Chapter 719: Love Is Different

"I sometimes can"t keep track of the people coming in and out of my life, and you are one of them. After this rebellion, we won"t meet again. There is no need to act as anything more than comrades," Arthur said after placing the last artifact on the workbench.

"Let us make use of the coincidence of our meeting since it was so unlikely," replied Rain. "I know it doesn"t matter what we talk about since we will go on separate ways after this, but isn"t that the exact reason we had that conversation on the ship?"

Arthur was silent before his bracelet started vibrating. He turned it on and read a notification from his Glory List Guild database that his members had cleared another guild. His smile intrigued Rain enough to try and peak over the hologram, but he closed it.

"Come on!" said Rain with a pout. Arthur smiled as he looked at her. Although the woman looked almost thirty, she was still childish and charming. Her straight white hair shone brightly in the dimly-lit workshop, and her amber eyes seemed incredibly alluring.

"Are you still trying to enchant me?" laughed Arthur at her. Rain"s eyes widened with surprise. "I can tell when someone tries to use these tricks on me, and you should know by now that they are useless."

"Is it because you are the prophesied outsider?" asked Rain after a moment of silence. Arthur did not answer, but it was no secret that he was. Anyone who was a part of the Seven Families had heard the rumors.

"Revealing your knowledge of this name is not going to make us friends, Rain," said Arthur as he started placing the artifacts he created into his subs.p.a.ce. "It makes us enemies."

"First, I was a calamity. Now, I am a divine descendant?" Rain said with an eye roll as she stood. "Fine, leave all those questions unanswered." She then walked to stand beside him as Arthur pocketed the last of the artifacts. "I have just one question."

"I don"t promise to answer."

"Please do because I won"t get a wink of sleep until I understand. You said you could feel the l.u.s.t within me, but I can do the same. I know you were tempted on the ship more than once and even now. Those feelings might be weaker than normal, but they are there. However, you still refuse. Tell me the reason. Am I not pretty enough?"

"Not everything is about you, Rain," said Arthur with a smile as he looked into the woman"s eyes. "Sometimes, the actions people take are not a reaction to you, but a testimony of themselves."

"Alright, if not me, then what is it?" asked Rain. Arthur sighed and was about to walk past her when her arm stopped him. Rain stared into his eyes, looking for answers, but Arthur knew that his honest answer was bound to make her disappointed.

"I don"t mind telling you, but are you sure about wanting to know this?" asked Arthur in a low voice. Rain stared at him before nodding. Then, finally, he sighed and answered, "I… love someone else."

"Love?" she asked with confusion as if the word itself was foreign. "Are you being serious?" she asked again, with what Arthur deemed to be genuine confusion rather than mocking.

"I am, and I don"t need any other reason. Is that so hard to accept?"

"I never asked you to love me," said Rain as she raised her hands in defense. Her face was red, as if Arthur had misunderstood along. "I want a purely physical relationship!"

"Those go hand in hand with love," replied Arthur with confusion. He could see her eyes spinning at his answer, and she took a step back to compose herself. "You do these things with someone you love. That"s what my mother taught me."

"…who gets taught about these things by his mother?"

"The time I started interacting with these feelings was when my father disappeared, and my mother was the only person who could explain them to me."

"…and you never did it?"

"Never with someone that I didn"t love, and I don"t plan on doing it now," Arthur replied as he watched the woman look at him as if he were an alien.

"As awakeners evolve and grow stronger, so do their basic needs like hunger, sleep, and libido. That is why awakeners engage in many relationships; no one would think of them as unfaithful. However, you tell me one person is enough? Even if you do it a hundred times, there is no way…."

"I never said a hundred times. It was just once, and love made it meaningful," said Arthur with a smile. "Is this so hard to understand?"

"For everyone, not just me! This is the first time I met a man who did it just once despite being an adult!" said Rain as she slammed her hand on the table and pointed at him with the other. "You are a liar, Arthur Silvera!"

Arthur burst out laughing before shaking his head and walking past her. The woman trembled before she turned around and jumped on him, grabbing him from behind. Since there was no hostility, Arthur didn"t smack her away and simply turned toward her.

"Tell me the truth!"

"I did."

"The real truth! I won"t believe you rejected me because your mom told you so! Love and s.e.x are different matters, and you can have one without the other."

"A persistent desperation is not a good color on you," sighed Arthur before he manipulated reality into teleporting him away from there.

He appeared beside the door, tidying his clothes, as Rain fell to the floor. Arthur stared at her and felt terrible before he walked toward her and offered to help. "I told you the truth, and it"s up to you if you want to accept it."

"I… know," said Rain as she ignored his hand and clenched hers on the floor. "I was offended that you carried such a belief while I do it for power, not even pleasure."

"I never meant to devalue your ability, dear. As I said, my actions are not a reaction to you but a reflection of myself. We can both do our own thing, even if your desires differ from mine."

"…fine," said Rain before standing on her own and storming out of the room. Arthur stared at her leaving before he sighed and turned toward the window. He then walked over to open it, and a gale of wind entered.

"Holy Knights Vice-Commander, Peeping Tom," said Arthur to the wind, which morphed into a man. Lyle glanced at him before he looked around the workshop.

"I had to choose a good time to enter," said Lyle as he looked at the workbench before turning toward Arthur. "Thank you for not giving her what she wanted."

"That"s not what I expected you would say."

"I just know how these things end up for her. You are too important for us to be thrown into such a mess, especially with a woman like Rain. I wanted to ask you for something."

"Artifacts," said Arthur, and Lyle paused before he nodded with a smile. "I created two hundred so far. But, unfortunately, these artifacts cannot be traced back to me."

"…two hundred?" muttered Lyle with both shock and doubt. "Are these artifacts ones you already had?"

"How about we never discuss the details of their origins?" said Arthur, and Lyle gulped before he nodded. "The ones I have are pa.s.sive artifacts that strengthen the awakener without the need for them to use mana."

Bam!

"Are you saying you created artificial blessings?!" asked Lyle after he slammed his hands on the workbench, making the debris scatter. Arthur stared at him with confusion, but Lyle didn"t notice. "Blessings are the rewards the Astral Beings give for trials in Ilios."

"Are you talking about the tattoo you used to fight me?" asked Arthur, and Lyle nodded before pulling up his shirt to reveal a tattoo on his abdomen. The same tattoo granted him the strength to turn into a phoenix.

"This is the Blessing of a Dying Star, Supernova. Those who receive it are blessed with unimaginable strength and vitality, but their lives are short in return. It grants me strength even without mana."

"I did feel a different strength from it, but I never thought an Astral Being was behind it. Why is Ilios the only place with such a thing?"

"I"m uncertain myself, but the reason that Ilios is called the land of warriors is partly because of this," said Lyle while pondering. "I heard other nations have similar things, like the Yalveran Union with its magic towers, Janea with its forests, and Halin with its mountains."

"Everyone in Janea can talk to nature, so maybe that"s their strength too," said Arthur as he pitched in. "It seems that our cultures depend on the land we inhabit. If so, someone who travels everywhere should become stronger."