Chapter 23: 23. Reality

This stranger had arrived so suddenly, right in the wake of the most traumatic event of their young lives. Livia pushed her advantage. When the sun was finally up and the boys were getting a second spurt of energy she struck again.

"What will you do?" The boys took their time but eventually responded instinctively with a variation of the same answer.

"I'm never going to let this happen again, I'm going to be the strongest. I won't accept a moment of rest, I'll reach the pinnacle. No matter what it takes, I will keep everybody safe,"

The rush of words did seem to confirm something for Livia, but she looked far from satisfied.

"You're thinking about this all wrong. Become the strongest, to do what? Work hard all your young lives, do your best to help people, eventually become the best at whatever. Then what, for what?"

The words they had all blasted out instinctively seemed insufficient all of a sudden.

"You age, you might not even weaken, but somebody stronger eventually comes along. What are you then? What happens to the things you are protecting? Will you end up relying on the friends you have made along the way, that they make your priorities theirs, just to ensure that you don't slowly fade into irrelevancy?"

The scenario Livia was describing left the boys stunned. Thus far in their lives they had all figured that exactly what they proposed was the only true answer.

"There is another way. You don't build strength, not just that anyway, because power for its own sake is useless. You need to innovate, create something new, meaning that you attract power rather than chase it,"

They clearly weren’t getting it, but Livia kept going. "You work tirelessly at making it come to you, and accept nothing less, you do not push for higher levels, you push for new Skills,"

The trio were sat around the campfire, hanging on every word from their saviour. And the young woman was far from done.

"Even the most powerful nations eventually fade, no matter how founded on truth and freedom and new ideas it is. Because when it does it all right, guess what; They grow powerful, because of course you need power, but how do you keep from stagnating, in the long term? How do you keep from becoming too large to change with the times, with too much strength letting you enjoy the current paradigm, despite disaster looming on the horizon?" They all understood the words, but in their exhausted states it was impossible to connect the dots. Livia was barely looking at them at this point.

"How do you force them to keep moving and engage with reality, even before it becomes a desperate necessity; Do you find a genius and empower a king to handle it all, and hope they have children capable of the same?" That idea sounded familiar to the boys.

"Do you find a group that work really well together and create a committee? Maybe educate the whole population, have them find their own leaders and create a system for fair elections?" It sounded good but the trio was aware it had been attempted before.

"Which do you wish was done before your time?" " That seemed a lot harder, but they did recognise the merits of such a world.

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Livia exploded with her last remaining energy "Or do you build something to last, something that stands the test of time?"

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Reality crashed back down when Livia was done. The boys still had a lot of questions of their own, but the situation didn't leave them with enough energy to care beyond finding a place to rest their heads. But the words echoed, despite the fact that Livia seemed like she was reciting from memory.

The group slept a couple of hours, barely getting any rest with the tenseness infecting their bodies.

When the sun rose past noon and prevented any further rest the lads shared their breakfast in the amicable silence, and Livia mustered her courage once more.

"I take it you all still remember what I talked about yesterday? It's time to make a decision," She started.

When the trio still looked reluctant, maybe even sick of her voice, Livia hesitated. But eventually the thought of being left out here pushed her on.

"Your journey almost ended right here, you need to be better. What will you do? Even if you decide to keep going, will you keep doing it the same way, relying on luck to save you a second time?" What Livia said next was what made it all click for the lads. "If you really want to help humanity you're going to have to find success your own way, not just the same as others, not just finding a teacher and waiting to learn more than they know until you're the same age as them. You will need to reject the old ways to do what I've talked about."

Their eyes actually started glowing, and Livia realized Kalle had been using a Spell.

"Will you let this learning experience be the last?

"No!" This time Livia got a collective shout for answer, so she tried another one.

"Will you rely on Classes and Skills?"

"No!"

"Will you go back and keep trying to grow the same way?"

"No," They were burning with motivation. "Show us something better!"

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