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Seiji walked closer and observed the watercolor painting closely.
The first image that caught his attention was a handsome man wearing a tall black hat and clad a white wide-sleeved robe… it was a traditional Japanese hunting robe. The handsome man had a clean-shaven face and a clear complexion. He was making a Naruto-like jutsu pose with one hand while looking off into the distance.
Beside the man were various demons and spirits. Seiji saw a cat demon, a dog beast, a demon fox, a Snow Girl, an Arachne, and a Gorgon… all of these were drawn with impossible detail; Seiji felt as if they could come to life and leap out of the painting at any moment.
“‘Spirit Images’ are drawn by ‘Spiritual Artists’ using their own spiritual powers. There are various types of Spirit Images, and each one has a different use. This one is a Spirit Image that’s used in cultivating spiritual power,” Mai explained.
Spiritual Artist… it was yet another new term.
“‘Visualizing’ in front of the Spirit Image will improve your Spiritual Power if successful, but if it isn’t successful…” Mai paused before continuing, “The most ordinary result is simply a waste of your time and no improvement in your Spiritual Power. But the worst outcome would be that your soul will become damaged.”
Soul damage—it was his second time hearing this term.
“Just what exactly will happen if your soul is damaged?” Seiji asked.
“It’ll be extremely painful… You’ll be overcome by various uncomfortable feelings, lose control of your body, see hallucinations, lose your memories, and so on.”
“Oh…” That definitely sounded quite awful. “If the soul is damaged too severely… will a person die?”
“Yes. But ‘Visualization’ won’t cause such damage to your soul, as it’s the most basic as well as safest cultivation technique, which is why it’s also the most commonly used.”
‘That’s the same as what Shika-chan told me,’ Seiji thought to himself.
Mai fixed her gaze on the boy. “Although it’s the safest and most basic method, you still can’t ignore its dangers, especially for total beginners that haven’t been trained in cultivation.”
‘You’re a total beginner, right? Are you certain you’ll be okay?’ her eyes seemed to say.
“I’ve already resolved myself.” Seiji smiled in response. “I’ll be fine… probably.”
Mai looked at him searchingly before sighing.
“It’s probably impossible to have you give up now.”
“Of course. I must learn how to cultivate.”
“In order to become a Yin Yang Master?”
“Yes.”
There was a brief silence between them.
“Just having high Spiritual Power alone won’t help you to become a Yin Yang Master,” Mai stated calmly.
“Senpai, please teach me.”
“The most basic conditions for becoming a Yin Yang Master are for Spiritual Power and Mana to reach a certain level. But to truly become a Yin Yang Master, you must materialize a Yin Yang Seal.”
Seiji blinked in surprise. “Yin Yang… Seal?”
“Do you know what the most important ability of Yin Yang Masters is?” Mai inquired.
“It’s… summoning and controlling Spirit-branded Retainers, right?” Seiji answered after some consideration.
“That’s right, but more specifically, it’s to control demons and spirits, or any creatures with magical powers, so that they can be used to aid the Yin Yang Master.” Mai nodded at his answer. “And summoning, suppressing, controlling, assisting… the center of everything involving magical creatures is the ‘Yin Yang Seal.’
“‘Yin Yang Seals’ are the main difference between Yin Yang Masters and other ability users. It could be said that it’s the specialty of the job class. And each Yin Yang Seal is unique; each Master possesses a different type. It’s both the source of their abilities to control magical creatures and a way for others to distinguish between each different Master’s magic.”
Seiji rubbed his chin. “So it’s similar to personal business seals?”
“As an analogy, that would be accurate,” Mai concurred.
“Alright then, how do I go about obtaining this Seal?”
“Materializing it by yourself is supposed to be quite difficult. You need to have talent and be willing to work hard,” Mai stated calmly. “I don’t know much more than that about it; you’ll have to ask Milady about the details.”
Seiji smiled at her politely. “I’ll ask her then… thank you for letting me know so much already.”
Another period of silence fell between them.
“Actually, I had another question… right from the start when I entered this room, what… what’s with this area?” Seiji pointed around him and at the sky.
“This is a VR simulation. The entire room, including the walls, floor, and ceiling, are actually gigantic monitors that are capable of displaying high-quality images. This setting is used as the background to help relax the mind.”
Seiji was rendered speechless upon hearing this.
He had been under the impression that it was the work of magical spells! But in the end it was just high-tech science!? This didn’t seem to match the style!
He looked towards the watercolor painting once more after finishing his stream of mental comments.
“Who’s the person in the painting?”
“I don’t know; he’s just a Yin Yang Master.” Mai blinked at this. “If you must insist, he might be… it could be that he’s your ancestor, the legendarily strong one.”
“Oh…” Seiji nodded reflexively. Suddenly, he noticed that something seemed to be off.
“Wait a moment! Could it be… do people not know what Seimei Kamijou looks like?”
“Hmm? You didn’t know about that fact?” Mai asked in return. “Nobody actually knows the true appearance of that famous person.”
Seiji was stunned upon hearing this.
“Wait a moment! So, Senpai, you mean to say… the physical appearance of the strongest Yin Yang Master in history, Seimei Kamijou, hasn’t been passed down the ages? Does even the Haruta family not know what he looked like?”
“Indeed, not a single person knows what he truly looked like,” Mai told him in a serious tone. “Most people, including the ordinary citizens that have heard of his legends, imagine him as one of the most handsome men to have ever existed, but all this is a mere fantasy.
“There’s not a single credible report of his physical appearance left in any record, and there are many contradictions in the writings about his physical appearance, so there’s no way whatsoever to ascertain the truth.
“That’s why there are also legends stating that Seimei Kamijou had already surpassed human form, and could take any appearance that he wished. Some even believed that perhaps Seimei Kamijou was actually a woman… or that he was born a girl at birth and then turned into a man… and so on.”
Seiji was absolutely speechless.
The greatest Yin Yang Master in history, acknowledged by everyone… Nobody actually knew what he looked like!?
And not even his gender was certain… What the hell!!
Seiji had a mental coughing fit and forced himself to calm down.
Upon thinking it over more deeply, it wasn’t that difficult to accept. After all, he lived so long ago that it wasn’t really strange that people today didn’t know what he looked like, regardless of how famous he was.
The ancient times in this world couldn’t compare to modern society. People back then didn’t have cameras and cell phones.
Seiji could accept this after he considered it, but he still felt something about the whole situation was strange.
‘Perhaps it’s just a mistake of my intuition. I should stop thinking about it.’
“May I… begin now?” he asked Mai.
“Please go ahead as you wish.”
“Is there a chair?”
Mai walked over to a certain location and stepped on it three times, causing a luxurious sofa to rise out from within the floor.
A motion-sensing detector plus an automatic lift? How high-class.
“Thank you.” Seiji relaxed on the sofa while staring at the drawing.
Mai watched him from the side.
“Senpai…”
‘I’ll feel rather awkward if you watch me in the process,’ Seiji said with his eyes.
“I need to take care of you and wake you up if something goes wrong.”
“Oh… Okay then,” Seiji relented.
Seiji decided to ignore her presence as he stared at the painting in front of him once more and opened his system.
He selected [Spiritual Abilities], chose [Spiritual Power Increase], before he finally clicked on [Visualization]!
He instantly felt everything around him becoming distant, and even Mai’s figure became hazy.
The watercolor painting seemed to magnify endlessly as the pictures on it appeared to draw closer to him. They became even more vivid, realistic, and living… until the drawing finally crashed into him.
Seiji entered the painting.