Memories have often suppressed for reasons. Sometimes they are out of our own cowardice, insanity, embarrassment, or being lost. Right now I'm lost on the reason why I was like this before. I was taught in my course that things happen for a reason, insanity was often one of those. If I was at the real world and believed in this stuff, I would be the laughingstock of the psychology community. But then again fiction is slowly shifting to reality either way so I don't actually mind. But what I do mind is the fact that my mind is a cinema for panic attacks. As I trained, the memory was stuck in my brain. I try not to think about it but its presence is stubborn like a goat.
But the exercise did help. We did light exercise from push-ups to sit-ups. Soon it shifted to cardio along with punches and kicks. At least the ninja past-life kicked in. It was a good distraction. From what I can tell it was a good thing this was part of ninjutsu. But as it comes to show it shifted back to my World War Two past life. But it did strike me from surprise. I was a younger version of the memory. Memories of karate filled in my mind. Yet for a Japanese dojo, it was hot as hell. Was I in Okinawa? Apparently not. It felt I was farther away from it. Where could it be. But before I could even point a finger at it, Mika starts tapping me at the back. I was totally desynchronized from the memory. "Didn't you hear me? We're gonna go for a jog now." Rebecca told me. All I could do was nod my and follow. I was still unsure of this memory and how did it affect me. I didn't know what to say after that.
The sun finally showed itself and its rays beamed at us. It wasn't hot neither was it cold. A cap on my head and a mask was good enough to shelter me from the sun. Becoming demonfolk did make me kinda irritated by light but it didn't hurt. More of, it was just annoying, like flies buzzing over you. One way or another I had to make a run for it as my pace was starting my to show my own sense of distraction. All I could do was follow the pace of Rebecca to hide it. We were circling around the wrecked church five times then stopped.
I stopped to catch my breath. "Why are we stopping?" Someone asked. The setting turned white. It was there that stood there individuals, Kenshin, Toshizo, and Furukizu. If I can read the mood better, I knew what it meant. I then see a Springfield rifle appear from Kenshin's hand. With a flick of his fingers, he shot me at the leg. I groaned in pain as I felt that. I looked at the wound however and there was nothing. "Sprint two extra rounds then we go for a break." Kenshin commanded in a cheerful manner. "How the hell is that possible?! You're in my freaking head!" I exclaimed.
"Yet we can simulate pain. Can we? Do you wanna make it five?"
"You can't be serious?!"
But deep down I shouldn't have said it. Out from Hijikata was a rotating blunderbuss and he spins the gun like a baton. As he made his first step, I ran like hell, yelling my ass off. Color was returned. But there I sensed bloodlust. Hijikata makes the first shot and I barely managed to dodge roll it. "I knew it!" I shouted in Japanese. "Scream and you'll lose oxygen! Focus on your breathing and at the task at hand!" Kenshin shouted.
After being chased, I was promised my break. Breakfast came with bread and cheese. It was Rebecca's treat but then again where do you even get cheese here? I haven't even tasted cheese in awhile. But then again cheese did take time to age so all the more it would take long to produce. Even if I bothered to ask the price for sure the cost is high. "Rin...you doing alright?" Rebecca asked. "Yeah...just wanna train the extra mile." I said with a fake laugh.
The shade at the far corner felt good. It was a good thing my stuff was at the locker, cause almost everybody was giving stares at me. But then again, I did look over equipped with the arsenal that I had. "Look at all of those eyes." She said. Rebecca then opens a cloth bag and hands me some smoked meat. "Yeah... it's creeping me out." I commented. "It can't be helped, you're the new recruit of Hanami." She told me. I raised my eyebrow, not expecting that. "I thought you were gonna bust my balls again?" I asked out of suspicion. "That too but Hanami is an exclusive guild." Rebecca added.
"So is my guild but I don't really phase through it." Someone said besides me.
I look at my right to be surprised. It turned out to Eun-hi standing at the side of the wall in a ninety degree angle. Rebecca then comes closer to feel at both of her sides. Eun-hi was really starting sideways at the wall. "How are you doing that?" I asked. "It's an old chi technique but I doubt you still have the stamina for it." She told me.
"What makes you so sure?" I asked.
"You're still fresh. Maybe if you go another rank you'll be able to do it." Eun-hi answered.
Memories came up again as it started to surge my brain. "Give a guy some slack." I mumbled. "Says the demon who's too relaxed." Kenshin talked back in a sly way. In shock I wiped my mouth. But that turned out to be a lie. Rebecca poked me at the cheek. "You're not looking so hot." Rebecca said out of concern. "I'm fine...Richard has enough to worry about. We can spare him the details." I replied.
But after the two have their moment, the two girls went on their conversation. "Where's Richard Oppa?" Eun-hi asked. "I don't know...even back when he was Ryoma Sakamoto that guy has been like the wind." I told her.
"That's too bad, I was wondering if he can help me spar." Eun-hi pouted.
"Don't worry. Sometimes I sometimes see him visits once a week. Maybe we might find him at the Rose Line." Rebecca assured her.
"It's always boring here..." Eun-hi whined.
"That's not true...at least the cakes there are good." Rebecca talked back.
"So you guys know each other?" I asked.
"Yes, I was helping Rebecca out when she wanted training from me." Eun-hi answered.
"However this kid managed to go overboard. I'm surprised a kid like her is able to do so much." Rebecca added while patting her head.
"Unni, stop! that tickles!" Eun-hi giggles in glee.
The beastfolk then circles around me. She lifted my arm and took a feel around my body. She then grabs my head and takes a look of my eyes. Eun-hi then lets go of me and she looks rather amused. "He looks kinda off balanced with what he has." She commented. "Yeah, he's a freelancer. I guess most of them start off like this." Rebecca said.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.
"They means that you still look like a noob. Even what you have on you hasn't changed, except the bow." Rebecca told me.
"Well… it does kinda work for me. After all, hunting missions do need a lot of gear." I pointed out.
"Still, I have to admit that you got a lot of blades on you. Do you even used these knives at all now since you have a bow?" Rebecca asked me.
"Yeah. Oddly enough, most of them were for small game." I said.
"Wouldn't it be more practical to use a bow?" Eun-hi pointed out.
"Sure but, it's actually a lot faster to throw knives than shooting a bow. You still need to rely on drawing the bowstring." I told her.
"That's pretty true even for hunters. But then again, not everybody actually relies on knives that much." Eun-hi said.
"Yeah, most people here rely on weapons with range and reach. Plus even if knives can be found outside the walls easily it's not like you can get close to anything to kill something with a knife. Most hunters just use it as an ace in the hole." Rebecca added.
Realizing that now made me think I was carrying dead weight. As much as I liked these...it's not like I'm gonna used them all the time. Doubt pretty much filled my mind but...it did have potential of synchronizing one of my past lives. I felt kinda stubborn letting them go. But Rebecca then started reading my expression. She sighed and put a straw dummy in front of me. "Alright… let's train for now. We're losing daylight, maybe later we might need to deliberate about Rin's weapons later." Rebecca announced.
"Now this is what I wanna see." Kenshin said in my head.
Training continued with the practice of weapons. We started off with the use of a bow. I couldn't shoot in the Cornerstone so instead I shot in the ruins near it. Curve shot was the first thing that came up. At the meantime Rebecca tested out the crossbow Tyrell wanted to try out. Most of it was actually target practice.
As the training went, I had to change positions of where I was shooting and the path of where the arrow goes. Whether the arrow was supposed to curved at either direction of horizontal or vertical motion, it didn't really matter. Wherever the arrow curved was also the opposite of the other direction. But while shooting, I got out of hand. A memory of me holding a bow came. Only problem was that this wasn't Chiron. It was again the World War Two past life. Accidentally I synced with the past life and started shooting them in a rapid pace. Three of them went at the same spot and two of my arrows are now ruined. "Sorry...kinda screwed up there. Accidentally synced with a memory." I said. "No, It's alright. Try to relieve some stress." She told me.
"Let it surge. No use in fighting those memories now." Kenshin says, "Looks like I have to spoonfeed you to get better."
The memories started to come a bit more. This was done at a forest. Out of kicks I kept on shooting arrows. But behind me Kenshin kept on fixing my posture and not to get sloppy. He was strict but what was I supposed to expect from a military man?
But soon the memory ended as I ran out of arrows. It turned out to be one of the mellow memories of that last life. Yet what I couldn't understand was the method of this memory coming into life. I needed to know more.
But I was already running thirsty and grabbed my canteen on my belt. But as distracted as I was, I accidentally got one my throwing knives and my hand was sticking on the handle. A few memories came and I was trying to get a hold of them. But I tripped out of being distracted and accidentally threw the knife at the air. But as I landed on the ground, the knife was a few inches above me. A memory triggered from the Kenshin's memory. My body move on its own and caught the knife then threw it at the target once more. The knife landed straight on the dummy's head. Rebecca whistles. "Damn...it's either you're getting better or that was way too lucky." Rebecca complemented.
I didn't give a sudden thought of luck. Deep down there was no mistake that wasn't a fluke. The memory was still fresh and I could still work with this. All I need to do was follow through. "What are you waiting for? Go on. Go crazy." Kenshin insisted.
"Rin let's go on with the next exercise." Rebecca suggested. "Just give me a moment here. I think I got something." I insisted. I kept calm and played it through.
It started with me throwing randomly with my knives, whether it be throwing overhead, under, sideways, either direction can be done whether the blade was spinning or not. With this I was satisfied to synchronize with the memory. I took a handful of knives and threw three knives per hand. As soon as all six knives hit their target, I followed up with another knife throw. But instead of landing at the dummy, the knife ricocheted back at me. I grinned as this was the result I wanted. There I bounced a step backwards and caught the knife following a backwards dodge roll. As my feet landed at the ground, I followed up with throwing knife I caught with my left hand and threw three more with my right. I kept on following this method as every couple I threw, another knife ricocheted at me. The more they hit the blades, the more the ones stuck at the dummy got deeper. It felt that this memory was synchronizing with the ninja memory but it was way beyond it. In reality the world war two past life was able to synchronize with this memory. No doubt that my recent past life was able to synchronize with the other previous ones. I could see him do the same as I was with various knives in that same tropical island. Who was this guy? I was soon stuck with my last knife. I then made it ricocheted and ran towards the stray knife. By then I was just two feet away as I caught it at mid-air. Once I caught it, I was synchronized to another memory with the world war two past life. There was a man in front of me with many knives at his chest. Whatever I did to the dummy was the same thing I did to that man. He was already leaning at the window on his last wits I then did a slash at the throat and took out one of the knives from the chest. My body started to synchronize with every slash that I did to that man and kicked him out the window. The memory ended after that with the dummy on the floor. I dropped both of the knifes and kneeled on the floor, hyperventilating. My eyes were at the ground, looking at that dummy. Knives all over the chest area with numerous slashes done at the throat, arms, and legs should be. If I remember well, all those slashes hit vital spots could have cripple a man to his knees and render his arms immovable. But that's when something else happened. A random memory triggered. It was of somebody at the floor. He was full of knives and scalpels all around his body. The clothes he wore were of the present day. And where was I? I was pulling them out one by one and somebody was behind me. It was a woman. I couldn't make out who it was. But the vision stopped.
I struggled to get up as my body felt stiff from the synchronization between me and that memory. My limbs felt like jelly. Even if the techniques came naturally, it didn't mean that my body was used to doing it. Rebecca helped me up a little as I could barely stand. "Damn, since when did you go all out like that?" She asked me. "If I didn't then I wouldn't be able to go all out. I had to synchronize with two memories at once. It was hard to keep up with them all together ." I told Rebecca. Eun-hi then got close to me and stared at my eyes. Without warning she put her hand on my face. It was awkward but I did feel something coming from her hands. "Synchronizing with two past lives....? That's pretty rare." She said. I didn't know what that meant. "What seems to be the problem?" I asked. "Normally people can only synchronize with one past life but two is another story." She told me. Eun-hi started to smile and jumped back a little. She then spins her cross and it extends into a cross spear with three blades popping out of each tip. The girl had an excited look at her face. "Let's spar, Oppa!" She insisted. But before I can say anything Steph came out of the booth and starting to drag Eun-hi away. "Hey! What did I tell you about fighting with newbies?!" Steph shouted. "Come on Steph! I wanna spar with him!" She childishly insisted.
"No excuses. Even without your Higekiri, you're just gonna go full on war freak on the guy!" Steph disagreed.
The teen was tugged away by her friend as she whined. Seeing that was awkward. Reminded me of kids being dragged away from the park whenever it was time to go home. I guess this city never ran out of excitement to begin with. But with the glares coming around me. To be fair, everybody else was looking at a couple of others too. Some had complex magic, and others had amazing physical prowess. An elven mage threw seeds at a wooden dummy and cast a spell to make vines wrap across the target. The vines soon expanded to the size of tree trunks and strangled the dummy to pieces. Another one was an orc that dual wielding two large battle axes the size of wheels that you can find from a 4x4. There was even a human doing arnis with steel blades and magic. The blades were even glowing red and on fire. And lastly there was at another direction towards a thick, five inch, steel wall with targets.
It was a firing range full of magic users and people who used range weapons. There were a variety of others with their own targets and firepower but one duo stood out from the rest. It was a duo of a human and a dwarf. What I found strange was the stuff that they had with them. The human had a huge coffin of a bag with an assortment of other briefcases and roller bags. While the dwarf had a large leather bag and a fifty Cal rifle on his back. They were pretty much taking their time setting up. The human boy then throws a few glass vials a few fifty feet away and wooden targets suddenly appear out of nowhere. "Okay Felix. Let's start of with the regular bullets and hit it off with the enhanced ones." The Dwarf told the human. The Dwarf then kicks open a roller bag and pops out a rifle stand. The human then puts down the box at his back and it opens at the middle to reveal shelves and compartments of items. The human then tosses the Dwarf a cartridge of fifty caliber bullets up in the air. The Dwarf catches the cartridge without looking and starts to lock and load. Just barely looking at the scope and the dwarf manages to hit the target with ease. He was barely affected by the recoil out that big gun. But then again this guy was very muscular for someone so short. Normally when you think of the term 'dwarf' you think of a person with dwarfism. However the Dwarven race are anthropomorphic in nature, they have larger builds and wider bodies. He was four feet tall and had a muscular built. I was just wondering how he managed to deal with the recoil. The kick out of that gun should make him feel pain but the guy was able to reload without ease and no sense of pain. Once the clip was about to run out, the human passes the dwarf another cartridge and the dwarf reloads once the last bullet was shot. Again the dwarf continues to aim his shots pretty well and his aim managed to hit the targets. It was only there I noticed that the targets were regenerating to their original forms once they were shot and reformed like clay.
The dwarf then was passed a fifty caliber bullet. However it was different. This bullet had jet blue color with a crystal tip. But instead of launching it at the target he aimed at the floor, just a few feet away from it. Out from the ground then comes out large ice stalagmites and impales the target up in the air. The dwarf then puts down his rifle and takes out a small telescope from his pocket. "Maybe we should put in more of that ice elemental essence." He said. And just like that the human took out a notebook and listed it down. I was caught staring by Rebecca. "I see those guys caught your attention." She said. "Yeah...I never knew might and magic had reached that far. Looks like I don't need to worry about attention." I replied out of awe.
"Lots of people had been adapting to stronger magics and alchemy once they've been here for awhile. Some even do intensive training to get stronger physically to make up for lack of magic. But in the end it rounds off to the guild's specialties. " Eun-hi butted in.
"Yeah, most of my guild isn't capable of using magic. We just make up for it with martial arts and crafting tools that can help us on the road." Rebecca points out, "We're called the 'Winged Sandals' in the first place because the guild specialized in parkour and are escape artists."
I guess this continent did work like a RPG. Each one had did have their perks. Warriors had their strength, rogues had speed, and magi has their spellcraft. Each class had their own specialization in their craft so it makes sense for them to increase in their strengths and makeup from weaknesses. My class pretty much depended on how much money I had on me so the only weakness I had was permission and funding. Those two had were the many things I lacked. The only skill I ended up learning was from last week was a Hunter's skill in making arrows and bolts . The only problem was there was no forging involved. It would had been a good skill to learn but it was only good if you had some obsidian or Flint lying around. Glass bottles were also a good alternative but you only need the bottom of the glass bottle just to make one. In any case I would just be lucky to even find either of those things.
I decided to squat and take a look at my scribe. It looked as if the rank of my knife throwing skill increased from a E to C. From time to time the skills change rank later on by level. The leveling system is different however when it comes to skills. Each skill are rated by level under a certain rank. F is the lowest while A is the highest. S rank skills are rare however do not follow this system. A skill is assigned a certain rank but only by practicing these skills that they can be mastered and put to a higher rank. It ranks from level one to ten. Once it overpasses level ten, the skill receives a new rank. My throwing knife skill was once at the E rank at level seven; now the skill reached C rank at level five. My swordsmanship kenjutsu in the styles I know are at the A-rank at level five. Even if there is a restriction of skills based on rank, physical skills such as fighting and crafting don't have restrictions at all. Reason being the skills are easily honed and can be improved. Magic on the other hand is restricted due to the reckless nature people do to conjure it. I would understand the reason why the restrictions were given since there is still a chance that spells can backfire at you if you still don't have the experience to get the hang of it. I'm still lucky that none of that happened to me yet. However I don't wanna be part of an accident. Even if I do have a healing factor, it doesn't mean I don't feel pain. At any case my body may heal in an instant but the pain still feels the same. Another reason why I don't wanna get shot again.
But while I was squatting on the floor, someone tripped on me and fell on the floor. It was a black guy in a tactical vest, pants, and boots. The only thing different though is was his beret with an emblem with three fist on it. Knowing that it was an accident I helped the man up. He briefly thanked me, but before the guy could even say anything someone else appeared. It was man with the same look but the only thing different about him. He and his group all wore the same attire but he man was the only one wearing a left spaulders. And behind him comes another one wearing the same one. Only difference between those two was they had different military rank badges on them. "Get back to your group private!" One of the men with spaulders shouted. A group of them started to pile up all in the same attire. All came from different races and species. The unity and diversity of this guild was far beyond the guild I had. There was orc, elven, and many other races. It was there that I noticed that this was no ordinary guild. In front of me was something more powerful.