The next day, Kai woke up feeling somehow "complete", as if everything in his body fit perfectly together—something akin to being in the zone but much stronger. Additionally, he could instinctively sense his surroundings, somewhat like his [En], but less detailed, as if it were a "breath" or something like that—really strange.
"Am I in my room? Did Onee-chan bring me here? How long was I unconscious? It can't be too long, or I'd surely be in a hospital, although Onee-chan isn't home…"
As he talked to himself, Kai sat up in bed and looked around, quickly noticing that his vision seemed to have improved, allowing him to see far more details and even more colors than before. This inevitably made him call on his trusted assistant for a quick check of his condition.
"Sage."
With Kai's words, a figure took shape beside him, but the black-haired boy could only stare utterly dumbfounded at the figure that appeared, as it wasn't the winged orb of light he expected but rather something like a fairy.
"What the hell are you?"
With eyes full of doubt and confusion, Kai asked as he analyzed the curious fairy. She was the size of his palm, with slightly reddish-blond hair, blue eyes, elongated ears like an elf, and four almost translucent wings on her back that seemed to be made of light. She was dressed in a blue gown that appeared to be made of light or perhaps pure energy.
"What do you mean, Master? Of course, I'm Sage, your faithful assistant."
The beautiful fairy spoke with a smile and a melodious, cheerful voice as she flew in front of him, which only made Kai's expression sour as he asked in a somewhat dark tone.
"Master? Sage? What happened to you? Why do you look like this, and why are you talking to me like that?"
"How do I look, Master?" the beautiful fairy asked while tilting her head cutely.
"There's a mirror over there. Take a look." Not knowing what to think, Kai just pointed to a mirror in the room as he spoke.
"Oh, I'll check."
After exclaiming while covering her mouth with one hand, the fairy quickly flew to the mirror, then gasped in surprise before flying back to Kai with an expression full of shock.
"Master, what happened? Why do I look like this?"
"If you don't know, then I certainly don't. Also, why are you talking like this? Why are you suddenly calling me 'Master'?"
Sitting on the bed, Kai asked, full of confusion, which made the fairy seemed to sit in the air while putting a finger near her lips and tilting her head as if thinking deeply. Only to then respond with a cheerful smile.
"Mmm… Because it sounds cute?"
"Sounds cute?" Kai exclaimed almost speechlessly, to which the fairy nodded with a smile before exclaiming seriously.
"Yes, it sounds cuter."
Hearing what appeared to be his new assistant, Kai could only sigh wearily before ordering with a serious expression.
"No, it doesn't sound cuter. Call me as you did before."
"Why?!" Upon hearing her Master, the fairy replied with a pout on her face, something the blue-eyed boy ignored instead of ordering.
"Sage, make a complete scan of my physical condition and aura."
With Kai's command, Sage's wings began to glow slightly with different colors, and shortly after, a hologram filled with an immense amount of data appeared in front of him while the beautiful fairy responded.
"It's done, Master." Sage stuck out her tiny tongue at Kai, who raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, then ignored the fairy and focused on the information in front of him as he ordered.
"Give me a quick summary of the information."
"Significant changes were found in all aspects. On one hand, your physique was almost remodeled; although you look the same, your senses are at least twice as sharp, as are your strength, reflexes, and so on.
Your aura also received a similar boost, and it seems to have undergone slight changes as well, although more thorough tests are needed to determine them precisely." Sage explained in a more serious tone as she flew to Kai's shoulder, where she calmly sat down.
For his part, Kai looked at the strange fairy on his shoulder with one of his eyebrows twitching slightly, but at that moment, there were more important things to focus on, so he decided to ignore her and ask instead.
"Is your change due to the changes in my aura that you mentioned?"
"That's most likely the case, as all other abilities underwent different kinds of changes, especially my skills, like Alcatraz and Accomplice." Sage responded after her wings glowed for a few moments, which immediately led Kai to ask, somewhat concerned.
"What changes did Accomplice undergo?"
"Nothing that goes against your objectives, Master. In fact, you could say it's a good thing, as they can now use their aura to empower themselves for close combat, and the update cooldown time has been reduced to just 7 hours." Sage commented with a cute smile on her face, which allowed Kai to let out a sigh of relief.
"That's good. Give me a list of the changes all abilities have undergone."
"Of course, Master," Sage replied with a smile, as a new holographic screen appeared in front of Kai detailing all his abilities and their respective changes.
"By the way, I told you to call me Sir, not Master."
While reading the information on the holographic screen, Kai did not forget to comment, which made Sage huffed in annoyance. She then crossed her arms under her chest and turned her head away, her face showing a cute pout with puffed cheeks.
"Hmph."
"They really did make me at least twice as strong, and the pacts of my abilities have lightened on their own. What a strange situation… We need to conduct thorough tests on my new strength."
Kai, who completely ignored Sage's tantrum, commented to himself, feeling a mix of surprise, curiosity, and joy, but at that moment, the beautiful fairy commented, somewhat confused.
"By the way, Master, I can somehow feel Salem's presence in the other room without needing [En]."
"What?!"
Kai exclaimed in surprise as he turned to look at the fairy on his shoulder. After all, Sage had never been able to use his Haki before, as if they were two completely separate entities. Even though she knew it existed, and they had conducted many tests, she never managed to connect to his Haki.
"Yes, it's a strange feeling. It's different from En, but at the same time, similar. I can also sense the surroundings in a similar way, although less precisely than with En." Sage commented in an unsure tone while flying to hover in front of Kai, who quickly responded in surprise.
"Quick, Sage, show me what you're sensing."
"Yes, Master."
Sage nodded, and at the same time, a hologram appeared in front of Kai, showing a kind of rough 3D map of the surroundings and highlighting a sphere of light in one of the rooms, which was labeled as Salem.
"You really can sense things with my Haki, although it seems it has changed as well. Or maybe it's finally complete? Can I now also sense the famous 'breath of all things'?…"
While analyzing the 3D hologram, Kai commented in surprise, but at that moment, an idea crossed his mind, causing an excited smile to form on his face as he exclaimed.
"Let's go, Sage! I think I have what I was missing for the advanced states of Haki!"
Without wasting a second, Kai jumped out of the room's window, although due to his drastically increased strength, he flew out much faster than he expected, even breaking the bed, which brought an ironic smile to his face.
"Damn, I need to get used to my strength. I really liked that bed…"
Shortly after, Kai arrived at the forest near his house, where he tried to focus on his mini-self, only to open his eyes in surprise at what he found. His mini-self was no longer in a fetal position but was now seated in a lotus position with its eyes closed.
But even stranger than the change in the mini-self's posture was its aura, which now appeared slightly different. Its edges were diffuse, as if they were fading into the void, which intrigued Kai, who quickly tried to take control of the aura, but to his surprise, his own aura activated at the same time.
(What's happening? Could this be the 'union of mind, body, and spirit' from yoga?)
Kai wondered to himself, noticing that his aura and that of his mini-self were strongly connected, like two sides of the same coin. Anything he did with his aura seemed to affect the mini-self's aura as well.
(Could it be…?)
Curious, Kai used Gyo on his eyes while clenching his fist in front of him and then immediately imagined that Armament Haki covered his arm, which caused his arm to instantly be covered in a jet-black color. He then deactivated Gyo, realizing that it was invisible to the naked eye.
"Something has changed with my Haki; it feels too fluid, too instinctive, as if it were just another characteristic of my aura and not of the mini-self like before…"
Completely surprised, Kai couldn't help but murmur to himself while Sage flew around his arm as if she were analyzing it deeply, her wings glowing slightly with different colors, before she commented.
"Master, I think I can also use that 'Haki.'"
"Really? Try it."
Intrigued by Sage's words, Kai quickly responded while activating Gyo in his eyes, to which the beautiful fairy nodded, then clenched one of her tiny, slender arms, which immediately turned black.
"You really can use it…" Kai remarked as he carefully examined Sage's tiny arm, and she nodded while responding thoughtfully.
"Yes, it's similar to enhancement, but at the same time, it's different, almost as if a new category of aura suddenly awakened—quite strange…"
"Indeed…" Kai nodded, equally thoughtful, but he quickly shook his head and continued, "But we can investigate that later. For now, let's move on to Conqueror's Haki."
"Understood, Master. I'll make sure to record all possible data." Sage commented in a serious tone, to which Kai quickly nodded.
"I trust you, then."
After speaking, Kai wanted to make his mini-self open its eyes as before, but remembering how Armament Haki had worked, he simply closed his eyes, formed a clear intent in his mind to "intimidate," and then opened them.
The moment he opened his eyes, Kai clearly felt a strange "electric wave" emanating from him, which struck the nearby trees, causing them to sway, and even some received slight damage to their bark, something that surprised him greatly.
Kai's surprise wasn't due to the effect of his Conqueror's Haki, as, although it was stronger, it wasn't that impressive. What really surprised him was that he felt it come from within him, and therefore, he felt it as part of himself, which allowed him to control it instinctively.
Previously, that wave seemed foreign to him, as though he could control its activation by making his mini-self open or close its eyes; everything else was uncontrollable, which was quite problematic at first. However, over time, he managed to control its effects thanks to the Manipulation properties of his aura.
But now it was different. Now he felt that he could manipulate it instinctively, just as he manipulated his aura, as if it were an arm or a leg, which immediately led him to try "infusing" it into his right arm. This gave him a curious sensation, as if it were a different kind of enhancement, while he could see some sort of black lightning surrounding his arm.