OLD HUTCH

There was a sudden rush and eventually Leonel waved a hand, pulling a soul out of the stream of time and stuffing it into the Life Tablet.

Elorin collapsed into a daze, his aura still growing as he gasped for breath.

He was quite lucky, honestly. If not for Anastasia's intervention, all of his Time Force training would have turned into machete training and he would have been back to square one with his Ability Index.

Truthfully, just from an objective point of view, this would have made him weaker. His Ability Index had shocking versatility, versatility that a blade couldn't match up to.

That said, if he managed to grasp the same comprehension of Weapon Forces that Leonel had, then maybe he could have regained his Time Force comprehension in a more roundabout way.

However, Leonel's current ability to see through people and what was a good path for them and what wasn't had risen considerably after his new Dream Force breakthrough.

By this point, although Leonel was technically still at the Peak of the Creation State, it would be difficult to find even an Idol Dream Force master with better Dream Force comprehension, usage, and execution than him.

That was why he could tell at a glance that as much as Elorin wanted to pay homage to his grandfather, making the machete his main skill and focus would be ruining his future.

Instead, if he wanted to use it, it should be a supplemental addition to his strength.

Luckily, there was Anastasia. By helping to bolster the amount of Time Force he had in those moments, rather than having to make a tradeoff between his knowledge, he was able to keep both.

Of course, there was another price to pay…

Elorin looked much older now than he did before. He seemed to be a man in his mid-thirties, and considering his strength, that meant that he had lost a considerable amount of years.

However, Leonel was pretty confident that that could be reversed. He just needed to go up in Dimension again.

After Elorin seemed like he was about to regain his bearings, Leonel finally poured the energy into the Life Tablet and Old Hutch's figure began to slowly manifest.

There was a slight moment of silence.

Leonel's brothers had a dear fondness for Old Hutch as well. It was he and their coach that had helped them during Leonel's two-decade-long disappearance, helping them train into the men that they were today.

They had a great hatred for Elorin because of what he had done now as well. But they also knew that it was impossible for any one of them to replace Elorin in the old man's heart. After all, no matter what, Elorin was his grandson.

As such... It wasn't their place to decide whether to forgive him or not.

Old Hutch's eyes slowly cleared.

He looked much younger than when Leonel first met him. He still had wispy hair that left much of his scalp exposed, but now it was much more grey-black than it was white. His beard was just as wild, and his skin was a healthy, deep bronzed color. His had a brown richness to him that made it feel like he had worked on farm fields all his life… it gave him a youthful exuberance despite the rest of his appearance.

The old man, though, was in a rare daze. The first person he saw was obviously his grandson, and it left him confused… had he died? Had his grandson come with him?

He couldn't help but sigh.

He had somewhat known that Elorin's revenge would end in failure, but it still hurt to see the result himself. He couldn't help but blame himself—

Elorin suddenly hugged Hutch tightly, causing the old man's eyes to open wide.

When was the last time his grandson had hugged him? Years? Ever since he became a teenager, he had become too "grown" to do that. And after he learned about the fate of his parents, their distance only grew further apart.

The hug was one thing, but when he felt Elorin's sobs, Hutch's eyes couldn't help but tear up and turn red.

Was he dreaming? Why did it all feel so real, then?

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… It's all my fault…" Elorin squeezed these words out, holding onto his grandfather with a firmer and firmer grip, almost as though trying to make sure he wouldn't disappear again.

Old Hutch didn't even know what to say to these words.

Aina slowly wiped her tears, releasing shuddering breaths in Leonel's embrace.

"… I want to see my dad…" she said so softly only Leonel could hear her.

"Okay." Leonel nodded. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Would it be easy to see Aina's father right now? Absolutely not. He had been basically banished from the Fawkes Empire and he was certainly in their midst. Doing so would either require ignoring his grandfather's words and bringing down an even harsher punishment onto himself, or actually finishing off this war.

But he didn't care. Since his wife wanted something, he would make it happen. It was really that simple to him.

So long as she could get herself out of this rut, it would be well worth it.

He had been too naive in the past about how life worked. From the very beginning… it was never so fragile.

For every one case there was with Old Hutch, there were a million other failures.

It took a long while, but when Old Hutch finally realized that everything around him was real, he also broke down into tears.

Then, something that left Leonel speechless began to happen.

His aura skyrocketed, his Blade Force practically piercing the skies.

Leonel shook his head. Old Hutch was his first teacher in this wild world, the man who always said you should listen to your blade.

Back then, Leonel had said that that was absolutely ridiculous. But now he was seeing it in real time.

Now that the one regret in his life had vanished…

Old Hutch had torn the final layer holding him back.