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…"

as I felt guilt creep up into

let this happen? I should've refused Kevin's offer once I

more cautious, none of this

the experiences I had, I

faults lied elsewhere, but these thoughts never stopped appearing inside my mind. In

"Smallsnake!"

that Ryan's high-pitched voice rang in the room and my

"What happened?"

the first thing

"Move away."

moved over to Smallsnake and placed my hand against his neck,

"...It's working."

experienced dissipated and I felt a wave of relief enshroud my body as my shoulders relaxed and I slumped back

"Thank god…thank god…"

quietly mumbled to myself as the others also showed

who hugged his body

chest tightly,

"Thank you..thank you…"

a weird feeling as I stared at Ryan hugging

two of them must have developed a

pain on Ryan's face was an indication

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

"Thank god…"

again as I slowly stood up and

"Where are you going?"

of my

know that there isn't much time left. We should

"...You're right."

head as his

towards three particular rooms, I looked

is where Emma is located, and that's

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

"Okay."

outside, he appeared to be patiently waiting for her, but as I noticed the hurried taps of

"As expected of him."

I imprinted the

"…He never changes."

***

Drip—! Drip—!

"Huuu…1035…huuuu…1036…"

down her face, Emma performed

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…"

had appeared in this strange environment, Emma never once found herself out of

relaxed than back when

this place was like

though her mana was currently sealed, it didn't stop Emma from

dad said, the stronger one's body, the

and more well-trained a body was, the more

was quite well known, and

paid a lot of attention to this as a lot of time was also 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 in

body was a waste of time, but as she continued to do push-ups and she felt

stronger the structure at the bottom is, the safer and more durable the building will

far, she lowered her body and

"Huu…1045…1046…hm?"

Kriii—!

heard a familiar rock grating sound and stopped

too early for them to

every day at a specific time. She had only just returned

was going

"Ugh…"

spill in, and Emma felt a wave of warm and

light, Emma was

"Emma!"

right at that moment that she heard a familiar voice coming from