WIEDERGEBURT Chapter 25

“Ha… ha… ha…”

I had run quite a distance, darting through trees, over boulders, and across clearings, all the while carrying Fay in my arms. The girl that I was holding hadn’t said anything yet. She was probably too embarrassed, which I only realized after I picked her up, but it wasn’t like I could stop, not until we had reached a safe distance from our previous training ground.

Finally, I stopped after reaching a clearing that was surrounded by trees so large they towered over us. This place had a small pond. There was no waterfall, but the pond was crystal clear and at least several meters across. A small stream was being fed into it.

“Um…” As I stood there with my shoulders heaving, Fay hesitantly spoke up. “Do you mind telling me what that was about?”

After regaining my breath, I glanced at Fay, still in my arms, and gave her an embarrassed smile. “Just a little training accident.”

“A training accident?” Fay furrowed her brow as she stared into my face. Her arms were around my neck. One of her hands was playing with my hair, but I didn’t think she realized what she was doing. “That strange eruption of energy and light… that was you, wasn’t it?”

“Ah ha ha… yeah…”

Fay wore an aggrieved but amused look as she shook her head. “Do you ever do anything halfway?”

I looked away, unwilling to show my embarrassment as a small droplet of sweat trailed down my face. “Well, you know me… it’s all or nothing.”

“Yes, I have become very aware of that these past two months.”

The two of us shared a soft chuckle, but then Fay seemed to realize that she was still in my arms and her face suddenly turned as red as her hair.

“Um… could you please put me down?” she asked in a low voice seeping with a sense of shame.

I felt my own cheeks heat up. “Ah… yes. Sorry.”

I set her on the ground. Fay took several steps away from me. During that time, I glanced at our surroundings once more. The clearing was large enough that Fay could practice the Flash Step. There was also the small pond that we could wash off in after our training was over, which would be nice because I sometimes had to leave for work and didn’t have time to head home.

“I think I like this place,” I announced at last. “What do you say we make this our new training ground?”

Fay’s look told me she knew I was hiding something, but she shrugged and said, “If that is what you want.”

I was glad she had agreed so readily. One of the things I liked about Fay was that she seemed capable of adapting to almost any situation. She just took whatever was thrown at her and made something out of it.

“How far did you get on the Flash Step before I, uh, interrupted you?” I asked.

Fay sighed in disappointment. “I was able to land on the target you gave me, but I could only land on it one out of every eight times.”

“In order to properly use the Flash Step, it is important to be able to accurately end up at the exact spot you want to go.” I walked to one end of the clearing as I explained this. “Let’s say you are in a battle, and you use the Flash Step to get behind your opponent. If you can’t get exactly behind them, or you end up in front of them, they can counterattack.” I drew a line in the ground, and then measured out ten meters and drew another line in the ground. “You will also hesitate if you don’t end up where you were trying to reach. That hesitation in battle can mean the difference between victory and defeat.”

Fay nodded as she walked over to me and the line I had drawn. There was a fire burning in her eyes. She glanced at the other line ten meters away, eyes narrowed in a look of stubborn determination. Seeing this expression on her made my respect soar.

So many people gave up without ever really trying, saying things like, “It’s too hard. I’ll never be able to do this.” However, those who were truly successful knew that success came only after hundred of consecutive failures. This girl was refusing to give up just because she hadn’t met with success the first time around.

“Well, it hasn’t even been a full day since I taught you,” I added. “It will take at least a month before you can truly say you’ve become proficient with the Flash Step.”

“It’s a very delicate but powerful technique,” Fay agreed. “I’m going to keep practicing until I have it down perfectly.”

“That’s the spirit. I’ll be practicing over there.” I pointed at a spot within the trees. “Call for me if you need anything.”

“I will.”

I left Fay to her practice and entered the forest, glancing at the surrounding trees, all of which stood at least a meter or two away from each other. It wasn’t tightly packed, but it was dense enough that I could use it for movement training. I set my bag of pills down, popped a Spiritual Recovery Pill into into my mouth, and sighed in relief when my reserves of Spiritual Power swiftly recovered.

“Okay…” I took a deep breath. “Time to do this.”

Channeling Spiritual Power to my feet, I took a single step forward, and the world blurred around me. Not even a second had passed before a tree appeared in front of me. I stopped on a dime and Flash Stepped away from the tree, and then I stopped again and used Flash Step to once more head off in a different direction. I continued to use the Flash Step, swerving around trees at a speed that caused my vision to grow blurry.

To the outside observer, I was sure that anyone who watched me would have seen nothing but vague shadows racing through the trees. This form of training was meant to accomplish several goals. The first was to exhaust my Spiritual Power by continuously using the Flash Step. The second was to practice using multiple Flash Steps to change direction at random. The third was to train my eyesight and brain.

I had noticed it the first time I used the Flash Step. My vision had blurred. This meant that my eyes and brain couldn’t properly comprehend the visual information I was receiving. To correct this, I needed to constantly use the Flash Step and let my mind and eyes gradually become accustomed to traveling at high speeds.

My feet struck the bark of a tree, which exploded as I blasted off again, using the Flesh Step to begin leaping from one tree to another. I kept this going for several minutes, then hit the ground and Flash Stepped away. My vision was still a little blurry. However, the longer I practiced like this, the sharper my eyes became.

I must have been training for at least two hours. By the time I had exhausted my Spiritual Power, I could see the sun high in the sky, peeking in through the canopy overhead.

“My shift in the library will be starting soon,” I muttered to myself, wondering if Kari would be there.

After orienting myself, I headed back toward the clearing where Fay was practicing. As I stepped into the clearing, I frowned, noticing that Fay was no longer practicing. I couldn’t see her anywhere at first. However, as I looked around, I realized the reason why.

Fay was taking a bath in the pond.

My mind and body became frozen when I saw Fay standing in the pool of water, completely naked. Her lower body was hidden by the water. Her upper body was not. I had a perfect glimpse of her perky breasts, which I had already seen once before. However, that was back when they had been covered in black bruises because she was suffering from Spiritual Poisoning. Now her skin was an unblemished porcelain.

Fay’s breasts were not as large as Kari’s, but they were still impressive. As she moved her hands over them, her breast shook and jiggled, causing my mouth to become inexplicably dry. A strong desire welled up inside of me. All that did, though, was make me feel incredibly guilty.

“Eryk…”

Fay had noticed me standing there with a stupid look on my face. Her cheeks turned bright red. Despite her very obvious embarrassment, she didn’t shy away from me or try to hide her body. Perhaps she was too stunned to think of covering herself.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and turned around. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were bathing.”

“You don’t… have to apologize,” Fay said, a clear note of embarrassment in her voice. I thought I also detected disappoint, but I wanted to pretend that was my imagination. “You’ve also already seen me naked before. I don’t mind… if you keep looking.”

A wave of shame washed over me as the temptation to do as she asked hit me. I wanted to look. I really did. But I couldn’t. Doing that would have been wrong, not only because I was already in love with Kari, but also because it wouldn’t be fair to Fay. Even if I had some feelings for her, gazing upon her naked body when I couldn’t return her feelings was tantamount to degrading her.

“No,” I sighed. “It wouldn’t be right.”

“I guess not,” Fay said in a soft voice.

Knowing that I couldn’t remain there while she bathed, I willed my feet to move, taking me deeper into the forest, where I would be forced to relieve the pressure in my pants. I couldn’t remember a time when I had ever felt so humiliated.

***

Fay and I parted ways after training. Our goodbye was quite awkward. I was pretty sure that neither of us knew what to say, but our reasons for feeling so awkward were likely very different. I was ashamed of my own weakness. Fay probably felt ashamed that I had denied her when she offered to let me gaze at her naked body. Well, that was what I figured anyway. It wasn’t like I was an expert on women.

I stepped into the library and gazed around the first floor, where quite a number of people were sitting at tables or wandering around bookshelves. It seemed like this place had become a bit more lively. I counted at least 20 people. Before Kari began regularly visiting, this library would have only five or six at most.

“You’ve come right on time,” a voice said seconds before a figure emerged from between the bookshelves. It was Ms. Nadine, the owner of this library. She was carrying a stack of books in her hands as she walked over to me.

“Of course,” I said with a smile. “When am I not on time?”

“You have been late before.”

“That was one time. I was never late after that, was I?”

“I suppose not.” Ms. Nadine acknowledged my words with a nod. However, a sly expression crossed her face quite suddenly, startling me. “Your girlfriend is already here. However, before you can go upstairs and visit her, I’ll need you to do your job.”

I sighed at how Ms. Nadine was teasing me and took the books from her hands. There was a time when this many books would have felt heavy, but now I barely even noticed their weight.

“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “I won’t neglect my duties.”

“Good.”

Ms. Nadine seemed satisfied by my words, but then she paused and studied me a bit more. Her lips moved slightly. I realized that she was actually licking her teeth with her tongue behind her closed mouth, something that she did sometimes when she was in deep thought.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Your chest and shoulders have gotten much broader,” Ms. Nadine said at last. “You have been training hard.”

“Yes.” I shrugged. Anyone who spent enough time with me would have recognized that I was a lot more muscular now than I had been two months ago.

“Have you been training for the Spiritualist Grand Tournament?” she asked.

I actually hadn’t, if I was being perfectly honest. I hadn’t even realized the Spiritualist Grand Tournament was coming up until the other day when I challenged Grant Leucht. That said, I was glad to hear the tournament was coming up soon. It gave me a frame of reference.

Ever since I had come back in time, I had been unaware of just what month it was. Calendars and other methods of telling the date were expensive and not something a peasant like myself could afford—well, I could afford one now. In either event, I now knew that it was the 4th month of the year. The Spiritualist Grand Tournament happened at the end of the 4th month and the beginning of the 5th. Since there were nine months in a year, that meant this year was about halfway finished.

“In a manner of speaking,” I said in a roundabout way.

“What does that even mean?” asked Ms. Nadine before she sighed at me like I was her biggest frustration. “You know what? Nevermind. I have to head home. I’m sure my husband and children are already at home waiting for me.”

“Right. Just leave closing the library to me,” I said.

Ms. Nadine nodded and walked past me and out the door, which closed shut with a soft click. I walked further into the library and began putting away the books I had taken off her. After that, I cleaned off the empty tables, wiped down the shelves, and helped people whenever they came up to me. I’d say it took about an hour to finish all my tasks. However, once I was done, I was able to walk up the stairs to the second floor.

Kari was indeed present on the second floor. She was sitting at a table near the back. There were a few other people present, which had been happening a bit more recently. All of them were men between the ages of 14 and 20-ish. I could only assume they were there to admire the lovely flower as she read her book.

I sighed. I supposed I should just be glad those people kept their activities to staring, but I was sure their blatant ogling annoyed Kari.

“Hey,” I greeted as I tried to ignore the men sitting at the other tables and walked up to Kari.

“Hey yourself,” Kari said with a smile as she turned to me. A strand of golden hair fell over her face, but she quickly tucked it behind her ear as I sat down.

“What are you reading today?” I asked.

“A Spiritual Technique Scroll.”

Kari scooted closer to me, until our thighs were touching. I could feel the warmth from her body. She was wearing a cloak today, but it was the type that looked more like a cape. The thin fabric of her dress pressed against my thighs, which were covered in silk pants.

I looked at the scroll while secretly enjoying the warm sensation, studying the ancient-looking scroll with a mild frown. The Runes on the scroll were a bit faded. This scroll had obviously been read a lot.

“Thurisaz, Gebo, Kenaz, Hagalaz, Eihwaz, and Jera Merkstave.” I clicked my tongue. “This is a B-rank Spiritual Technique, if I am not mistaken.”

Kari nodded. “It’s called Light Force Decimation. It creates a stream of light that can be emitted from either the palms or a weapon. The stream releases an intense destructive force. Anything struck by it will be destroyed.” She paused long enough to give me a self-deprecating smile. “Well, anything that does not have the defensive power to withstand it. It’s a B-rank technique, so a B-rank Demon Beast with a strong defense could withstand it. A Spiritualist who has a lot of Spiritual Power could also defeat this technique.”

I listened to her explain the technique with a soft smile. I already knew how the technique worked since it was something Kari had used many times in the past, but I loved listening to her voice. In truth, she could have talked about anything, and I would have gladly listened.

“Are you paying attention to me?” asked Kari, her cheeks swelling in a pout when she saw my smile.

“Of course I am.” I chuckled a little, which just caused her to pout more. “You might want to be careful. That pout of yours is more destructive than any Spiritual Technique. It makes men succumb to their carnal desires.”

“W-what sort of nonsense are you spouting?!”

Snickering as she squawked at me with an embarrassed blush, I settled down and looked at the technique scroll again. It was definitely a decent B-rank Spiritual Technique. Any middle-grade Spiritualist with a decent amount of Spiritual Power would love to get their hands on something like this, though very few people could ever use it. This technique required someone with the light element. Almost no one had that element. In fact, outside of Kari, I only knew two people who could use it, and one of them was me after Kari had gifted her element to me before dying in my arms.

“Did you know this technique can be transformed into an A-rank Spiritual Technique?” I asked.

“It can?” Kari blinked.

Nodding, I asked, “Do you have some extra parchment and a quill?”

She obviously did since there were several sheets of parchment and a quill dipped in an ink bottle sitting right on the table, but it was polite to ask. Kari nodded and handed me a sheet of parchment before sliding the quill and bottle over. I removed the quill from the ink, tapped it against the sides of the bottle to remove some of the extra ink, and then copied the technique in the scroll down.

“Gebo means gifts, both in the sense of sacrifice and of generosity. It indicates balance. That’s fine. You don’t want to change that. It’s the same with Kenaz. Kenaz represents the vital fire of life, the fire of transformation and regeneration. However, what about Eihwaz? Eihwaz represents the driving force to acquire something, providing motivation and a sense of purpose. You could say it represents willpower. What if you reversed it to make Eihwaz Merkstave?”

Kari bit her lip as she tried to think up an answer, which I realized would be hard for her since Runes were not something the people of Nevaria were all that familiar with. There was a reason new Spiritual Techniques were rarely ever invented. The knowledge was, while not lost, incomplete.

“You would get… the opposite, I guess.” She tilted her head. “Confusion? Destruction?”

“Yes, that’s it exactly.” I smiled and nodded before writing down the Spiritual Technique directly below the first copy I made, but I reversed Eihwaz to create Eihwaz Merkstave. “If you do this, the power of this Spiritual Technique would easily reach the point where it becomes an A-rank Spiritual Technique.”

“But… wouldn’t that also make it impossible to control?” asked Kari. “If Eihwaz means reliability and motivation, then the reverse of that means you can’t rely on it.”

“This is true.” I allowed with a slow nod. “However, if all you want is a powerful attack that can destroy an enemy arrayed against you, do you need control?”

“That… I guess not,” Kari conceded with a reluctant frown.

I smiled and nudged her shoulder. “In a duel with another person you do not wish to kill, using the regular version of Light Force Decimation would work fine if their Spiritual Power doesn’t exceed yours. However, if you are fighting against a B or an A-rank Demon Beast, you don’t want a controlled attack. You want something that can just destroy the frightening enemy before you.”

“You do bring up a good point,” Kari muttered as she bit her lower lip. She glanced at the parchment where I had written the two Spiritual Techniques on top of each other, and then she looked at me. “Can this be modified in other ways?”

“Indeed it can,” I said with a smile.

The two of us spent the next several hours discussing how Spiritual Techniques could be modified by changing the Runic scheme used in their construction.

***

Kari left as the sun was beginning to set. I spent the rest of that time cleaning up the library so I didn’t have much to do once it was closing time. When the last person left, I was able to close up within half an hour.

The sun had already gone down by the time I began traveling home, and the stars were coming out to play. It was fairly dark. Fortunately, several street lamps that used monster cores with a lightning element were placed at even intervals to help illuminate the street. I walked through the empty streets of Nevaria, taking several turns as I traveled the familiar road to my home.

“I hope Lin didn’t leave,” I muttered to myself. Lin had expressed this morning that staying at home by herself was boring, and she had seemed awfully willful, not backing off until I had expressed my concern for her safety. If she left, I was sure it would cause a panic.

I turned a corner. I was just about to continue down this new road when the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. A brief flash of harmful intent washed over me.

I reacted quickly.

Leaping back several steps, I was just in time to avoid a burly figure dressed in a black cloak who charged through the spot where I’d been standing. The cloak covered everything. Outside of the fact that this person was quite muscular and obviously a man, I couldn’t figure out anything else.

“Who are you?” I demanded. I didn’t receive an answer, not that I had expected one.

The cloaked figure took two steps forward, retracted his hands in a strange, undulating motion, and then thrust both fists forward. A stream of water shot from his fists. The stream was quite fast. If it hit, I was sure it would sweep a normal person off their feet.

I leapt to the side, allowing the stream to flow past me. Just as my feet touched the ground, warning bells went off inside of my head. I ducked as something sailed by overhead. Several strands of my long hair were cut. I watched the strands as they fluttered to the ground before being blown away by a breeze.

Turning while still keeping low to the ground, I found a pair of legs directly in front of my face. I looked up to see another cloaked individual.

“Hup!”

Using the strength of my legs to push off the ground, I leapt up at a speed that was too fast for this person to keep up with. I swung my fist upward. A satisfying cracking noise echoed around the empty street as my fist slammed into the underside of this person’s chin.

A garbled cry of pain emerged from the cloaked figure’s mouth as my attack sent the guy into the air. Blood and a tooth shot out of the cloaked person’s hood. My opponent flew backward in a parabolic arc, struck the ground hard, bounced several times, and rolled to a stop several meters away.

“ALF!” a cry came from the first cloaked individual who attacked me. “You bastard!!”

The cloaked figure ran toward me, stopped, and spun around in a circle while extending his left hand. A sphere of water appeared on his palm. As the cloaked man completed his spin, he threw the sphere at me. Of course, while it was pretty quick, the speed at which it moved was nothing compared to someone who could use the Flash Step. What’s more, this technique, like the other one, was probably only a D or perhaps a C-rank Spiritual Technique at the most. Even if I did let it hit me, I doubt it would do any harm.

While I could have let it strike me, I still dodged the attack. Moving to the left, I avoided the sphere, which struck the ground behind me, bent my knees, and shot forward. I didn’t use the Flash Step for this. There was no need.

I was within this cloaked man’s guard within seconds. The man let out a gasp as he seemed to realize that I was no longer several meters away. He tried to move back, to gain some distance, but I wouldn’t let him.

I grabbed the sleeve of this man’s cloaked, yanked on it, and pulled my enemy forward, right into my waiting knee. A whooshing sound emitted from the cloak as all the oxygen was expelled from the man’s lungs. My knee was buried in his gut. Removing the knee, I set my foot on the ground, and then spun around and slammed my fist into this person’s face. A loud grunt emerged from the cloak as my knuckles crashed into his cheek. He stumbled but didn’t go down.

“You’re a stubborn one,” I muttered as I took two steps forward and rabbit punched the man’s throat just as he was recovering. I think my first punch missed his neck. There was a loud crunching sound from within the hood that made me think I’d broken his nose instead. This didn’t deter me. My second punch shot forward and a loud gagging noise emerged from the hood as my opponent stumbled back.

Not letting up, I took several steps forward and hooked my foot behind my opponent’s left foot. I didn’t even need to do anything. His stumbling made him walk right into it. With a quick tug, the cloaked figure fell backward, landing on his butt, and I didn’t hesitate to lift my leg and slam my heel into his face. There was a loud cracking sound that echoed across the street. The man who had attacked me twitched several times before eventually going still.

Glancing at the man who wasn’t moving, I nodded before turning to the other cloaked individual. He was sitting up. However, from the way his body was swaying, I could tell he was groggy. My uppercut must have rattled his brains.

I walked over to the man, who didn’t notice my presence until I was right next to him. He looked up at me. His eyes widened just as I launched my foot at him. My foot struck him in the temple, the force causing his body to turn as he hit the ground, another loud cracking noise echoing around me as his head hit the road.

After waiting for a moment to see if the man would get up, I flipped him onto his back and watched as the hood fell away from his face, revealing this person’s identity. I recognized him. He was one of the two lackeys that was with Grant the other day. In which case, the other person would be his brother.

“Grant must have ordered them to attack me,” I muttered in a dark voice.

After feeling a brief surge of anger, I calmed down and thought about what I should do. I didn’t want these two informing Grant about our brief struggle. Not only would it reveal a little of my talent to him, but the news would likely spread and I’d soon become the target for several other families. After all, a peasant had just beaten up two nobles. At the same time, I couldn’t kill them specifically because they were nobles. Their deaths would invite an investigation. I wasn’t confident in my ability to remain inconspicuous if the Nevarian Spiritualists or the Imperial Royal Guard decided to actually perform a thorough investigation into the murder of two nobles.

“I guess there’s no helping it,” I sighed.

I grabbed the unconscious man by the cloak and dragged him over to his brother. After removing the hood from his brother, I knelt before them and raised a hand. Pale blue energy emitted from my index finger as I channeled Spiritual Power into it. I placed my finger against the forehead of the first one who attacked me and began writing.

Isa. Perthro. Algiz. Dagaz Merkstave.

As I wrote the Runes into the man’s forehead, I pushed my Spiritual Power into him. The Runes slowly sank into his skin. They disappeared when I finished. Nodding as I saw the Runes vanish, I turned to the brother and did the same thing.

“Okay.” I stood up. “That should keep them from remembering this exchange. I doubt there is anyone with the capability of unblocking a Memory Locking Rune in Nevaria, so I should be safe for now.”

I looked at the two and briefly wondered if I should do anything else to them, but then I shook my head and walked away. They wouldn’t remember this encounter anyway. There was no need for me to do anything that could incriminate me.

As I began walking toward my home once again, a strange feeling washed over me, like there were eyes staring into my back. I stopped walking and turned around. Looking at the roofs of the various buildings, I tried to search for the source of this strange feeling. However, I could not find anyone there. What’s more, the feeling had vanished.