Chapter 187: Lonely Path

After an indefinite amount of time, Arthur's consciousness returned to him. He sat up as the sticky vomit clung to his clothes. Repulsed, he took off the black shirt and threw it away. His breaths came in intervals and his throat was shaking when he exhaled. 

Closing his eyes and opening them did next to nothing to calm him down. The only thing that did, however, was time. In the end, he regained his ability to think clearly.

The stench of his stomach acids pricked his nose as Arthur sat there, his hands on the ground. His mind was in turmoil with what he had just seen. 

The power to alter the world was different from the power of creation. If his power of creation came from runes, then the power of alternation came from that being. 

'His eyes…' 

They were Arthur's eyes. Or maybe Arthur's eyes were that being's eyes. Arthur wasn't sure of what to think anymore. He took out a mirror from his subspace and examined his face. As he saw his eyes, his body slightly trembled. 

'I thought I received these eyes from Jizo, who also had golden eyes.' Arthur pondered. 'However, that was in no way Jizo. That was something else entirely. Are the two related?' 

Arthur began researching his runes for answers, but he only ended up with more questions. Where did his power come from? What was he supposed to do with it? 

After thinking for a while, he realized he was wasting his time. No matter how much he tried, there will be a missing piece that he has yet to know. 

With a wave of his hand, the ground was cleaned by the fortress's runes. Arthur picked himself and left the workshop. He walked back weakly toward his room. 

As he was walking, Hua, Zas, and Ivy passed by. It seems they were heading toward the training hall when they saw Arthur topless. 

"Damn, did I miss Nudity Friday?" Zas grumbled in sarcasm but Arthur was too disturbed to entertain him. 

He ignored the group and Hua's flirty stares at his body as she played with her brown hair and headed straight to his room. As soon as he was there, he fell on his bed and slept.

*** 

After he woke up, he felt a lot better. At the very least, he regained his ability to focus on things. Not willing to think about the itch in the back of his mind, Arthur decided to study. 

He took out one of the artifacts that he gained from the dragon. It was a whip with runes covering its handle. As he started studying it, Arthur got the information of what it was. 

[Restrain-III: Use mana to restrain the physical movement of the target. Lasts for one hour. Can be broken with 200 points of strength.] [0%.] 

Arthur was overjoyed at the prospect of a new rune. He began studying but he was shocked at how slow the percentage rose. He started using the artifact but it was still slow compared to the runes before. 

'Maybe because this is the third form of this rune.' Arthur realized. The runes he learned until now were basic-tier. Furthermore, most of his runes were either rewards or purchased.' 

Nonetheless, Arthur studied hard. After getting the percentage to 10%, it became even slower. It was already the end of the day when Arthur had the mind to study something similar to his rune's specialty. 

"The effect of mana on obstructing the body?" Sier tilted his head with confusion. "I've studied something similar before, but it was such a long time that I can't remember the details. Try searching for it online." Sier said before turning back to look at Li and Ivy sparring. 

"As if there's an internet connection here." Arthur was speechless. 

"Oh, right." Sier nodded after a while making Arthur doubt that he was healthy. "Talk to Ruby, she can get you connected." 

Arthur left the training hall and headed toward the second layer, where the runic jet was. He found Ruby there fixing something up. 

"Ruby!" Arthur called out and she stopped working immediately. Arthur was stunned at the different response from usual. She stopped working and came skip-walking his way directly. 

"Arthur, my dearest friend! Are you here to teach me?" She asked with sparks in her eyes. 

"Uh," Arthur paused. "I have some research to do, so I need an internet connection. I'll teach you after I'm done." 

"I got you, bro!" He was already being called 'bro' by her. She took out a pouch filled with storage artifacts before pulling one. She then took out a laptop from it and handed it over to Arthur. 

"Take this! It's connected to our Satellite." 

"Our Satellite?" Arthur was confused. He looked at the laptop and Ruby. "How? What satellite?" 

"Well, that's a long story. Si bought a satellite for me as a birthday present. It's not mine, it just has my name on it. It's connected to a network of other satellites and thus gives us a strong internet connection." 

"Oh, alright." Arthur nodded and took the laptop and left. 

"Don't forget to teach me!" Ruby called after him making him quicken his pace. 

Once he was back in his room, he opened the laptop and saw that there was no signal. With a sigh, he picked it up and teleported toward the top of the fortress. He finally received a connection and opened the laptop as he began researching. 

After an hour of surfing, Arthur found many open-sourced articles about mana and physical restrain. There were many types of interferences with the body. For example, some runes or abilities could interfere with the muscles causing them to paralyze. 

Other runes could create compressed air to restrain the body as the user wishes. The mana would compress the air until it's strong enough to give the mana a physical shape. This was called the Balloon Method.

Arthur kept researching every bit of it but what he could access online was limited. He remembered his runic bracelet but he feared connecting to the Association's network lest they realize he was still alive. 

Night arrived and Arthur teleported back into his room. He threw the laptop on the bed and headed out to have dinner with the others. 

On the way, he checked his progress in the Restrain rune and found that it had increased by a full 10% because of his research. He grinned with satisfaction and went over to the dining hall. 

"Oh, you're wearing your shirt this time!" Zas joked and Arthur simply shrugged. Ivy slapped Zas on the head before offering Arthur a bowl of her handmade soup. 

"Are you feeling alright?" She was asking about his body. Arthur nodded with a smile and asked about her health too. 

"Okay, we are all wounded." Sier sighed and the rest of them laughed. They sat around the table and Arthur found a seat next to Ivy. As he sat down, Hua slipped into the seat next to him. 

"I know that it has been a while since we gathered like this." Sier lifted his cup. "Let's take the time for us to bond." 

Arthur felt Hua's hand rest on his knee and started to make its way upward. He frowned and tried to stop her by placing his hand on his thigh, but she simply held his hand. 

"Cheers!" Arthur toasted with others and gulped his cup. As he did this, he pushed Hua's hand away and ignored the situation. 

Ivy was talking to Sier that was sitting next to her about something, so he couldn't pretend to have a conversation with her. He decided to eat his meal silently but Hua leaned forward and talked to him. 

"I'm sorry about your shoulder, Newbie," Hua whispered a sincere apology. "How about I make it up to you?" She asked in a seductive voice. 

Arthur almost choked on his food. 

"No, there's no need!" He shook his head awkwardly. "You were trying to help, it's just that my body was pretty messed up." 

"You were cool in the arena." Hua smiled sweetly and her green eyes arched. "I almost fell for you right there." 

Despite being eighteen, Arthur had very little interaction with women. This was attributed to his dense head, as his mother said, and the fact that he didn't have a lot of chances to interact with them. 

"Haha, you flatter me. It's a runic card that was passed down in my family." Arthur lied. 

"Hm, I see. You used such an important item to save me." 

"No, no. I was saving myself and all of us!" Arthur almost choked on his food again. What kind of delusion was she dreaming of?

Hua looked at him silently with a sullen face. It seems she was debating whether Arthur was rejecting her advances or simply an idiot. Arthur finished his food hurriedly and said he had work to do before running away to his room. 

He was planning to study until he's too exhausted to do anything other than that. He did understand what Hua was aiming for, but he couldn't afford to entertain such thoughts. The first reason being his research and the second one being that he was untrusting of her. 

He was a healthy man, after all. That's why even though his body said yes, he couldn't give in to such things.

However, her advances made him feel something he didn't enjoy the luxury of for a while. His lust was reignited by Hua's touch and advances so he'd have to take the lonely path tonight. 

'Truly, it's a difficult thing to undertake the way of science.' Arthur sighed in the empty corridor.