“One hundred and…ninety-nine…two…hun…dred! Ah!”

Letting out a burst-like breath, the small girl relaxed as she let her body drop from its upside-down position. Clenching her abdominal muscles, she twisted her legs around from their vertical position in the air to land feet-first on the ground before straightening up her small torso and flipping her waist-length, black hair behind her back.

‘Alright, four counts in, hold for two, four counts out, hold for two, repeat.’

Beads of shining sweat ran down Kira’s face as she calmed her breathing as she had been trained to do. She could feel the burning sensation in her muscles and fatigue that acted as a stimulus for her Life Energy.

“Just barely two hundred vertical push-ups. Having to train a body from scratch again really isn’t easy.”

Kira muttered bitterly and not for the first time.

After being enveloped by that warm golden light, Kira found herself reborn in the body of that infant she had seen in that golden light-ribbon. Luckily having kept her old name, she also found that all her memories of her previous life were intact.

More importantly, however, was the feeling of love that she received from her new parents, a feeling that she had never experienced in her previous life. That comfort was as intoxicating as any drug and she couldn’t help but cherish it and strive to defend it.

‘It seems…that I’ve been given another chance, a chance to protect that which I couldn’t. I swear on my new life and on my Takanashi Clan, I will do everything I can to get stronger and protect what’s important to me.’

As Kira thought back to that moment, she couldn’t help but laugh mirthlessly. If only she had known then that things wouldn’t be so simple.

šSince coming to this world, Kira quickly learned the disadvantages of once again being returned to the body of a child. However, you couldn’t blame her for lack of trying.

Ever since she could move her arms and legs with any level of control, Kira had been pushing her new body to its limits. Things considered important steps in child development, such as crawling, had been completely skipped by her who had immediately forced her herself to learn to walk. This caused her parents and the clan Elders to have a great shock when the barely 5 month-old[1] Kira had waddled into the Clan Hall during an important internal meeting.

Drawing on her experience from her previous life, Kira quickly figured out this world’s writing system and was reading before she even learned to speak. Luckily for her, she discovered that she could understand the spoken language in this world, even if she couldn’t immediately speak it herself.

Considering that her body had been within her mother for as long as it did, she assumed that her mature subconscious picked up on words and their meanings so she didn’t think too hard on the matter.

Using her newly-developed reading skills, Kira found her way to the clan’s library and began filling herself with as much knowledge as she could digest. Scrolls on geography, regional and national politics, history of the continent, her city and her clan, myths and legends were all rapidly consumed by her, who was barely even as big as some of the larger scrolls and had needed assistance in removing them from the shelves.

She discovered that, although her new clan wasn’t one of the top powers in her city of Edge, which was located on the far eastern border of the Moonsilver Empire, her Suzuki Clan was considered the strongest of the second-tier clans. Not only that, it was the clan that the reigning two clans, the Oda Clan and Toyotomi Clan, would try to gain the support of when they were opposing each other in important matters.

Usually, whichever way the Suzuki Clan leaned, the scales would be completely in that clan’s favour. Therefore, those two ruling clans would not carelessly offend the Suzuki Clan, should the clan decide to support their opposition in the next big debate. From this, her Suzuki Clan enjoyed a unique position when it came to the big decisions made in Edge.

When Kira had eventually found the scrolls on training, her heart couldn’t help but drop. At first she had thought that, with her profound knowledge and skill at swordsmanship, she would easily reach her previous level of strength, but what she discovered burned away her previous plans.

In this world, while weapons were still important, they were but a means to an end. The true indicator of strength in this Bladeworks Continent was known as…

“Twin…Energies…?”

This term and many others that followed were completely foreign concepts to her who only knew of swordsmanship.

“'Life Energy: a red-coloured energy that is found in the physical body and can only be cultivated through physical training. Peak-ranked Life Energy cultivators are almost immune to physical injury and can unleash the body’s true potential.

Soul Energy: a blue-coloured spiritual energy that is obtained from the natural energy of the environment, refined and deposited into the dantian. By cultivating Soul Energy to high ranks, a person can perform feats that defy logic and reason.

By raising both of these to the peak, a person can achieve a god-like state and traverse freely between this world and the Heavens.'

Is this real? Do these things even exist? This ‘Life Energy’ makes some sense but this about ‘Soul Energy’ and becoming a god must be a fairy tale. There’s no way this is possible.”

Despite saying this, Kira had persevered and read further to where she found instructions to sense the Twin Energies within her body. While sceptical, she had followed them. It wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Close my eyes…picture my body in my mind…As I thought, there’s noth-…wait, what?”

As Kira had drifted through her imaginary body, a sudden burst of red light filled her darkened vision. When she had adjusted to the light, she discovered glowing red threads running through her body that gradually became visible. The pattern of threads matched the blood vessels that she knew about while dense clusters of threads accumulated where she knew her muscles were. The red threads gave off a feeling of intense vitality that was difficult to describe but, just by being in close mental proximity to them, Kira felt more alert and her senses felt slightly sharper.

‘This can’t be…but there’s nothing else it could be…it must be Life Energy! I can’t believe it actually exists.”

Gradually the red light of the Life Energy had faded from her sight as, in her amazement, she had lost focus. Having found the Life Energy and confirmed its existence, Kira then started probing herself for Soul Energy.

But no matter how intensely she focused or deeply she searched, she couldn’t find any trace of the elusive blue energy.

“Well, Life Energy exists but it seems like that stuff about Soul Energy and ascending to the Heavens was just a joke. There’s no point reading the rest of this.”

Kira was about to toss the introductory scroll to the side when she saw the edge of a blue diagram within the rolls of the scroll. Deciding to give it one last chance, she unfurled the scroll to that point and continued reading. The diagram depicted a person sitting cross-legged with various arrows entering and cycling through the person’s body.

“No person is born with Soul Energy. First one needs to be able to feel the natural energy in the air. Then, through meditation and using an appropriate cultivation route, that person will be able to refine the natural energy into Soul Energy…

…This scroll really needs to get its order rearranged.”

Kira commented with a hint of annoyance in her voice. While she still didn’t believe that the scroll was telling the whole truth, she couldn’t deny the presence of the Life Energy flowing through her.

‘I still can’t believe that these ‘Twin Energies’ actually exist, but the fact that I can feel the Life Energy in my body means at least some of it is true. Besides, by taking the risk that Soul Energy is fake, if it does actually exist, then I’m only hurting myself. No matter how long it takes, I need to learn this ‘cultivation’ as soon as possible and build up this Soul Energy.’

When Kira had eventually reached the end of that introductory scroll on Twin Energies, she had found another piece of information that made her usually serious face smile uncontrollably.

‘It seems like this ‘cultivation’ stuff might actually be worth it in the end.’

Kira thought as she read aloud.

“Lastly, Weapon Skills: these are powerful techniques performed by fusing the Twin Energies and channelling them through weapons. At the highest ranks, these techniques have the potential to split the earth and bring the heavens themselves crashing down.”

“It really is lucky what happened back then.”

Thinking back on that moment, the now seven years old Kira allowed herself a quiet smile. Her previous struggles in building muscle in her new body had unknowingly laid an abnormally strong foundation for her Life Energy cultivation and caused it to grow past the level of many of the older children in the clan.

As soon as she was able to, Kira had started cultivating her Soul Energy. While she wasn’t especially talented at it, the fact that she had started years before other children gave her a clear head-start. Most of the children started cultivating their Soul Energy at the age of seven. Kira was four years old at the time.

Despite being in her twenties when she had died, Kira’s determination and focus naturally couldn’t be compared to any of these immature children of her current life who didn’t yet comprehend the importance of taking advantage of their youth to raise their strength. This meant that even if they had started cultivating at the same age as her, there was no way they would keep pace with her.

The only person of her generation she respected on the basis of strength was her elder brother, Kagetsuna. Even with the advantages she had had due to training her young body, the distance between her and her five year-older brother right now was an impassable chasm. He was talented in both cultivation and swordsmanship and was well-renowned in the clan as a genius.š

Ignoring her body which was tired and that begged for sleep, Kira stripped down and cleaned the sweat off her body using the ever-present cloth and basin of water in the corner of her room before she donned a fresh deep-green robe that accentuated her bright green eyes and walked down to the kitchen where her mother was preparing food.

Seeing the redness on her daughter’s face from training, Suzuki Naomi couldn’t help but smile out of pride. Her daughter’s growth was definitely not something ordinary people could compare to, but she knew that this was completely due to Kira's own effort. She sighed inwardly as she thought of her son who hadn’t yet learned to work hard due to his natural talent.

“The food will be ready soon, little one.”

“Thank you Mother. I look forward to it. I will rest here for now”

Naomi continued preparing the meal without batting an eyelid. She had long since become used to the unusually formal manner in which Kira spoke which would cause those who were not familiar with her to feel surprise in their hearts.

Kira, on the other hand, saw this as nothing special. It was only natural to treat her elders with the appropriate respect, especially her parents.

Growing up within the Takanashi Clan in her previous life, Kira was an orphan. She was raised by the Elders of the clan and, after discovering that she was adopted, she asked after her parents. The Elders replied that she was found on the clan’s threshold wrapped in a blanket with nothing but a sheathed dagger wrapped with her and a note with her name written on it.

As such, never before having known the feeling of parental love, Kira held these parents of hers in a very tender place in her heart.

Leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, Kira kept a conscious effort on keeping her breathing even. She didn’t dare sit down for fear of her muscles cramping and losing the benefit of this state in which her Life Energy was rapidly circulating her blood. This activity of Life Energy which went beyond normal circumstances was one aspect that strengthened its cultivation.

She had immediately came down to eat as, while she was within this state right after training, food was broken down quickly to replace the lost energy and was more easily absorbed into the muscles, bones and blood, increasing their strength, toughness and efficiency respectively.

With the improvement of her body’s condition, so too would her Life Energy cultivation improve.

“Here you go, Kira.”

“Itadakimasu.”

The warm scent of spiced grilled fish caused Kira’s stomach to let out an involuntary rumble causing her serious face to blush slightly. Not missing a thing, Naomi let a smile creep across her face as she quickly turned around and pretended not to hear.

Once she finished the food, Kira lightly placed her chopsticks down and rose to leave.

“That’s right, your father was looking for you but he didn’t want to disturb your training. He should be in the Clan Hall.”

“I will head there immediately. Thank you mother.”

Kira cupped her right hand inside her left before leaving. Naomi opened her mouth to say something more, as she had many times before, but thought better of it and kept silent. Right now it was still better for her child to be this respectful to all her elders without making exceptions.

Kira took her time as she headed towards the Clan Hall. When digesting food, it was important that she didn’t perform any strenuous activity, even something as minor as running. On her way, she passed several people from the clan. She basically ignored the immature youths while nodding respectfully towards those older seniors.

Those youngsters who were once laughing amongst each other would immediately quieten down as they passed Kira before giving her a curious look and moving on, before putting their heads together and whispering amongst themselves.

“That’s the Clan Leader’s daughter, right? Kira, was it?”

“She’s going to be quite the beauty when she gets older. Which of you are gonna go for her?”

“She may become a beauty, but she’s kinda gloomy and just trains all day. Even if she’s pretty, who’d wanna marry her?”

“Oh come off it, she’s probably much stronger than you by now. Besides, you’re just scared of her brother, Oni Kagetsuna[2].”

“Give me some face here…”

Kira, oblivious to this commentary, continued on her way to the Clan Hall.

[1] Average age children learn to walk is 9-18 months.

[2] Oni – translates to demon or devil; but can also sound similar to the Japanese 'onii-', meaning older brother.