Chapter 29: The Hidden Power of Body Strengthening


    A few months have passed since Kana''s little brother was born and I turned 3 years old.


    Some children go to preschool at the age of three, but our family seems to have an educational policy of enrolling children in kindergarten at the age of four. Well, I have been practicing Onmyojutsu and it is more convenient for me to stay at home.


    Although there has been no progress in spiritual power refining, the efficiency of the first through the second refining that I have discovered so far has increased. There is not any particr reason for this, but simply thanks to the fact that I have be ustomed to it. I am now able to refine at the same time as I go about my daily life.


    My practice of Onmyojutsu is going well, and I am now able to write beautiful letters, and I am also able to make my own "glowing and flying talismans," which my father prepared for me at the beginning.


    It was difficult to handle the sumi ink, but my young body was like a sponge, absorbing new things. I am now practicing the 10 different patterns needed to make the talismans.


    However, things are not going well with the mysterious creatures. They started to run away from me more and more.


    Even when I set traps, they disappear like spiders when I approach them.


    The number of creatures I catch is decreasing day by day. Meanwhile my tentacle-handling skills are improving in inverse proportion.


    Now I can move so delicately that I can do such and such things to the princess knight.(T/N - I was waiting for him to say something like this)


    There were many changes, but most important was my physical capabilities.


    The technique I call Body Strengthening was awakened.


    The Body Strengthening, which until now had been activated by intentionally manipting spiritual power, is now always activated without any particr awareness. Yes, if I were to use an analogy, it would be a state like the breathing always-on state of Zenshu0.


    A more urate example would be the intracellr symbiosis theory of mitochondria and chlorosts.


    The theory is that mitochondria and chlorosts, which are eukaryotic cells, were originally independent organisms, but survived through symbiosis by being incorporated into animal and nt cells.


    Until now, I had been activating my cells by applying spiritual power to my entire body, but I thought it might be possible to apply my spiritual power to my cells, so I tried to insert a spiritual element into my cells and the reaction I got was unexpected.


    It remained in the cell for a long time and did not disappear. Moreover, it had the same effect of strengthening the body even inside the cell.


    Cells should be dying every minute and every second, but the Body Strengthening has not disappeared. In other words, along with cell division, the spiritual element is also dividing and multiplying.


    It was as if I was demonstrating the intracellr symbiosis theory.


    I am not sure if it is true or not because it is all based on my senses, but I know my body well. Through a process like that, the Body Strengthening was awakened.


    I wonder if I can still call myself a homosapien.


    I became obsessed with Body Strengthening after trying it out on a whim and achieving great results.


    I wondered if there might be some other hidden potential.


    Six months passed.


    I was now three years and six months old, and my body was getting stronger and stronger.


    I reced the spiritual elements that had been injected into my cells with heavy spiritual elements, and my robustness increased. My hand doesn''t hurt when I hit a stone, and the tip of a needle crushed when I tried to stick it in.


    I think I might have ceased to be a human being after all.


    Although I was a little worried, this is the Onmyoji world where you are not even able tobat Ykai at this level.


    After I started practicing Onmyojutsu, the damn father started talking to me about his work.


    From what he told me, Ykai far exceed human''s physical strength and move at an unbelievable speed.


    To counter them, Onmyoji use Shikigami, and they also use talismans and rituals.


    And it is the Samurai whopete with such Ykai of inhuman strength with their physical abilities.


    ......Onmyoji are an anachronism, I wonder who the Samurai are and where is the decree on the abolition of the sword.


    The only thing I can think of is that the "Gokenke" (the family of the sword), in which my father works, is also a Samurai family.


    If Onmyoji are the rear guard, the Samurai are the vanguard.


    I heard that they fight against non-human enemies by sharing roles.


    I wish I had been told about this earlier.


    Incidentally, I heard that the Samurai family members use not "spiritual power" but "internal energy" to strengthen their bodies and gain superhuman strength.


    Another unknown source of energy was discovered.


    It was this moment I began to wonder if this world was really the Japan I used to live in.


    With these new facts, I decided that it was safe for me to train this Body Strengthening for real.


    In addition to the traditional Samurai, I heard that a type of onmyojutsu master called a Warrior Monk has a technique simr to Body Strengthening, so I decided that it was toote to worry about bing a non-human.


    It is obvious that a professional Onmyoji should be able to deal with meleebat.


    "Nunununu, Gugugugu, Nungaaaaaaa"


    I didn''t realize it until I was reincarnated.


    I discovered that when I''m passionate about something, I get into it so much that it bes a little too much.


    In my previous life, I had literally lost my life because I didn''t know that I could have such fun.


    Now I''m trying to push the limits of my physical strength.


    I''m going around with spiritual power all over my body, moving my spiritual elements as well, mobilizing all the heavy spiritual elements in my cells. I always stop when I feel something like a wall, but this time I want to go beyond that wall.


    It is well known that human muscles are instinctively put on a limiter, as in the phrase "foolhardiness on fire".


    Which means, I bet I could exert my physical strength beyond its limits, too!


    This was the concept that had me roaring in my house while my family was away from home.


    The time limit is until my mother and Yuya return from shopping.


    By then, I''ll somehow.....woooooooooooow!


    I hate the sports club atmosphere, but I couldn''t help but let out a yell of enthusiasm.


    Perhaps it worked, but the Body Strengthening showed a new effect.


    --- with the consequence of a phase shift to the underworld.


    --------


    "Where am I?"


    I had been meditating to get myself in the right frame of mind, but when I opened my eyes to a pleasant breeze caressing my cheeks, I found myself in a different world.


    I was standing alone in a town with a nostalgic atmosphere and a sunset sky.


    I was standing alone in a ce I had no recollection of.


    The bedroom I was in earlier was also dimly lit, but it would have still been bright in thete afternoon.


    In the first ce, there was no way I was standing outside barefoot.


    Looking around carefully, I found that the ce where I was standing seemed to be in a crampedpound.


    Behind me is a shrine building enshrining something, and the deep shadows of the building create a strange aura.


    Outside thepound are rows of one-story houses, so I guess this is a small shrine in a residential area.


    It is so dimly lit that it cannot be exined simply by the fact that it is evening, and the air is filled with a sticky feeling as one breathes, creating an inexplicably unsettling atmosphere.


    It''s a strange situation that could be upsetting, but as someone who has experienced reincarnation once, I can''t help but think that something like this could happen.


    Because I know the reason.


    "No doubt it has to do something with the Body Strengthening technique. I don''t know how in the world it got me here though."


    I know the cause, but I don''t know how to deal with it.


    I wondered where I was, how I could get home, and if I could do something before my mother and the others returned.


    As I was thinking about these things and looking around, my head began to throb without warning.


    "Ugh, what is this? My whole body is aching, what in the world is going on?"


    Even though I have experienced severe pain from cancer, I don''t think I can endure this headache.


    I don''t have any medicine on hand, and I don''t know how to get home, and this is too hard to endure.


    As I was holding my head in pain, a voice suddenly called out to me from behind.


    "+`>`+_>"! *+_*%#&? <Are you a spirit, by any chance?>"


    There was a shadow of a child in that ce where there should have been no one when I looked back earlier.


    The shadow does not mean a trace, but the figure of the child standing there is pitch ck, as if the shadow of the child had floated up,...... and it is hard to believe that it is a human being.


    However, I could sense the child''s characteristic poor speech.


    In addition to that, the call I had just heard.


    I felt a strong sense of difort, as if the meaning of the word was forcibly etched into my brain, even though I did not know thenguage at all.


    The streets were the same as in the normal human world, but after encountering this child, I understood clearly that this was not a world where humans lived.