Elias stood there, preparing his stance, then rushed in and threw a punch.
Over and over again
But after a few minutes of practice he couldn't even do anything.
Elias fell on the snow, exhausted.
The old man now stood there, helpless, with Elias, "You've only been practicing for a few minutes and you're giving up already?"
Elias gasped, "Sorry, but I'm really tired."
Lyra stood there looking at Elias lying in the snow panting. "I give up on you!"
At this moment the old man realized something and thought
"hmm...This brat has never used his ability since the first time I met, this...Could it be?"
The old man asked seriously, "Do you not have any abilities or are your abilities passive, Elias?"
Lyra retorted, "There's no way this incompetent guy could have a passive ability. Only 1 in 1000 or 1 in 10,000 people have it, could it be this incompetent guy?"
Daren said "But then again that was probably true from the first time we met him, he never showed any use of his ability so...this is possible"
All three of them: the old man, Lyra and Daren stared at Elias with suspicious eyes.
Elias lay there looking at everyone looking at him. Inside he was filled with confusion, thinking "If I say I have the ability to return from the dead, I'm in big trouble. What should I do now?"
Elias laughed heartily at this moment,and said:"Hahaha... Everyone thinks I have passive abilities, but if that were the case, I would be a genius, powerful, and people with passive abilities usually have very unpredictable abilities, not just lying here practicing forever like me."
Lyra looked at Daren and the old man "See he confessed, there's no way he has passive powers"
The old man kept staring at Elias lying there, and thinking:
"That's not right, could it be that 'information worm' is wrong? It's obvious that I see Elias' potential as the greatest... There can't be any mistake"
"Sorry Elias but I have to do it, I promise to be gentle."
The old man said, "Get up, Elias. This is your last training session, I will let you rest."
Elias stood up immediately, brushing the snow around him that stuck to his clothes, his eyes more cheerful than ever "Really?"
The old man now raised his hand into a fist, then he took a fighting stance, his hand covered with a thin layer of water.
"When pushed to the limit, power will be awakened."
Elias panicked and said, "What are you going to do...?"
Lyra and Daren stood frozen, and even if they could move, they could not save Elias.
With extraordinary strength the old man rushed forward almost immediately, unseen by the naked eye, he was now suspended in mid-air and preparing to throw a punch at Elias' head.
Elias covered his head with both hands in fear, closed his eyes and fell to the ground. Suddenly, when the old man's punch was about to touch Elias, a yellow energy source appeared, the clock ticked and time seemed to be rewinding. The old man stood there and his fist pointed straight at Elias' hair.
Lyra and Daren stood on the other side. Lyra asked, "What's wrong?"
Daren nodded "yes why did you stop then"
The old man realized something and pulled his hand back, putting his hands behind his back. "Elias, you blocked my fist."
Elias looked up "don't joke like that, if you don't stop I'll lose my life"
The old man said, "I'm not kidding, you blocked my punch."
Elias said in his heart, "Even though I don't know what just happened, I escaped death."
The old man said, "Okay, let's disperse. Do whatever you want." He walked away and was about to enter the house when...
Elias asked, "Why are you teaching us these things?"
The old man turned his head and pondered, "It must be fate... I feel sorry for you guys so I trained you guys. If you only know magic, your potential will never be developed." He smiled and walked into the house.
Elias said, "Finally a break."
Lyra said, "Let's explore around this village." Elias looked up at the sky, it was almost dark now.
Daren said, "It's too risky, we're too weak, remember when we were in the center of the forest? Lyra? If it wasn't for Elias, we wouldn't have made it here alive."
Daren continued, "We still need to join forces to defeat a commoner like Veran, so what if we arrive too late? If Veran kills 100 people, he will receive a person with enormous strength, then the three of us will definitely be destroyed."
Elias said "That's right, that Veran guy using a spirit born from the will of 100 people is crazy, he can kill people without blinking an eye"
Lyra also gradually realized how dangerous the world around her was, but she was still stubborn. "Let bygones be bygones. Are you guys more cowardly than a girl like me?"
She continued, "Let's have a match, and the winner will be decided."
Daren said with interest, "How can three people fight each other? Or do you want to fight me alone with Elias joining forces?"
Lyra continued, "You can do as you please, but you can't play with swords." Daren replied, "You keep your word." He threw the sword to the ground. Daren shouted, "Attack!" Elias and Daren raised their fists and charged at Lyra. Lyra was no less, she raised her hand and used her fire spirit power.
The two of them dodged the sparks she just released, then she used her own power again, raising a finger to shoot out a few more sparks. Daren used his power to create a strong wind that blew at the small sparks causing them to disappear into the air.
Elias still charged but overdid it when he slipped and crashed straight into Lyra. She knew she would lose but she switched to martial arts, she focused her power on her hand and intended to throw a hook at Elias.
In that moment when her fist was about to touch Elias's stomach, Elias used his power again, golden rays appeared and everything returned to normal. Elias took Lyra's punch and fell down.
But instead of being burned to the stomach, he glanced down and saw nothing had happened.
Lyra stared "What happened, I clearly just put my power into my hand and he wasn't burned or scorched at all"
Suddenly the door opened with a BANG. The old man shouted, "Will you finally let me rest?" He shouted so loudly that everyone was startled.
Unfortunately, the group could not decide the winner.
So the group of 3 people dispersed, each going to a different place to rest.
Evening
As Elias walked in the door and close the door, he went to the place where he slept yesterday and lay down, alone and quiet, he looked out at the sky, it was now dark.
But he could not sleep.
Elias whispered "This world is so unfair, it doesn't give me anything. I wish I could be like in comics, have great power and rule the world."
...
"What the hell is my ability? Is it to turn back time or come back from the dead, but it's not an ability either."
...
"More precisely, it's probably a curse that can't be broken, painful death and then return to normal"
"Martial arts, the old man said another way, how ridiculous, in the end you have to use your abilities, if you don't have abilities, martial arts are meaningless."
"In the end, it all comes down to innate talent. What's the point of perseverance? If your strength is too weak, the spirit will refuse. If it refuses, how can you become stronger?"
"Lyra has the ability to shoot sparks and Daren can create wind. As for me, if anyone says that returning from the dead is a great power, they are stupid. Being affected by both body and mind is the price to pay to correct mistakes."
Elias lay holding out his hand and a small light appeared from his palm and small stones were released.
"My spirit, you and I are equally weak."
"Wait a minute…" A thought crossed Elias' mind "The old man said I blocked his punch…So does that mean he let me go or did I manage to block his attack?"
Elias pondered, "No, he probably just let me go. My ability is to go back in time after death, and it's passive, so how can I block his punch?"
"But if I actually blocked his punch, wouldn't that mean I have both passive and active abilities? But that's impossible."
Elias lay awake thinking and thinking but still had no answer.
"I guess I'll have to ask the old man tomorrow."
He closed his eyes...slowly...slowly fell asleep.
Everything was so quiet and peaceful, for the second time Elias felt safe alone and asleep, not on guard and scared and fighting or bleeding and dying and going back in time.