Toz had lost all sensation and perception of the world around him as he closed his mind to shield it from the deluge of mana ravaging his body. He even lost any cognition of how much time had passed. Toz's thoughts alternated between spinning like a carousel and trudging forward at a snail's pace. He sometimes felt hopeful about his success, and other times he wondered if he had already died and was hovering between life and death like some sort of disembodied spirit.
However, his mental defense wasn't airtight, especially after his clone began fading and weakening again. The occasional pangs of pain that shot through his body and reached his mind denied any thoughts about being dead.
The moments when the damage to his body leaked through the mental defense and prodded his mind also sometimes let Toz know about the state of his body. And the progress of his breakthrough. But his mind wasn't clear enough to tell the reality from what he felt was happening.
