The Author's POV

"Does anyone have potions? Quick!"

I panicked when I felt Smallsnake's body and his heartbeat weakening. Feeling his body which was extremely hot, I knew that the situation was extremely bad.

'Not today!'

Pressing my hands against his chest, I started to move my body up and down as I tried to get the blood running through his body.

I was currently waiting for someone to give me a potion. Only a potion could save Smallsnake.

"Quick!"

I shouted out loud as I noticed Smallsnake's condition worsening.

"Here."

Thankfully, Amanda was quick to react as she handed me what seemed to be a small potion.

As I was in a hurry, I didn't get a proper look at the potion, but feeling the texture of the bottle, I knew that it was a really expensive one. I was secretly thankful inside my heart.

Pressing my hand against Smallsnake's mouth and opening it up slightly, I gently poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth.

Watching as the liquid poured into his mouth, I could feel sweat trickling down from the side of my face.

"Please work..."

For the first time in my life, I felt genuine panic as I waited for the potion to take effect.

I wasn't the only one panicking, as Ryan shook Smallsnake's body and moved closer to him. Tears had started to gather from the corner of his eyes as he hugged Smallsnake's body tightly.

"Please don't die, please don't die, please don't die…"

His voice was rather frail, evident that he was also in a similar state to mine.

Behind him, the others were also showing similar reactions as they anxiously stared at Smallsnake's body on the ground.

"Done."

Throwing the now empty bottle away, I slumped back and gazed in Smallsnake's direction.

'Please work.'

I thought to myself as I suddenly felt something press against my forehead, wiping some of the sweat away.

"Thank you."

Upon noticing Amanda standing beside me, I thanked her for wiping away the sweat on my side of the face.

"…It'll be okay. You've already done everything you can for him. All you can do at this moment is hope that he recovers."

She quietly reassured me as I felt her soft hand grasp mine.

"Huuu…"

I wasn't sure whether it was because of her sudden actions, or her calm demenour, but I slowly also started to calm down as I gratefully looked at Amanda.

"Thank you."

I once again thanked her as I shifted my attention back to Smallsnake.

'She's right, I've already done whatever I could for Smallsnake. It will be up to him from this point forward.'

Given that the potion Amanda had given me was a highly ranked one, I expected its effects to be rather quick, but as minutes passed and Smallsnake's condition didn't improve, my complexion started to sour.

"Did it not work?"

I weakly mumbled out loud as my head lowered.

My hand grasped at my clothes as a familiar pain engulfed my chest.

I couldn't quite describe what I was feeling, but it felt as though all the energy had been taken away from my body.

"Shit…"

loud, as I felt guilt creep up into my

I should've refused Kevin's offer once I realized that something wrong was going on with

been more cautious, none

I had, I should've known better to be more prepared, but my sudden actions had prompted this

that I was being harsh on myself and that my faults lied elsewhere, but these thoughts never stopped appearing

"Smallsnake!"

high-pitched voice rang in the

"What happened?"

the first thing I noticed was his twitching

"Move away."

moved over to Smallsnake and placed my hand

"...It's working."

by the second, all the previous pain that I had experienced dissipated and I felt a

"Thank god…thank god…"

quietly mumbled to myself as the others also showed similar reactions to

Ryan who hugged his body and quietly

chest tightly, he

"Thank you..thank you…"

a weird feeling as I stared at Ryan

of them must

on Ryan's face was an indication of how much he cared for

did I finally realize just how much of an influence Smallsnake had on the lives of each and everyone in

"Thank god…"

stood up and

"Where are you going?"

asked as he followed me from behind. Secretly wiping the corner of my eyes, I turned to look in his direction and beckoned Angelica to

know that there isn't

"...You're right."

head as

particular rooms, I looked

Jin is located, that one is where Emma is located, and that's where Han

anything for a couple of seconds. Just as I was about to say something, she nodded

"Okay."

headed toward Emma's room. The reason for this was Kevin who was standing next to it, waiting for Angelica to come to him. On the outside, he appeared to be patiently waiting for her, but as I

"As expected of him."

head as I imprinted the scene inside of my

"…He never changes."

***

Drip—! Drip—!

"Huuu…1035…huuuu…1036…"

dripped down her face, Emma performed

now reached all the way toward her back, gently fell in front of her face, covering her eyes. Nonetheless, this did not stop her as she continued doing push-ups on the

"1037…1038…"

strange environment, Emma never once found

she felt a lot more relaxed than back

that place, this place was

her mana was currently sealed, it didn't stop

stronger one's body, the quicker their strength

was, the more mana it could withstand,

was something that was quite well known, and even taught

required to train the body, and the little improvement they would receive from a better body would easily be surpassed by those that only focused

Emma did

a waste of time, but as she continued to do push-ups and she felt her muscles contracting, Emma realized how naive her previous view

a foundation for a building. The stronger the structure at the bottom

lowered her body and continued

"Huu…1045…1046…hm?"

Kriii—!

through her push-up, Emma heard a familiar rock grating sound and stopped doing

too early for

the door would open every day at a specific time. She had only just

was

"Ugh…"

Emma felt a wave of warm and humid air enter the

Emma was forced to

"Emma!"

was right at that moment that she heard a familiar voice coming from the opposite