It was a small apartment; not as small as Atlas' former apartment, but not as big as a top-end apartment in Oakcliff. There was a small dining room conjoined by a kitchen at the side. Whereas, the living room, barely equipped with a few chairs, was situated alone in the middle of the room.
The level of luxury of the small apartment shocked Atlas.
'Maybe I shouldn't have aimed so high to get a house. We would have been able to afford an apartment like this for a while.' he pondered as he moved behind Rin silently, his socks gathering the bacteria on the floor instead of his feet.
They very soon stopped in front of a wooden door decorated with all sorts of charms. Though Atlas was pretty sure they weren't intended as decorations.
"Wait here for a moment." the blue-haired teen said, twisting the key slightly.
The door creaked open, revealing nothing but darkness with the occasional strands of light drifting in through cracks in the curtains.
Atlas wanted to look, but he knew it would be rude, still.
Finally, Rin came out, holding two small dusty books. Contrary to the textbook-type book he gave Atlas before, these tomes looked like legitimate secret techniques.
"These are the ones I can give you without overstepping my authority,"
He handed Atlas the book and brought him to the living room to check the book out. Atlas wasted no time and sat on the closest chair next to him, looking at both books' covers.
The titles were written in a foreign language, which he correctly guessed to be Japanese. He promptly looked up at Rin.
"What does it say?"
The blue-haired boy pointed at the book in his Atlas' right hand and spoke. "That one is called Empty Void Breathing."
The book had a dark cover and very brightly tanned pages. Some of the pages were stuck together, but wouldn't tear even if forcefully pried open.
Rin added, seeing Atlas go through the book. "The content is in English because this was an earlier made copy of the original. They only kept the title like that in other to honour the creators. Something that is rarely ever seen."
Atlas looked at the book more interestedly, as it was the first time he had ever heard Rin speak so much in one go. He now wanted to coax more words out of the teen.
He pointed at the second book, which had a white cover.
"What about this one?"
Rin looked more carefully at the book in Atlas' left hand. It had a white cover and didn't look as old. However, there was an ancient power radiating off of it.
"This… no one but me has been able to practise it so far."
Hearing that, Atlas was already considering abandoning it.
"It's called Demon Moon Dance. It has existed since even my mother's time. However, most people have found it extremely difficult to use it."
Atlas opened the technique and found the instructions rather strange.
'Right foot up… left foot slide? What the hell is this crap?'
He immediately made his decision. From the start, it looked like Demon Moon Dance wasn't compatible with him and he wasn't trying to be some main character with all the cheats in the world. Atlas was practical.
"I'm going with Empty Void Breathing."
Rin nodded and took the second book back into his arms.
"It's a very good technique that is excellent for developing one's energy reserves, and it is able to be practised every single moment of the day."
Atlas nodded and was already looking forward to testing the technique. However, in the meantime, he used the opportunity to ask Rin some questions about the Divine Energy technique.
"That's a basic technique that can be found at all corners of the world. As long as somewhere has divinity, then that technique exists there, albeit with a different name or form. But the most important thing is that we can only cultivate it at dawn or dusk."
The blue-haired boy was a walking library of things that Apollo didn't have enough time to tell him about.
"Is that why I can still cultivate these other techniques too?" he asked, playing with the edges of the book he was holding.
"That's right. It can be used in conjunction with any other technique, as it is untapped energy, basically speaking. While the energy you may derive from other techniques can only activate some skills or attacks, you can transform Divine Energy into anything you will it into. That is why most experts use that energy on things that don't need specialisation.."
Atlas' mind redirected to a famous scientific law almost immediately after Rin said that.
"Divine Energy can't be created, it is absorbed and it can't be destroyed, only converted into other forms,"
That was the simplest way he could understand the situation. Though, it would be rather hard for others.
He then decided to talk to Rin about other personal matters.
"Do you know about the gang?" He asked, breaking their few minutes of silence.
The blue-haired teen made a small, indistinguishable noise as he nodded. He didn't seem to tense up or anything like that.
"You do know that I am aiming to become the God of Organised Crime, right?" Atlas asked again, only to receive the same answer.
"Well, since you know, I wish to collect your contact details,"
The exchange of contact details didn't take long and Atlas got up soon after, not wanting to overstay his welcome.
"I'll be on my way now,"
The blue-haired boy nodded and got up from the chair, following Altas to the door to see him out.
"See you tomorrow," Atlas said, waving the teen goodbye.
He got out into the hall and wore his shoes and began heading off.
'That Rin guy is pretty weird. He doesn't look like the kind of guy that would be into stuff like this, but for some reason, he was way into it even before I was,'
He mused to himself as he walked home. It was closing in on the evening and he didn't want his mom to have gotten home before he did. It was better like that to avoid questions.
'I need to get home and do some research on these gods and cultivate a little as well. I need to take advantage of all the free time I can get, as it seems like I won't have any in a while.'
With those thoughts in mind, Atlas went home.
****
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