Playing Waterbending (Avatar: Last Aibender SI)

Having a level 10 Stealth Skill was surely handy. The poor warden didn't notice me walking behind him and the snitch until they reached his secret room.

A day earlier, the idea I had come up with was a simple one.

Since there was a traitor who had sold out Haru, why not use him?

I had grabbed him by the neck and threatened him.

At first, he refused and grumbled, saying he had done what he had to do to survive and that he should be treated as a good citizen for following the law.

When I threatened to make a law that would make him the first to be executed, he became submissive.

But on the other hand, I was convinced that he should be the first one to face execution.

One could forgive the soldiers of the Fire Nation since they were following orders.

But one could never forgive a traitor who sold out his own people.

Use them while they're useful, and dispose of them when they're not.

And that's exactly what I did.

The warden, lying in my arms as I healed his heart, turned his head.

The old man with the bad leg had a bubble of ice covering his head.

The warden looked at me with trembling eyes, as if begging to be allowed to die.

But he couldn't.

He regained his breath and managed to speak his first words.

"I don't think of you as a valuable hostage," I said. "Your only role is to spread the information I want you to. If you don't, I'll torture you. Very simple, isn't it?"

The warden must have tortured many people in his life.

Someone like him would know that he would eventually crack.

"You know I can heal you when you're on the brink of death," I said. "And I know mental exercises to keep you from losing your mind."

"Fine," he said. "What do you want me to tell them?"

"Just spread the truth. Make me the top priority," I said. "A man who fights for freedom."

Not really. I was just fighting for my own freedom.

"Don't overpraise me, though," I added.

-x-X-x-

I was in my rented room.

It was morning, and I had woken up in the middle of the day.

The last couple of weeks had been exhausting. The past two days were especially draining. My hands were stained with blood, yet I felt no regret.

By doing this, the people in the South Pole should be safe. The Avatar would come to this world anyway.

The only thing I feared was the butterfly effect my existence might cause.

For a hundred years, Aang had been frozen in the South Pole, where many waterbenders had lived and died, yet none could find him.

It was only when Katara had an argument with Sokka that she accidentally cracked the iceberg holding Aang, reawakening the Avatar.

What if such an argument never happened because of me?

What if it happened in some other location?

'Let's not think about the worst-case scenarios,' I thought, sitting on my bed, cupping my face, and focusing on what was important.

Cai, the cabbage guy, was urging me to find the men from the National Medical Association.

It was the only thing that could bring me a genuine smile these days.

Other than that, I had more things to consider.

Although I had managed to save the South by directing attention toward myself, this village, which had gained its freedom, would soon face a real crisis.

There were two possible paths for them.

One, they needed to join the rebellion. Most of my tribesmen were there.

But on the road, they would encounter soldiers and people allied with the Fire Nation. Not to mention, thanks to the report, the surrounding bases would be on high alert.

I thought about it.

I could level up my waterbending and lead the rebellion here.

But that wouldn't work. I was just one man.

I looked at the ceiling. I wished someone as talented as Toph were here.

Toph… metalbending. That gave me an idea.

According to the show, Haru was very talented and had learned earthbending on his own.

I left the room and quickly walked downstairs.

I thought that if I gave him insights into metalbending, he could learn it on his own. And if he could, he could teach the other earthbenders here how to do it.

What gave the Fire Nation an advantage wasn't their bending power—it was their machinery and advanced weapons.

I found Haru standing beside his mother, who could now walk thanks to my healing.

"Ryuk, you're awake already? Want to join us for lunch?" his mother greeted. "Though, in our case, it's breakfast."

"Not now, Auntie. Sorry, but can I borrow your son for a bit?" I walked over to Haru and wrapped my arm around his neck.

"What's going on with you?" he asked as I dragged him away.

"Follow me to the backyard," I said, letting him go.

He did as he was told. "If you're talking about moving out, I can give you a discount."

"That's not it," I said.

Once we were in the backyard, I grabbed a copper coin.

I threw it at him, and he caught it.

"What's this about?" he asked, looking confused at the metallic coin.

"Let me ask you something first," I said. "When you earthbend, do you get sensory feedback?"

He tilted his head.

"Like, do you feel the weight of the ground you're moving?"

"Now that you mention it, yes. I can feel what I'm bending."

"Now, look at the coin," I said. "Inside it, there are earth particles. Try to feel them."

He closed his eyes for a moment but then shook his head. "Nothing. What's the point of this? You want me to bend metal through earth?"

"Just keep trying," I said, thinking of a method to teach him how to bend.

I remembered reading about an experiment in my previous life that had something to do with brain plasticity.

Blind people, through patches on their skin and a camera, could learn to "see" through their skin. They could even recognize 3D space and react to it, despite never having seen before in their lives.

The process, of course, would have to be gradual—starting small. The brain would adapt automatically. At first, their skin needed to adapt to the patch's pressure. Then came the recognition of 2D patterns, followed by 3D ones, and eventually movements, actions, and reactions.

"Better yet," I smiled, reaching an idea of how to teach him to sense like Toph.

At the same time, I realized how I could learn to sense like Toph myself.