I Reject Quests

"Hn?" Little Rewen rubbed his eyes as he felt someone close to him only to turn around and see his mother laying down beside him. "Mother?"

She didn't reply and wrapped her hands around him, then brought herself closer to him. Closing her eyes, she silently sobbed.

Little Rewen appeared confused but didn't think about it and closed his eyes again.

Meanwhile, his older self walked away from the room and headed towards the main door. The moment he turned the doorknob and opened it, he found himself staring at a bright light falling on his face. For some reason, the light didn't spread and only focused on him. The surroundings were filled with darkness.

Rewen looked around, then started walking.

The gravity had increased.

Not as much as it did the last time but it increased significantly.

'If a recap of my life is all I would see, then it's not going to be a problem from here on. Hopefully.'

It's not that he didn't have bad things happening in life to his life after the death of his father but that he didn't think they would be too impactful to himself. 'Although there is another incident which is equally impactful to me as Father's death. It also hasn't happened in childhood so I have a clear recollection of what had happened.'

He stopped in his tracks, recalling the incident making him bitterly smile. 

'I don't think I am prepared yet.'

Without wasting any time, he continued to walk. 

The smooth floor shook.

"Here we go again." 

He stopped in his tracks once again and waited for the surroundings to change.

That didn't happen.

Instead, he felt himself getting closer and closer to the light.

Eventually, he could see a round ball made of glass radiating light.

***

B.C. Market.

X hurriedly took a distance as he saw the wounds on Rewen's body heal at an alarming rate. 'What is the black aura? Why is it healing?' He had lived for decades but had never seen such a bizarre thing happening before his eyes.

Rewen's body was pushed upwards by the black aura. The massive hole in his chest has healed without a scratch. Nonchalantly looking at X, he allowed the black aura to envelop his entire body. 

"Rewen!!" Denny was pleasantly surprised to see her cousin alive. She didn't care how he survived after getting his chest hammered down. At this point, does it even matter? He has tons of secrets she doesn't know about. However, there was one thing that bothered her. 'Why can't I bear to look straight at him?'

Whenever she tries to take a good look at his face, a chill comes down on her and she gets terrified to go further.

"You surprised me." X calmly said, as his eyes flickered. "But that only makes me more interested in your secrets." Taking a stance, he sprinted towards Rewen's direction carrying the spear with his hand.

'Where did he go?' In Denny's sight, he just disappeared all of a sudden.

Rewen appeared to be waiting for his opponent to come close as he took a basic stance. The black aura still hovered around his body. 

*BAAM*

Two fists collide against each other. 

Both of them felt the force trying to push them back but kept their fists in contact with each other. After the effect of the confrontation washed away, X swung the spear on his left hand towards his opponent.

Immediately after the spear was swung at him, Rewen took back his fist and brought his two hands together.

*Clang*

The spear was successfully caught between his palms.

Using his palms, he pushed the spear upwards and prepared to counterattack to take advantage of the opening that was created with his opponent trying to take back the spear.

Unfortunately, he failed to notice one thing.

X had already prepared to counterattack before him. 

His open palm calmly made its way to touch Rewen's abdomen. He was using one of his most used skills in battle - [Towering Shock]. As the name suggests, the skill gives 'shock' to the person it is being used upon. It is a basic Rank 3 skill. Needless to say, the shock given isn't a thing to laugh about. 

Of course, Rewen doesn't know any of this but any sane person could deduce that the open palm that is coming towards him isn't ordinary and possibly a skill. 

He, however, couldn't defend himself against the strike. He was in the midst of going for a strike himself and any person with a good eye could see that he would definitely not be the first person to land a hit. That leaves with two options - dodge or flee. There is no way he could dodge. 

His reaction speed wasn't enough for him to dodge the palm.

Since dodging is out of the way, at first glance, fleeing seems to be the best option. 

Not really.

No matter how one spins it off, the fact of the matter is - his speed isn't enough. That doesn't mean he couldn't flee. Only that the outcome wouldn't change. The moment he takes a step back, the palm would still be coming for him. He could take a few steps back but is X really so dumb as to let him get away from him?

The answer is - No.

Rewen's terrifying black eyes started spinning around. He abandoned going for the counterattack and appeared to go for a strike on his opponent's wrist.

"Argh!" A groan leaked out from his mouth as the palm struck his abdomen.

He didn't fly off anywhere and fell on his back.

Two seconds passed by and his body was still shaking from the shock. Unlike his body, his face was scarily nonchalant.

"Rewen?" Denny couldn't capture the entire confrontation with her eyes but she could clearly see the outcome. The outcome was - her cousin again lost in a confrontation. 'I... don't see him coming out on top of this fight. Hopefully, Bianca and the others have noticed my absence. I'm not sure if they've contacted the authorities to find me but I hope that's the case.'

She felt the chance of her getting out of this was slowly getting lower.

X looked down at him and noticed the black eyes in a circular motion. 

"Answer me. Where is the [Distributor]?"

Rewen's lips curved up to form a smile. The black aura spread out throughout his body and started healing internal wounds.

X squinted his eyes. 'Once again, his wound is healing. There is something extremely mysterious and dangerous about the dark aura. For now, it can be safely concluded that the dark aura wouldn't do direct harm to me. Though there's no doubt that it would indirectly cause me harm as his wounds would keep on healing. The question is, what is the endpoint?'

He didn't give too much thought to it as no matter how much his opponent's wounds healed, he believed that he would still have the upper hand as he is significantly stronger than him. Not because he is physically stronger than Rewen but because he is more experienced and has more lethal skills in his hand. 

On the other hand, Rewen was someone who only got introduced to the world of mages approximately two weeks ago. Within the time frame, he went from being a normal human being physically strong and adept with the control of weapons to someone who could challenge and defeat a Rank 1 Mage with his own strength. When [Freestyle Knights Combat] is added to the fray, he could defeat Rank 2 Mages having the advantage of his superior physique.

Maybe he could defeat Early Rank 3 Mages but that is his limit.

Michel Lance, one of the most revered military veterans in the Eastern Dream Kingdom, in a famous interview stated - "People like to think that the primary function of the increase in ranks is the tremendous increase in strength. And yes, I'm talking about those who are in the process of transitioning from Rank 2 to Rank 3. To them, it's not that the thought of overpowering people through skills isn't attractive but the notion that with a single swing of your hand, you could obliterate a three-story building is significantly more attractive. Greed and obsession for power is extremely common but to those who reject the premise that skills being more important than strength, follow three steps: Go out, draft in the military, and fight."

While in the interview, Michel talked about the obsessive nature of young Rank 2 Mages, he, as a war veteran, fought with many individuals who, despite being physically less strong than himself, put him in a tight spot with the diverse use of skills.

Long story short, unless Rewen has a destructive skill that could pose harm to his opponent, he won't have the last laugh. [River of Right Hand] could injure X but it's not really a question of whether or not it could affect the outcome of the fight in any way.