Chapter 103 - Sowing Motivation, Fueling Competition, Frogs Peek Out Their Well

Yoshiko is currently seated cross-legged, eyes closed on the edge of the gardens.

"*haaaaa*" She exhales the breath she was holding and opens her eyes.

She decides to take a break for now and looks at the beautiful flowers, plants, and fruit trees in the view in front of her, her appreciation of their beauty making her dazed, her mind at peace.

"Who do we have here?"

"*gasp*!"

Suddenly, someone appears in front of her, startling her.

"Kichirou-san." She greets in recognition.

As she is about to stand up, "Keep seated.", Red stops her and sits down himself.

"I see that the two already helped you access your inner world." Red nods in approval.

"Y-yes…" Yoshiko simply nods, not knowing what to say.

"T-the reason you hired me… is it because I have what Fumio and Kotone call, 'potential'?" She asks.

"Yes." Red confirms.

"I am not going to apologize for lying to you." He adds.

"I understand…" Yoshiko nods.

"… After all. This… all of this is bigger than me. Instead, I am honored to be one of the people you've chosen."

She would bow if Red did not gesture her to stop.

"I don't know if Fumio and Kotone told you the responsibilities that goes along with this honor?" Red asks.

"Protect the secret?" Yoshiko says uncertainly after recalling her conversation with Kotone and Fumio.

"Yes. And to pass our legacy to others who are like us." Red adds.

"I know that people like us are non-superiori, but how do I know who are like us?" Yoshiko asks.

"That will come later. Your responsibility for now, is to grow strong enough to help me." Red says.

"Help you? Someone as powerful as you?" Yoshiko is burdened and confused.

"I'm not invulnerable, Yoshiko. Who knows? If one day, if somehow, I happen to meet my end at someone's hand, then I know that I have someone else to hide and protect our art, our brothers and sisters, and OUR CHILDREN." Red tells her.

"I …" Yoshiko does not know what to say.

"Very good."

The resolve in her eyes is enough to satisfy Red however. 

"So, uh… What should I call you now? 'Kichirou-san' is a bit… So, Teacher? Master?" Yoshiko asks.

"Anything you're comfortable with." Red says.

"Then I will use Teacher, Teacher." Yoshiko addresses Red.

"Good. Now. Continue what you were doing, student. I will guide you, teach you more in the future when you're ready to learn more things." Red says and with that, she disappears from Yoshiko's sight.

<>

"Okay. That's enough the day." Tezguniuth nods after slapping Kotone to the ground.

The two have concluded another sparring session in the front yard.

"Phew… This training is intense!" Fumio who is sitting at the veranda whistles.

He has witnessed the entire session, and is seeing Tezguniuth's work on Kotone for the first time. He purposefully avoided looking at Kotone's gradual progress as he wants to surprise himself, and his decision did not disappoint him.

"Right." Kotone struggles to stand up.

She was rocked from the last slap from Tezguniuth on her arm. Even though she blocked it, she was too exhausted and slipped up, failing to brace herself sufficiently.

After almost two weeks since she started her training with Tezguniuth, she is now capable of blocking the demon's swipes. Aside from getting used to the pain of blocking strikes or being grazed by them, her capability of meeting Tezguniuth's attacks more head-on, is afforded to her by the increased strength and toughness of her body due to her weight training and plenty of herbal baths.

Fumio meanwhile on the side, is a bit impressed and proud at Kotone's growth in practical combat. In the past, he is confident to dance around Kotone's attacks like how Red as Old Phantom can dance around Fire Tornado's assaults.

Today however, he is no longer confident in coming out of a spar with Kotone without taking at least a few grazes. While such growth does not make him feel threatened at all due to their vast gap in skills, he is motivated by it. He does not want Kotone to close the gap between them and lose his seniority.

He also feels his respect for Kotone as a fighter grow as she is no longer afraid of the pain from blocking attacks or being grazed by them.

"You don't look happy at all, Kotone. After only two weeks, you seem like another fighter." Fumio is intrigued by Kotone's serious face.

"I just don't get it. I'm faster, and almost just as physically strong as Tez, but why can't I land a serious hit?" Kotone huffs in frustration.

"Even though I can make you use all your limbs now, I know you're not fighting seriously." She says to Tezguniuth. 

Fumio smirks. "It's just experience." He assures her.

"It is." Tezguniuth backs up.

"Even Fumio. When he limits his strength to mine, he loses our spars."

"Is that true?" Kotone asks Fumio in skepticism.

She has heard about the two sparring from time to time, but she has never really witnessed it as they always spar when she is focused on her weight training.

"It's true. Let me quantify it for you. I can only beat him if I set my speed and strength at 130% of Tez's speed and strength. And that's fine. That's natural. Tez-san has thousands of years of combat experience." Fumio consoles Kotone. 

"Are you going all-out during your spars?" Kotone asks Tez.

Tez simply nods in confirmation.

Kotone grits her teeth. "I still have a long way."

"You do." Red suddenly appears in the yard, joining them.

"Boss!" "Kichirou-san!" "Bossman." Fumio, Kotone, and Tezguniuth greet respectively out of pleasant surprise.

"Hello." Red greets back.

"My good demon, you earned two nap days." He then tells Tezguniuth.

"Thank you." Tezguniuth knows that Red is shooing him, so he nods and happily leaves.

Before Kotone and Fumio can express their curiosity at Red's more than three weeks of absence, "So. What did I miss?" Red asks them about any important events that happened while he was gone.

"The kids completed all completed breath cycles in all the basic poses."

"I rescued my sister."

"I accumulated some injuries that the herbal baths cannot heal."

"Yoshiko-san took the talk well and she's excited."

A few minutes later, Red is brought up to speed.

"Good." Red nods, the events almost in parallel to his calculations.

Except for one that is.

"What happened to your sister?" He asks.

"I uhh… It started with her and Hideki…"

Soon enough, Red has gotten the full story about Sayuri.

"Huh. I'm surprised you didn't lose your mind at Hideki." He asks.

Fumio grits his teeth, knowing what Red means.

"I almost did. But... I can't do it, especially seeing him weak like that. And besides…" He looks at Red in the eyes in resolve.

"Dying is easy. But being a superioris who does not even have powers? It's probably worse than death for him."

"Alright." Red does not really care much about Hideki.

"Your sister found a job yet? An apartment?" He asks instead.

"She'll move in with me. But Rizretheen-san is not yet done setting up her bedroom, so she's still cooped up in a hotel in Ome." Fumio reports.

He will not usually share such a private matter to a boss, but Red is more than a boss to him. Not to mention asking for the assistance of one of Red's demons, and the risk of Sayuri discovering his powers as a cultivator.

"As for a job… well. She's gonna be looking after she has settled down at my place." He concludes.

"Alright." Red nods.

"Tezguniuth might have a need for an assistant." He suggests.

"Will that really be fine?!" Fumio is more than excited to secure a job for Sayuri.

"Yes. Didn't you tell me before that she has a business degree and that she can work non-stop with just a few hours of sleep?" Red asks.

"Yes." Fumio nods.

"She's perfect to help Tez set up some businesses that I have in mind." Red smirks.

"What businesses?" Kotone asks in interest.

"What? Wanna hook your brother up with a job?" Red immediately sees through her.

"W-well…" Kotone gets embarrassed.

"I'll hire him if I find a good use for his talents…" Red nods.

"Why don't you just make him a pop idol, boss?" Fumio jokingly suggests.

"I only met the kid once, but he's quite adorable, isn't he?" Red jokingly considers it too.

"He is. Even the Musume girls adore him. It's mind blowing the first time I saw it." Fumio nods.

"That's right." Kotone is proud that Haruto is being acknowledged.

"Uhn… With his pretty boy face and cuteness, his nice slender proportions too, he's perfect. I bet he can sell my songs easily with just a bit of training and dancing training." Red nods with a smirk.

"And the fan girls too. Oh… Imagine this? Thousands of them, screaming his name, clawing for his attention." Fumio immediately catches on what Red is doing.

"Right? I'll have to invite young Haruto and Shigeo-san to lunch. Let the two talk." Red nods.

"Boss… My sister can be Haruto's manager!" Fumio expresses an idea that just crossed his mind.

Kotone meanwhile, "…fan girls…" is not getting over those two words. Just imagining her brother getting surrounded by girls gives her terrible goosebumps.

"NO! Please don't!" She cannot help but exclaim.

"Heh." Red and Fumio are amused by the reaction.

"Good job teaching Yoshiko on my behalf, by the way." Red had enough of joking.

"I wish you didn't." Fumio scoffs.

"Yeah." Kotone shares Fumio's sentiment.

"What? Did you make her cry?" Red asks.

"That too, but… It's her growth." Fumio shakes his head.

"Yes … It's been only three or so months since she came here, but she's already accessed her inner world. It took me seven months." Kotone grumbles.

"It took me eight." Fumio says bitterly.

"Yeah, well. Her body is more sensitive in the breathing technique, meaning she felt the effects of the breathing technique much earlier than you two deed. And feeling the benefits of it, she started doing it all the time even when she was not training the poses. So, by the time she started her resistance seal training, she is already half-way ready in accessing her inner world…" Red explains.

"…" His two students are speechless.

"…  Anyways…" Kotone is the first one to recover.

"We'll work hard, I assure you, Kichirou-san."

"Yeah, boss. Why don't we talk about why you were gone for three weeks instead?  You must have something fun." Fumio does not want to feel inferior to his two juniors any further. 

"About that… I have something I forgot to tell you two."  Red says.

"Oh?" This takes the two's attention immediately.

"The stronger you two grow, and the richer your elixir seas grow, the longer your lifespans increase." Red prefaces.

"W-what?"

"L-lifespan?"

Kotone and Fumio are not sure if they heard right.

"Yes.  For example, with my strength, and the potency of my elixir, I can live up to three hundred to five hundred years old, if someone doesn't kill me." Red says. 

"Bull…"

"Right…" His two students immediately express their skepticism, but the more they think about it, "…", they realize that Red's words are not ridiculous as it sounds.

"Boss… If I may ask, what does your elixir sea look right now?" Fumio asks. 

Kotone winces, finding Fumio's question too personal, but inside, she too is very curious.

"I don't have one anymore." Red says with a smirk.

"What?!" "Huh?!" His two students are confused.

"What I have is an elixir core.  Thousands of times denser and more stable than your elixir seas." Red explains.

"I can't even..." Kotone breathes heavily at the magnitude of the difference.

"How long will that take?" Fumio too is mind blown.

"Your elixir seas right now, is what I call 'False Seas'. Kotone, I bet your elixir sea is only the size of a big basin. And you, Fumio, is only the size of a small pond's. Until they look like huge lakes or the seas, can you call them 'True Elixir Sea'." Red tells them.

The two students immediately feel the magnitude of their task ahead.

"So… How long will I live after making a True Elixir Sea?" Kotone asks.

"Two hundred years at most." Red reveals.

"*gasp*" Kotone is in disbelief. 

"But… that's more than the estimated life-span of A-Class superiori!" Fumio exclaims.

"Yes. But unlike the superiori, you use spiritual energy which has more benefits to  your lifespans than the energy that the superiori use. And you'll be around Top-tier A-Class strength too once you have established a True Elixir Sea. Maybe even S. Who knows?" Red compares.

"I want to live that long… be that strong…"  Fumio gets excited, greed appearing in his eyes.

"Yeah… True Elixir… How long will that take? How long 'til I'm ready?" Kotone meanwhile, is concerned about how long it will take her to grow powerful enough to have her revenge on Oonishi Gentarou meanwhile. 

"Work hard you two."  Red is satisfied by the two's motivations. 

"We will." The two are beyond motivated.

"I'm not only telling you this to motivate you two … Let's move this conversation somewhere."