章 13: True Nature

'I feel bad for the other students attending the Royal Academy...'

Observing the battle between William and the Talamhnath, Leshien felt mixed emotions. On the one hand, it was good that William could face and surmount his fears. Most children nearing their tenth cycle would struggle to take on a Grade 1 Timberwolf. And, even if they won, they would suffer a mild trauma after being forced to face the reality they could die.

What confused yet impressed Leshien was that William was inordinately 'aware' of the possibility he could die, but rather than being cowed by the notion, he would smile and even make jokes. He possessed the youthful vigor of someone his age, but his disposition was like that of a seasoned veteran: calm, confident, and 'patient.'

"If only he were born an Elf..." sighed Leshien, leaping from the tree she was perched upon as the Talamhnath clubbed it with its tail, causing it to shudder violently.

Though William's lifespan would doubtlessly be longer than the average human's, assuming he wasn't killed, very few lived to see their hundredth cycle. Elves, on the other hand, had an average lifespan of three hundred cycles. Some could live much longer, but the crux of Leshien's woes was that, even if William managed to become a distinguished figure within his generation, he would invariably yield to the passage of time, forgotten all too soon...

...

"Come on, you big bastard! Are you even trying to hit me!?" exclaimed William, grinning from ear to ear as he evaded the Talamhnath's attempts to flatten him with its tail or shower him with its caustic spittle. It only had so much stamina and fluids it could discharge before it was spent, and by consistently dodging to the left, William was forcing it to strain its injured foot and tendon. Sooner or later, something was bound to-

Seemingly realizing William was attempting to exhaust it, the Talamhnath abruptly turned and ran away. Monsters weren't completely braindead, so once they realized their opponent was stronger or troublesome, there was nothing like honor or pride to compel them to stay. Most, understandably, only cared about survival and breeding.

"And there he goes..." mused William, stopping in place and taking stock of his surroundings to ensure nothing was waiting to pounce the moment he lowered his guard.

"You're not going after it...?" asked Leshien, dropping down next to William with a curious look on her face.

Waving his hand before his face dismissively, William replied, "That's too cruel. It didn't do anything to me, and I'm not at risk of starving if I fail to track it down."

"But what if it escapes the forest and attacks a nearby village...?" asked Leshien.

"By that logic, we should hunt down and eradicate anything that could possibly pose a threat," contended William, shrugging as he added, "But large monsters serve a vital role in our ecosystem, so it's better to leave them be unless they become unruly."

Not expecting such a 'reasonable' response, though she knew him to be fairly pragmatic, Leshien stared at William with a slightly bewildered look. William was the type to smile while fighting, especially when his back was against the wall, so she expected that he would pursue the Talamhnath to the edge of the world to prove himself. Instead, he genuinely seemed not to care.

"So, what's next?" asked William, wearing a broad smile as he asserted, "If you insist, I should still be able to track the Talamhnath."

"Forget it," responded Leshien, shaking her head. Then, sporting a smile of her own, she stated, "The important thing is that you've demonstrated you can at least repel a Third Grade monster on your own. With that, you can proudly refer to yourself as a Practioner."

"It only took me an additional year," mused William, prompting Leshien to respond with a rare chuckle. In actuality, she simply closed her eyes and snorted, but that was the equivalent of a normal person's belly laugh.

Stepping past William, who was now slightly taller than her, Leshien said, "Your final test is to find your way back to the castle. There are only three weeks until you depart for the Royal Academy. Don't be late."

Raising his brows and blinking in surprise, William asked, "You're leaving?"

Stopping and turning to meet William's gaze, Leshien's smile softened as she responded, "The Talamhnath you just repelled is the most powerful monster in this forest. With your current power and skill, you should have little trouble returning alone. If you can't find your way, find a safe place and stay put. I will inform your mother to dispatch a search party a week from now."

"Then, if this is really the last time we see each other, I want you to have this," said William, pulling out a wooden, rod-shaped figure he had carved in his free time. Leshien gave him the impression she wouldn't even think about him once they parted ways, so he wanted to give her something to remember him by. Lonely people were often the most sentimental, so as long as she had something to provoke it, she should occasionally reflect on their time together and grow fonder of him due to nostalgia.

Unaware of William's 'machinations,' Leshien accepted the figure without thought, her eyes widening and face warming a bit when she noticed the patterns carved into it were similar to the tattoos etched into her body. As a result, whenever she gazed upon it, she would invariably be reminded that they had bathed together and that he had taken a keen interest in, at the very least, her tattoos.

"I don't know if the symbols have any special meaning, but I figured they must be important if you had them permanently etched onto your body," said William, feigning innocence with a clear-eyed smile. His head wasn't filled with air, so he had noticed Leshien's impassive but wandering stare whenever he trained without a shirt on. There were also a few instances where she gave him the impression she wouldn't mind teaching him more than martial arts, but while he wanted to keep her in his back pocket as a powerful ally, William wasn't interested in having his cradle robbed by the youthful-looking but centuries-old Elf. But it wasn't happenstance that the figure was conveniently rod-shaped, highly polished, and treated with oil and resin to prevent liquids from absorbing into it...

Reaching the conclusion William expected her to, the tips of Leshien's pointed ears twitched slightly. She didn't blush or become flustered, but it was clear she had extrapolated how the figure could be used. The odds of her actually doing so were slim, but she found it...amusing that William would go to such lengths to ensure she remembered him.

Removing her incredibly worn right gauntlet, constructed from a dragon's hide and inscribed with powerful protection runes, Leshein proffered it to William with a simple, "Here."

Though he knew it was a custom for Elves to give gifts when they received them, especially during fated encounters and significant partings, William, never in his wildest dreams, could have anticipated that Leshien would relinquish one of her gauntlets, a veritably legendary piece of equipment.

Seeing William gawk, mouth agape at the gift she had given him, Leshien exhaled a rare chuckle. Then, before he could recover, she turned around, stating, "Farewell, William Oirthear. If it is our fate to meet again, I pray it is as allies, not enemies..."

Without waiting for a response, Leshien seemed to vanish into thin air, her abrupt departure creating a temporary vacuum that promptly collapsed in her wake, jerking William forward and producing a sound comparable to a thunderclap.

'Holy shit...' thought William, quickly regaining his footing before staring in awe at the direction of Leshien's departure. He knew she was fast, but to produce a vacuum and induce a backdraft powerful enough to knock him off balance? That implied her spontaneous acceleration was at least four to seven times the speed of sound.

Adopting a broad, bright-eyed smile, William found comfort in the notion he still had a long road ahead of him. His Innate was a cheat that enabled him to hit way above his weight class, but he favored the simplicity of raw, unadulterated speed and power. Not that Magic didn't have its charms...

Trusting that Leshien hadn't deceived him and wasn't spying on him from a vantage he couldn't see, William approached a large tree and placed his hand against its damp, moss-covered surface, stating, "Open..." in a voice that reverberated through the surrounding space.

Corresponding to the picture in William's mind, the tree bulged before a large opening and a hollow big enough to accommodate him were formed. He needed to be careful not to compromise the tree's integrity, but as this was a fairly common way he employed to avoid detection in his past lives, he managed to create a fairly comfortable nook to crawl into and rest until nightfall. Then his 'refresher' training could begin...

...

Though the Talamhnath was the most powerful creature in the forest, it was far from the only large and dangerous monster present. Despite this, William did not attempt to conceal himself as he meandered through the forest with a relaxed smile. More notably, he was wearing a piece of dark red fabric around his eyes, repeating, 'Feel, hear, sense...' like a mantra in his mind.

Blindfold training was one of the most common methods of increasing a person's sensitivity to Mana and Aura. Leshien had compelled William to go through it about halfway through his training, but now that he was on his own, he could take things several steps further.

Accompanied by the sound of leaves and brush shifting, several large wolves covered in bark-like hide encircled William, moving in the same direction and observing him. Ordinarily, they would attack the moment they encountered prey, but as pack hunters with outstanding instincts, they could 'feel' something was off with him, making them reluctant to pounce.

"Just come at me~" stated William, his voice filled with amusement and a peculiar 'echo' that caused the canine monsters, known as Timberwolves, to tense. Immediately after, as if a switch had been flipped in their minds, they charged at him with reckless but coordinated abandon.

As the Timberwolves enkindled their Mana and Aura when they attacked, their presence, appearing as bluish-white flames within a kaleidoscope of faint and ever-shifting colors, became much easier for William to detect. Thus, when the boldest of the group bounded through their air, teeth bared and aiming for the back of his neck, he simply took two steps and pivoted his body, effortlessly moving out of the attack's trajectory before executing a swift left hook to the Timberwolf's exposed side, transmitting Aura into its body to debilitate but not kill it.

"Lucky for you guys, I happen to be fond of most canines," mused William, weaving between the attacks of the remaining Timberwolves and striking each with Aura-infused blows that caused them to collapse abruptly, like marionettes with their strings cut. Ordinarily, the more senior members of the pack, which tended to hover around the periphery, would have run the moment they realized their opponent was too powerful. Unfortunately for them, William waited for that exact moment to pounce, leaping more than ten meters through the air as he shouted, "Stay!" with a fierce, borderline demonic grin.

Unable to move, the leader of the pack experienced a brief but profound sense of terror before its head was swiftly severed from its body by an ax William produced from the ornate bangle on his right wrist. The remaining Timberwolves experienced a similar sense of panic upon witnessing their leader's abrupt end, but before they could even think to flee, William took advantage of the 'gap' created in their minds to shout, "Submit!" in a voice that caused the ground and air to vibrate before the encompassing forest became eerily silent.

Seized by the notion that refusal meant death, the Timberwolves who were still on their feet immediately lowered their bodies to the ground and set their heads down. This was the power that had earned William the title of a Demon King in his previous life. And his enemies were right to fear it, as, given enough time, he could gather an army of monsters powerful enough to topple virtually any Kingdom...

...