Rise of The Living Enchantment [LITRPG REGRESSION]

In the wide expanse of the open space, the sun hung high, casting long shadows across the gritty terrain. Dust swirled gently with each gust of wind. The wind carried with it the possible heat of the sun and the taste of the dust. At one far corner, Aiden squatted in silence, arms resting loosely on his knees. His eyes were sharp yet unsteady as he tracked the movement of Ted and Jang Su in the center of the clearing.

Ted and Jang Su moved with purpose. Each strike, dodge, and counterstrike echoed the rhythm of practiced intensity. Sand kicked up beneath their feet as they moved, switching through stances, footwork carrying them all over the place, forming clouds around them.

Aiden said nothing. He did nothing.

Ted seemed to move better than Jang Su. For one, his footwork raised far less dust than Jang Su's. He depended less on blocks and utilized more parries, forcing Jang Su to always switch stances. High guard quickly became low guard.

He was straining Jang Su. Still, Jang Su's expression was as placid as if he was having a random conversation.

On another side of the clearing Zen moved through a practice stance. He swung his sword, moved his feet, bent at angles he was still not accustomed to. Ultimately, he was still falling every now and again when he tried to force himself through the stances. His body was yet to be accustomed to the movements.

Aiden couldn't hold it against him. Zen had been training for less than four days. His discomfort was to be expected.

Valdan stood off to the other side of the clearing, guiding Fjord through simpler looking sword stances than the ones that Zen was laboring through.

He was a calm instructor, making corrections without saying a word. Aiden wasn't sure what exactly Valdan was teaching Fjord, but he was certain it was not the royal sword style of Bandv.

Everyone was busy.

"Penny for your thought?"

Aiden closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath at the sound of the voice. Everyone was busy. Everyone except Feira.

"You said you were interested in learning how to fight, right?" he said. "I believe that there is no better time than the present."

"Not really," Feira said, sitting on the ground next to him. "Let Zen have a head start. I'll start when you guys come back from your cave diving."

Aiden looked at her from the corner of his eye. He didn't hate Feira. The gods knew she was important to him by the simple extension of being Zen's sister.

The problem he had with her was her consistent questioning. Her care. If she thought there were feelings to be shared, she tried to talk you into sharing them. If she thought there were lies being told, she tried to unravel them. If something didn't make sense to her, she asked questions until it made sense.

Aiden was not used to being questioned or confronted. At least not in this manner. He liked to leave his confrontations on the battlefield, in the form of clashing blades, flashing skills and spilled blood.

You'd rather face the possibility of death than talk? He asked himself.

The answer came as easily as breathing. Yes.

Before being summoned to Nastild, he had never liked confrontations. He kept to himself and minded his own business, so it wasn't far fetched that he preferred fighting to talking.

"You still haven't answered me, Lord Lacheart," Feira pointed out as Ted slipped into a riposte, forcing Jang Su back.

Jang Su, in turn, did something interesting. He turned his side to Ted, sheathing his katana. Looking away from him as Ted capitalized, he drew his blade. His katana flashed through the distance, striking Ted's sword away. It slid back into its sheath in the blink of an eye, only to come out again, aimed at Ted's neck.

Ted dodged by leaping back, an entertained smile on his face.

Today, unlike yesterday, they were sparring without skills.

"Lord Lacheart?" Feira pressed.

Aiden sighed. Talking with Feira was going to take some getting used to. "My thoughts cost more than a penny."

Feira rolled her eyes. "It was an expression. Don't be a stick in the mud, Lord Lacheart."

"I'll try my best."

It was Feira's turn to sigh. She looked off into the clearing, watching the same fight that Aiden was watching. There was an intense focus in her eyes that left Aiden wondering if her class had some skill that helped her understand what was happening.

Aiden knew she had the [Guide] class, but he'd never found out if it was special just as Zen's [Time Walker] class was special.

"How's your head?" she asked after a while.

"Fine," Aiden answered. "No headache today."

"That's good. I can only imagine what Jang Su's master must have hit you with to give the all mighty Lord Lacheart a headache."

"A stick."

Her constant emphasis on his title and surname was not lost to Aiden. She continued to do it when they were alone. It was her passive aggressive way of pointing out how unfair it was that she was the only one not allowed to call him by his given name.

There was no reason for her to keep calling him by the name, though. At least no good reason. It was merely Aiden's method of being passive aggressive. The only problem was that he didn't have a justified reason for it. It wasn't as if all the things she did that he wasn't comfortable with were bad.

Even the Order cared about your mental state. After all, you needed a clear mind to execute your duties. And the Order did not give you tasks that it knew you could not execute. Their cruelty only existed to the world outside the Order.

Even then, their cruelty was one of necessity.

Would you feel that way if you became a focus of their cruelty in this life?

"You're extra broody today," Feira commented, drawing him from his thoughts.

Aiden wasn't surprised to hear that. He had a lot on his mind.

"I was hit over the head with a stick," he pointed out. "Kind of hard to reconcile passing out from a stick when I live the kind of life I live."

"Don't forget the headache." She nudged him with her shoulder playfully. "I'll definitely not want to meet the man you fought."

Aiden cracked a smile. "Yeah."

What was really on his mind, however, had nothing to do with his loss. He was completely comfortable with his loss. Feeling bad from losing to a [Sage] was like feeling bad because you woke up. It was a natural part of life.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

In fact, if he'd won against the [Sage] he would probably have no idea how to react to it. It would be like punching the wall just for it to crumble under the force of your blow on Earth. It would be impressive, yet confusing.

No. What was on his mind was something else.

The World Enchantment of Destruction. The [Sage] had looked at a child playing with a knife and handed him a nuke.

He didn't know what exactly the enchantment would do when used or even how to use it. World enchantments didn't work like regular enchantments. First, from what he knew, they could be engraved on practically anything. Their effects, however, could spread far and wide. You could engrave it on a leaf and when it activated it could create an effect strong enough to affect an entire kingdom.

Just how much chaos would Destruction cause?

As important as the question was, there was another.

Just how much mana will I need to activate it?

There were reasons not just anybody could use a world enchantment. The mana requirements were astounding. Naturally, he knew that someone below level three hundred could not generate enough mana to activate one. He couldn't say much for higher levels than that because he simply wasn't sure.

But the [Sage] had said that he was only giving it because of his arm. Did that mean that his arm somehow generated enough mana to activate a world enchantment?

The weight of owning a world enchantment was heavy on his shoulders. Once upon a time he had never understood the spiderman quote of great power coming with great responsibility, but now he did.

At least the understanding he was getting had nothing to do with noblesse oblige or some concept of being good. What he had now was power beyond his control, yet it was his to use as he pleased. He could use it in a bid to save Ted in a horrible situation and end up wiping out an entire kingdom.

He could…

"Lord Lacheart?" Feira snapped her finger in front of his face, dragging him back to the here and now.

He turned to look at her. She looked worried. Very worried.

"You don't look fine," she said. "You don't normally answer me but you at least never ignore me."

"I ignore you all the time, Feira," he pointed out.

"No, you refuse to answer me. Sometimes you're petty about it. But you never ignore me."

Aiden thought about it, then returned his attention to the clearing. Jang Su was lying in the sand with Ted bent over him. Ted's sword was stabbed in the ground, keeping him propped up. He was panting.

"You can't even be bothered to misdirect," Feira said, once again forcing Aiden to pay attention to her. "You always make time to misdirect."

"I just have a lot on my mind," he muttered.

"A problem shared, Lord Lacheart, is a problem half solved."

"Then I guess it's alright because the things on my mind aren't problems," he grinned at her. "Right?"

"I have a question," she said abruptly.

"I hope I have the answer."

She nodded. "What is it with strong men and refusing to talk about their problems?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Men," Feira clarified, not that he needed her to. "The stronger they are, the less they want to talk about their problems, especially with women."

"What is this? Men's mental health awareness month?"

"I have no idea what that is," Feira said easily. "I'm just looking for the answer."

"Zen doesn't talk about his feelings?"

She shook her head. "He does, at least to me. But this is not about my brother, Lord Lacheart. It is about you."

Aiden looked to the sky. Evening was drawing close. The day would grow dim soon, then it would be dark.

Feira must've interpreted his silence as a refusal to respond because she added, "It is not weak to talk about your problems, Lord Lacheart."

"The men I know don't see it as weak," he said, watching Zen move through stances and Fjord sweat under Valdan's tutelage.

"Are you sure?" There was doubt in Feira's voice.

"Certain," Aiden answered.

"Then why don't they share?"

"Different reasons." Aiden looked at her. "Don't get me wrong, there are men who do not talk about such things because they think it is weak. I've met some of those men. But those I know don't talk about them for a different reason."

Feira adjusted her sitting position, crossed her legs beneath her. "I'm listening."

She must've thought she looked like an adult, composed and mature. To Aiden, she looked like a young girl eager to learn.

"To some of us, the things you consider as problems aren't problems," he told her. "If it can be solved by talking about it, then it's not a problem. At least, not a real one. It is forgettable, like an itch. If you forget about it, in a few minutes it will be gone and that will be the end of it."

"Some itches should be scratched," she argued.

"True. But most itches should be left alone and treated differently. Scratching the itch can turn something that would've disappeared in a minute or two into a problem that would end up lasting longer." He gave her a smile. "Most men I know only consider it a problem when it is an actual problem—when it won't go away if left alone. And those kinds of problems aren't solved by being talked about."

"But they can be talked about."

Aiden nodded. "They can."

"So, they should."

"For whose sake, though?" he asked her. "Talking about it won't solve the problem any better or faster than leaving it alone. So, who's benefiting from talking about the problem? The man, or the person who wants to know what the problem is?"

Feira was quiet for a while. Fjord hit the ground a little hard in the distance. Hard enough to make Aiden look.

"What about the problems that should be talked about?" Feira asked, not answering his question. "Why won't they talk about those?"

"Different reasons," Aiden said with a shrug. Still squatting, he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet. "Sometimes it's because talking doesn't solve the problem."

"But it will help them feel better."

"Feeling bad isn't the problem. Feeling better isn't the solution. They want the solution to the actual problem because when they have it, they'll also feel better." Aiden's gaze grew distant. "Then sometimes it's because talking about it to the people who want to talk about it won't help them find a solution. Sometimes it's because the people that want to know are important to them, and burdening them with the same problem when they can't help will only make them feel helpless. Helplessness is not a feeling you want others to share with you, Feira. Not when you care about them."

"Sometimes people want to share the burden with you," Feira pointed out. Her voice was gentle, caring.

"I know." Aiden smiled sadly. "But then, it is no longer about the person with the problem. It becomes about the person that wants to know the problem."

"Lord Lacheart," Jang Su called out, forcing Aiden to turn to him. "A moment of your time on the field?"

He gestured at the space before him. Ted was standing beside him.

"Alright," Aiden answered, but he did not stand up. He returned his attention to Feira, instead. "When you ask a man to talk about his problem, don't ask him because you want to know what's wrong or because you think it might help him feel better or because you want to help. Ask him because you know it will help."

Feira looked crestfallen. "What about those that won't talk because they think it makes them weak?"

"Then you have your work cut out for you," he answered while Jang Su waited patiently. "Because you'll have to make yourself trustworthy. Then you'll have to deceive them into thinking that the specific subject isn't important. They'll talk about it if they think they are just having a random conversation. In time, they will learn that it is not weakness. At least not when they share with you."

Feira's eyes softened. She looked at him differently now. "You care more than most people know, don't you?"

Aiden would've liked to agree with that. But he could not. His knowledge was deceiving her. This knowledge did not come from being good. It came from being bad. After all, sometimes, to break a man, you needed to understand a man.

And in his past life, he had broken a lot of men in service to the Order. Most of them had deserved it.

"I'm not good, Feira," he said simply. "Don't make the mistake of thinking that I am."

With that, he got to his feet.

"Misdirection," Feira said, stopping him. "You haven't shared your problem with me."

Aiden did not intend to. But for some reason, reasons he didn't quite understand, he did. He looked down at her and met her eyes.

"What would you do if you gained the power to destroy kingdoms with nothing but a gesture?"

Feira's eyes grew wide very slowly as the implication of the words dawned on her.

Aiden left her then, allowed her to stew in her contemplation.

"We'll have to be quick," he said to Jang Su as he joined him in the clearing. "The sun is setting. It's almost time to meet our contacts."

"We're going in the night?" Valdan asked, approaching them.

Aiden nodded. "We don't want people seeing us enter during the day. It will raise questions."

"Then we should be fast with this," Jang Su said. "How about we end it in eight moves? First to hit the ground or land a definitive blow."

"Fair," Aiden agreed. "Valdan will be the judge."

"Two months," Jang Su said as they stepped away from each other. "I would like to test how well we've grown."

Valdan stood in place. He looked at Jang Su, then Aiden.

"Ready?" he called as all eyes settled on them.

Aiden nodded, lowering his center of gravity and holding his hands out in front of him.

"No weapon?" Jang Su asked.

Aiden would've used a sword, but his conversation with Feira had left him a little melancholic. "None for now."

Jang Su shrugged, then lowered his stance. He held the hilt of his blade in a drawing motion but did not draw.

To Valdan, he said, "Ready."

Valdan nodded, raised his hand, then dropped it.

"Fight!"

Jang Su blinked through the air. The hissing sound of steel blade leaving its sheath was like a silent whisper on a bloody night. It was… poetic.

Aiden moved, stepped forward. His hand touched a wrist, turning a sword aside, the other grabbed cloth. Steel missed his flesh completely, its deathly kiss caressing the air like a failed lover. He turned very slightly, and it was over.

Jang Su hit the ground with a loud thud, burying himself in a raised cloud of dust.

The world stood still, a silent witness to his defeat.

He blinked up at the sky, his confusion vivid. Valdan blinked, too.

The silence remained, a physical presence, heavy and insistent.

"We have some guides to meet," Aiden said into it and turned away. "We should hurry."

He left the silence behind him as he stepped out of the clearing.

It was time to get the [Crystal of Existence].