Chapter 187: Lonely Path (1/2)

After an indefinite amount of time, Arthur's consciousness returned to him. He sat up as the sticky vomit clung to his clothes. Repulsed, he took off the black shirt and threw it away. His breaths came in intervals and his throat was shaking when he exhaled.

Closing his eyes and opening them did next to nothing to calm him down. The only thing that did, however, was time. In the end, he regained his ability to think clearly.

The stench of his stomach acids pricked his nose as Arthur sat there, his hands on the ground. His mind was in turmoil with what he had just seen.

The power to alter the world was different from the power of creation. If his power of creation came from runes, then the power of alternation came from that being.

'His eyes…'

They were Arthur's eyes. Or maybe Arthur's eyes were that being's eyes. Arthur wasn't sure of what to think anymore. He took out a mirror from his subspace and examined his face. As he saw his eyes, his body slightly trembled.

'I thought I received these eyes from Jizo, who also had golden eyes.' Arthur pondered. 'However, that was in no way Jizo. That was something else entirely. Are the two related?'

Arthur began researching his runes for answers, but he only ended up with more questions. Where did his power come from? What was he supposed to do with it?

After thinking for a while, he realized he was wasting his time. No matter how much he tried, there will be a missing piece that he has yet to know.

With a wave of his hand, the ground was cleaned by the fortress's runes. Arthur picked himself and left the workshop. He walked back weakly toward his room.

As he was walking, Hua, Zas, and Ivy passed by. It seems they were heading toward the training hall when they saw Arthur topless.

”Damn, did I miss Nudity Friday?” Zas grumbled in sarcasm but Arthur was too disturbed to entertain him.

He ignored the group and Hua's flirty stares at his body as she played with her brown hair and headed straight to his room. As soon as he was there, he fell on his bed and slept.

***

After he woke up, he felt a lot better. At the very least, he regained his ability to focus on things. Not willing to think about the itch in the back of his mind, Arthur decided to study.

He took out one of the artifacts that he gained from the dragon. It was a whip with runes covering its handle. As he started studying it, Arthur got the information of what it was.

[Restrain-III: Use mana to restrain the physical movement of the target. Lasts for one hour. Can be broken with 200 points of strength.] [0%.]

Arthur was overjoyed at the prospect of a new rune. He began studying but he was shocked at how slow the percentage rose. He started using the artifact but it was still slow compared to the runes before.

'Maybe because this is the third form of this rune.' Arthur realized. The runes he learned until now were basic-tier. Furthermore, most of his runes were either rewards or purchased.'

Nonetheless, Arthur studied hard. After getting the percentage to 10%, it became even slower. It was already the end of the day when Arthur had the mind to study something similar to his rune's specialty.

”The effect of mana on obstructing the body?” Sier tilted his head with confusion. ”I've studied something similar before, but it was such a long time that I can't remember the details. Try searching for it online.” Sier said before turning back to look at Li and Ivy sparring.

”As if there's an internet connection here.” Arthur was speechless.

”Oh, right.” Sier nodded after a while making Arthur doubt that he was healthy. ”Talk to Ruby, she can get you connected.”

Arthur left the training hall and headed toward the second layer, where the runic jet was. He found Ruby there fixing something up.

”Ruby!” Arthur called out and she stopped working immediately. Arthur was stunned at the different response from usual. She stopped working and came skip-walking his way directly.

”Arthur, my dearest friend! Are you here to teach me?” She asked with sparks in her eyes.

”Uh,” Arthur paused. ”I have some research to do, so I need an internet connection. I'll teach you after I'm done.”

”I got you, bro!” He was already being called 'bro' by her. She took out a pouch filled with storage artifacts before pulling one. She then took out a laptop from it and handed it over to Arthur.

”Take this! It's connected to our Satellite.”

”Our Satellite?” Arthur was confused. He looked at the laptop and Ruby. ”How? What satellite?”