1020 AD, 2nd Month of 12, Aokigahara, Japan, Planet Sky
It's been almost a week now since Uehara had begun training his earth-sage transformation with his father and suffice to say, he hasn't mastered it at all like his flame-sage transformation. The issue has to do with the fact of his lineage.
Members of Clan Volka have a high affinity for earth and darkness. Usually, this should make it easier for any member of Clan Volka to control the aforementioned elements. Unfortunately, this is the opposite for Uehara.
While having watched his son struggle with the transformation this past week, Volkarin had come to a conclusion.
[The circumstances for his birth may be the cause of this. Being a hybrid in nature may be causing him to have such poor control over his transformation.]
For Uehara to even have some sort of perfect control, it would require him to sit still and manage his powers. For a short while, he'd even be able to walk around and fight if he's going to stretch it. But his powers would remain stable for around five-minutes before he would eventually lose control and start absorbing more nature energy.
This would cause him to bulk up and at the same time, lose his eyesight. That normally wouldn't be a cause for concern since his strength is increased and his eyesight is rendered optional but, Uehara's infantile body can't handle a strain of that magnitude, even with his enhanced physique from his dragon side.
Once or twice, his body can handle it. But over the course of the week, the repercussions had begun to show. His skin was pale. Volkarin had also diagnosed that his son's muscles were strained heavily and his bones were losing cartilage from repeated expansion caused by rapid muscle growth.
Thankfully, they were in his son's mindscape or Volkarin may just have fallen into despair should such a scenario had happened in reality. With a snap of his fingers, Volkarin had been able to revert Uehara to his original somewhat healthy appearance after having been well-fed by Chizuki.
Pushing his fingers up against his forehead, Volkarin watched his son struggle to maintain the earth sage transformation. Meditating atop a rock-hill beneath the sweltering sun, Uehara had been trying to maintain the transformation for the past hour.
Volkarin couldn't help but sigh. It wasn't even funny any more. His son struggling with his own clan's affinities would be a major blow to his confidence.
[I'm fairly certain it's his draconic side that is causing him problems related to control. The element of earth just seems too stubborn for him to properly control while his darkness element seems too elusive should nature energy come into play.]
Volkarin could already feel a headache building up.
"I sincerely hope this issue will fade as he grows.
…
[I can already feel my control over the transformation lasp. Damnit! Why is this so hard?!]
His body was already constantly shuddering like a person in frigid waters. Uehara had tried every tactic he could think of to control the energy but it was the same as trying to trap air in his palms. At first it seems easy and is actually doable but as time goes on, the hands become tired and will inevitably loosen enough to let some of the air escape. That was what was currently happening to Uehara. His body had grown too tired and was threatening to let the control of sage chakra escape. Uehara tried to hold it together but it was of no use.
In the end, he felt that he would be doing more damage to his body if he continued to forcefully maintain the transformation so begrudgingly, he let the sage chakra diffuse.
However, a noticeable scowl replaced the ever-neutral expression on his face.
"Why is this so difficult? Where am I going wrong? Should I be looking at it from a different perspective? What angle did I fail to view this from?"
His musings however, were cut off by a hand on his left shoulder. Having his father stand next to him, his head lowered in weariness.
"I'm sorry father. I honestly cannot pinpoint where I'm going wrong."
A warm shoulder grab was what he got before Volkarin replied.
"Don't worry about it brat. It's because you're too young and yet you have too much power. Also, I'm willing to wager that lack of sleep is what's causing you to experience issues."
Uehara's turned to his father with an unbelieving look.
"Father. You mean that all I might need is a goodyear's sleep?"
Seeing the incredulous look in his son's eyes, Volkarin couldn't help but laugh out loud at the spectacle.
"Hahahahahaha! Of course!"
Wiping a nonexistent tear, he continued.
"Of course that's all you need. You're a also dragon remember? Dragons need to sleep to be able to keep up with the growth of their energy by having stronger bodies. And growth happens best when they're asleep. With the large amount of chakra you have due to being a surin, you need to sleep so that your body can adapt faster to it. But don't worry. Once you reach adulthood, you can get your body stronger by training."
A resigned sigh escaped Uehara's mouth.
"I don't like being a child."
"Don't be like that son. Enjoy being a child because once you grow up-"
Volkarin immediately scooped Uehara up and placed him on his shoulders.
"-I won't be able to do this for you."
A twitch of the lips from his son was all he got. Volkarin suspected that Uehara would find treatment befitting of a child would cause his him to seize up in embarrassment. But being able to practically feel the air puffing the cheeks of his son caused him to guffaw in amusement.
"Hahahahaha! You have the most interesting reactions."
Soon calming down, a certain thought crept into his mind.
[I should try and see if I can summon Karina. She'd be able to stand in as a mother for him.]
Vanishing with his son on his shoulders, Volkarin appeared on a cliff overlooking a wide expanse of lush plains. The cliff itself was on the border of the rocky region lining with the plains region. The sandy stone beneath Volkarin's sandals crumbled as he walked closer to the edge of the cliff.
Still having Uehara on his shoulders, Volkarin smiled.
"My son. I've already made a connection with my main body. Currently, it's still healing and will take roughly a thousand years for it to recover."
Those words brought Uehara out of whatever musings and indignations that were running through his head.
Ignoring the fact that he had unconsciously glued his hands to his father's cheeks, Uehara had a new set of thoughts to voice.
But most of them were of veiled excitement.
"That's great, father."
Volkarin had a wry smile on his face.
"It is, right? Besides that, we have a much more important problem."
Uehara cutely leaned over his father's head to get a good look at his face.
"Problem?"
"Yes. Do you have a layout of that clan? Do you know how you're going to attack?"
"..."
Volkarin chuckled.
"Well, we've done all the training we could. You can manipulate gravity to an extent, even in your base state. Though I do suggest you don't forget about practicing your seals son. You never know what the humans can pull out."
Uehara, having forgone all embarrassment of being on his father's shoulder, he replied.
"Yes father."
The memory of finding Shikibu and Sakura in that basement surfaced in his mind.
"I will never underestimate them again."
(AN: I may not be able to upload for quite some time as I'm returning to the farm today. As for specifically how long, I cannot say. It doesn't help that there's no internet connection at the farm either. Nonetheless, I will try to write as much as I can for whatever duration my stay will be there.)