The Calamity's Comfort: I Forged My Own Cheat on a Dead Earth

The frontier was quieter than Leon had expected. It wasn't peaceful though, there were far too many armed cultivators, too many soldiers moving through the enormous gates, and too many defensive formations humming beneath the stone for that. But after twenty-five hours of riding through the Frost Expanse, the sheer number of people around them felt strangely comforting.

Leon dismounted slowly, his legs protesting immediately. Maya looked like she was reconsidering every decision that had brought her into the wilderness, and Adrian wasn't much better. Lyra, however, seemed to recover the moment her feet touched solid ground.

"You three should go to the barracks and rest." she said.

Leon nodded. "Fine.....Lyra about the rock people. When they eventually catch up to us and arrive at the border we have to be the first people to talk to them."

"I know " Lyra turned toward the administrative section, then paused. "Leon."

He looked back.

She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Try not to cause any trouble."

Leon stared at her. "I wasn't planning to."

Maya snorted. "That's exactly what someone who is about to cause trouble would say."

Lyra gave them one last suspicious look before walking away.

---

Leon, Maya, and Adrian headed toward the barracks. They hadn't made it more than a few dozen steps before Leon noticed something strange. People were staring. Soldiers paused in the middle of conversations and looked over as they passed. Some whispered to each other, while others simply watched them.

Leon frowned. "What?"

Maya glanced around. "I thought you were going to ask that."

Before Leon could respond, a familiar voice came from ahead. "Would you look at this."

Leon stopped. Ethan stood in the middle of the path with his arms crossed and a grin spreading across his face. "The top-tier traitor finally came back!"

Leon stared at him, deadpan.

Ethan pointed dramatically. "How could you go on a journey alone and leave me behind? What about the legend of Ethan and Leon?"

Leon closed his eyes, rubbing his face in exhaustion. "Bruh. I am so dead. I can't do this now."

Ethan's grin widened. "Good to see you too."

"Let me sleep for twenty hours," Leon muttered, starting to walk again. "When I wake up, we can go on our own adventure. Jokes aside, though, is it just me or are the soldiers staring at me kinda weird?"

Ethan fell into step beside him. "Yes. About that..." The amusement faded slightly from his face. "Rumors have been going around."

Leon glanced at him. "What kind?"

Ethan gave him a sideways look. "Some people think you're a beast wearing human skin."

Leon stopped walking. "What?"

"That's the mild one," Ethan said.

Leon looked genuinely bewildered. "That doesn't even make sense. The Soul Observer scanned us."

"I know," Ethan continued walking. "Some of the more extreme rumors say you're the Night Guest."

Leon stared at him. "That makes even less sense. I am walking in broad daylight!"

"There's more," Ethan lowered his voice. "Apparently you're also a mind controller who has the commander under your control. According to some people, everyone should either escape or take you out before you decide to feast on them."

Leon groaned, the sheer absurdity adding to his physical fatigue. "Ughhh. I can't do this now. I'm too tired for fools. If someone wakes me up because of their severe retardation, I will slap their heads off and then I wi—"

He stopped, his eyes widening. "Oh."

Ethan followed his gaze. Across the courtyard stood a young woman surrounded by several men who were doing their absolute best to look like they weren't surrounding her.

She was beautiful. Long golden hair framed a delicate face, while clear blue eyes moved calmly across the courtyard. Her clothes were clearly expensive without being excessively decorated, and everything about her posture carried the confidence of someone accustomed to being treated differently.

Stolen novel; please report.

Leon stared. "Who is that pretty girl?"

Ethan immediately grinned. "I know, right?"

The exhaustion seemed to leave Leon's face.

"She was sent here for some real combat experience in the wilderness as a warm-up for some competition," Ethan leaned closer, keeping his voice down. "Apparently she's a noble."

Leon nodded thoughtfully.

"She's not that pretty." Maya folded her arms, her stance turning rigid. "Okay at best."

Leon slowly turned toward her. "How can you say that, Maya?"

Maya looked at him, her eyes narrowing.

"I know we're all tired, but surely you're not that tired." Leon pointed toward the woman. "Look carefully. That right there is top-tier eye candy."

Maya's fingers tightened around her arms. She forced a strained smile. "Well, if you like drooling at her that much, enjoy the show that attention seeker is performing."

Leon blinked. "Attention seeker?"

"Who keeps moving their hair every ten seconds anyway?" Maya's smile became increasingly forced as she turned sharply on her heel. "I'll go do something else! HAVE FUN!"

Leon watched her march away. Ethan slowly turned toward him, giving Leon a knowing look. Leon looked back, and neither spoke for several seconds.

Then Leon smiled. "Anyway... Wanna make a bet who can get that blond hottie faster?"

Ethan's grin returned. He laughed, scratching the back of his head. "That would be fun. If only I could actually talk to girls. My flirting skills are in the negatives."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "So you've never had a relationship?"

"Nope," Ethan pointed at him. "Don't tell me you had one."

Leon nodded. "I had three."

Ethan froze. "Three?"

"At different points in time, obviously."

"No way," Ethan stepped closer, his exhaustion entirely forgotten. "I don't believe it. For real?"

"Yes."

"Why did you break up then? Who left the previous few times? How do you even do it? Teach me!"

Leon was quiet for a moment, his expression darkening slightly. "Regarding who left the other... life is unexpected. Neither side wanted to leave, but sometimes life is life."

Ethan noticed the sudden shift in his demeanor but didn't push.

Leon continued, his voice leveling out. "As for teaching you, there's really nothing much to say. You just need to be confident and throw your shot. Even if it doesn't work out, you'll learn a bit and improve. Eventually you're bound to succeed."

Ethan looked disappointed. "I wanted secret pickup arts."

"What do you expect me to say?" Leon shrugged. "There are people who are masters at flirting. They know exactly how much to push and when to stop right before flirting becomes harassment. They can tell where that line lies for each girl. I wasn't that type of person."

"Then what type were you?"

"The type who relied on raw specs."

Ethan laughed. "Raw specs?"

"I'm handsome and competent enough that the line gets blurred and waived for me," Leon stated matter-of-factly.

Ethan stared at him. "You really just said that."

"It's true."

"Keep going, narcissist."

" I'll have you know my exes used to call my face a national treasure." Leon responded to the jab. "Usually someone would get interested enough to get close. Then, over time, they'd like my personality. If I felt like they were treating me differently from everyone else, in a special way, I'd start pushing the limits. I'd drop subtle hints that I was interested, then move into less subtle hints. If she didn't pull away, I'd start intentionally getting closer. If she played along or reciprocated, I'd tell her directly."

Ethan nodded slowly, processing the workflow. "And that worked?"

"All three times. They were serious long term relationships."

Ethan looked back toward the noble woman. "How do I even approach her? I can't attract her by pretending to be rich because she's a noble."

Leon looked at him. "That's because you're thinking about it from the wrong perspective."

Ethan sighed. "Here we go."

"Love is war. The side that falls first loses. She has to approach you first. Back on Earth, women were often attracted to wealthy men because wealth was a proxy for competence," Leon explained.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You're seriously turning flirting into a biology lecture?"

"Yes."

"Of course you are."

"Biologically, competence implies a greater ability to provide safety and resources," Leon continued, entirely unbothered. "Men tend to be attracted to physical traits such as beauty and a healthy body because those can serve as proxies for fertility."

Ethan stared at him. "So you're saying men chasing beauty and women chasing money isn't necessarily shallow."

"Correct."

Leon looked around the frontier. "It's how biological instincts get translated through society." He pointed toward the surrounding cultivators moving past the barracks. "But the cultivation world changes the equation entirely."

Ethan waited, watching a squad of heavy-armored vanguard scouts form up near the courtyard.

"Money isn't nearly as strong an indicator of competence here," Leon gestured toward a nearby cultivator carrying an intricately enchanted weapon. "Strength is."

Ethan's expression slowly fell. "So your advice is..."

"Raise your cultivation higher than your peers," Leon nodded matter-of-factly. "Women will flock to you."

Ethan stared at him, entirely deadpan. "As if I can do that when you're part of my peer group."

Leon shrugged, keeping his pace steady. "Work harder."

Ethan groaned. "Maybe I can do it if you promise to pause your cultivation for a year."

Leon considered the proposal for a fraction of a second. "No."

"Had to try," Ethan sighed.

"What about Maya? Do you have any feelings towards her?" Adrian suddenly asked.

Leon sighed and said "Look it's not that simple. You of all people should know what with your relationship with Lyra. You can't take the step that quickly. Besides I thought Maya might possibly be interested, but I have more than enough reason to dismiss my assumption. She's doesn't like me as a person. She's just a very anxious person by nature. What you guys call 'The Leon Effect" is super effective on people like her. It makes them stick to me. What you think of as jealousy is simply her being possesive over her main source of stress relief. She just wants to go it all for herself. Besides even if she truly had feelings for me, I wouldn't make any move about that. I have had my fair share of teenage girls's attitudes. I can't handle drama when I am still figuring this world out. She made the first clear sign of caring about me, in a way that's more than co-workers, only when I showed interest in another woman. That's a red flag. If she's doesn't act like an adult woman I won't be participating in that. I need a relationship with a mature person who understands me and would charge my emotional battery, not deplete it. That being said I am sure she doesn't like me as a person. She's just acting like any other emotionally vulnerable person who sees something that can make the pain go away. It's only natural for her to grasp at it. There's no romance involved."

The trio continued walking toward the barracks. Behind them, Maya had disappeared around a corner. Neither of them noticed the way she had stopped briefly before leaving, nor the expression she wore as she listened to the last part of their conversation.