As he sat down, catching his breath while wiping the monster's blood off of his face after massacring a whole bunch of spiders, he was absent-minded, engrossed in his thoughts. "What just happened to me? "How come I'm so strong?"With his fist clenched and an empty gaze looking down, he asked himself, not being able to figure out what had happened. Instead of becoming engrossed in his thoughts, he snapped out of it, looking at his status window, which he had just called out, and wondering where his sudden power up had come from."Maybe I am finally fully healed up and my powers are restored!" Yet that's not what happened, for which Arthur frowned in disappointment. "So that's not it either... my healing process is just at 67%, so that doesn't seem to be the case. Now that I think about it... hmmm... I am way stronger than before, and even while fighting the lich, it doesn`t make any sense for my power to be restored if I am stronger than before... Something definitely happened, but what...!" Arthur snapped out of his deep thoughts, shaking his head, in vain..., because he was still unable to figure out what had happened.
After the fight, his fatigue increased significantly, which he began to pay attention to and became apparent to him once he was no longer engrossed in his thoughts.In the meantime, he started resting with his legs crossed and his hands in the middle. After that, he took one deep breath after another in order to accumulate and restore his energy. Yet without his knowledge, he started to meditate, slowly,... breath after breath, fading away from reality into his mind, not caring about his surroundings. One deep breath after another and deep focus have brought him further into his mind, till he has reached an endless space. It was dark there, yet peaceful; while it may be dark in every direction you look, around him it was brighter than everywhere else in that strange space. There is no sound; there is only silence and peace.
In his confusion, he looked and walked around to find some answers, yet his efforts were in vain. One step after another, there was no sound in there, but there may be one or more things he figured out... the bright area is around him and not fixed on a certain position, and another thing is that when you step on the ground, there are waves in the form of circles going away from his feet. Just like water after you throw something in it. Seeing as he is not able to find out anything about it, he calls out for the system, but there is no answer, so he does it again, but the result is the same. In his desperation, he even called for that unknown being inside of him, but the result remained the same, no answer.
He walked on and on, forced by the situation, thinking about how to get out of this vast and lonely space... until something appeared in the distance. It had a silhouette that was strikingly similar to that of a human, but a feeling of deja vu overcame Arthur, followed by him putting up his guard and not letting it down. "Something tells me not to get closer to it..." he listened to his gut feeling and did not step forward. But instead, that thing came over to him.
"I still cannot see anything but a dark silhouette moving towards me. What is that THING?!" he screamed as that thing suddenly changed form and dashed towards him. "Ahh... so it's the orphanage director after transforming into a manticore," he realized as he slipped backwards and slowly fell down. Just like in slow motion, he could see everything very clearly. That's how he saw its claws just inches away from slicing off his head."So this is-"
...
*GASP!* Arthur collapsed to the ground on his limbs, gasping for air and coughing up blood."W-Wha-"
System: "ARE YOU TIRED OF LIVING ALREADY?!! How can you use a mental cultivation technique in your state if you don't know the basics or want to learn them? Do you want to DIE HOST?!!"
"Mental... what exactly is art?I have no idea what it is, let alone how to do it. Just what is it?"
System: "So you don't even know what it is?! This makes it even WORSE!" If the system had a face and arms, it would have frowned its head in disbelief. "A mental cultivation art or technique is the process of getting stronger through some sort of meditation; energy gathering is a part of it."
Art: " How is that even possible, getting stronger physically through sitting and meditating? Can you enlighten me, or can you teach me?"
System: "I am sorry, Host, I cannot tell you much more, but what you should know is that you enter some kind of space, a special one, as you have experienced it yourself. So after entering, you will train in that endless space that was formed through meditation in your mind. But exercise caution because if you don't know how to control that space, or, to put it another way, get out of that space, you could be trapped inside forever and, in the worst case scenario, die for real!"
Arthur: "Hmm... but why wasn't I able to reach you or that unknown being inside me?"
System: "Your mind or inner self was not strong enough to reach out to us, but you also did not learn mind cultivation, how to escape that space, or how to call us."
Arthur, who was still on the ground, could not believe his ears. Terrified by the thought that he had escaped death by a hair's width, he thought about it more deeply. About why he is not ready, how he could qualify himself, and about how he could have died there. The technique itself did not seem to be that hard to execute, yet why?...
"Something doesn't seem right here?", he realized as he slowly straightened himself up on his legs. "And I can't ask the system because it won't tell me, nor can I ask that unknown being inside of me because I cannot reach it. "Now I am at a dead end... Damn!" he exclaimed as he punched the cave's wall with his fist. "It seems that right now is not the time to continue, yet I absolutely hate it when I am called unworthy!" He punched the wall again, but even harder this time, and destroyed the spot where he hit it. He smashed the wall even more, unable to accept that he was unqualified. In his anger and frustration, he pulled out the twin-bird daggers, The Wren and The Nightingale. In the blink of an eye, he dashed towards the newly spotted enemies and killed some of them before he was forced to take a few steps back, quickly. A stronger spider appeared and attacked Arthur, who dodged every attack by a hair's width after being scratched a few times. Art dodged the attack by getting down and placing his daggers back on his back, his eyes glowing faintly.
"Blazing Blade," with the skill activated, split the spider in half using sword drawing arts.While his blade did not get incarnated, his edge's color got bright and hot while flames spread around it burning away the blood on it. Grining, he dashed towards the enemy forces and fought against them, a few hours later, after a bloody fight, he was resting as well as healing up after the battle. No matter how fast and agile he might be, it is impossible for him to come out of such a bloody massacre unscratched. Well, it would have been nice if scratches were everything. "Damn, I am covered in sweat, blood, and wounds. Arghh! It burns and stings! If... the Queen's pawns are this powerful, how powerful is the Queen herself?Do I even have a chance to win against her?..." Lost in his deep thoughts, he tried to think of a way to survive, but honestly, he had nearly no hope in defeating the queen and ending the quest.
"The quest... well... first of all-... I want to survive and not die! So I will try my best..." He went on motivated after his rest, not knowing what awaited him deeper in the dungeon.