AN: Lots of comments about 250 luck perk being b-busted. And it is, sure. The issue is, she's not the only one who has that perk / 250 luck. When 2 people have the same power, I just cancel them, and pretend neither person has that power. This helps to keep things cleaner in my head.
This is to say, other people have it a number of the perks she does. It makes them seem like they have plot armor. Like how some guy can free-fall from a plane and survive. Or how a guy got shot like 12 times and didn't die, even though some went through his brain. Or similar very, very lucky people who should 100% have died but did not.
This is to say, if she were to do something which requires immense luck (go try to win big in Vegas) she would lose, because professional gamblers have higher luck and skill with the games.
Not only that, but enemy action isn't only things people do - gods, spirits and the very land can be your enemy. If you make enemies with the wrong forces without knowing and try to channel them in a ritual, you're very likely to just die, regardless of perks.
Just saying.
This perk helps in mitigating unintended effects which will harm you in some way. Usually the effects harming you are known/ an intended part of the ritual in question "cut open your back ritually with this type of dagger and give up a pint of blood, which you will replace with the blood of a dragon for improved strength, fire resistance, and cunning." for example. You still take all the damage for cutting open your back, you just run no risk of getting sick, and if the Dragon-Gods don't hate you, and nothing is cursing the blood to kill people who try to use it in rituals, then it'll go off with no problems, still, it's highly variable and niche, as far as perks go.
Doubtlessly powerful and very very good if you make sure to do your homework, which Aubrey does do, as we know. I just wanted to point out, there's a lot of ways to stop it from getting too crazy. :) I'm not handing her the keys to everything. Yet.
Next, I will address the fact that this 'summer' chapter is going to be a lot of skipping around, as will the next one be. I want to touch on what happens, but not so much explain in detail, since we know what it looks like. When she duels and wins, we know what it looks like. If it's not something super interesting or important, I won't bother for now. Year 5 / HP year 4 is more interesting than 5 chapters of dueling tournament stuff would be, or 3 chapters of her learning Kenpo from some clichéd master from the far east.
We've all seen that, it's boring, lets move on.
If you want me to write this stuff out, please say so. I could probably double the story length pretty easily if I wrote it all out, and that's not something which bothers me. The only reason I skip over it is that people have historically asked me to skip it. Mostly because it's not as interesting as other things, like Sarah and Friends interactions, which I've been trying to put more focus on where I can.
IE: The Birthday scene for this year will be mentioned, but to Aubrey, it's so forgettable of a birthday, that I barely touch on it aside from the one stand-out, which is a guest she wasn't sure could make it. Other than that, it's cripplingly 'average' and therefore - probably boring~
But yea, I'm trying to write something people will enjoy reading while touching on what is important for the story down the road. If you want fully fleshed out points and such, I'll do that. No problem.
Lastly, some (guest reviewer(s?)) genuinely accused me of deleting reviews in the comments section, and have been leaving disparaging reviews since chapter 25, or so.
I don't delete reviews, Sir or Madame. You can surely flame, complain or otherwise judge my work all you like, but it doesn't really matter. You knew what you were getting into when you read the story, I was very upfront, so if you don't like it (or just how I'm presenting it) then feel free to leave. My Beta-Reader and I had a long talk about the reviews and came to the conclusion that you just didn't actually read. If you had an account, I could DM you with explanations and where to find the information or contradictions to the points you raised, and where those are in the story, but you don't have an account. Alas. A number of my reviewers have received DM's with explanations to questions they had, and some have raised ideas for plot points, which I've worked into the story actively.
Perhaps more appealing for you, dissatisfied readers, is this!
If you think you could do my story, but better, then do so. You have my full blessing.
Please take my concept and/or my character(s) and do something better with it/them.
I'm just doing this for fun, and have publicly stated this is all just a rough draft I post to force myself into an update schedule. I have no real chapter-to-chapter goal. I write what I think sounds interesting when I write.
I have the overarching plot, power levels and about 5-10 plot-points per-year worked out, but not more. When I finish this story, the plan was always to go back and refine what I wrote to be a lot better. If I do that week over week and re-write chapters 50 times, you'd never get updates though. So I'm going to finish before I do any major revisions.
Does this result in a lot of awkward plot threads dangling around? Sure! Does this mean when I re-write it, this will be 100-times-better? Absolutely!
Which is why people complaining or saying I failed or something in the comments is useless. I know it's not something I would call good, even, in this state. I know it's failing a lot of things it could easily succeed at and I know, for a fact, when I go back over this rough draft and fill it in, properly, it'll be massively better.
This is why, upset reviewer, I honestly can say I stopped reading after the second review you sent, aside from a couple which I skimmed at the Beta's behest. It didn't really help or say how I could have done the same set of things in my story in a way which they'd have liked/offer any construction. Sad I can't say no one has been overtly rude in the comments anymore, but it took a positive load of readers and reviewers for it to get there. :D
Thanks for being awesome, guys! (And sorry about the long as heck AN. I had a lot to talk about and it's all of relative importance, I think.)
The rest of the year was honestly pretty boring. I didn't have much to do, nor did I have any real chance of failing my exams. The only notable thing was when I cracked level 60, I'd been granted the title of "Magical Titan". The perk merely marked my passage of 300,000 mana, which was an obvious and massive point.
It also made it clear the limitations on mana pools are massive, if this is the boon I get, going from just under 200,000 to over 300,000 in the matter of 3 levels and two (admittedly big) perks.
But a magical titan, as a perk, added 1% of my magical power (3,000!) to the base of any spell I cast which would be empowered by casting with more points.
It did this even if I cast it with one point of mana, treating it like it was 3,000. This was toggleable, thankfully, because if not, well… there goes any control, right?
But yea, pretty good perk.
Most big-time combat magic costs anywhere from 1.5 to 5 thousand mana points. You could cast with less, of course, but the stuff I knew just didn't work well with less. This helped make me able to casually sling bigger magics like a titan, for sure.
Pretty scary stuff.
Being able to see up level 96 at the end of year was also an eye opener.
Every teacher with the exception of Dumbledore was now visible. Gaelin was tied with Snape for the highest level, and he was just barely edging out Rickie of all people for most MP.
He has 490,000 or so, she has 485,000. I see a long list of perks for her int and wis - both of which appear to have been roughly 350 before she turned 17. Maybe higher.
Gaelin, of course, has the multiplier. He's just massively outstated in that matter. Also, his general stats are really high. Liliana - when I saw her stats - surprised me by being a higher stat-total, but that means she probably has worse skills or less skills overall than Gaelin.
Level is the measure of threat in direct combat, and Liliana's level 89 is still very threatening.
Snape and Gaelin are level 95. Snape, who has lesser stats and mana than Gaelin must be a monster in actual skill to match up with him, someone known for their obscene mastery of war and magical warfare.
Every other teacher hovered in the 80's, with only a small handful dipping into the 90's. It seemed for the non-Prodigies, 90's was the cap.
Which Dumbledore had ignored, of course. Unless he's level 98 or 99, he's a double-digit number.
I did, of course, manage to raise my skills quite a bit with my 'free time' - aka rigorous training schedule.
This resulted in a slew of skills hitting the floor of what I now consider to be Mastery - 150 points. I stopped working on them then, so I could work on other skills, and with the more time focusing on them, they went faster, which meant more 150's and so forth.
Really, it was a productive last couple of months - and now I get my break - summer vacation.
A few weeks of rest and relaxation with the family, then the U17-World-Cup. Then the rest of summer, probably tutoring and doing the Adult cup.
That's the plan.
I'm going to request to go down early to Italy to get started on my dueling tutoring, along with poking around for anything I may want from any shops.
Not often you're in Rome, which is still the probably biggest magical-shop charged city in Europe. I intend to work on getting as many skills to 150 as I can in my "working days" this summer.
My recuperation and fun period will have to come first, though.
"Excited for the big sleepover?" I ask Sarah as we get in the train, the cool air of the compartments a honest relief from the early summer heat. It's an unseasonably hot day today.
"Of course! I can't wait to meet Alessa and Fleur! You've told me so much about them, and I've yet to meet them!" She chirps happily.
We'd - well I requested and got agreement - that we hold a sleepover leading up to my birthday, before I go down to Italy so all my friends could meet. Alessa, Fleur, Sarah and Daphne will be the sleeping-over for 2 days, and the boys - Adrian, Cedric and on Fleur's request, Albain (who apparently wanted to get to know me better / extend to a real-friend level aside from the friendly acquaintance we have now) will come over for day visits as they can.
The girls, though, have plans to do everything from cook-offs (overseen by mama) to wizarding chess, to daily exercises as a group. Just for three days, but in my opinion, that's more than enough to have a wonderful time and make memories for life.
"It's good to hear - over the last year I've noticed I'm becoming progressively more nervous about personal things like this. Before it was like I was detached, or like it was a public speaking thing. I was just very cold, but now it's a bit more restless, jittery? I guess that's the word." I tell her quietly, grabbing a hand for a second, before letting go. "But that's between us. No one can know about my crippling weakness: Social events with my friends!" I chuckle as I deliver the line, and she merely shakes her head.
"I did notice you seemed to be nervous about things, for the first time really, this year. It is a relief to know you're not some robot of super-confidence. Being good at a lot of things is more understandable than being good, but super distant, with everything you ever do. Makes you easier for others to speak to- even the younger years seem to be warming up!" She tells me, and I glance around the train to the younger kids, who still shy away slightly at my gaze.
"I don't see it." I tell her, opening the door to a compartment at random - which I know is the fourth we've passed which is empty. I swing in and toss my luggage on the rack, and plop down.
"Well, you do have a very formidable reputation, it's no surprise you're not getting people running up. Give it some time. One year of steadily warmer behavior is not enough to melt the three years of ice you've built up." She explains, and I just shake my head.
Using logic against me. How the tables have turned…
"Yea, I guess. It's not like I changed much." I tell her, and I can feel her amusement at the statement.
"Your thought process and how you handle things in general has not changed, no. Your disposition and general outward positioning has changed massively. You smile, frown and generally emote constantly, where getting more than a flicker of emotion before was a massive win. Some people, like me, could read between the proverbial lines and see how you were reacting, others were having harder times. Most people were, actually." She confides, and I blink in a bit of abject surprise.
I suppose that's true enough. To me, it was business as usual, but I've been a bit more expressive and intense in how I feel about things. Probably a good sign things are improving, mentally.
"If you say so. I think it's going to be harder as things go, but we'll see. Did you want to play any particular game on the ride back?" I ask as we finish settling into our compartment fully.
"Not really, no. Chatting is fine for now. If the others show up we can probably get a game of some kind going. Rather, let's talk about summer plans…" and so we go, for a good 20 or so minutes, discussing what'll be happening this summer. That's when Daphne and Astoria show up, and we move into playing games of Snap until we get back home.
Then I bid them farewell, and get to going home, with a reminder I'll be seeing Daphne soon, and Sarah a few days after I visit Daphne.
It's looking like this is going to be a mostly normal summer, aside from my tutoring, but that'll be happening in a few weeks.
Until then…
It did happen that my summer was basically normal. I went down to Italy to take my aptitude test with the De-Niro family, who seemed a bit surprised at how advanced I was, while the third party examiners (sworn to secrecy by the De-Niro family to who all was involved) were gobsmacked a soon-to-be 15 year old knew as much as I did.
Apparently I was a rank Expert - almost ready for my Mastery - in most fields. Healing, they told me I was an Adept at, but not quite an Expert. Still, they weren't quite sure how to believe I'd not even graduated my 'primary schooling' yet.
It had been funny, but one of the masters hadn't seemed very impressed as much as she had been worried. Observe told me she basically thought I could be the next great dark-lady, and that at this rate, no one could really stop me, given another 10 years to really hone my skills.
After all, I'd been doing this for less than 5 years, total, and I'm almost a master in all-too-many fields.
Her concern is valid, I suppose.
Other than that, nothing noteworthy happened, really, and now, we're at the big slumber party and I'm using this time to kickstart Alessa (and anyone else's) training in dueling.
Which Fluer and Daphne are taking me up on, while Sarah is contenting herself with doing some parts but not others. She's 'focused on making sure she doesn't branch out too far, because splitting focus too much will allow her to fall behind'. Fair reasoning, of course.
It's when I finish my second kilometer and am starting my third lap around my 'jogging course' which is just the block we live on, that I've lapped everyone. Which I do again on the fifth and eighth lap. Then I settle down as I finish the tenth lap, and wait for them to stumble in.
First is Fluer, who looks winded but okay, for the most part.
"How is it…" she breathes heavily, accepting the water I offer her, taking a deep drink from the bottle before continuing. "You can run so fast, for so long?" She asks, and I tilt my head, as though thinking about it.
"I've run outside every day, for the last… five? Years. Not so far, but decently so. I go until either an hour has passed, or I really feel the burn in my legs, which usually only happens when I'm running up hills for most of the hour, I've found." I explain, and she nods sedately, doing post-run stretches as we wait.
"I suppose that does~" She pauses as she pops her spine in a display of flexibility I think most people would be hard pressed to match, twisting her torso while bending fully at the hips, and doing so makes her grunt, obviously pleased at the release of tension. "Makes sense. Jogging is a good warm up, though I've only done it twice a week. I suppose I ought to bring that up a bit. Couldn't hurt." She mumbles, and I nod.
"Agreed." I tell her as Alessa runs up and collapses next to us.
"Monsters." She mumbles into the dirt where she planted herself.
"Yes, and?" I ask, handing her a bottle of water. "We have another hour of exercises. Today is arm-day. Tomorrow is core, and then on Tuesday it's leg-day. After that, we'll have two hours of magic-practice and then an hour of dueling practice, followed by classes my mum has me signed up for - which is martial arts in place of gymnastics and violin this year. That's only on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, though. If it's not one of those days - then we'll spend the rest of the day off. Should be done by noon, or three-pm on martial-arts days." I tell them, getting a groan of misery out of Alessa and a look of apparent shock from Fluer.
"It's no wonder you're so good at everything, with schedules like this…" She mumbles in French, getting a nod from Alessa, at which she blushes, while Alessa mutters about how I'm a monster in Italian.
Then Sarah runs up. She did the same number of laps as Fleur, while Alessa did one less, so technically her time is better.
She looks like she wants to fall over, but stops herself to stretch, while just behind her Daphne runs up and joins her in stretching.
I wait for everyone to finish up - giving them 15 minutes to be ready - then move on to the next part of the morning workout.
"Now, I just do basic exercises until I either can't keep going with them at a rate of one-rep per 2 seconds, or I get to fifty reps. Since today is arm day…" I tell them as we move inside, and I begin leading them to the dueling room papa had expanded out of one of the closets for me, which is where my equipment is stored. I lead them inside. "We're using the weights, and the pull up bar. I'm going to be attaching additional weight to myself to increase the difficulty of the workouts. I can't recommend it unless you've done intense conditioning before, though." I tell them, grabbing the set of weights I was gifted for Christmas (though begrudgingly) by my father, and strapping them on, and adjusting the weights with my magic to the proper settings.
Magical weights for the win.
It's about twenty minutes later that Daphne all but collapses. Not surprising, since the notes and exercises she follows aren't as specialized as what I do these days, and this is a bit more intense.
Slowly, everyone except for Fluer drops off over time, which while surprising isn't too crazy to me. Older people can handle hardcore conditioning better than younger people. You're naturally more developed, after all.
If you've ever been to a professional physical conditioning course or military boot camp, I'm pretty sure you know about the level of rigor I'm putting in here. This isn't near what my children would do in my last life, but it was what I'd start them with, around age 16 if they wanted to be some kind of warrior.
Ah, I still miss them. Markus would laugh at this routine, I bet.
But I'm being distracted.
By the end of the hour, even the people who fell out part way through try to get a little bit more in at the end, which while I recommend against, I can't force them not to do.
They'll be the ones who feel it tomorrow, not me.
Thankfully magic can help with this stuff in-large, but still, there is no full on 'you feel no pain all your gains are instant.' it just takes care of any unintentional damage to yourself or additional pain you cause by doing something wrong.
The muscles are still ripped up and need some time to heal, though. When you heal those, they revert to how they were, and you get no gains.
I'm trying to find a way around that, but still have yet to find one. Madame Pomfrey tells me if I -do- figure it out, and I can find a way to teach others and sell it - I'll probably be very, very rich.
Which would be nice, not for the money, but so I can be fully self sufficient. Not relying on the family's fortune to keep my desires going will be very big.
I'm 99.9% sure the answer is a chronomancy + healing magic spell. It's interesting, but something I do on the side, since it's not a direct focus for me.
I digress.
The magical exercises are basically 'what's a spell you can cast, and will probably cast a lot, which you think you need to get better at? Cast that a bunch of times, while trying to minimize wand movement and maximize power while trying to reduce cost.' I give them an example of a spell where I put in a measly one mana and it makes a massive gout of fire - like I put in 3,000 points of mana.
This inspires them all to go as hard as they can on the training, except for Fluer, who opts to go practice placing enchantments on things, while I work to remove them without setting off the traps she puts on them.
This way we both get experience doing the jobs we want.
An hour after that, I can see Daphne is lagging on magical stamina, Sarah seems to be running low, too. Alessa and Fluer seem fine, so for dueling practice, I have Sarah and Daphne go focus on helping Astoria and my mom with… whatever they're baking.
It smells delicious.
We spent the next hour beating each other up.
Or, rather, they went to try and beat me in a 2vs1, and I find I can somehow beat both of them- well, it's not somehow.
I just focus on removing one as fast as I can, then deal with the other one. Since I'm explicitly training Alessa, I most often leave her for last, but every few duels, I'll go for her first.
Just to keep her on her toes.
It's about 1pm when we finish that, considering the breaks we've been taking. Then Astoria breaks into the room as we're getting ready for duel number twelve.
"HEY!" She yells. "Lunch is ready! You all need to shower though!" She chips, loudly, before she scrunches up her face. "It's stinky and you're all stinky." She mutters, pinching her nose and sprinting from the room, slamming the door.
I blink in surprise, and then shake my head a bit in exasperation.
Of course. I gesture for Alessa to go shower first while conjuring two chairs for Fluer and myself. Nothing fancy, but she seems subtly impressed at the casual display after so much active use of magic.
"So, thoughts?" I ask here, gesturing to where Alessa sprinted for the shower across the hall.
"She is skilled. Should she keep this up, she will be at least as good, if not better than I was by the next year. For now, she is likely to finish top-five. Behind you, the boy from America who showed up like you did last year, and Akito, the Japanese girl. I don't know much about Chen-Wei, but he could also finish top-5 this year. Hard to tell with him. His whole group is very secretive and strict, you know." She reminds me, and I nod.
Chen-Wei and Akito are turning 17 this year, though, and Karl - or 'the American' is 17 the year after, like me.
So she'll probably be in the top 3, next year.
"I agree. If she focuses, she'll probably be the first-place when I leave, for the one year without me. It's a matter of focusing solely on what you need to get better at. What spell do you want to use in a fight that you're not good at? Drill that for hours. Do a different spell every day, then work on chaining them together, when you think you have the spells down." I say, explaining my philosophy. She nods, slightly.
"And of course, when you've mastered one chain, move to the next. Come back every seventh chain to make sure they're still as clean as they were when you did them daily. If not, then keep trying. When you have 21 chains of 7 spells, you're probably going to be okay in most situations." Fluer responds, and I nod happily.
Someone else who gets it. Though 21 chains of spells is a lot of different chains, considering if you've mastered the spell fully, you can mix and match all of those 147 theoretical spells together, in any combination.
That's a lot more than 21 chains.
"I agree. Most war-mages or duelists pick three to seven spells and then just master all aspects of them, and the rest of their magic is supplemental to that. Quality beats quantity, after all." I remind her. She nods.
"If you can have the chicken and the egg, though?" She asks.
"Take both. Usually, though, that's not super possible. Still, something to strive for. I agree there." I say, then sigh as I hear the water turn off across the hall.
"Your turn." I gesture over to the wall, and she nods, heading over to the door after a long, languid stretch to keep her very tired muscles from freezing up too badly from the few minutes of sitting.
Thankfully, no one bothers me, while I sit and meditate for the few minutes of Fluer's shower. The rest of the day - and the next - pass without any exceptional incidents.
Tuesday morning, at my normal 5am wake up, I found I've received a letter back from my pen-pals over in Japan, courtesy of my grandparents. We'd been trading letters for the past year, and I'd invited them to my birthday to meet in person. I was pretty excited, really, to see their reply. Owls take a few weeks to go from England to Japan, so this was probably sent about two weeks ago.
And would say if they're coming or not.
To Aubrey,
We're very happy to inform you that we can, in fact, make your celebration for the date of your birth - we're looking forward to it, and seeing how it differs from our traditions over here!
Most importantly, Taiyo is excited to see you and test his skills with the western languages. He's been practicing both English and French especially hard since these letters began, just so he can speak well with you when you should meet, and if you have any friends, he can speak well with them.
I'm thankful we're Kitsune, truthfully. It lends our learning skills to be more in line with language. Our ancestors had to speak to lots of cultures who spoke many languages, and as a result, it's easier for us to learn. Still, some subtleties can be hard for us to grasp. I'll apologize for any odd turns-of-phrases in advance.
Oh, and before I send this out, I'll include a picture, and a few bits of hair from each of us so we can be keyed into any wards you might have. I know your western ward-schemes can be a bit peculiar with certain folk, specifically Yōkai, who can be anything from near-humans like me and mine to 'monsters' like the Kappa.
I hope this finds you soon, and in good health!
Sincerely,
Yuriko
With that out of the way, I take the hair - a stand of what must be head-hair, dark brown on one and a shade of red in the other, and what can only be a small sample of tail fur, given the density, and put it on the desk near Papa's office so he knows to key them in. I also throw a short note, then get to stretching while the other girls tumble out of bed. Since the party starts at 4pm our time, I imagine that Yuriko and Taiyo will be a bit drowsy, considering that's midnight for their normal biological clocks.
I make a note to make sure we have both tea and coffee ready. I know Yuriko prefers tea, but Taiyo likes certain types of coffee he gets from a shop. The brand is something common in the UK, as is the creamer, so I note for mama to have them ready, on the fridge.
Then we get to our morning workout.
Which goes exactly how the others have gone.
Then we go to the Kenpo and Karate Academy I attend. They technically run all weekdays, but the master of the academy, who's level 62, and is a master in at least dance, fighting and gymnastics (which is why I stayed here instead of looking elsewhere) only does Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He allegedly does self training on Monday and Friday, and has private study-sessions with the more highly-rated students in the school on the weekends.
I started as a White-belt, but in Kenpo I've gotten to be an Orange belt, over the four weeks. The teachers - though not the master - seem surprised. Every time I chat with him between classes - and he's surprisingly always happy to chat - he mentions how he expects me to be a 1st-Dan Black Belt in perhaps a year. "If that," he says.
Apparently the first few belts are mostly 'do you know how to do (x) movements? Have you learned the kata?' and the answer for me, week over week, is yes.
Going from 1st Class Brown Belt, to 1st degree Black belt, is where the real challenge is. It shows a mastery of the forms and movement in general, but not the ability to fluidly teach the skills.
Being able to teach, the master often opines, shows more skill than beating anyone. He laments that he's a mere 6th degree black belt, and that should I want to be certified higher than 5th degree, I'd need to go and find one of the higher rated folks.
Because, to him, nothing would be more pride-inducing than a student of his becoming a 7th-Dan, or higher some day.
I figure that's a good few years off, seeing as he actually spars with his best student - a 3rd-Dan Black Belt, and regularly throws them bodily around the ring, back and forth, or just disables them in a few seconds.
His skill is well beyond the other black-belt holders I've seen, even among his students. It's active proof that when you teach people to do things, you gain insights into those things yourself.
You can teach people and you learn to master things on your own.
So does it matter that I can beat the snot out of any 2nd class Brown Belt? Probably not. We need to be sure I master the forms properly. Considering I'm going to Italy soon, he's doing one test with me to see what rating I deserve, so when I come back from Italy in a month, probably with a different belt, he can test me again and, in his words, 'give me the work to do while I'm off in the Boarding School.' which he has visible distaste for.
At least he finds it respectable that I clearly practice what he gives me, even out of the Academy.
But yea, the test.
It's a private test, because Orange-to-purple isn't that interesting to watch. It's reciting Kata while he blocks you and tries to disrupt you, which you block with other Kata.
But he doesn't exactly do that, this time.
"Wait, that wasn't in the Kata." I say, having subconsciously blocked the punch with my back arm, while my forward arm strikes his own blocking arm. He smiles widely at me.
"Indeed! We're testing to see what Belt I can give you right now. Not to see if you deserve the Purple belt. Of course you deserve the Purple Belt. You deserve probably more than a 3rd Class Brown Belt. Your mastery of the body is not in question, like it is for most students, nor is you self-control. No. Just how good you are with your hands and the martial art. So, show me. Karate or Kenpo, of course." He tells me, then gestures for me to begin.
So I do.
He's not at all surprised at how fast, nor how strong my strikes are. As it turns out, he's both faster and stronger.
Of course he is. Not by much, though, but I'm thinking that's mostly due to his age.
After a few minutes where I try every trick and maneuver I've been taught or remember even seeing, he smiles at me, as I go for a second variation on a strike, and he grabs my arm and flips me into the mat, putting me firmly down.
"Nor should I doubt your physical prowess. Clearly you're beyond most normal people, so, I will save you the trouble, and hand you your 3rd class Brown Belt. You'll have to work your way the rest of the tiers up the hard way, and I have to do the rest of the tests in front of the class for further belts, anyways. Congratulations." He tells me, pulling me up and patting my back, to a light applause from mama and my friends, who have been watching for I-don't-know-how-long.
At least a minute, since their class probably let out a bit ago, as tests take place at the end of, or right after class.
"Of course, thank you." I say, bowing. "Do you have any recommendations for where in Rome I can find a master for further tests while I'm away? I wish to progress as much as I can." I express, looking at my, in my mind low, 52 in Kenpo.
Daily training of Kata and 15 days of active sparring for an hour with two hours of one-on-one instruction with one of the senior students (either 1st class brown or 1st dan black belt) is a very fast way to improve, doubly since I tend to practice daily (unless if I'm sending time with people, like the last 2 days) but even when I visit houses, I usually take an hour at night before bed to practice Kata and work on the theory.
Martial arts are leveling faster than anything else, I think, because of my self-mastery. I know for a fact it will slow down, soon. When 'soon' is, I'm assuming it's after level 60 or level 80, which is around where I think 3rd level brown and 1st level black belts sit.
I imagine it's +30 or so for every rank thereafter.
So if 80 is 1st degree black belt, 350 is 10th degree.
This is, of course, a guess. An educated guess, based on what I know of the system, but a guess.
"Yes, actually. The European Master has a son who resides in Rome. He's the 8th degree, and the highest rated I know of in Europe, aside from the master himself, who resides in Paris. There may be some others with higher ratings, but I've not met them myself, so couldn't recommend them." He tells me with a nod. "I'll include his address and a letter of recommendation for you. Be warned, he's on the older side, and can be stubborn. As long as you listen and follow his instructions, he will be happy with you." He instructs firmly, for the first time to me, directly.
"I take it he's very traditional?" I ask. My master nods.
"He came from Japan with his father and brothers to teach Kenpo to the west. Their family is one of the higher rated teachers these days for the art, but they were originally only the second highest rated student of their school. To open a branch of schools in Europe was poorly received fourty years ago when they first started. They've amassed a good reputation, though, and though the community is small, here in Europe, we're doing well for ourselves when it comes to the average skill-level. The Master and his family are definitely on the traditional end of the spectrum, though. Skilled with what they do. Make sure to bow to him before, during and after everything. Refer to him as Sensei and, perhaps most importantly, never lock eyes with him. Watch his body movement, when he talks, his mouth. When he walks, his feet. Every movement is a lesson." He instructs firmly, before smiling lightly. "But outside of that, he's reportedly a nice guy. When you do well, he will reward you. When you fail he will bring you up and teach you how to succeed. Really, I hope your time with him bears great fruit." He tells me, before coming from his desk with the aforementioned very serious looking envelope, along with the belt.
We do a short ceremony to swap out the belt and I tie it quietly, then we bow one last time, and I'm on my way.
Austin-Sensei is a pretty cool guy. Though I wish he would have told me this master's name...
I'm about 80% sure Austin knows I'm a witch, even though he has no magic.
I get home at 3:30, just 30 minutes before guests are due to arrive. I quickly hop into the shower and then get dressed - finishing my prep with 5 minutes to spare.
Of course, my grandparents are already ready and waiting for me by then. 'If you're not 10 minutes early, you're late!' is the saying. Both sets abide by it.
After some cooing from my mothers side, and a recount of the adventures in Korea and India they've been on this past year from my father's side, we have the first guest appear at 4:03, well the first guest who comes to see me immediately.
Adrian is off chatting with my papa about the poker tournament, and Cedric is helping my mom set out the various foods and such she's been prepping with Astoria, Sarah and occasionally Daphne while Fleur, Alessa and I have been messing around with each other in duels.
"It's so wonderful to get to see you in person!" the voice - speaking Japanese - cuts through, coming from the direction of the fireplace. I don't have to guess who that is, but I shortly have a woman - with a tail trailing behind her and ears atop her head, bowing lightly before me. "Allow me to introduce myself and my son to you properly!" She chirps in flawless English, for the benefit of the non-polyglots in the room. "I am Yuriko Kōjō, and my son here -" she pauses for a split second to tap his back with one hand, he lightly bows as she had, when I turn my attention to him. "Is Taiyo Kōjō, I must say it's very exciting to come to meet you, finally." She finishes the introduction and I pop up out of my chair, leaving my grandparents to go chat with them for a bit.
Yuriko looks to be roughly 30 or so, long reddish orange hair, with whitened tips. Her facial features are sharp, and her eyes are a touch larger than average, a shade of amber which glows with warmth.
Taiyo looks like a much more normal Japanese boy. Hair a dark shade of brown, amber eyes and sharp features. He, though, is grinning like a loon while she appears to be perfectly calm. The only show of emotion from Yuriko is a flicker of joy and slight excitement while Taiyo appears to be ready to run around doing who-knows-what and talking about whatever catches his eyes.
He's a couple years younger than myself, so I imagine he'll wind up settling with Astoria and Jasmine, eventually.
"Honestly, I've got to say, the pleasure is mine. It's not often I hear back from people who my grandparents try to set me up with. I think it's wonderful I'm getting to meet people from so far away, especially since it feels like I know you so well already." I reply with a genuine smile upon my face. It's a bit generous for me to put it like that, but you never lose something by being too kind.
Though I am markedly interested in getting to know her and her family better, and visit them someday. Japan has a lot of interesting magic I'd love to learn.
"I'm glad the feeling is mutual!" She chirps with a smile coming over her face, before she pats her son, who's looking around in apparent awe, and he looks over with a smile.
"This place is so cool! Everything seems a bit bigger than back home, and that's super interesting!" He chirps, before Yuriko takes her hand off his shoulder and he goes running off to check things out.
I see my brother and sister take off after him, and when Astoria catches sight of that, she takes off, too.
Good to see they're trying to get along, at least.
The rest of my birthday wasn't incredibly eventful, except for the fact that I still can't win at poker, though that was due in part to the absurd luck of my latest guests. Fox-Folk seem incredibly lucky, and incredibly smart- at least these two are.
At least I would have won if they'd not been there, so we'll have to take it.
After bidding everyone goodbye, it was pretty late - around 9:30pm - so I decided it was time to go to sleep and think about the rest of my to-do's this summer.
Next on the list is Italy, training Alessa in her home for a couple more days, then through the summer cup. This year the cup is a bit shorter, since the field has been cut prior to the tournament's start. According to Flitwick, each country did it differently, and Italy only held groups of 128 in the main tournaments, which is half of France and only a Quarter of Germany or America.
I'll probably continue to observe and teach Alessa based on my duels in the Adult portion of the summer cup, along with having her duel others who will be around, Fleur certainly will be there, at least, and probably the other high-end duelists our age.
Really, I don't know what the upper ceiling of the adults division is, though. That'll decide how long I stay down in Italy. The better the upper levels are, the less time I'll spend in Italy, probably.
While I've not dueled in them yet, I suspect it'll be something absurd, seeing how some duelists are four times my age, and have been practicing since they could walk.
Those are the top-end, though. From what I've seen in memories of the round of 64, or even 32, if I'm seeded favorably to avoid any of the best, I should be able to get top 16, or top 8 if I'm especially lucky.
I'm banking somewhere around top 32, though. Anything beyond that will be a smashing success, for now. None of the real beasts of the sport are showing up, and the reigning champion is out for the year - having a child taking her priority to the circuit - so the field is a bit thinner than usual.
Either way, I suppose I ought to know by the time the summer is out - the Adult Cup takes place over a week, with 8 - technically 9 - tournaments feeding into it, making a bracket of 128 participants, with half being eliminated daily. If I was lucky, It'd be over just in time for the Quidditch World Cup to be seen by me and my friends. It probably would be, and considering Lord De-Niro and the Delacour family were both planning to go, even if my family wasn't. I had assurances I could stay with either, delivered via letter and their daughter's own mouths.
That'll just about wrap up the summer. I'll have a few days beyond the chaos of this month to do my school shopping and get out to Hogwarts.
For now, sleep, then, Italy. After all, leaving at 6am is hardly a joke.
The De-Niro family home is a massive estate. Namely in the fact that it's a 'Manor' - which should read 'palatial estate' - it's about the size of a city block - the main house - and there are a few outbuildings which dot the grounds, the size of normal houses for medium families, which the staff live in.
All of them are expanded interiors, and the 10 out-houses host the 30-some-odd staff and their families.
Then we get to their backyard pool, tennis court, quidditch pitch / soccer field and the woods, which they have 20 acres of, fully warded and chalk full of class 1 and 2 magical critters. Or 'they can be dangerous, but they're pretty docile / these will only attack if poked, and they're so weak a toddler could best them.'
But of course there was a dungeon there - only a level 35 dungeon - but a dungeon no less. Perhaps something to do in my free time?
35 does indicate a class 3 magical beast is present, after all. I could probably profit from it. The creatures of Italy are different to the creatures of Britain, after all.
The main building's 3rd floor was the residential floor, with the top floor having a sun-room, and the basement having the dueling equipment and resources. Their basement was 3 floors, one for storage, one for dueling stuff and one for their dungeon.
I was, per the agreement, also keyed into the Library, having been tested and found able to use without killing myself, basically everything there. There were a few notable exceptions to that rule, but those were esoteric or really, really advanced, and I was told I'd not be able to see those even if I could use them.
Family Magic and all.
Still, they had a lot of interesting stuff I could see. Magic which was called 'Angelic' and 'Draconic' were just sitting around in the higher-levels of the library, and described how to do extremely old, focusless magic. Most of it was Divine, according to the system, but some of the Draconic books came out as primal. One book, 'Enforcing Will on the World' - was Arcane based, but was actually beyond my ability to learn at this point. It seems the book would require a specialization to learn. I don't have 4 perk points, but even if I did, I wouldn't buy that perk right now.
Basic Angelic or Draconic magic, though, was interesting. There were of course myths of sentient dragons. I'd not given them much credence, considering dragons these days, while intelligent, were more akin to monkeys than humans in intellect.
If you have the skills, you can communicate with them, but they're not so great at expressing immensely deep thought. Most 5x creatures are like that.
I suppose if there were intelligent dragons, they've all been killed, though.
Angelic magic had been hinted at in Divine-Magic I'd read before, and I'd suspected it'd exist. In my past life, Angels served the good gods, and Devils served the bad ones. Seeing a lot of the gods carried over, I assume the same system works here. Though the God of the Bible was probably the person / entity people associated 'angels' with most, he isn't 100% their owner, I hope.
He might be. I don't have a guide, or experience, with how the 'divine' work in this world. I'll treat it as 'basically the same' until proven otherwise.
I'm hoping there's specific magic to the Clergy of my patron, Oghma. More than I have seen as of yet, anyways. I know clergy of his could, for instance, absorb knowledge from people around themselves or see the complete history of a place or object through meditation.
Both extremely useful and powerful abilities, obviously.
But this stuff was basic. Weapon, armor, and empowering magic. One book went over the theory of how to create wings on yourself, though it required a very high affinity to do it - which probably meant specializing.
Which I'm just not doing yet. Maybe I'll do it after I do my rituals on the day before my 17th birthday?
That's probably when I'll be at my best and most knowledgeable / skilled to make the choice.
I digress.
The Dueling rooms were as impressive as the library.
The Greengrass family had a moderate interest in dueling, compared to someone like the De-Niro clan. As a result, their library, training tools and even test-dummies were just all around better.
Well, better may be a bit much in some cases, but different, for sure. Different ways to work yourself is incredibly useful after such a period of time. I - or perhaps my body - has become all too used to the exercises of the machines and tools they have. Most of them, anyways.
The De-Niro family's dueling rooms have a lot more and piles of varied exercises. As a result, I could tell just by looking the place over that I'd be growing immensely fast yet again.
If only for a while.
'Immensely fast' for a skill over 300 being maybe 10 to 15 points if I spend the whole time down here grinding away when not officially dueling, which is actually the plan.
Flitwick is due to arrive the day before the tournament starts, but until then, three days from now, I'm going to be putting Alessa through a 10 hour day, starting at 8am and ending at 4pm. Then I plan to go find the master I've been recommended and train with him until he kicks me out.
Probably after two or so hours, that'll happen. I'll be given homework - meditation of some kind on something core to the teaching of the art - and be sent off.
I nod firmly, accepting the plan in my head.
"Ready when you are!" Alessa calls across the room from me, standing on the very edge of her side of the platform in the main dueling room. The wonderful woodsy smell in this room will probably be ruined in a few minutes, so I take a moment to drink it in, before turning, tossing my holster off to the side after grabbing my wand.
I don't plan to sheath for the next couple hours, and even if I do need to sheath my wand, I know how to cast a sticking charm on it so it sticks to my wrist.
"Alright, let's get started, first, you're going to try to move me from this circle, use anything you want to move me. If you manage it in the next three hours, I'll give you the rest of the day off, if you fail, well, you'll be worked to the bone until dinner-time." I tell her, a sadistic grin forming on my face, to drive home I'm dead serious.
She'll try, or she'll be… trained. Vigorously.
Judging by her widened eyes, but mildly confused expression, she nods.
"I don't know what kind of trick you're pulling, but…" She shrugs. "I guess I'll just have to move you!" and with that, the duel begins.
She sadly finds that moving me is well beyond her ability, right now.
I sincerely doubt Flitwick was moved from his circle as easily as he was, really. So I'm doing something similar. I'm fighting at about half-power, 160 skill level. This is so I can go all day, and so I can give her a clear benchmark to pass. When she does, I can fully start trying.
As it is, she's probably around skill-level 50 or 60. Good. But not good enough, sadly.
It's at 4:45 that I'm dropped off in front of what could only be called a shabby, small dojo. It's in south-central Rome, in a less affluent neighborhood. I don't see any sign for hours of operation. Shrugging, I walk up, and knock politely on the door.
Not 10 seconds later, a young man of maybe 20 years greets me. Clearly Japanese, though he's more fair-skinned than most. Probably has an Italian mother, or something. He tilts his head questioningly at me. Black eyes blatantly curious to my purpose.
"It's not often we get visitors." He says, voice not betraying his curiosity. "However, that's no reason to be rude. I am Ibiki Katsuda, grandson of the Master of this Dojo. Please, come in. Tell me why you've come." He says, gesturing for me to enter. I hit him with an observe when he turns.
Ibiki Katsuda.
Level 72.
…
Thoughts about you -
He's wondering what a Witch is doing on the doorstep to his family dojo, much less one so young, and seemingly a master of some combat form, among other things.
He hopes this isn't another waste of his time, though.
"I'm in Italy visiting a friend, and helping her train in self-defense, while I'm here. Austin-Sensei from back home recommended I come here to continue my studies in the art of Kenpo. He told me this was the only place someone better than himself could be found in Italy. He gave me this letter -" I made a show of getting it from my pocket - when it had been in my inventory - "to give to the master of the Dojo." I tell him, passing it over lightly, as we sit at a table in a reception room. He accepts it with both hands as he seats himself.
"Grandfather is rather busy, though I do recognize the handwriting here. Austin Wright, one of Grandfather's better pupils from some ten years ago. A transfer from the main academy in France, pretty rare, that. I studied with him, back in the day." He says calmly, opening the letter, then skimming it, nodding a few times as he does. A moment passes before he looks up. "He speaks highly of you, and wants us to confirm your skill-level. He refused to state your level in the letter, and asked us to rank you internally, and unbiased. Excuse me, I must get my grandfather for this." he says, bowing and quickly leaving once I nod my assent.
A formal ranking requires the master of the dojo, at least. Some dojo's require everyone to be in attendance. I expect even if that is the case, it's probably just the two of them currently. Maybe a few more.
This place doesn't seem to be teeming with students, after all.
Then, in walks a man - who can't be a day over 50 years old, physically, who looks at me, and snorts in derision, before his grandson lightly touches his shoulder. Then he gives me a long, slow look, then nods very, very lightly.
"Welcome to my Dojo, young witch." He greets me in Japanese. I bow lowly, before responding.
"It's a pleasure to be here, Master." I respond in Japanese. I can feel his very slight surprise at the flawless Japanese. I hear him sit, and his grandson sit further back.
"I am Junichi Katsuda. Master of this Dojo, and perhaps the Master of Europe, though that has been up for debate, given how unknown I am and how little I care to change that fact. You are, according to my son, Aubrey Hawthorne, a student of Austin - and to my eyes, a witch. A skilled one, at that. What does one of your kind want with us?" He asks sternly, though not unkindly.
"To learn all that I can. I wish to be able to defend myself, no matter the situation, and magic is not always an answer to every problem. Sometimes I cannot use magic. Sometimes it is not an answer I wish to use. Lastly, is for personal improvement. I wish to better myself through the arts. This is one of the arts I seek to master. I am also working on dance, presently, though it is slower going…" I trail off, still bowing low. I hear a grunt of - not approval but not dismissal.
Acceptance, I suppose.
"You know better than to lie. Good. Better than others of your ken. What will you do when you reach your 'better state', though? Will you give up the art? Go back to waving your wand and chanting your rituals? Or will you give up the wand and accept the full life and duties of a master? Hm?" He pushes. I close my eyes in thought. He probably won't like my answer.
"I'll do what I've done with the other arts I've mastered. Practice it and maintain my skill, try to improve when I can and teach others if I can. I will not forget, nor fully dedicate myself to any art I know. Nor will I intentionally master above any art I know. Not that I'd claim to have mastered any art. I am still learning in every field I study. I've come to the realization that there are no real masters, just increasingly advanced students, who are all trying to be the best they can be. So too do I try to be the best I can be - the best student, the best friend and the best woman I can be." I reply calmly. Another hum of acceptance. Then, a clap.
"Very well, raise your head. I have heard your answers, and while I do not agree with some, I cannot disagree that it must be so from your perspective. Next, we will spar. You will show me your kata and flexibility in the kata. Then I will give you the rank you deserve in my Dojo. You may come by to learn more anytime you wish, though I will not make time to train you, so the lesson may be on how to eat, cook, clean or fight, at my whim. You've been warned." He tells me, standing and shrugging off his robe, revealing that he must have been in an evening workout before this, considering he's just not wearing a shirt, and is wearing a set of normal sweats.
"I'll referee, as usual." Ibiki offers, getting a nod of almost dismissal as I'm led to a large sparring chamber.
Obviously, this is the main room of the Dojo. I take off my shirt, leaving me in my sports-bra, and then I take off my pants leaving me in my workout shorts. I'd expected maybe a workout or physical test of some kind. I didn't think he'd just insist on a spar outright. I quietly fold my clothes on the side of the room, before stepping into the middle.
The other benefit of both of us wearing basically nothing is that we can see exactly how the other moves. His sweats aren't tight, but they're not super loose. Nice benefits, here.
I settle into my ready pose - a slightly modified opening stance to help adapt for my shorter limbs than the average user of Kenpo. He looks at me a bit interested, and settles into his own stance.
It doesn't even look like a proper Kenpo stance. Or Karate stance. Clearly he's completely customized his art for himself, and how his body works - like any real 'master' would do. His footwork is basically the same, and I can see the core principles in how he's holding himself, but it's not any stance or form from any book on the art I've read, and I've read more than a few.
"Begin!" Ibiki calls, and I hop over to Junichi in two bounds, before skipping a few steps and going for a kick right away, mostly to create a feint, which he blocks, so when I use the momentum to bring my elbow around in the real attack, which is also blocked - even though that's not strictly a move from Kenpo, I'm not surprised, but I am happy I can really go all out on him.
So I move out of the elbow as I block a low jab at my stomach, guiding it away from my stomach while bringing my other elbow up to his chin, which he neatly leans away from as he starts to kick my legs out from under me, forcing me to kick back, but my counter-kick results in my hopping back more than it does damage to him.
But damn did his kick hurt. My shin is likely to bruise.
And he's merrily bounding after me, aiming a punch at my face. I duck under, slapping the hand up higher and bringing the hand down to the now exposed side, but my fist meets his elbow, and is pushed off to hit his hip bone awkwardly and ineffectively. My other hand blocks his knee which comes to meet my ducking head, but I push off that to bring myself back up, to eye level with him as I hop off the ground in an attempt to kick his chest or head. He grabs and throws my leg away from himself, before punching my back and sending me away, the first clean strike of the match.
All in all, 15 seconds or so. Point-one, him.
Assuming this is a three point match...
I bounce off my feet to catch myself, turning to face Junichi. His eyes are twinkling with amusement. I settled into my second stance, and bound right back up to him. This time, I go for a low-kick, while trying to punch at his chest. He blocks both, and retaliates with a chop to my side, like I'd tried to do to him. I counter with an elbow, as he did, then, when his hand goes to retreat, I snag and pull his wrist for a moment as I strike at the inside of his elbow.
While my strike hits, so does his counter-strike on my kidneys, which blows the air out of me. I recover in time to block the following blow, and I deliver a strike to the inside of that arm, too.
Theoretically this should hamper his ability to use either arm to attack or block. In reality, he probably isn't feeling it at all. Still, it's worth a shot, since his blow to my stomach wasn't a perfectly landed hit, it doesn't count, technically.
Still, we both know. An unofficial '2 to 2' goes through my head. I block a kick, and the follow up punch, before bouncing back. He blocks my punch and tries to chop at my collar bone, but I manage to block, only to find my feet being swept. I catch myself with my remaining arm, and kick out at him, hitting nothing but air as I spring away from his rapidly approaching counter, and back to my feet.
"That's enough. You know how to fight, though there isn't much true Kenpo to your style, the basis, the way you deliver strikes and blocks is true to form. Your style isn't true Kenpo, however. Which is good." he tells me motioning to his arms, which are already purpling where I struck. "Most don't think about the weak points of the body. It's good you think of them, and target them. If I were a lesser man, you may have broken my arms with your blows. To one of your Wizards, this would be ruination. No arms means no casting fancy spells. This is good." He nods, then, patting his arm and massaging the point, I watch as the bruise starts to fade slowly.
Enhanced regeneration? Or something else?
"Bad is that while you are stronger and faster, you lean on that as a crutch. True, you are skilled - at least enough for me to call you as 1st dan - you've not really figured out how to make the skill and art your own, and you're using your superior body to hold those weaknesses. You need to practice more, and harder, to master your body, the arts. You know how to fight, but you don't know how to walk, breathe, move your arms. I will teach you as I can until you leave for England, but it will not be to fight. It will be to live. Show up when you can. For now, leave. I must get back to the evening chores, before Mrs. gets upset." He mutters, before walking out of the room. I bow to him as he passes me, and Ibiki walks over, and hands me a black belt.
"Congratulations." He mutters slowly. "Not every day Gramps hands these out. Usually because people are too weak or slow or whatever. Focus on eating with your kata first. If you can eat with martial arts, everything else is easier." He murmurs, then walks out after his old man.
I've only been here maybe 30 minutes.
But all the same, I gained a black belt and 7 levels in Kenpo. I can't say it's not been productive…
As I leave I hit the building with an Observe, just to see what we're working with.
Dojo of Kenpo, Karate.
Den of the Grandmaster.
+1,000% to learning Kenpo, Karate or Kick-Boxing.
+500% to Judo, Aikido
+250% to all other Martial Arts.
All effects doubled when learning under the Master of the Martial Art in question.
How cliché. The masters dojo is some back alley which teaches the whole art in a week. To think that this is where Austin trained.
I may have to revise my assumptions on the gaps between the colors of Black Belt. 60 may be 1st, but 7th-dan is likely around 500 points.
Meaning each rank is progressively further from the last. Oh joy.