The Author's POV

"Relax your mind for a bit."

I pressed my hands against Liam's head and circulated the mana inside of my body.

"Make sure to leave your mind unguarded. If not, it will hurt quite a bit and I will not be able to do anything."

"Sure, but..."

Liam's confused voice echoed out as he slowly opened his closed eyes. Staring right into my eyes, his brows furrowed.

"...What exactly are we doing right now?"

'Shit, he's already forgotten.'

I smiled while cursing to myself inwardly.

"Just do as I say. You can trust me."

"...Oka—Huak!"

Liam's eyes suddenly jumped up in shock as the mana inside my body flowed out and activated my skill.

"Sorry, but this might hurt a bit."

I forcefully activated the skill in the midst of his speech.

Considering the current circumstances, this was the only option available to me.

Whenever I explained what I was going to do to him, he would end up forgetting. If this continued, it would be an irritating never-ending cycle.

Thus, I decided to just do it.

"Argh!"

Throughout the room, Liam's pained voice echoed as a white hue spread from my body before swiftly covering everything around me.

"Relax your mind."

I spoke through my gritted teeth.

"If you guard your mind, all it will do is increase the pain and make it hard for me to help you!"

In spite of his pain, Liam managed to hear my words and soon stopped struggling as his face relaxed.

I sighed in relief when I saw this.

'Thank god.'

Things could have been extremely complicated if he hadn't calmed down.

"Huuu..."

'Let's get this over with.'

I closed my eyes and focused my mind. Instantly, I was bombarded with thousands and thousands of images and scenarios. All of which were scattered apart.

The amount was so overwhelming that my brain almost fried on the spot. Thankfully, I had something to help me.

The chip.

With it going at full throttle inside of my mind I was able to sort out all of the different scenarios inside of my head, alleviating a lot of the burden on my brain.

During that time, I began to notice how the images broke apart with every passing second.

'Is this the reason why he's losing his memories?'

The moment I saw this strange phenomenon, I realized why Liam's memory was so poor. I wasn't exactly sure what it was, but something inside Liam's head kept destroying his memories.

'Let's see if I can do something about this.'

Forcing a quarter of the remaining mana out of my body, the white hue around me brightened up considerably.

It was during this time that Liam's memories stopped dissecting. Satisfaction washed over me once I saw this. But this wasn't all.

Looking through the memories and finding the corresponding pieces, I slowly brought them together and merged them.

And just like puzzle pieces, they slowly combined together.

'It worked!'

After observing for a few seconds, I noticed that the two pieces I connected were no longer disconnecting. My eyes lit up when I saw this.

It worked. My method worked.

There was now a way for me to fix Liam's memories.

Chugging down a mana potion the hue around my hand expanded.

'Alright, let's continue.'

"Keep your eyes closed and empty your mind."

Repeating the same process again, time eventually flew by. Before I knew it, thirty minutes had passed and droplets of sweat dripped down toward the ground forming a small pool of sweat.

"Haaa..Haaa.."

The sound of my heavy breathing echoed throughout the room as I struggled to concentrate.

'It's too much.'

I shook my head as my brows furrowed tightly.

In spite of the fact that I was being helped by the chip in my head, there were still too many memories and simply put, my mana was already almost exhausted.

'It looks like I have severely underestimated just how big his problem is...'

In addition to the insane amount of mana needed to complete this simple task, there were just too many memories to sort through.

Had it not been for the chip inside of my head, I would've already given up long ago.

"I can't."

I dropped to the ground as I removed my hands from Liam's head.

"Haa..Haa..."

While I was heavily breathing on the ground, Liam slowly opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times.

Surprise flashed across his face as he scanned the room.

I carefully lifted my head and stared in his direction.

"How do you feel?"

"...I've felt better."

Liam replied as he blinked his eyes.

Massaging my forehead, I decided to test him.

"Why are the two of us here?"

"To fix my memory problems?"

"Do you remember what you did before coming here?"

"Beat up your people."

My mouth twitched at his answer.

Nevertheless, I was satisfied with what I heard as I slowly sat up straight.

"It looks like your memory has improved."

"...It looks like it."

Liam quietly mumbled.

His reaction surprised me as I tilted my head.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"

"No."

Liam shook his head as his brows furrowed.

"It's just that I can only recall a select few memories, not all."

"Ah."

Standing up to scratch my body, I reassured him.

"About that, I've only been able to partially restore some of your memories. It'll take a lot longer to completely restore all of your memories."

'If ever...'

I honestly doubted that I could ever fix his memory given the huge number of memories he had.

Not only that, but the source of his problem was still not resolved. He was still going to forget everything that was going to happen to him in the future.

That was not something that I was able to fix.

All I did was make it so some of the memories he experienced could not be forgotten.

'The problem is most likely due to the art that he practices...'

"If it's too much to ask, do you have a copy of the martial art you practice?"

"...Ehm."

Liam looked at me as he scratched the side of his face.

"To be honest, I don't remember."

"Figured."

I waved my hand as I took out a towel to brush away the accumulated sweat on my body.

"I'll have a look at it during our next session."

Pinching my soaked shirt, I proceeded to head out of the room. Now that the treatment was over, I needed to properly rest.

I was exhausted.

Clank—!

Upon opening the door, I was greeted by a familiar figure sitting on one of the sofas in the room. With a curious look on his face, he seemed to be looking around the place.

"Kevin."

I greeted him.

Immediately after I called out for him, his head turned to face me.

"Ren."

Taking a moment to look at me, he was taken aback.

"What happened to you?"

"Don't worry about it."

I sat down on one of the sofas and let out a long breath.

Wrapping my arms on top of the sofa, I stretched my body a bit.

"Let me rest for a bit. At least till our final guest arrives."

"Guest?"

"You'll know soon enough."

***

Han Clan.

As multiple figures sat on nicely carved wooden chairs by the side of the halls, a heavy silence engulfed the majestic clan's halls.

At this moment, all eyes were drawn toward the middle of the room where a figure stood. His sleek black hair was neatly pushed behind his head in a pomade style, his back was straight, and he was wearing traditional Chinese attire.

He was none other than Han Yufei.

"Have you found it?"

A deep voice echoed throughout the room. It belonged to none other than the figure sitting at the forefront of the room.

Han Gaye. Han Yufei's father, and current head of the Han clan.

Raising his head to meet his father's line of sight, Han Yufei proudly nodded his head as he extended both of his hands forward, revealing an old and worn-out brown book.

"It was as he promised. This truly is five-star sword art, Gravar style."

There was a deafening silence in the room as no one spoke. In the midst of the silence, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the elder's heavy breathing.

All of whom were reverently staring at the book in Han Yufei's hand.

'As expected of a five-star sword art.'

Han Yufei thought as he scanned the room with his eyes.

A five-star sword art simply had that much appeal. All of the elders in the room could barely restrain themselves from rushing to him and grabbing the art.

In any case, as Han Yufei gazed at his father, he didn't move.

He was waiting for his father's next decision. And he didn't have to wait for long as his father soon opened his mouth and ordered.

"Make sure you practice the art well."

"Huh?"

"Ah!?"

"What?!"

But his next words came as a shock to everyone in attendance.

Immediately after everyone processed his words, they all stood up from their seats to protest.

"Quiet!"

But before they could do that, Han Gaye's voice thunderously reverberated throughout the room.

A tremendous pressure erupted from his body as he scanned the room with his eyes. His fierce gaze shook all of the elders out of their thoughts they soon lowered their heads in shame.

Taking a few moments to let the elders calm down, Han Gaye gazed in Han Yufei's direction.

"As you were the one who managed to find the sword art, you will be the first one to practice it. Under my name, Han Gaye, I pledge not to let anyone take your sword art from you until you have fully mastered it. Me included."

Standing up from his seat, Han Gaye's robe fell toward the ground. As his gaze swept toward the elders in the room, he continued.

"Remember this clearly. Our priority is the future of our clan, and Han Yufei is the only one in our clan that is qualified to practice this art. You are all too old."

While Han Gaye's words echoed once more, the faces of some of the elders turned bitter as they nodded their heads.

Taking note of their reactions, Han Yufei sighed in relief.

'I'm glad I talked to father about this.'

As he had already taken a small glimpse of the Gravar style, Han Yufei learned that only those who were below the age of twenty-five could learn this art. For anyone older than that, the result would only end up in their death.

Furthermore, even if someone practiced the art at the appropriate age, there was still a high mortality rate.

Simply put, the art was far too dangerous to share with the other members of the clan, and most of the people in the room understood this as the Gravar style was quite famous back then.

Even then, their reluctance was evident.

After discussing it for a bit, Han Yufei and his father decided to let him practice it first before letting the other have it.

Although his father wasn't exactly on board with the idea of having his son risk his life to practice sword art, Han Yufei was adamant and so he had no choice but to agree.

After all, the fate of the clan was riding on Han Yufei's shoulders.

They would be in big trouble if he failed to master the art.

"Are there any objections?"

While his father's voice deeply echoed throughout the room, Han Yufei focused his gaze on the book and silently clenched his teeth.

'I have to master this at all costs...'

For the fate of his clan who was currently under threat from the other clans, and for himself.

He had to do it.

***

In front of a large warehouse, a black sedan roared along with the sound of its engine.

With it being the middle of nowhere, the sound went unnoticed. When the car stopped in front of the warehouse parking lot, its door slowly rose, revealing a figure inside.

"When would you like me to pick you up, young master?"

"You can wait here for now. I don't think it will be long."

Jin stepped out of the car and placed his hand over its hood. His brows knitted as he gazed toward the distant warehouse.

'It looks pretty badly maintained.'

Taking a moment to study the warehouse in the distance, Jin was left confused. Taking out his phone and double-checking the location, his confusion only grew when he realized that he was in the right place.

'Are these really his headquarters?'

He couldn't believe it. For someone as wealthy as Ren to have this sort of place as his headquarters...

Just how much of a cheap skate was he?

"Well, whatever."

Putting his phone away, he tapped the car with his hand and headed to the building.

"Perhaps the internals of the buildings are better than the externals."