69 Second Thoughts (1/2)

Arnin was in a state of panic as his vision slowly blackened. He didn't want to unseal his powers in order to stop the purge that was occuring inside his body, however he felt that if things progressed too far, he would need to completely unseal everything and turn back into his Demon Lord form.

'This isn't going too well.' Arnin felt bitter. On the surface, his body could be considered as unconscious, however, Arnin could see everything that was happening inside of his body. A large amount of his orb threads were missing, and even his organs were in a severe condition.

'Sh*t! What the heck do I do? I am not awake, so things are even more dangerous!' Arnin would have been able to handle the situation better if he was still conscious, however he was not. He wasn't able to move his body around, and wasn't even able to find a way to heal himself. Right now, if he wanted to do something, he would have to depend on what was inside of his body.

Arnin looked through everything and tried to see if he could find any solutions. Right now, the only things inside of him that were in optimal condition were the elemental seeds, his orb (not orb threads), the saber, and his Demon Lord powers.

Although his orb threads were damaged and he was in a lower realm than usual, it still wasn't anything life threatening at the moment. Although there was a chance of him dying if the essence continued to seep out of his body, that would not happen right away. The most important things to deal with currently were his physical injuries, however he just couldn't figure out how. He needed something that would repair his organs, and allow his blood to replenish back to the normal amount. Right now, he was bleeding internally, and had lost quite a bit of blood.

Normally if this were to happen to him, he would be able to use pills, or other special items in order to save himself, however he currently had no way to get to them. Another problem was that if he did decide to awaken his Demon Lord powers, then there was a large chance of him dying. His body was currently too injured to endure anything like that.

Arnin knew that this was most likely one of the most grave moments of his life. Although he had been injured more severely, and had literally been to death's door many times, he had his full power back then. He was able to hold himself longer and slowly heal, however right now that was impossible. Things were extremely bleak.

'What should I do!?' Arnin was still extremely confused. He had never been placed in a situation where he was physically injured and had no way to help himself. Plus, he was also losing his powers slowly. He had nothing he could do to help himself.

As Arnin was in this state, his new seed began to tremble. 'What the hell is happening now?!' Arnin began to get a little agitated when he saw the new seed begin to react. 'Is this seed going to continuing attacking me since I am in this condition?' Arnin cursed the seed inwardly.

However just as Arnin was cursing the seed, something strange began to occur. The two tiny seeds that revolved around the tip of the main seed began to shine in a black and white light. The lights traveled everywhere around his body, however Arnin wasn't able to notice any changes. After a while, the black and white light had traveled all around his body, and had even left some of their light in a few places. One could see a jumble of black and white light masking his injured organs, and also surrounding any other part of his body that was injured.

Arnin assumed that this black and white light would start to heal him, however that wasn't the case. Nothing was happening. They just surrounding his injured areas, not doing anything.

After a few minute passed, Arnin saw another light appear, however this time the light was purple. It was the glow of Samsara. As if breaking through a dam, the light rushed out the seed and went throughout his whole body. Any place that had the black and white began to glow brighter.

'T-this…'

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Outside the door, Kosok was still waiting, however he was feeling a little worried now. Although one could not feel exactly what was going on inside of the room, people could tell if the surrounding energy was changing or being absorbed. This would show if someone was cultivating or not.

As he was standing right in front of Arnin's room, he could tell that there was no change to the room's essence. There was a large change before, however for the last hour or so, everything was silent. This very silence worried Kosok greatly.

He didn't have great feelings for Arnin, however he didn't find him to be annoying either. In fact, he found the latter to be interesting, and even wanted to ask him some questions. Some were related to the elemental seed that Arnin was able to produce, while the others were related to the reaction Spiras had towards their duel.

He wasn't able to understand the reason, however a gut feeling told him that Arnin knew something.

Kosok had liked Spiras since the day he saw her, however since she was a teacher and he was a student, a romantic relationship was considered inappropriate. Because he didn't want to ruin his beloved teacher's reputation, he never said much, but he always felt that Spiras might not hate him either. At least he hoped that she felt something more for him than just the feeling a teacher would have for a student.

Yet, when he was dueling Arnin, she never tried to help him. He knew that Arnin's attack would hurt him greatly, and also knew that Spiras was aware of this fact, but her not doing anything other than speaking once really hurt him.

It was alright if she didn't like him, but to just stand and watch him get hurt was a blow to him. This was the reason he was waiting for Arnin. He wanted to know why something like that happened. He felt that there must be a hidden reason that he didn't know about. Plus, he was hoping that there was a hidden meaning, so then he would be able to feel less hurt, albeit slightly.

'What the heck is taking him so long. It's already morning and people have headed to class. This is taking way too long. Is he even cultivating in there?' Thinking about this, Kosok decided to go to the tenth floor information desk, and find out what was happening. (Author's note: Imma call those desks in the middle of each floor, information desks. Like this was where Surk, Spiras, and the two girls were.)

Kosok quickly headed towards the information desk, and found that Spiras had been replaced by another teacher. This time, it was a man who looked around the age of thirty. He had long hazel hair and white eyes. These eyes of his looked extremely weird as there was no pupil visible, but people around the same status as Kosok knew that the teacher in front of him had this condition because of a certain cultivation manual he used. It was simply a side effect of it.

”Teacher Drem, how are you?” Kosok quickly asked. The teacher in front of him, although he looked young, was extremely strong, even among the Moth teacher group. Plus, he was considered a huge talent during his own generation. This alone was enough for him to receive great respect.

Drem turned his head and looked at Kosok with his eerie eyes. For some unknown reason, Kosok felt a chill run down his back, and couldn't help but feel himself become extremely pale. Not only that, but he felt somewhat nauseous.

”So it is student Kosok. What can I do for you?” Drem smiled towards Kosok who felt everything turn back to normal. The latter couldn't help but shudder when he remembered his previous state, however he kept a smile on the surface in order to hide his horror.

He quickly walked closer, clasped his hands towards Drem, and slightly bowed. The other man nodded his head, waiting for Kosok to speak. ”Teacher, I was wondering if you can look into a specific room for me. I want to know whether the person is cultivating or not. If he is not, then I would like to enter the room.” Kosok spoke with a smile.

The teacher lifted his eyebrow, but he still nodded his head. ”Alright, please tell me which room you wish to look into.” This was basic information that one was permitted to ask for. They were allowed to know whether the person was cultivating or not. Of course, there wasn't a way to see what the person was cultivating and how, unless they were inside.

”The room is in that corner, and is the Life and Death field essence room.” Koskok explained. Drem nodded his head, and began to look through a booklet for the room. He found it and passed the book towards Kosok.

”As you can see, the person inside is not cultivating, however the room is not free for dueling. This means that the person inside is either asleep, resting, or injured.” Drem spoke with a monotone voice.

No one knew how, but the rooms in the essence tower were able to determine what condition the person was in, however, there were only three different conditions that could truly occur. The first was the cultivating state, where entry was not allowed no matter what. If someone did enter at this time, then the rule breaker would be punished.

The second condition was when one was done cultivating, and would be able to leave at any time. This would allow anyone to enter in order to duel.

The last condition was similar to the second, however it was a little special. This would be when the person was exhausted from cultivation and would need some rest before continuing, or if they were injured and were unable to continue for a while. During this moment, one could enter the room, however dueling was prohibited. This was only to check on the person inside, in order to make sure that they were still breathing.

The third condition was fairly normal in the Tower. People would often feel tired, or get injured quite a bit, so many would not enter the room even if this condition was listed.

”Injured? Teacher, do you think that the person inside might be injured?” Kosok didn't really care much for Arnin's health, and he just wanted some information from Arnin. If the latter was injured and in no condition to speak, then that would be detrimental towards his cause.

Drem rubbed his chin and pondered slightly. ”I am not quite sure. As you should know, the rooms only tell us these three conditions. It is impossible to know what is really happening inside without actually entering the room.” He spoke while shaking his head. ”Why are you so worried? Is the person inside someone you know?”

”Yes, Teacher. It is a friend of mine. He has been inside the room since last night and I couldn't feel any changes from the room for the past hour. I am just worried that he might be injured.” Kosok sighed a little.

”Well, since it is the third condition, we are allowed to go inside and check what is going on. Let me lead you in.” Kosok's eyes brightened. This was exactly what he wanted.

”Thank you, Teacher.” Kosok bowed again, while Drem gestured him to stop with a smile.