Chapter 104: Chapter 25
Seijirou got out of the car, his eyes surveying the environment as he took a deep breath.
Retsu had parked the brilliant red Ferrari La Ferrari discreetly in a small, seldom-used parking lot at the foot of a tall, imposing mountain.
The air here was cool, crisp, and clean, far removed from the city's smog.
Retsu got out, stretching languidly before offering Seijirou a confident smile.
"My grandfather lives on the absolute highest point of this mountain. And yes," she added, anticipating his thought, "the entire mountain and everything on it is our family property, given by the former Prime Minister to my grandfather to enjoy his retirement life."
Damn. Seijirou whistles. Retsu's Family is actually connected to the former Prime Minister? They must have a lot of sway in politics.
Retsu then pointed toward a winding stone staircase, ancient and moss-covered, that disappeared into the dense forest above. "Follow me. The hike is long, but the view is worth it."
Seijirou took a step toward the stairs, and immediately, his enhanced senses registered a powerful, oppressive feeling.
He felt a focused, intense presence looming over them, observing their every move, dissecting their intentions with clinical precision.
It felt like an invisible, heavy blanket had been draped over his consciousness. It was intrusive and, honestly, making him extremely uncomfortable.
"Just ignore it," Retsu advised, her voice flat.
She didn't bother to look up, but her eyes narrowed slightly as she focused her intense gaze toward the mountain peak.
"That's my grandfather. He has a rather irritating habit of spying on everyone who dares to climb his mountain. He uses Ki to extend his senses down the slopes."
Then, without warning, a brilliant, almost blinding silver-white aura began to dance around Retsu's body, humming just a few centimeters from her skin.
The energy was cold and supremely controlled, radiating a power that made the air itself crackle.
She waved her hand dismissively, an arrogant gesture of utter dismissal, as if brushing aside a cobweb.
The oppressive presence that Seijirou felt immediately and completely disappeared, cut off instantly by Retsu's burst of pure, focused Ki.
The aura on Retsu's body subsided as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her calm and composed.
She grabbed Seijirou's hand, her touch surprisingly warm and firm. "Let's go. I'm going to have a word with that old man about respecting boundaries."
Seijirou stared at Retsu and thought of that impressive display of power earlier. He couldn't help but feel excited, already imagining himself being able to use that power.
But...
"Won't your grandfather get mad if you do this?" What she did is probably no different from slapping her own grandfather in the face for observing the boy her granddaughter brought home.
Retsu waved her hand, "Get mad? Please. He has no right to get mad. I already told him not to do anything to you."
At this moment, Seijirou realized...being taken care of by a powerful woman who was willing to go against the world for you actually feels pretty amazing.
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At the exact same moment, miles away, Suzune was back in the familiar, unassuming neighborhood of her past.
She stood directly in front of the locked, wrought-iron gates of the middle school she had attended—the place where her quiet, diligent life had taken its first sudden, dark turn.
She stood there not to reminisce about the past or something, but because of Retsu's instruction.
According to the school nurse, the path to Karyoku was highly specific: individuals who have experienced severe trauma, catastrophic loss, or a tragic past are the most common and successful candidates for an awakening.
Retsu had hammered home the mandatory first step: finding the place that you could never forget.
For some, it might be the intersection where they lost someone important; for others, the hidden room where they suffered an indelible violation.
For Suzune, it was this school, the site of her quiet, systemic depression and the slow, insidious erosion of her self-worth.
After her father's death, her father left them with nothing but a struggling company on the verge of bankruptcy while giving all his possessions to his mistress.
Back then, it became the talk of the town. The whole school basically knew about it and she was made fun of and bullied for it.
She was called names she'd rather forget, and basically decided to seclude herself, unable to handle the bullying.
If her mother didn't cry and begged her to continue on living, and if Seijirou didn't pull her out of her misery, Suzune would've already become a depressed shut in with no future, or worse probably already committed suicide.
"Damn, I really don't want to go back here." Suzune sighed, already feeling nauseous.
But she must endure, because according to Retsu, finding such a significant place was the most important thing to be able to awaken Karyoku.
She said that the core doctrine of Karyoku begins with identity.
And a place that is significant to your life is not just a location, but is a knot in your existence—where your past, emotion, and memory are bound together.
Spirits do not hear words, they hear the 'identity' of a being, an 'identity' that only exists when a life has been permanently marked.
Retsu's detailed explanation, which Suzune had memorized, made it clear why this phase was mandatory.
Because it anchors the Human Soul.
Normal humans are volatile and unstable to supernatural entities because their emotions shift, their focus wavers, and their resolve is transient.
A significant place acts as an anchor. Like when a petitioner stands there, their soul is fixed in one state—grief, regret, absolute resolve, or desperate longing.
Spirits require that profound, unshakable stability to establish a lasting connection.
Without this emotional and spiritual anchor, the sudden presence of a spirit would simply tear the human mind apart, resulting in madness or death.
It also proves identity, as Spirits despise performance and half-measures.
Anyone can beg for power anywhere, but only a genuine loss, a life-altering tragedy, or a turning point leaves a scar deep enough to resonate across the boundaries of the realms.
That place broadcasts a simple, undeniable truth to the spirits listening: 'This human has already paid once.'
Spirits are intrinsically drawn to those who have endured irreversible change, recognizing the investment of pain and the debt of the human soul.
Those places also lowers the boundary between worlds, as places tied to intense human experience naturally thin the barrier separating the human realm from the supernatural.
Moments of death, incredible discovery, agonizing betrayal, or unbreakable oaths leave behind an energy residue.
Spirits do not cross into the human world freely; they slip through cracks made by concentrated memory and overwhelming emotion.
That specific place is already a wound in the fabric of reality, making entry easier for the entity.
These places also determines what kind of spirits will be summoned as the nature of the place, the kind of memory it holds, shapes the supernatural response.
A battlefield calls wrathful spirits or war deities.
A cherished childhood home calls watchers and guardians.
A grave calls mourners and collectors of lost souls.
A place of utter failure and despair calls tempters and devourers.
The place acts as the first, unspoken negotiation. By standing in her middle school gate, Suzune was making a silent statement about the nature of the power she sought.
Choose wrongly, and the wrong thing might answer.
Lastly, it forces commitment before the spirit would lend their power.
The ritual is not passive, as standing in that remembered place hurts, so the process of awakening Karyoku begins by forcing the human to deliberately reopen old wounds.
This mandatory pain prevents casual seekers.
If someone cannot endure simply being there again, facing the full force of their past trauma, they are fundamentally unfit to borrow power.
Spirits have no interest in borrowers who still fear their own history.
All in all, Karyoku cannot awaken in places of comfort or convenience.
Borrowed power requires the human to stand precisely where they were once powerless, and, unlike their past selves, remain standing.
Only then do the spirits listen, recognizing the resolve born from true suffering.
Suzune knew she had to face the memory of her despair here, to prove she was worthy of moving beyond it.
She sighed, "Now then...what to do next?"
According to Retsu, you don't have to actually be on that exact place, as long as you are near it, then it can be done.
But also doing it exactly on that place is much better, as more spirits would recognise your will and you will have a much higher chance of summoning a more powerful spirits.
"I should probably wait until the school is over before I sneak inside."
For now, she decided to find a place to hang out while thinking about Karyoku.
According to Retsu, there are three types of Karyoku Users, and what type of user you are depends on the spirits whom you chose to form a contract with.
First type are the Treasure Wielder, where the spirit will grant you any type of tools with different abilities.
The second type are the Skill Giver, where the spirit will give you a specific skill or ability.
And the third are the Spirit Medium, where the user will gain the characteristics of the spirit they have formed a contract with.
For Suzune, she preferred the Treasure Wielder more, but if it can help Seijirou, she'd be okay with anything.
"Alright, Suzune, prepare yourself. The real trial will begin soon..."