumi said his wishful thinking, trying to imagine the feeling and sensation of doing that.
“Isn’t it better if you are not pushed to do that?” Ame asked with a worried tone. She was concerned with how Tatsumi thought about himself.
“We need to prepare for any eventuality, Ame. It doesn’t hurt to prepare just in case.” Tatsumi replied with a small smile.
He also knew the risk of doing that but becoming stronger was never a mistake. But it was better to build a robust foundation so that he and anyone who treaded the transcendent path could become stronger through proper and tested means.
His thought drifted to the way he could strengthen his body and technique. But he also wondered what kind of invention could decipher the secrets of a person’s mind and ways to strengthen it if it were possible.
Then came the time the aircraft landed and the passengers had to disembark from the plane. They had finally returned to the Hinon Federation.