How to Raise Your Regressor

"In the end, even though you saved Lecia, you were not prepared to pay the price for it."

Azell's eyes widened the moment I said that.

"Everyone might think that you saved her, and you did, to some extent, but the reality is that you ultimately abandoned her."

I might be a bit harsh here, but I sure am fair.

"Abandon, huh?" Azell sighed.

"Of course, if you think I'm wrong, then you're free to put your own points forward. We can then have a nice, civilised discussion over tea where I'll prove why exactly you are wrong."

I mean, it is possible that Azell is playing some 11th dimensional chess (which is pretty hard, by the way) with Lecia's life.

Maybe every mistake of his that I've listed so far is in fact a calculated move on his part. Maybe everything is nothing but a small part of a grand scheme, the likes of which has never been seen before.

And perhaps, by the end of his grand plan, Lecia will become a legendary beast (metaphorically, probably), an absolute unit who not only has the confidence of an alpha chad tiktoker, but also the strength of the Gods and the maturity of a 217 years old war veteran.

That would be incredibly fun because then I could incite her to kill me in an exciting way I mean because then she'll be a valuable comrade who'll help us in the future.

"No…" Azell shook his head. "You're absolutely right."

Oh.

I guess Lecia will remain a dumb child and will probably turn into a serial killer who likes choking her victims.

Sadge.

Hmm, perhaps I can guide her a bit in such a way that she believes killing me would be her magnum opus. Like, I will be her final victim and her ultimate piece of art.

Doing that would take some time though, not to mention that I already have some plans in place to die, but it is worth considering.

Eh, we'll see.

"I see," I nodded.

Everything aside, is it just me or are the members of the New Dawn Guild becoming more and more proficient at admitting their mistakes and striving to improve themselves?

What is this, character development?

I thought I was a part of some shitty, power fantasy Regressor novel, but maybe it's a normal Regressor manhwa.

Nice.

"Thank you. If not for you… I probably would have taken a long time to realise the error in my ways. Perhaps so long that it would have been too late to fix anything."

"I'm glad I was of help," I nodded. "You are still young, so it's only natural to make mistakes. But you can admit that you were wrong and are willing to work hard to ensure you don't make the same mistakes again, so it's all fine and dandy."

"Is there any advice you can give on what I should do now?" Azell asked, his eyes a bit hopeful.

I've noticed this before, but this motherfucker is too shrewd.

Nice.

"Not much. Just pay more attention to Lecia, I guess. The first order of business should be to train her," I looked at Lecia. "Am I right?"

"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right!" She exclaimed.

Her eyes were literally screaming 'pay more attention to me!'. To think that I was worried that she could be disillusioned with Azell.

I'm not sure if I should be saying this as I was the one who controlled everything from behind the scenes and wove that layer of lies, but isn't she too obsessed with Azell?

Like, okay, I get it, he saved you when you were literally at your lowest point and wanted to die and needed him the most. Please stop making such a big deal out of it.

Why is everyone around me such an overreacting baby? It's disgusting.

"Well, there you have it. Azell will now personally train Lecia until she becomes strong enough to protect herself, while Lecia will work hard so that she can stop being so dumb."

"Hmm?" Lecia's voice was cold.

"I mean Lecia will work on improving herself so that she can take responsibility for her life and stop depending on others to protect her."

"Yes," Lecia nodded.

"And also, until she can stop being so dumb."

"Hey! Why are you always so mean to me?!"

"Well, not being mean to you means being kind to you. And the very idea of being kind to you disgusts me to no end."

"Haah?"

"Haha, just kidding, it only disgusts me slightly. Only enough to make me jump from my window."

"…" Lecia stared at me with an expression stating 'I cannot believe this guy'. "You keep saying that I should not depend on others and protect myself. What would you have done if you had been in my place, hmm?"

"I would have killed myself."

"Eh?" She stupidly grunted.

Shit, I'm making too many suicide jokes these days. Any more and these fuckers will probably force me into therapy.

"I mean I would have used my necklace because contrary to what you might like to believe, tapping a necklace 3 times is not that hard, nor does it take a lot of time."

That's exactly why I kept the necklace's activation condition so simple, yet Lecia still failed at it. Her incompetence is admirable, in a way.

Maybe I should develop an AI which will detect whenever the necklace's wearer is in danger and automatically teleport them because I clearly cannot trust these guys to do it themselves.

It's almost as if these guys are suicidal.

Wait a second.

"What if they took the necklace from you?" Lecia pressed on.

"I would teleport myself using a magic spell."

"What if they did something to prevent you from using magic?"

Wut? The fuck is this girl's problem?

"I'll pretend to cooperate with them until I can find an opportunity to escape."

Ez.

"What if you cannot find that opportunity?"

"Then I'll develop a new magic system which can bypass their mana sealing."

Huh, this is unexpectedly becoming fun.

"What if the area around you is completely devoid of mana? And what if they have extracted all the mana that is present in your body?"

Huh, I was going to use that argument to answer her first question. Damn, she's good.

"Then I'll just use another form of energy and use martial arts to kick their ass and get out of there."

"What if they've cut your limbs?"

"Then I'll sacrifice my life force in exchange for the power to save myself."

By which I mean I'll use all of my life force to drop a fucking tactical nuke on my position to wipe everyone out for an ez gg.

The nuke will also wipe out everyone in the surrounding area, which may or may not include innocents depending on the guys who have kidnapped me and where they are keeping me.

Like, if they are keeping me in the middle of the capital city then the casualties will range in the millions, but hey, every war has some collateral damage.

"Would that even work?" Lecia appeared dumbfounded.

"It works every time. Trust me, I'd know."