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The Qadir boy had been going through an eventful time since he had made his way back to Clover. He had left the place he had called home, in search of his long lost family or any clues to their whereabouts. He enjoyed his roaming lifestyle for a few years, however something had drew him back to the magical kingdom. He probably thought about what made him come back everyday, however he could never pinpoint the truth. But now was the time for the swordsman to make yet another trip, this time he was to go a far ways. Asahi knew that his magic wasn’t meant to be powerful on its own, his magic required the guidance of others to be strong and reach his full potential. So to counter balance this fact he knew he needed to improve his swordsmanship skills much more than the level they were currently at. If he did not improve his sword skills he would surely be left behind by his colleagues such as Kenja Ravencrest. Asahi knew of only one place in the world where swordsmanship was taken as seriously as magic, that place was within his own family.
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Asahi had decided that it was time for him to travel to the land of the rising sun, so that he could finally met his extended family. He hadn’t seen any of the other Qadir family members since he was a baby so he basically had no memory of any of them. However ever since he became a magic knight he had been able to contact them through letters, and was able to get them to make him a sword that he uses almost every day. The blade was very high quality as one should expect from a family who have practiced swordsmanship and smithing since their inception. The family member in particular that he had been in contact with was his older cousin by the name of Yamato Qadir. Yamato was at one point one of the top tier swordsman in the family, however he had retired and went on to smithing after suffering the loss of one of his arms. From their exchanges in letters Asahi learned that the man had the term replaced with a magical replacement, which is why he was able to carry on with his family work. It was in Yamato’s last letter that he asked Asahi to come and visit them.
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Asahi had thought long and hard on if he should go to see them but he knew it was only right, the idea of learning from an elite swordsman was also appealing to him. So after thinking long and hard he would finally decide that he would make the trip to see his family. So he would start putting his vacation plan into motion as he would take a leave from the magic knights. After taking leaving the trip itself was a long and horse one, having to cross the oceans to make it to such a far away place. Asahi did not know what the land of the rising sun had in store for him but at the very least he knew he would be with family, something he didn’t have in a long while. Thanks to the magic of transportation magic the trip was much shorter than it would have been taking conventional means, so he would arrive after only a few mere days. After his arrival he would begin to take in the sights, smells and sounds of this new land. *This place it… it feels like home. It feels like where I should have been all along.*
Soon after he got there he would make his way to the location of his cousin’s home and workshop so that he could finally meet the man in person. He arrived to the location in question and was shocked at what he would find, a very tiny shack home not too unlike what Asahi himself was living in before becoming a magic knight. *What the hell?!?! Why did this guy never tell me he lived in a little hobble like this? I hope he didn’t get me to come all the way out here just to ask me for money…* Asahi would let out a sigh before he would knock at the door, as he was now unsure if this trip would be worth it or not. After a few moments he would hear a crash from inside the workshop followed by a voice saying “Please give me a moment!” Suddenly more loud banging and crashing noises could be heard from inside causing Asahi’s eyebrow to raise. Before long someone would open the door and they were visually in disarray along with the inside of the residence.
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The man who opened the door was very tall in stature looking to be almost 7 feet in size, a crazy feat. He shared skin tones with Asahi, and also had a muscle composition far more impressive than his. His head was bald and shined due to the sun hitting it, “Hey who are you?” The man would say. The sun reflecting off the man’s head would blind Asahi for a moment but he would take notice of the man’s fake arm which would cause him to smile a bit before saying “Oh you must be Yamato! In your letter you told me that you had lost an arm in combat.” He would then point to the man’s magical replacement arm for a moment before beginning to speak again. “My name is Asahi, which makes us cousins. You made me this sword remember?” Asahi would then take the sword from his side and present it to the man as proof of who he was.
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Yamato would take the sword and examine it over before he would look down and smile at Asahi. He would drop the sword with great speed before embracing his cousin with a hug and saying “Boy oh boy am I happy to see you little cousin! The whole family thought none of you were alive. But I had faith that at least one of you survived.” Yamato would release his grip on Asahi before looking him in the eyes and saying “Im sorry about the rest of your family though. May their should forever rest in peace.” Asahi for the first time in a long time was feeling familial love and it felt good to say the least. However he was not here to dredge up the past but instead he was here to start a new future. He would smile at Yamato saying “I appreciate the kind words and the hug, however as you know I am a magic knight so I only have a few days to spend here before im needed back in Clover… So I feel we should get down to the meat and potatoes of what we agreed upon.”
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His words had trailed off after saying this and his facial expression went stoic. As much as he wanted to engage with the rest of his family and have fun, he knew he was here with a goal in mind and said goal was to get stronger so he could find his family. He dropped down to a bowing stance before saying “Please Yamato help me get stronger so I can find the rest of my family!” The older male would smile before patting Asahi on the head and saying “Now now, no need for all that. Lets go on inside and get you something to eat, im sure that trip got you hungry and tired. We can discuss training over your meal and then we can start tomorrow after you get some rest. Please remind me how long are you here for exactly?” Asahi was surprised at Yamato’s reaction but he would quickly answer his question saying “I am here for one week exactly. 7 days from now my hired transportation mage will come back to get me.” Yamato would then usher Asahi inside of the shack before saying “More than enough time for you to learn something.”
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Once inside Yamato would begin making Asahi some food, and while the food cooked he would begin to set up a guest mat for the teen. The two were silent for the most part during this time, however they would briefly exchange words here and there. Most of this conversation was just small light topics centered around their family history and such, however Asahi would find the conversation he was looking for once the meal was done and presented in front of him. “Ok so we have 6 days if we don’t count today. I refuse to let you train after taking such a trip, so tomorrow we will start with me showing you what exactly you know and can do. Once we spend the day doing that I will know how and what I need to teach you for day 2.” Asahi would agree to the plan saying a simple “Ok that sounds good.” The two would then complete their meal before heading to sleep for the night.
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When the morning came the two cousins would get up and eat a light breakfast before going straight into training. As Yamato said the night before day 1 of their training would simply be about seeing what Asahi knew and could do. The two ran many sword drills throughout the day. These drills showed Yamato everything he needed to know about what he would need to teach his cousin and so when the day was over they would discuss over dinner. “So I noticed some things today, and I think I know a sure fire way to help you improve in a very short amount of time. Do you know anything about ki?” The older male would pose a question to his teen cousin to which he would respond with “Ki? What is that Yamato? Do you mean mana?” Yamato would shake his head to say no before speaking again saying “No, ki and mana are different. Im not surprised you don’t know about it though, I have never heard of people from clover using or being familiar with it. But basically if mana is the magical energy of the world, ki is the life force energy of the world. I wish to teach you how to sense and utilize ki.”
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Asahi was confused about this ki stuff his cousin spoke of but the next day of his training would be filled with training centered around ki. On the next morning Asahi was not allowed to eat but instead was sent straight into meditation. Yamato explained that during meditation you were able to sense the ki of the world more easily, and once Asahi was able to lock in on the feeling of ki during meditation doing it without meditating should become possible. Asahi spelt 12 hours of the day meditating, yet he could only ever sense the ki slightly. After the 2nd day of training Asahi knew that he would not be able to sense ki outside of combat and damn sure not while in combat. That night Yamato would give Asahi a special cap and explained that it was designed to help new ki users have a easier time sensing ki. So the next day Asahi would go back to meditating, this time using the cap that was given to him. With the help of the cap Asahi was able to feel the flow of ki much more easily, and during his 12 hour session he would increase his sensing abilities more and more. He went on for one more day using the cap during meditation, and after that he would go back to not using the device. Now that he was no longer using the cap he was still able to sense ki much more clearly now. Yamato would then move on to letting him learn how to sense the ki outside of a meditative state, and in combat scenarios.
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The week was almost over and on their final night of training Yamato would speak to Asahi saying “In only a week you were able to learn about ki and how to sense it. You are truly a prodigy in your own right, I remember it took me weeks to learn this stuff when I was your age.” Asahi would then look to his older cousin and said “Thank you… sensei. I will try to use your teachings to the best of my ability.” Yamato would look to Asahi before flashing a grin and saying “Oh im your sensei now huh? Haha well as your sensei let me give you your final test. Spar with me and let me see how far your ki awareness has come.” Asahi would agree and the two would spar using wooden swords. However there was to be one thing added to their sparring match, and that was the fact both Asahi and Yamato were to be blindfolded. During their sparring match Asahi showed great skill in being able to sense ki, as he could clearly track the movements of his cousin although being blind folded. After the match and experiencing Asahi’s growth first hand he would take off his blindfold and say “You are only just beginning your journey into ki mastery, but I believe you to be ready cousin.”
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The two would then head to sleep that night with both of them feeling rather accomplished. However the next day was the day Asahi was set to leave, and he would as planned. The mage who got Asahi to the land would return to take him home, but before he left Yamato had gave Asahi a gift in the form of throwing stars that he made himself. Right before the magic knight would depart Yamato would say to him “Don’t be a stranger now that you know how to get here.” Asahi would smile saying “Yes sensei, I understand. I shall return one day, and hopefully I will have more family to bring.”