The sound of heavy breathing echoed through the entire room. Aric sat in one corner, his back against the wall, his chest heaving as sweat ran down his face. His silver hair clung to his forehead, almost blocking the gray of his eyes.
The soft glow of the system panels dimly illuminated his face as he stared at the screens with a slight smile. He had worked for hours on end, but he was more than satisfied with the result.
[Muscle Burst has been learned]
[Ki Fists has been learned]
They were basic skills, and perhaps the difficulty of mastering them, even with the system's incredibly helpful method, made Aric realize he was no martial arts genius.
He turned over his hands, gazing at his palms. In his last life, he had trained day and night tirelessly from the moment he was healed of his illness. For this reason, unlike now, his hands had become calloused and peeled, as he would swing his sword until his muscles burned at the slightest attempt to move them. In retrospect, this was still significantly easier training.
Although he had learned two techniques, he decided the remaining two could wait to be learned later, not because he was fatigued but rather because he didn't have the time—He had to depart.
[Would you like to delete the two copied skills?]
"Yes," Aric prompted.
[Copied skills deleted]
According to what the guide had told him, deleting already learned copied skills would free up slots to copy more skills. Though he briefly considered returning to the martial vault, he decided there was nothing of significant worth in the basic section he was allowed.
'I'll have to obtain better manuals elsewhere.'
Aric stood from the floor. Today was the day he left the imperial city and the estate where he had lived all his life, heading straight into the unknown. Well, it wasn't entirely unknown—he was significantly informed about the Byzeth Kingdom, especially its future.
This was knowledge he was ready to use in his determined capture of the kingdom.
Aric stretched, pushing his hands up and twisting his body.
"Okay, Father, I'll go and see exactly what this 'gift' you've given me is."
———
The night was moonless, the wind whispered in the silence, its whistle the only disturbance in the darkness—or at least in the large lands of Aric's estate. From the manor, the fourth prince walked out, clad in a subtle cloak, worn not to attract any unnecessary attention... not until it was necessary.
Aric moved with a confident stride, an air of certainty now surrounding what was once a weak and sickly prince.
He no longer needed a cane, nor did he receive the exercise sub-quests any longer. His body was now far stronger than that of an average human. However, that did not mean his illness was without effects. His health and stamina still capped at 70, according to the status window, which the guide said was over two times less than the human average.
This meant that while his body could withstand more damage than non-martial artists, when he did get hurt, his health dropped more easily. As for his stamina, he fatigued faster than most, and his Ki flow remained restricted. The illness was still a glaring inconvenience.
Aric stopped in front of the carriage. It was nothing special and far from being fit for a prince, but this journey was meant to be as mundane as possible. That's why he also decided embarking in the dead of night—as when outside the imperial city, it made it far easier for his brothers to make a move against him.
"Everything has been prepared, Your Highness," Meholt informed, standing with Zahai, while Ren, the youngest of the guards, had taken his position with the recruited driver at the front of the carriage.
Aric trusted only the young guard to accompany him.
"Good. Please take care of the estate until my return."
"Certainly, Your Highness," both guards bowed as Aric turned away, stepping into the carriage and shutting its door behind him.
Inside, Serina and Lerai had already boarded. Lerai sat at the other door while Serina sat opposite him. Although far from luxurious, the carriage had considerable interior space, giving them legroom.
Soon enough, the groan of wooden tires against the cobblestone paving, along with the clops of the horses' hooves, signified the start of their journey. From their estate, they would traverse the imperial city until reaching its outskirts, and from there, it would be a long route down Ezra's Path until they reached the outskirts of Byzeth.
"How long will getting to Byzeth take?" Lerai asked, perhaps out of curiosity.
"The driver said two or three days, depending on our stops."
"Three days?" Lerai's eyes widened in shock.
"Calm down, it's not that long," Serina countered.
Their conversation easily became background noise to Aric as he stared out the carriage window, just as they began to exit his estate. Over the past few days, Aric had pondered many times about his approach to this new quest and his father's reasoning.
He knew he would have to overthrow the kingdom. That had become less of a choice and more a necessity imposed by the system. Even if he had wanted to soothe the flames of war, he couldn't.
As for what the emperor intended, Aric slowly began to realize it might be the same. Thinking back to their conversation, perhaps the emperor wanted him to find different methods to his ideology that didn't require raw power.
It would make sense, given the "Wind and the Mountain" story, was told to him by his father.
If the emperor had intended for Aric to overthrow Byzeth from the start, could it be that becoming the first prince to conquer a kingdom without help from the empire was the "gift" Xavier spoke of?
'What are you planning, Father?'