Failure

[ Ring of Regression has met the conditions.

Uses left: 0 ]

Lucian looked at the floating screen with countless emotions, emotions that spiraled out of control as he grabbed his desk and flung it across the room. Then he grabbed his chair and was a second away from putting it through the window when a petite hand stopped him.

"Lucian, what the hell!" Maya, the beautiful red hair who was currently standing in fear and shock, made her hazel eyes meet Lucian's. "It's just a demotion for one semester Luce, I am sure if you show enough improvement they will give you your position again. This could be a learning experience for you, just give it a-"

Lucian's killing intent poured out like a tsunami, Maya's words catching in her throat as he stared at her pale and practically sickly coworker she had known for years.

Everything was different.

The calm and curious gray eyes were stained with a sharpness that could cut anything, his shoulders that were usually slack were taught and firm, and the aura of quietness he usually held was overcome by the feeling of a seasoned warrior preparing for battle.

Then, as if everything previous was just an illusion, Lucian smiled and placed the chair back down.

"Sorry Maya, I usually never let things like this get to me, just give me a moment alone please."

Maya was completely stunned, the current Lucian somewhat similar to what she was used to. Nonetheless, she chalked it up to him hearing the grave news, a glance at the overturned desk all she managed to do before walking out.

The door shut with a click.

"Damnit." Lucain clenched his fists. "So damn close."

He had almost done it, Lucain had almost saved humanity from extinction or possible enslavement. He had taken opportunities from fortunate heroes, learned the most protected secrets of the world of Albion, gained power that could destroy the realm if he so pleased, and had killed the so-called unstoppable demons like they were mere chickens.

Well, until the Demon King appeared and killed him in a single hit.

In the last three regressions nothing like that had ever happened before, maybe because the Dread Generals of the Demons were able to subdue humanity even despite Lucians many efforts, it was the only plausible answer.

Lucian had simply miscalculated. He had not grown strong enough, had not been fast enough, had not been smart enough, and had not been well… enough.

However, it made little difference, he would learn and move on. Use the information of his previous regression and become even more powerful so he could wipe that stupid grin off the Demon King's face.

Just like the previous three times, he would head to the Crystal Peaks and get the Jade Apple that would push all his stats up an entire level. Then he would kill off a few bad seeds that had yet to grow, plant a few random encounters with people who would become powerful, and once again resurrect his underworld empire that took hold of the shadows.

It was the first step of each regression he deemed necessary, and this time he was not going to do anything different. Time was of the essence, after he did so he could take a three year break where nothing of significance would happen, a time in previous regressions when he had honed all his skills in seclusion.

Now though, all of his martial skills were at the peak of this world, even in his curren weak body he could probably kill a single Demon general with skill alone.

Lucaina nodded as he formulated plans, then back ups plans, then back up plans for back up plans, and then a final resort where he would sacrifice most of the mana in the world to summon a Void Eater that would kill the Demon King along with half of Albion.

However, as he made these plans, out of habit his fingers caressed the wooden ring on his middle finger. Instead of the warmth he was use to, the ring was cold, almost giving off the feeling of being dormant.

That was when Lucian looked at the screen floating before him, his heart sinking as he realized he had forgotten a single variable.

[ Ring of Regression has met the conditions.

Uses left: 0 ]

"No…no, no." He wanted to look away, but his gaze was plastered onto the screen,reading each line over and over again until his eyes began to burn from not blinking.

How could it be?

Why?

This was his final chance, if Lucian failed to kill the Demon King, then humanity would not be saved, and Lucian would not regress. The reason he could go through those hardships, put his life on the line, take risks normal humans would never take, and excel in combat was all because he had the reassurance of coming back from the dead.

Lucian had now died four times, but never did it feel like dying, more like starting fresh. It helped him pursue the dangers needed, brave the unthinkable, and allow a lowly teacher like him to kill billions of demons along with the so-called Dread Generals.

The ring was his only ray of hope as he carried the burden of having knowledge of the future, now the burden was even heavier.

If he failed, all was lost.

"I need to move now." Lucain spoke those words firmly, his fingers slowly pulling away from the ring as he rose from his chair.

However, before he could even take a step forward, the world spun and Lucain found himself on the carpet. He coughed in pain, a hand clenching his chest that tried to contain his rapid beating heart.

What was going on?

Lucian spat out a fountain of blood, and his eyes started to roll into the back of his head. It took all of his will to keep himself awake, and the minutes passed in agony until he found a semblance of balance in his body.

"What is wrong with me?"

Lucian looked within himself, a technique he learned from monks, and saw exactly what was broken.

In the darkness of a void, a floating spherical glass ball was shattered, the pieces slowly mending together but one could clearly tell the pace it was going out it could take years to heal.

It was his soul, his soul had been attacked somehow.

There were already ideas of how it happened, and Lucian skimmed them quickly until his mind focused on one past event that happened not but minutes ago.

The attack of the Demon King that had ended his life, it had struck him and killed him instantly. However, for as powerful as Lucian was during the attack, an instant felt like minutes, and he clearly was able to register how the attack was not physically, but something that struck straight at his life force.

It was not the first time he had been hit with strange magic, but none of them had damaged his soul. Even amongst all the secrets and information he had gathered through his four lifetimes, nothing had mentioned anything in the world interacting with the soul.

Lucian, in his second regression, had even spent some time trying anything and everything to manipulate it. He used ancient technique, rituals that he found in a crypt at the bottom of the Rosary Sea., and good ole fashioned meditation.

Nothing, and quite literally nothing, could affect the soul. This was the conclusion Lucian had come to after spending almost twenty years on the single topic alone, which made it all the more frightening that the Demon King could.

It changed things, a lot of things.

He was still injured, and only the Silver King knew how long it would take for him to heal. Maybe the healing process was exponential, and he would be fine in a few weeks, but what if it was the opposite, and it took possible decades.

Time, something Lucian thought he controlled, had now become the one variable he could not predict.

Naïve, even after being around two hundred years old, he realized he was still lacking.

Would this have happened if he had not gotten cocky and turned his back on the last dying general who opened a portal for the Demon King to come out of? Perhaps if he had not put his weapons away, or maybe if he had reacted fast enough? There were plenty of times Lucian was ambushed, but the speed at which the Demon King attacked was otherworldly, above the sacred level of power, which was the peak of power in Albion.

How does one surpass the top? Did it matter, Lucian's soul was healing, he was not in a fighting condition.

"Damn, is this karma?" Lucian just laughed, the first time he had in almost fifty years.

When one spent all his time improving their combat skills, trying to upgrade his mind, slaying demons, and scouring the world for treasures; not much fun could be had. To think he had chased this unrealistic dream of saving humanity, coming so close he could see the light, to be stabbed and thrown back into the darkness.

What now?

Lucian had no way to know how to speed up the healing process of his soul, because most likely in all of Albion he had been the first to have it attacked. He had an information network like no other in his previous regressions from blackmailing, killing, partnering, and colluding with everyone with an ounce of power.

Each regression Lucian was more powerful than the current reigning Lord of Albion in a matter of a few years, so most trivial things were left out his underlings while he did the heavy lifting.

Now though, Lucian was weakened, and he would have twice the trouble to start his shadow empire and gain the traction he needed to snowball his power.

It was hopeless, humanity was doomed.

Lucian exhaled heavily, the last dregs of his ebbing pain fading to a low pulse that strangled his movements as he got up with the assistance of his overturned desk. He sat in his chair again, his eyes closing as he took in the warmth of the rays that filtered through his muddy window.

For a few moments Lucian marinated in the peace, something he rarely got to do through his constant search for more power and obsession with saving humanity.

It was nice, the silence, the lack of his mind going into overdrive to try and calculate the perfect plan, and no need for him to rush.

It was slightly egotistical, but without Lucian's power, humanity would fall, and the beautiful landscape would become breeding ground for the Demons who wanted to conquer other continents.

"Truly, fate is cruel to those who reach for it." Lucian smiled for probably the first time in decades, his emotionless and callus attitude he needed to adopt to brave the world not needed.

He opened his eyes, the smoky gray pupils no longer holding the smoldering fire of ambition. They instead looked relieved, thankful that the burden was no longer weighing him down, it now replaced with guilt in defeat.

"We live to die," A common saying in Albion left his lips, "I guess I have fifteen years before I am forcefully enlisted. I can enjoy a normal life as a teacher.

Lucian nodded to affirm his resolve to just leave peacefully for now, enjoy the things he had ignored for four lifetimes, do sightseeing instead of scanning for possible boosts to his power, eat delicacies he deemed worthless, and see the famous cultures of cities and towns he had conquered through the shadows now in ight.

Maya, the only woman Lucian had ever fancied, maybe he could try that, but for certain he would not start a family.

"I wonder when classes start, should be two weeks from now."

Lucian took control of the raw mana around him, which in most cases was almost impossible, but in his many lifetimes he learned impossible means protected from the public.

The desk floated over, but he almost let it drop as he winced in pain, apparently the power of his mind was even affected by a broken soul.

Lucian had been through much more than just pain, so he ignored it and tidied his small office, his mood rising as he did so.

It was a small start, a start to the fifteen years or relative peace he was going to enjoy.

However,. As he was fixing the papers that had scattered about when he threw his small tantrum of rage, he found a particular pamphlet that interested him.

The edges of the paper were cornered with gold, and runes that glowed with slight energy covered most of the back side. Lucian turned it over, surprised to see the site of globes of crystals the size of colosseums dotted amongst a valley of rock spires that resembled spears.

It was a recruitment ad for Queen's Spear, the second best academy in all of Albion, right behind King's Sword. Apparently the interviews were happening today, which was odd since classes started so soon.

Although, with a quick skim of Lucian's perfect memory, he found his answer.

The hero Bastion had wanted to retire his hero mark, so he left the academy to look for a disciple. He wanted to give it to a common peasant because the previous holder had done the same to him, which is why he quit. Most at Queen's Spear were nobility or the wealthy, so his disciple would definitely not be there.

Lucian actually knew who would get the hero mark, as he had been an asset used by him many times. The first time Lucian had killed him to take the hero mark, but after, he regretted it wholefully. Hero marks gave one an extra hearth, an advantage many would drool over to have, the only problem was that it also affected one's other hearths. It locked one into a certain path for future growth, which cut off the many others Lucian wanted to take.

A grave mistake, one he learned from, and had actually been cataloged in his mind in the major section. The palace where he kept the things he should never do, keep interest in, or any very important events.

His mind was practically a library with information, which he had learned to do during his first regression by copying a scholar from thousands of years ago who wanted to learn every rune in the world. Lucian kindly took his work, but of course made sure to pay homage by learning every rune in all of Albion funnily enough.

It would surely help him teach his students, which may get him the promotion he needed.

Wait.

Lucian stared at the Queen's Spear ad, a plan formulating in his mind out of habit.

If I cannot save the world, why can't others?

It was a seemingly redundant question, as Lucian had witnessed firsthand why exactly others could not save humanity from the invading demons, but it still made his mind quickly get to work.

He had companions in each of his regressions, but they never reached his power as their foundations had many flaws that were way too late to fix. Even Lucian had the flaw of a sickly body, but the Jade Apple in Glimmer Valley would fix that each regression, making him a blank slate that was perfect to pave the best path. There was sadly only one apple, so it was impossible to make others reach his potential.

However, Lucian had an idea. It was quite stupid, depended heavily on luck and variables he could not predict at the moment.

He possibly could teach, more so create, people to fight the demons in his steed.

He was injured, and unsure how fast he would heal, but perhaps he could just boost someone else to fill his shoes. They would need to be somewhat willing, as being forced to train through hardships would have the opposite effect.

It was actually not a bad idea, and even more so with his position as a teacher. The younger someone was, the easier to persuade and shift their beliefs. So he could ultimately manipulate one or perhaps all of his students to "want" to save humanity from destruction.

The idea was sound, but the steps to do so were shrouded in uncertainty, an uncertainty Lucian dealt with constantly in his past journeys.

This was nothing new, just another challenge he needed to overcome.

Although, he would not be teaching at Stonehaven Academy, as most students here were average at best. Lucian would still need talent to make boosting them significantly easier, and what place was a fit none other than Queen's Spear Academy. Yes, King's Sword was a possible better option, but Lucian found out through his mind library that there were no open positions.

He could dispose of a teacher and take their place in disguise, or invade the mind of the Head Lord of the Academy and get them to hire him under the guise that "they" personally wanted to.

The problem however, was that to do so Lucian would need items. The Mask of Myriads was currently being held by an old sacred tree that would ask riddles from centuries ago, but it was deep within the Wolve's Den, a place only a Gold rank could survive in. The Staff of Wandering Thoughts would be even harder to get, the secret Cloud Empire having it within its vaults, even then it would pass over Albion in two years time, which might not be enough for Lucian to become powerful enough to just take it like he did many times before.

He was currently weakened.

"I will have to do it the right way, by applying." Lucian rubbed his temples in slight agony, the pain from his soul ever present. "I just can't let humanity die out huh, how predictable Lucian."

For now, he needed to hurry to the interview to get accepted, which meant he had decided which attribute and element he was going to use this time around.

Guidance attribute and the creation element, a combination he had used in his second regression before deeming it just slightly less powerful from the Dominance attribute and chaos element.

First though, he had to do what he did at the beginning of every other regression, which was writing a resignation letter. It was almost like a tradition, the first step in the journey of once again trying to mend a hopeless situation.

'A teacher huh' Lucian thought to himself. 'I ended up exactly where I began in the end, fate is indeed quite cruel.'

He took his pen and began to write, the fire that had previously escaped his eyes now burning, albeit a bit dimmer as he would not be the hero of this journey; but the one to guide them.