People cope with intense pain in different ways. Some withdraw, shutting down their emotions entirely, while others lash out, driven by anger even when the situation is beyond their control.
Some succumb to the pain, letting it consume them, while others harness it as a motivator to push themselves to improve.
Leo had a unique way of coping with pain— which was to channel it into absolute focus.
Ordinarily, Leo was a carefree, easy going person, who was rarely serious about meeting deadlines unless it was absolutely necessary. However, Ben's death marked a turning point in his life.
Initially, Leo trained hard under Ben's guidance because it was his only viable path to survival. He knew that, given the limitations of the Actor class, he couldn't convincingly play the role of a bigshot without having the strength to back it up.
Were it not for the system's restrictions and the constant threat to his life, Leo might never have worked as hard as he did to win the Grand Tournament, and after that victory, as the immediate threat on his life subsided, his growth as a warrior also stagnated.
Though Leo continued to level up after the tournament, his foundational skills didn't see any groundbreaking improvement as he didn't take the task of becoming a 'Master' level fighter as seriously as he should have.
But the moment he learned of his master's death, Leo made a firm resolution, which was to reach the stage of a 'Master' level fighter within the next five months, before the system's house arrest restrictions were lifted.
He set reaching the 'Master' stage as his goal, because he felt that whoever killed his master or schemed to kill him, or was involved in killing him, had to be at least this strong to pull it off.
If they weren't even at the master stage, then it was impossible to kill a man like Ben Faulkner and hence Leo presumed that to avenge his death, he had to push to become a 'Master'.
To achieve this goal, Leo almost entirely discarded his duties as a Baron, informing his Butler George to take over the Barony's work entirely, as he did not care if the Barony devolved into a major crisis… his only goal was his own training and progress.
He informed George to keep expanding the army even if it burnt a hole in the budget and to promote loyalty amongst the troops only towards the Barony and not towards the Empire anymore.
Butler George, taken aback by the change in his lord's demeanor made many futile attempts to restore him to normalcy, however, Leo's resolve was ironclad.
He had shut his mind against any suggestions that could dissuade him from his goal and had decided to tirelessly train till he achieved what he wanted, as it was only when he was training tirelessly to reach the master stage, that Leo found his current captivity acceptable, as without having that unilateral focus, Leo could not live with himself thinking about how his master was dead and yet he was holed up within his Manor in Crest-Hill Barony.
And hence began a period of intense focus for Leo, where he converted the Manor's garden into his private training grounds and began practicing his in-game skills once again, for the first time since he left Mount Faulkner.
Alongside the three skills that Ben had already passed down to him, Leo also trained to learn the new skill manual he had bought from the auction, a skill named [ Shadow Bind ], as he slowly tried to understand the concepts behind it.
Out of the 12 hours gaming time daily, Leo had resolved to spend 11 hours everyday to only improve his skills, while he spent the last hour on just two tasks.
Firstly, to complete his on-going missions as Leo-Skyshard the merchant, so that he could master the 'Merchant' role before his 5 month isolation ended.
And Secondly, to nurture the Uprising Guild, who he now saw as a prime force that could help him exert his revenge for his master's death.
Hence, everyday apart from his time spent skill training, every last minute was spent on either completing the Merchant Class quests, or strengthening the foundations of the Uprising Guild for his future revenge.
As a result, when two days after Ben's death, his explanatory letter arrived at the Crest-Hill manor, Leo did not even spare a glance at it, asking Butler George to just put it in a pile on his desk.
Having lost all interest in politics and letters from the capital, Leo did not even pause for a moment to presume that the letter could be from his master, as his ignorance prevented his bubble of misunderstandings from bursting.
Despite Butler George pleading him constantly to spare the letter a glance, since it was marked 'Important', Leo stubbornly refused, as he found himself engrossed in the practice of the skill 'Vanish'.
When Butler George persisted with his requests, irritating him with constant nagging, Leo simply used the skill 'Vanish' to disappear from his eyes, forcing him to retreat, as it was clear that he could not get through to Leo's thick skull.
Had Leo read the letter, it would have saved him from a world of pain and suffering, however, fate seemed to have other plans.
Coupled with the mind meditation scroll that he practiced in real life, this type of intense skill-training was actually the best match for him to improve his foundation rapidly and with the focused mindset that he found himself in, where he did not dare waste a single second of training, or put in less than 100% effort. His gains every single day were massive.
It was almost like, the old fun loving Leo had died alongside Ben Faulkner, and what was left behind was a beast driven towards revenge.
However, whether this mindset was for his benefit or detriment, only time could tell.
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/// A/N - What do you guys think of the new character images? I personally think Elena turned out beautifully. ///