As soon as my father dropped the sword, mother got angry and flew in his face, but I didn't care about that. I am fully focused on the sword with a big shock sporting on my face. Luckily my father didn't see that or he would have questioned me if I have seen it before.
I approached the sword with slow steps while almost looking hypnotized on it. As I was three meters away from grabbing it, I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.
"Hold on a second son, let me tell you a little about the sword first. It has always been a tradition for the master of the Zen clan to give it to his descendant when he starts his training. Although people think its a symbolic show, we have been told that it's a Teigu, and its durability is actually even tougher than those I have seen, it a shame nobody has been able to use it. Now all it is, is a treasured relic from our Zen clan's founder, and it's your responsibility now to take care of it." Although he said a lot of information about the sword, it didn't actually matter to me right now because I'm too excited to check if it's my old sword.
I proceeded forward, and when I almost stood above it, I squatted down and grabbed the hilt tight, but something unexpected happened that gave my parents a fright. The bandages turned into a black substance and steadily climbed up my arm then to my back. As it reached my lower back, a sudden jolt of pain in my spine made me twitch a little. When the substance settled down I thought it was done with whatever it wanted but no.
"ARGHHHH" I screamed like a pig being slaughtered alive. I experienced sudden pain in my head, and I could only bear it for 4 seconds before I fainted, then my parents came to check my pulse.
"Is he ok, and what happened to him?" my mother said on the verge of tears, but held them back waiting for answers.
"His pulse is stable so he's not dying," father continued to check my body when he lifted my shirt, he saw a tattoo that covers my back entirely with planets connecting to different planets. The lowest planet near my torso is deep black, whereas the others above it are more like greyed out.
"What happened here today is not to leave this room, Caroline," said my father to the corner of the room where my bodyguard is on guard, before telling my mother I'm fine and just needs rest.
---2 days later---
I woke up a little groggy and rubbing my eyes before I remembered what transpired previously.
'Where is the sword, and why does it feel like I have a sticker on my back' i thought to myself and went in front of a mirror showing my back. What I saw left my jaw falling to the ground, by the sight of a mesmerizing solar system with lines binding different planets.
Coming out of my stupor, I was again reminded of the feeling of a sticker on my lower back, and as I got a good feeling of what it was coming from, I saw a domineering black planet at the bottom of the solar system, and the others above are faded out.
I closed my eyes to get a better feeling, then suddenly my subconscious began speaking to me with the same voice as me.
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[This is our Skill Tree. An innovative way to grow our skills efficiently, and visualize progress. Currently, we are focusing on our own planet, and from here we have multiple ways to improve ourselves. Currently, available main routes are as follows]
[Body Manipulation]
[Take-Over]
[Darkness Elemental]
[Taming]
[Crafting]
[Businness]
[We should be aware that there are specific requirements to unlock skills like a quest, or stimulus. Some skills unlock and select automatically, whereas others will have to do it manually. The skill tree cannot be changed when in combat. As a skill is unlocked the corresponding planet will change to black instead of being greyed out]
[To see and follow a route focus on the main route of choice and we will get prior information.]
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"The hell is this" although I have just been told, it feels weird hearing my self in my head. It's like those RPG games in my previous world, though I didn't play much I did occasionally. Let me try navigating a route.
'Body manipulation' i said to the subconscious, and the tattoo on my back zoomed in on a few planets connecting to each other on my back.
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[Current routes available]
[Body Manipulation]
-[Kagune]
-[Hair manipulation]
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'Oh, it has a route for Kagune's, well let's try it.' i thought with still my eyes closed, and told my subconscious.
'Show Kagune route', and the solar system once again zoomed in on my back.
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-[Kagune Lvl 1 (awakens Zen bloodline, and can control 1 tail) ]
-[Kagune Lvl 2]
-[Kagune Lvl 3]
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When I saw the description I got riled up a little, but the requirement made my face twist a little while I still had my eyes closed.
'The hell, I have to bath in blood, and human at that too. Isn't that a bit too disturbing? Well, it doesn't have to be innocent people.' As I thought about it further, I concluded that its something I can do, when I get permission to leave the clan and roam around.
The requirement is easy if I use innocents, but even if I want to experience war and bloodshed, I still have some basic principles, like not slaughtering the innocent for my own benefit when there are other choices to reach my goal. I want to challenge myself, so I'm going to use criminals instead.
*GRIN* My blood began boiling now that I thought about, having permission to train as I open my eyes again.