11 Forcefully Relaxing

-Narrator-

Shortly after he began to learn, the same situation had arisen. Knowing that it would keep happening, Eris forced Ray to relax. Suffice to say, it was difficult for both sides.

---

-3rd person-

"Do I have to?"

"Yep."

"But-"

"Nope."

"Please~?"

"I said it once and I'll say it again. No~"

"I promise to learn in moderation..."

"Last time you said that you ended up with a nosebleed."

"I'll actually do it this time."

"You said that last time too."

"I swear."

"Be careful with your oaths and promises."

"Why?" Ray's eyes sparkled.

"I'll tell you another time. Now stop."

He looked down with empty eyes as the corners of his mouth drooped. The figure sitting across from him, Eris, stared with cold eyes. It was just a facade for Ray, yet beyond that, there was an unconcealed desperation.

"But-"

"No matter how many times you beg, I won't let you." In Her hand was a book labelled [Imperial Swordsmanship]. It was a necessary book for anyone who was able to move and he had just begun learning. Sadly enough, he was banned from remotely learning anything for 2 days. This was just the start and Ray had been begging for the past few minutes. "There is no possible way for me to 'relax' here and you know it." His revealed feelings turned slightly angry as he raised his voice to match Her tone. "And you won't be able to defeat the Gods if you die from overwork. It's possible."

Silence.

The kind that would drive one crazy. It was more stressful than relaxing, wasn't it?

"It is." Ray blurted out, it was unreasonable as no one spoke. It was still quiet, but the sound of a whisper filled the room then.

"What is?" A question.

"This silence will eventually make me kill someone or myself, you choose, Eris."

"I'd rather choose neither." She stared straight at him and smiled. Coldly. The room froze and Ray just looked away with bored eyes. An uninterested face.

Silence again.

"Well, say something?" He sat up from his previously slouching position and stared back at Her. It had been four minutes. His patience had lasted too long, five days.

"Something?" Eris spoke frankly, curtly.

"You know that's not what I mean when I say something." His face showed faint irritation as he listened to Her and he needed a pastime.

"Well, what is it you mean then?" A question She didn't need to ask. Yet She still did.

"Ugh. Why can't I read though? You know that is the only fun thing to do here. Well... Not fun." He paused for a second before speaking again, "More like... Interesting?" He wasn't lying, a few hundred years and he'd started to think like this. Like an old man who thinks knowledge is the only power in this world. But he still knew that other factors had a part in how powerful a person was, be it politically, physically, mentally, and so on.

"Didn't you read any novels? I'm sure I would have." He ignored her earlier question or more like forgot it. He spent enough time thinking and already left the world on his own journey before asking Her this question.

The question he asked, was probably one he'd already asked more than a million times before. He knew, yet still asked. It was a persistent thing that he'd keep thinking despite knowing he'd already asked. It was a trivial question to both, yet he persisted more than when asking more important questions.

(Author's note: Like me. Fr can't go a whole day without reading a novel.)

"Again?" Even She knew.

"Yeah. Again." He just answered.

"..." She didn't answer.

"..." He just listened to the silence. His thoughts drifted away as he slowly fell asleep. Or quickly, it doesn't really matter anymore.

---

-1st person-

1 day later,

I yawned as I slowly got up. And you must be asking if I slept on a table and chair. No, I didn't.

Actually, Eris carried me over to my bed. So I slept there without actually feeling any bed, as I think I mentioned earlier.

I looked at my nonexistent clock and saw the time. Then at a 'calendar', and saw the day.

"I slept. For a day?!"

I sighed, sleeping feels worse than most things here. It's uncomfortable and difficult to sleep since there is no warmth. It's not even cold. I can't even dream. "Give me a break..."

Should I just go over to the Gods and slaughter them as soon as I meet them? But I won't say that if I do that, then I basically would win, wouldn't I? And if I had such an ability, I wouldn't be here thinking about how to defeat the Gods, I would be enacting said plans.

I quickly walked towards the garden where I sat down and did the usual. The usual is training, obviously.

I mean, what else would I do here? Play with fake animals with zero consciousness as I eventually get nightmares about the exact same animals stalking me as I live my life. If you're wondering where things got this personal, I'll tell you.

Near the beginning of when I arrived here, I asked Eris if She could create an animal for me. She did do that, but it was creepy and off-putting. The animal would stare blankly and be completely still when she lost focus and sometimes its appearance would distort into an ugly amalgamation of different animals horribly put and sewn together with crude tools. There would also be times it forgot to act like an animal and it would get up and speak an alien language I didn't understand. It kept following me around in real life and would stare at me until I fell asleep, so I eventually began having nightmares about that thing staring at me, following me, and so on. This situation persisted until I finally broke and told Eris to stop creating the pet and never do it again.

It wasn't scary, but the subconscious fear of a 5-year-old still existed, so the nightmares came. It also took away my focus when it came to training.

Haa, good(?) times. I remember that time vividly when Eris told me that living things weren't Her strong suit. I should've listened when I was warned.

My rank painfully stagnated some time ago and I was forced to quickly swap to reading rather than training. But I recently understood the importance of actually doing this, training was something that kept my health from deteriorating along the way but when I stopped, it also stopped healing me and I was forced to almost die from overwork. So, I need to keep training in the morning or at night and then read in the gaps.

Yet again, morning and night is what I imagine to be that time of day. It's my perception of time in the Void ignoring the difference in time flows.