As Jun tried to calculate and determine George's exact origins, he was left stumped due to his lack of information. In the end, Jun knew George's origins were dubious: his extensive knowledge about the Fallen Star Empire, its conflicts and military affairs, and most of all, the mysterious barrier that surrounded the courtyard seemed an impossible task for a mere Village Elder of a backwater place like the Fang Village. Thus, Jun assumed that he was some sort of spy or a hidden chess piece, but ultimately was unable to guess whether his allegiance was to the Fallen Star Empire or the Greater Aether Dynasty. This troubled Jun to his wits end as he knew being around George would cause him to embroiled in plots and conflicts that he would be too powerless to defend himself. On the plus side, it meant that he could truly learn some valuable skills and potentially gain a tremendous increase in his strength and abilities.
.
George stood there unaware of Jun's inner thoughts and assumed he was simply dazed by his abilities, causing him to stand there prouder. Although he was aware that there was something weird and odd about Jun, he brushed it off as a result of being traumatized emotionally to the extent that he lost his memories: George had a vast amount of experience in seeing the minds of people being broken by violence and cruelty, and so, he just assumed that despite Jun's young age, simply losing his memories and knowledge to be a very minor and fortunate side effect of being traumatized.
.
"Although you are too underdeveloped and young to undergo the body reinforcement of the Iron Body technique, you can still train your body and improve your physique. Training your body now will set up the foundations for future body reinforcement and refinement skills and methods."
.
George pointed to two leather pails next to the stone pit and instructed.
.
"First, you need to fill up the pit with water. The nearest river is an hour away, just exit the courtyard and keep on walking to the right. Now go, if you do not finish by sundown, no food for the day."
.
Jun picked up the two leather pails and walked toward the river: as he got closer, the number of rocks on the path increased until there was only gravel beneath his feet. The water was cool and clear, allowing him to see the rocky bed underneath the river. The river itself was a few meters wide, but it was shallow enough to allow someone to go across it by foot.
.
As he scooped water into both pails, he lifted both of them up and slowly made his way back at the village. The weight of the pails slowly tore his arms out of his sockets, and Jun had to constantly flex his muscles to prevent his arms from just popping out of his sockets. George was able to precisely determine the amount of weight to meet his lifting limits, resulting in Jun's currently agonizing situation. The added weight, in addition, caused the rocks and gravel on the ground to cut the soles of his feet, and by the time Jun reached the pit once again, his entire body was on fire. Pouring the water in the pits, he despaired as he saw he barely managed to cover the bottom with water.
.
When he turned to look toward George, he was simply meditating in the center of the courtyard with his eyes closed, paying no attention to Jun or anything in his surroundings. Jun did not have enough energy to speak or complain, so he silently picked up the two pails and made his way back over to the river.
.
By his 31st journey, Jun was on the verge of collapse and barely managed to pour the water into the stone pit. Looking inside, he saw that he had filled the stone pit and smiled. Gritting his teeth, he trudged his way toward George, but before he could say anything, he immediately collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and fainted. George then opened his eyes and nodded in approval, talking to himself.
.
"He has an immense will and determination that surpasses anything I've ever seen. An adult, if given equal conditions, would only be able to make at most 5 trips. When my master gave me this same task, I made 15 trips and he praised me for being a son of heaven, the genius of geniuses. I've never seen or heard of anyone who was able to finish this task."
.
George continued to praise Jun in his mind, and had high hopes for what sort of monster he would be able to train him into before he stopped himself and shook his head. Part of his master's fervent desire for finding and training the perfect warrior rubbed off on him, and George looked toward the setting sun and the rising moon in the sky with nostalgia.
.
The moon was comparable to the size of the sun, shining a bright azure hue that contrasted well with the bright fiery appearance of the sun. However, today was an auspicious day that happened every year and marked the beginning of summer: the eclipse of sun and the moon. As they completely overlapped one another, a pale, dark grey haze appeared behind the eclipsed moon and sun. Upon closer inspection, one would be able to make out another moon; in fact, there are actually two moons, although the latter was obscured unless it was eclipse. Every night, he reminisced about how his master would look the moon with forlorn misery and drink throughout the night. The only time his master would respond to George was the day of the eclipse, where his master would always tell him the same origin story about the two moons.
.
'There once was a man who loved a woman with everything he had: he gave up his pride, his youth, his life, and even his own love. His love and devotion was meaningless to the woman, and she married her first love. Accepting this as her fated chance, he left the lands of man and roamed the rest of the world with an empty heart. As years past and the man was slowly approaching his death, he found her first love had sacrificed her, imprisoning her in the heavens to be the sun's companion in exchange for the authority and power to rule mankind as Emperor of Man. The man rebelled against the heavens, killing the heaven decreed Emperor of Man and destroying the bridge between heaven and man. The heavens, furious with his actions, imprisoned him in absolute darkness, only being freed once every year to watch the union between the sun and the moon. There is a prophecy, however, that the day the man is freed from his imprisonment, it hails the entrance of a figure who will remake the heavens in his own image.'
.
As George stared at the skies, remembering his fond memories with his master, he saw the grey moon ripple and its hazy appearance expanded and grew. Just as he tried to focus closer, he saw the sky ripple and tear, emitting a terrifying boom that echoed throughout the entire world. The glimmering barrier around the courtyard instantly shattered from the sound and force, and while the boom did no physical damage it deeply disturbed the souls of all living things. George felt the shackles and seals on his soul breaking, surprising him greatly as they were created by his master, one of the strongest figures in all the lands of the Stein Continent.
.
The former dark grey moon now formed a large grey cloud that surrounded the azure moon in a ring, shifting the moon away from the sun and abruptly ending the eclipse. George was shocked as he remembered the prophecy of his master's story. He stood there shocked for a few minutes before he realized Jun was unconscious on the ground.
.
Going down on the ground, he checked if he was breathing and he saw that there were no outward issues with him. Taking a deep breath and a sigh of relief, he paused as he looked at Jun and scrunched his face in utmost contemplation.
.
'It can't be a mere coincidence? But auspicious signs usually are for children born on that day, while Jon is already five or six years old. His tremendous willpower is worthy of the prophecy, however.'
.
As George continued to contemplate further and analyze the possibilities, Jun was alone and unaware of what was going on in the outside world. Instead, he was dealing with Aura's sudden physical appearance in his mental space: she was a small female fairy with wings that rested on a large oversized pillow that floated in the air. Before he could ask any questions, Aura glared at him and spoke.
.
"Don't you dare speak a single word or laugh, I will end your existence even if it costs me my own. By pushing yourself to your humanly limits and surpassing them, the System has decided to give you a reward for your hard work."
.
Jun was smiling at how adorable and SMALL Aura was in comparison to his prior image of a beautiful female NPC that served as guides in most, if not all, games. As if sensing Jun's thoughts, Aura glared again and a wave of force knocked Jun backward, leaving him on the floor in agonizing pain. She coughed up a large amount of blood, but quickly suppressed it so Jun couldn't notice and swallowed it.
.
"I warned you once. I'm not warning you again. Tcht. Your reward is this."
.
Another object appeared from thin air and presented himself to Jun in the form of a translucent ring. Aura looked at the twitching figure of Jun with a bit of glee before disappearing from the mental space. It took what seemed like a few hours for Jun to recover enough to slowly get up in his mental space, and he shivered at how cruel and harsh such an adorably cute thing could be. Picking up the ring on the floor, the system immediately displayed another display box.
.
Name: Fifth Ring, Superbia (Dormant)
- Req Lev: 0
- Class Restriction: None
Category: Ring
- Constitution: +10%
Abilities
- Presence (Passive, Level 0): Exerts overwhelming mental pressure on all surroundings and physical pressure depending on wearer's constitution
- Bow (Active, Level 0): Forces those weaker or at the same level to bow and completely submit to user's will (Limit 1); those who are stronger will be able to resist depending on gap in level
.
Wearing the ring, it disappeared and was completely invisible. Wondering if others would be able to see it, the system assured.
.
"As the ring is dormant, its presence and existence is completely invisible to all. After the ring is fully awakened, the ring will exude its full presence and appearance."
.
Nodding at the good harvest, he was excited about what the fully awakened abilities and appearance would be: just its dormant form was extremely overpowered. It was the first time the system had given him something good, although Jun was skeptical about its motives: why did the system suddenly give him this ring, after letting him feel so much misery and anger before? What were its intentions in giving him the ring, and what were the implications that it caused? Ultimately, the limited amount of information hindered Jun's ability to fully comprehend or predict the system's motives and reasoning, but for now, he needed to be focus on strengthening himself.