"Huff… Hufff… Huffff…"
It has been two weeks since Ashen lifted this rock.
Staying without sustenance for that long had forced him back to the old reliable combination of Somatic Autonomy and Vital Drift, sustaining his body on generated vitality alone.
Standing still meant the generation outpaced the consumption easily, with enough leftover for the Hourvault to quietly accumulate. The Hourvault itself kept expanding steadily, fed by the stillness he had no choice but to maintain.
But no matter the benefit, Ashen was ready to give them all back and some more to escape from under this cursed rock.
That was just how much he was suffering right now.
And it wasn't even about the pain being extreme… No… that was bearable. What really threatened to drive him insane was the consistency.
The continuous, unceasing, unremitting, unfailing suffering…!
It was relentless and unending. That fact alone was ten times worse than whatever pain his muscles kept suffering.
A normal person goes slightly mad if you keep them still for twelve hours
Now imagine doing the same for two weeks, with a rock that constantly tortured you and threatened to crush you if you ever lost focus or decided to give up.
The only saving grace that held his sanity intact was that one month.
They agreed that the training would last for a month beforehand, and even if the timeline turned out to be some kind of ruse to trick him, he knew for certain that his lovers and maid would come looking for him anyway.
So he just had to wait until that time.
'Two more weeks to go…' Ashen had forgotten how many times he had repeated the same phrase in his head today.
'...I'm starting to regret telling them not to check on me.'
The thought kept surfacing, more frequently as the days accumulated.
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'Three weeks…'
'I just have to hold for one more week…'
'I can do it.'
'I can do it…'
'Please… keep holding…'
'You can do it…'
With one more week passing, Ashen had finally discovered the reason why the rock was getting heavier.
And it was really simple. Even if the rock got heavier and lighter, for him, it will always be the same burden: the limit of his capacity.
What actually happened was just his mind tricking him into thinking so. The mind sometimes acts like a child. When you do something boring, it keeps nagging you until you quit.
When you are uncomfortable, it keeps sending signals until you change back into your most comfortable state.
Even in the simplest things, such as sitting posture or sleeping habits. You'd usually find people constantly changing the way they sat or slept as they chased comfort without even thinking about it.
This was the same, just at a much larger scale.
The most absurd was that even if he rationally understood that if he let go, it would be his death, his mind kept trying to convince him that the rock was getting heavier, and that he should find a way to move it.
So for such a childish mind, he could only gently coax it, hence his repeated muttering and self encouragement.
'...Seven more days, and I'll be free. So hold on… Come ON!'
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…And seven more days passed, and he held, against all odds.
Ashen even entertained the thought that this was a good training, at least in the mental aspect, since he could feel himself having an easier time infusing his will into mana, even if the progress was hardly worth the effort.
But then, he soon wiped the thought.
'Who am I kidding? I will never repeat this madness…'
The same footsteps from a month ago were heard once more, halting his thoughts.
All of his attention honed that presence.
"...How are you doing?"
'Spectacular! It will be even more spectacular when you take this thing off my back.' Ashen screamed in his mind, but didn't say anything outwardly.
All of the sarcasm and biting commentary can wait until he gets his freedom back. For now, he limited himself to only staring intently at the approaching Edward.
"I'll venture and say not too bad, if you still have this much bite in your eyes," the man chuckled.
"That's good, actually. It would have been rather tragic if your edge dulled when we are just getting started."
"..."
"..."
"...what did you… just… say?"
Ashen couldn't hold it. What he had heard was just that absurd after all.
"I said… You are just getting started. What? You thought that you just had to hold until some deadline arrived, and then walk away like some champion?"
Edward scoffed, "Stop being delusional. What would be the point of this, then? The enemies you'll have to face won't disappear on their own if you wait."
"They will always keep you under pressure. They will never leave you alone until you break or break them."
He pointed at the rock, "That is my tool to mimic that pressure, so you either learn to live with it, or find a way to break it."
'...Break it?'
Ashen wasn't naive enough to consider such a possibility. As he was now, he could barely speak, let alone break anything.
If he so much as thought of moving mana, the rock would react, and he would have to use that same mana to reinforce his body.
It was as if it had a mind of its own. Otherwise, Ashen wouldn't be able to make sense of such warnings.
Either way… if he was understanding this right… he had to stay here now? Keep holding this useless thing? For how long?
"...For how long?" the thought left his lips even while it echoed in his head. He didn't even notice how his voice took a dreadful undertone.
"...It could be tomorrow… or you could hold it for a year… maybe even more. I can't tell you."
"Why…?"
"Because knowing would give you hope. And that defeats the purpose." He looked at Ashen steadily. "I want a will that doesn't break when there's no hope in sight. A deadline gives you something to lean on. I'm not interested in what you can do with something to lean on."
"...so I can stay here…for years…?"
Edward nodded, "You don't have to worry about what is happening outside; time passes differently in that circle."
Only now did Ashen notice from the periphery of his vision the existence of a circle surrounding him and his smiling spear.
'You can manipulate time now, you bastard…?' The thought was so absurd that Ashen momentarily forgot his current predicament.
'No… this torture could still be considered training, and he can do some wild things in that framework… but still, this is still too much.'
'Even if he could do it, it must be with my consent… that's one limitation of his ability, so how is this possible?'
'Did he lie…?'
'Or am I missing something?'
Ashen thought furiously about it, not even noticing the retreating back of his mentor.
He was too busy eliminating every wrong guess with contradicting facts until he arrived at the most plausible answer.
…even if that answer was the most implausible one.
'Am I consenting to this… somewhere in the corner of my mind?'
The thought sounded ridiculous, but it wasn't without a precedent. People sometimes didn't even know what they wanted for themselves.
So maybe deep inside, he wanted this.
Maybe some part of him agreed with—
'No.' He bitterly smiled. 'Who am I fooling…I want none of this. There's no question about it.'
It wasn't even about the torture. He had tortured himself before this to gain power. What he loathed the most was the meaninglessness of it.
The time wasted when he could swing his spear one more time or expand his territory by one more inch. Losing on that just so he could stand here and hold a rock… That was what he despised the most.
'So if it's not me, then it's the other me…'
With that conclusion being reached, he latched onto the link of his Twin Souls' innate skill and asked.
'It's you who is allowing this, huh?'