One afternoon, the Master finally snapped.
"Show me!" the old man demanded, his voice echoing with deep frustration. "What have you been doing for the past three years?!"
The Master's anger was justified. Takashi was a terrifyingly intelligent prodigy. His control over his raw power was flawless, and his ability to manipulate Shin-Noa was better than anything the Master had ever seen even surpassing Hayato's. With just a fraction of his energy, the boy could execute massive, complex Shiritsu. So how was it possible that he had been stuck on a basic Carbon Box for three entire years?
The Master was deeply anxious. His grand plan was to send Takashi to Dominion University when the boy turned fifteen, officially launching his path to becoming the Supreme Chancellor. But Takashi was stuck. There were only four years left, and the upcoming training phases were going to be ten times more horrific than this.
Physically, Takashi was ready. His body was denser than solid bedrock. He no longer needed to rely heavily on the Wolf's regeneration, which meant the beast's massive pool of power was rapidly restoring inside the seal. Within a few years, Takashi's vessel would be strong enough to perfectly handle the full, apocalyptic weight of his own power.
Seeing his Grandpa so angry, Takashi quickly stood up to demonstrate.
He took a deep breath. He gathered the surrounding air between his palms and began to intensely condense it.
The Master's ancient eyes widened in absolute shock.
What is this?! the Master thought, completely stunned. Over the past three years, without even realizing it, Takashi had merged multiple complex techniques into one single, flawless motion.
The boy then ripped the raw carbon from the condensed air, molding it under horrific pressure.
FLASH!
A blinding, radiant light burst from the boy's hands.
It wasn't a black box. It was a perfectly shaped, flawlessly cut cube that sparkled with blinding intensity. It was pure, compressed Diamond.
For three years, Takashi had been trying to make a basic black carbon box, completely unaware that he had bypassed the basic level entirely and was casually forging the hardest, most precious substance on Earth. Neither the Legendary Master nor Hayato could ever condense carbon to this god-like extreme.
"Have you... have you been doing this the entire time?" the Master asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Yes," Takashi replied innocently, staring at the sparkling box. "But I can't make it black like yours."
The Legendary Master stared at the boy. Then, he threw his head back and roared with laughter. He laughed so hard, so violently, that his stomach began to cramp.
The boy was a genius, but he was so pure, so hopelessly innocent. He lacked the cunning to understand his own terrifying achievements.
Wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, the Master sat down and gently broke down the boy's three years of "failure."
"Listen to me carefully, my boy," the Master smiled proudly. "Your hard work was not wasted. You have achieved something impossible, but you just didn't know it. First, you condensed pure air. No one can do that. You can use this to forge an invisible, impenetrable barrier. No matter how hard an enemy strikes, they can never break it, because you can't break air."
He pointed to the sparkling cube. "Second, this box is a million times superior to mine. You don't need it to be black. You can forge shields out of this diamond carbon. It is so dense that an iron hammer would shatter upon hitting it. You can seal anything inside it, and it will be infinitely stronger than a Black Box."
Then, the Master gave his next command.
"Stand up. Now, condense the air and wrap it around your entire body like a second skin. An invisible armor."
Takashi tried. Doing it between his hands was easy, but stretching the condensed air evenly over his entire body was a nightmare. Within two minutes, the energy drain was so massive that he collapsed to the floor, completely exhausted.
From that day on, alongside his brutal physical conditioning, creating the full-body Air Armor and Diamond Armor became his daily hell.
Three months passed.
During his limited free time, Takashi would take simple, mundane missions in the village. He helped farmers plow their fields, carried heavy loads for the elderly, and did odd jobs around the market. The villagers absolutely adored him. His breathtaking beauty, his pure innocence, and his deeply kind heart made him the village's beloved son. If anyone needed money, Takashi would give them his earnings without a second thought.
He still ate at the same small restaurant. His love for perfectly roasted meat had only grown. He would casually devour towering piles of food in a single sitting, leaving the other patrons staring in utter disbelief. They had no idea what kind of apocalyptic training he endured daily.
Because he always wore his heavy training clothes, no one could see the dense, rock-hard muscles covering his body. Only his hands were visible hands that could crush solid granite into fine dust. At just eleven years old, he had the raw, destructive power of a monster, but the pure, gentle heart of a saint.
This was the ultimate triumph of Hayato and the Legendary Master. The Saviour they were forging for the world was flawless.
Takashi's life was peaceful. He had completely forgotten the horrors of his past. He didn't remember that Kazuki Mizushi, the man who murdered his father, was ruling his homeland. The trauma of his first five years in the royal palace had faded into blurry, unrecognizable shadows. He had even forgotten his own real name. If the Master hadn't given him the name Takashi, he wouldn't have known what to call himself.
But the Master knew this peace was temporary. Eventually, the boy would have to face his destiny, and the Master was determined to prepare him for that dark day.
Another six months passed. Takashi was now almost twelve years old.
He could now successfully maintain the Air and Diamond barriers around his body, perfectly controlling the violent flow of his energy. But the Master secretly kept increasing the burden.
The weighted clothes Takashi wore grew heavier. The iron utensils in the cabin grew denser. Because the changes were slow and gradual, Takashi never noticed. He adapted effortlessly. He didn't even know how terrifyingly strong he truly was, because he had never once used his full power. Whenever he sparred with his Grandpa, the Master's 600 years of experience and X-Rank strength easily suppressed him. The most Takashi ever drew from the Wolf was an A-Rank level of energy.
Furthermore, his eyes remained a total mystery. The Master had never taught him a single ocular Shiritsu. The true power hidden within his mismatched now blue eyes was still sleeping.
Every single second of the day, Takashi maintained his barriers and violently suppressed his aura. The gravitational pressure on his body was so immense that his footprints would often leave slight depressions in the solid dirt roads. Yet, he remained blissfully unaware.
He just kept training. And training. And training.
His twelfth birthday was approaching. It was time for Takashi to take the next monumental step.