Kikoukenjutsu Sword School - Part I (Solo)

His travels continued as he tried to reach the place where God lived. If he was a kid and heard the story of a man searching for God, he would find it quite amusing and absurd at the same time, but there he was, doing this very thing. ”Funny how the world spins… And changes everything within it. I wonder if I will ever find this place… How many years has it been, since I started this journey? I don’t even remember, to be honest! Hahaha! I would have to stop and count! But… I’ve changed so much… And not only did I change myself… I know for sure I’ve changed the lives of plenty of people I crossed paths with, helping them and trying to make this world better. It’s bee’s work… Little by little, step by step… But, if we, people of Earth, work together, we might be able to turn this place in the paradise it’s supposed to be!” and those thoughts came directly from the bottom of his heart; Galen truly believed this world could become an earthly heaven if people worked together and cast aside their differences and pride. This drove him forward for all these years, ever since Goddodin was destroyed by the bandits.

He was now on the edges of the Fortuneteller’s Desert, days after he had helped the people of Bermia, the jewel of the desert and thanks to them, his travel across the arid desert was far easier; he had plenty of supplies and water to last for another three or four days, and he had a feeling he was getting close to the end of that sea of sand. The thought of seeing woods again delighted him and made his heartbeat to increase a little bit. ”What wouldn’t I give for a good shower in a river and the shade of a maple tree!” he chuckled with his own thoughts and daydreams. That was when he caught sight of a hut in the middle of nowhere. Galen stopped, startled by the sight and scratched both his eyes with the back of his hands. – I must be seeing a mirage! – he said to himself as he opened his eyes again, still seeing the hut. Curiosity guided him towards it at a quick pace and, when he got near it, he saw that it was quite old and abandoned.

– Seems like no one has been around for a while now… - he wondered as he got inside the hut. The hut wasn’t small, but it wasn’t big either. It had a bed, a bathroom with a tub and a small kitchen. It also had a living room with a small bookshelf in the corner, which immediately caught the Lone Swordsman’s interest. ”Oh, hey! Books! I might take a look at them… I don’t think the owner will be mad… Seems like no one has been around for ages, anyway.” he shrugged, walking towards the bookshelf. Once there, he saw about ten books, but only two of them were able to catch his attention. – Groundbreaking Science… By… Son Gohan? Never heard of this guy. But the title is definitely interesting! – he smiled as he got the book with his right hand, seeing another interesting title there. – And… Kikoukenjutsu Sword School? That’s definitely awesome!! I will take my time with these two babies here! Hehe! – Galen laughed a bit in excitement, as he sit on the chair near the table, resting both books on top of it. He left his green bag on the floor and put his sword leaning towards the left side of the table.

The book was amazingly interesting. And impressive enough, it was written almost seven hundred years ago, in the Age 804 in the universal calendar. It explained how important was ki and the big whole it played in developing the inner strength of people. ”This guy is amazing! I can’t even believe such a guy existed in such a distant past! And his knowledge about ki is amazing!” he thought to himself, as he kept on reading the book.

After about five hours, Galen was completely immersed on the subject, learning that he knew almost nothing of ki control. – Hahaha! To think people can actually sense ki energy! I mean! To find out that it can be sensed in the first place and be used to measure people’s strength! Wow! Just… Wow! And people can also suppress it! It’s like a game of cat and mouse on a whole different level!! Haha! I’m such a beginner!! – he laughed at his own lack of skill and practice with manipulating his own ki. ”At least I’ve mastered the basic level… Like this book says… The basic of ki control is flying and firing ki blasts and I already know that! Haha… I don’t feel so bad now! And damn! Those monks really just taught us the basic! Still… I think I should be thankful! They did more than enough, and more than they should!” he thought to himself, stopping for a short while to drink some water and eat a couple apples he had inside his bag. Once he finished restoring a bit of his stamina, he got back to the book.

– Katchin can be cut… - he narrowed his eyes, feeling even more interested now that there was some “cutting” in the subject. ”But what the heck is Katchin, anyway?” he asked himself, but the answer was but pages away and he quickly reached it. – Wow! Oh boy! This is… Wow! The strongest metal in the whole universe! It says it’s density is… Over… one quintillion kilograms for cubic meters… The heck is that?! Seems like something absurdly dense! And the mass is over… twenty four quintillion kilograms?! How much is a quintillion anyway?! I’m completely lost and feeling absolutely overwhelmed here! – he thought to himself, leaning towards the back of his chair and chuckling a bit, wondering how many mysteries were there in this planet… And in the universe! Then, something stroke him. Galen widened his eyes and arched both his eyebrows as he got back to the table and opened the other book, the Kikoukenjutsu Sword School.

This book seemed rather small and incomplete, with plenty of blank pages on the back, like as if it was but a draft. But, on the very first pages, Galen found something that interested him very much. – Yes! That’s it! – he said, with excitement in his tone. “The Sword that can Cut Katchin!” was written as one of the descriptions of the book, and the authors, a man named Trunks and another named Son Goten, the same family name as the other writer. Galen laughed in celebration as he realized how lucky he was; he had just found a book with the secrets of a style that could cut the hardest metal on the universe! Talk about hitting the jackpot! With that discovery, he felt shivers of excitement running down his spine and butterflies taking over his stomach in a frenetic way.

The book was indeed incomplete, but it had enough to allow Galen to learn a little bit of the techniques and fighting style of that mysterious school! It taught the basic exercises and drills to be practiced and how to execute a more proper strike with a sword, and the young man decided to train that, before jumping to the two techniques it had. ”I will have to delay my trip for a few days, maybe a week… But it will be totally worthy! I will most definitely become a better fighter after I learn what is in this book!” he decided and then his new training begun.

For days he practiced the basic exercises: spinning the sword with both of his hands, from one side to the other, allowing him to become more skilled with a variety of strikes and counter attacks. The other drill was basically a very long cut from upside down, in order to strengthen the right muscles on the body, allowing for a perfect, more deadly use of the sword. Once that step was finished, it was about time to try the diagonal cuts, almost like the previous one, but know adding a little hip twist, increasing the potency of the cuts and allowing for a far more deadly strike, since the full power of the body was unlocked. Finally, he repeated the cut to the head, using everything he had learned in the first two days to strike one hundred thousand times a day! The mark was impressive, but it was necessary in order to reach the initial requirement to be able to master the two initial techniques of the fighting style: one million sword strikes. At every strike, Galen had to focus on getting the right spiritual energy output, the right body movement, synchronizing his feet, his arms, his waist and the posture of his back and head, with the strike itself, only using strength at the very precise moment when the sword was supposed to strike the foe.

It was tiresome and he acquired plenty of blisters on both his feet and hands, but at the end of the tenth day of this training, and twelfth day overall, he managed to hit the mark of one million sword strikes. His body was moving absurdly better, almost like he was twice as strong as he was before this initial training. His body seemed way lighter and far more skilled and he was completely awestruck by such training. ”I really did hit the jackpot! This training is amazing! Something I’ve never thought it was possible! I’m ready for the techniques now!” he thought to himself, before going to sleep.

On the dawn of the thirteenth day of his training, he started with the first technique, the most basic one: Sword Flash. To be able to use the Sword Slash, the user had to use all their skill in order to deliver a series of swift sword strikes within close range of the opponent, in a very short span of time; something that used to be impossible for Galen. ”The best I could do was two or three strikes…” he remembered, but then, when he tried to use it, he nailed it on his very first try. The young man was completely startled by his own skill and that made him giddily chuckle quite a lot. – Wow! I managed to use the Sword Slash in just one try! Amazing!! – he thought to himself. Excited and willing to continue his training and master everything the book was capable of teaching.

The next skill was the Shining Sword Flash, a technique said to be used for the first time almost eight hundred years ago, responsible for killing an evil tyrant who threatened the whole galaxy. ”This technique… Carries the memento and honor of ancient heroes and protectors of this planet! I’m honored I got to find this book and was blessed with the opportunity of learning it! Thank you master Trunks and Goten! I promise to honor your legacy!” he said, closing his eyes to fully commit to his new promise. Then, feeling the blazing flame of determination burn deep and hot inside of his heart, he strengthen the grip of his sword and started the technique!

The Shining Sword started much like the Sword Slash, but with a slower initial attack before going Sword Slash all over the enemy, with the goal of cutting him into tiny bits. Then, in a quick motion, Galen had to release his left hand from the hilt of his sword, put it behind his right arm with his palm aiming at the opponent and fire a powerful yellow-colored energy wave at the opponent’s remaining parts, with the goal of vaporizing it. This final part was rather tricky and Galen had to try it about five times before he finally managed to use the technique perfectly. Once he finished it, he was quite tired, especially because he wasn’t resting for almost two weeks, spending all of his days training the principles of the Kikoukenjustu Sword School. Galen sheathed his sword on the sheath and panted heavily, putting both his hands on his thighs. – I did it! I finally did it! Hahaha… With this new power… I will be able to protect a lot of people! I… Will be worthy being a warrior… A defender! – he said to himself, feeling absolutely thrilled. Then, he went back inside the hut.

Galen grabbed both books and put it inside his green bag. It would be useful for future references, and since the sword book had plenty of blank pages left, if the style happened to be incomplete, he would try and fill it up with his own training and techniques, but he truly hoped there was some Kikoukenjutsu School Master somewhere around the place. He would be more than happy to become his apprentice and improve both as a fighter and as a person. The Lone Swordsman had took another step towards his goals, while finding himself a new parallel goal in life.