Ten days later,
In the not-so-dense forest, already affected by the shockwaves of struggle, the scattered trees allowed the empty space for air to pass through with an audible gasp coming from one place.
Upon closer attention, in the depths of the forest, four men appeared; one was being held by two cloaked figures, his arms firmly locked.
“Haah… Haah…” Gasping for breath, Ryuk’s eyes remained fixed on the old man standing just a few steps away from him, holding a pointed, long needle that appeared three meters in length.
“Concentrate the flow of Ether on your solar plexus,” Valhale ordered before taking a seat with crossed legs, looking towards the young man held by two cloaked figures, while his two amber eyes looked back at Valhale.
“Did you do that intentionally?” Ryuk inquired, feeling his heart vein expand but with sheer pain, which was evident from the greenish nerves on his face and somewhat reddened pupils.
“…You should trust your teachers; they never want your harm,” Valhale said, closing his eyes and combing his beard with his hand, sitting cross-legged while pointing the needle towards Ryuk’s solar plexus.
‘You shouldn’t lie.’
‘Nope, those who say this are the biggest liars.’
Both cloaked figures gripping Ryuk’s hands, after being ordered by him, glanced at him while conveying their message gathered from years of experience, trying to make the young man understand that every suffering starts with those lines.
“I withdraw,” Ryuk conceded, understanding that even after being convinced by Drishti, this old man would indeed help him, but only in a way that would bring enormous pain, not an easy solution.
‘Smart choice Liege.’
Hearing his words, the cloaked figures tried to loosen their grip but seemed stuck in place, their hands still tightly gripping the young man’s arms, who seemed to realize what was happening.
“Lady Drishti, wasn’t everything sorted out last time?” Ryuk inquired, his eyes shifting to look into the empty air, which soon trembled, forming a heat haze as a womanly figure began to materialize out of thin air.
A soft aroma lingered in the air as the breeze fluttered her cascading hair; the woman arrived at that place with visible changes in the surrounding mana, attracting Valhale’s gaze, which appeared trembled for a moment.
The amusing fact was that even though being influenced by the Grimoire’s excruciating pain, Valhale’s body showed no reaction towards the one who instilled that fear—the young man in front of him—but it did react to the woman who had just arrived.
Hearing Ryuk’s words, Drishti turned her gaze with a small curve forming on her lips, which soon became a smile adorning her face. She added while raising an eyebrow and glancing at the young man, “Heh? What sort out? You left saying how you would just get help from this old man instead of mine without any further words.”
“What do you want?” Ryuk asked, keeping his gaze on her as he inquired about what she needed in exchange for answering the remaining questions from that day or to help him in some way and finally why she was here.
Naturally, he wasn’t planning to leave this place for a few more months until he broke through his physical strength, especially after learning that their next destination was the lair of individuals who could pose a threat to him.
Technically, he wasn’t aware of Titanora either before arriving here, but the more he learned about how this continent wasn’t even mid-ranked, the more it prompted him to be aware that this wasn’t a threat to him, but the Jade Dominion could be.
From his previous world, he had read many cultivation books and was aware of the plots and events that were commonly witnessed when one enters a land where every native has the ability to synthesize mana into internal energy.
And typically, he wasn’t even mastered the way mana worked, let alone a form of energy whose name he had only heard of.
But if the plot involving heroines and the Son of Heaven were true, then those hidden ancestors and cultivators could also be true.
So, entering a foreign land without any precautions was not an option for him.
“Let me train you,” Drishti stated as she moved towards him while taking a peek at Valhale who was glaring at her with a trembling body, remembering the threat he had received from her.
He could withstand pain enough to kill him, could even watch his family die in front of him, but this woman threatened to destroy Titanora and kill everyone present here.
As a Founder, even though his ego never allowed him to submit, the thought of his own land being erased by someone was not something he could just let happen. So, for now, he was teaching this young man.
“Why do you want to train me?” Ryuk inquired, tightening his hand muscles with an amethyst aura surrounding his hand in an attempt to free himself, but it wasn’t enough due to the strength possessed by the cloaked figures whose bodies were not under their control now.
Naturally, he could use the Grimoire to neutralize them, but there was no need, so he remained held down on one bent leg.
Initially, he did this because the first time Valhale expanded his heart vein, he had reflexively attacked him due to his body reacting automatically, prompting him to take support from two of the Devereaux members to keep him restricted.
“Because I want to see what side effects your body will show if I teach you something wrong,” Drishti shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant demeanor, her feet approaching him before halting a hand’s distance away.
‘…Should I let Valhale train me instead?’ Ryuk reevaluated his previous decision to let Valhale teach him after hearing Drishti’s real intent.
He didn’t take her words as a joke since he was aware that she could definitely do that.
“Can you tell them to release me?” Ryuk inquired of Drishti, who was leaning down and stretching her fingers towards his black shirt while her gaze remained fixed on his shirt before glancing at him.
“Let me complete what Valhale said, of course it will be very quick,” Drishti stated genuinely while deciding on the mind map for her teachings that she should bestow upon him.
Her mind added small tweaks in the Thesis teachings to see if they would have an adverse effect on his body or not.
Indeed, there were several improvements she found needed to be implemented in the thesis, but she wasn’t sure if they would have any side effects.
“Um… Lady Drishti, why are you unbuttoning my shirt?” he inquired, seeing her fingers sliding down from his neck and opening the buttons in there way, leaving him looking at her blankly in doubt.
He knew that she didn’t have those kinds of intentions, and she knew that he knew, but the problem was, this wasn’t something to be done in public!
“I need to use my energy to stimulate yours so I can break the flo—I mean, readjust the flow around your solar plexus,” Drishti changed her words, realizing that her initial statement could be a lesson for others present here, like knowing exactly what she was doing, prompting her to choose her words carefully to not reveal teachings of thesis.
But of course, her words were taken in a different sense by everyone, including Ryuk, as he looked down following her fingers which slowly moved down while gliding on his chest. This prompted him to add, “Then you can use a needle as well.”
Valhale was indeed using a needle to let his energy flow through it without touching Ryuk personally after Ryuk had punched him previously by mistake due to reflex.
“Nah, I don’t have that much energy control like him,” Drishti’s fingers finally halted at his solar plexus where they laid on the skin—smooth and taut over well-defined muscles. The contours of his pectorals stood out; each line and ridge over his muscular physique with a faint sheen caught the light, highlighting the bronze hue of his skin, and a light dusting of hair added a rugged touch to his otherwise polished appearance.
‘…This could be a problem,’ was the only thing that came to mind as he realized the situation he was in—being held with her fingers dancing on his chest while trying to find the energy flow across his veins—making the whole scene appear to carry a different meaning.
“Lady Drishti, I think this could cause a huge misunder—” Ryuk tried to suggest that they should do this alone inside a locked room instead of in public, understanding what one might think seeing all this without knowing the reason. But he was interrupted by a familiar voice.
“My Liege, I brought Miss Esme here—… Is she molesting you?”
