Chapter 10

Haru was excited when he was leading everyone out of the prison. On their way down, there were some gates and locks, which needed to be opened. But with Haru's metalbending, there was no need for the keys.

"Son, when did you master metalbending… I thought it was impossible." Tyro, who was behind Haru like the rest, asked.

"Long story, father," Haru said.

The long story was him going outside the village, levelling up, and using the skill points to master his metalbending, and coming back. 

"I may not have seen you for four years. But I'm very proud of the person you became." Tyro said, and Haru didn't reply.

Haru was standing in front of a large gate, and the guard who should be opening it wasn't there. Haru didn't go to the trigger mechanism that opens the door. He bent his way out, making the locks break. As the gate was opened, the earthbenders started running through it, ready for any sort of fight that was waiting for them.

But they stopped as soon as they saw the Fire Nation soldiers tied in ropes. Behind them, there were around 20 men, some of them seemed to be Earthbenders.

"So, these are your men?" Tyro asked.

"Yeah…" Haru replied as he nodded. "They are more capable than I had thought."

Kin was at the lead of the Haru's subordinates. He came toward Haru, bowed his head slightly, and said.

"We have done as you told. Once we got your signal, we ambushed the soldiers and got them down."

When it comes to indirect battles and ambushing from behind, earthbenders were very deadly.

If they ambush you from behind, they can bury you without you noticing.

One of the bandits lifted his head. "Boss, by the way, did you beat all of the soldiers there on your own… inside that metallic prison."

"Yeah…" Haru sighed when he saw some admiration in his followers' eyes.

He then stared at the prison. "You know what guys, you take this rig prison as our base. The survivor soldiers will be our prisoners."

"Shouldn't we kill them?" Kin asked. He seemed to be wise, as expected from a previous Earth Kingdom soldier.

"We will use them as hostages if the Fire Nation attacked again," Haru said. He had considered killing them, but it would be a waste. Haru had noticed how easy it is to kill after the very first kills.

"Haru! Tyro!" Someone was yelling. The two turned their heads.

Haru's mom appeared in the sight as she was running toward them. Haru turned to his dad and pushed him forward. "You go first." Both the old man and the old woman hugged each other.

When Haru looked behind them, he noticed that all of the villagers were there.

They were here to meet their family. The previously prisoned earthbenders walked forward, tears filling their eyes as they opened their arms.

Haru smiled inwardly. He can finally have some sleep, some rest.

Seeing his mother and father again made him feel warm. He knew that he had made the right decision by not waiting for the Avatar.

Haru looked at the ground and spat upon remembering the Avatar. The Avatar is not a bad person, but not someone to trust either.

Haru's subordinates took the Fire Nation men to the prison. They found some survivors on their way, some were on the verge of death with their armours being tight — Haru had forgotten to realise them. The bandits also showed their amazement that the metal was bent clearly.

Later that day, Haru and his family were transferred into another house, a house that was owned by a Fire Nation family. Since Haru's home was burned down, they needed to find a new one, and this one was available.

Haru had a good reunion with his family.

Somehow, Haru felt a bit of cringe, coming from a part of his fused soul that should be called Mike.  But he ignored it.

Having the memories of two lives sometimes make you confused about who you are. Eventually, you will think that you are both, and your previous life is just your first life.  

"… and that's how all of that happened…" Haru's mom was done telling Tyro her part of the story.

Tyro turned to Haru. "So you were bending in secret, punched the tax collector on the face, before torturing him in that shell, and then you escaped… two days ago." He stared at his son with a dropped jaw. 

"Pretty much right," Haru said as he grabbed a bowl. He started eating. "Trust me, I blame myself for being a fool as much as you would blame me. I let my emotions take over me for a second, and I learnt from that."

Haru learnt from his mistake. If someone provoked him in the future, Haru will hold the grudge and pay it back later.

"It's good that you learnt a lesson. But I'm not blaming you. I'm happy that you punched him in the face." Tyro laughed. "By the way, have you been practising my way of bending? I have seen that you used a different way of earthbending."

"More likely I developed it," Haru said. Compress and Bending with Hands were learnt from Tyro. But the other offence skills were developed by Haru.

"Yeah, I've seen how you compressed the metal," Tyro said as he sighed. "That was pretty amazing.

"Yeah, it helped me for sure. And now that we kicked their fire benders out." Haru also let a sigh.

"What?" Haru's mom, Kara, asked.

Tyro opened his mouth. "Now that we have taken care of the Fire Nation people, we should be ready for more battles."

"Don't worry about that. They are surrounding Ba Sing Se city." Haru said. "What we should worry about is their near bases…"

His village was taken down 4 years ago.

It was easy to take down small villages with a large army.

The Fire Nation seemed to build prisons in the small villages for the Earthbenders and leave guards.

But now, that army was disturbed, and most of it was focused on the walls of Ba Sing Se and Omashu.

The Earth Kingdom wasn't united.

There is more than one king.

And the army wasn't that united.

Some cities had their armies with their generals leading. 

"So they are at Ba Sing Si. Nevertheless, we should be ready for them to come back at any moment."

"That, I can take care of." Haru put the bowl down, reached for a bottle of water, and drank it.

Haru hadn't revealed his plan: what he will do now his family is free, and his village is free.

He will take on the path of Chin, the conqueror, except that Haru decided to be way stronger than him before that.

He will then take care of the Fire Nation with his own hands.

Haru will be as strong as, if not stronger than, the Avatar. The Avatar was strong for two reasons. First, he was backed up by a very powerful spirit, which supports him with a large amount of Chi. Second, he had a connection to their previous lives and their experiences. With enough Chi and skills, Haru was sure that he will be very strong. If he mastered the earth sub-elements, he would barely have any weakness.

"Haru, what are you thinking of?" Tyro asked.

"I will teach you guys how to metalbend," Haru said. "Only on condition it remains to our village people."

If he taught his people how to do that, then, even if they can't reach his level, they will be strong enough to take care of the Fire Nation soldiers.

Or at least, they will be able to build metal walls around the city.

Haru's metal bending now was way beyond the people in The Legend Of Korra's show. That was due to him spending so many points at it.

If people learnt it, they will need to be very close to the metal to bend it. Moreover, they won't be able to compress it from distance, as he can.

Also, not everyone will be able to learn it. It will depend on their talent in sensing the earth within the metal. It also takes one day to see if one can learn it. Haru was an exception since he has a gaming system.

"You are sure?" Tyro blinked twice. "That will be great. With that, we can form walls that no one can break."

"Don't be too excited, it's not too easy, and not everyone can do it," Haru said. "I'll teach you the way, and the rest is up to your talent."

"Huh? Did you forget that you inherited your talent from me," Tyro rolled his eyes.

"No, me." Kara crossed her arms.

Haru and Tyro laughed, making Kara harrumph at them.

Haru decided to enjoy the situation while it lasted. Because once he is done teaching his fellow earthbenders, he will be on his way to Kyoshi's island to master martial arts. Also, he wanted to defeat the sea monster. It will make him way stronger than he is now. 

It's worthy to mention that there were more than 40 earth benders in the rig prison. It meant that his village had a strong mini-army when the Fire Nation had attacked.

-x-X-x-

The next morning came. Haru stretched his arms up and took a deep breath. It had been three days since he had any sleep. Now that he got it, he was full of energy.

After doing some stretches, he began to bend the ground, making a boulder and manipulating its shape. 

he looked at his system.

Ever since he had completed his quest and attacked the prison, he earned 3 levels. It had given him 6 Skill Points and 12 Affinity Points.

He decided to go with his usual build, disturbing half of the points to the Wisdom and the other half to Physique.

His health increased to 550 points, while his Chi increased to 12500.

Physique increases his ability to bend heavier objects and reduce Chi consumption. So it was necessary besides increasing his wisdom.

If Haru wanted, he can lift a giant boulder with his bending alone without feeling tired.

And don't let his lean body fool you. It can lift around 400-500 kilogrammes. Haru had assumed this because of his health points. When he had 250, he could lift a 200 kilogrammes boulder.

He punched the ground, and cracks started spreading. It showed how strong his punch was. "Feels good."

Now, as for the skills… Haru found himself between hard choices, which skill to level up, and which skill to be left for later.

But since this is a game-like life, he decided to act like a gamer.

'It's best to keep the skill points until I raise my skills levels. But there is one thing that I want to do.'

Haru now felt curious about the Associated Skill option. It seems that when any skill reaches level 10, Haru can use his skill points to unlock an associated skill.

'Losing one point won't harm.'

[Do you want to use 1 Point to create an Associated Skill to Spiral Swords Rings]

He chose yes.

[Ding, a new associated skill was created]

[Swords Rain level 1 (0/100)]

Haru lifted his hand and activated his skill. With one thought, a boulder flew from the ground and ascended. The boulder then was split into many parts, compressing 5 swords.

Haru seemed to have the ability to control them with his hand. He raised his hand and swung it down. The swords fell like rain, and they pierced the ground.

"Cool."

He liked this skill, and he decided that he will train it later. If he could create ten or twenty swords, then he will be able to face a mini-army alone. And since Swords Spiral Ring was the foundation of this associated skill, the swords were so sharp that they can break armours and cut thick boulders easily.

Now, he decided to check on the rewards he gained from his quests.

Opening his storage, he looked into the two items: Random Box and Random Gift. Both had an 'Open' option next to them.

Haru decided to open the Random Box first.

[+ Sage Ring Tier 1]

(A ring that regenerates Chi by 500 Points a minute)

Haru raised his eyebrows.

The ring seemed very useful. Even when Haru is at his current level, his Chi regenerates by 200 points a minute, and that is when he is resting. Now, with the Sage Ring, he can get his Chi back faster, even when he is standing up. And when he rests, he would get his energy back swiftly.

Haru opened his hand, and a ring with a green jewel appeared. He wore it, and he could feel the energy around him being sucked into his body.

'Now, I am excited to see the other box… though, I wonder what's the difference.'

He opened the gift box.

[+2 Affinity Points]

Oh, he got it. One holds a gift, which doesn't have to be physical. The other holds a physical item.

Haru was still happy with the points he got.

Since he got them for free, he put them on his Wisdom.

Haru then checked on his stats.

[Stats.

Level: 11

Health: 550/550

Chi: 13500/13500

Affinities:

-Wisdom:  30

-Physique: 20

-Agility3 ]

Now, Haru was good to start his training and to train the others. That is what he needed to do before venting on his journey to the south.

Also, he needs to work on his agility.