Chapter 52: Forbidden Knowledge

A/N: Chapters in advance in Patreòn

Pa treon.com/HolyJoker

(20+ chapters in advance)

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Chapter 52: Forbidden Knowledge

***

Ty Lee looked on at this from the sidelines, her body quaking in nervousness. What she was afraid of was Azula's anger, but also what seemed even more terrifying was that the boy, Kuzon, was strangely calm. 

Ever since she could remember Ty Lee could read people's auras and that was why Chi Blocking came easily to her. But right now she was seeing something strange, normally people's aura would change colors and fluctuate depending on their emotions. 

But Kuzon's aura was strange, his didn't fluctuate even though he should be feeling… something. 

His feelings seemed very calm. Ty Lee imagined that if she could see the aura of an inanimate object, then this was how it should be.

"Uhhh… guys, let's stop fighting. How about being friends?" She nervously intervened, knowing that this might get her in danger but she was worried about Azula too, as Kuzon seemed very strange. 

Azula on the other hand was still enraged and ready to fight him. But hearing Ty Lee's voice calmed her down, so in usual Azula-style, she smiled. "Kuzon, you should be more careful when you speak. Not everyone is as benevolent as me."

Though she said it like that, anyone with half a brain would be able to tell that she was threatening him. Especially since the blue fire covering her hand hasn't calmed down at all.

Sokka ignored all that and just looked towards Ty Lee, with a smile on his face. "Hello there, my name is Kuzon, nice to meet you."

Though the person in front of her felt somewhat strange, she wasn't someone who would judge them just based on that. So Ty Lee waved at him, in her usual energetic way.

***

-Sokka POV-

This girl… is sharp. Ty Lee always seemed kind of like a dumb girl in the show. But by the way, she was acting, I could tell that she was a little cautious. Usually, she would be more energetic and even hug people, yet she hasn't offered even a handshake. Also, when our eyes meet she looks away. 

Now she either has a crush or is cautious of me. I am more inclined to believe the latter because we just met. Still, there must be a logical reason why she is suspicious.

Many thoughts and facts went through my mind about Ty Lee. Due to increasing my intelligence, I could remember things a little better, so there was one obscure fact that came to mind.

She could sense auras? I think she was able to read my mood.

Oh, now I understood what she was so cautious of. Due to [Gamer's Mind] my aura is probably like stone, always calm, and that skill might even stop her from seeing anything at all. Yeah, I can use something similar to, like [Observe], and suddenly something strange was said on the Observe panel, then I would be suspicious too.

[Due to understanding and comprehending someone's actions and behavior, your Wisdom increased by 1]

I am getting the hang of this thing. It was not a good thing to waste stats on intelligence and wisdom. Because that didn't make you smart or wise, just gave you empty capacity for them. One becomes wiser through life experiences, and smarter by studying. If someone increases their intelligence by using stats, I wouldn't call them smart. Sure they might have the capacity to be, but even in the Gamer Manhwa, the main character wasn't smart.

A calculator without a user was just a piece of junk. 

Well, that was the way I saw things at least. It doesn't necessarily make them true just because I think so, but at least that was the understanding I had of the situation.

So with all of that in mind, I tried to cook up a plan that would fix the problem between me and Ty Lee. While it was unexpected, it was better to mend these things than let them evolve into something worse.

"Anyway, Azula, do we involve her in our liar game?" I asked her. She looked at me coldly, and that was enough of an answer. "Well, when do we get back? I have another trick I want to teach you."

"Sure," she nodded, and I could see the excitement in her eyes. Essentially I had become YouTube for her. Very addictive if you spend too much time on it 'researching' and 'learning' useless things that you will forget soon. 

She turned towards Ty Lee and with a fiery look in her eyes asked again. "Do you want to join me in capturing the Avatar?"

Azula… that's threatening. *sigh* She didn't listen at all to what I was trying to teach her. Oh well, sometimes it requires listening to the same thing more than once to understand it.

Things like these would add up. It's no wonder in the original story Ty Lee ended up betraying her. 

**

The walk back to the ship was awkwardly silent. 

"Hey, guys! Is the ship cool?" Asked Ty Lee, trying to add some conversation.

The silence that followed made even me get second-hand embarrassment from her. Jeez, this is awkward.

I better start fixing this before the relationships turn sour. Azula was all serious and didn't seem angry at me, but she probably was. A princess who always has everyone listen to her, she needed to learn how to stop believing that titles give you power.

Well, she will have to learn about it eventually. But how do I make her understand? She was at that age where she didn't know what to do with her life and would follow what Ozai told her. What does Azula want? I had no idea what she wanted. That was something she had to discover by herself. 

***

"So, why would Azula choose you, Ty Lee?" Sokka wondered, knowing the answer already, but deciding to start a conversation this way.

"She is strong and someone I can trust to be competent," Azula was the one to answer that.

"Are you still mad?" He asked jokingly. But she didn't answer. But Sokka didn't mind that and continued. "Do you know that everyone lives a life wearing masks without knowing? It's quite an amazing concept."

"We are going to spar a little when we go to the ship if you are going to be traveling with us. I need to make sure that you are strong enough to keep up." Azula stated, her eyes were sharp like a knife as she looked at him.

"I thought you wouldn't have to lie to me by now. So how about you tell me the truth?" Sokka requested calmly. He understood that Azula wasn't someone who would need to hide her intentions from him, as he would be able to see through her.

Ty Lee wanted to stop them from fighting as she felt like this was her fault as it all started with Kuzon standing up for her. But she knew that no matter what she said, it was too late to stop Azula. She felt kind of bad for feeling so suspicious of him. But she couldn't get rid of this instinct of hers that said that there was more than seemed to it to him. 

"I wanna destroy you," Azula said, her eyes seeming to ignite into a dangerous fire. "I will crush and show you where you belong. Beneath my feet."

As she said that Azula glanced at Kuzon, trying to peek at what his face looked like? Was he nervous? Or fearless like always? But unexpectedly, he had a look on his face as if he just swallowed a lemon, which slowly developed into an amused smile. "You are into those kinds of things? Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise, it suits you."

This confused her, while Ty Lee seemed to get what he meant and blushed. Covering her face in shame.

"Huh?" Azula frowned, annoyed that she didn't understand something. 

Sokka chuckled. "You are more pure-minded than I thought too," he then stopped, thinking of how to explain it to her, and continued. "But what I mean by it, is, for example, you want to crush, destroy, and dominate me, right?"

"Obviously…" she still didn't understand what he meant like this. To Azula, crushing, dominating, and destroying the enemy was something she had been training and learning since childhood. "I still don't see what you find funny," she glanced at Ty Lee. "Also why are you embarrassed?"

"A -Ah... N -Nothing!" Ty Lee tried to change the situation, not wanting to answer such a question. But she failed terribly and it made Azula even more curious. 

"It seems like our innocent circus girl knows a lot more than she lets on. Wonder what book she read it from?"

"I still don't quite see what makes this funny for you and embarrassing for her," Azula insisted, irritated at not getting an answer. 

"..." Sokka felt like someone who would have to give the whole birds and bees talk to a girl like her. He wasn't the right person to have that conversation with, but he was also amused just how naive Azula was about these things, and a large smile, filled with mischievous thoughts, appeared on his face. "Well, my dear friend, Azula, let me introduce you to the world of S&M."

Ty Lee tried walking slower than them so she would stay behind and stay with the guards, just outside of earshot. But Sokka grabbed her hand and put an arm around the pretty circus girl. "Where do you think you are going? I want to hear how you learned of this too?"

This world had no internet, but it had quite some explicit books. So he wanted to hear some juicy stories.

His love for drama and embarrassing stories was lit within his heart. The spar that he would have with Azula, went to the back of his mind as he was more concentrated on something else.

"Now, let me show you the world of S & M. I think someone like Azula should like it. First, let's start with-"

Ding!

[New Quest]

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[Teach Azula about S&M]

The princess of the Fire Nation grew up isolated and always alone. Introduce her to concepts from the outside world.

Objective 1 - Explain to Azula about S&M

Objective 2 - Embarrass Ty Lee

Objective 3 - Make Ty Lee tell her story about where she learned of this.

Rewards:

??? Exp

Whip of Pain

Gag of Quietness

Blindfold of Darkness

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"..." Sokka just stared at the rewards displayed in front of him. He didn't know if he wanted a quest like this. Because the rewards were weird. The only reason he was doing this was to entertain himself and get closer to Azula.

So with that in mind, he dismissed the Gamer Interface panel and continued what he would have done anyway. 

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