Solar Point, that's what he called it.

The name was self-explanatory; The power of the sun focused into a single point. It was simple and efficient, like the spell itself. Designed for maximum penetration, pleasure not included.

Gerald stared at the fresh spell scrolls on his table, "Hmm, now what?" he suddenly found himself with nothing to do.

By now he did most of what he wanted to do in the short term, and he wasn't quite yet ready to take on the Giant. Who knows, maybe his help wasn't even needed and he was just being paranoid. Perhaps The King had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

"I guess I should go and absorb a few more…" he murmured. Rolling up the scrolls and storing them into the Ring, he left the mansion, going once more towards the northern defense line.

Fighting, killing, and absorbing was most of what he did for hours on end. And apart from that, he occasionally guided Warren and gave him a few pointers for his swordsmanship.

The guy was a god damn genius! He avoided the rabid attacks of Hobgoblins by extremely thin margins, and even when they managed to cut his skin, he would use that opportunity to butcher them to death.

However, the way he killed was anything but clean. He would make quick strikes, filling his opponent with shallow wounds, and then, when they slowed down due to extensive blood loss, he would systematically hack off their limbs one by one.

In the end, when they were laying on the ground, in the puddle of their own blood, he would end them with merciless stabs across the chest.

"Hungry?" Gerald asked just as Warren finished stabbing another monster to death. The hatred towards them was quite clearly displayed on his face. He handed him a bowl of meaty broth that was still steaming hot. He took some time off to cook in the midst of battle.

"It's Pixie broth, here, drink!"

Warren took the bowl and the contents vanished almost instantly as he wolfed it all down. Gerald then handed him a bottle of light beer, which he also quickly consumed. All that fighting made him forget how hungry he actually was.

"Thank you," he said, breathing out a satisfied sigh.

The battle around them slowed down as they sat on the ground, and the beasts were seemingly avoiding them for some weird reason. The fact that anyone that came too close would be torn to pieces by living rock might have something to do with it though.

They sat there in silence, quietly observing the carnage unfold all around them… It was quite bizarre.

"You know…" Warren started after a while, not turning his head and watching the battle with misty eyes.

"When my family was… taken, I thought for sure it was the worst day of my life, nothing could possibly beat it." He became quiet for a bit. "I was wrong. Every day after that became much worse. At first, it was because I remembered everything so vividly, the smell, the feeling of fear, the pain, the screams…"

His voice trailed off as tears started to choke him and he became quiet again while getting his emotions under control.

"But now… Now sometimes I can't even remember her voice. Her face is becoming blurry in my mind, and her words... indistinct. I'm starting to forget…"

"Hmm…" Gerald listened without adding much, considering his words carefully. "You wish to remember them…"

"Yes! I wish I would never forget!" Warren shouted, his voice full of anger and helplessness.

The battle went on. Another Orc was brought down by the combined power of many soldiers, another Hobgoblin hacked to pieces, another human torn to shreds by the claws of a mighty Warg…

"You wouldn't want to remember forever," Gerald quietly said.

"What?" Warren looked at him in a half-trance.

"Every mistake, every embarrassing, shameful thing… Every loss and pain can be forgotten with time, written over by new experiences and people. It's how humans deal with trauma. Forget the details and remember the meaning."

"How- How can you say that, they were my family! Should I just forget them?!" Warren jumped up, shouting and angry.

Gerald slowly stood up and then met his gaze calmly.

Slap!

His open palm landed on Warren's cheek and the latter collapsed like an empty sack.

"Get your emotions in check, this is the battlefield. And no, I'm not saying to forget your family." He stretched out his hand towards Warren who was rubbing his red cheek.

"Remember what they meant to you and forget the rest, it's not important anymore, they are gone. But you, you are still alive. You are still young, with decades of life in still front of you. Stop wallowing in your misery and get a grip on yourself. What would your wife and daughter think, seeing you in tears and covered with snot like this? Now you need to live your best life for their sake!"

Sniff!

Warren held back his tears and slowly nodded.

"Here," Gerald handed him another batch of potions, the ones Warren had were already all used up. "And don't you dare let these worthless beasts cut you anymore, you hear me?! If I see you get hurt again I'll beat you up myself, is that clear?!"

At the sudden outburst, Warren almost let a laugh slip through, but in the end, he forced a serious expression and stood straight.

He wiped away the tears and responded with a loud, "Yes, sir!"

"Alright, now go get some rest, that's an order!"

"Right away, sir!"

***

"This guy…" Watching his underling leave, Gerald slowly shook his head.

He had long since noticed the problem with his mental state. In battle, it was not that Warren couldn't dodge those strikes, none of them were life-threatening and that was clearly not a coincidence, but…

He was purposefully letting the monsters hurt him as a form of self-punishment. Only that way he felt justified in living. The survivor's guilt, as they called it, was a crazy bitch alright. It was best to beat it out of him right away and not let it turn into some deep-seated self-destructing tendencies.

Grieving was fine, but everything had its time and place, and similarly, all things had to have an end. It was the law of the universe. All things shall rot and decay eventually, ground to dust by time and the ever-present grasp of entropy.

"Um… Yeah, that's enough existential thinking for today. I should probably go eat something…"

Sometimes knowing too much was bad for morale, and at that time Gerald liked to distract himself with more pleasant things. He went to gather the members of his team and a few of his close friends and invited them to a meal.

His Ring was full of great food and quality alcohol that quickly went down the throat. They chatted and laughed at the stone table that rested on top of a raised stone platform. It was difficult to raise such a mass of stone, but with a bit of sweat and determination, Gerald succeeded.

They had a great view of the land, and the gentle summer winds cooled them down just right. It was perfect. Everybody had a nice stone throne made with nice and comfortable curves, great for a relaxing war feast.

After the meal was over and everyone was full of great food and alcohol, some guys fell asleep under the warm sun as they had the first proper rest in days.

Gerald also rested his eyes for a while and then played with magic to pass the time.

Despite his new skill with Mana being pretty useless, he still played with it. He made the Mana Shield better looking and more detailed, then turned it into a sword, an arrow, and even a spear…

It was a good challenge making these small figurines out of pure Mana.

'I wonder if I can make something more complex…'

As a thought was born in his mind, the mist swirling on his palm started taking a human shape. It was still quite indistinct, but you could make out long slender legs, wide hips and a thin waist, and above all, a nice pair of boo-