Within a blank white space, two Ezra's were moving at fast speeds and jumping all over the place with their feet constantly vibrating.
Ezra was following the clone from behind as he tried to keep up.
After an unknown amount of trying, Ezra had succeeded in achieving basic mastery of the lightning movement technique by imitating the clone. Later on, he was able to increase his mastery to entry level and slightly past it.
It was a remarkable achievement, but Ezra still pushed himself as he felt he could achieve even more. Unfortunately, reality said otherwise as he quickly encountered a problem.
Forget entering the familiar stage, Ezra found himself having a hard time just maintaining the most basic form.
It showed that, while talent would give him a good head start, it would depend on his efforts to maintain such an advantage.
Or so he thought, before something struck him.
'Say…If I'm in my consciousness right now, then how come I'm able to use mana?'
'Also…how come I'm feeling fatigued?'
It was called a mind imprint, so he could easily deduce its use from that. But then, what exactly were the effects of mind training on his body? And could someone please explain to him why he felt fatigue within his consciousness?
With nobody to answer his question, he turned to the clone in front of him.
Ezra felt that he was improving, but it would take him a large amount of time to achieve a substantial level at his current physique.
Knowing this, to keep practicing would be utterly inefficient and foolhardy. Which meant that Ezra's next choice of action was obvious.
'I'll come back for it once I've grown stronger'
With that, he considered his small experiment done.
It was time to leave.
Only…Ezra suddenly remembered that he didn't know how to do so.
Others might panic, but what is the use of doing so when it won't affect the results? Personally, Ezra thought it to be childish.
'Hmm…since it's connected to my consciousness, maybe I can will myself out?'
It was a plausible idea, so Ezra tried it out.
He slowed his (imaginary) breath, closed his eyes and willed himself out.
'It's not worki-'
The thought couldn't be finished as Ezra found himself being pulled by something, and in the next instant-
"Haa.Haa.Haa.Haa…"
His eyes snapped open to the view of Bard's underground lair as he breathed out heavily.
Quickly, he checked the state of his body and found himself in the same condition he was before. His head was sweaty but the rest of his body was fine, though a little numb.
Thankfully it was nothing a few good stretches couldn't fix.
As he rubbed his eyes of any dirt, a voice rang out from behind him.
"My lord, I was just about to call you. The Emperor has summoned you"
It was Bard, who was descending from above.
Quickly, Ezra arranged his thoughts and faced Bard.
"Since when?"
"About three minutes ago. You were told to come to the main palace"
'Hmm…'
Ezra furrowed his brow.
'…Father isn't someone to call without reason, and I'm sure I still have time before picking my three gifts'
If so…
'Then why would he call me? Is there something I'm missing?'
Ezra tried thinking about things that had happened recently…and he didn't have to do so long before coming to an answer.
'Right! That Master-rank Knight. I was injured pretty badly'
On a second note, Ezra wondered how he could have forgotten something like that…but well, all the things happening today had changed the dynamics of his future plans…it was a good enough excuse.
That aside, Ezra quickly remembered that the Emperor didn't seem like a person that liked to be kept waiting.
With haste, he bade farewell to Bard and headed out to where he was summoned.
As he did, he pondered about what had happened today.
Yet, no matter how many times he did, it still felt unreal, or rather, it was too illogical.
'Why would a Master-rank bow his head so easily? Is he a spy? Maybe he's already in bed with one of the three witches?...No, if that was the case, there would no reason for him to treat me so nicely'
On top of that…
'There is also certainly no reason for him to sign such a crazy contract? And also, why did he show me his secret lair?'
Question after question kept popping up with no answer in sight.
'But none of these things make any sense as I didn't sense any hint of bad intent'
Ezra was very confident in his ability to detect slight gestures of malice…well, after being enlightened on the brink of death, that is.
As he grew, he replayed the events leading up to his death multiple times in his mind. He realized that his death was partially his fault, because believe it or not, the signs had been there.
Multiple signs of hostility, greed and malice in the eyes of a lot of people he met along the way. Yet, he had not taken notice of it…and it led to him dying a dog's death.
After dying the first time though, it was the first mistake he made sure to correct, so he taught himself to look right in the eyes of those talking to him or near him, and it had worked.
It was why he was able to escape being poisoned and had saved his mother's life more than once.
So, the fact that he couldn't sense any hostility or malice from Bard's expression the whole time left him confused.
He had been cautious.
In fact, the reason why he entered the underground lair was because he was somewhat sure that he wouldn't be harmed.
Guards, along with a few others had seen him go into Bard's place, and he couldn't go unseen for more than two hours before those in the palace noticed.
In that case, Bard would be throwing his life and career away. And Ezra, no matter how good he was, knew that he wasn't worth such a thing. That would just be arrogant thinking.
Unable to come to a conclusion, he thought…
'Sigh…should I trust him?'
At this question, a thought struck Ezra…
'Hmm…I said I'll change my ways, yet I thought about trusting him so easily?! Haa…truly, bad habits are hard to get rid of'
But…
'Wait, there's nothing saying I have to trust him to use him. Regardless of where his loyalties lie, I can still make very good use of him'
This was definitely true.
At the same time, Ezra thought about how Fredrick and Cabrera would be progressing.
'They should have arrived at the outpost by now' he concluded with a rough estimate.
He had only passed by the place once in his former life, so he couldn't remember much about it.
That aside, he thought about the next plan of action, but then realized that he already knew what it was.
'I have to grow as strong as possible and as fast as possible while no eyes are on me'
After all, he made the plan with his future actions in consideration. It was why the mountain was not to be plundered dry.
At the end of this thought, Ezra found that he had arrived in front of the hall.
'Now then, let's see what this is about'
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