Chapter 48 - Intent, Flow and Essence
His eyes shot open as he regained consciousness where he found himself in an unfamiliar place and heard the bird chirping outside. He sat up looking at his body and had become sturdier than before and turned to his side to find everyone were having breakfast.
"Oh, you're awake." The elder said getting everyone's attention and without a moment to waste when Miu suddenly hugged him, surprising everyone.
"I'm glad you're okay!" Miu genuinely thought he might have died after collapsing since the aftermath of their battle left the field completely devastated.
Haruto enjoyed the warmth of the embrace and wrapped his arms around her while the elder had promised that he would let him get with Miu if he landed a single hit and true to his words let him since he owes the young man a debt for clearing his doubt towards his son that he hoped to be true.
"Join us! We were just having breakfast." Miu said and Haruto nodded as he sat down where Naoki was looking at him with admiration while Kenichi stared at his brother who apparently fought against the elder and even landed a hit! This made him more determined to become even stronger.
"Haruto-Nii! You were really amazing!! How did you move so fast?" Naoki asked while Haruto chuckled.
"It takes time but if you keep up training and surpass yourself then you'll eventually become someone as strong or even stronger than me." Haruto was a living cheat and had incredible luck but he genuinely believed that those around him could surpass him in their own ways.
"How are you feeling?" Akisame asked having inspected his body and found that it was repairing itself at an unbelievable rate. His body was able to remove swelling and heal broken bones in mere minutes. Haruto's body was the pinnacle of human limitation that made him more superhuman than Hayato.
"Nothing but a quick meal can't be fixed. In all honesty, due to the [ Hercules methods ] that I've studied, it gave me faster recovery than normal." Haruto shows that his body barely sustains any permanent damage from the encounter against the elder.
His overall attributes had reached the early stage of an Expert and adding Martial arts makes him a low Master then adding [ Konton Kizen Shōkō jōtai ] then he reaches the level of a Master then add [ Supreme Paragon ] state then he would be early stage of a Grandmaster but going all out then his easily close to peak of a Grandmaster.
"You still need some time to master [ Ryuusui Seikuken ] or the self made technique you created during our fight." The elder reminded him while Haruto nodded as everyone had their fill and continued training with Kenichi and Naoki were made the usual Akisame routine but Haruto his training was vastly different where he had to improve his senses even further than before through meditation.
'The reward wasn't bad.' The years of experience and training of [ Raizo template (A) ] was outstanding since the person came from a movie called Ninja Assassin and the person was a Master Assassin, his technique and experience was enough for Haruto to become even stronger.
'Nice…I actually have pseudo-teleportation when around dark places.' In his new memories, Raizo was able to seemingly appear and disappear within the shadow.
'But his assassin mindset does bother me.' The movie itself is extremely bloody and his mind somewhat changes where he can kill without remorse but Haruto doesn't want to cross the line any time soon. Haruto shifted his head when something went past him as the elder attacked him with a massive club and was helping sharpen his instinct in danger and let him sense things with his whole body.
'This is a lot more difficult than I thought.' He was trying to use the [ Konton Kizen Shōkō jōtai ] because his body needed to perfect in harmony and almost consciously use [ Spiral Power ] but even now he is unable to.
"You are being too impatient. Even someone as talented as you will eventually face a wall that they need to overcome. There isn't a need to rush and take your time to familiarize yourself." The elder gave him some advice and nodded, noticing how his primal urges brought upon by the Dou Ki and [ Hercules Methods ] was somewhat affecting his mind especially now that he has some Assassin mindset.
Time passed by and everyone finished training with Haruto's sense growing even sharper where his basic training had more benefit than advanced kinds. The elder and Haruto were currently having a discussion with the young man sitting on the ground.
"I would like to discuss more on what you lack in terms of martial arts." Hayato never expected that he would teach a young man who has only been training for nearly three months yet already has power that takes years to reach!
"There are concepts that you must learn to improve further. Most basic is "Intent" then "Flow" and finally "Essence". Intent is the person's will and everyone will always show their intent with most able to use Killing Intent but in order to use intent one personally has the "Intent" in their heart." The elder explained where Haruto somewhat understands since his intent or will is [ Spiral Power ] that he had been using.
"Intent can be defined as a purposeful and determined state of mind that accompanies an action or a determination to act in a certain way." The elder continued his explanation.
"There are three internal harmonies that we focus on in martial arts. The first is the harmony of mind ( intent) and the heart. The second is the intent and our Ki. The third is Ki and power. The intent is in part a function of the will. It also incorporates resolve, determination and focus." The elder demonstrated his action when he looked at Haruto. The elder did few strikes where it didn't have any noticeable change. Haruto can see it and find nothing special.
"When I move with intention, I move with focus, resolve, and determination. My mind is what generates the action and the movement itself. The act of intention gives me a path to follow and creates the follow-through of the action. When you step- move with intention- not force, not power but use the power of your heart/mind to see, initiate and follow through. When you strike, strike with intention- with focus, clarity, and intent. Using intention instead of tension when applying application builds and releases a resolve in you that enables you to be more effective and efficient."
Many people would try to hit someone but every single one would only do without any intention and simply acted leaving the power extremely lacking. Haruto saw the elder strike without any wasteful movement and was confident in hai attack.
"You're [ Hercules Methods ] already show signs of intent where your body massively improved due the intent of harmonizing your Mind, Spirit and Body." The elder commented then resumed his explanation.
"Flow is a lot simpler yet a lot more complicated as this is what [ Ryuusui Seikuken ] derives from. Those who understand the flow even how weak that person might be can easily fend off attacks from stronger opponents." The elder explained as Haruto wondered how he would achieve Flow.
"We've all experienced it at one point or another - a state of no mind. For many of us, it happened more often in childhood, where we were lost in the process of something, fully immersed in the experience.
In the martial arts and zen tradition, this state is known as mushin. A shortened form of mushin no shin, or the mind without mind, refers to a state where we are free from emotion, ego and deliberation, and simply lost in the output of our work.
In the martial arts, this flow state allows us to respond with natural and unconscious movement. If we were to stop and think of what was happening, it would already be too late. To embrace a state of mushin is to rely on our automatic behaviors over our conscious ones." Haruto understood seeing how he also entered [ Tranquil State ] but far from [ Clear Mind ].
"The mind must always be in the state of 'flowing,' for when it stops anywhere that means the flow is interrupted and it is this interruption that is injurious to the well-being of the mind. In the case of the swordsman, it means death.
When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy's sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the subconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the man's subconscious that strikes."
The elder said adding Flow in his intent where it made his previous demonstration even more clear and powerful. There was minimal Ki in them that Haruto was taken aback by.
"You're martial arts like [ Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist ] held this concept but you haven't completely understood it which would lead you to "Essence." Haruto intently listened without interrupting, deciding to ask questions once he was done.
"Essence is the complete understanding of the martial arts. This is when the accumulated experience by the individual is placed together and by combining Intent, Flow and Essence everything becomes a lot easier." Hayato took countless years to understand his own martial arts and when he did reach a new level of power.
"Then how do I learn them, Elder?" Haruto asked while the elder stroked his beard.
"It is up to you to learn and discover. Your path is not mine nor anyone else. It took me years to learn these three concepts but I believe you take a long time until you discover the essence of your martial art." The elder said while Haruto left wondering how he will learn Intent, Flow and Essence!
"Take a stroll and you might find some inspiration. Do not think with common sense and go beyond that." The elder advice as Haruto left to do as told and explore the mountain a bit to clear his mind and gain some inspiration that would help his training.
He took a stroll around the place enjoying the scenery and atmosphere that the forest gave. Haruto found himself on a cliff overlooking the forest and sat in seiza studying the ways of the world along with the flow.
'Flow is the world where it is in constant motion like…water.' Haruto took a deep breath thinking about the concept of water.
"Water….it can be as serene as perfection but also formless and can be as chaotic as imperfection." He thought of putting things together trying to train his body once more and began using his martial arts applying the concept but couldn't understand something that he cannot learn.
'I have mostly been copying everyone else but now I truly need to learn and understand.' Haruto emptied his mind and kept on training but found something lacking and even how much he tried didn't satiate the feeling. It was far too complicated in what he was trying to do, essentially going past his mortal sense and transcend himself.
"Dammit! This is annoying!' He sighs, getting more tired than fighting and decides to head back only to sense something hearing howls in the distance. He felt something was off and immediately went to check them out. What he found shocked him was a heavily wounded large tiger that certainly wasn't a normal animal.
'Why is there a tiger in Japan's wilderness?' Haruto recalled that Tigers became extinct in Japan around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago and because of the rising of the sea level between Japan and Asian mainland they were not able to re-colonize the Japanese islands.
Rooaaaar!!!
He heard it roared fighting pack wolves that looked hungry and desperate eyeing for the tiger. Then his eye caught something and became distraught because there were bodies of cubs littered on the ground and only one was standing behind the tiger.
'....she doesn't have much time left yet.' Haruto saw the eyes of the motherly love within the tiger. It was obvious the mother tiger won't live long yet the mother tiger drew strength beyond her control. He couldn't understand animals nor their nature but…in that moment he knew and felt the intent of the tiger. The intent to protect its cub.
'I need to help the tiger.'
[ Quest Creation ]
[ Task : Help the tiger ]
[ Reward: Beast Master(???) ]