As Daren opened his eyes and saw the lush, green color of his bed's canopy. He tried to slightly get up and lay his back on the wooden panel at the head of his bed. This did not go as planned as Daren felt a large amount of resistance from his muscles that felt like they were starved for energy.
The muscles did not hurt but they were as unmoving as mountains from lacking energy. There was also this extra weight of Celina's head as she had fallen asleep with her head laying right next to his right elbow. This was the only place on his body that even had an ounce of soreness or pain except for his head that is.
Daren's mind had to bear all the pressure from the ruckus within his soul. Even though it was the soul that had to be the one that was attacked, the pain was somehow redirected to physical pain that started at his heart and then moved towards his brain.
'That's a question that I'll leave for the system to answer.' thought Daren as he smiled smugly and whispered out to Celina.
"Hey," said Daren as even his vocal cords seemed to lack energy, and saying any other words might cause it to break. Of course, it wasn't going to break but it was not going to make too much noise anytime soon.
Swoosh!
A black mist appeared in the corner of the room. It came out from a small bit of shadow formed from one of the display cabinets. The mist then floated towards the bed and then started to turn into a more solid and viscous form. This oil-like substance then took on the form of a tall and skinny human.
The human had long legs and was fully clothed in black. He wore black leather boots and a pitch-black cloak that covered the entirety of his lanky body. His face was also not visible as some of the black mist was obscuring it even though there were rays of sunshine lasering into the room.
'It was early evening when I first collapsed. Now it's a little after sunrise.' Daren was confused. Based on his encounter with Alex inside his soul for the first time, a couple of minutes in the soul realm were mere seconds in the regular world. How did it become daytime then?
'Ah. Wait. I can feel what happened.' It took a couple of seconds and Daren had already found an answer to this strange phenomenon. Since Daren's brain was in immense pain in pressure initially due to the attacks on his soul, he had fainted.
The pressure and pain should still be heavily felt in his head if it had only been a couple of seconds were not there. In its place was just a small annoyance that people felt after a light hangover.
This meant that once Daren had left the soul realm, his brain was not yet in a position to recover itself from the assault. Once his brain had recovered, his consciousness was able to fully manifest.
"It seems that you have completed the trial," said the man in the black cloak.
As he said that, another set of black mist appeared from the same shadow that was in the corner. Just like earlier, the mist started to solidify and created a 5 ft 3 inches tall body. The body was clad in the same outfit as the man.
The figure this time had lots of womanly curves but was totally flat in the chest and backside. This girl gave off a somewhat cold and icy aura. She radiated the feeling of an ice princess.
"Shall I inform the master of him regaining consciousness." asked the girl. Her voice was cold and so sharp could probably pierce daggers itself.
"No. You keep watching. See if you can carefully wake up Miss Celina. I will inform the master." The main turned into the viscous oil and then into the mist before disappearing in the shadow.
Then a small chair made out of ice formed next to the left side of the bed. The girl walked up to it then sat down. She was unbothered by the cold surface.
The girl just sat there. There was no expression for Daren to see as her face was shrouded by the black mist. There was an awkward silence as the girl did not want to talk and Daren could not talk.
'I thought the girl was supposed to wake Celina up. Why is she just sitting there?' thought Daren as he tilted his head towards the left to look at the girl. After taking a few glances, he turned his head slowly and looked at Celina resting on his arm.
All Daren could do was for his body to slowly recover energy with him funneling {FORCE} into his body. His muscles were very slowly regaining his energy This would take some time since his muscles are way too dense. These muscles had to get denser if Daren was to get stronger but not change in terms of looks at all.
After about 30 minutes or so, Daren had taken enough energy to restore the conditions of his muscles to what they have been since he started cultivating. Before Dare could push himself up, the doors to the room opened as Andrew and Hyun-seok walked up from the stairs.
As the two enter, Hyun-seok looks at Daren with glowing blue eyes and talks to the marquess after assessing his condition.
"His body has mostly been healed and his mind should be cleared," says Hyun-seok and then does a small bow towards Andrew as he gestures his hand. He guides the marquess in a very respectful manner,
Andrew takes a look at Daren and then sees Celina sleeping in his arms. He then notices Yeon-sook who was sitting still on her ice chair. She had her back straight to the chair while her arms lay flat on her thighs as her palms cover her knee.
"She's asleep again, isn't she?" said Andrew while his face contorted slightly and his left eye twitched for a second. He was visually annoyed.
"Yeah. She has not become an adult yet so her sleeping patterns are very odd." replied Hyun.
"Are all young members of the mystic shadow race like this?" asked Andrew.
"Yes. Yeon will stop those sleeping habits in a year. That is when she turns 16 and considered a full adult."
"Good to know." Andrew was no longer annoyed but rather a bit intrigued and happy now.
"Are you feeling better now?" asked Andrew as he turned to face Daren.
Daren pushes himself up and puts his back on the bed. He looks at Andrew with a smile and says. "Yes. Though it was quite painful, I have been able to overcome it. I am still a bit confused at this even can you explain to me what went wrong?"
"What happened to you is a very cursed yet blessed experience. There is a small chance for every cultivator to go through an occurrence where their mind, their very soul starts to break apart and fight themselves.
This is because the human body naturally rejects the formation of a certain organ known as the 'Cellebus Corus. The successful formation of this organ is what allows a warrior cultivator to become a mage cultivator. " explained Andrew as he steadily walked towards the end and sat down at the very end of it.
"It's a blessing since you can die from its creation but a blessing since it allows you to be an all-powerful mage." says Daren as he chuckles lightly. "So what, am I a mage now?"
"Let's find out. Hyun, check for it." orders Andrew. Hyun follows his master's commands as his blue eyes shine once again as they scan directly towards the section where Daren's spine and brain's nerves connect.
He does this for about 5 seconds before his eyes stopped glowing and he nodded his head towards the marquess who was looking at him for confirmation.
"It seems the gland has taken form where it should be. You are now someone who can take the path of a mage. Congratulations!" said the marquess.
"Congratulations!" said Hyun.
"Ah, what. What's going on?" said Celina as she abruptly awoke from her deep sleep. It seemed she was becoming more and more accustomed to the human body and mind.
Ding!
[The system has temporarily paused the awakening due to the need for a larger amount of blood. The system urges the host to supply it with the blood of 250 adult humans. This must be done within the next 24 hours to successfully awaken.]
'You gotta be kidding me!' thought Daren as he cursed at the system for being the worst and best-timed thing in existence.