With a whistle, Amanda woke slowly from her sleep. She searched the bed with her eyes closed and turned off Arthur's cell phone alarm. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around.
'I ended up falling asleep... even though Arthur asked me to help him...' She looked at the chair where Arthur was supposed to be and he wasn't there. What she found most strange was that the armrests of the chair were completely dented.
She tidied up her messy clothes and went downstairs with the bat in her hand. She smelled great as soon as she came downstairs.
Going to the kitchen, she saw that Arthur was making breakfast. His statuesque body was completely sweaty and his eyes focused on what he was doing.
"Good morning!" She walked over to the counter and sat down, lying in her arms.
"Good Morning! Did you sleep well?" Arthur asked as he smiled at her.
"Sorry... you asked me to help you and I fell asleep..." She looked at him with an apologetic look. Only now did she notice that Arthur's eyes had black pockets, indicating that he hadn't slept well. It was only to be imagined, after that intense shock.
"Were you the one who tended the garden and cleaned the pool?" Arthur handed her a plate. On it was a beautifully made and impeccable sandwich. The scent assaulted Amanda's nostrils. A cup of coffee was also next to the plate and it smelled sweet and strong.
"Me and Thomas." She replied a little surprised.
"What a miracle!" Arthur replied with a laugh.
"Slandering me at this time of the morning?" Thomas appeared in the kitchen doorway. He was rubbing his eyes and his hair was all messed up.
After they had talked for a while and had the breakfast made by Arthur, Thomas went up to his room saying he had something important to attend to.
"I want to talk to you about a few things later, okay?" Arthur ruffled Thomas' hair even more as he headed toward the elevator with Amanda.
"Okay!" Thomas replied without much emotion on his face.
After parting ways, Arthur arrived at the area where he trained. He climbed straight up through the underground garage door and into the garden. Just as he said, the garden was very well tended and smelled like cut grass.
"Why did we go all this way?" Amanda asked confused. They had gone down to go up again, when they could have gone straight.
"So that Thomas thinks I'm training down there. Not to mention that the floor is rubber, how will I receive the electrical discharge?" Arthur asked back as he got ready.
He was only in training pants and barefoot. His feet took root in the grass.
"We're staying here until lunch. If my calculations are correct, then we're going to have to go to the bathroom at night. Let's start?" Arthur explained to her and took his cell phone out of his pocket. He placed it on the concrete floor beside the garden.
"Do we really need to do this again? Are you going through some kind of torture training?" Amanda asked with some suspicion. She had seen many people do something similar, so that in the event that torture did happen, they would resist better.
"More or less that. Shall we get started?" Arthur threw in an excuse and rushed her.
"OK!"
Holding the correct end of the bat, Arthur braced himself for the shock. He would count the exact 10 minute mark, for beyond that his heart would fail and he could die if any carelessness occurred.
Tzz! Tzz!
...
...
...
After 10 minutes, he looked at Amanda while shaking his head. His movements were shaky but still clear. Amanda pressed the button again and the shock stopped.
Pain was raging through his body as the system tried to break the seal, or so he thought.
Falling to the ground, Arthur got to his hands and knees. He coughed up a few drops of black blood and smoke came out of his mouth.
"Are you okay? I really don't want to see you like that!" Amanda came to support him. She felt his body boiling to the touch, and there were some currents of electricity in it.
She ignored all of this and led him to the nearby wall to make him sit down. She then went into the kitchen to fetch water and a cloth.
Wiping his sweat, she saw that he had slipped into some sleep state.
Arthur was actually trying his hardest to resist the pain, and his head was hurting badly from not getting enough sleep. He was constantly awakened by pain. The shock helped him a little to numb the pain, but it was still pretty bad.
'Even though I haven't lost any HP, I think I'll need at least 2 hours to recover. My heart can't take less time than that...' He was intently observing his situation.
Having spent time feeling his condition during the night, he more or less learned to tell if his body is okay. Even though he couldn't see anything, he could still feel pretty good with the pain.
After a while, he opened his eyes and looked at Amanda, who was still beside him.
"Regardless of what happens now, don't scream and don't be scared. You'll see why I'm doing what I'm doing..." He spoke calmly.
"All right..." Amanda nodded with a curious expression.
Without waiting too long, she saw black lines appear on Arthur's body, going from his feet to his head. Black balls were concentrated in the stomach and the right side of the chest.
"Holy shit..." Amanda bit back her terror and looked worriedly at Arthur.
He was clenching his teeth at the moment and he was stiff and tense. He clearly looked like he was in pain.
Amanda didn't scream or anything. She just watched him resist the pain with a strange expression. It was a mixture of confusion, horror, worry, and curiosity.
After about 30 minutes, the black lines disappeared on Arthur's body and he was taking a deep breath. His hands were digging into the ground, with fine cracks coming from the holes made by his fingers. Blood was also slowly coming out of his fingernails, but it soon stopped.
There was no more unnecessary conversation between Arthur and Amanda. The two understood tacitly what was going on and what needed to be done.
They did the same process until 11am, when they finished the third shock session. Arthur couldn't even move anymore and was absorbed in facing the pain. His body was already nearly dehydrated from sweating, and he constantly drank the water Amanda brought.
With a call to Augusto, they ordered lunch and continued to wait. They all ate at 12 noon, after the black lines disappeared on Arthur's body again. Thomas asked why he was all sweaty and pale, but he said it was just hunger from training and it would pass soon. Amanda was silent as she ate, occasionally glancing at Arthur.
'This kid really is a tough guy... I don't think even those guys in my group could stand this regimen!'
Finally, when it was 9pm, Arthur and Amanda went upstairs to Arthur's bathroom. It was mostly Amanda helping him up, as Arthur's legs were too weak.
"Start..." Arthur spoke in a hoarse and weak voice.
Amanda didn't say anything and just pressed the button for the electrical discharge to go its way.
Tzz! Tzz!
...
...
...
10 minutes later, there was finally some system reaction.
˂Your Level Increased! Level 6! ˃
...
"Get out..." Arthur dropped the bat and got into the tub of ice water. He was only wearing his underwear at the moment and almost fell over several times trying to do such a simple task.
"Call me if you need to..." Amanda replied, almost with tears in her eyes. She spent the whole day watching Arthur face the pain with his teeth clenched, and he was still normal. He treated her kindly and played with his brother when he suddenly appeared in the garden.
Arthur just closed his eyes as he felt the icy cold penetrate his skin. His attention was focused on the system messages.
...
...
With an almost heartbreaking pain, the hot energy inside Arthur had already peaked and was constantly circulating through his body. Everywhere it passed, it was as if it were making a thin hole. Digging slowly through Arthur's veins like a needle.
<20% Of Seal Has Been Broken!>
...
...
...
As soon as that message appeared, Arthur coughed up a black goo that rose up his throat. More black goo was coming out of all his pores. Even the nose and ear were no exceptions. Tears of black goo streamed down his cheeks from around his eye.
The clear, clean water instantly turned black and had a terrible stench. More of the black goo oozed out from every corner of Arthur's body.
The black lines again appeared on his body, and they seemed to pulse in discomfort. It was possible to see that some of these lines had disappeared and the others had small, almost imperceptible, white spots. The spots' cores, the stomach and right chest, opened a small hole in the center. Those lines stayed on his body for a while before disappearing.
As time passed, what was excruciating pain became a gentle flow of energy through the body. It was as if the energy had already dug the hole and was constantly going through it. The black goo also stopped coming out.
Feeling that pleasant energy, Arthur finally relaxed his whole body. Today was an almost hellish experience for him. He might even enjoy acting lazy on many occasions, but with his life on the line, he wouldn't treat himself lightly. He still had a lot to experience.
He could feel with the rest of his consciousness that that energy was nourishing his body, like a dry land receiving rain. But it was also noticeable that it seemed to be interrupted in parts and wasn't running at full power.
Coming out of the tub, his body seemed to be brighter, but it was hidden by all the dirt.
He only took one step outside when his body collapsed and he fell to the ground, passed out. Tiredness had already taken root in him. It was as if he'd spent days doing the most intense exercise.
Amanda immediately entered the bathroom upon hearing the thud of Arthur's fall. The first thing she felt was a horrible smell, like she had never felt before. Looking into the black tub, she smelled it there.
'Was that what was in his body? Did he need the energy to expel this thing?' She glanced at the bathtub, but her attention was caught by the body lying on the bathroom floor.
She ran up to Arthur after seeing him.
"Arthur! Wake up!" Amanda called out to him, but there was no answer. Despite the horrible smell, she put her ear to his chest and was reassured by the strong, orderly beating.
Looking at the situation in the bathroom, she set Arthur down again, carefully.
"Time to clean everything up..." She said with a sigh as she looked at the mess. 'You really are a mess of a person!' Amanda looked at Arthur sleeping. He felt like he was in heaven now and the pain he'd held back all day was gone.