GxG 11
The next morning I woke up to the sounds of my parents getting dressed. I was back in the guest room of the mansion we are staying in, so I must have been moved from Yasaka's residence while I slept.
I looked back to my mother fussing over my father, adjusting his tie for him.
"Honestly, we've been together 10 years and you still can't properly tie your own tie" She sounds annoyed but with the way they are smiling at each other lovingly she is probably just complaining for fun.
This vacation has been very good for my parents. My dad doesn't look so tired compared to usual and my mother is also much happier.
Last night's alone time might also have something to do with it. I'm trying really hard to not think about that and move on.
"Good morning baby. You have fun yesterday?" Oh, they managed to extract themselves from each other's eyes and my mother was looking at me.
"Yes, I had lots of fun yesterday. I had an engaging history lesson while Kunou worked through her tutoring and then we spent the rest of the day playing around her estate. They have the prettiest garden I have ever seen."
"Is that so? Maybe if we come back to Japan we should ask to see it." I don't know, I'm still on the fence about introducing my parents to the supernatural. Especially after learning how murderous and slaving they all are.
"Maybe. Depends if dad has another meeting here again, no?"
My dad finally cut in "I don't know bud, this particular contract is being renewed for at least 12 years. It's only for a minor manufacturing part but both sides like the stability of a longer contract."
"Oh, ok then. Good luck on your meeting dad."
"Thanks bud, good to know I have my family's support to keep me energized while going over negotiations and spreadsheets all day"
All day for real, it was currently around 7 or 8AM based on the sunlight in the window, and our outgoing flight is not until 8PM.
That means we leave for the airport around 6:30PM, so my dad is working from about 9AM to 6PM. Not a full day, but that long of a high intensity negotiation is going to suck.
After my dad finished getting ready, he left to go to his meeting and my mother and I spent the day together walking the streets one last time.
[LINE BREAK]
"Goodbye Nathan, it was fun playing with you these last few days!" Kunou said cheerfully, even if it was obviously a mask.
When we arrived at the airport we were all surprised to see Kunou as well as my touki/formations teacher waiting for us.
Apparently Kunou wanted to come say goodbye but Yasaka had a meeting, so she was escorted to come see us by herself.
"Goodbye Kunou, it was fun playing with you too. Maybe when I'm older I can come and visit again?" and once again she lit up like a sunrise.
"That's a great idea. You should definitely do it!" Yup, happy Kunou is best Kunou.
"Come now Kunou, they have a flight to catch. Let the poor boy go." Said my teacher to Kunou. I still don't know her name, oops.
"Okayyyyyy." she whined.
After some final goodbyes my family and I boarded our plane back to America.
[LINE BREAK]
It was now the next day after we had arrived at home. We basically spent the night getting unpacked and then we all crashed until the morning.
I had unpacked all the souvenirs I had gotten in Japan, except for the bag that Yasaka had given me that holds all the books and scrolls for all the supernatural topics.
It is one of those 'bigger on the inside' type of bags, and my parents just think it is an ornate satchel I got as a gift from Kunou.
While my parents spent the day just relaxing and watching TV, I took the time to read all the primers for the topics I was given and was rewarded with two new motes.
Senjutsu, which is different from Lifeforce Manipulation in that Senjutsu is about the specific techniques for manipulating external lifeforce. Things like how to heal, how to force growth, certain sensory techniques, the list goes on and on.
Martial Arts, which I gained after I finished reading the final primer I was given on the different styles available. From how it feels, the mote encompasses every style of martial art I am exposed to. It will first get me to a passable level in the martial art, taking time to adjust it in case the martial art calls for a tail or wings or something similar, and then once that is done the mote's main goal is the combining of styles.
Basically, the end goal of the mote is an 'Anything Goes' type of style that is built to be perfectly suited for me.
Since it was early May right now the weather was perfect for playing outside, and I wanted to practice my new senjutsu techniques after Lunch.
I spent the rest of the morning memorizing all the relevant plant manipulation techniques, ate lunch and then told my parents I was going to play in the backyard.
Since we live in the suburbs but aren't any kind of new development, the oak trees in the backyard are rather large, but I don't think I will be starting with those.
My first goal? To be the master of grass.
Since it's still early spring, the snow is completely gone but the grass is not completely green yet. The idea is to green the grass and touch up some of the yellow patches without draining the soil.
This means I have to use some of the slower senjutsu methods, as slower ones are better for the environment. While fast growth is possible, it drains both the organism you are boosting as well as the environment. It sucks back both the natural energy and also things like the physical nutrients in the soil. The slower methods don't cause a change in the amount of soil minerals used by a plant.
Even though I could set Senjutsu to focus solely on plant growth techniques, I actually want to get some practice in myself. I'll let the mote work on all the techniques equally for now.
My first step is to sit down on the grass and meditate. Thankfully the ground is not wet or cold, so this part is not that bad.
Next I am going over my memories of Yasaka's garden, as well Kunou showing me her practice and comparing those to the notes I was given.
They are mostly the same, with some small variance here and there that could be chalked up to personal differences in technique use as well as family versions of the arts. I have no doubt I have some generic versions of the arts while Kunou and Yasaka use some sort of Yokai or Kitsune versions.
Yasaka's garden seems to be an extremely high level of a technique simply called Landscaping, which draws its roots from the concepts of Feng Shui, as well as a dozen other nature and flow based systems.
It focuses on the ideas of flow, balance, and harmony to effectively automate other senjutsu techniques in the area it is performed in. That also drastically increases the difficulty of Landscaping too, as you must first master the senjutsu technique you are trying to automate in the first place. The most common display of Landscaping is making natural energy flow so that it boosts the health and growth of plants, like in Yasaka's garden, but it is in no means the only use of the technique.
Back to the current topic though. Grass.
I want to try to get the grass to grow healthier first, then try to grow the grass in the yellow patches later. It is easier to boost living plants than it is to grow entirely new plants.
I am currently meditating to boost my Lifeforce Sense, as it is more clear when I block out my other senses. Taking the time to watch how natural energy flows in the world never gets old.
I can see wisps floating all around, flowing through the grass and sometimes being pushed around slightly when the wisp touches a blade directly. Since grass is such a small and mundane plant, it does not have much lifeforce, thus causing it to barely interact with natural energy. This is opposed to the oak trees further in the yard which visibly warp the natural energy near them.
The hardest part of working with grass is that each blade is so small that I could not possibly work on one blade at a time right now, I simply do not have the fidelity needed for that.
This means I need to boost an area of grass, instead of a single blade.
My first attempts go as well as expected. Since my Lifeforce Manipulation is quite adept at general natural energy manipulation now, pulling out a wisp was easy.
The hard part was weaving the wisp into the grass near me. Spread the wisp out too much, and it is too thin to catch on the grass and does nothing.
Too condensed and it causes the grass to grow too fast.
I attempted to condense the wisp as much as I could before adding it to a small patch of grass, but the grass ended up rotting on the spot. I am still so thankful I did not die back then when I absorbed a wisp, this stuff is nasty.
The primers I was given mentioned a group of people called Sages that consume natural energy as a part of their techniques, they must be insane. I am going to totally read more into them later.
Finally, after a few dozen attempts, and some very dead grass I am going to get in trouble for later, I managed to take a wisp and weave it into a decent sized patch of grass.
I watched with fascination as the lifeforce of the grass swirled and mixed with the divided portion of natural energy I gave it and started to glow in my Lifeforce Sense.
Seeing as the grass did not start to immediately grow, I considered this a success and moved slightly to a new patch of grass to try again.
After repeating this cycle with most of the available lawn space I returned to my first patch of grass.
Focusing slightly, I could tell the grass was no longer glowing as brightly in my senses but it was also looking much healthier compared to before. It was not taller, but it was a much richer shade of green. It looked like we had paid a landscaping company to professionally enhance just that small patch. Hopefully the rest of the lawn catches up before my parents come outside, and I survive killing those patches of grass.
Thankfully after the concentrated natural energy filtered out those patches look much more like the natural yellow patches, so I don't think I will get blamed for those.
I also tried to boost the yellow patches, but honestly I am nowhere near skilled enough to revive dead grass.
My best bet would be some good old fashion mundane lawn care and then boosting the new grass seeds. I wonder how seeds differ from already growing grass? I am excited to learn.
I'll ask my dad for help with that part too, once he is rested from his work trip. It would be nice to spend time together on something simple like doing the lawn.