{Ting!}
The clear sound of something glass-like in nature falling woke me up from my trance.
...Huh?
What happened?
My memories were hazy, like I had just woken up from a 1000-year coma. This feeling...It's familiar, but not the same as...my time in that pitch-black darkness. Just like the first memory I have, of being extremely disoriented. What was it that I did back then? Oh right...remembering.
''
Why is it not working?
''
Ugh! Wait, I remember on my own now.
I was fighting that lion, when all of a sudden I lost consciousness, I think. Whatever happened to that lion?
Looking at my surroundings, there is only blood, some my own, some the lion's.
I had been fighting the monster,with the intent of training the Ethereal Strings, when all of a sudden I lost consciousness.
Hey, Mai, do you have any idea what happened?
''
Why...isn't he responding? Thinking about it, when I tried to do what I did back in the pitch-black nothingness, remembering through Mai, I got no response.
Did something happen to Mai? Wait, I remember! His condition should be displayed on the Status screen.
-Status
[Name:####]
[Age:####]
[Body Age:7 days]
[Rank 1]
[HP:6/18]
[MP:7/12,8(->13)]
[Left Eye(Mai####):Comatose,0%]
[Right Eye(####):Dormant,100%]
[???]
Comatose? Also, why is his energy at 0? Just what happened here?
My max MP also rose by a lot, looks like the idea that fighting stronger monsters helps with adaption more was correct. But...What are those question marks at the bottom of my screen? Hmm, I'll think about it later. First, let's get out of here!
I picked up the mana core and ran back to my temporary home.
--------------------
After 2 hours of walking back to the cave I decided to call my own,I've finally come back home. I checked a few times while on the way,but Mai's condition doesn't seem to have improved,which is weird.
Normally,he would've recovered at least a few percentages of energy by now.
At least these 2 hours weren't all too fruitless. It's still a bit blurry,but I remember a bit of what happened between me losing consciousness and the lion monster dying. I remember focusing my full attention on the Ethereal Strings, which is weird, considering I fully remember the lesson i recieved of never losing attention of your enemy.
After that, something pulled me next to the lion and made me deliver a punch that disintegrated it. I honestly have no idea how that happened, but for some reason I'm getting the feeling that I won't be able to do that again on my own. Wouldn't hurt to try it though,but tomorrow.
My head is hurting really really bad because I overused Mai's powers, and my body is very injured.
-Status
[Name:####]
[Age:####]
[Body Age:7 days]
[Rank 1]
[HP:8/18]
[MP:12,8/12,8(->13)]
[Left Eye(Mai####):Comatose,0%]
[Right Eye(####):Dormant,100%]
[???]
Wow, MP really does regenerate extremely quickly, way quicker than my HP at least. Hmm, I think I should be able to absorb the core I got now.
I sat cross-legged, closed my eyes, cleared my mind of any thoughts, and put the mana core next to my own mana core.
I thought about absorbing it, and I felt the mana go from the mana core, into my body, then...not going to my own mana core.
Instead, I lost track of it, which panicked me a lot. I was about to lose my shit, when it crumbled in my hands.
WTF?????????? This didn't happen last time!
-Stutus
[Name:####]
[Age:####]
[Body Age:7 days]
[Rank 1]
[HP:8/18]
[MP:12.8/12.8(->13)]
[Left Eye(Mai####):Comatose,15%]
[Right Eye(####):Dormant,100%]
[???]
Oh, I see how it is. The mana didn't go to my own core, instead it went to Mai. Hmm, 15%,...1.5 MP. I see, I need 10 MP worth of cores to wake up Mai. That sounds...hard. Each fight I've had with a monster left me very bloody, not exactly close to death, but that's only because I had Mai to rely on. If I didn't have Mai, I for sure would have died in my fight against the bear monster, if not during the fight, then right after when I fainted.
Well, at least I now know how to wake him up! That's better than the situation with my right eye...
Well, since this is done, it's about time I go wash this blood off. If Mai were here he would've probably told me I stink...
This cave, unlike the first one I slept in, is very close to a river, so it only took me 3 minutes of walking to get there.
Once I got to the river the first thing I did was untie the big leaf around my crotch and then I went to look at my reflection. Even though it always hurt my heart to look at my reflection, specifically at my right eye, I still did it. It helps me remember one of my most important goals, alongside reaching 99 MP and finding other humans, that is, to awaken my right eye.
But what I saw made my heart ache even worse than usual. My left eye, while not as bad as my right, was way worse than normal. It didn't look quite as dead as my right eye, but...well, I guess Status explains it pretty well, comatose.
I had been feeling a kind of...sadness, fear and loneliness ever since my fight with the lion. It was weak at first but as the minutes went by and then the hours it got worse and worse untill I saw my reflection.
Mai wasn't here with me.
With this thought,I saw a change in the reflection. The young man in it...was crying.