Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"The bow is also a reason for that," Liss said and then shrugged.

"I suspected as much," Rain said.

"Anyway, will it be fine like this?" Liss asked. "You are trying to buy time or make them waste time, but…"

"That is the only thing that we can do here," Rain explained. "Even with Artisia and the others, we can only learn so much, but we can learn a few things from these short interactions while we also make them feel impatient."

"Did you learn anything?" Asche asked while she was rubbing her forehead.

"Aside from the fact that you have grown rusty? Yes," Rain said. "I didn't notice anything weird with their auras, and they didn't seem ready to fight either… if what that guy said is true and he is the leader of the magic council, it doesn't look like he values his life that much and came here knowing that he could die."

"Hmm… this is suspicious if everything they said is true," Asche said while squinting her eyes when they arrived on the walls. "Maybe they were just people acting like they were the real deal…"

"We should ask Artisia the next time she comes around, and she know the appearance of the real Losar…" Liss said. "Then again, it won't surprise me if they can use magic to change their appearance or something similar."

"Just keep using Magic Eyes whenever someone unexpectedly shows up here," Rain said. "It doesn't matter if it is me or the others. We will only come if something happens. Without that, we will alert you about our arrival beforehand."

"All right," Asche said.

"By the way, Terra evolved the human path already. You might want to come see her… the sisterhood always praise its members no matter what, and she needs a bit of an ego boost," Rain said.

"She has sent a bunch of letters about it… is rather troubling since she sounded unconfident first and then she suddenly looked very confident," Asche scratched the back of her head while showing her hesitation. "I will see what I can do if I have the time."

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It was already late in the night, and while keeping an eye on things there might come in handy, Rain decided to head home and pass the information to the others. He arrived at home two hours later and decided to head to the Castle.

"It is pretty late… maybe you should go tomorrow," Terra said while looking at the kids, who were nodding off in their chairs.

"They will be awake. They had a kid recently, remember?" Rain asked. "I bet that they won't have a good night of sleep for a few months."

Although Rain said that, he didn't have any basis for it since his kids never gave them much trouble at night. Sealyn was a crybaby, but she always calmed down when she woke up crying in the middle of the night. Rain was quick to get up and calm her down, after all.

When arriving at the castle, Rain found Esmeralda sleeping on a chair while her son was sleeping on a small cradle behind. Branden was still awake, reading some papers. He truly looked exhausted, and he greeted Rain with a yawn, but he didn't want to sleep for a while.

"Thanks for your hard work, Rain," Branden said. "I heard what had happened, and I figured out you would come here tonight."

Rain explained the events and summarized them as much as possible since he knew that Branden was too exhausted for a long explanation and would forget most of the things after a while. In the end, he nodded in satisfaction.

"I guess that was the best move… make them keep their guard up, but not that much," Branden said and then yawned again. "Geo told us earlier that the barrier on the beast people's territory is limiting his job since they keep expanding it."

"I expected as much, but I will do a few things to help him," Rain said.

Rain had a number of telescopes, and he considered assigning them to Geo for his investigative work. Geo's skill set and need for resources made these telescopes an ideal asset for his tasks.

Regarding Rain's personal inquiries into magic relics, his attention was directed towards the magic radio. However, progress on this front was minimal due to time constraints. Rain could only allocate a limited hour each day to delve into the study of these relics, given his packed schedule and numerous responsibilities.

As a result, progress in understanding the intricacies of these magical artifacts remained slow and incomplete.

"We can at least know for sure that they won't make any moves for a month, and since our troops are better geared, they have another reason to avoid that," Rain said. "Use this time to rest a little and enjoy your family. I am going now."

"Wait, Rain," Branden said and then gulped since he raised his voice a bit too much, but Esmeralda was so tired that she didn't even move a bit. "... You should rest a bit as well. You have been working too hard lately."

"Don't worry about me. I am built like a tank," Rain said. "Although it sounds weird. A bit of exercise in the morning will make you feel better throughout the day. Working a lot most of the time isn't as efficient as working intensely for a couple of hours."

Deep Work is the concept of intensely focused and undisturbed work periods, during which an individual engages in high-quality and concentrated efforts on a specific task without distractions. It involves dedicating uninterrupted time to work deeply and efficiently, allowing one to achieve significant progress and better outcomes in their endeavors.

Rain envisioned that implementing a policy of Deep Work could greatly benefit individuals like Branden. By adopting this approach, Branden and others with demanding responsibilities could concentrate their efforts on essential tasks without interruptions. They had too little time, after all…