“Bold, do you remember the time we first met with Diego? Do you remember the words that you uttered?” 

“That I was planning to let Diego sink to his death? That I didn’t care if his sister died and didn’t want him to join the team?” asked Bold. 

“You said that?” gasped Emma with horror in her eyes.

Bold regretted repeating those events so easily and yelled at Mikhail:

“Your whole plan is just to make me remember those shitty moments? Find other people to mess around with”

“That wasn’t my intention. If anything, I’m actually praising you. You’ve come from a lazy shitty selfish person to a hardworking team player. Ten out of ten character development – IGN” said Mikhail with a chuckle.

“Stop messing with me”

“I am not messing. I know a person can be ignorant. But you seriously haven’t noticed that you’ve become exactly the opposite of what you were?” asked Mikhail with a curious look. 

“Yeah. I guess I was pushing myself hard recently. But that’s only for granted. Anytime a disaster similar to what had happened in the dungeon could befall on us. How can I just sit around, play games and be calm when-”.
 
“One who worries too much about tomorrow will lose today. Be careful, Bold” said Mikhail with a grin.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know the reason I was able to master my spell just within a single day?” asked Mikhail. 

“Well…I dunno. I actually learned my first spell within two days. I just can’t find the reason why it’s taking so long now. Maybe you’re just talented at this and I just learned my previous spells cause of luck. Or maybe your spells were just easy to learn. It’s more expensive than mine, after all.” said Bold.

Mikhail only laughed.

“No that’s not it. In fact, mine should be harder to do, considering how delicate the technique was”.

“Then why? Why the hell can’t I do it?” grunted Bold. 

“Because the desire to master the spell is the barrier to your success”

He looked at Mikhail with confusion on his face. Mikhail took a deep breath and spoke a few words: 

“One who desires to win cannot win. Only those who already accepted defeat can achieve victory”

“Uhh…I-I don’t understand. How can that be true? That’s the exact opposite of what I heard all my life” said Bold as he stuttered.

“That’s cause all your so-called teachers, businessmen and politicians live in desire. They live in the future, they live in their minds. That’s why everything they say and recommend is greed oriented. But you can’t blame them. Honestly, being honest about your greed is a good quality to have. Bold, will you please read me the instructions of the spell” said Mikhail.  

“Oh. Okay”

With a swipe of a finger he opened up his menu, pressed a few buttons and read:

“Imagining the surge of freedom rising from certain circular area A to certain circular area B(the areas should not be far from each other than 1 meter). Snap your finger and the fiction will turn to reality”.

Bold closed his menu.

“I’ve been trying to do this but it just won’t work. A small fart just comes out of the area in which I chose. Almost as if to mock me every time”.

“It’s not mocking you. Just a reminder that you’re missing something” said Mikhail.

“Missing what? Hard work? I tried five days and it still won’t work”.

“To be fair the instruction never specified anything about having to work extremely hard. In fact, it didn’t say anything about how you should whine about how it’s not working or being paranoid about dangers that we may encounter in the future.” said Mikhail. 

“Then, what am I supposed to do?” asked Bold.

“Just do the technique”

Bold’s face wrinkled and his eyes burned with frustration.

“But not now. Not when your mind is swinging to one pole, one extreme. Not when your mind is greatly desiring for results” said Mikhail.  

“You’re Russian. You’re supposed to be speaking English” grunted Bold.

“Bold, Emma. Let me tell you a story”.

Mikhail sat on the ground in a crossed-legged posture and began to talk: 

“Have you guys heard of the name Gautam Buddha?”

“Gautum…Buddha?” repeated Emma.

She looked at the sky, mused for a bit.

“Nope, doesn’t ring a bell”

“Bold?”

“Actually, I do. But in my country, we call him Burhan Buddha. Not Gautum, is that what Russians do?” asked Bold. 

“No. But that’s what English speakers do. Nevertheless, Do you know the man’s philosophy? His teachings? The techniques he gave out?”

“I dunno. To be honest, I’m not well versed in the whole…religion thingy. Why is this relevant again?”

Mikhail showed a slight bit of contentment on his face.

“The mind and everyone’s mind for that matter works like a pendulum. Swinging from one extreme to another. From love to hate. From indulgence to hard labor. From sadness to happiness. I’ll tell you a story related to this” said Mikhail proudly as he straightened his back.