“Want to try again? This time, I’ll adjust it to match your skill level.”
“That’s enough. I don’t think my skill will improve just by sparring a few more times right now. Besides, I actually have a different purpose for coming to the training hall today.”
“Getting used to the Sky-Blue Aether, right?”
Reysir asked to confirm, and I nodded lightly in response.
Then he offered a new suggestion.
“How about trying Aether Separation right now? I’ll help you.”
“Didn’t you already tell me the location of the Eter Core inside my head and the path to get there? What else could you possibly help with?”
“I only confirmed it once, and that was through someone else’s body, not your own. Besides, you’ve been focusing so much on training your mind since then, so the memory might have faded and gotten confusing, right?”
“Get to the point.”
“To be certain, I think I should inject Aether into you and directly guide you along the path to the core inside your head.”
It was a reasonable argument.
That made me suspicious. Was that really why he had told me the core’s location before starting training?
“And the path I told you earlier was only one, right? But to circulate the Aether properly, you need two paths. There’s a method to send the Aether down from the head and circulate it only inside the body before bringing it back up to the head…”
“So there’s some advantage to circulating the Aether including the head.”
“Exactly! It improves the efficiency of Aether Cultivation and also has the bonus effect of clearing your mind!”
This was information never mentioned in the Original Work.
I never would’ve thought that while others circulated Aether only inside their torso, Reysir alone used a circulation route including the head.
It’s annoying when the Original Protagonist gets special treatment but it’s never written down in the main story.
I silently cursed the original author’s negligence and asked Reysir as if confronting the Original Protagonist.
“But why did you only tell me one path earlier?”
“If you try to memorize too much at once, it gets confusing. Since the second path can be taught later, I just told you the way to the core first.”
“You weren’t planning to demand a second reward from me, were you?”
“No way! And the first reward you took was because you forced me to, reluctantly!”
“……”
“If you feel awkward about constantly owing me, just think of it as compensation for agreeing to spar.”
I couldn’t help but realize Reysir was being considerate of me in many ways.
He might have teased me to admit him as a friend while taking the chance, but he never said anything that would put pressure on me.
‘Does he know his consideration only makes me feel more burdened?’
“Are you hesitating because you’re worried I might hold a grudge and try to get revenge for what happened last semester? If you don’t trust me, I can just show you the circulation path through my body like before.”
“It’s not that I trust you particularly, but I know you’re not the type to cause harm under the guise of help.”
“……!!”
Reysir’s eyes sparkled, and he looked genuinely touched by my words.
Facing that expression, I suddenly realized I had made a tsundere-like comment.
A mistake.
No matter how much I pretend it was an accident, if I had damaged this body’s brain, I would’ve earned the Austri Ducal Family’s wrath, so I should have said I wouldn’t dare do that.
“Why do the best answers always come to me after I mess up?”
I turned my face away from Reysir, who was silently smiling, and swept my bangs back for no reason.
“…But you’re not the kind to endlessly sacrifice yourself for others or desperately give help without any gain, are you?”
In older works, it was common to see protagonists willingly help others even at their own expense.
But times have changed.
Because the world has become harsher, the idea that good deeds will be rewarded someday has lost credibility.
Nowadays, readers expect protagonists to receive immediate, just rewards.
Thus, it’s become standard for protagonists in recent web novels to weigh pros and cons.
Still, if a protagonist’s nature is set as ‘good,’ sometimes they have to help others without any gain.
When that happens, what’s needed is plausibility.
“There’s no need to argue about the core inside your head. Sparring incidentally benefited you, but actually, I agreed because I wanted to help you.”
I hesitated whether I should say that.
But accepting help without understanding is against Karvald Austri’s character.
If I understand Reysir’s motives, maybe I can prevent him from trying to help me like today.
It’s all to keep some distance between us.
Knowing it’s a rationalization, I finally asked.
“Reysir, why do you want to help me?”
“If I don’t answer, you’ll never accept my help again, right? So I’ll just be honest.”
In the Original Work, no one ever asked Reysir why he helped others.
Because he and the supporting characters naturally helped each other.
Especially in training, it was even more natural.
Since they fought battles risking life and death together, raising each other’s skills was the best way to increase survival chances.
So none of the Nase readers, myself included, ever doubted it.
Therefore—
“Honestly, I’m afraid someone around me will die. So I want everyone to become stronger. So that no matter what danger comes, they can survive…”
—In the Original Work, Reysir never openly admitted his fears like this.
“Karvald, you’re the young master of a Ducal Family, so normally no one would dare harm you. But precisely because of that, you could become a target for really dangerous people, right?”
I knew what kind of trauma Reysir carried, but even so, I wasn’t expecting this answer.
Especially since the Demonic Realm hasn’t fully appeared yet.
“For example, someone might kidnap you as a hostage and threaten your father…”
Talking about this, I suddenly thought of Hailga, who had been kidnapped before.
Reysir grumbled that he wished Hailga would train voluntarily like me, but she didn’t, so he worried.
‘His reasoning is almost too perfect, bordering on excessive.’
Having lost everyone precious to him, then found someone precious again, only to lose them once more.
Meeting someone who will soon lose those dear to them too makes me unable to feel anything but heaviness.
The scars left in his heart are too deep and clear.
Without certainty that he can avoid death, trying to help him might rather become a burden.
Because if it were Reysir, he would be more pained by dying while trying to prevent his own misfortune than by me ignoring it.
“Oh! And the reason I want to help you with Aether Separation is because your Sky-Blue Aether ability is an amazing power that can benefit this world.”
***
While some people’s hearts felt weighed down as if a stone was on their chest, Reysir cheerfully changed the subject.
“If you can make it rain, that means you can stop it too, right? So you could deal with both droughts and floods?”
“…To have a meaningful impact, I’ll need to grow quite a bit more, but someday it should be possible.”
“I thought so!”
Even if it wouldn’t benefit him, Reysir looked as happy as if it were his own matter.
“Using your ability is your choice, so you don’t have to solve all weather disasters yourself. But because of that, people will have no choice but to respect you. After all, droughts and floods happen every year, just on different scales. If they want your help, they’d naturally want to get on your good side.”
“Are you trying to get on my good side now so you can get help from me later?”
“Hahaha! It might comfort you if I said yes, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. My family’s estate was taken by the Imperial Family, and Helly’s estate is in an area almost never hit by floods or droughts.”
Even if he answered that way, it would quickly be exposed as a lie under the circumstances.
“So then?”
“I just want people to know that your worth isn’t only because you were born into a Ducal Family. So that no one talks recklessly about you and causes you pain by letting you hear it… I hope such situations never happen again.”
“……”
I had completely forgotten about the Lobby Backtalk Event, but Reysir still seemed bothered by that day.
If I had truly been hurt then, I might have been moved this time.
But thankfully, when I think of the Lobby Backtalk Event, all that comes to mind is the comment about cracking the whip on Yor, so not even a hint of sympathy arose.
“Reysir, even if you desperately ask for help in the future, I’ll ignore you.”
“That doesn’t seem like something you’d do…”
“You don’t know me well enough.”
“Alright, alright. Let’s just say that’s true. I never helped you expecting something in return anyway.”
“……”
“But you’re going to accept my help now, right? If you try moving Aether on your own and fail, you’ll have to ask me to help with your own mouth, and you wouldn’t want that, would you?”
It’s definitely the worst-case scenario.
If Reysir had started with this, I probably would’ve accepted help without questioning anything.
“…Since I’m used to drawing Purple Aether from my existing core, I plan to move the Sky-Blue Aether.”
“Then you’ll need to consume the rest of your Purple Aether. Want me to toss the disc again?”
“No, no need. I’ve done enough whip training, and it’s late, so I’ll use another method to consume it.”
I coiled the whip I was holding and tied it around my waist, then used [Encourage].
I dumped Aether without efficiency boosts through sound waves.
The targets were me, Yor, and Reysir.
“Wow! Even standing still, I can clearly feel my physical ability improving! But even with this buff…”
“Your physical ability improved clearly because your body is that well trained.”
“So you’re saying I’m less trained?”
“……”
No need to answer that.
So I pretended not to hear Reysir and drew Purple Aether up once more to use the [Encourage] skill.
Considering the stat boost amount, I should’ve used [Encourage] before [Enhance], but now my goal was to consume almost all of the Purple Aether except 10%.
First, I applied the keyword ‘My Possession Body’ to myself.
Then I applied the four keywords ‘My Familiar,’ ‘My Happiness,’ ‘My Comfort,’ and ‘My Understanding’ to Yor.
For reference, unfortunately ‘My Baby Dragon’ is treated as the same keyword as ‘My Familiar.’
‘If I apply just one more keyword, the Purple Aether will be just right…’
I casually glanced at Reysir but quickly looked away.
One keyword came to mind to apply to him, but if he found out I used a buff on him that only activates under certain conditions, he might misunderstand that I consider him special.
Just in case, I canceled the [Encourage] skill applied to myself and reapplied the ‘My Possession Body’ keyword.
Then I tested drawing up the Sky-Blue Aether, gathering it at my fingertips.
“It’s a clear sky color.”
“……”
“Are we ready now? Then let’s start quickly.”
Reysir put the spear he was holding back into the inventory and collapsed onto the floor.
But instead of sitting with my back to him, I exchanged a glance with Yor.
I couldn’t let Reysir remove his blindfold and check my status window while I was defenseless moving the Sky-Blue Aether to the upper dantian.
My wise baby dragon immediately understood what I was worried about.
Yor gave a thumbs-up, covered his right eye with his index finger, and then made a poking motion in the air…
Today, the nail at the tip of that finger looked unusually sharp and threatening.
ugh frustrating! so frustrating 🤺🤺