3 Chapter 3
Standing up, Igor's gaze became resolute. It was as if a burden had been taken off his shoulders. At this moment, his eyes showed not the gaze of an innocent teenager…but that of a budding man.
"Don't call a son of Dimori a pansy."
.
|DxD|
.
"Alright. Let's do this."
After an hour of silence to grieve, Igor had finally put the death of his family behind him. It somewhat helped that he didn't witness it or else he would need a day.
[Oh Goody! Goody goody goody! The time chamber is a part of you like a sacred gear and since you already know it exists, you shouldn't have much trouble activating it. Finally, never give up Igor.]
His tone turned serious.
[In my eighty years of searching for a suitable prospect, you are the only one who has managed to pass my criteria. So no matter what, don't give up. Because if you do, then you won't be able to handle the higher stages.]
Igor was silent, slowly accepting everything. His family was dead and even if he was allowed to be sent back, he would immediately be killed. With his options locked, Igor stared at the moonlit skies with a solemn, yet steadfast gaze.
"Understood."
[Goody-]
"Time chamber activate."
Interrupted by Igor's stern, yet childish tone, Ted watched from his bed with a dry gaze as Igor vanished in a circular column of white light.
Fuuush
[...]
With the rectangular window in front of him showing the clearing where Igor was last seen, Ted simply turned to sleep.
"I don't know how his brain works, but I've never seen a human get strong without at the very least, having a system. Instead of becoming a gamer, the blonde bastard chose to rely on himself."
He couldn't help but release a smirk.
"Heh~ I really look forward to seeing how far Dimori-chan will grow."
.
|DxD|
.
Igor looked around with a calculative gaze at his surroundings. The entire place looked almost exactly like the hyperbolic time chamber from Dragon Ball. From the two massive hourglasses to the dome buildings. The white tiles on the floor only expanded a dozen or so metres, before surrendering to ash-coloured ground that extended far past the horizon. The sky was equally, if not darker in colour. But the beautiful streaks of different coloured lights forming auroras more than made up for the lack of greenery.
Making his way to the building, Igor spotted three doors. One was massive and stood in the middle.
[Most likely the exit.]
To his left and right were smaller doors. Going to the one on his right first, he opened it and it revealed a massive kitchen with equally massive shelves and one steel door with a temperature control panel next to it.
[A fridge?]
A small smile came to his childish form.
"Nice."
He walked on over to the fridge, eager to see what was stocked inside. Opening it, he found entire carcasses of skinned and gutted animals. He could see the beheaded frozen carcasses of sheep, goats, and cows hanging on hooks. Each row had about twenty of each animal. Then on the sides, beheaded, de-feathered, and gutted, were steel trays of frozen chicken. At the far end of the room behind a glass door, he could see shelves containing numerous eggs, milk and various other foods that require refrigeration.
Having seen enough, he walked out while sporting a contemplative look.
[Does the food regenerate or will I have to hunt it myself in the future?]
His pondering stopped when he stepped outside the kitchen. Now to his right, was the exit and in front of him, was another unexplored room.
"Let's see what this one has."
Looking at the doorhandle that was a few centimetres higher than him, a momentary twitch of the eyebrow was all Igor gave before opening it.
[I hate being short.]
But that little bit of grievance in his heart was washed away when, upon opening the door, he was greeted with literally, hundreds of various weights, barbells, kettlebells,etc. There were also dozens of different machines, each tailored to training different body parts. There was also a treadmill and other fitness equipment. All in all, this room was packed to the brim with various training equipment that would make the likes of Maito Gai salivate.
But all of this paled in comparison to what Igor saw next. Just as his eyes were glossing over a smith machine situated at the right corner of the room, out of the corner of his eye, he saw what seemed to be two temperature control panels. Swiveling his head towards the two panels, he gave a confused "Huh?" before moving to take a closer look. Both panels were right by the door so he didn't have to walk far. Finally getting to them, he looked at the one on the right. From the LED display, it was a pretty standard air conditioner that could calculate temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.
But to the left, he squinted for a bit when next to the number '1', he saw the symbol 'g'. He briefly wondered what '1g' meant for a bit before it finally clicked.
"Could it be…"
Stretching his hand towards the keypad, he pressed the backspace button before typing in '2'. Pressing the slightly larger square button in the centre, the change was gradual.
"?!"
It first started with his organs feeling as if they were pressing onto his pelvis. The shortness of breath came quickly. Before his knees could even wobble, Igor hastily pressed the reset button on the dial.
He heaved a sigh of relief when the gravity came back to normal.
"Finall-"
He quickly had to stop himself from vomiting as his organs readjusted to normal gravity again. It took a while before he recovered. But dutifully keeping a hand over his mouth, he couldn't help but think to himself.
[Just increasing gravity by a single unit would bring me to my knees. I really have my work cut out for me.]
Brushing himself off, he continued to walk through the gym hall until he came across another room. It was your standard bedroom with another door leading to the bathroom. The bedroom itself was pretty spartan with only the bare essentials. There was another door as well besides the one to the bathroom. Opening it, Igor was stumped to see three rows of shelves littered with multitudes of books. To the sides of the small library, were shelves containing scroll casings. He walked to the shelf in the middle and picked up the lone book that was placed on top of it.
'Ki or Chakra. The Dilemma'
Finding himself gaining interest, he carried the book out of the library, resolving himself to start reading it once he's done. Walking out, he soon left the building and came outside.
He briefly took in the scene and let out a sigh.
"I feel…at peace."
Maybe it had something to do with the silence. Maybe the relaxing sound of the sand falling through the small gap in the hour glasses relaxed his mind. Either or, the solitude gave Igor enough peace of mind that everything would be alright.
Feeling the hardness of the book in his arms, he sat down on the steps and began reading.
[I have a long way to go. So I might as well start here.]
'I do not know who is reading this book of mine, nor do I care. However, I do know you're human…hopefully. If you are anything other than human, then please close this book as it will be of no use to you. If you are indeed human, then carry on reading my young friend.
Getting straight to the point, you can call me Nakamura and I am a demigod. If you do not know what that means, here is a brief explanation. Being a demigod means that I failed to open the 10th Gate and ascend into becoming a god, causing me to regress back to the 9th Gate and become a demigod. If you do not know what THAT means, then we have a lot of work to do.
But that is besides the point. You're here because you want to know what energy system to follow. For starters, let's break those energy systems down.
The first and foremost, is ki. Ki is energy generated from your lifeforce and can be used to either create, or destroy. I won't get into the specifics yet.
The second energy type is chakra. Chakra is the energy of the world that you can absorb. That's about as blunt as I can get. Chakra is generated by the world and while it can also create and destroy, chakra is far more versatile than ki. Again, I won't get into the specifics.
Now, to determine what energy system you'll use, will depend on two fundamental things. One is what type of human you are and whether or not there is a demon that can help you. Yes, I said "demon". Reason being, demons are literal manifestations of chakra and if you have a demon at your side, they can help you hone your chakra. Otherwise, ki will be your default go-to.
The reason why I say that young one is quite simple. Unless you have the lifespan, don't even bother practicing chakra without the help of a demon. In fact, even if you do somehow have the lifespan, practicing chakra on your own will take so long to the point that it would be more cost-effective to practice ki.
But don't get so down and out yet. In the future, you will have the option of practicing both energy types. After all, humans are unique in their ability to adapt to anything. And that is where the 'type' of human you are comes into play.
Humans are divided into three types.
1. Yahweh's Human (Ancient)
These, my friend, are the humans of the humans. The best of the best. The cream of the crop. It doesn't get better than this. I never personally knew Yahweh but I sure as hell knew the monsters he created. These creations of his dominated the southern galaxy. Even if the human didn't train at all, they had enough power to destroy entire cities. That is how powerful they were. Now, there are many powerful races so it wouldn't be a problem to keep humans in check…except for one reason. There is no other race that is as powerful and STILL as fertile as Yahweh's humans. Typically, the stronger the race, the less fertile they are. This is to preserve the natural order of the universe. This did not apply to humans. Anyway, I'm rambling here but just know that ancient humans, were insanely strong, with insane potential, and insane fertility. If, somehow, you are this human type, then you can read for your pleasure.
2. Yahweh's Human (Cursed)
How the mighty have fallen. These, my friend, are the result of arrogance. After thousands of years, Yahweh finally had enough of the arrogance of his creations and cursed them, taking away their strength and sealing their potential. The blow was so hard that the empire humans controlled shrunk from the entire galaxy, to their birth planet called, Earth. If you are this type of human, then you really, really, really, REALLY, have a lot of work to do. And you better have a way to extend your lifespan because if you want to break the curse Yahweh placed on you, you might need a century…or two.
3. Human
This is the human type that I am and they can be considered the original human. These humans were born from the union between an angel and a demon. *Breathes in*. Here's the sad part. Instead of being super powerful hybrids that would rule the universe, these humans were like the result of what happens when brother and sister do adult things. The exact opposite happened. Instead of being powerful, these humans were born immensely weak. Why that is so is because of the clash between chakra and ki in their bodies. Chakra and ki are complete polar opposites. Having both energies inside their bodies wreaked havoc, causing these humans to have a lifespan of less than a century. If you are this type of human, then you have a bit more leeway than cursed humans. Your body and soul just have to get strong enough and you'll be able to trump the lifespan issue. It sounds easy until you find out you only have until the age of fifty.
Either way, these are the three types of humans you have to work with. If you're an ancient human, it will be obvious. Unless you can jump onto the roof of your house in one bound, then you're either a cursed human or…an inbred(?) human. If you're my brother from another mother, then at some point in your life, you should've felt like something had been tearing through your chest and stomach. If not, and your life was as ordinary as can be, then you're a descendant of Adam himself.
But regardless, it doesn't really matter what type of human you are. You are either an ancient human or you are not. If you are not, then you have to prepare to train as intensely as you can because you cannot get anywhere, without overcoming the curse or energies that plague your body.
What I want you to do now young one, is to close this book and think things properly. Understand that taking the path to earning strength comes with its own challenges and adversities. There will be blood shed and tears wept because once you join the supernatural world, it will be the same as becoming a tall tree amongst a field of grass.
Close this book now and properly sort out your thoughts.'
Following the book's instructions, Igor closed it. Sitting on the steps, he gazed at the auroras gently shifting in the sky.
"Old man Nakamura. There is nothing in life that I want more than to be powerful. I am fully aware of what being powerful entails. If I remain as the weakling I am, I can hide amongst the mundane with little risk of being culled. Powerful entities will ignore me like how I ignore grass. But if I start to grow, I will attract their attention, especially since I'm a human without a sacred gear1 enhancing my growth."
His fists clenched as a challenging grin rose to his face.
"But that's the point! What's the point of growing stronger if I don't meet challenges? It will be all the more enjoyable once I reach the top!"
He stood up, a mean gaze of determination glinting in his eyes.
"I am a man and a man must seek power. With all of this at my fingertips, I would be a failure of a man if I didn't take a chance."
He raised his head to the sky.
"I, am Igor von Dimori! And I will become the strongest existence in this universe!"
.
AN
1. "But if I start to grow, I will attract their attention, especially since I'm a human without a sacred gear* enhancing my growth."
Explanation: the time chamber isn't a sacred gear. It is LIKE a sacred gear in that it is situated in Igor's soul. But it does not in any shape or form, improve Igor's physique like other sacred gears…not passively anyway.
