“Rude”

“Well what do you want me to say!? I just had a character from an old ass book come by to say hello!” I yelled back “How does that even work!?”

“Well, Journey To The West started as a retelling of real world events but someone stole the original copy and sold it to normal people, who just assumed it was a fictional text” She said, getting up and stretching her weary limbs “Not like it matters, in all honesty, it helped Wukong become even stronger by making him ascend to godhood”

How the hell would a book ascend someone to godhood…?

Whatever…

“Oh and what the fuck is up with aura? You told me I'd come to understand it in the match but I have no fucking clue what it is…” I got up myself, walking into the kitchen to snack a bit

I pulled out some biscuits from a cupboard and began to munch down on them

“Well… I don't wanna explain it~! Just saying that shit sounds cringe as hell!” She complained, pouring a hot beverage into from a thermos into a cup

“But ‘Demonic Minds’ and ‘Heavenly Constitutions’ don't?” I brang a biscuit up to my mouth

“Not at all” she snatched it out of my hand and dipped it into her tea

“There is something mentally wrong with you…” I respond to her snack stealing by picking up her cup and taking a sip

Tastes pretty good

Not enough sugar though

“Apart from me deciding to save your bum ass off the street, I don't think I've ever made any choices that would lead you to that conclusion” She spoke matter of factly

“Bullshit. And now your avoiding the question” I flick her on her forehead and she dramatically chooses to wobble her head forward and back like a bobble head

“Fine… Aura is a representation of your EGO put into the real world. Basically something that represents you. It's invisible and can only be seen by those with ‘Aura Eyes’ or involved with the Abyss. For you it would be camera's. It usually shows itself whenever you do something you like. I see it happen whenever you use your copy” She explained, rubbing her finger across the rim of the cup like she was thinking “And if you flow mana into it, you get Materialisation, making your aura physically affect the world”

“So, like a Jojos Stand?” I question, taking another biscuit into my mouth

“Kinda, but a bit more abstract. When Materialised, your Aura basically becomes a super strong power 100% unique to you, so most Rankers can utilise aura”

“That doesn't seem cringe at all… Which means you hid this for another reason… What is it?” She looks away, taking a sip of her tea before sighing

“You caught me. The reason that I didn't wanna tell you this is because… Aura Users are weak as hell!” She shouts

“What-?” I was immediately interuppted by Luna ranting her ass out

“Every single time I fight one, they place so much focus on their Aura and how powerful it is, buts it's just weak as hell! Sure it may be semi-powerful, or else I wouldn't use it, but when you focus only on aura it's just ass! The worst part about it is that Aura is cool as hell! it adds variety to your arsenal and can put off opponents, plus having a Aura Space is incredibly useful, but there's so many plebs who go all in on it and turn out shit!” She was mad as fuck, not letting me get a word in edgewise as she assaulted every Aura user on the planet with her words

“Okay okay! Stop! Geez, I get it. I promise not to be relent on aura, so will you teach me it later?”

“...Fine, but I swear to god if you-!”

“I won't!” I smack the back of her head playfully. She turns to me, visibly a little mad “Ah, No hitting back! That's revenge from you pinning me to the ground earlier”

“I did that to save you. You had quite literally just called Sun Wukong an ‘Aryan Motherfucker’, it's lucky you still have all four limbs” She rubbed where I had hit her just a little earlier “Well, any more questions?”

“Just one…” My tone seemed to give off the intent of the question

“Hah… Nothing. I know your ‘Observe’ Skill said that the truck driver that hit Yoichi and your Mother was hypnotised using magic, but there isn't a single lead to the perpetrator right now. Check with Celestia later, she'll give you a better progress report than I could ever do…” She finished off her tea as I finished my biscuits

I sighed and took her cup, placing it in the sink and walking over to the bin to put the biscuit trash in there

Something flashed into my mind as I did

“Oh hey, Luna, do you know what the hell ‘Mastery’ is?” I asked, and she wrinkled her nose

“Mastery…? Like the word? I'm assuming not… I honestly have no clue, sorry” She threw the thermos to me as I put it in my inventory “Why? What happened?”

“Nothing much, I just got an Individuality quest whilst I was playing in the match. I completed it relatively easily and I got this as a reward” I picked out the book from my inventory. It was bound by leather and had no discernable features that I could tell. Tossing the book to her, she caught it and began to skim through it a bit

“Hah? This is dumb as hell?” She thought out loud

“Why? What's wrong with it?” I asked, sitting next to her and looking into it

“It's empty… There's not a single word written in it” She explained, I took the book and a screen appeared in front of me

[Use Item {Path To Mastery}?]

“Oh that might be why” She looked at me a bit confused “Apparently it's an Item. I just got a message telling me if I wanted to use it”

“Well are you gonna just sit there, or are you going to use it?” She asked

“Be a little patient bitch” I respond absentmindedly, pressing the Yes button and something weird happened

STR: 50 {USE?}
VIT: 33 {USE?}
DEX: 50 {USE?}
INT: 31 {USE?}
WIS: 21 {USE?}
LCK: 5 {USE?}
CHA: 19 {USE?}
EGO: 16 {USE?}]

“It's asking me which Stat I want to use it on…” I furrowed my brows and stared

“Well what does it do?”

“If I knew I would tell you”

“Shitty ass system”

“I know right?”

“Well which Stat are you using it on?”

We looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds

“Strength” We said at the exact same time, as I pressed the use button on the strength stat

[STR Stat has Reached ‘Path To Mastery’! Stat Cap Has Increased By 2x]

“I take it back” I respond immediately

“Did something bad happen?” She stood up and put her arm on my head as if it was an armrest

“No, I take back everything bad I said about this Godly System” One of her eyebrows rose at my words

“Just tell me what happened!” She said, grabbing my shoulders and pushing me back and forth

“It multiplied my Stat Cap by Two” I stare at her with the smuggest expression I could manage

Her hands wrapped around a bag of sliced bread, before throwing it at me

“WHY THE HELL DID GAIA GIVE YOU OF ALL PEOPLE THIS ABILITY!?” She was pissed as hell

And I knew perfectly why

Though it needs a bit of context to make sense

You see, Mana has many uses

When used as is, it's incredibly efficient at intricate things

Such as creating the runes of a magic spell

But it can't be used within the body, so useless for martial artists

So if you refine Mana within your ‘Dantian’, the lower stomach area where Mana is stored, it becomes Ki

There are many names for it depending on where you are, parts of China call it ‘Nigong’, the west calls it ‘Internal Energy’, China calls it ‘Chi’, Japan calls it ‘Ki’

So that's the name I stick with

And Ki isn't really able to be formed into spells very efficiently, but it IS able to physically strengthen your body when it's flowed through the meridians

Meridians are a kind of channel that the body forms when you flow Ki through it, you need to make them yourself and everyone chooses to flow it in a different way which influences how strong Ki affects parts of the body

Basically, all of this exposition is to say that Ki increases your strength, adding against your base strength

So think about it like this:

50 Stat Points in STR + 10 Ki = 51 Points worth of STR

You may think that's an absolutely ass exchange rate, but Mana has a rate of 100 per 1 STR

And because the human limit, people can't go over those 50 Stat Points, so the only way of getting stronger is to increase the Ki you flow

So you can understand the importance of this STR cap increase…

I get smacked straight across the face with the bread

“OH DON'T GET MAD! YOU’RE STRONG ENOUGH AS IT IS MOTHERFUCKER!” I shout back “And besides! Shouldn't you be happy your student has so many opportunities to grow their strength? Greedy ass hag”

“Hag!? I am in my PRIME you twat!” there was a small silence before I spoke

“I thought I was supposed to be the British one?”

She looked betrayed at her own words

We both ended up belly laughing so hard that it hurt

So much so that we didn't even hear someone opening up the door

“Hm? Oh hi! Welcome home…” I heard Luna say, wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye

I looked towards who it was and saw…

Celestia

Not too much of a shocker, she also lives here after all

Plus… It's about when she normally comes home

Wearing the clothes she usually did to work, a pair of purple trousers and a white cardigan over a pomegranate dress shirt

Her skin was a light pastel pink and that matched well with her light violet eyes

Her hair was a mess of colours that seemed to flow near magically, similar to Luna’s night sky blue

“Yo” Her eyes flickered towards me before she simply nodded

“Hello, Jin. I thought you were playing a match today?” She asked, before walking over and taking the thermos from the table, picking up a cup from the cupboard and pouring some tea for herself

Fuck

I hate talking to Celestia, it always feels like I'm talking to an ACTUAL adult

The exact opposite of Luna

“I did, but Lulu over here had to pluck me outta it to meet someone” An eyebrow of hers rose as she took a sip

“And who was this person?” She asked before manoeuvring herself towards a seat

“Wukong” Luna stated without letting me answer, as Celestia did a spit take of her tea

“*COUGH* *COUGH* W-WHO!?” She yelled out in between coughs

“Sun Wukong” I reiterated as she brought her hand to her forehead and rubbed her temples

It seems both sisters share that habit

“Did he go yet?” She asked a bit as she shifted her her head around. She didn't look scared, like how Luna did, or stressed. Mostly relieved, and a bit… Excited?

“Yeah”

“Oh, okay then… Well since he's left, why haven't you gone back yet?”

“Because it would be weird if I just randomly reappeared back” I say, rolling my eyes

“No it probably wouldn't. Since you never left. I made a clone before taking you…” Luna looked down at her watch

I slam my hand onto the table and get out of my seat, my eyes widening as I feel the corners of my lips tugging upwards

“For real!?”

“For real real” She smirks and leans backwards

“You seem particularly excited for this, Jin” I hear Celestia say as I seat myself and lean back in my chair

“Really? Well I guess, I kinda realised it whilst I was playing but…” I smile widely at her “Football is hella fun!”

She takes a sip of her tea as Luna looks at me questioningly

“How though… It's just kicking a ball around…” She says as I sigh and shake my head, pulling my shoulders up and my palms facing upwards

“Dumb Americans…” She rolls her eyes at my comment as Celestia's eyes seem to light up a bit with an idea

“How about we come and watch?” She suggests

“Oh that would be great!” I reply and Luna seemed a bit apprehensive

“I’m not really a big fan of non-combat sports…” She admitted as I stop leaning back

“This is why you'll always just be a Dumb American…” I look at her with the best look of pity I could muster

Her eye twitched a bit at my remark

“I mean, this would be an amazing way for you to expand your horizons… Unless you're scared your student is so trash that they would lose to some mediocre pros…” This, I found, was the best way to rile her up. Insulting her teaching ability, calling her afraid and adding a bit of my personal Jin-Charm™

“Alright alright! I'll go!” She rolls her eyes and holds her hands up as if she was surrendering

“Great!” I pull out my phone from my pocket, checking the time. After doing a bit of mental maths -[Skill ‘Mathematics’ Has Levelled up!]- I figure out how much time I had “It would be Half-Time in like a minute so it would be perfect for me to rejoin!”

Luna sighs and Celestia had that weird knowing smile she always has plastered on her face

“Well, we should all get changed and then we'll be right there!” Celestia added

Author's Note

MUSTAAAAAAAARD!!!

K-DOT DID IT AGAIN!!!!

gnx (album) is an absolute bop and I'm falling deeper in love with Kendricks Discography. Just finished TPAB, GKMC, DAMN. and Untitled Unmastered. Im thinking of listening to Section 80. as well.

I wanna hear in the comments, what is your fav song from all his tracks!

Mine is prob a four way tie with "Wesley's Theory", "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst", "tv off" and "FEAR."