There was a sudden staring contest. Sarey was eyeing the talking figurine with a more than a questionable gaze.
“Will you answer my question?” She asked.
“You first.” Voice shouted at her.
“This is my home, my house, my rules. I can just toss you outside and no one in the world will care about it.” Sarey said with none of the issues with the figurine would bother her.
“How savage. Alright... Alright. Let’s calm down. I want to know the situation as well.” Voice said after suddenly calming down.
“Fine. I will be generous enough. Ask away.” Sarey said in a domineering fashion. She felt like this thing was sounding somewhat miserable by not being polite.
“In what part of the universe we are at the moment?”
“Part? I don’t know. This knowledge is not something that is learned about anywhere. We don’t need to be aware of such things.”
“So just some backwater part. Great. That’s just great. Hehehehhe.” Voice laughed and at the end sounded more like crying.
“Hey. No need to be sad.” Sarey was trying to calm it down.
“What do you know? Bah... Fine. Ask a question.”
“Uh? Hmmm. Are you an energy user, or used to be one? You are a vengeful spirit, aren’t you?”
“You... Where the fuck did I end up? You are a completely clueless brat. Wait... I don’t even know my current state. Consider me the one who is and the one who was. I guess.“ The voice came to some sense.
“Then who are you?” Sarey asked.
“No-no-no. My turn.”
“Fine.”
“Who is this boy?”
“I don’t know. I and my father found him rather messed up a few days ago. He remained unconscious ever since.”
“I can see that. Broken to the bones, while suffering beatings worth the death.” Voice said as if it understood something.
“Who are you?” Sarey asked without waiting for some interruptions.
Voice paused for some moment.
“Hey! You can answer at least that much.” She said again.
“This... I can freely talk to you? Who are you? Wait. Wait. What strange thing occurred before my summon?”
“How should I know? Summon... You just appeared after I woke up in this room. How am I supposed to know something that I have no idea about?”
“There should be something more. This is nothing simple or normal for your little knowledge of the world, brat.”
“Well. There was a glowing book last night, or you simply appeared out of nowhere.” Sarey sarcastically added.
“Show it to me. I have a limited field of vision. That book should be the reason for all I care.”
Sarey grabbed a book that was behind the figurine on the ground. It has remained here since the previous day.
“There it is.” She shoves it right into the figurine's face.
“Bloody demon! How did you manage to find something like this?”
“You ask too many questions, sir.” Sarey was getting impatient with this madman of a voice.
“Grrhah! You are so righteous. I am a prisoner of that book. As for the name... I guess you can call me Number 36.”
Alright, 36. It is not that hard to be sincere.
“How do you know if I am sincere?”
“Because you are?”
Voice fell speechless for a few moments. “What a naive girl.” He thought.
“Your turn now.” She said calmly.
“Screw this! What is a point in any of this?” He shouted angrily.
“Are you mentally handicapped or what?” Sarey asked with fake concern. She was making fun of someone else’s worry.
“Shut up...”
“Then what can I do for you? Do you want to get out of this book?” She pointed to her hand with the other one where was a brown leather book.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“You can’t help me, I think.”
“If you think so, it could always be wrong.”
“Ugh...” 36 was somewhat fed up with her positivity. He wanted to live, but after seeing the situation, his helplessness was further raised by her or his own mistakes within his situation.
“Can you tell me this boy’s condition?”
“He is alive, at least. He had a bloody wound on his chest, and scars and wounds around his whole body. Broken bones and lack of blood as well. He got messed up pretty badly, but I don’t know further details.”
“I see. What about his head? Is it fine?”
“I did not meet any doctor who checked that.”
“At least your word has some medical knowledge. It shouldn’t be too rural.”
“Excuse me, 36. We, mortals, have our ways, too.” Sarey said without many emotions. “His eyes are beyond saving. His sockets were bloodied and nothing remained.”
“Bloody demon... This boy will be helpless.”
“Is there some way to help him with what you know about?”
“Of course there are. From where I am from, there are many ways to solve these issues, but they come from within yourself. External help is not something that is crazy to find, as they are incredibly rare, but possible if we are talking about just mortals. There are medicines that could save a mortal from the brink of death. Assuming this boy is mortal.”
“Do you think he is not? My father said there is no way he is someone with energy.”
“I doubt your father knows more than me. Heheheheh.” Voice smugly said. His emotions were changing at a rapid speed.
“Then try to help him, if it's something that you can do.” Sarey said without a second thought. 36 was talking as if he was all-knowing himself. She thought it was just some made-up things, but what if there is some way what this "person" knew about? Sarey's mind was revolving about possibilities that she knew about. Mostly the knowledge of what she learned from her teacher, Terg.
“I doubt you have access to any resources or ways I am talking about. If you are from mortal words, there is no way his condition can get any better.”
“He did get better, though. You should have seen him when we found him.”
“So his body is special?” 36 asked. “What if there is a possibility for my survival if that's the case? I can't possibly imagine an owner of this diary to be anyone normal.” 36 assumed little what he knew. To his utter obviousness, he was quite wrong.
“I think so, but no one else does.” Sarey said truthfully.
“I don’t have a way to check his condition. Could you assist me with that?”
“Sure.” Sarey answered without hesitation. Normally, there would be some doubts when undergoing such an odd encounter, but she could be flexible.
“I want you to check that book’s first few pages. There should be some introductory arts for body techniques.”
“Art? This is a martial arts manual?” Sarey said in shock. “But there was nothing within it when I opened it apart from what seemed like gibberish?”
“ So you can open it? It is not yours to begin with, but whatever. It belongs to this boy, yet your help with be very good.”
She opened it, but there were the same walls of an unknown dense packed language. Sarey also shoved it to 36's face, but his vision was limited.
“I can’t see it properly either. How disappointing. Wait... I can probably teach it to you myself from my prison!” 36 suddenly got an excellent idea.
“What exactly?” Sarey said questionably.
“The technique within this book can help him greatly if it's done correctly. It is actually within the opening, so there should be no issue when it comes to progression.” 36 said with big excitement about the slim possibility. Perhaps he found a solution for his biggest worry.
There was no other option for him other than gritting his teeth and enduring this mess. If he can get it over with. He will have a chance to become more powerful than before. Although, it was a run against the time. 36 considered the best options. He had a resource that he was unfamiliar with, yet he was forced to learn and teach the way of body forging what he was unfamiliar with. It went without a question, there is gonna be a humongous challenge to keep his life.
“Considering the lack of essential items that are not within your reach. I suggest buying a set of acupoint needles. Better the quality if possible.”
“I guess there are some in town. I could travel to Griontese city where should be some readily available.”
“Good. That should be enough for now. Once you will have it. Summon me and I will teach you a way to help me.”
“What I will get in return?” Sarey asked calmly.
36 went silent for another moment.
“What!? There is no free meal in the world.” She said, justifying her opinion.
“Then what do you want?” 36 couldn’t help but cursed in his mind while dealing with this girl.
“Nothing for now. Just don’t have an evil intention of helping this boy.”
“As if I have other options... My life is more important than anyone else’s.” He thought.
“No problem.” He confirmed.
“Good. I will get a suitable set of needles as fast as I can. Goodbye for now.”
“Wait… I have been here for an entire night. I… don’t know how to leave.”
“I don’t even know how you showed up. Just try to wait until I am back.” Sarey said without worrying.
“No! I need to leave! There is a limit I can stay outside of my prison. How was I summoned anyway?”
Sarey could not be bothered by him. She left before being stalled any further.
“Then just leave yourself.” She said behind the corner as she disappeared in a try to mock his helplessness.
A colorful vortex suddenly appeared from the book she left on a chair.
“Huh?! Hooooooeeey!” 36 screamed as his vision blurred. The figurine was sucked away into the vortex. In a moment, it disappeared.
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In the room which was illuminated by glossy shards on the walls. Number 36 was woken up as the vision in his eye was no longer lost. He regained his mind within his ghostly body after being sucked away into the real world.
“WHAT! I am back? Good. Good.” He sighed in relief.
“This doesn’t make any sense. What can I believe in? Are those rules just for fun and giggles? I wonder if those fuckers who locked me here are even aware of this?” He slammed his shimmering hand at the table. It did not make much noise, but it still eased his mind.
Seeing the books and scroll before him, 36 felt rather dejected. He put both hands on his forehead and rested his elbows on the table.
“I need to worry about the next steps. That girl is not really important, as I can consider it a good thing she was there to begin with. If that boy has some potential, I need to grab whatever I can. ”
He began to flip through the content on the table. His earlier hesitation was hard to find now as his vast amount of experiences within the immortal lands began to show some sensible ideas. These could mean nothing much in the current circumstance, as the way of body forging was the only path that a mortal could walk with work and suffering without a Spark of immortality.
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Sarey was walking back to her room. Still having a hard time coming to terms with this sudden guest. She was rather reluctant to be so brave, but at the end of the day, she decided to trust 36.
After changing to her outside attire. Dressed in a cotton robe and leather vest with a hood, she moved towards the town.