The waters of the healing lake rippled as Arthur slowly regained consciousness from his fainting spell. The soft light of the sun, reflecting off the lake's surface, gradually wove together the wounds of the two fighters. Arthur floated on his back, his eyes half-open. Across from him, Jing Liu—who had woken up earlier—sat at the edge of the lake, reflecting on the shortcomings of her fighting style. She already knew what abilities she wanted to add once she reached level 30. Her breathing was still ragged, though the frost on her skin had begun to fade.
"Ugh, that was an intense sparring match," Jing Liu said, sticking out her tongue playfully.
"Yeah, looks like we went a little overboard. But a sparring match this intense can only happen inside this space. After fighting, we can recover in peace, and thanks to that, we get to see our own weaknesses," Arthur replied with a small laugh, though his tone remained serious.
"Good thing you both realize that. That was way too much for just a spar," the System said in a calm voice.
"Yeah, you two really went too far. I even thought about stopping you, but I held back because it might interfere with you getting used to your new powers," added the Master Dwarf, walking toward Arthur and Jing Liu while carrying a black battle suit. The suit immediately caught Arthur's attention.
"Wait, what's that? Not that I want to complain, but wasn't I asking for a spirit tool to disguise my appearance?" Arthur asked, confused.
"Of course I know that. But this is a disguise spirit tool. It doesn't just change your appearance—it also alters your clothes and body shape. And it can repair itself using ambient spirit energy. Pretty cool, right?" the Master Dwarf replied confidently.
Hearing that, Arthur was relieved he wouldn't have to worry about his clothes getting ruined in the future. But Jing Liu stared at him with sparkling, playful eyes, and their gleam nearly blinded Arthur. Later, Arthur promised to ask the Master Dwarf to make one for her in the future.
"Art, I think we need to head back to the academy. It's already been six days in the outside world. Didn't we only ask for seven days off? We need to get back before they send out a search party," Jing Liu said, suddenly remembering.
"So my awakening took ten days, huh? That's pretty long," Arthur replied after hearing Jing Liu's words.
"Alright, let's go back to the academy. This trip turned out to be more intense than we expected—from fighting a thousand-year-old beast, to sacrificing the spirit ring, and then my awakening," Arthur said, recalling the events that had just passed.
After that, Arthur put on the battle suit and reverted to his pre-awakening appearance. He then looked out from his dimension and saw that the battlefield had changed drastically. It seemed no humans had approached the area yet—probably because the surroundings had turned into a lake of lava filled with sharp crystals and toxic fog. Just as Arthur was about to use his spirit tool to teleport away, the Master Dwarf told him that he sensed the soul bones of the Black Iron Turtle. Hearing that, Arthur scanned the area, teleported directly above the turtle's stomach, and moved the remaining shell and bones into his dimensional space. Then, he quickly teleported away from the area.
And with that, the flashback came to an end.
TO BE CONTINUED...