It was quiet for a long while.
The screen hovered within arm's reach, its pale glow casting shifting shadows across the command chamber.
Reoloy stared at it.
The System seemingly stared back.
Neither seemed like they were going to be the one to continue the conversation.
A dozen questions ran through his mind.
Most of them unpleasant in the irritating sense.
Then—
Click
The door opened.
Reoloy closed his eyes.
Unfortunately, the matter with the thing he'd invited into his head would have to wait.
Not for long this time, though.
With a slow exhale, he pushed his chair back with his feet and hovered about a metre before spinning it toward the newcomer.
"Gordoi," he acknowledged with a nod. "You found one of the entrances pretty quickly."
The blacksmith raised a brow.
Mostly, at how Reoloy seemed to have been expecting him, but also at the comment itself.
"There are others?"
"Three in the forest," Reoloy replied, counting on his fingers. "Two around where the mountains used to be, one at the beach..."
He paused, his attention drifting for a moment.
"And one in the area I fought the Prime monster," he added, nearly spitting the words out. The topic was clearly a sore one. "There's probably more. Selene and Cisco are helping me search."
Gordoi shook his head slowly.
"It truly is a wonder—"
"You can skip the extra stuff," Reoloy cut in. "What do you want?"
The blond almost laughed.
For all the status, power, and responsibilities the boy had accumulated, his behaviour made it clear that nothing had changed at all.
His expression then tightened.
"There's a room in here with advanced medical tools," he said plainly. "I need to see it for myself... and maybe borrow some things."
Reoloy stared into his eyes flatly.
"At this hour?"
"You're here too."
"It's my ship."
Gordoi had no response to that, though he wasn't in the mood to continue their back-and-forth anyway.
Before he could say anything, Reoloy rose to his feet and walked past him. He stopped at the door, swung it open, and glanced back over his shoulder.
"Let's go then, old man," he said, an annoyed expression on his face that was mostly playful.
Gordoi blinked, then smiled.
---
Bubble
Lines of tubes and transparent pipes crisscrossed the room, carrying strange liquids that seemed to sustain the lifeforms floating within the various tanks.
"...This isn't what I asked to see," Gordoi said, though the intrigue written plainly across his face betrayed his words.
"It's what you actually need," Reoloy retorted.
He strolled over to one of the containers and ran a hand along its surface before turning back to the older man and leaning against it. Even without the enhanced senses granted by his trait, he could feel the alarming amount of energy being processed throughout the room.
Gordoi's eyes widened.
He slowly approached the tank, then nearly stumbled in disbelief.
"Is that...?"
Reoloy smirked.
"Your guardian deity? Yes, it is."
The man's shock lasted only a moment before his thoughts returned to the matter that had brought him here.
"What do you mean this is what I need?"
Reoloy gave him a sideways glance.
"If I were like everyone else, it wouldn't be."
The words spoken by the daughter of the man in front of him so long ago now echoed in his mind.
"You're trying to resolve an issue Lavere is facing, right?"
Gordoi winced, his expression darkening into a grim frown.
"I had no idea where to start because I don't know what the problem is," Reoloy continued. "But I figured if it has something to do with the body, then this..."
He gestured around the room.
"...would be a good place to start."
For several seconds, Gordoi said nothing. His gaze swept across the room once more, lingering on the intricate network of pipes and reservoirs as though he was truly seeing them for the first time.
The blacksmith had studied enough about flesh, bone, and the countless ways the body could fail to recognise that he had stepped into a domain far beyond ordinary medicine. If an answer to Lavere's condition existed, then a place capable of dealing with life like this might be where it could be found.
"What do we do?" he finally asked.
Reoloy raised a brow and reached over to rap him lightly on the head.
"Are you thinking straight?" he asked, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Tell me what's happening to her first."
Gordoi blinked before clearing his throat.
"...Right."
Reoloy's ears perked up as he prepared to listen intently.
This was it.
One of the matters he had promised to deal with could finally begin moving forward. If he was fortunate, it might even connect to the reason the blonde girl had never appeared in the game's Dread Seeder questline.
'If she had died...' Reoloy's fist clenched. 'I can prevent it here.'
Gordoi settled onto the floor.
"Where do I start?" he muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"The beginning would be nice."
---
~ 8 Years Ago ~
A younger Gordoi burst through the doors of the clinic in a panic.
The reaction was immediate. Conversations died. Both the patients inside and the people gathered outside turned in alarm. Such a display was completely out of character for the usually easygoing and dependable man.
"Someone! Someone, please!" he shouted.
Only then did people notice the small bundle clutched tightly in his arms.
"She's not well! My daughter needs help!"
The clinic staff sprang into action. A floating stretcher was rushed over, and within moments Lavere was whisked away through a set of double doors.
Gordoi moved to follow, only to be stopped as Leno appeared behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You would only distract them," he said, face incredibly impassive. "Trust them to do their work."
The blond looked ready to argue, but the words died in his throat. He clenched his jaw and forced himself to stay put.
"What happened?" Leno asked as he took a seat in the reception area.
"...I don't know," Gordoi muttered.
His eyes never left the doors Lavere had disappeared behind.
"She ate breakfast, went outside to play, and then..." His voice caught. "She just collapsed... Started convulsing for no reason."
Leno's eyes narrowed.
He opened his mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by the sound of doors slamming open ringing out once more.
A doctor hurried out, breathing heavily. Confusion, shock, and uncertainty warred across his face.
"Sir Gordoi..." he said. "I think this is something you need to see."
---
~ Present Day ~
"...What?" Reoloy asked, his incredulous expression not even bothering to hide itself.
"It's exactly like I said..." Gordoi sighed. "That's what we saw. The point was, though, that they couldn't help her—not forever, at least. After that, I started looking into all sorts of things..."
Reoloy's eyes widened. "Like element?"
Gordoi looked confused for a moment, then remembered and nodded.
"That's what we called it... Right." He tapped a finger against one of the tubes that rushed with freshly dispensed liquid. "But that came much later. First, I accepted the call to become Ruin Keeper."
He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling.
"All I found was semi-usable material and a bunch of locked-off areas, though. I didn't feel like I had enough time, so I used whatever I could get my hands on for my own research."
Reoloy felt like he'd just been struck by an avalanche of highly relevant deep lore.
"This goes deeper than I thought..."
He stood straight and stared down at the man.
"But I already have an idea of what happened from your description." He rested his fingers against his chin. "Hold on..."
Reoloy stared into space, and gears whirred to life in his irises.
"Can I use these—" He patted one of the containers, "—to interact with a person's circuits?"
[At the User's current authority rank—No]
'Of course.'
Gordoi shot him a cautious, concerned glance before slowly standing.
"Are you okay?" he asked, reaching out to check Reoloy's forehead. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"
Reoloy swatted his hand away and started toward the room's exit.
"No, I haven't," he replied dryly. "New problem."
He stopped in the hallway, watching as the door closed behind Gordoi.
"We can't use the machine immediately."
"...Why?"
"Reasons that are beyond me."
A dejected, almost grieving look flitted across the man's face.
"However," Reoloy continued, making the man's head perk up. "There's a temporary fix that should work just fine."
For the first time in what felt like ages, a devious smile spread across the reincarnator's face.
"Why do you look like that...?"
The smile only stretched wider.
"I just got an idea on how to pivot from recent developments," Reoloy said, almost singing the words. "And things just lined up perfectly."
He began chuckling darkly, the look in his eyes promising trouble for whatever poor souls had just become his targets.
"...Is there anything for me to do?" Gordoi reluctantly asked.
Reoloy glanced at him flatly, seemingly bored even, before a sweet smile reformed.
"That's true... They trust you."
A yawn escaped him involuntarily as he turned and started toward whichever bedroom he'd be using for the night.
"Get all the kids to gather in one of the training grounds by eight—" Another yawn interrupted him. "Make that eleven. It's the first day. We can start off easy."
Gordoi nodded, though he scratched the back of his head.
Something told him things were about to get noisy.
---
~ Next Day ~
The sun was particularly glaring, its harsh light bearing down relentlessly from above.
They were too high up for the clouds to make much difference in dulling its brilliance, leaving the training grounds exposed beneath the unforgiving midday heat. The packed earth seemed to shimmer faintly in the distance, while the warmth quickly settled over everything beneath it.
"What is this?" Amali asked, breaking the quiet chatter that had been the only sound until then. "Also... what's with all that, Reollie?"
Reoloy sat atop an elevated platform being hauled upward by the very disgruntled duo of Leno and Meyer. Gordoi stood to the left, staring into space with pure disbelief while simultaneously fanning him with one hand and holding a shade over him with the other.
"I'm sure you've all heard by now, but I'm your king." Reoloy took a bite of fruit, adjusting the coat of the uniform he was still wearing. He had to admit, he liked it more than he would ever willingly vocalise. "As such, I'm performing my first kingly act."
A nasty laugh escaped his lips.
In unison, everyone deadpanned.
'He's already let the power get to his head...'
Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Reoloy's expression became serious.
"You lot have no idea what kind of attention you might have invited with the little stunt yesterday," he began, sighing as he rested a hand against his forehead. "I admittedly don't know how strong the current full forces of Cardana are, but you guys..."
He pointed at the collective of teenagers and young adults.
"...are weak as hell."
An uproar immediately erupted, but Reoloy raised his gloved hand.
"Silence!"
They all hushed.
He suppressed a smirk. Once again, he would never admit it, but he was enjoying this whole ruler thing far more than he'd expected.
Reoloy sighed dramatically.
"It is... not bad to be weak," he said, his expression mockingly stern yet compassionate. 'It kind of is. They'll kill you without a second thought in this world.'
He rose abruptly, making the platform buckle slightly and earning irritated grunts from the two men beneath it.
"But...! If you truly want to bring this country to the level of respect you believe it deserves, a proportionate amount of blood and sweat must be shed."
The eight who had descended with him to the surface twitched, seven pairs of eyes narrowing.
"Doesn't that sound like...?" Edren muttered, shuddering at the memory.
"He's really a bastard..." Belonica chimed in with a frown.
Lavere actually struggled to suppress her amusement.
"It's working, though."
The mood in the crowd was shifting. An excited buzz spread from person to person as they practically vibrated in place.
"How much respect does Cardana deserve?!" Reoloy shouted, gesturing as if pointing a microphone at them afterwards.
"All of it!"
"What spot should we be at?!"
"The top!"
Reoloy clapped, holding back crocodile tears.
"That's the conviction I like to see," he said before roughly dropping back into his seat. 'These guys are a little too easy...'
He cleared his throat, drawing Gordoi's attention.
"Ah," the blond muttered, turning to face the crowd. "The... king... has arranged for you all to undergo a tournament-style, week-long training camp."
Confusion echoed, but a glance from the blacksmith quickly silenced it.
"As a start, we'll be assessing the levels of everyone present according to the standards practised across the continent."
He looked back at Reoloy, his expression practically demanding that he signal the end of the commencement ceremony so they could move on.
"...I've had enough fun, I guess," Reoloy said, then jumped down onto the ground. "I'll be loosely participating alongside you guys, so you can feel better knowing that I'm not leaving you to suffer alone."
A strong gust of wind swept through the grounds, sending his hair billowing behind him.
"Now, let's begin..."
His grin widened.
"Hell Week."