9 Back on the Express

Sitting in the middle of his room, Yuuto crossed his arms as he fell deep into thought about the things he had witnessed during his time in Solarian.

From his encounter with some Wingweavers, meeting Jingliu and Luocha early, to being in his first fight in this universe. He had gained a pretty decent amount of things during his short visit to Solarian.

"Let's check what we got."

A huge grin began to grow on Yuuto's face as he felt like a child opening presents during christmas.

During that one day he had gained memories that would be useful in the future.

"First from those winged people."

Memories of [Spear Throwing], [Spear Formation], [Aerial Balance] and [Flight] were ones Yuuto had managed to separate from the abundant memories that can be used by him.

Mundane experiences from the Wingweaver Jingliu killed were not as helpful as the ones he placed a value on as they just continued memories of what his everyday life was.

"The first three are pretty helpful. Although I don't use that wood like energy I can just replace it with my mist."

Conjuring the memory of [Spear Formation] a long and thin ice spear appeared in Yuuto's hand that had an identical resemblance to the one Yorte had used during their fight.

Lightly swinging and tossing it a few times felt oddly familiar due to the new set of memories he received.

"I still need to practice them since the memories don't fit my body."

Passive memories such as [Spear Formation] or [Aerial Balance] bring no problems as they bring no physical strain to him but more so knowledge of the skill.

By using [Load], Yuuto is able to replicate the memory perfectly onto his body akin to how a file downloads onto a computer.

However if the 'computer' is unable to handle the 'file' or doesn't have the right component it can cause some issues.

"So it always revolves back to my body huh…"

Yuuto showed a bitter smile as he felt his shoulders ache as he used [Load] to replicate a portion of the memory to throw the thin ice spear at a block of ice he had created.

He also wanted to try out [Flight] but he realized that he needed to have some sort of wings to actually use this memory, making it useless for now.

Touching his aching shoulder, Yuuto pulled out another memory that he found was one of the most useful ones yet.

"[Heal]"

A light green glow appeared in his hand as his previous aching shoulder was slowly being revitalized by a familiar sensation.

"Even if it isn't as potent as his strongest heal, this is still good in helping me grow my body at a faster pace."

Twisting his body and feeling the soreness resolve itself, Yuuto kinda wished he had gotten hurt even more so that Luocha can use a stronger healing ability on him.

"Now for the one that I'm the most excited for…"

Yuuto licked his lips as a slight feeling of excitement grew inside him thinking about the last memory he had gotten.

Letting the cold mist grow, Yuuto closed his eyes and shaped the weapon he remembered at that time.

Opening his eyes, he was able to see and feel a sword that was 3 feet and 7 inches in length.

It had a pale white color but also carried a small iridescent shine within its crystal like frame.

The temperature around Yuuto began to drop as he held this sword in his hand and thought back to the memory he saw during that time.

"[Load]"

Speaking those words, his body began to move at a fast and steady pace while letting out sharp and precise slashes from his sword.

[Jingliu's Swordsmanship]

With each movement he placed his entire body behind each swing and thrust, creating a burst of air as he swiped at the empty air in front of him.

With each step a quick swing would come after, followed by another slash that seamlessly connected smoothly together.

Feeling like his arm would burst with each swing, Yuuto continued to [Load] the memory as he wished to even replicate the beautiful sword dance he saw.

Wishing to create that moon's glow with each stroke of his sword.

"Hah…Hahh…"

Feeling like his body is unable to take anymore, Yuuto stopped and fell to the ground as his entire body felt numb.

His heavy breaths were irregular as he tried to catch as much air as he could since it felt like his body had gone through a long marathon.

Using [Heal] while he laid on the ground, Yuuto felt a warm feeling enveloping him as he closed his eyes to bask in that feeling.

"Although it's only a snippet of her swordsmanship, It really wore me out huh…but it's still amazing…"

Although every part of his body ached, a bright smile was found on Yuuto's face as he vividly remembered how his body moved during that time.

"Even if I can't bring out the full memory right now, I can still use this as a foundation."

Even if he couldn't bring out the full memory, just using a snippet of her swordsmanship was enough to bring out a powerful offensive weapon on his side compared to the spear skills he had gotten from the Wingweavers.

Using Jingliu's movements as a foundation while also adding certain parts to build on it can create an art that would fit him.

Creating his own moonlight

"It kinda fits since I have this ice mist. The next time I see her should I call her master since I'm using her sword skills as a base for my own..?"

Yuuto mumbled as he got up from the ground and created the pale white sword once again.

Thinking about Jingliu for a moment, he remembered one saying she had said before in the game as he stared out his window.

[I will cut down even the stars in the sky]

"Maybe I could do that in the future."

Giving a faint smile, Yuuto shook his head at his absurd thoughts and began to practice [Jingliu's Swordsmanship] as he tried to get his body used to this memory.

***

"La~ La~ La~ Yummy Snacky~ Pom-Pom is the Besty!"

Skipping happily down the passenger corridor was March as she bit into a biscuit she had taken from Himeko's cart.

Going past a few doors she stopped in front of one particular one where she saw a faint mist flowing out underneath the door.

'He's been in his room a lot since leaving Solarian.'

Thinking about the past few days, March recalled how Yuuto began to stay in his room a lot more compared to his time in the archives.

"Mr. Yang said he was going through some training but I feel like he doesn't even take any breaks."

Recalling how he only comes out for meals, she wondered if he was overworking himself.

"Yosh, Himeko's snacks always lifts up my mood so it should do the same. Right?"

Nodding to herself thinking that her idea was the best, March knocked on the door and waited for Yuuto to answer.

"....."

Silence came out from the other side as there was no response and after knocking one more time, March awkwardly scratched her cheek seeing that no one was answering.

"Is he sleeping? But I see some mist so he should be inside…"

Feeling the cold reach up to her ankles, March continued to nibble on the last pieces of biscuits she had.

She hesitantly reached over to the handle but stopped herself. 

"I can send him a message that…"

"What are you doing?"

"KYAH!!"

Hearing a voice brush against her ears, March jumped out in surprise as she quickly turned around to see who it was.

"Did you need something?"

"You surprised me!"

"Well you were mumbling to yourself like a weirdo in front of my door so I was wondering what you wanted."

A burst of laughter came out of Yuuto as he rubbed his damp hair with a towel since he had just finished freshening up.

Reflecting on her actions, March felt a slight blush reach her ears as she felt embarrassed with being seen acting like that.

"Ahem… anyways I wanted to offer some biscuits since Pom-Pom made a new batch." 

March reached into her pouch to give Yuuto some but nothing came out and she suddenly realized that had eaten the last one earlier subconsciously.

"....."

"...."

"I remember that it was at Himeko's cart so let's go!"

Ignoring the empty pouch, March told Yuuto to come to the parlor cabin trying her best to ignore the faint sounds of someone laughing behind her.

Following March into the parlor cabin, Yuuto saw Welt and Himeko sitting at a table and noticed the array of snacks and coffee on it.

"Ah! I'm glad you guys came just in time. I finally had time to use some coffee beans I got from Solarian. Come try some out!"

Yuuto found that she was oddly excited for this and sat down after seeing her urging him to.

'Is he okay…?'

A weird expression appeared on his face when he saw Welt sitting upright in his chair and noticed the frozen look he had.

Although faint, he was able to notice a black stain at the corner of his lips which made Yuuto worry quite a bit.

"March, would you like to try some?"

"Umm that's…"

March swallowed a bit after seeing the cup Himeko was holding and from the corner of her eyes she saw Yuuto shrinking himself as he ate the cookies in front of him.

"I-I think Yuuto said he wanted to try some earlier!"

'Traitor!' 

Yuuto suddenly looked at March who chose to turn her gaze after throwing him under the bus.

"Oh that's the first time I've ever heard someone say that. Here I'll brew one just for you."

Feeling a bit happy, Himeko poured a large cup for Yuuto who started to sweat internally after seeing the thickness the liquid had.

"..Umm do you mind me asking how you brewed this..?"

"Well I just took the beans and used a blender to turn it into powder and added some hot water to it. It was pretty simple I would say."

Having nothing to say to that Yuuto hesitantly picked up the cup as he felt Himeko's eyes land on him to watch for his reaction.

Swallowing the last bit of his saliva, Yuuto sipped the coffee and felt a very bitter sensation go down his throat.

The taste was very earthy while carrying a bitter tang that felt like his taste buds turned numb.

"I-It's pretty g-good…"

"Really? There's some more if you ever want some more."

Himeko gave a big smile after hearing his compliments while Yuuto tried his best to keep his facial expression from scrunching up. 

He sent a glare towards March who cleverly avoided his gaze each time.

'You just can't be the only one who doesn't suffer.'

Closing his eyes for a brief second, Yuuto quickly browsed through his array of memories in search for one particular one.

'Found it.'

Finding what he was looking for, Yuuto hid his hand under the table and a small fragment started to dance within his palm.

"March, can you pass me the cookie right beside you."

"Ah!? O-Okay."

March passed a plate that had two cookies left and Yuuto grabbed one. As he grabbed one he guided the fragment to land right on top of the other one and he watched as it slowly dissolved into it.

After getting used to manipulating the [Memory of the World], Yuuto discovered that he was able to handle memory fragments passed just on himself.

"Hmm, these are pretty good."

"Really?"

Yeah I'm surprised when I bit into it."

March watched at Yuuto's expression when he ate the cookie and grabbed the last piece to taste for herself.

"!!!!"

Aftering biting into the cookie, an unexpected spicy feeling invaded March's mouth causing her to cough quite a bit.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah I'm fine."

March smiled at Himeko's question as she started to drink some water that was at the table to calm down the burning sensation on her tongue.

'Looks like it worked.'

What Yuuto placed inside that cookie was a past memory of him eating a very hot pepper his friend dared him to eat during one camping trip he had.

After his understanding of fragments grew, Yuuto began to explore more about its uses besides what he had already known and eventually learned that he was able to imbue certain memories into objects if they fit a certain criteria.

At the lone table with four people sitting down, one person happily drank her coffee.

While the other three tried their best to handle what was happening to them respectively.

This however was the start to one of the most famed events people boarding the Express would take part in.