Chapter 263 Ysa

Ysa and the two other six-tailed Fox Spirits led the three boys in different directions. Ysa glanced back at Lee Seng a couple of times before she finally stopped near a fairly open space. Lee Seng noticed the hand gun attached to her waist. She spun around under the shade of the tree while Lee Seng stood at the edge of the shade. The suns were right above them and his eyes were making him look more Asian.

"If you're blinded by the suns, you can come into the shade." Ysa motioned him over. Lee Seng nodded and moved into the shade. "Explain to me what happened this morning."

"Well…" Lee Seng looked at the yellow tails clumping together. They slightly parted, revealing Ysa's six tails. Her outfit looked like it would pass back home. Her army boots stuck out the most. She folded her arms together and tapped her fingers, waiting for him to respond. "I joined General Halys and the others on the trail run today. I was told to keep this on." He looked down. "The Dark Ma–"

"You don't need to explain to me what it is. I'm very familiar with Dark Matter energy." Ysa waved her hand to dismiss his potential explanation. She took a step closer and studied the suit. "This is a new occurrence, right?"

"Ye-yeah." Lee Seng stuttered. She circled him.

"Continue."

"W-well…" Lee Seng normally didn't feel so uncomfortable with people studying him. He rarely cared. He always busied his mind and waited, but Ysa made him feel uncomfortable. The way she walked around him, studying his form, maybe even the way her arms were folded. Something about her made him uncomfortable. "Well, it happened when I fought H– General Halys. I took on this new form. When we left for the cabin, we ran into the Sprite, Florabelle. She was still under the mishap of some Fox Spirits playing with runes from way back when."

"Ah," Ysa chuckled. She made her way back to her starting point. "That."

"Yeah," Lee Seng nodded. "Turns out she used that altered form to not get targeted by the angered spirits in the cabin. This form triggered again and I went under the influence of…" He stopped.

"Of what?"

"I, uh…" Lee Seng's voice trailed off. Ysa pursed her lips together and sighed.

'Should I tell her about the Protocol?' Lee Seng wondered. He didn't respond for a while. She didn't mind that he didn't say anything. She studied him. It was a habit of hers. She studied people. Not because she found it interesting, it was a habit. A habit her vessel had. The wealth of knowledge she knew because of her vessel's background, allowed Ysa to do her job well.

"You can withhold any information you don't feel comfortable sharing with me." Ysa told him. Lee Seng looked up. He clearly didn't think he could do that sort of thing. She tried to shift her 'dissatisfied' look into a more neutral one but it was hard for her.

,m "I also get the comment that I look like I'm dissatisfied or angry all the time. Resting bitch face. I think that's what humans call it. Don't take it too personally. It's just how it is." Ysa told him. "But like I said, tell me whatever you're comfortable with. Business can stay business. You don't have to bring personal things into this." Lee Seng loosened a bit.

'Good.' She thought. He took a deep sigh and nodded.

"I wasn't myself. That's one of the suit's negative effects. Sometimes I'm not myself and I wasn't for a while, but I managed to snap out of it and we barely managed to fight the two ghosts. The Witch was the hardest to fight and I took too much decay and poison. I was out for a couple of days. We went on the trail and I had to keep this form for training." Lee Seng continued his explanation.

"You still haven't turned it off?" Ysa asked.

"General Halys said to not turn it off during the trail but I just haven't really felt the need to shut it off. I guess it's just extra DM endurance training."

"So what happened on the trail then?"

"When General Halys cleaned my system of decay and poison, he also cleaned out these black tentacle worms. Apparently those things have been in my system for years, clogging my body. So when I went to use my abilities, it just felt different. Not as effective as it was. Like my body's setting was resetted."

"A reset?" Ysa raised her eyebrows.

"Mmm," Lee Seng nodded. "Like it resetted. The flow of DM doesn't feel like muddy water anymore. It feels like regular water."

"You mind doing a demonstration for me?" Ysa asked.

"A de-demonstration?" Lee Seng stuttered. Ysa nodded.

"Like I said, I'm a strategist, an observer of sorts. My vessel actually has a history of this sort of thing and the us now uses it because it's a habit. Show me your normal output and what you used to do. Could you do that?:

"S-sure." Lee Seng nodded. He stepped back into the sunlight. Ysa turned to watch him.

'His energy really does feel like a Fox Spirit's… I wonder what he'll show me then.'

Lee Seng lifted his hand and began to shoot out blasts of gravity blasts. He took a quick pause and imagined bigger blasts. The blasts he usually did. The blasts rocketed out of his hand. He could feel the negative growing on his hand now.

'The negative grew. It's like how it was then.' Lee Seng realized the difference. Ysa's eyes glowed a yellow aura. She studied the energy outputs and noticed a huge difference.

"Alright," Ysa's voice called out to him. "You can stop." Lee Seng lowered his arm and turned to look at her. Ysa moved over to him, leaving the shade. Lee Seng immediately noticed her eyes had rings of yellow. She lifted her hand and looked at him. "Gimme your hand."

Lee Seng placed his hand into hers and watched as she hovered her other hand over. She closed her eyes and yellow energy began to move around his hand. Her mouth puckered and went back to normal a couple of times before she began to nod.

"Your energy channels must've not been all opened when you got the Serum." Ysa guessed. "I'm seeing some channels that were recently opened. There's a strange residue leftover. I guess that's the thing the General pulled out of you?" She shifted in her spot. "I do see signs of energy damage, too."

"Energy damage?" Lee Seng stuttered.

"It's what happens when you push your body too hard. The output and power levels are different. If they aren't the same, your body could take massive damage. It looks like you've sustained quite a number." Ysa opened her eyes, making eye contact with the almost young adult. "You must have had a doctor watching you progress, right?"

"Yeah… Dr. Valentin, why?" Lee Seng answered. Ysa bit her lip.

"Dr. Valentin? Hmmm, he should've been able to see these sorts of things then. Did he ever mention anything to you about energy damage or just anything off with your body?" Ysa released Lee Seng's hand and folded her arms together, again.

"He said the Dark Matter levels were growing like they should. He did mention my body was still adjusting to everything so I shouldn't push myself, but he never mentioned any damage done to me."

"Human tech should've caught this." Ysa pursed her lips. She tapped her chin and began to shake her head. "Was Dr. Valentin the doctor the Creator chose for you?"

"I chose him. I didn't want a stranger to know about… everything." Lee Seng answered. Ysa nodded and unfolded her arms, shifting her stance.

"Well, since you have energy damage, we'll have to just do some repairs now."

"R-repairing? How?" Lee Seng took a step back. Ysa didn't budge from her spot. She simply continued explaining.

"Energy repairing. Humans haven't perfected the technique but the Fox Spirits have. General Halys' Jurya Root and bath salts. Those are one form of body repairing. It helps your physical body. There are other forms of nature remedies that could do the same to your energy channels, but that would be the slow method. I'll mention to the Captain you'll need some of that, but we'll need Victoria for this." Ysa told him.

"Victoria?" Lee Seng asked.

"The seven-tailed Fox Spirit with blue tails. Victoria. She's an Observer. A healer. She'll be able to help with the energy repair."

"What is she gonna do exactly?" Lee Seng asked.

"She'll submerge you in water, keeping an air bubble on your face so you can breathe. She'll start the repairing process and I'll assist her. It's harmless and won't fully repair your energy channels, but you shouldn't feel that feeling you felt when you were on the trail as much." Ysa explained. Lee Seng had a worried look on his face like he still wasn't convinced. "Don't worry, okay? You can talk to Victoria, herself, and get a feel for her. She'll explain to you what she's going to do as well and if you aren't convinced, we can just give you some natural remedies, okay?"