The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

Ravian didn’t stop walking until he was several streets away from the warehouse and had reached a crowded market.

After making certain no one had followed him, he stopped at a public fountain and drank some water while arranging everything that had happened inside his mind.

’I can’t allow anyone from the City of Light to see me in the capital.’

This was no longer a simple precaution.

Ravian had disappeared inside the forest near the City of Light.

During that same period, an unidentified infiltrator had escaped from the fortress through a route they had initially been unable to trace.

The tracking team had followed that infiltrator’s trail all the way to the capital.

Then one of the Taboos had descended upon the city, and the Insane Soul had detonated at the center of that Descent.

If Ravian appeared eight days later inside the capital with a completely different body, someone like Isabelle or Karius—or even the City Guard—wouldn’t need long to connect those events.

And if that happened, no one would be able to protect him from the consequences.

They might not possess direct evidence, but suspicion alone would be enough to destroy everything he was trying to build.

’Not Lysandra, Kael, Evelyne, Elias, or a single other soldier from the fortress.’

’None of them can be allowed to see me here.’

That much was beyond question, but it led him directly to another problem.

Ravian Veyr couldn’t remain missing forever.

The border also provided him with a steady supply of powerful beasts through which he could strengthen his physique—and that physique gave him an overwhelming advantage against enemies of the same rank, and even some above it.

The longer his disappearance continued, the more attention Karius and Thorvin, the fortress’s commander, would devote to discovering what had happened to him. If Ravian later surfaced somewhere far away, they would immediately begin asking how he had reached that place and what he had been doing during his absence.

He had to return to the border.

Better yet, he needed to be found within a reasonable distance of the same place in the forest where he had disappeared.

But before that, he needed to ascend—and he needed a convincing story.

Ravian considered several possibilities and rejected them one after another.

Falling into a beast den, becoming trapped inside ancient ruins, or spending several days as a captive... any of those explanations might account for his absence, but none would explain the changes to his body.

Then he realized he didn’t need to explain those changes immediately.

Exalted Identity could reshape everything others were capable of perceiving about him, and it didn’t have to create an entirely unfamiliar appearance.

Using his memory and Absolute Focus, he could reconstruct his former identity: his previous height, his weaker build, and the exact soul-energy and life-force signatures he had possessed before disappearing.

He could return wearing his old appearance, then gradually reveal his improvements later, once he had found a suitable explanation for them.

That solved the problem of his body.

But Ravian didn’t want to conceal his progress when he returned. Doing so would delay his plans far more than he liked.

’Chaos... all I need is a little chaos at the border, the right way to exploit it, and a convincing path back to them.’

Several possibilities occurred to Ravian, and a quiet smile slowly spread across his face.

’That could work.’

The precise story behind his disappearance still needed more thought.

’I won’t decide on it now.’

’I need to think it through and gather more information about the Awakened and this world. My ignorance is honestly becoming embarrassing.’

Ravian arranged his priorities one after another, ensuring that he followed a deliberate path instead of wandering without direction.

He still had some time to take advantage of his presence in the capital. Afterward, he would return to the border and arrange his reappearance in the forest properly.

For now, he set that problem aside and moved on to his next objective.

Larette Viola.

Shmichael.

And the promised heart of an Eighth-Rank creature.

The tavern explosion hadn’t killed either of them. Both had been far beyond its erasure radius. They had met him beside the river before the Regression point, which meant they still knew Rayan Veyr and remembered the general outline of the project he had presented to them.

Earl Patrick, on the other hand, had never met him in this timeline.

’Which means I’ll have to present the project to him from the beginning.’

That didn’t bother him.

He had done it once already, and he could do it even better this time.

...

Ravian reached the Viola manor shortly before noon.

He maintained the Sherlock Holmes identity throughout the journey and chose the least crowded streets to reduce the chance of encountering anyone from the tracking team.

Security throughout the nobles’ district had tightened since the catastrophe. More guards stood at the gates, and the protective circles engraved along the walls were visibly active.

Ravian stopped before the iron gate of the Viola manor, still wearing Sherlock Holmes’s ordinary appearance.

One of the guards looked him over from head to toe. In his current form, Ravian appeared to be nothing more than a tall, unremarkable laborer who had come to the wrong place.

”What’s your business here?” the guard asked.

”I want to see Mr. Shmichael,” Ravian answered calmly.

”Do you have an appointment?”

”No.”

”Then clear off.” The guard spat to one side in contempt.

”That will be the first and last time you speak to me that way,” Ravian said without raising his voice. ”Now tell Shmichael that the man he met beside the river has returned to settle the account.”

The two guards exchanged glances.

The statement wasn’t enough to grant him entry, but it carried enough specific meaning for one of them to deliver the message.

Ravian waited outside the gate for several minutes before the guard returned and allowed him inside.

They didn’t escort him directly into the main manor. Instead, they took him to a side reception room near the inner entrance. It was a small room containing a window, two chairs, and a table.

The door closed behind him, and one of the guards remained outside.

Only then did Ravian deactivate Exalted Identity.

His white hair returned to its full length, and his real face regained its reconstructed features as crimson resurfaced within his eyes. His true proportions and flawless physique returned as well, granting his presence a weight it hadn’t possessed when he first met Shmichael.

Ravian returned the Mask of Loftiness to the internal Void space within his body.

A few minutes later, his enhanced hearing caught the sound of a single man’s footsteps approaching along the corridor.

Measured and quiet.

Ravian recognized their owner before he arrived.

The door opened.

Shmichael entered carrying a small notebook, already speaking before he had fully raised his eyes.

”The man I met beside the river? Who told you that phrase, and what—”

He stopped.

His eyes slowly moved over the young man standing before him.

Ravian was taller than Shmichael remembered.

His shoulders were broader, his stance steadier, and his features more mature and far more commanding. He looked as though he had changed more in eight days than any human being should have changed in years.

But the white hair and crimson eyes left little room for doubt.

”...Rayan?” Shmichael finally asked.

A faint smile settled across Ravian’s face.

”Good morning, Shmichael,” Ravian replied.

Then he added calmly:

”Yoo! I’ve come for my Eighth-Rank heart.”