Madman’s Retirement

Two hours after finishing up his business with the system, Dain and Natalie began emerging from the martial realm that the inheritances created.

Natalie came out first, and seeing Dain had not appeared walked up to him, far different from how she was around Dain. Unlike the cheerful excitable girl that often appeared before Dain, she was a calm and collected woman, indifferent to most things around her.  “Měi Lì says that you two should talk later.” She said coolly and although Grant said nothing, she could surmise that there was some… unresolved issues there.

Dain came out shortly, looking like he had been mauled by a bear or something. Which he may as well have been. “ zhòng shǒu huh? He’s definitely something right?” teased Grant, having shaken off the previous comment already.

Dain frowned. “What was that!?” He demanded, clearly filled with questions, and although her reaction wasn’t as upset, she still seemed curious.

“I met this very pretty lady who promised to be my teacher! Who was she teacher?” Asked Natalie, playing pretty, which was amusing to Grant, because he was sure that she did more than talk.

“What you have there is what we like to call an inheritance. When cultivators think they are about to die, or intend to pass on their legacy to a successor, they imbue a fragment of their soul into a book, which will then continue to teach whoever will succeed them, even if they are not there to teach their new students. Inheritances are exceedingly rare in the wild, as few cultivators leave their inheritances out in the wild for new students, and if they do, it’s usually behind dozens of tests.”

“Lucky for you, I borrowed a lot of inheritances for you to choose from.”

Grant did not borrow them.

“These two in particular were good friends of mine, so they gave me these as gifts. Of course, I compensated them with potions to regrow that missing piece of soul.”

Grant looked up, and noticed the sun was setting. “Alright then. I’m sure you’ve had unique first experiences. Saddle up, because while you’re separated from me, these inheritances will serve as your teachers.”

…

“Nothing’s working” complained Natalie, having dropped the cutesy act again. Dain wasn’t here after all.

Grant sighed. “Well, Dain is like a rock; it’s hard to get anything through that thick skull”

“I tried the “dropping something on the floor trick” and it didn’t do anything to him!”

“It made him blush.”

“I can do that already.”

“I suggested you feeding him instead of the reverse.”

“That was fun, but not enough. He hasn’t taken anymore steps“

“Kiss on the cheek?”

“He dodged that one when I tried.”

“Not my fault.”

“I thought you said you would help!”

Grant sighed, rubbing his temple. “Fine, are you sure that you can’t just confess?”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “I wish. If I were to do that now, I’m sure that Dain would just reject me. I’m not sure what stupid idea he has in that noggin right now, but it’s caused him to deny all my advances as a result.”

“Very well then, I’ll talk to him tonight.”

…

Later that night, once everyone else had turned in, before Dain could turn in for bed, Grant tapped him and signified him to sit down next to him on the log by the fire.

  Dain wasn’t sure what Grant was up to now, but decided to sit down and listen to what Grant had to say. Much of what he said often benefitted Dain.

Grant and Dain sat there by the fire, as Grant mulled over what to say to Dain, all the while the student in question waited in silence.

Grant moved to break the silence. “When I was young” begun Grant.

“I once was a young man living amongst a group known as the vikings. However, I never quite fit in, and aspired to be an alchemist. I wasn’t a warrior like my family.” Grant smiled ruefully at that.

“Ironic then, that the path that my curiosity led me down was to join a small random sect in the eastern lands, where I began learning from their alchemist how to brew potions and create pills.”

“I wasn’t much of a fighter then. My skills were subpar at best, and I was good but not amazing at alchemy. By all rights, I should’ve lived and died in a small sect out in the middle of nowhere. I should’ve been happy there, in spite of my aspirations.”

Grant sighed wistfully as he looked into the fire, recalling something, someone once special to him.

“Then I met her.”

“Alanea was a special woman. She was fierce and quite the little spitfire. She stoked my desires, to be more than some random alchemist, to be better than a subpar swordsman.” Grant chuckled as he recalled his first love. “We used to get into a lot of fights back then, and I didn’t realize how much I loved her until I was in my 90s.

Despite the pranks we pulled, the arguments and catfights we got into, the competitions we got into, everyone else in the sect used to joke we were like an old married couple. I didn’t see it at the time, and neither did Alanea.

At some point, something just clicked. It took us 30 years to realize that, but when it did, it all came crashing out.

Our passion grew more intense than it had been before, as what was once comradery became love. I followed her into mystic reals and to tournaments just like before, but something had changed. We did the same things really, but something had changed.

The meaning of the relationship. The meaning of the actions we took, and even the fights we had changed. I was happy.

 

Perhaps happier than I had ever been…”

As Dain listened, he already understood some of the hints that Grant had been dropping. A very close friend? One that had eventually became love? Dain wasn’t completely ignorant. The doubled efforts on Natalie’s part was obviously a result of some collision with his new teacher, and this was icing on the cake. However, Dain couldn’t stop him.
Grant felt genuinely happy, and Dain realized that there was always something missing when Grant spoke. Something genuine, something focused. This of course led Dain down a rabbit hole, wondering how often Grant was really happy, how much of it was a façade? How did he really feel most of the time?

Dain didn’t get any time to actually contemplate this line of thinking, as Grant continued his talk.

“… Sadly, happiness never lasts. She was taken from me.” Grant sighed and it was back again. The emptiness. “I’ve had many regrets in the years that followed, and I suspect one of my greatest regrets, was that I never confessed earlier.”

Grant turned to look at Dain, and stared hard, that Dain could feel the eyes behind the mask piercing him. “You’re an adventurer Dain. You might not be in a sect filled with treachery and deceit, but death is still at every corner. There is always a chance that one of you will die, and there will be nothing you can do to stop it.” ‘Perhaps something worse than death could happen.’  Thought Grant, but he didn’t say that part out loud. Better not to say that.

“I know you like her Dain, and she clearly likes you. SO what’s holding you back? Why are you so firm in your denial?”

Dain stayed silent, as he sat there thinking, while Grant stared him down all the while.

“I’m not worthy.” Said Dain finally, while Grant sat in silence. “Ever since she was young, she was special in so many ways, but me? I’m just average. She’s special. She deserves-“

A sharp smack over the head got him to stop talking, as Grant looked at him incredulously. “Have you not been listening to me the last few weeks?!” Grant exclaimed. “You have high qi potential, and I’ve just handed you the inheritance of one of the greatest martial artists to walk this plain! I’ve been prepping you to create your own small world? Which part sounds unworthy?”

Dain didn’t get a chance to respond. “Besides, she doesn’t want anyone better. She wants you! I mean, I don’t know why, feel free to keep that to yourself, but she wants you. She likes Dain, not someone better.” She has rope in her bag to bind you down if this fails, but I won’t tell you that part.

Dain sat there, with simply no response to that. Less loud, Grant patted Dain’s shoulder. “Look if you don’t feel worthy, become worthy. Rise to the task. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the greatest people weren’t born great. They became great.”

“And what if it fails?” Asked Dain, with doubt puddled in his eyes. “If our relationship fails, I don’t know if I could bare that. It might be better for our relationship to stay where it is.”

Grant rolled his eyes behind the mask. “It’s too late for that. There’s already something between you two. The longer you let it linger, the worse it gets at some point. Like a good meal. If you leave it, it’ll rot and no longer be salvageable. Eat that roast before it goes bad” Dain crumpled his brow as he felt more confused than anything else at that statement. Not what one usually hears in a pep talk. Grant leaned in one last time to convey his message. “Better to try and fail, than to leave regrets linger.”

Dain was quiet, but got up with a sense of determination as he walked off to Natalie’s tent. Grant smiled, and quietly created a time and spatial array, that would slow down time in the array, as well as keep it quiet while Grant went to talk to an old friend.

…

In the shadow world inheritance, Grant walked and whistled as he prepared for…

Whistle

          … that, as he dodged the first dagger, and then the next in rhythmic fashion. Měi Lì was always a little predictable.

Soon the daggers cam in quicker fashion, with successive blows and soon they came from all directions, as thin razor sharp threads came swinging at him as the world darkened, and pure darkness enveloped him.

          Silly Mei Mei, that’s never worked on me. Grant continued walking, stepping over threads and using the earth to stop the daggers. Even as they were filled with killing intent Grant merely responded with a golden chain as it came out of his divine domain, blocking all the daggers and forming a defensive barrier around him. Grant continued walking until he came to a stop, and patted a rather elegant looking young lady on the head,

She would look more regal were it not for the pouting face she was exhibiting.

“Gra-ant” she grumbled belligerently. “That’s cheating! How am I supposed to break through a divine-relics defenses!?”

Grant chuckled as he sat down next to Měi Lì. “Little Mei Mei,” he chided “There is no such thing as fair in this world” and he led her to sit on a bench he created.

Měi Lì harrumphed, but had no response for that. She merely crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks. Grant laughed, knowing this was a side of her none of her students would ever get to see.

 

And a side Grant hadn’t gotten to see in a while either.

 

As Grant reminisced on older times, Měi Lì looked at him and felt that something was wrong. Even though the presence was the same as last time she’d seen him, in spite of the silly costume he was wearing. “What’s wrong?” She asked Grant, as worry showed on her face.

 

Grant snapped himself out of it and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s fine, it’s just… been a while since I’ve seen you like this.”

 

Měi Lì snapped to focus after that, scooting in even closer. “What happened!” She demanded. “Did you get in a fight with me?!” Grant was stupid at times and could be quite… volatile. It wouldn’t be surprising if her whole self got into a fight with Grant and that’s why he hadn’t visited. Or that he just never visited because he was too busy.

 

Grant was quiet for a while as he recalled some memories, and as he did so, killing intent unlike anything that Dain or Natalie had ever comprehended leaked out, and had anyone else felt it, they might’ve died on the spot. Not Měi Lì though. She knew her friend well enough, and knew it wasn’t directed at her. Grant never directed that kind of rage at friends.

 

“You… died.” Grant finally managed to get out. Unlike how Grant often acted, the voice, despite belonging to a youthful young body, leaked of age and exhaustion. The resentment bled through. “I was exploring a new realm 200 years ago, and only managed to get back to watch you die.”

 

Měi Lì could only sit there quietly as she took it in. Cultivators were used to people dying around them, and she had long expected that she would outlive her original self. That didn’t make it any less jarring hearing the statement.

 

Just like her original self, what she really worried about was Grant. She knew what Grant was like. What had ruined their relationship.

 

“I’m sure you did all you could brother Grant,” she said as she hugged Grant. Grant didn’t say anything, but some tension left his body. “I avenged you,” he assured the fragment of his old friend. “I knew you would” was her response. She never thought Grant wouldn’t avenge her. Grant would avenge any friend he had, even at the cost of turning everyone in the world against him. It was one of his most endearing traits, but also one of his most troublesome.

 

“How about my sect?” She asked tentatively. “Saved.” Said Grant as he and Měi Lì stopped hugging. “You managed to hide them and hold against your foes long enough for me to arrive.” He assured her, and Měi Lì nodded happily, knowing her students arrived.

Měi Lì clapped his hands together, trying to dispel the topic at hand. “Brother Grant! How about you tell me what you’ve been up to! I’d like to hear about what you’ve been up to! I mean, you dropped this new student on me with a weird cultivation and everything!”

 

Grant grinned as he removed his mask, happy to talk to an old friend. To meet a lost one. Not even the response she had next could dampen his mood.

 

“You’re no longer a wrinkled-up prune!”

 

Well, maybe a little dampened. She was like a sister after all.