Haruto was fast asleep on a gigantic bed that was covered in spider webs. He was having quite a wonderful dream. Haruto found himself back in the ancient forest right after single-handedly defeating the bear. An Aito, with rabbit ears, jumped around in joy congratulating his older brother on being so awesome. 

Haruto patted Aito to calm him down, as he was becoming a bit embarrassed from all the praise. “It really isn’t something to be so excited about, Aito. Of course, your big brother would save you from that bad bear.” Haruto puffed his chest out. 

The two generals Sura and Shiki, bowed towards their invincible general. And for once, the idiot Bluey didn’t act like an overgrown dog and humbly awaited Haruto’s further command. A tear rolled down Haruto’s eye seeing such growth in such a wastrel croc.

A voice then entered his ears, “My husband, you have defeated the beast.” The gorgeous elven maiden appeared and ran towards Haruto, embracing him in a hug. Her sweet scent filled Haruto's nostrils as he greedily took in deep breaths. 

“Let’s hurry back to my village so we may consummate our marriage.” The elf blushed profusely after saying this.

Both generals gave Haruto a thumbs up and winked. 

A giant grin became plastered on Haruto’s face. He swooped his wife up and bolted towards the elf village at mach speed. A blur of two people flashed throughout the forest until reaching the home of elves and blasting into a leaf home. 

Inside, a beautiful Rose was lying in bed. She smiled seductively at Haruto. Batting her eyes, she asked, “room for one more?” 

Haruto was in heaven. He finally found true peace. Tears rolled down Haruto’s eyes as he quickly stripped. He was ready to become a man.

Haruto stuttered as he quickly ripped his clothes apart and hopped to the bed. “Uhm, it’s my first time, so sorry in advance.” 

Both girls blushed and responded, “ours too.”

Back in reality, Requis charged ahead in the cave until coming to a well-constructed cavern. He began releasing spiritual energy to poke around a bit. One location was blocked by some unknown device, but an extremely thick death aura could be felt inside. Seeing this, Requis chuckled, “A likely location almost too likely.” Requis looked around some more and saw a pile of riches in front of him. A shame this is only a recon mission, or I’d have brought something to carry this loot back with. He walked towards the pile and pocketed some gold coins. 

Requis content with free money. Flattered, his most gracious host, “Oh, mister lich, is this how you treat all your guests?” Requis searched a few more rooms, one with weird milky energy rolling off, another with dark energy rolling off, and finally one with nothing at all. As the saying goes, the least suspicious is, in fact, the most. 

Requis’s spiritual energy converged and crashed into the room, only to be beaten back by a domineering aura he had never seen before. The aura was so strong Requis went weak in the legs due to his unpreparedness. Haha, either this is the boy, or that lich is stronger than we thought. Requis became giddy with excitement and dashed towards the room with fervor. He opened the door to find an exotic looking boy in a gigantic bed fast asleep.

While this was happening, Haruto was quickly approaching his time to become a man. He was almost ready until a blistering headache hit him without warning. “Ahh.” Haruto grabbed his head. Both Rose and his elven bride looked very worried, but weirdly some of their emotions seemed to have disappeared. Haruto noticed this. Thinking he had turned them off with his pained expression. He became flustered, “Sorry, ladies un momento.”Haruto dashed to the bathroom. Which weirdly looked like the one back on earth. But the horn-filled Haruto paid it no mind and began running water. He stared into the mirror, thinking, Come on, old sport, now is our time of greatness, forget about the headache so that our other head may prosper. After throwing some cold water on his head, Haruto’s headache began to reside.

 A few moments later, a worried Rose asked, "Is everything alright in there?" 

To which Haruto replied, “yea, just give me a second.” Ok, no more mess-ups, soldier. Remember, no Russian. Haruto pumped himself up then leisurely walked back out to find the two elves completely naked. Though their mountains were small, their peaks reached for the heavens. He cooed with a wink, “Ladies.” 

Both girls giggled after hearing Haruto say this.

Requis felt around the body of Haruto, examining almost every part of him with great interest. Hmm, the boy’s body seems to be in nearly perfect condition. He must have spent his entire life training to achieve such a physique. This statement was not wrong, per se, but Haruto’s entire life was only a year old at most. Requis pried open one of Haruto’s eyes and admitted they were quite beady to be human. Muttering out loud, Requis expressed his sympathy, “I can’t say from just looking. My apologies in advance if this wakes you” Requis pumped his spiritual aura into Haruto’s body, performing an intrusive deep inspection.

Haruto’s body began to spasm as the unknown force ripped through him uninvited.

Back in the dream world, things began to fall apart. An ache began to course throughout Haruto’s entire body, causing him to fall off the bed in agony. Haruto cursed, “What the bloody hell is going on?” Haruto was beyond pissed as, for the second time, he was stopped from achieving greatness. Head if you want to hurt, then hurt. But at least have the common fucking decency to wait till after supreme victory.

Haruto crawled to the bathroom, but once inside, he finally noticed the bathroom was from earth. This isn’t right. A sharp pain hit his head after this realization, and the earth-styled bathroom began to dissipate. Haruto fell back into the bedroom, only to find it empty. Grabbing his head, Haruto questioned, “Where’d they go? Wait, why am I here again? Shouldn’t I be in the cave with Thomas?” Haruto’s brain was working overtime to wake him from his deep slumber as the perceived threat continued to probe him. But his conflicting thoughts were muddling its ability.

Aito walked up to Haruto, asking, “what’s wrong big brother?” He was showing great concern. A little too much concern.

Haruto eyed Aito like he was seeing an alien. A bit frightened, Haruto spluttered, “Eh, why are you being so nice to me.” Haruto shook his head, and right before his eyes, Aito began de-aging until a young Yuuta came into existence. 

Haruto exclaimed, “What are you doing here, Yuuta?” 

The “Yuuta” didn’t say a word, only staring into the eyes of Haruto.

No, more importantly, What am I doing here? Haruto was still trying to make sense of it all as his brain buckled under the restraints placed by the spiritual aura. Finally, Haruto looked down to see a well behaved Bluey faithfully showing concern and sending messages asking what he should do to help. 

This was the final straw for Haruto. He became hysterical and moaned in anguish, “That’s impossible!!!!” The unrealistic event in front of him destroyed the dream world in an instant. Haruto’s eyes burst open as cold sweat trickled down his head.  

In front of him was an old man he had never seen before holding onto his arm. From the old man’s hands, he sensed a weird energy, which was the origin of his headaches. Anger began welling up. Real or not, I was this close to greatness. Haruto seethed, “Old man. Is it your forte to molest young boys while they are sleeping?” Haruto’s hand shot forward, grabbing hold of Requis.

Requis was baffled by the speed. Not bad. With a chuckle, he greeted, “good morning, or should I say night. I have already apologized in advance for the off chance I wake you. But it is imperative that I see which species you originate from.”

Haruto’s eyes dilated, causing goosebumps to rise on Requis’s neck. He hissed, “Is that so? Well, it is imperative that I beat your soul free from your body, so I too apologize in advance.” Haruto’s grip tightened, and he headbutted Requis in the head, flinging him away from the bed. 

Haruto roared, “You will rue the day you woke me up from this bed. Old man, you will have nightmares of this night for the rest of your life until you die in whatever suped-up retirement home your children discard you at.” Haruto hopped off the bed in anger. I will beat this old fogey, as a remedy for my head.

Requis had blood dripping from his head and laughed triumphantly, “You have spunk lad; no wonder Richard took such a liking to you. Worry not for I will die on a quest before even seeing a retirement home. Also, never once have I had nightmares of battle, most likely, I will have beautiful dreams of my victory.” Requis’s spiritual energy began to circulate around his body, closing the cut on his head. A stream of wind and spirit aura clung around his fists as he dropped into a fighting stance. “How about a quick spar? Hahaha.” What a good lad. He's got spunk. Every young person needs it. 

“There will be no spar, but I can assure you it will be over quickly.” Haruto leapt from the ground like a starved wolf and began throwing punches towards Requis. Where's my bloody HUD? Is it broken? Did he break it? Fucking old fart, I will craft a new HUD from your soul.

As if he was under no duress, Requis commented, “You have strength, but where’s the technique.” Requis met Haruto's punches with less powerful ones that directed the force from Haruto’s punches away from him. With a grin, Requis probed, “What style do you study, lad?” Though I can tell, you have no master, best to be sure. Requis moved his hands in a circle then punched through the circle creating a powerful fist-shaped wind that hurdled towards the mid-air Haruto.

Seeing the leisurely nature around Requis as if he were on a walk at the beach, Haruto howled, “I study Bruce Lee bitch.” Funneling his anger into his right fist, Haruto unleashed a one-inch punch that ripped the wind punch apart. Nearly giving Requis a heart attack. 

Requis tried to circulate his spiritual aura to raise his defenses, but the punch moved too quickly. This technique is marvelous. Requis sucked in a deep breath then threw a heavy-handed punch covered by winds of a tornado. 

The two punches collided, but the great master Bruce Lee shall be respected in every world. The one-inch punch devastated the tornado and crashed into Requis’s chest, causing him to vomit blood. 

Haruto charged forward to end the battle while it was in his favor, but his body was drained of energy. If not for Requis, Haruto would have slept for four days straight. Losing his energy, Haruto calmed down and observed the situation. Shit, I should not have thrown that one-inch punch. What I wouldn't do for some swamp water, right about now. Attempting to hide his exhaustion, Haruto straightened his back and taunted, "How was daddy's normal punch? Hungry for some more? I can go all night, old man.”

Haruto was clearly winded from throwing the punch, making Requis believe that was his most powerful attack. Seems he can only use it once. A sign of low mastery. He must have found this technique somewhere. Well, luck is also a strength, but arrogance is not. Requis wiped away some blood, but more seeped out from his mouth. In a daze, he admired, “I have never heard of this Bruce Lee, but he must be a once in a millennium genius. If it were him and not a student, perhaps this spar would be long over.”  Requis began to create giant gusts of wind as his armor changed to a dark gray hue. 

With the utmost respect, Requis proclaimed, “allow me to show my master’s most powerful wind art in thanks.” As Requis pulled his fist back, all the air in the room became still. 

Haruto found it had become harder to breathe in this new environment causing him to lose even more energy. My weeb senses are telling me shit is about to hit the fan.

Requis whispered. Even in the absence of moving air for the sound to travel, Haruto could definitely hear the words “still wind moving fist.” Requis’s fist shot forward, carrying the wind with it. The sound of a hurricane came from this fist as it barreled towards Haruto.

Haruto tried to talk but found no words were coming out, so instead, he threw a heavy punch to block the incoming hit. The still wind tried to slow down Haruto’s punch, However fighting such a strong foe, coupled with his raging emotions, caused Haruto’s attack power to skyrocket. The two punches collided and formed a vortex that ripped everything up from around the room.

 Even the bed began swirling them around. Haruto’s heavy punch was not able to equal such a powerful attack. The force devoured his punch and sent him into the swirl along with the bed. A mighty wind stormed through the inside of Haruto's body. Luckily for Haruto, his body was refined, and the damage caused was not deadly. After being swirled around for 5 mins while fighting back the urge to vomit, Haruto was flung face-first into the ground.

Requis chuckled, seeing this, “Lad good spar. You were this close to winning (Requis moved his fingers extremely close together) and walked toward the half-destroyed bed sitting down on it. He spoke to the befuddled Haruto, “I’ve looked at your body. One thing is for sure you aren’t human. At least not what we would consider human. Hell, you aren’t even demi-human… Based on your strength and body, I would almost believe you have a demigod’s physique or at least one capable of attaining it. How about you come train with me? I’ll make sure you reach your full potential.”

The dizzy Haruto glared at the quack who attacked him while he was sleeping and spat out, “How about you come suck deez nuts, and make sure they reach their full potential.”

Requis paused for a second. Then laughed uncontrollably, “AHAHA. Ok, lad, I get it. You are tired and need some rest before coming to a decision. Truth is, you reminded me of an important thing you need to fix. So, we’ll call this your first lesson free of charge. Never, never, ever forget the golden rule. Do you know what it is?"

Haruto rolled his eyes. “What? Sharing is caring.”

What a good sense of humor, we are going to get along just fine. Requis smiled, “Haha, good rule, but no. The rule is to treat others how you would like to be treated. Take this, for example. I treated you with respect, even apologizing to you while you were sleeping. I showed respect to your "master" and his excellent technique. I even offered to train you. But how did you treat me in turn? We should fix your attitude. Lucky for us, we have the perfect situation to do just that. Prepare yourself, lad. In the coming days, many adventures will come here to test their mettle. I hope they can help whittle down your rough edges.” Requis turned around, beginning to limp towards the exit.

Haruto huffed, “Who said you could leave?” Haruto walked a few inches forward only to stagger and collapse back asleep.

Requis, with blood still dripping from his mouth, smiled, “good, you’ll need the rest while you can get it. Oh, and thank you, mister lich, for showing me the way.”

Thomas, who had been hiding in his study, fully convinced that Haruto would win, shuddered, hearing the thank you.