Stas looked around in surprise.

He had expected Jun to take him to all sorts of places, from brothels to various taverns.

However, the sensei had brought him to a hill overlooking peasants at work. All of them, bent over to the ground, were carefully planting rice. And since planting required a lot of water, they stood ankle-deep in the slushy mud.

Due to the prevailing heat, the men stripped down to their loincloths. It was much harder for the women – they couldn't take anything off, yet their work was the same.

"What do you see?" Jun nodded down, lounging relaxedly on the green grass. A refreshing breeze blew, causing the field to stir and eliciting a couple of joyful exclamations from the peasants.

Not wishing to be the only one standing, Stas also sat down. Off to the side, Leviathan was sprawled out, basking in the sun. Her thick coils took up a considerable area.

"The peasants are working," Ordyntsev had long since given up on trying to understand the sensei's logic, so he just went with the flow.

"Exactly," the supreme nodded, plucking a long blade of grass and putting it in the corner of his mouth. "Dull, endless work that they'll do all their lives. Their lord will say that such is their fate. That since they were born peasants, it's their duty to work the fields. But I think it's all crap."

Stas raised an eyebrow. Hearing such talk from someone born into a thoroughly caste-based society was unusual.

"In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter whether their duty forced them to work or a samurai's katana. Their actions and lives are pointless if they don't get pleasure from living. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"No."

Surprisingly, Jun didn't get angry. On the contrary, he looked extremely relaxed.

"You know, all my life, I didn't know what I wanted," the sensei confessed after a few minutes of silence and the rustling of the wandering wind. "I guess you've figured out by now that I was a bastard, so in my early years, I tried to prove to all these arrogant clan freaks that I was better than them. In everything."

Jun chuckled softly.

"I put all my strength into it. My whole self. From the beginning to the end. I humiliated them, beat them, fought duels, and… A lot of other stuff. I was like a mad wolf running without knowing where or why. And the funniest thing is that I got what I wanted. And then I realized that I had nothing more to desire. Damn emptiness. Nothing."

Stas listened quietly. Jun's measured story allowed him to relax a bit and take his mind off his own problems, focusing on someone else's.

"Then my bro, Io, really helped me out. And old man Hideo didn't forget me either. They gave me a new purpose, setting me on the clan's enemies. Oh, how I indulged. Just like before, I threw my whole self into the war, as if it could fill the void inside me. But you know? No matter how many I killed, no matter how much I burned, I still felt I was missing something."

Jun waved his hand and patted his chest over his heart.

"It gnawed at me day and night. I couldn't eat or sleep. The strongest alcohol seemed like plain water. And then I did something incredible. I went to the monks for advice."

Stas blinked in surprise. He had not been prepared for such an ending to the story.

"Ha-ha-ha," Jun laughed. "Surprised? It gets even better. Like you, I expected nothing from this meeting. I thought these bald bastards would start harping on about prayers to the gods, forgiveness, karma, and all that crap they love to tell the peasants. But I was so fed up, I was just hoping for a miracle."

"And they didn't?"

"Listen and don't interrupt," Jun 'kindly' snapped but quickly switched from anger to mercy. "Anyway, I ended up at their monastery. They saw me and immediately figured out who I was. So they started taunting and threatening me with the daimyo's wrath. Like, what does a bloody warmaster like me want in their Kami-pissed place? I didn't hold back either, and we started insulting each other in every way possible."

Remembering this part, the sensei smiled nostalgically.

"And then - bam, a little boy runs up, bowing, and leads me straight to the abbot. The monks were shocked but silent. My curiosity was piqued as well, wondering why he had deigned to seek me out. On the way, I thought I'd see some old man, older than my great-grandfather, but instead, I met a man about forty. I myself was about thirty at the time."

Jun figured his age on his fingers.

"Yeah, about that. And you know, he looked at me, well, kindly, I guess, and I completely forgot all the nasty words I wanted to throw at him. Then he asked, 'What troubles you, child?' And I just started telling him everything."

Ordyntsev continued listening with increasing attention.

"So, the abbot listened carefully, and then he said, 'Child, you've lived your whole life for someone else. You've killed for someone, trained for someone, and even suffered for someone.'"

Jun flipped the blade of grass to the other corner of his mouth.

"So, I asked him then, 'So whom should I live for? Should I live for myself?' And at the same time, I thought, should I become a renegade? To serve no one anymore."

"The abbot shook his head sadly and said, 'Serving yourself should not become a burden for you either. Live and enjoy life. That's all the advice I can give you.'"

One didn't need to be a seer to see the disappointment on Stas's face.

"I see you're not impressed," Jun nodded with satisfaction. "I was annoyed, too, but then I finally understood what he meant. Take you, for example, Shiro."

Stas tensed up.

"As soon as I saw you, I knew you were not a warrior. You don't feel the thrill of combat, competition of strength and skill. In any fight, all you care about is victory, nothing else. The process doesn't interest you. And that's not a bad thing. But without feeling the joy of battle, you see only a threat in any fight. And that makes you train and grow. Again, there's nothing wrong with that."

Jun looked intently at Ordyntsev.

"But you've long passed the point when you were too vulnerable. Yet you still consider yourself as weak as you were at the beginning of your journey."

"It's easy for you to say," Ordyntsev's angry words escaped before he could stop them, so he decided to finish. "You're a supreme warmaster. If you meet another supreme, you won't die, unlike me."

"That's what I'm talking about," the sensei nodded. "Look at yourself. How old are you? Twenty-three? Twenty-five? You're already stronger than most regular advanced warmasters, who might be thirty years old! And you reached this level in just a few years. And you still continue to strain yourself, not appreciating what you've achieved."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Jun chuckled softly.

"That's what the abbot was talking about. In our thirst for something, we rush forward, hoping to quench it. But the problem is that some wells can't be filled, no matter how hard you try. If you even become a supreme, you'll just realize that several other supremes can kill you. Become the head of a great clan? There will still be other heads. You see, it's a path to nowhere."

Stas maintained a grim silence.

"All these years, you've been running forward with all your might, and when you saw that you were still standing in the same place, you felt the futility of your efforts. But that's not true. You haven't stood still, you just keep setting higher goals each time, not appreciating what you've achieved. Live here and now, foolish Shiro. Appreciate your own achievements, don't dismiss them as if they were worthless. Make yourself live not for something, but just to live."

The sensei fell silent, having said all he wanted.

Stas had nothing to say either. He had something to think about.

Suddenly, the supreme clapped his hands loudly.

"Now that we've dealt with the 'obligatory part,' having discussed why you're wasting your life, I suggest we go and properly celebrate our survival! After all, why else live if not to enjoy our victories and successes?"

Following the sensei, Stas reluctantly admitted that there was a grain of truth in the man's words.

It didn't mean that the principle of "enjoying life" had become close to him, but he could understand that one shouldn't obsess and go crazy.

It also inadvertently made him remember something.

Why reinvent the wheel when you can borrow the blueprints from someone else?

*****

"Master Satoshi is very busy!" one of the surviving assistants of the rune master of Gaibatsu flatly refused to let Stas in. "He is busy with genius contemplations, and your appearance will disturb him."

"Is that so," Stas stretched his lips into a smirk that made the young man wary. "I understand. But in that case, I have no choice but to report to Master Jonoro about the illegal activities of one of the rune masters I've observed."

Ordyntsev had already turned around when a tense question hit him in the back.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, just a trifle," Stas smirked without looking back. "It's just that one of the respected Master Takehiro's assistants was secretly making and selling seals without his teacher's knowledge. I'm sure it will break the kind master's heart when he finds out who is responsible. And he will surely find out…"

"Wait," Ryu managed to squeeze out, avoiding looking into the Stas's mocking eyes.

It took a week for this little performance to work. Just a little observation of the old man's estate was enough to realize that not even supremes could get to him. They all left, cursing and insulting the stubborn old man.

Satoshi didn't care about threats or money. And his apprentices and the barrier burning above the house protected him even from a forceful approach.

But if barriers and seals were impregnable, people were not.

Mari and Kaede were delighted to see Stas out of his depression, so they happily set out to accomplish the task.

Out of the four surviving apprentices, only one was caught red-handed.

In the end, all that was left was to pick the time of his duty at the gates.

"What do you want from me?" he finally gave in.

"I want to talk to Master Satoshi," Stas explained calmly. Now, he had to give the man some space to feel a little more confident. It was not worth pressing too hard so as not to make him shut down completely.

"Please understand, it's impossible," the assistant began to justify himself, looking around as if someone was watching them. "Master gets very angry when he's distracted..." and in the voice of a man, notably of a larger build than the locals, a palpable fear was unmistakable.

"Understand, Ryu," Stas leaned forward, looking him straight in the eye. "I have a very profitable offer for your master. And it's not about mere money or orders," Ordyntsev said, as if it were a trifle. "No, I want to talk to the master about... knowledge, if you know what I mean. Secrets."

Ryu flinched and looked warily at the towering pale-faced man.

"Alright, come in. The master is on the second floor," he whispered with difficulty.

"Thank you, Ryu."

"And..."

"Be at ease; I've already forgotten," Stas chuckled softly, passing through the momentarily flaring barrier. Just before, Ryu had applied a strange-looking seal to it.

The house was unimpressive, but the old man's workroom was completely filled with what looked like tons of paper and scrolls scattered here and there.

And in the midst of all this mess stood Takehiro, drawing some complex seal on a large piece of paper with broad strokes of his thick brush.

"I thought you would be quicker," the old man grumbled, tossing aside the brush and crumpling his own work. A second later, a large paper ball flew into a corner, joining similar rubbish. "And Ryu will yet receive his due. Useless piece of trash! It would have been better if he had perished than my other assistants. Tell me, warmaster, why do the most useless and stupid always survive?"

"Not always," Stas shrugged. "After all, you and I survived too."

A few seconds of silence, after which the old man giggled softly, wiping his eyes.

"Oh, you made me laugh. Alright, jester, who sent you, and what does your boss want? Speak up, for I don't feel like squandering the time nature has allotted me on someone like you."

"Nobody sent me. I came on my own," Stas parried, waiting for a response from his frowning interlocutor. "I have a mutually beneficial deal for you."

Meanwhile, Takehiro pulled out a round metal plate with a couple of holes arranged in a triangle from one of his many pockets.

"Prana reserve is decent, but nothing impressive. Have the warmasters forgotten how terrifying I can be in anger and become completely insolent?" Although Satoshi didn't raise his voice, Stas saw that the old man's other hand was hidden under the robe.

"No, master," Ordyntsev fearlessly looked straight into the eyes of the crazy old man. "The thing is, I have goods that might even interest you."

"Ha! Foolishness! Mediocrity! I am Takehiro Satoshi, not just someone! Do you think I'm so easily bought?!"

The insults did not touch Ordyntsev. He knew whom he was dealing with. And since the old man kept listening, he was still interested for now.

"It's not about material values, but about knowledge, master."

"Really? And what a shrimp like you can teach a whale?" Takehiro smirked contemptuously. But Ordyntsev saw how the cunning old man looked at him attentively from under half-closed lids.

It was pointless to drag it out any longer, but it was always best to show the goods, not just talk about them.

"Natural energy," these two words wiped the smile off the old man's face. "Allow me to show you what I've achieved."

"You experimented?" There was something akin to apprehension in Satoshi's voice. The ancient old man had long since unlearned to be fully afraid. "For how long?"

Asking the question, the rune master quickly took out another seal, which he threw under his feet. A semi-transparent shield appeared around him. Apparently, it was supposed to protect him from natural energy.

"Several years," Stas said as if hammering a nail.

"Impossible. You would have been dead long ago! Your body would have killed itself!"

"So will you allow me to show you?" insisting, Ordyntsev repeated, not backing down an inch.

"Damn it, fine!"

"I need that table."

"Take it! Wait, there are important notes there... Ah, never mind, throw it all on the floor."

Nodding, Ordyntsev picked up the carved table and set it in the center of the room. Takehiro watched every move, not blinking.

Stas reached under his coat and pulled out a sealing scroll. Feeding it prana, he brought out a pale human hand and laid it in the center of the table. A thin trickle of blood flowed from the cut.

After finishing the preparations, the man knelt before the table and concentrated.

Summoning natural energy, controlling it, and giving it the necessary properties using prana – was a complex and slow process. Fortunately, he was not disturbed.

Five minutes later, Stas made a precise movement, raising his hand and touching the dead palm with the tips of his fingers.

Under the gaze of both spectators, the skin of the sample began to change gradually.

And the more the changes increased, the more the old man's eyes widened.

Right before their eyes, the palm of an adult, about thirty-year-old man, began to shrink, acquiring much finer features.

No, the natural energy did not consume it. Or rather, it was not just being consumed.

"Impossible…" Satoshi gasped, disbelievingly staring at the child's hand lying in a puddle of reprocessed flesh.

"It's exactly that," the triumphant voice of the Serpent only intensified the gravity of the scene. "I have discovered a way to use natural energy to reverse aging."

After a pause, Stas removed the triumphant expression from his face.

"Only my research is not yet complete."

The motionless child's hand suddenly jerked and began to blacken, redden, and become covered with grotesque growths. In less than half a minute, it turned into a terrifying ball of slimy and unbearably stinking flesh.

Stas quickly sealed the experiment to stop the stench.

"And what do you want for this?" Takehiro's greedy gaze was fixed on Ordyntsev.

"I want your knowledge of natural energy, Satoshi-san. I'm sure together we can complete my dream. In return, I promise to use the final technology on you, rolling back your age to a level that satisfies you. And yes..."

Ordyntsev grinned knowingly.

"Before you think of any other ways to establish our cooperation, I'd like to warn you that my teacher is a supreme warmaster, and I'm on friendly terms with the younger prince of the great Sumada clan. Consider this before... your actions."

"What a smart young man," the old man's lips spread in the broadest smile, and his eyes became so narrow they couldn't even be seen. The tone shamelessly transformed into one in which a grandfather speaks to a beloved, long-unseen grandson.

"And I knew today would be a good day. It was worth seeing you, and I knew it right away. Well, don't stand over there like a stranger. The Kami see, today you will be able to make a deal with Uncle Satoshi! Hey, Ryu, useless assistant, make tea for me and my dear guest! We have a lot to discuss!"