" Aren't you Levi!? How are you alive?" Noah asked with surprise, as Levi watched him coldly.
" But, if you got away alive, then why are you here? This place is dangerous! You should leave, quickly!" Noah shouted, as he took large, lively steps.
" Wha..." He then stopped abruptly, as he saw the spider's corpse, along with the green blood floating above Levi's shoulder.
' Is that...the corpse of a hellion spider? From what i know, those things are not that strong, but very difficult to deal with. Did he kill it? No, that can't be possible, i can hardly even feel qi coming from his body....but if not, then why is he so injured?...Well, we are on this mountain...' A lot of thoughts passed through Noah's head, as he looked at Levi.
"....Where is the girl?" Levi asked coldly, after a while of silence.
" Girl? W-...Oh, if you meant Ava..." Noah paused.
" She, along with ryan were caught by the people of that village...." He said hesitantly.
" I tried to get them back but, as you can see, that didn't go well..." He said, as he looked at his useless left arm.
"....Is that so." Levi said emotionlessly.
He once again stuck his hand inside of the spider's corpse once again, and fished about, while keeping an eye on noah.
After finding another piece of meat, he stuck it on his fingernail, then held it over the fire.
" You...Did you-are you eating that?" Noah asked with a disturbed gaze.
"..." Levi sat silently.
" You know that hellion spider meat is....poisonous...right?" Noah said incredulously.
' Oh? Is that why i was feeling slightly dizzy?' Levi thought. " But, i'm still fine. Maybe my venom is fighting of the spider's poison?" Levi muttered softly to himself.
...
Two days passed swiftly, as Levi continued his routine of eating spider flesh, nurturing his primordial meridians, practicing the Wind Commandment and ignoring Noah.
' I could probably heal his arm, but should i? No, what would i gain from doing that?' Levi thought silently, as he secretly looked at noah's arm.
" Hmm?" He suddenly felt the seed of knowledge in his heart pulsating, as he once again saw the tunnle like place, but this time, it was wider.
"...Is that place...inside of my body?" Levi mumbled, as he opened his eyes.
' Inside my primordial meridians specifically...' He thought silently, as he once again closed his eyes.
After a while of seeing nothing but darkness, a small white ball appeared. A leaf was growing from this white ball, as it floated silently, ocasionally sending ripples through the darkness.
"....That was probably...the seed of knowledge..." Levi mumbled softly, as he got up.
He walked further into the cave, before arriving in front of an underground lake.
The lake water was crystal clear, as even a few underwater plants could be seen swaying.
It radiated coldness, as he looked at it.
Levi took off his robe, before jumping into the water. '...cold..' He thought, as he shivered.
Where he stood was not deep, so he took his time and bathed.
He remembered his first time seeing this lake, along with that certain being.
That beautiful being, who, in his opinion, was to beautiful to be human.
He even felt like he had something in common with this being. After seeing it, his heart beat with warmth and longing, for some reason.
After a while, he got out, but instead of putting back on the once white robe, a black robe appeared in his hands.
" What were you doing back there?" Noah asked, his head down.
He watched Levi run up and down the cave these few days, while wondering why he was doing it, but Levi didn't answer so he stopped asking.
Step! step!
Levi silently walked past him, causing noah to look up, only to reveal a surprised face.
" Where did you get these clean clothes from? Where are you going?" Noah asked, as he got up unsteadily.
"....To train." As these words left his mouth, noah felt like his brain was bouncing around in his head.
" To train? On this mountain? Oh, he has to be leaving...." Noah muttered, as if to convince himself.
" You...are going to train..here?" He repeated softly.
" Did you...also kill this spider?" He asked.
Levi looked at him silently for a few seconds.
"....What of it?" He asked.
"..." Noah walked up to Levi, his steps were heavy as if he lost his spirit, and was walking with sheer will.
He placed his hand on Levi's shoulder, before it gradually slid down to his collar. " You...so you were the one.....who killed the spider...so then why..." Noah spoke, his head down.
" So why didn't you say anything, even while knowing what happened to Ava and Ryan?" He asked, as he pulled Levi's collar, veins on his arm bulging.
" You are going to train? So you were just planning to ignore their situation?! You were planning to act like it wasn't any of your business?!" He looked up as he shouted, a wrathful expression on his face.
"....It isn't any of my business..." Levi said.
" Also, i just put on these robes, so i would appreciate it if you didn't dirty them." Levi said coldly.
" Your robes?! Hahaha! Your robes!! She brought you along and treated you nicely, but not only did you push her away, now that she is in trouble, you are only worried about your robes getting dirty!!" Noah shouted, as he pushed Levi back, causing him to stumble.
" Even if you don't feel obligated to try to help her, you owe her!" Noah shouted, as he pointed at Levi.
' Owe? If i remember correctly, it was her who told me to come along. I don't owe anyone anything.' Levi thought silently as he fixed his crumpled robe.
" Move." He said coldly.
" I am not moving! You are going to come with me and rescue our sect mates! End of story!" Noah shouted.
" Move." Levi said icely, as blood energy rose from his body.
" No." Noah said, as a large pressure escaped his body.
" You are going to help me, whether you like it or not. While surviving on this damn mountain, my cultivation level rose significantly. I am only a few steps away from the heaven and earth stages! You will help me, even if i have to force you!" Noah shouted, as he blocked Levi's way.
Levi no longer spoke, as his sabre appeared in his hand.
He silently shot out.
"!!" Noah was slightly startled, as he hesitantly lifted his arm, covered in qi.
Ting!
The sound of metal clashing rang out, as the sabre was stopped.
" Just face the facts, you can't-"
Crack!
The sound of his qi cracking interrupted him, as he looked at his arm with shock.
Without a second thought, he opened a bit of distance between himself and Levi.
"..." Without missing a beat, Levi appeared in front of him, his gloomy killing intent directed towards Noah as he raised his sabre.
" Y-you-" Noah's face paled as he looked into Levi's cold eyes.
Levi suddenly stepped back, raising his leg as he kicked out, sending noah's large build flying through the cave entrence, before landing harshly on the ground.
Noah bounced and rolled before stopping, face up.
Step! step!
Levi walked calmly.
' Damn it! Damn it! I hesitated because i tried to lift my useless arm! Damn it!' Noah thought, as tears silently flowed down his face.
" You...ungrateful..." He managed to squeeze out, before his consciousness fell into darkness.
Levi looked down at noah, his brows furrowed deeply as an air of irritation surrounded him.
...
After an unknown amount of time, Noah slowly cracked open his eyes.
' What....oh yeah...i was beaten by Levi...now that i think back, it's funny....'
' I was so scared of loosing my remaining arm, that i foolishly tried to increase the distance between us, which caused me to lose even faster...'
' Was i always this weak?' Noah thought silently, as tears threatened to pour from his eyes.
" Well, there is no use in crying....I have to find a way to save Ava and Ryan...If i go all out, by sacrificing myself, i should be able to buy them enough time to get away..." Noah mumbled to himself, as he sat up, his legs crossed.
" Levi, huh...well, it was selfish of me to try to force him to help me, but....damn it...how could he not care..." Noah covered his eyes with his hand, as his brows furrowed.
"..Ug..." He heard a sound.
" Huh?" As noah looked around, he saw Levi sitting with his back to the wall, as sweat poured down his face.
" Huh? I thought he left? What...what is wrong with him?" Noah muttered, as he watched Levi with a concerned gaze.
At this moment, Levi was absorbing the hellion spider's bloodline.
' It's a good thing i only absorbed half of this bloodline! This thing might be even more troublesome than the raven!' Levi though silently, as he gritted his teeth.
' I just have to hold out until the changes are done to my body, then it should settle down!' Levi thought.
After absorbing a bloodline, it starts to make certain changes to his body, like creating new organs, or modifying certain body parts.
But without his core to restrict and control these changes, most of the time, these bloodlines will try to turn his entire body into the creature he aquired them from.
This was why he only absorbed half of the bloodline this time.
His fingers twisted weirdly, becoming black, as they began to fuse together.
They began to look like the tip of one of the hellion spider's legs.
After a few minutes of Levi's resistance, the black color receded to his fingernails, as sharp black lines rose from the middle of them, reminiscent of the spider's sharp legs.
Different parts of his skin bulged, as if sommething wanted to escape his body, but affer a while, they stopped as his skin went back to normal.
His face twisted, as two big lumps tried to replace his top lip, but after a while, his lip returned to normal.
His chest bulged under his robe, as a spider leg threatened to grow, but it returned to normal as Levi resisted.
" Huff! Huff!" Levi opened his eyes, as he breathed heavily.
" If i had absorbed all of this, i would have probably turned into some kind of monster..." Levi mumbled.
"...You...Are you ok?" After a slight hesitation, Noah asked.
"..." Levi looked at him silently, but didn't respond.
" I will help you get them back, but afterwards, i don't owe any of you anything." Levi said coldly.
'...Is this how being in debt feels? I hate it...I don't want to owe anyone anything!' He thought, as his gaze became irritated.
His pride didn't allow him to forgo a debt.
" So...You will help me?!" Noah asked excitedly.
So excitedly, in fact, that he didn't realize that he was lifting both of his arms.
" Thank you so-" He was going to grab Levi's shoulders.
" Don't touch me." Levi said coldly, as slapped Noah's hand away.
" O-Oh, sorry....Huh?" He realised that he could use his arm once again.
" Di-Did you do this? What kind of medicine did you use?....It had to be expensive...thank you...thank you..." Noah's smile reached his eyes, as he said weakly.
Growl!
His stomach growled in protest.
" Stop wasting time." Levi said, as he got up from the ground and left the cave, Noah soon followed behind.
They walked through the mountain, ocasionally encountering the usual pests.
' Hmm, so that silk was actually made from the spider's own body or flesh?' Levi thought, as he looked at the pink string of flesh growing out from the tip of his finger.
' So the large spider could control the spiders made from it's own flesh. I should also think that it could turn the silk into spiders at will, otherwise, having to make an external force cut the silk so that it could turn it into spiders would be a disadvantage...Hmm, but i can't seem to make spiders...Not that i would want to, though...' He thought.
He had tried to make the shape of the hellion spider, but failed.
" Is it because i didn't absorb the whole bloodline?" Levi mumbled, as he looked at the small blob of green blood floating over his shoulder.
' Well, i will think about whether or not i should absorb the other half later, for now...' He stopped silently, as ant acid dripped from his palm.
He sent it towards a nearby tree, before calling it back.
After a while of standing and seemingly doing nothing, he opened his palm to reveal a small bottle.
It was a creamy brown color, and while deformed, it had a long neck, with a wide, circular base and a small stopper cork.
' I have been thinking about where to store excess bloodlines for a while. Throwing them away is just wasteful, but keeping them without a proper storage container to preserve them is also pointless. This bottle too, is essentially pointless, but, at least i will not have to walk around with a bloodline floating above me anymore.' Levi thought, as he pluged the bottle's neck with the small wooden cork.