The boy's friend couldn't stand by and watch any longer. He tried to break up the fight, but the man swung a punch at him and cursed, "What the hell do you mean, Strongest Human? If you try to take my son again, I'll tear down the Hunter Association!"
Fortunately, the boy's friend was no pushover. He dodged the blow and, with no choice but to abandon him, fled in a sorry state...
A few more years passed. The boy grew into a man, and the man had visibly grown older... He held the boy's child's hand and taught him how to water the willow tree, just as he had once taught the boy. Only this time...
When he heard the steward rush in with the report that... the boy had defected to the Dark Continent while on a mission,
The man fell silent for a long while, then heaved a heavy sigh...
He had understood from the start. When a person grew so powerful that the world could no longer contain him, sooner or later, he would leap beyond it and head for that forbidden land.
Just like him, back then. He had set out full of confidence, only to return covered in wounds...
"Father, I don't regret it." The boy was more badly injured than anyone had imagined... He had left his life behind on the Dark Continent, bringing dragons, forbidden objects, and curses back to his family...
Many more years passed, so many that the man had almost forgotten... He didn't know when his hair had fallen out. In the evenings, he often watched the boy's grandson take his own son to water the willow tree, staring blankly...
"Pop." The scene shattered like a pane of glass, breaking into countless fragments,
Roy's head drooped as he suddenly snapped awake. He reached out and pinched a willow branch dangling in front of his eyes, feeling a sense of loss...
"Are you telling me that you're my family, too?"
The willow branch swayed, shielding him from a shaft of scorching sunlight... Roy faintly grasped at something and murmured to himself:
"Right. The witnesses to history don't have to be people. They can be a tree, a stubborn rock, a great river, or a vast ocean..."
"People are part of nature to begin with, a part of its evolution. So what does it even mean to merge with nature?"
"It's just empathy..."
"Hum..." The aura naturally radiating from his body suddenly seemed to receive an order. Nature drove it back into Roy's body.
The boy closed all his Aura Nodes and examined himself. With the help of aura, his five senses had grown sharper...
He perked up his ears and could hear crickets chirping in the grass...
His nostrils flared. He could smell the faint trace of coffee lingering on his clothes...
He could see farther and sense more deeply. At one point, his instincts kicked in, and he looked toward the second floor—
A tall man stood by the enormous floor-to-ceiling window in the bedroom, arms folded across his chest as he looked down at him...
"Father." Roy fell silent, then suddenly smiled... He remembered the scene from his vision of Zeno holding little Silva by the willow tree while he peed, and the pressure in his chest vanished...
"In just ten days, he's mastered Zetsu... The eldest young master has exceeded even the master's expectations."
Tsubone stood beside Silva, reporting the relevant information about the target... She had also noticed Roy in the garden. It was as if he had turned "invisible" right before her eyes. She couldn't sense even a trace of aura from him; clearly, he had reached the state of "merging with nature."
"Congratulations, Master," Tsubone said, bowing.
The Zoldyck family's "mediocre" eldest son had finally lived up to the talent he should have shown all along, now that he had opened his Aura Nodes.
One could only imagine how talented he would be if his wife gave birth to a white-haired child in the future.
At that thought... Tsubone respectfully reminded Silva, "Madam asked me to inform you that her period has ended..."
"I don't have time." Silva suddenly spoke, cutting Tsubone off firmly.
The target of this assassination was on the Aizen Continent. The round trip by airship would take at least ten days. It was still unclear whether he would make it back in time to test Roy.
He simply waved for Tsubone to leave.
"It can't be too frequent... There needs to be a schedule... Otherwise, the sperm quality will decline... and it'll be harder to conceive..."
Tsubone silently rehearsed what she would say to comfort Kikyo... But just thinking about her frenzied state gave her a headache. She could only console herself that they would have to take things one step at a time.
Besides, once the master boarded the airship, it wasn't as if she could chase after him, was it?
The old steward shut the bedroom door and stood in the hallway for a while. He watched Roy get up from the ground, brush himself off, and ask Gotoh to bring him Snow Walk. Then Roy walked toward the castle's rear garden with heavy steps...
Kikyo was there, enjoying her afternoon tea. She had even added some tonics to it, and was feeling unbearably overheated...
"Young Master, your sword." At five in the afternoon, Gotoh brought Snow Walk and presented it to Roy.
Still savoring the feeling from earlier, Roy maintained his state of Zetsu. Before Gotoh had even reached the training room, Roy had already pinpointed his location through the aura radiating from his body.
Now he raised a hand and caught Snow Walk.
He drew the sword at once,
"Clang..."
The blade, thin as a cicada's wing, reflected the sunlight in a dazzling flash. Gotoh instinctively covered his eyes.
"When I'm holding a sword, don't stand in front of me."
"Yes."
Gotoh sensibly retreated to the corner.
Roy held the sword in both hands, leaning forward slightly, his feet set apart in a staggered stance. He closed his eyes and meditated for five seconds. When he opened them, he drew in a sharp breath—
He swung Snow Walk in a diagonal slash...
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Waltz!"
"Focused!"
Sure enough, it was different... A sharp flash of blade light streaked past. Roy's eyes flickered, and without slowing his momentum, he followed with an upward slash...
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"
"Not focused!"
His brows furrowed. He stamped his right foot against the ground and swept the sword around in a reverse circle...
"Sun Breathing, Third Form: Burning Sun Mirror!"
"Focused!"
Then...
"Fourth Form: Fire Wheel"... "Fifth Form: Bone-Burning Sun"... "Sixth Form: Sun Flower Thrust"...
Until, with his final strike, "Sun Breathing, Twelfth Form: Solar Halo Dragon, Flame Dance," he left a scorch mark along the wall...
Roy lowered his sword and let out a long breath.
He glanced at his status panel... It showed: [Constitution +0.1]...
Compared to his clueless practice before, when he could only gain +0.05 each time, he could now occasionally seize a fleeting chance to enter the [Total Concentration Constant] state.
[Total Concentration Constant]: Continuously practice the Breathing Style while walking, sitting, or lying down. Even while asleep, the body will break free of the mind's control and remain in a state of maintaining the "Breathing Style."
"This is the difference between having guidance and having none." Roy suddenly thought of Kastro. This young man, who had inherited the Inner Sect tradition and created the Tiger Bite Fist through his extraordinary fighting talent, had apparently been asking around about him lately.
"That's right. We received word from Heavens Arena that Kastro has challenged you to a second match," Gotoh said, pushing up the gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.
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