A Quiet Year
" Seek-chan, say repeat it after me.
' She sells seashells by the sea shore.' "
My cute little sister who was now a year and a half old, cutely tilted her head.
" She shells sheashells by the shea shore. " Perfection.
" That's my smart little sister! "
She smiled at the praise, walking fast towards me to hug me. My heart.
" Child, stop rewarding her when she misspeaks, she is gonna end up having a speech impediment because of you. "
" But look at her! How can I say she spoke not fully right, to this cute face? " I squeezed her cheeks with my thumb and index finger.
" By correcting her first, you- "
" Mama, will Onii-chan tell me numbers today? "
I saw Gianna sighing in exasperation, being annoyed with how much Seek preffered spending time with me to anyone else.
" Fine, Seek-chan. But tomorrow when I ask about numbers, I better not learn you guys ended up spending the entire time drawing together again! "
" Yeey~ Onii-chan time! " She threw her arms up in excitement.
…
I was truly blessed.
[}-o-{]
" …
Reading Pornhub's terms of service, going for a drive~
And obeying all the traffic laws, in Grand Theft Auto Five- "
...
I heard the door click open to my room as my maid walked in, and proceeded stare at me with disbelieving eyes,
" You know how to play the guitar? Also what the fuck do those words even mean? "
I looked at her in annoyance. You don't just come into a room, see someone playing music, and proceed to cut them off anyways. Annoying little maid.
...
"Full agoraphobic, losing focus, cover blown~
A book on getting better, hand delivered by a drone~
Total dissociation, fully out your mind~
Googling derealization, hating what you find~
That unapparent summer air, in early fall~
The quiet comprehending, of the ending of it all… "
...
I gave a sigh and looked at my maid with eyes that held a hint of sadness.
' The quiet comprehending, of the ending of it all, huh? '
Throwing my guitar to my bed, I got up.
" Cathy, come on, we got training to do. "
...
" Will you please answer me? What the fuck did that song even mean?
Also when the hell did you learn-"
[}-o-{]
It's been almost three months since I got my ass kicked by Ajuka on my final test. (For me it was 7 months at 2.5x speed). And…
Well, shit wasn't going as well as I had hoped.
For one, I was now laying on the ground from getting my butt kicked by a hot maid and a MIL- My mother. They decided it was a fantastic idea as it would help me learn to fight against multiple opponents.
… Learning my ass, they just liked ganging up on me.
There was some good news of course, I had now reached full day 2.5x speed with T4. Both my output efficiency and my reserves had grown to such a point.
I had finished my Tanto-Jutsu with Cathy. Along with my Jiu-Jitsu training. Learning multiple martial arts started showing its benefit in me both keeping up with Cathy a lot better. And also improved my Touki efficiency bit by bit.
My aim training was going great with my gorgeous revolver. My dear dad even left enchantment spots on it for future use, so it would probably be a permanent addition to my collection.
I decided to name her 'Narcissus'. The white flower theme fit this baby's light silver coating perfectly.
My teleportation circles had improved, I could now completely forego drawing the circles by hand.
The amount of Ki I could utilize for Touki has improved and I could now start concealing my aura using Senjutsu to a medium degree for stealth.
Alongside my own Demonic Energy concealment efforts, I could come off as a weak supernatural to most people now. Very nice.
Assholes like Cadres and Satans could of course, judge my levels instantly but, we were getting somewhere.
PsiWind Razors and Barriers were improving alongside my monstrous reserve growth (Constantly using a straining spell like Self Acceleration was similar to working out all the time, for my energy)
My aura sensing skills had improved similarly to 6th sense, I could much more easily tell where a person was, or how strong they were by their soul's outline.
…
Then came the negatives though. On multiple fronts.
One, I hadn't been improving enough on Illusion magic for the last two months. I could only make myself somewhat smaller like a year or two.
And since my goal was to become around 20 years of age as quickly as possible, that meant that my technique would end up coming out.
I hadn't been able to achieve anything with Senjutsu other than concealment and Aura sensing yet, which meant that I was really far away from a power I really, really wanted.
Cathy apparently had no clue how to train me on swords, and our knife training only had one more martial art in it; Systema Spetsnaz.
A knife style that was eerily similar to Jiu-Jitsu and Karate as in use the opponents own force against them, and throw them off balance.
We also started on Muay thai as Jiu-jitsu covered grappling, movement, parries and throws very well, however it lacked any powerful striking options. Muay thai was basically boxing with elbows, knees and kicks added into the mix, a powerful option that matched extremely well with what I already knew.
Once these were done though, I needed to find an instructor for sword training and none of my family knew themselves. I still had that lightsaber I got as a birthday gift damn it!
…
" Mom, ow, I need to tell you something. I am going nowhere in my Illusion magic. Like I'm so untalented in it, it's actually unfunny now. How the hell am I supposed to hide my grown body once I pick up the pace? "
" Here let me heal you love, we went a bit rough on you today. For your question though, why not just be open about it? 'Hey, I was training my speed of time and I apparently grew in age since everything was slow mo.' Should be no issue then, right? "
Would that really be that simple? I don't see why my mom would be wrong, but it's such an abnormal thing to grow that fast here.
I think there was one church project that created modified kids who entered adulthood faster, but that was basically it. Even devils who grew faster than normal humans had a limit to that, and I was trying to become 20 years old before I had reached 10.
Would people try to manipulate my abilities for fast adults to use for military purposes? Wait it's self acceleration that I can do, not supernatural…
Huh, I guess it would be fine. Politically speaking I planned on giving up my Heirdom once Seek-chan reached 4 or 5 years old.
It would be too much of a hassle for me, and would take time away from training or doing what I was supposed to do. OH WAIT-
" MOM, I have an idea. What if we say that me growing old so fast was a mistake from a spell, and now I was mentally struggling with the fact. That way I can give my heir status to Seek without any bullshit getting involved! "
Silence
…
My mom looked at me like I grew a second head. And blinked slowly. Even Cathy, who was just trying to catch her breath before, looked baffled.
" Wait a damn minute, gremlin-chan, you plan to give up being an heir. Just like that? "
" Well yeah, I got things to do. Being an heir only gives me more political standing in its positives, and gives way more responsibility, time constraints, meetings you have to attend… The negatives just keep on piling up. "
" My bad, everything, I shouldn't have expected anything normal to come out of your mouth even once. Honestly my bad…
Haaah~ sure, let's talk about it with your father first. Once you have a teenager body, we can say it was a magical accident and you have struggles with it for now.
Your rating games won't start until you turn 15 at the minimum anyways, and by then Seek-chan should be grown enough to decide for her own sake whether she wants to be Heiress or not. "
D20 roll on persuasion to one lovely mother, success!
I didn't tell my mom that I also wanted it to further increase Seek's protection and influence later on. My dad still seemed to be favorable to the idea that her and Sairaorg marrying would be a huge advantage for both clans.
This way, Seek had more chance getting out of that marriage the same way Rias did, with a Rating Game. If she wanted to get out, of course. I seriously doubted that if she wasn't even an Heiress, she had many options to refuse that arrangement.
Seek would be way stronger than her version in the anime. This time around, she had me for her training if she decided to get stronger. And I wouldn't let my little sister be unprotected, even when alone.
I wouldn't need political stature to keep me safe. Or more like if I did, I was already screwed from what was to come.
…
I got up and patted the dust away from my butt.
" You girls ready for round 2? "
" Ughh, where is your off button you manic IMP?! " My maid struggled to get up from the floor as this was her consecutive 7th hour training.
Poor her.
I wasn't done though.
[}-o-{]
'I am just realizing this but, isn't my Self Acceleration just Speed Force from DC comics.'
I poked my campfire with a stick to see if the wood had turned into charcoal yet.
'Like, I have a barrier around me that protects my clothing and such from extreme speeds.
The universe is putting up a safety measure for me to not break the space-time continuum.
I'm not slowing down time, but time is still slowing down around me. '
I was at my campside of 4 days, deciding to take a little training trip.
'…
Huh, I will now call my T4, 'Speedforce' going forward. Cool.
I hope there aren't any Time Wraiths here.'
…
Deciding no better time than now,
" God, OW!,
God, SHIT!,
God, FUCK!,
God, DAMN!
God, CUNT!
God, BITCH!
GOD FUCKING DAMN-
Oh…
Finally.
Some headacheless god-speak."
It was around the damn time it came in as well, I've been here more than two and a half years now and I still couldn't say god?
I call bullshit.
Now, check muttering out god, from the list. Time for 'Yahweh' and 'Elohim'-,
OWWWWWWW!
FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!
I thought if I could say 'God' out loud comfortably, saying his actual name mentally wouldn't be an issue. This fucker.
Now I have to start from the ground up once again… Fuck me.
" Before that though, I should probably kill you right? "
I looked to my side from where I was sitting. What stood there was a tied up Demonic Bear Cub that had attacked me on my exploration of the forest.
" I don't know what kind of a shitty mom you had to not even learn about attacking the bigger fish, but, you look too cute for me to ignore my conscience this time around. "
He looked like an oversized red puppy, and it genuinely seemed like it was pouting.
" I'm gonna let you go now, but if you attack me…
I will wear your fur as a fashion statement and make sure that your meat will only be eaten deep fried, okay? There is a limit to my kindness. "
I let out my aura for a second for an intimidation factor.
The animal in question seemed like he understood my words as he started sweating profusely. Finally a smart animal.
I cut off his ropes and he started running away as fast as he could.
I was back here once again. This damned forest. I learned from Logan the Trader that there were more and more mutated demonic beasts that were showing up each week, and there were rumors that it was because of a demonic corpse.
If a strong enough demonic creature died, and its corpse was left to rot, it would start feeding demonic energy into its surroundings.
The high amount of constant demonic energy could cause other beasts to mutate and become stronger, creating chaos. The chupacabra was probably a product of that, if the hypothesis was correct.
I had gotten quite stronger since last time I was here, so I wasn't that scared of getting another scar for this young body of mine.
I was also not here to fight this time around, just scout around the area, maybe take note of important details and such. (I had hunted on the more shallow parts as there were dozens of mutated boars and bears.)
Scouting and info gathering would never not be useful. This was a form of training for that, while also concealing my demonic energy and my aura. Also, survival skills, duh.
I was still repeating 'Yahweh' OW, from time to time as my migraine started dying down though. I needed that holy weakness removed as soon as possible, and if I couldn't even say his real name out loud, I'd never get to that point soon enough.
…
…
…
Moving further and further I came across,
What the hell are those footprints now? Giant cat paws?
These weren't big in the sense of that Mutated Demonic Bear, they were actually gigantic.
If it was a bear that made these, it would easily be 4-5 meters tall, wide and long. JEEZUS. (Heh, I can say that now, bitch.)
I looked at the way these 'footprints' went, going deeper and deeper into the forest.
Activating my senses to their fullest using Ki, I could sense disgusting amounts of Demonic aura coming from the same direction.
It also smells horrible, whatever was up there.
Was I going to risk it once again, for the biscuit?
…
… Of course I was. Do I look like a pussy?
…
Moving towards the source though, I realized-
Whatever wasn't 'up' there, it was fucking 'down' there.
There was a huge canyon in the middle of the forest, and somehow no one informed me of this fact. Which meant either people really didn't like going deep here, or this was new development.
For some reason my bet was on the latter, and this fact didn't make me happy in the slightest.
…
You know what, I'll just come here another day when I'm not tired from hunting a shit ton of mutated beasts and saying god the whole time. 'Yahweh' 'OWWW!'
Just in case.
No, this wasn't being a pussy,
This was simply a tactical retreat.
I did leave a teleportation circle mark for easier travel directly here the next time I'm here though…
[}-o-{]
Ok now let's see, what the fuck is down here.
I got Narcissus with me and my tanto. I have enough bullets on my person that would put the average American to shame, and I got close to 20x speed momentarily to dodge and escape.
I also have my teleportation circle prepared from the get-go. Whatever it was down there, I'd guess it was easily A+ Class in the danger scale. I just wanted to get the info, and get the fuck out.
If anything was alive, I could come back once I had gotten a bit more powerful.
I flew down, hugging one side of nature's wall and tried my hardest to conceal my powers. This canyon easily went 200 meters underground, so, it was a good idea to hold onto if I was thrown off balance.
Whatever was releasing the energy though, wasn't in sight. For me, that meant there were more caves involved.
'Fucking caves…'
Guess what? It was fucking caves, as I stood in front of the entrance.
…
…
…
There are times in life when a man questions his choices and the consequences thereafter.
This was one of those moments, as I questioned whether I made too much fun of god in my head.
The consequences?
… Fucking Manticores…
You know, the ones with the lion body with the tiger stripes with the scorpion tails and the bat wings. Well in this world, they were like 4 meters tall apparently, and could control elements as well.
Because why not, right?
Oh, and of course they were just casually S class danger level beings.
Now how does one go about fighting a beast like this?
The answer is one doesn't. One runs away like a little bitch.
These fuckers have deadly toxins in their claws, that can easily slash me in half. Poison in their teeth which they can use to chew my bones like its candy. Poison in their stingers that they can use to pierce my heart.
I ain't fucking with them yet.
I flew away from the spot I was hiding in to spot them, and just activated my 20x speed with my touki to reach a makeshift 40x, and rushed the fuck out of there back to the surface.
…
'I could just leave them here and come back like a year late-'
My thought was interrupted by an image, an image that had townspeople, that had families, that had businesses, that had the orphanage that I so often tried helping…
You know, I could be selfish for my training. I could make sacrifices. I could take risks.
But if I took a risk like that, for the sake of getting stronger…
Was I really that better than the assholes I was trying to stop?
What was my purpose for being here if just to use people as baits for my goals?
…
I activated my communication circle and,
" Hey dad, …
No I didn't call because I missed your voice. …
No- wait shut up for a second, I found manticores at the forest I hunt in. …
YES I AM NOT FUCKING WITH YOU …
There are two alive and one dead that I could see, there might be more though. …
What do you mean you expected me to just jump in and try to take them on? Do I seem that insane to you? … Okay no, I don't actually want you to answer that. Also they were close to the settlement okay, I could risk it for myself, not for them though. …
Yeah I'll send you the coordinates …
WHAT DO YOU MEAN MANTICORE MEAT IS A DELICACY-"
He fucking closed the call to my face.
Asshole.
[}-o-{]
" How the hell do you end up in situations like that constantly gremlin-chan? "
I sat at my desk, studying a notebook on Senjutsu techniques that my mother had gotten me recently.
Senjutsu was such a rare art, not just because of its hardness but because the masters of the art just refused to give their secrets away.
There were so little quality information out there, and most of them were not things you could just find in a library
Kinda like this notebook, apparently left by a high level Senjutsu user from a devil peerage after they died. The King of the peerage didn't have uses for the book so he had created a bidding for it.
My mom, hearing about this, had spent a heart shattering amount of money to get it for me for my 6th birthday, which was like a month from now. But she gave it to me anyway on Seek's birthday since the earlier I could start, the earlier I could get a rhythm going.
She also knew the arts herself but…
Well she sucked at teaching frankly.
She was, in fact, just as bad as my dad when it came to teaching. I hoped this book would be my saving grace when it came to art.
There was just so much cool shit I wanted to do with Ki, that was just so mouthwateringly useful. And I was just limited by the knowledge bestowed upon me.
" How would I know? I didn't ask to find two S-class monsters on my little camping session, okay? It would be cool if it was just one though… "
" Your gremlin is showing again. "
My maid was laying on my bed, her already revealing dress barely holding onto her body, as she clearly didn't give a shit about her modesty.
I was struggling here, woman!
She had a book on Darkness magic on her hand, as we learned a few weeks ago that she had a high affinity for it. She was still struggling a bit on grasping concepts in it theoretically, so we decided to add her to my study time as well.
That way she could ask me, the boy who was like 9 years younger than her, about concepts she had trouble understanding.
Although, darkness or shadow magic was one branch that I was truly sad about not getting myself. They were the quintessential edgelord magic that looked cool, sounded cool, acted cool, and just was cool.
Disappearing in shadows, creating shadow blades, shadow shackles or tentacles, short range teleportation between shadows, creating shadow monsters, casting a magical darkness that eats away at light…
The edge was endless.
And my goofy, airheaded, brighter than a sunray that reflects to your eyes from the water puddle, and the hot maid had gotten it instead of me. The edgelord.
What is wrong with your universe?
I decided to learn a bit as well though, I wouldn't be able to do anything truly cool but, a little misdirection could earn you a few seconds in battle.
A few seconds was all I needed to capitalize on enemies distracted state.
Right now though, Senjutsu.
" You are almost 6 now right, Aether-kun, what is your actual age now? Can you let go of the small illusion around you? "
I sighed and sat up from my chair. Still refusing to look at the curves that were clearly being put on show to tease me.
I let go of the spell to see my body grow a bit taller and taller.
" Since I reached 2.5x earlier than expected, and 3.5x two weeks ago, my body should be somewhere around 9 years old. "
" Ohhh, it is so interesting seeing the 3 year old baby I knew turn, growing so quickly. Almost makes me proud, you know? "
" What do you have to be proud of, hentai maid? "
…
" So you were paying attention~ "
" UGH! You are insufferable. Shut your mouth lady, I need to keep studying Senjutsu. Need to get that shit down before I get my Peerage. "
" Should we teach Seek something like this as well maybe? "
" I mean she can decide that for herself once she grows up. Although I don't doubt my princess's talent, it is not even certain that she will be able to reach full body T4 anytime soon.
My dad was a record breaker before me and he unlocked it at 9-10. Gianna was 13. "
" Yeah, she couldn't be as weird as you, monster-kun. "
…
" One of these days, I will be stronger than you. I swear I will… "
She went back to her book for a little while longer.
I also kept trying to understand what my notebook was getting at, but there were just so many metaphors and placeholder words. So many confusing phrases.
I scratched my hair in frustration from trying understand whatever the fuck the author was saying.
" Why couldn't he just speak like a normal person? "
I heard giggling behind me.
" Why are you so obsessed with learning Senjutsu before you get your Evil Pieces? "
" The stronger the King is, the stronger each piece will be in terms of raw value. I could reincarnate someone twice as efficiently, if I was way more stronger.
I think for someone like Ajuka though, he must have taken different types of power in is not the type of person to just look at raw power and be done with that.
Learning it could give me the edge I need in reincarnating strong, high potential individuals. "
I saw her contemplate something in her head, unsure of herself whether to go through with what she thought or pull back…
" Do you have anyone in mind from, you know, the visions? "
Of course I did, not like I would tell her though.
" Now where would the fun be if I told you? "
She got up from the bed, her shoulder strap still falling off and the dress still threatening to reveal the two-
" Don't you know, Aether, keeping a woman on edge is like playing with fire.
You might just burn yourself~ "
The seductive whisper in my ear was still too much for me, as my face became redder than a tomato.
I couldn't even look away when she started leaving the room, my eyes glued to her back.
Well, she was aware of that fact, as the sway in her hips was just more fuel for the fire she had created.
… Evil seductive fucking maids.
[}-o-{]
I now stood with my family at our dining table. All of my favorite people, and one annoying uncle, were with me on my 6th birthday.
All in all, I had a very quiet year compared to past years. I didn't have school for the most of it, I wasn't that weak that going into the forest was an adventure anymore.
Most monsters there were already too easy for me to slay, and the visits just became a way for me to train my hiding abilities more than anything.
…
For a quick rundown of abilities:
[Space] Teleportation Circle, Storage, Communication Circle (I will not include these after this rundown)
[Time] T4, (3.5x full day or 50x for a minute)
[Illusion] Low level appearance change
[Psionic-Wind] Razor, Barrier, Telekinetic Control, Air control
[Senjutsu] Touki(2.5x Boost), Sensor, AuraSensing, Aura Concealing, Bloom/Wither Plants
[Martial Arts] Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, ParanzaCorta, Tantojutsu, Systema Spetsnaz (These will also not be mentioned in rundowns going further)
…
I was now around 9 years old in body, and I could probably compare myself to series-start-Rias. She had a way bigger reserve compared to mine but, my technique aspect would let me beat her.
The ways I need to get stronger would only increase from now on, and the biggest target was now Senjutsu mediocracy.
SpeedForce was becoming extremely powerful just by keeping it active all day, and the growth just kept growing as I got older and older.
My relationships with people around me mostly stayed the same with me calling Brianna-chan from time to time.
I started spending most of my day with Cathy actively now. Both of us trained our asses to the ground so, having a companion there was nice.
My father was very annoyed at my growth rate though…
Now though, me and my dear uncle were playing a game of chess on the dining table. He, as per usual, decided to test me on my skills.
My family decided to leave us and go to the living room, as my uncle also wanted to talk with me about something.
" I can already understand the 'how' of how my nephew grew so quickly, so I will instead ask you the 'why'. Any answers? Rook to A4 "
" Growth rate increases and muscle training without permanent consequences. Pawn to H6 "
" I'm sure you are the first person to use the Agares ability to such a weird degree, Ace-kun. Horse to B5"
" I try to impress. King to G1, castle"
I saw my uncle grin at my exclamation.
" Well, you do succeed quite a bit. So, I actually have an offer for you, nephew. Bishop to A6 "
I looked at him in curiosity.
" What is it Uncle? Queen to D4, check."
I sipped on my glass of water-
" I want you to come study magic with me until you can use your Evil Pieces-"
" PFFFFFFF- WHAT? " Someone needed to clean the floor.
I spat the water out while also choking on it.
" Also Horse to D4, takes Queen- "
" FORGET ABOUT THE GAME FOR A MINUTE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN STUDY WITH YOU? "
" Exactly how it sounds, Ace-kun. I can see your monstrous growth in reserves and creative techniques and even your clan power. I can not however see your understanding of magic in general improving that much. "
I can agree with that, not like I had time to delve too much into it yet.
" So even if I have very little time, I actually do most of my business in my lab. If you accept my offer, you can come study with me and I can teach you things you don't understand. "
" Where's the catch again? "
" You will help me in my experiments using your Clockwork. "
" … "
" … "
" … "
" When do we start? Also how often will I be able to see Seek-chan? "
" HAHAHA~ I like your enthusiasm already. Don't worry I'll let you go for a couple hours everyday. Though you will have to move to my lab for the year, so go upstairs and gather your necessities. We can have your mom send the rest as it comes up. "
" That's fine let me just go start preparing- "
" We go today, by the way. "
Huh
" … It's 1 am… What difference will it make if we go tomorrow? "
Oh no, oh no no no, that creepy smile on his face is back again. Don't tell me-
" What do you mean, nephew? The day is just getting started for scientists like us! "
… Oh fuck.
" Oh fuck. "
" Quick now nephew, we have hours upon hours of work to get through. "
Mom, I think I made a mistake, can you save me?
[}-Chapter End-{]