After taking his seat over where the person pointed him, Zarin did nothing else than glare.
"You know that staring is just as rude as spying on someone. "
Zarin didn't know how that person could speak, but he was confident that the voice came from them.
"You know this isn't a safe place to make your camp," Zarin said as he remembered why he came here.
"Hmm… and why is that so? "the figure questioned.
"There is a lair of Demon Wolves not far from here. Also, a Demon Bear is around the area. "
He didn't plan to explain why the Demon Bear was here, as it was far from its usual area.
"Thanks for the piece of information, but I am fine where I am. Anything else you want to say? "
There was no delay in giving their response or any sign of fear in their voice. It looked like they had no reason to think about what Zarin had just told them.
"Can I ask what are you then? "
Zarin didn't know how to lead the discussion to it, so he just asked right away.
"Hmm? What do you mean? I am just like you. "
Zarin was ready to say that, but then a change happened he didn't expect. The faceless person had a face, and it was his face.
"See? Just like you, "the figure said as he left a broad smile at Zarin. The meat he prepared was ready, and he started eating it.
Zarin was ready to ask him something more, but he noticed that he had lost the ability to speak. Then his sight got darker as time passed, and he was blind as a bat. His hearing was also getting worse until he couldn't hear anything, as also he lost his ability to feel. He couldn't even feel his own skin.
The feelings were familiar, as when he was in his Spirit Form after he died. He could see and hear back then, but now he had lost those senses too.
If it was Zarin of a few weeks ago, he would be terrified entirely at that moment, but the surrounding current kept his cool.
'This must be a side-effect of that person taking my form. There has to be a way that I can get back control, though. '
Even if he hadn't encountered anything like that in the past, with his understanding of how Skills worked, he knew that there was always something that the target could do to escape. Nothing was inescapable; just the user could make it impossible with their high stats.
He tried to take a deep breath, but he didn't know if he was even breathing currently with his lack of senses. He could feel that his thinking was not as straightforward as usual, meaning that what the person did to him didn't affect only his senses.
Nonetheless, he didn't let his spirit fall and started focusing. Since he lacked his ordinary sense, he didn't try to focus on his surroundings but instead on himself.
Or, more specifically, his inner self.
If the person had used a Skill or Spell at him, that would mean that it used some of its energy, which part of it would be in Zarin. So if he could find that energy, maybe he could deal with it.
Of course, this was something that Zarin had never done in the past, but he had no other option. So he focused as hard as he could, and even if he couldn't feel it, he was sure that all this concentration had caused him to use SP.
He had tried to open his Status Window, but he seemed unable to do so. Or maybe he opened it, and because of the lack of his senses, he couldn't see it.
A long time passed, or it could be just a few seconds, as telling time in his current situation was pretty challenging. At that point, Zarin started feeling something inside him. It felt like a little warm light, but he didn't actually see any light or feel any heat. It was a strange feeling, but at the same time, somewhat familiar.
Zarin focused more on that light, as the two feelings of warmness and brightness were becoming more apparent and tenser. However, Zarin didn't stop his focus and started focusing more as time passed, making his progress faster.
He reached the point that it felt like he had been in front of the sun, but he didn't feel any damage or uncomfortable being near it. Of course, it could be because of the lack of its senses, but for some reason, Zarin was confident that it wasn't meant to harm him.
Zarin concentrated more on that energy, but it looked like it couldn't get any clearer. So he focused more on its shape, which seemed to be a sphere, and what else he could feel. After some time, he had a feeling that something was in that sphere, and he had to get it out.
But how he could do that, he was uncertain. He couldn't use his body, as he was unsure when it actually made a move, and no Skill of his applied at that moment.
But then Zarin had an idea.
Instead of focusing on the ball of energy, he now focused on a spot in front of the energy. A spot that he wanted to be.
During all that time that he focused, it was like he controlled a drone with a camera, and he just was watching through a screen at the controller. He navigated to reach the sphere all that time, but it wasn't himself that reached it, just he could 'see 'it.
Zarin tried to focus on making himself be in that place. The energy was in his inner place, and he should have complete control of that place. But unfortunately, he couldn't control the energy since it didn't seem to be a part of himself; otherwise, he would just make it vanish.
Time passed, and it felt like weeks for Zarin until he had made some progress. Then, finally, he had made a part of himself at the place where the strange Energy Sphere was. He was aware of what he had just created and had the peculiar feeling of being able to 'see 'through it and the other view he had before, which felt quite strange. It was almost like being in front of a multiple monitor security system, allowing him to see different angles simultaneously.
He could see what he created, and it wasn't a complete body, just the upper half, but had only his left arm. It took him a lot to do so, and he didn't know how long and if he could make a complete body.
Even so, this was enough for what he wanted to try. He focused on moving the one arm of the figure he created towards the sphere. He could see from the first angle the movement of the arm but also from the view he had from the body. It was like he had the perspective of a first-person and a third-person game simultaneously.
Even if the entire situation was something new for him, Zarin was getting adjusted at a decent pace. Or decent enough, in his opinion, at least.
As the arm looked to have been in contact with the sphere, Zarin didn't feel any different. The only difference was it was more challenging to move the arm when it came in touch with the sphere.
Still, Zarin didn't plan to move it as he wanted the hand to stay there. The only difference was he wanted to go deeper, so he tried to move the whole body, which hovered, forward.
Slowly the body moved, but the movement was so slow that it was like there wasn't any, to begin with.
As time passed and Zarin was sure that he was making progress toward what he planned, he could feel something new. Other than the feeling of heat and brightness, there was a third one, which he couldn't describe.
As time passed, he noticed something else —- his senses were returning.
First started with his sense of touch, as he could feel some hit on his arm, even if it was on the arm he created in his inner space. Then, not long after, his sense of hearing started returning, as he could hear the slight movement of air.
He started seeing the sphere that he had only visualized until now with his returned sight. As his sight started producing, even if it was blurry, he could only see through the 'eyes 'of the inner figure he created.
As noticed that his body was still just the upper half and had only one arm, but that didn't affect him, and he just kept focusing on the task at hand.
When his arm was deep enough up to the elbow, his senses other than taste looked to be back to normal. But, of course, his sense of taste hadn't returned, but it could be because he couldn't test it since his current body didn't even produce saliva.
His ability to speak wasn't there either, most likely as he was in a similar form to his Spirit Form.
"That should be enough for now. You have passed the test. "
As the voice that came out of nowhere stopped speaking, everything turned dark. But Zarin knew that he hadn't lost his senses again, as he could hear, taste and feel.
His eyes were just closed.
As he opened his eyes, he noticed the exact figure that got his face, but now it was back, having no face.
They were at the camp still, but Zarin noticed that it was late at night.
'How long was I there?' he thought as he stared at the only person that could give him an answer.