Three Wishes : Endless Worlds

The next few days were a blur—monotonous and organized. Wake up, swing sword, eat, study, sleep… and then the cycle repeated.The continuous slash of my sword followed by forks clanking into plates. I was surprised I had not developed a hate for noises.

Until, after a barrage of requests, Luomen agreed to teach me medicine.

I couldn't physically contain my excitement at having another trick up my sleeve. My body was shaking, resembling a state of immense excitement and euphoria. I was happy because I knew the training wouldn't be as hard as my sword training.

But how wrong I was.

Luomen's training was mild, but he was the main apothecary and had patients to treat, so he let his assistant teach me.

Maomao was a beast in human clothing. She carried herself with the grace and elegance of a fairy; however, from her calculating eyes, one could see that she was not someone to be underestimated.She was a poison addict: injecting me with poison using surgical accuracy far surpassing the best neurosurgeons of my world—regularly injecting me with poison to supposedly "build up my immunity"—and if I couldn't identify the poison she injected me with, I had to learn names of chemical symbols and equations for 24 hours straight. I caught a smirk every now and then—happy about my suffering.

I was surprised by her extensive knowledge of poison. To me, in certain aspects, it almost reached Shinobu's level of mastery. However, her poisons didn't affect demons, but they had around the same potential, I thought, calculatingly.

She was an incredibly valuable asset. If she could learn Insect Breathing—or possibly develop Poison Breathing—she could become something terrifying.

But I couldn't take care of anyone else right now.

When I passed the Final Selection, I would start that plan. But for now, I needed to train.

I still needed to get revenge on Haruhiko. But before that... I had to talk to my master. And I knew I was in for a scolding.I wonder if he was even willing to teach me after all I had done. It's not the fact that I challenged Haruhiko; it's the fact that I lost my temper and aimed to seriously injure or kill him.

I made my way to Master's dojo. The first times when I had come here, I had missed the tiny details like the smell of the mahogany wood, which was stale and new at the same time; the door, which lay with marks of overuse; the damp air around the area; and the nicks on the practice dummies. I wondered if it was me or Haruhiko who caused them.

"Why are you here?" his loud voice shouted venomously.

"I am here to apologize for my disrespect and lack of proper management for my anger, Master."

"Don't call me that," he said emotionlessly. "You lost my trust the moment you tried to kill outside of a spar, and I am not going to teach someone like that a breathing technique. You need to understand you don't only need the body of a demon slayer but the mind as well.You are the type of person who would become a demon willingly, and besides, I have Haruhiko who has Hashira potential, so you are not needed. If one of my students turns astray, I will be ostracized. So go away and never come back."

"Are you joking, Master?" I said, not believing him.

"Don't call me Master and leave!" Takashi roared."Why, this isn't like you normally. I would say sorry, and such a situation would never happen. Haven't you ever lost control in a s—"

As I was talking, I felt a large kick send me flying out of the dojo. I could hear my bones crack and fracture as a loud thud could be heard.

"Don't ever come back."

This couldn't be real. Takashi wouldn't act like that. But everything was pointing to that.

What if it's a test? I thought.

No, it wasn't. I couldn't accept the fact that Takashi stopped teaching me.

Although he put me through torture in the two months and a half I had been with him, he had always cared for me and taken care of me, and I thought I was special as one of his students, but it turns out he would do that for about anybody.

But the most important thing was—how would I learn the breathing style?Takashi was my only hope, and I don't have enough knowledge to find Mount Sagiri, and I might be on the opposite side of the country.

"Why is everything deteriorating?" I thought, picking myself up, my clothes tattered.

Walking into the apothecary's house, I walked into Maomao's usual glare; however, this time I didn't glare back.I just walked to my bed and slept. My limbs moved mindlessly as they planted themselves on the mat. I slept to forget the pain and shock and betrayal I had felt today.

But Maomao had other plans. She forcefully jolted me awake. I shrugged her off.

"You will not go to bed in my house until you tell me what is wrong," she said resolutely.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, exasperatedly.

"I don't care," she said as she pulled me off the bed. Her hand held onto me like a bear trap as I could feel the air rush onto me and invade my very pores.What raw strength, I mused in my mind.

"Now you will tell me why you dare not care back at me and why you came back here at all. I thought you were going to your master's."

I sleepily explained the details of what happened.The silence was oppressive—deafening.The long wait was broken as she sighed and said:

"All of that because you got angry? Not like I support anger, but it was a controlled test with an officiator. Maybe we should speak about his incompetence as a trainer to top the situation.And when you were bleeding close to death, where was he? Still telling his star pupil about his recklessness in injuring you.It's hypocrisy. Was I dumbed down? It was obvious.

[That Intelligence Stat Is Wasted On You Host]

He did it as a ploy to get me out nicely and safely without backlash."

He has had many other students before you, and only Haruhiko stayed.And then it clicked for both of us.He had been using other students as stepping stones to refine Haruhiko—deliberately acting like he liked them but didn't want to show it.He was a master manipulator, and he was scared of me being a demon.

I would get my revenge, and revenge is a dish best served piping hot.I could feel the heat of my blood pulsing through my veins, eager in anticipation.