120 5.9 What Else Is New? We are both a Ronin and Hitokiri!

Hiko-sama looked at me either in awe, surprise, shock, disbelief in his eyes and I related to him how I managed to kill 3 assassins or Ninjas back then. He had a permanent frown on his face so it's hard to predict what he was thinking at this present moment.

"During the first opening moves, those I had never seen before. Who taught you that?"

"No one, Sensei. Once I stood like that and lost myself with Mother Nature, I became one with it. My foot became rooted to the ground and my arms would sway like the branches of a tree blown in the wind."

"I still cannot believe that you had no Master and the Master you earlier mentioned only taught you the basics."

"That is true Sensei, he taught me the art of meditation and breathing at first. After that, he taught me Chi Breathing as I progressed on. He also had opened up my Third Eye which was able to sense wandering spirits as well as increase my awareness."

"I have never heard of Chi Breathing before. Tell me more because maybe it has different meanings of a similar practice."

"Chi Breathing is a way to unlock the next stage if you level up in strength and skills. Once in a meditative state, a kind of powerful energy would move all around you and can be unlocked with a certain breathing technique. As one level up, the Chi Breathing becomes more and more complex to unlock. A single mistake could deal with damage to your vital organs."

"So tell me about the levels, I'm curious to know."

"Each level comprises of 12 Chengs or sub-levels. If one practises his martial arts, meditates regularly and also engage in battles or spiritual activities, one would be able to surpass each Cheng until he reaches the 12th Cheng and would require one to perform Chi Breathing in order to surpass and move to the next level."

"So you said earlier you had a Monk accessed your skill's capability, so what level are you right now?"

"When he assessed me the last time, I was already an Elemental Crown level, which means I had surpassed 8th levels of 12 Chengs each and now am at the 9th level. I am not sure which Cheng I am in but I think it's on the 2nd or 3rd Cheng."

"How about your combat capability? Every level makes you more powerful or knowledgeable?"

"I am not sure about my combat capability since I am unable to utilise it that time only for the occasions of killing those 3 ninjas. And during that time I think I was at level 3 I guess. So far, I managed to increase my levels through spiritual contacts such as healing and the uses of certain hand seals."

"What kind of hand seals? Do you have a set of examples?"

"These hand seals were shown by the Monk that assessed me. There are 12 hand seals altogether but I only used one specific one and another on that that was not categorised. These hand seals are followed by the Chinese Horoscope."

I made all the 12 consecutive hand seals for Hiko-sama to see and he recognised all those from Ninjutsu. He told me a series of these hand seals could be made into several uses.

"Yes that's what the Monk told me and I only use one hand seal to make a Fire Release."

I made the handseal and then I release a short stream of fire from it.

"Ara ma...! That's Fire Release? It looks from one glance you might be even called a mage that could conjure up casts and spells... But this different altogether! How do you manage to do that?!?"

"Yes Sensei, this is Fire Release. I unlocked this skill when I was invoked by several meditation exercises and visualisation techniques. I was able to light a candle with its smouldering wick, then a candle with a dry wick and lastly a Fire Release by using a cane light as its base. Now I don't need to have a fire to make a Fire Release. It's all released from my chakra points as well as the gathering of energies around us."

I explained slowly and carefully so that every morsel of information that I conveyed would successfully be absorbed by Hiko-sama as he learnt more and new exciting things about me.

I thoroughly explained that I only use this Fire Release if I am faced with the supernatural but I told him that I even used a small percentage earlier to heat up my bath instead of using the furnace. Saves firewood and protects the environment, I bullshitted to him. Who cares about the ozone layer in this era?

"Come with me inside. There is something I need to show to you and hope you would appreciate it."

"Yes, Sensei..." I replied to him and took off my zori and placed them at the foot of the terrace and entered. He led me to his storage room and asked me to wait a while outside. After a short while he gestured me inside and what I saw was a sight to behold!

Rows and rows of pottery of all sorts of sizes lined the shelves of the wall. An oil lantern was lit in the corner and it cast light upon the lined pottery. All the pottery that was on display had intricate designs on it and was some were glazed with a thin lacquer while some were left uncoated.

My eyes were in awe as I looked at the designs and the intricity of the pottery. I wondered how long does one make a collection of all these pottery that amounted slightly over a dozen of them.

"This is my profession! I made this pottery myself before I joined and being a Samurai. It's a dream that I had before I turned it into a desire and profession. Here take a look at this..."

Hiko-sama picked one pottery and proudly showed it to me. It was adorned with a design of a phoenix that had risen from the ashes with the background of the sun and a few clouds above it.

I place it in my hands and felt the design. It was etched into the pottery while it was slightly damp before it was dried in a furnace. I felt the design and it was well made and do not find any flaw since I was such a layman in such arts.

"Wow, you really made this row of pottery? You must have such passion, Sensei. Do you intend to make some more? Are these for sale or just for your personal collection?"

I asked out of curiosity as his eyes gleamed with delight as the latest pottery he had made years ago was being appreciated by his own apprentice.

"Yes, Himura... I really made this. It was one of my closely guarded secrets that no one knows about except for you. Even my comrades do not know about it. I wonder if they'd laugh at me if they knew that I made these pottery before even becoming a Samurai?"

"Oh, then why did you stop being a Potter, Sensei? Was it a switch of profession or are you simply tired of making these?"

"It wasn't a switch of the profession though, one could say this is my side profession while being a Samurai was my first profession in line. Being a Samurai does not allow me to have spare time being able to do pottery because in making one, I need to have a vision and design in order to decorate and lined the exterior."

"Making pottery is by mixing clay and water and using a pottery base to actually shape into one. That's one skill. But to design one when it was slightly damp before placing it into the furnace is another I prefer to etch one design rather than to paint over it. It gives off its own personality.".

"I understand what you are trying to say, Sensei. Then how about this shelf instead? Do you make your own weapons too?"

I pointed to another part of the wall that held a few katanas and kodachi and I presumed that he also made them.

"These are my personal Warrior Weapons which was inherited or gifted from dojos and Masters that I had met along the way in my path as a Samurai. Each katana and kodachi that you have seen here has its own story as well as the way it was handled."

"I thought that all the katana was held in the same way?" I asked as I was curious since he mentioned that it's been handled separately as if each katana is being suited for each purpose and not as a general purpose weapon."

"Not really, look at this katana for example. Its blade is pointed but along this plane is like a sawtooth instead of a sharp blade so the way this was handled is really different from any other blade." Hiko-sama took one sheathed katana and withdrew its blade and showed it to me.

This was the first time I saw a katana-shaped with a saw-bladed instead of a clean sharp blade.

"This is called a Shikoro Ken Katana Sword. It is a rare piece of sword and I think it is one of its kind. The maker of the sword made this from stainless steel and each serrated edge had to be sharpened individually."

"Its 40 inches long blade and the handle alone is at 11 inches long. This sword can be handled as a one or two-handed weapons but the weight for this sword is best handled as a two-handed sword for even the intermediate users."

I looked at the katana in awe as this blade can also be used as a dual purpose katana. One is to cause hurt while another is to break the other opponent's katana if the blade is caught in the middle of the teeth of the saw-like blade.

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"Awesome... Pretty awesome." as I looked at it and held it in my hands. It's pretty heavy and this heaviness would be an emphasis on the way it is being handled and the strikes it would affect when one parries it with their own katana. A few blows from this katana would render the other to be weakened and easily broken.

"You know what, Himura? Since you are a Ronin and I am a Hitokiri, I present to you this kodachi. I am sure you are not going to use this to cause harm to innocent people and bystanders."

"Thank you Sensei. I will accept this kodachi but I do have other plans and to own 2 katana in the future. At the meantime, I won't use any of my skills or weapon to hurt anyone unless the person has the intent to cause hurt in the first place."

"Remember, Himura. In Kitakata, it is forbidden to draw your weapon in public even though the opponent draws his or her weapon first. There are a lot of patrolmen and would stop at nothing to prevent such matters from happening. However, there is a place north from here where duels may take place and its a place even the Imperial Army or the shogunate "allows" such duels to occur."

"What's so special in the North, Sensei? How come the Imperial Army allows such duels to take place?"

"That place in the North was a path towards the old cemetery that had been long abandoned. There were several paths that lead to other parts of villages that was not under the influence of our Mayor so that villages are formed to be in neutral alliances with our village."

"Our Mayor practises isolationism with other neighbouring villages not under his direct order so that other influences from foreign or not forming his general interest would not be affecting Kitakata at all."

"That's why the value of monetary and currency exchange is being controlled, unlike others who fluctuate them for their own benefits. Here the Mayor kept it simple so that the prices of other products is kept constant and never depreciated on value over time."

"However since the Mayor prevented influences from outside affecting this village, he never stops the business district from to ply their business and trading outside in terms of export."

"I understand Sensei. So it means this village does not do the import of goods and services from the outside but rather performs an export to them since the value of currency exchange is higher than ours, right?"

"That's good of you to fully understand what it means even if I describe it in the vaguest form."

"Sensei, it's now almost dinner time. Would you want me to heat some water for tea and have the buns given by the innkeeper earlier?"

"Sure, keep this kodachi with you. See what you can do with it later on. I have little use of this kodachi as I have my main 2 katana with me."

"Thank you Sensei, I will keep this kodachi safe with me at all times. I will go and prepare the hot water first for dinner. Also, I see if we have a steamer so I could warm up the buns later on. If not I improvise it later."

I took the kodachi from him and bowed my thanks as I left the storage room. I head to my small bedroom and placed the kodachi at the head of my Takamura and went to the kitchen to boil water for tea.

As there was no specific steamer I used a wok and placed a small bowl in the middle before I place an earthen plate in the middle of the bowl. I placed some water around the wok and this would act as a steamer to heat the buns.

Since there is only one fire stove in the kitchenette, I used a kettle to boil the water first and then use part of the hot water for the wok later. This would save time waiting to steam the buns.

I soon fired up the stone stove and within minutes the water in the kettle was boiled and I prep some tea while I replaced the kettle with the wok.

Dinner was soon served and I called to Hiko-sama to the dining hall as he was sitting mesmerised with the artwork that he had not seen for quite some time.

"I am known as a Ronin heh? Well, it's better than nothing and hopes to be beneficial for Hiko-sama in the long run." I thought as we sat and had a bun each for dinner.