The Author's POV

"Ghua!"

Aaron's eyes shot wide open. Clenching onto his heart, Aaron started hyperventilating. He kept breathing, but with each breath he took, he felt this overwhelming sense of death wash over him.

"Haa...haaa..."

Only after taking a couple more breaths did Aaron finally calm down a little.

'What happened to me?'

He looked beneath him, his bedsheets were soaked in his own sweat. Touching his forehead, Aaron wiped his forehead which was dripping with sweat.

Faint memories started to surface inside of his mind as his face paled considerably.

"Ukh..."

Clenching onto his head and letting out a groan, Arron lifted his head and looked around him.

Wooden floor, white walls, and a white ceiling. He was in his own residence.

"Haa...haaa..."

His hyperventilation did not stop as he bit his lips till his lips bled. his body shook all over. Hugging his body, he repeatedly muttered.

"Spar..e..me...spare...me."

He could feel this vivid sense of pain course through his whole body. He just wanted it to stop.

'What is this smell?'

Sniffing around, Aaron suddenly smelled a strong and pungent smell, reminiscent of that of alcohol. Lowering his head, he pulled his shirt and smelled it.

"It's coming from me."

He mumbled underneath his breath. When he realized this, he pulled himself off his bed and moved straight to the mirror.

He stumbled a couple of times, but it wasn't long before he stood face to face with the mirror.

"...I'm still okay?"

Aaron muttered, touching his face and body all over. Though faint, images of different scenarios propped up inside of his mind. Recalling them his body trembled all over.

The pain.

It felt so vivid. As though he had truly experienced it.

Even now, he couldn't quite get rid of the sense he had experienced.

"It was just a dream, just a dream...I must've drank too much...he's dead for sure."

Aaron repeatedly muttered as he stared at himself in the mirror. It had to be that.

The smell of alcohol in the room and the fact that he was still alright were testaments to that. Also, the fact that the person responsible for torturing him was someone who was supposed to be dead, Aaron realized that there were simply too many holes in his dreams to make it seem that what had happened had truly happened.

He laughed.

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"Hahah, it must've been a bad dream."

His laugh was forced, but he was merely trying his best to remain composed.

Although he had no idea about what happened at the party, he was planning on checking later to make sure it really was a dream.

"Fuuuu..."

But just as Aaron had calmed down, and he had managed to convince himself that everything that had happened last night was merely a dream that came as a result of him getting too drunk, from the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a small letter by the side of his desk.

"What's this?"

An ominous feeling washed over him as he laid eyes on the letter.

"Huuuu..."

Taking another deep breath to calm his nerves down, Aaron slowly walked toward the letter. Extending his hand which was trembling, he slowly unfurled the letter.

"...Whew."

Aaron breathed a sigh of relief. Reading through the contents of the letter, he realized that it was just a long list of rules regarding the upcoming competition.

Sitting back down on his bed, he let out another deep breath.

"I need to stop drinking..."

Ever since waking up, he felt paranoid about everything. Just the slightest thing startled him.

"Ukh!"

A sharp pain coursed through the right side of Aaron's head prompting him to flinch slightly. Fortunately, the pain only lasted for a brief moment.

Scratching the area that hurt, he muttered.

"Strange?...Why does the side of my head hurt?"

***

Thump—!

Dropping a large dumbbell onto the ground, I took a white towel from the side and wiped the sweat from my face.

'He's probably forgotten about everything that has happened...'

About two days had passed since the incident. The one where I tortured Aaron.

At the moment, Aaron was probably thinking something along the lines of, 'Everything I went through is a dream.' or some bullshit like this.

This was exactly what I wanted him to think.

The torture was merely something for my own self-satisfaction. I had other plans for him.

With the aid of Douglas and the others, we were able to somewhat create enough alibies and evidence to make it seem that he really had been drunk, and everything was just a drink.

"You're early."

Currently, I was in a private training room, near my residence. This was a small perk I got thanks to the dwarves.

From about 100 meters away, Amanda's voice rang out. Looking at her, I nodded.

"...Yeah, I'm used to it."

Since the training room was massive, and it was at my disposal, I told the others that they could use it whenever they wanted.

Naturally, everyone took me on my offer. Well, everyone expect Melissa who did not want to have anything to do with training.

"You look quite tired."

"Well, the dumbbells are pretty heavy."

In order to get used to the mass-changing properties of my sword, I had to resort to this kind of muscle training.

If not for this, even if I used the Keiki style and increased the mass of the sword halfway through my swing, by the time I was done with my movements, my sword would just drop to the ground and an opening would appear.

"How heavy?"

"About 500kg?"

"...That much?"

"Well, anything lower would not work."

Amanda nodded her head. Extending her hand, she took out her bow.

Wearing her training gear, Amanda had a small hairband on her mouth as she gathered her hair behind her in a ponytail, revealing her slender neck.

"I see, should we do the usual?"

"Yeah."

This was actually not the first time that Amanda and I met up. It was probably the fourth time by now. I was a bit surprised the first time, turns out we both trained at the same time.

For her, this was the routine she was used to ever since taking over the guild in her father's stead.

Apparently, she had to train very early since her days were usually very busy with guild-related stuff.

For me, it was more of a habit I developed when training in the wilderness back in Henlour.

Either way, this was good for me.

Training with someone else was a lot more efficient than just training alone. Plus, there were a lot of things that I wanted to ask of her.

Especially regarding Nola and my parents.

Raising her bow and aiming it at me, Amanda's soft voice rang out.

"Are you ready?"

Taking a deep breath, extending both of my hands forward, I channeled the wind psyons inside of my body until a green hue shrouded my body.

Right now, Amanda was helping me train my reflexes and agility.

One thing that I noticed was that one of my lacking aspects was my agility. Not only that, but long-ranged opponents were especially hard for me to deal with.

Amanda was a big help to me.

"Ready."

"Okay, I'm starting."

Amanda released the string of her bow.

A translucent blue streak of light shot out from her bow. Following the first shot, Amanda extended her hand again and pulled the string again before releasing it.

Not even a second after she shot her first arrow, two more arrows shot out and following this more and more quickly headed in my direction. It wasn't long before a wall made of blue streaks appeared in front of me.

Staring at them from the distance, my face turned serious.

'This is going to be tough...'

I had set a couple of handicaps on myself for this training. I wasn't allowed to use any skill or any manuals apart from the full-body one.

Since my goal was training my agility, this was the most appropriate choice.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Cutting through the air like missiles, the arrows soon materialized in front of me.

Gently pressing my foot onto the ground, I took a step back.

Xiu!

An arrow brushed past the side of my cheek. Following that arrow, two more arrows arrived in my vicinity. Moving my hands in front of me, twisting my heel, I swiftly grabbed the bodies of the arrows, disrupting their momentum.

Then, after the arrows lost their momentum, I dropped them to the ground and did the same thing for the next few arrows.

Weaving through the endless amount of arrows, sweat started to accumulate on my forehead as I found my body progressively getting more and more tired with each passing second.

But that wasn't the only thing I was feeling. I could vividly feel myself getting better and better at moving in tight spaces.

Excitement flashed across my eyes as I continued to dodge the arrows.

It wasn't long before I started to get used to the rhythm and I started to feel at ease dodging the arrows.

Xiu! Xiu!

Dodging a couple of more arrows, I looked up to Amanda. A smirk appeared on my lips.

"That the best you can do?"

Staring back at me, Amanda's hand trembled slightly. Her brows knit as a result of my provocation.

"I'm getting bored her—"

Xiu!

Before I could even finish my words, a blue streak of light suddenly rushed in my direction at a speed at least five times faster than the previous arrows. Caught-off guard, my brows jumped up.

"Wait—uk!"

But it was too late. Before I could even react, the arrow directly hit me in my right thigh. The force behind the arrows was so strong that I was forced to take a step back.

Fortunately, all the arrows that Amanda shot were blunt, else I would've been in serious trouble.

Still, it hurt quite a lot.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

The sound of the wind being split rang from above, and my eyes trembled. Raising my head, much to my horror, I found over a dozen similar arrows headed in my direction.

"Okay, stop! stop! You win!"

Covering my body with my arms, I squirmed in pain as a dozen arrows crashed against my body at terrifying speeds.

Xiu! Xiu!

"I said stop!"

But it seemed as though Amanda couldn't hear me as she continued to shoot the arrows in my direction. Turning my head in her direction, it was then that I finally noticed the edges of her lips were finally curled upwards.

"You're doing this on purpose!"

I shouted.

Xiu!

"Ooooof!"

Another arrow shot, hitting directly in the ribs. A pained groan escaped from my mouth, and I dropped to the ground.

Fortunately, once Amanda saw that I was on the ground, she finally stopped.

Glaring at her, I raised my hands in defeat.

"You win, I give up."

Approaching my location, Amanda's face remained stoic. But from the way she was skipping toward me resulting in her ponytail to jump up and down behind her, I could tell that she was proud of her achievement.

I ground my teeth as a result.

"You happy?"

"...About what?"

Amanda replied, feigning ignorance. I rolled my eyes. Amanda had changed a lot ever since I had last seen her. She had gotten a lot cheekier.

"Whatever."

Shaking my head, I sighed.

If there was anyone I had to blame, it had to be me. Why did I have to go on and provoke her? Dumb move.

Raising my head and staring at Amanda who was standing near me, I muttered.

"You know, I think you've gotten a lo—"

TWIIING—! TWIIING—!

Before I could finish my sentence, my communication device vibrated.

'Who's trying to talk to me?'

Tilting my head, I took out my communication device and checked who the sender was. Surprise flashed across my face as I realized that the sender was none other than Melissa.

Even more surprising was her message.

[We need to talk.]

Reading it, uneasiness washed over me. Just what did she mean by this?