Legacy of a Benevolent Lord

She blinked. "A diary?"

"Yes," Selene added softly. "But not one for anyone else to see. Not me. Not Riven. Not Nysalea. Not even Azhula. Only you."

Azira frowned slightly. "What do I write in it?"

"Everything," Riven answered.

"Everything you feel. Everything you hate. Everything you regret. Every time you cry. Every time you want to give up. Every time you want to scream at me, or run away, or hate this entire path I'm putting you on."

He paused.

"You write it, and trust me. Neither I nor anyone else will ever look at the diary."

Azira opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Riven's tone softened even more.

"Azira, you're about to go through things that no child your age should have to experience.

But I'm asking you to do this because I know… I know, you're capable of so much more than what the world expects from someone like you.

But if you don't write it all down, if you don't face it honestly, it will stay buried. And it will rot.

And child, if there is one thing you do NOT want… it is for that to rot and take root in you."

His darkness and his insanity were from years of violence from his previous life and unreconciled wrath in this life.

He knew that the more he grew powerful, the more that darkness would fester. It was too late for him to just take it out.

He didn't want that for this little girl who followed him around everywhere.

He continued, calmly but with weight in his voice.

"This diary… this 'Inner Flame'... is your truth.

When everything feels like it's falling apart, when your body hurts, when your mind breaks, when you don't know why you're even doing this anymore, that little book is your sanctuary."

Azira lowered her gaze. Her hands had curled into her lap. She was silent.

Selene leaned forward, brushing a bit of dirt off the girl's knee.

"You don't need to understand it all now. Just remember this: write honestly. If you're dishonest, it won't work. It's not about sounding strong or noble. It's about being real."

Riven nodded. "This is where your training begins. Not with fist work or break work like others. But in your heart."

Azira slowly looked up again. Her eyes were steady.

"I'll do it," she said softly.

Riven smiled faintly. "Good. Because once we start with the other nine…"

He let the sentence trail.

Selene finished it for him, smiling just a little too sweetly.

"…he won't go easy on you."

Azira gulped.

But she grinned.

"I'm not scared."

[Ding! Achieve unlocked]

[You gifted Azira the 'Ten Disciplines of Riveron Ashvale'.]

[You triggered a ten-thousand-fold critical hit return!]

[You obtained the system compiled preliminary martial training information – Genesis Protocol]

Too sudden.

It was too sudden.

'WHAT????', Riven almost jumped from where he was.

'The fuck??? What?'

'My god… An achievement. How long has it been?' Riven almost melted inwardly.

He had tried everything he could, but none of them were achievements. But when he wasn't even thinking about the system returns….

'Mmmm…. Juicy stuff…', he thought.

The disciplines he compiled for Azira were something he had worked on for a considerable amount of time.

He had always thought about how to train soldiers. Loyal ones.

If this system compiled information was ten thousand times enhanced… then!

Ohh… baby… this will be even better than the US Delta Force training regime.

[Genesis Protocol:

A compiled foundational training regime constructed from 10,000+ realm-sourced datasets, cultivation doctrines, and juvenile martial preparation systems.

Designed to interface with mortal-level physiology, this protocol enhances subject adaptability for advanced martial and spiritual refinement up to the fourth phase of sentient evolution.

Subject trained under this protocol will exhibit maximal foundational integrity, multispectral adaptability, and compatibility with postnatal-to-immortal transition.

Mutation risk: 0.0003%.

Compatibility threshold for the birth of Innate physique: 90.3% +/- 5%]

Riven read the mechanical, emotionless report and closed his eyes for a moment.

He had a to take a fucking breath for this shit.

He opened his eyes and looked at the panel again.

Compatibility threshold for the birth of Innate physique: 98.3% +/- 5%

'Yep, still hasn't changed,' he closed his eyes again.

After a while, opened it and looked again. He then repeated it until he made sure he wasn't dreaming or anything.

"Fooo… fuck…", Riven muttered.

Selene: "Hmm? Language!"

Azira: (・_・;)

........

The wind was gentler now, and the last rays of golden sunlight stretched long shadows across the courtyard. Under the great banyan tree, the world felt just a little softer.

Azira clutched the little diary Riven had just handed her, a leather-bound book with blank pages waiting to be filled. She smiled to herself, hugging it close, cheeks still flushed from all the serious talk.

Riven had just finished explaining every one of the ten disciplines in detail. Why are they being done, and how will they be trained?

Although he kept some things from the girl because he himself hadn't finalized how to approach them.

Riven, with his eyes closed, was leaning back, resting on his hands. Selene glanced sideways at Riven and gave him a sidelong smirk.

"She's going to be a nightmare to train, you know," Selene said lightly.

"Oh, without question," Riven replied. "Stubborn, loud, dramatic."

Azira puffed her cheeks like a porcupine fish. "I'm right here!"

Selene chuckled and scooped the girl up suddenly, placing her in her lap and poking her forehead. "But you're our nightmare. So, we'll deal with it."

They stayed there a little longer, bathed in dappled moonlight, enjoying the brief pause before the path resumed.

......

Time to eat.

They walked back to the courtyard where everything was in full swing.

Massive skewers turned over open flame pits. The scent of spiced snake meat filled the air, thick and rich.

Plates clattered, and laughter echoed.

Wine sloshed into expensive porcelain cups. Spirits were high, so high it felt like the whole mountain was alive with joy.

Riven chuckled at Suyin, who was hunched over a pot, sleeves rolled up, sweat pouring from her brow. She flashed a tired grin back at him.

Liam was hunched next to her, carefully pouring broth into a carved-out bone section, muttering something about "optimal bone essence distribution."

Zen, Zhen Hollow, was leaning back on a crate, eyes half-lidded, sipping wine, pretending he hadn't been working.

The stewards too gathered.

The meat was passed. Cups were filled.

Even Solwing got a massive roasted meat slab from the corner of a beam. Azira had two plates in her hand and no intention of slowing down.

Riven had to pull the second one away from her gently.

"Gobblin," he snorted, raising a brow.

"Waahh…. But it's good!" she protested.

"It's not ordinary meat. Eat too much and your blood vessels might explode."

She stopped. "…Oh."

Selene laughed quietly behind her wine cup.

Then,

BOOM.

The air trembled.

The tables rattled. Clay dishes jumped.

Everyone froze.

Heads turned, every pair of eyes locking onto the same person.

Suyin. Who was in the middle of tasting her soup, dropped the spoon.

Her hands were trembling, eyes wide. Steam poured from her shoulders. Her skin shimmered faintly with silver light.

"I, what the hell…" she muttered.

Then, before she could say another word, a massive torrent of heaven and earth energy roared into the courtyard.

It was as if the mountain had exhaled.

Spiritual energy surged from the surrounding terrain, drawn from the cliffs, the trees, the stones themselves.

They were in the South Stonewell Mountains, after all, a known sacred ground of cultivation. The energy here was rich, fluid, and aggressive.

And now, it had found a target.

It slammed into Suyin's body like a waterfall hitting stone, and she gasped.

A blinding white cocoon of spiritual light erupted around her, spiraling upwards in a vortex. The ground vibrated. Cooking fires flickered, then extinguished themselves. Azira yelped and ducked behind Selene.

"She just broke through her Sun and Moon Veins," Riven said calmly.

Selene's lips curved. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"High-grade Heaven-tier meat is no joke. Especially from a 500-year-old ancient monster. It doesn't 'just' strengthen the body, it ignites whatever potential a human body has."

No sooner had he said it,

BOOM.

Liam, the scholarly guard, stumbled backward. His eyes rolled back. His chest heaved. He grabbed his chest,

Another blast of energy hit him square in the chest.

He fell to one knee, and a second cocoon exploded around him.

"Two," Riven muttered, now grinning.

Zen, who had just reached for his wine cup again, froze. "Oh no."

BOOM.

"Damn it!" he shouted, dropping the cup. "I didn't even finish dinner yet!"

A third cocoon enveloped him in a spiral of light, silencing his complaint.

At that exact moment, two stewards screamed.

"SHIT! I'M BREAKING THROUGH!"

"ME TOO, THE IMPURITIES!"

Without warning, they ran. Full sprint. Plates dropped. One man tripped over a roasting skewer and barrel-rolled into the dirt.

They didn't care.

They weren't going to puke out decades of foul marrow and black slime in front of everyone else.

One by one, the remaining stewards followed.

All of them knew the signs, cold sweat, body convulsions, nausea, and worst of all: stench.

Bad fucking stench.

And no one wanted to be known as the man who soiled himself during the feast.

And Riveron, their master, would not stop laughing at them every time something reminded this incident.