HP: Spirit Talker

At first I felt stunned by the unexpected words, and then fatigue set in, and I felt as if I didn't care, apathy. It was true that the teacher did not allow it to take root and recognized my level as sufficient for a martial arts master to take me on not only in hand-to-hand combat, but also with weapons.

When Sugawara-sensei dismissed me, he gave me two scrolls in beautiful cases and told me to study them for the next lesson in three days.

The scrolls turned out to be very beautiful, in the Chinese style, with dragons and gold decorations on the silk material. But that was not the main thing in them, not at all. "The Thunderous Walk of the Furious Oni" and "The Grace of the Magic Wind" were the names of historical treatises on the development of sword art in Japan over the centuries.

The time until the next meeting with the teacher was blurred by the surf of lines in the scrolls. I gave up everything I could, only half of my sleep time remained, but I mastered the scrolls. And I didn't regret it.

It all started in the ancient, wild times, when Ayakashi, Yokai and other non-humans looked like monsters, not only on the inside, but also on the outside. Possessing flesh made them vulnerable, and they often died as a result. Over time, they began to disguise themselves as humans, which led to the current division into species.

However, it is worth noting that many types of creatures came from other worlds and planes of existence, and "they" were the first to loudly declare themselves. By their very nature, the disposition and character of an ordinary Oni is vicious and belligerent, restless and rude.

There is nothing humane about them, and only strength counts, followed by glory. These big horned guys (the height of a man ranges from two and a half meters to ten meters, but the latter are the legendary monsters) and have made it their habit to roam the world, rioting and fighting with everyone.

Of course, other creatures and humans did not like this. The first to challenge them were the Tsuchigumo — ugly arachnids clad in natural, heavy chitin armor. This is how the style of a rough, heavy sword was born, and there was little style as such, it depended more and more on natural qualities.

The Karasu-tengu cannot boast the same power and endurance, but it was they who developed some of the basics of both melee and armed combat, from which various schools and styles grew. Kitsune took a slightly different path, developing faster styles, more refined, fluid, flexible, with acrobatics. This path opened up many new possibilities, and the practitioner no longer needed the mountain of muscles required for the simpler Tengu styles.

Over time, people saw something, bought something, or gave something away. As a result, people have come up with reasonable developments and whole schools of basic martial arts. This is short because the scrolls mention many names and dates that are not interesting to me.

In the world of simpletons, historians have been able to trace the routes of ancient martial arts from India to Korea, and from there to China and Japan. I don't know how it really was, but I doubt that everything was simple. It is possible that the Tengu were inspired by this knowledge or used it as the basis for their schools.

The study of ancient history, however narrowly focused, fascinated me, and I wanted to clarify something. I don't count the lessons with teachers, because there was a duty, and the lessons were dry and boring, so the knowledge had to be memorized literally. Well, this is what I mean: It turned out that I was denied access to the Clan Library.

Cool, right? I somehow didn't pay attention to it before, and how could I pay attention when all the books and scrolls were brought to me on demand? But when I tried to go there, I was turned away. Several more attempts proved that access was only denied to me, the rest were allowed through according to the rules for visiting individual sections, it seems there is even a "forbidden" section, but only elders can go there. It stressed me out, but I quickly relaxed and turned on my brain, and meditation helped with that. At the end of the day I was given a work plan to be tested the following night.

For this task, it was necessary to cut out little people from paper and cover them with seals, thus creating a shikigami of a slightly higher level than usual, that is, an average one, with the intelligence of a seven— to ten-year-old child. The little men easily found their way into the library and began to "mess around" there.

Their intelligence was enough to read the title, the table of contents, and the summary in the header of the text (this has always been the case, even in the oldest scrolls). Being in a trance, I could establish a telepathic connection with them, see through their eyes, and control their actions.

I quickly found what I was interested in, but I was already gripped by a new excitement, and I plunged headlong into exploring the library. Classes with Sugawara-sensei, with teachers of other sciences, all this went on in the background while I made a map of the library itself, as well as a catalog of what interested me, or might interest me.