"For how long did I sleep?" Leon asked.
"Just a few seconds," Celsius answered.
"... How did my body returned to normal?" Leon asked.
"What are you talking about?" Celsius asked, and Leon imagined her frowning. "Was something wrong with your body before?"
Now it was time for Leon to frown, was everything he experienced just a dream? After checking his status, Leon noticed that the changes were still there. It wasn't a good idea to keep that kind of thing hidden from his spirits, so Leon told them.
"... It makes sense," Volt said. "The spirit of time undo the time you spent here, Leon. His actions also erased our memories, so most likely, we won't be able to help even if we wanted. Sekundez's fragment doesn't want to make us endure the same test you will have to deal with."
Leon sighed, because that made a lot of sense. Still, just thinking about living again in almost total solitude was enough to make Leon feel shivers. His spirits were still there, but they won't be able to recall the things that will experience there... Sekundez's fragment was much more powerful than Leon thought, and judging by the fact that it made Leon return on time and didn't say anything, Leon would have to endure that more than a few times before the spirit show itself in front of Leon.
"There is only one thing I can do here... speed up this damn process."
Leon finally could understand what Ilyana meant when she said that he wasn't ready for that trial. Even though Leon could understand the rules of the trial, he wasn't sure if he would be able to endure that for long. Repeating the same process over and over again while worrying about Earth's situation would drive him mad eventually. Ilyana was powerful, but there was only so much a single person could do. Besides, he spent several years in a world that was on the third stage of assimilation. So, her power could be considered to be on the fifth stage... she couldn't defeat the ones who were on the sixth stage.
Congratulations! Your stamina has increased by one point.
Congratulations! Your Endurance has increased by one point.
Congratulations! The skill Haste Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Electric Armor has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Thunder Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
"Well, think about the good side of this..." Leon said to himself moments before he collapsed for the second time. "I will be able to increase my endurance without using status points."
Congratulations! Your willpower has increased by one point.
Congratulations! Your mentality has increased by one point.
Leon woke up when he received those notifications, he didn't know what he did to increase his mentality, but it looked like overcome some mental hardships would increase that as well. If willpower decreased annoying adverse status effects, mentality also could increase by enduring them, at least at a slower speed.
Regardless, Leon got up and started to run. He could feel the confusion of his spirits, so Leon quickly informed them again about the things he discovered so far. This time they felt a bit troubled by it because the difference in strength between them in the spirit of the time was absolute. It was unfortunate, but Leon couldn't afford to waste time thinking about it.
Congratulations! The skill Haste Resistance has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Electric Armor has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Congratulations! The skill Lion's Pride has leveled up.
You obtained 01 status points.
Although usually, the increase of stamina and endurance would grant Leon the chance to run for a while longer, Haste, Electric Armor, and even Lion's Pride increased his speed with every level up and countered those effects. The time Leon could keep himself running non-stop was roughly eleven days, and that didn't change... even when Leon completed the fifth cycle.
"Fifty-five days have already passed... I can't waste more time with this," Leon said. "I'm going to kill the spirit and obtain its power."
"What?!" Celsius said, visibly astonished. "Have you lost your mind?"
"Even if you could, and you can't, you won't reach him unless you deal with his time trap," Undine said. "You are just letting the blood rush to your head."
"Calm down, Leon," Volt said. "There is always a chance that he is making sure that time passes much faster here. We all know that those who seek our power want something, and only a fool or someone who clearly needs its power would try to find the spirit of the time."
After explaining the situation for the fifth time for his spirits, Leon decided to take some drastic measures. They were right, Leon couldn't defeat the spirit, and there was also a chance that Volt was right... but there was also a chance that they were wrong. It would be difficult. It would be difficult, but if Leon focuses to several days in creating a massive amount of plasma, there was a chance that his attacks could ignore the effects of the time trap and of the temple.