I Reincarnated In My Own Novel
Chapter 6 Sword Arts (2)
"Without ... Gasp ... Gasped"
With red eyes, I continued down the rope.
I don't know how long I've been here, but I guess at least two days have passed since I started going down.
My hands full of blisters began to bleed all over the rope leaving a red trail as I descended. My muscles spasm every minute making me almost lose grip of the rope on a few occasions.
It felt as if I was going back in time where I would monotonously type on the keyboard aimlessly.
I just kept going and going and going, until a sense of time and reason left my body. Even the pain slowly subsided so much that it was as if I was a robot.
Unfortunately like other powered objects, robots tend to run out of battery. And that's what happened to me.
My gaze became blurred and my hands slowly lost the grip of the rope.
...
I seem to be dead again, huh?
Strangely it did not feel the same as my first death, where I only felt endless coldness and loneliness.
This time the warm sensation enveloping my body made me feel very comfortable. It felt as if I was returning to my mother's womb under my mother's food and protection. It doesn't feel bad.....
*Dong!-Dong!-Dong!
Suddenly I heard a loud bell ringing, causing my mind to spin and my eyes to open wide.
"What just happened!"
Suddenly sitting upright, I found my body drenched in sweat. Touching my body in a daze, I realized I was on top of a small bed with sheets wet from my sweat. Looking at my hand, I could not see any trace of the previous horrible scene from the moment I descended the rope.
Glancing around, I finally noticed my surroundings. I was in a small room with what looked like a Japanese tatami-style floor. The room was a bit empty, and other than the small tea table and the large ancient clock that kept clanging in the corner of the room, there was no other furniture.
"You up, son?"
"Huh?"
Tilting my head to the right, where the voice came from, a middle-aged man sat next to the tea table preparing tea. His carefree movements and calm demeanor while preparing tea, blended with the calm environment.
The aroma coming from the tea filled the entire room encouraging me to relax for a moment. But not long after that I immediately jumped out of bed and warily stared at the stranger in front of me.
jet-black hair, jet-black eyes, and a stern yet friendly-looking face.
"Calm down, son, I won't do anything to you"
"Who are you?"
I carefully asked without lowering my guard.
If it wasn't for the fact that I'm sure he wasn't there when I checked the room earlier, I wouldn't have been as vigilant as I am now.
An expert
He really is a master beyond my level.
Only someone who is a tiered above my level can suddenly just appear without me noticing.
Clenching his fists in his hands, as if he was reminded of something, the resolute-looking middle-aged man looked at me and spoke, "Ah! that's true! I haven't introduced myself, have I?" Smiling lightly, he extended his right hand towards me. "It's nice to meet you, son, my name is Toshimoto Keiki"
Instantly my pupils widened, and my mouth loosened.
"But t-but how? Are you not dead!"
My speech stuttered and my body trembled as I looked at the man in front of me in shock.
"Hey, kid, don't be like that."
Laughing bitterly at my reaction, Grandmaster Keiki calmly put down the teapot and blew the teacup in his hand.
"fu...Yes technically I could be considered dead but someone interrupting my home woke up the rest of the souls I left when I died"
"Soul remains!"
Once an expert reaches a certain rank, they can learn an ancient Chinese technique known as {Partment Soul}. Its main purpose is to divide the soul and attach it to an object, allowing one to interact in a short time with the originator of the technique. To better summarize the technique, it is basically a live recording that you can use to interact with.
It had no attack power, and other than inheriting the initiator's memory, it had no other features.
Knowing this, I managed to combine the two and managed to reorder myself.
"Coughs... Sorry about that"
Amused by my strange behavior, Grandmaster Keiki laughed out loud and said, "Hahahaha don't worry, don't worry, I've expected this kind of reaction to happen once someone finds my resting place."
"More"
"meaning?"
Baffled. Grandmaster Keiki raised his eyebrows and looked at me who was grabbing his hand.
"I'm Ren. Ren Dover"
"ah! that's true! How rude of me, I still haven't asked your name.It's nice to meet you, Ren!"
Clutching my hand, we both looked at each other and shook hands.
"Please sit down"
Signalling for me to sit next to the tea table, Grandmaster Keiki took out a porcelain teapot and threw away the contents inside.
"Green or black?"
"ehmm.let's go in green"
Smiling lightly, Grandmaster Keiki added the tea leaves into the brewing container and slowly poured hot water into the container to let the leaves soak in and soak into the pot.
As he watched the water slowly darken, Grandmaster Keiki sighed sadly and a nostalgic expression appeared on his face.
"You know I've been young and stupid like you.In the past, I lived in a country known as Japan. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It has high mountains and beautiful, pink in color.The springs caused by the blossoming of sakura, delicious food, and a sky filled with dazzling stars ... some even call it heaven on earth"
Seeing Grandmaster Keiki reminiscing about his past, I immediately sat up straight and noticed what he was saying.
More than I wanted to know more about his past, which I already knew, I paid my full attention to him out of my respect for him.
Although he may be a fictional character that I created, then and now.
He was no longer a fictional character, and this world was no longer a novel. The man before me was Grandmaster Keiki, a legendary warrior who sacrificed his life for the safety of millions.
Gazing at the ceiling of the room as he reminisced about his past, Grandmaster Keiki smiled sadly and tragically.
"Before the disaster, I had a beautiful wife and daughter. I was working as a Kendo instructor at the time and although I had little income, I was happy. It was a simple but fulfilling life"
"But .. then it hit us out of nowhere. The massive earthquake that struck Japan created a tsunami everywhere. It was total chaos as people were killed and homes were lost. The world we once knew is beginning to collapse. Fortunately at this time my wife and daughter were traveling by plane with me outside Japan, and thus we were relatively unaffected by the disaster, but..."
Suddenly Grandmaster Keiki clenched the teacup he was holding tightly, as his face burned with pure fury.
"Then the second disaster happened!"
Taking a massive breath, he tried to calm himself down before continuing his speech.
"Large black creatures with bat-like wings and sharp horns emerged from the mysterious gates that appeared all over the world. At first, they did nothing, they just stood in the air and calmly observed us like some kind of mouse inside a laboratory. To this day I still remember their arrogant eyes and creepy smiles that enjoyed our despair"
With trembling hands, Grandmaster Keiki stared straight at me.
Even though he should have been the rest of the consciousness, I could still clearly see the sadness and suffering hidden deep within his eyes, as crystal tears streamed down his wrinkled face.
"As soon as they think we're weak"
His already quivering teacup trembled even more violently and his previously steadfast expression was completely shattered as more tears began to flow down his face.
"M-they m-m-taken my wife and daughter from me.... "
With a trembling body, Grandmaster Keiki, no, Toshimoto Keiki, a father and husband, let tears run down his face as he grieved over the death of his loved ones.
Wiping his eyes, Grandmaster Keiki stood up and calmly walked towards me.
"I'm sorry you had to see it"
"No, I understand"
I shook my head and woke up too
Staring at each other for a few seconds, grandmaster Keiki suddenly smiled and patted me on the shoulder
"Good, looks like my luck isn't too bad."
Walking past me, she shifted the shoji (a Japanese-style door) and walked out of the room gesturing for me to follow her.
"Follow me."
As soon as I left the room, I was flabbergasted. An inexplicable beautiful garden stood before me. I suddenly felt lost breath as I stood there blankly, mesmerized by the sight.
-No! - No! - No!
Lush green plants with vibrant cover around the garden and in the middle of it appears a large transparent pond where koi fish of various sizes swim freely in it. The birds freely roam and chirp around the cloudless blue sky, and sometimes you will hear the sound of bamboo fountains planted in the park being repetitive yet soothing.
The more I walked around the park, the more fascinated I was by the surroundings.
Approaching the pond, I could see different coloured koi fish that ranged from a slight red and white peering at the surface of the water almost as if they were aware of our presence.
In the middle of the pond stood a small island connected by a small wooden bridge.
Walking across the bridge, my breath once again choked.
A miniature-style landscape where rocks, water features, and moss are neatly arranged and surrounded by raked gravel resembling water ripples, appears in my view.
"A garden of zen."
"It's good, isn't it?"
Sitting comfortably near the zen garden, grandmaster Keiki waved his hand urging me to sit next to him.
"It really is." I replied as I sat on the ground beside him.
Silence enveloped us as the two of us calmly stared at the zen garden in front of us. It was strange but at the same time relaxing.
"You know I was very surprised when I first saw you..."
The first to break the silence was grandmaster Keiki, who with a smile plastered on his face continued to look at the garden in front of him.
"Since my death, no one has ever been to this place, and rightfully so, because I made sure to hide this place from the eyes of the greedy scumbag who peeped..."
"Of course, even if they found this place just out of luck, I made sure they wouldn't be able to enter. I'm sure you know that rope is a test, right?"
With a smile on his face Grandmaster Keiki glanced at me, which made me remember the traumatic experience I had before.
'Of course I know! I'm still haunted by the rope to this day!' I cursed inwardly while smiling and nodding.
"Yes I remember"
"My nails, you're very easy to read, son."
Laughing out loud, grandmaster Keiki continued, "You see I put that rope there as a test to determine if someone is worth waking my soul up. If you have dropped off but stopped after an hour, you will never be able to find this. Even if you spend a day down the rope, you will never be able to come here. Once you can firmly get down the rope for two days without falling just then you will have the right to have an audience with Me"
Looking at Grandmaster Keiki, I could vaguely see a trace of admiration in his eyes as he looked at me.
"4 days 3 hours 22 minutes, and 41 seconds. That's how long you've been down the rope. Even as a remaining soul, I was surprised by your strong determination"
I kept smiling, but my eyelids could only twitch at his statement 'Of course I keep going down, instead of me wanting to die after just reincarnating!'
"Even if you keep going because you want to live, it is still considered a determination. Moreover, you will never die in the first place because it is just an illusion"
It seemed that after reading my thoughts again, Grandmaster Keiki chuckled, making me smile in embarrassment
"Back to the topic, the reason why I made the rope test was to determine if someone was worthy enough to inherit my sword arts. Someone without determination could never hope to inherit my [keiki style]."
"[Keiku Style] is a sword art that focuses on monotonous but perfect slashes. If one could not practice the same monotonous movements as swinging a sword in the same direction for more than half a day in a row, they were not worth it!"
Standing Grandmaster Keiki walked across the bridge and stopped in front of a tree.
Placing his hand on his katana glove, he took a deep breath.
Immediately after, his figure slowly fused with the surrounding scenery making it as if it was fused with nature.
-desir
Out of nowhere a small gust of wind passed causing some leaves to fall from the tree.
The wind-blown leaves slowly descended near where Grandmaster Keiki was.
-Click!
All I heard was a clicking sound before all the leaves around Grandmaster Keiki were split into eight identical parts causing my jaw to fall into an 'O' shape'.
-Click!
With a single click, the katana that never seemed to escape from the sheath returned to its original position.
"[Keiki Style] is the art of perfection. When you manage to repeat the same moves all the time without a margin of error, that's when you will eventually master [the Keiki style]"
Closing my eyes, I tried to stay calm.
My heart was pounding, and my blood was boiling. 'That's crazy! Holy hooch! How could he possibly cut those leaves so perfectly without moving! I want to do it too!"
Looking at Ren's sparkling eyes, Grandmaster Keiki chuckled.
"Do you want to learn?"
Bothering me from my mind was Grandmaster Keiki's loud voice.
"Yes!"
Without a second thought, I nodded my head enthusiastically.
I'm waiting for this moment!
"Very good"
It seemed that after making a decision, Grandmaster Keiki smiled peacefully.
Slowly he walked towards me and patted me on the forehead
Immediately I felt my mind become empty as a flood of information flowed into my mind.
Seeing me overwhelmed by the information Grandmaster Keiki smiled as his body slowly became more and more transparent.
By the time I managed to sort out all the information within my brain, Grandmaster Keiki was already almost completely transparent.
Shocked, I immediately knelt down and saluted
"Thank you! Thank you! I'll make sure to continue your artwork and spread your name around the world!"
Grandmaster Keiki smiled again, as he muttered something inaudible before he disappeared and scattered into fragments of light.
Nodding firmly I stood up. Although his last words may not have sounded, I already knew what he wanted to say.
"Stay low until you're strong enough ..."
Exhaling deeply, I looked around one last time and carved out the scene inside my head.
Giving one last salute, I quickly walked towards where the exit was.
"I know about it"
