The Laziest God Mortal Reincarnation

By the time training ended, I was fairly certain Lyssairia had succeeded in rearranging every bone in my body through sheer determination.

I stumbled through the doorway of her house with all the grace of a dying animal, my legs trembling, my shoulders aching, and my dignity dragging somewhere behind me in the dirt.

Lyssairia stepped in after me, looking, infuriatingly, as composed as ever. Not a strand of hair out of place. Not a trace of strain in her breathing.

I hated that.

She leaned her practice blade against the wall and rolled one shoulder before glancing my way.

"There will be no training tomorrow."

I stopped halfway to my room and turned to stare at her.

For a long moment, I said nothing.

Then I narrowed my eyes.

"...Are you sick?"

Lyssairia’s ears twitched sharply in irritation.

"That," she said flatly, "is not the response I expected."

I shifted the pillow under my arm and kept staring. "You expect me to believe you suddenly chose mercy?"

"I expected you to be happy."

"Impossible."

Her golden eyes narrowed. "Impossible?"

"Yes," I said, with all the certainty my battered body could muster. "It is impossible for you to stop tormenting me without reason."

For one heartbeat, she only looked at me.

Then her tail lashed once behind her.

"You are incredibly dramatic."

"And you’re incredibly suspicious."

"That doesn’t even make sense."

"It makes perfect sense. If you told me the sky was blue, I would still assume there was hidden cruelty somewhere in the explanation."

Lyssairia gave me a long, deeply unimpressed stare.

Then she said, "Tomorrow night, you leave the cave."

That pulled every lingering scrap of sarcasm out of me.

I straightened slightly. "Tomorrow night?"

"Yes."

For a brief second, the aches in my body felt farther away.

So it was finally happening.

After a week of waiting, of training, of being watched and dragged around and forbidden from stepping outside like some particularly suspicious housecat in reverse, I would finally be leaving.

Lyssairia crossed her arms. "Which means you should rest while you can. You won’t get much once you leave this place."

I studied her face, but this time there was no hidden mockery there. Just the same practical seriousness she wore whenever the topic shifted from training to survival.

"Tomorrow night," I repeated.

She gave a short nod. "The letters are ready. The escorts have been chosen. The route is not ideal, but it is the least suicidal available."

"Your standards remain inspiring."

"They’re the reason you’re still alive."

I couldn’t even argue with that.

Lyssairia pushed off from the wall. "Sleep early. And don’t do anything stupid."

I blinked. "You lock me in your house all week and still think I might cause trouble?"

She turned toward her own room without looking back. "With you, I assume stupidity is always waiting for an opportunity."

"That’s unfair."

"It’s experienced."

Then she disappeared down the hall before I could answer.

I stood there for a moment, listening to the quiet settle over the house again.

Tomorrow night.

At last.

The thought followed me all the way back to my room.

Once inside, I shut the door behind me and let out a slow breath before collapsing face first onto the bed. My pillow was immediately pulled under my head like a faithful companion returning to its rightful place.

For a little while, I simply lay there, listening to the dull ache in my muscles and the muffled hush of life beyond the walls.

Tomorrow night, I would leave.

Which meant tomorrow was likely my last chance.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling.

Miarielle.

For an entire week, I had failed to meet her.

And, in the back of my mind, the same unanswered question remained.

What exactly had she told the other leaders?

Not because the answer would change anything now.

But because I disliked not knowing how much of myself was already moving through other people’s thoughts while I remained in the dark.

Tomorrow, I told myself.

Tomorrow, before we leave, I would find her somehow.

Even if I had to dodge Lyssairia for once instead of the other way around.

That thought should have comforted me.

Instead, as the room settled further into silence, another truth rose to the surface of my mind, one far heavier than political curiosity.

The war.

The real reason behind it.

Demonic beasts.

Their blood.

The corruption spreading through tiger and bear beastkin like rot hidden beneath skin.

I closed my eyes, but that only made the thoughts sharper.

During the journey with Miarielle to this hidden place, I had turned the problem over in my mind again and again, searching for some answer, some path, some useful next step that would do more than simply terrify me.

I had come to the same conclusion every time.

Nothing.

In my current state, I could do nothing.

I was twelve years old.

Weak.

Untrained compared to those truly dangerous in this world.

Possessed of knowledge no one else could understand and power nowhere near strong enough to act on that knowledge meaningfully.

Even if I told someone the full truth, what then?

That tiger and bear leaders might have consumed the blood of demonic beasts?

That a hole had been torn into this world’s barrier years ago?

That a corruption no one had a name for was now helping shape a war?

It sounded less like a warning and more like madness.

I let out a quiet breath and spoke inwardly.

’System, tell me honestly. Is there anything I can do about this now?’

The answer came without delay.

[No.]

I stared into the darkness behind my eyelids.

Blunt.

Cruel.

Accurate.

After a moment, the system continued.

[Your concern is understandable, but concern without strength changes nothing. Right now, your priority should be simple: survive, grow stronger, and complete the Akashic quests.]

I frowned faintly.

’That’s your answer?’

[It is the correct one.]

I turned onto my side, curling one arm around my pillow.

’The corruption is spreading. People are dying now.’

[And you are still too weak to stop it now.]

The words struck harder because there was no mockery in them.

Only fact.

[You keep searching for a responsibility your current body cannot carry.] the system said. [That is inefficient. If you truly wish to act later, then stop wasting thought on impossible action now.]

I was quiet for a while after that.

The worst part was that he was right.

Again.

I hated how often that was happening lately.

There was no immediate heroic solution waiting for me if I only worried hard enough. No hidden burst of strength that would suddenly make me capable of purifying corrupted leaders or ending a war rooted in blood, fear, and something far older than the people caught in it.

For now, there was only one honest truth:

I had to become stronger.

Strong enough to survive the journey back.

Strong enough to understand the corruption better.

Strong enough, maybe one day, to do more than stand in front of ruin and name it.

My fingers tightened slightly against the fabric of the pillow.

’Then I survive.’

The system did not respond.

Perhaps because there was nothing to add.

Tomorrow night, I would leave this hidden refuge behind. Carry letters from beastkin faction leaders back toward human lands.

Step once more into danger with only a fragile escort and too much knowledge for a child my age.

And beyond that...

Beyond that waited Valerian.

Training.

The Akashic quests.

And whatever came next.

For the first time all week, there would be no training tomorrow.

That should have felt like a blessing.

Instead, it felt like the silence before a storm.