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.’
"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?’