"Teach, I suggest you take a break,” Emlyn spoke, leaving Riven speechless.
His golden brown eyes shone at him brilliantly and he calmly brought up his suggestion without fear.
Riven frowned lightly, questioning him, “Why?”
“Teach, I think you're having this thing called an inspiration block; I suggest instead of continually trying, you might want to consider taking a break for a while!”
“....”
“....!”
Needless to say, Emlyn's suggestion was brushed off by Riven who continued with his research anyway.
With Emlyn’s quick growth that made him even more versed in magic, he began actively helping Riven with his research by trying out the experimental spells Riven made.
One day, when he was trying out one of the spells that reversed heat to cold, it instead increased his hotness so much that he nearly passed out.
“Ah… Teach, it's so hot, as hot as hell… my whole body is so uncomfortable, Teach ah…” Emlyn muttered perilously as he clung to the male's robe, writing about in search of relief.
Riven frowned, immediately conjuring a cold spell to cure the male's pain, but was astonished to find the spell barely did anything to ease his suffering.
“Ah…” Emlyn moaned painfully as he tore into his clothes, ripping them to pieces in a futile attempt to calm the inferno brewing within him.
His eyes were hazy with tears causing them to shimmer prettily like molten honey capturing the first light of dawn. His robes and inner clothing lay tattered across the floor showcasing the male's flattering figure with alluring curves capable of tempting even the most celibate of men.
Had it not been for his situation, even Riven would have suspected he was actively seducing him with how he wriggled about, flashing him with every alluring bit of his body.
Feeling his condition worsen, Riven muttered under his breath; casting a freezing spell on himself before embracing the trembling male.
Emlyn felt a coolness reminisce to a cool spring wash over him, causing his remaining sanity to collapse, leaving him clinging tightly onto Riven like an octopus.
Riven's lips spread thin as he resisted the urge to push the male away and instead endured his unilateral assault without resistance.
Eventually, Emlyn’s quick breathing smoothened out, replaced with a calmer heartbeat, which was followed by soft snores that filled Riven's ears.
The boy in his arms had passed out, leaving him locked in a rather intimate embrace with his soft body.
They stayed like that for a while until Riven was sure Emlyn had conked out before picking him up in a princess carry and varnishing from his lab.
***
When Emlyn woke up he was already clothed and lay on an incredibly large and soft bed in an unfamiliar room filled with the fresh scent of lavender.
He lightly sniffed a bit more, soaking in the calming fragrance, when the door knob shook, and in came a figure whose white hair fluttered lightly in the air before cascading to his back.
Riven approached him with a bowl and bottle in his hands which he placed onto a small stool before keeping it before Emlyn.
The bowl held a dish of grain porridge while the bottle was filled with cold milk which Riven poured out for him in a cup he suddenly summoned.
Emlyn stared at the meal silently, but as he raised his hands to eat, he could barely hold up the spoon, which fell off his shaking hands.
“....I'll feed you,” Riven said before scooping up a spoonful to Emlyn's face who obediently opened his mouth shamelessly accepting being mouthfed.
Neither spoke a single word and just like that, the feeding session was over.
“Oh, I can do this, Teach,” Emlyn softly declined Riven's attempt to feed him the milk.
He clumsily clasped onto the cup of milk with a tight grip before slowly sipping the drink like a child.
The mood was great, at least until Riven ruined it by dropping a bomb on Emlyn, “You'll no longer work as my assistant.”
Emlyn stared at him incredulously before instantly objecting, “But Teach—”
“No. Study more until you get better.”
With that, the white-haired man left without giving Emlyn any more chance to object, leaving him infuriated.
“Calm down, at least your awemeter is now 8%, you'll figure something out eventually,” Zero cajoled.
“Wait what?! 8%?! Just like that?” Dina exclaimed in shock. The awemeter had somehow risen from 0 straight to 8! Of course, she'd be alerted!
This did calm her down and she decided to listen to Zero’s idea by going along with Riven's orders for the main time.
Since Emlyn was no longer allowed into the lab, he decided to take on more chores, including cooking. The good thing was that he got to communicate with Riven more when deciding meals for the week.
Another awesome thing was that he got to cook with magic.
Something about having your ingredients fixing up themselves while everything else was either floating or moving on its own was so damn surreal; Dina fell in love with it over and over again.
She couldn't be more glad to have learned this spell from Riven; being able to do every physical thing mentally was just fantastic; however, Emlyn made sure to limit it to the kitchen, especially with the drastic consequences that follow the use of such magic.
Not only did it drain magical energy it was also mentally draining and left one with a biting headache for the rest of the day. And after asking before, it appeared, truly the only cure was constant practice till you got good enough to manage these consequences.
Despite everything going great after a while of following orders, with the only access to Riven being once a week for meal discussion, Dina knew she'd have to take a step, or she'd be stuck here forever.
***
Due to the ban on the use of space-time laws, Emlyn couldn't manipulate space like Riven, which meant he couldn't learn teleportation.
However, just like he had been able to use a space-time artifact, he also could use the ones made by Riven to open up a portal, which was how he ended up opening one to Riven's lab.
The white-haired man gazed patiently at him, and smart enough not to waste this chance, he immediately fell on his knees with a plea, begging Riven with puppy eyes to come to have a drink with him.
Inside the library, Emlyn elegantly stirred the coffee before adding in two more cubes of sugar, and after making sure the white cubes had completely dissolved, effortlessly mixing in with the steaming black liquid, he served it to Riven.
“Speak,” Riven ordered as he calmly took a sip of his coffee before putting it down.
“Teach you have to consider my idea, take a break away from magic and that could be the key to unlocking what you're looking for! You don't even have to stop studying; all you just gotta do is momentarily stop using magic,” Emlyn boldly suggested, disregarding any resistance within him.
Had it not been for his ability to detect others' lies, Riven would have concluded Emlyn was up to something endlessly trying to convince him to withhold all magic.
But why was he so adamant on this? Was he actually serious about the inspiration block thing?
“Are you sure it'll help him?” Zero questioned on seeing the unusual confidence of his host in this rather unreliable idea.
“Nope, I'm BSing. But the thing with BSing is that if you brainwash yourself enough to believe it's real then you can do the same to the next person. It's all about faith and confidence!”
“....”
Zero: (－‸ლ)
To the duo’s shock, Riven considered it, although he said he'd get back to it. The rise of the awe-meter by 2%, along with the fact that he didn't dismiss it this time, was enough proof!
Thus, the quick meeting ended positively.
After he left, Emlyn simply just stayed in the same position while staring off into space dazedly.
“I told you it was about faith and confidence…” Dina muttered unsurely.
Zero: Do you even believe yourself right now?
Dina:......
***
The next day, Emlyn overslept due to reading late into the night. Waking up in a daze to clean up himself with cleansing magic he found out his magic had been restricted!
He was surprised but decided to meet Riven first to get a gist of things. After all, most of their doings were based on magic; now it was wiped off, and he needed a quick intro on how things would go on.
He walked to the lab but was surprised not to find Riven; he was always there even before he awakened. Talk more of today that he overslept.
From the lab, he went to the kitchen, but although there were traces of someone making a meal and even a pot of food, there was no one there.
By the time he decided to look for him in his room, he finally found him seated on the stairs, slightly slouched over when Emlyn approached him.
“Teach?” he called out; on glancing at the male's trembling legs, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine,” Riven replied curtly, “I'm just trying to get used to daily living without magic.”
Surprised the man cared to elaborate more Emlyn stared dazedly for a while before smiling widely, “Teach, need help?”
Riven merely scoffed before pointing behind him which stood a neatly placed meal set on the tray that was covered, “Yours.”
Emlyn's eyes brightened so much that Riven himself felt dazzled by the brilliance, causing him to turn away instinctively as he stood up.
“It's my fault this time, Teach; I'll make sure to never oversleep and skip my duties! What about you? Have you eaten? Can I eat with you?” Emlyn chattered as he followed the man with his meal in his hands.
Riven ignored the talkative and instead walked out of the castle to his farmland causing Emlyn to pout unwillingly.
The farmland lay a short distance away from the castle, spreading out in front and encircling it like a protective ring.
Emlyn swiftly made his way to his room and placed down the meal before dashing off to meet Riven who crouched over messing around with some plants.
“Teach, please don't ignore me. I still have a few questions,” Emlyn pleaded softly, his eyes dropping down with a pout.
With a sigh, Riven responded, “Ask.”
Seeing the male instantly brighten up, Riven had to admit he truly was cute and felt his sore mood slightly elevated.
Meanwhile, Dina was surprised when Zero told her the awemeter had risen by 5%. Did the target like it when Emlyn acted coy?
“How do I go about my daily routine now there is no magic?”
When met with Riven's gaze, they screamed: ‘You didn't know when you proposed the idea?’ Dina felt guilty, she probably should have thought that far.
Riven calmly took out a bronze key, which he handed to Emlyn before instructing him, “There's enough water stored in the bathhouse, which is enough to last us for a while. In there, you'll find more than enough supplies to clean up yourself. This key is for the storage room where you'll find whatever you need.”
Emlyn listened attentively, nodding along until the man was done. He noticed that his long white hair had been styled into a messy bun, revealing the strong, masculine lines of his pale neck.
Everything about the man truly was good-looking; no wonder the bureau kept hammering on the ‘do not fall for target’ rule; all the targets she met were god-level beauties or even more.
So much that even the most good-looking celebrities from earth couldn't even hold a grain of such beauty. Heck, even those surrounding her since her birth with their abnormal beauty stats still couldn't compete. Was there anyone who could?
How could she forget! There was one person—the spicy chicken assistant of hers who wouldn't decline any chance to jab at her!
Zero: (눈_눈)
After cleaning himself up, Emlyn stepped out smelling like lavender. He found out from an earlier accidental embrace with Riven that he liked the smell of lavenders.
Since he always kept a certain distance from him, he never caught it until the day he mistakenly tripped and fell onto him; that was when the subtle yet distinct smell of lavender filled his nostrils.
And even till then he still didn't know the extent of Riven's love for lavender till he found it mixed in everywhere, from the herbal concoction for brushing to the bathwater and even the magical shelf which washed and dried up his clothes for him left it scented with a tinge of lavender.
After wandering about outside for a while Emlyn finally found Riven in the backyard.
The backyard, which was behind the castle, had a cobblestone courtyard nestled amid towering trees. It was a beautifully crafted distinction of the farmland with the front filled with plants and the back with trees.
Sunlight filtered through the trees casting intricate shadows on the wide open space. The usually empty courtyard was now stacked with materials.
Around it was a bunch of straw puppets scattered across the space; at one end was a series of wooden racks holding a bunch of swords, from short to long and double-headed blades and various more.
Opposite the swords was a row of targets mounted on wooden stacks with various types of the same difficulty lined up beside one another while ones with different difficulties were distanced from themselves.
Bows and quivers were neatly organized on tables, ready for use.
Across the left side of the courtyard was a table that had a bunch of plates filled with sliced fruits for snacking and bottles of water, while the right side had a large bench for relaxation.
Emlyn approached Riven and found him randomly swinging a sword as if to get the hang of it. He smartly sat on the bench to avoid disturbing him as he watched him move with clumsy motions.
He had taken off his robe and instead had on a sleeveless tunic with a pair of nicely fitted trousers held together with a simple belt.
Due to its fitted nature, the outfit made sure to exhibit Riven's attractive physique. Fit with muscles in all the right places; he was the type to leave one awed when he took off his clothes, suddenly alternating between slender to muscular.
Emlyn's eyes wandered to his long, svelte legs, which moved gracefully with every sword motion he made before landing on the man's rear.
One word—perfection. Enough to rile up the sinful desire to smack at it hard; fortunately, despite its tempting nature, Emlyn made sure to quickly look away after taking a glance to avoid stories that touched the heart.
“Actually how is he so toned? All he does all day is perform magic or is the magic toning his body?” Dina wandered to Zero.
“Maybe?”
“.....”
While watching Riven swing about, his eyes widened in shock as he noticed the sudden coherency of his movements. Rather than a newbie that just picked a sword, his movements became more like an expert who had let his sword rest for far too long.
His random movements became more connected, flowing fluidly into each other like a beautiful stream of water.
His aura radiated the gentle but hidden deadliness of the ocean— calm and peaceful on the surface, but when triggered capable of unleashing an unstoppable, deadly force.
Watching him conclude with a sudden stab, his entire movements flowed into each other, amassing into a subtle force that, when unleashed, blew up all the puppets before him before creating a minor dent in the walls.
Emlyn's jaw slacked as his eyes bulged out from his sockets. It should be noted that Riven stood near the edge of the opposing wall when he unleashed his attack yet still managed to clear all puppets that stood before him and still dent the wall.
Even more impressive than his power was his level of control; the force of his stab followed a strictly linear path without deviation, which showed a shocking level of control.
If he was already this good then how about when he completely mastered his sword?!
Emlyn went on observing the man's swordplay, his figure subconsciously superimposed with a certain person in the past.
He played tango with the sword too, but unlike Riven's swordplay, which was all about obscuring one's deadliness, his was flashy and destructive—like lightning, whose brilliance struck with a deep resonance, creating an impression too dazzling to ignore.
This impact left all trembling in awe and fear as soon as he wielded his sword, its body showcasing its lunatic desire to vanquish. Eye-catching, destructive, and vindictive—these three words described his swordplay.
It burned with a wrathful obsession with vengeance like its owner, and Dina was left hypnotized whenever she watched the swordplay.
Riven's swordplay was different; its subtility hid its deadly power, focusing on elegance, yet on reaching its target, unleashed an astounding lethality that brutalized its victims. Regal, subtle but fatal—these three words described his swordplay.
Even after hours of watching Riven practicing, Emlyn still couldn't get his eyes off him; its gracefulness left him mesmerized.
Only when Riven finally stopped to drink water did he snap out of his daze. He walked towards the man with an eager look.
“Teach I'm so surprised you can use the sword as well! You're so talented; I never really had a talent for weapons like the sword, no matter how much I tried,” Emlyn spoke, slightly downcasted before brightening up the next second, “You prepared everything except a towel, but your faithful student made sure to bring one.”
Riven finally glanced at the cheerful male before collecting the towel with a soft ‘thanks’.
“You're welcome! I'd like to practice as well, Teach; you know I was trained in most weapons, and I'm especially good with the bow; I'll make sure to dazzle Teach!” With a wink, Emlyn tossed a slice of apple into his mouth before dashing off to the bows and quivers.
Riven sighed lightly, what a chatty child.
“Awemeter +2%, Keep it up T!”
Emlyn's eyes brightened even more as he picked up his bows and arrows, ready to show off, but apparently, most people weren't like the target, who needed only a few hours to clean up their rustiness and after struggling for a whole day, Emlyn barely managed to get 8 out of 20 shots.
“Kill me Zero, after all the bragging!”
“If it consoles you, Riven doesn't care either way.”
“Yeah, that's more counterproductive.”
Zero:... Forget then.