"...Let's talk about that when you need it, which I reckon you would ever." With a sigh, Zephy waved his left feather side to side dismissively.
Aiden parted his lips to ask, but shut them quickly. The dismissive wave felt like a physical barrier that stopped him, partnered with the hunch that he should not push further.
"Ahem-ahem...", Zephy continued, "Try casting something but using less Mana and more Aether."
Aiden attempted to stretch his hand out and conjured a ball of water floating an inch above his palm.
"Try Again. You're still forcing your Mana to give that thing a shape." Zephy said, "Do not think of conjuring up the spell out of nothing; the more you do that, the more you are gonna use your mana."
"Think of it flowing around you in invisible form already, and you only need to gather it where you want."
With the cue in mind, Aiden attempted again.
Imagining a water ball floating above his hand was simple enough, but that wasn't what he needed to do.
He needed to gather it from the vicinity.
From seemingly... nothing. It felt impossible.
Yet he tried once.
"Again." Zephy chirped.
Twice.
"Again. See the Aether with your eyes, and try then." Zephy said, his eyes scrutinizing every little action that Aiden was performing with immense focus.
Aiden closed his eyes for a second before opening them again, his vision now filled with the golden glimmer of Aether.
He strived again.
Endeavouring to gather the Aether an inch above his palm, in the shape of a water ball.
Once.
"...Again."
Focusing harder, sweat freezing on his brows. Twice.
"There's a minute improvement. Again."
Aiden focused even more sharply, more narrowly on just that cue.
Gather.
"Hmm... That's a bit better." Zephy tilted his head up a bit and continued, "There's still some sunlight left. Do 250 times more with Water and 250 times with Wind. Don't touch Lightning for now."
Without a second thought, Aiden continued, determined to give every last bit of his effort genuinely.
He was immersed in the golden vision, and his training had just started.
**********
Aiden lay on the cave floor, his body feeling hollow. His mind was numb and exhausted from the training.
Yet, sleep didn't seem to come.
For once, he was scared to surrender himself to the dreamland. The Nightmares he was having for the past couple of nights... They were robbing him of his ability to heal and recover, but, more importantly, making him doubt himself even more.
He didn't want to see his dear ones getting killed over and over, blaming him, repeating his name.
Aiden feared losing his sanity and harming himself cause of the guilt that the nightmares kept piling on him.
Even though he deserved it, was it his selfish tendency that he still wanted to breathe just a little lighter?
...I'm the worst.
Aiden sat up with his back resting against the wall of the cave, his eyes glazing over the torch horn of the Bear as a light source in the cave, instead of the ashes of fire.
Oddly, that cold glow of the Horn reminded him of his life on Earth. Specifically, on the first day, he slept on a mattress with the room lights on.
It was really cold, and he was shivering. He was trying to tough it out before Grandma had scolded him gently for not asking her to turn on the heater.
He didn't even know what a heater was before that.
He was certainly selfish even before that, but on that day, it may have been the first time he had someone else to indulge him in his selfishness.
"I had asked Grandma to lull me to sleep because I had seen the mom of other kids do that, right..."
Grandma's warm smile when he asked, His own nervousness, His heart almost trying to pop out of his malnourished body... Aiden could remember that as if it were yesterday.
"I just had no one to ask for it before that."
Was it she who made him so selfish? To turn him into someone this needy for love?
"I miss you, Grandma." Aiden pulled his knees closer to his chest, his arms crossing over, and his face sinking deeper into his legs.
"Why did you have to die..." Aiden mumbled under his breath, sniffling. "Only if you hadn't died..."
Drowning in Nostalgia, Aiden sniffled for a bit longer before inevitably falling asleep, and the cycle of nightmares continued.
**********
"Huff..."
"Huff..."
Waking up early, Aiden was running back and forth between the entrance of the cave and a cut stump of a crystallized pine tree.
His breathing was a bit ragged, and his heart rate was higher than usual—normal signs of running.
However, he was starting to develop extremely subtle eye bags. Nightmares seemed to like him dearly.
...He still hadn't recovered from yesterday's training. The fatigue was getting to him, affecting his overall capability.
"Huff... Good Morning, Zephy!" Aiden greeted almost in a shout when he saw the little Ice Phoenix coming out of the cave, rubbing his eyes.
Though his legs didn't stop.
"Good Morning, Kiddo." Yawning, Zephy replied.
"I had my breakfast, and I have prepared yours as well." Gesturing towards the food he had prepared with his eyes, Aiden picked up the pace.
"Let's begin today's training after you eat."
Grunting, spitting, yet striving, Aiden fought on. Pushing his legs to their limits and beyond.
...Still, he could tell by the nausea he was feeling that he couldn't keep fighting his body and fatigue. He would end up destroying himself.
He needed to find a way to recover. To sleep.
"Don't overexert yourself so early in the morning, Kiddo," Zephy said, nibbling on the meat.
"Hrghh..." Aiden pushed himself once more, his feet digging into the snow with all his strength.
His legs were burning like hell. But he went on for the last couple of rounds.
After finishing the run and drinking the manifested water with the 'proper' and 'efficient' technique, Aiden went on to practice the Magic.
Perfecting the technique, precisely to the instructions that Zephy chirped, to the best of his abilities.
Despite the tiredness and lack of sleep blurring his thinking and his vision misting at the edges, Aiden pushed through the day.
On the second day, His face was finally starting to show slight cracks in the mask of an enthusiastic student that he kept up.
His body was beginning to break.
However, he couldn't afford to be weak, to break, to give in to the tiredness.
Weak people can't fulfill their promises.
Weak people don't kill the Emperors.
And they certainly never bring their loved ones back.
So, he pushed himself as much as he could.
And even more after that.
By the time a week had passed, the lack of recovery and the horror he saw in his nightmares were chomping at his mind at a rate that he was losing control of his emotions at an absurd rate, considering his Trait.
He was feeling irritated, annoyed, tired, and sloppy at once, every living moment.
[Host, I know you want to buy [Passive Skill: Comfy Cozy Rest], but you'd need to earn 5 more SP's for it.]
'I know. So what?' Aiden thought, his words uncoated and harsh for a flicker, letting Liam's, his own original personality, take over before he forcefully regained control of his emotions.
[But you'll collapse before you can earn it at this rate. I recommend you purchase {Passive Skill: Calm Mind} instead—]
But he lost the feeble control he established over them at the moment, hearing the statement of Char, which sounded akin to a pitied tone.
'And then?'
And one thing was certain...
'Not feel emotions anymore?'
He didn't deserve pity.
'Accept the defeat to my mind?'
'That I couldn't even push past my own limits?' Aiden surprised himself by how sharp and rude his thoughts sounded, yet he didn't have the coherent grip on himself to stop himself. '...Bullshit.'
'I will bring them back, Char. And without forgetting the why, cause of some fucking stupid skill.'
The ever-talkative and retort-ready Char fell into a silence that made Aiden feel hauntingly alone.
His mind was so quiet that it reminded him of the 'Void'. However, now that silence didn't accompany the serene, calm feeling, he vividly remembered the first time he was in it.
Instead, it brought panic and fear of having pushed away one of the only friends he had left cause of his stubbornness.
[Accessing Blessing of Reincarnator.]
But before he could spiral down into that panic-induced feeling, he heard Char's voice echo in his head again.
[Generating Quest.]
[1% 2% 5% 18% ...99% 100%]
[Generated]
*DING*
Quest: To Help Host Sleep. A System's gotta do what it gotta do.
Time Limit: 1 minute
Acceptance Reward: 5 SP.
Completion Reward: Well wishes. Words of encouragement from Char.
Penalty (If failed): Physical Collapse and (forced acquisition of {Passive Skill: Calm Mind} through the Shop)
[Do you want to accept the Quest? Yes/Yes]
Seeing the Quest window in front of him, Aiden felt his eyebrows twitch at the snarkiness the Quest was designed with, but he couldn't help suppressing a tired smile as it tugged at his lips.
However, it would've been a lie to say he didn't need exactly that right then.
A little help from an utterly useless, snarky system.