Out Of Commission

Sitting in a white room with his legs crossed and a black gourd that trembled from time to time in front of him was Tion and at the moment, his usually calm face was covered in sweat.

At the moment, Tion was gripping his fist tight while also gritting his teeth and with how much his eyes were twitching, anyone who saw him would know he was in a world of pain.

"Say are you sure we shouldn't do this up in the study room, if anything goes wrong, I can easily call for help."

"...."

"I'm not doubting you, I'm just doubting your experience, you yourself just barely understand what you are and the things you can do, for all we know you can make a mistake or undecimated how bad the situation is"

"….."

"Huh, you are infallible in matters that concern me and you."

"...."

"That's arrogant." Tion thought and then a long vein suddenly appeared on his head before disappearing.

Though when he had woken up he hadn't gotten to ask how long he had been unconscious, Tion knew that he had been subject to intense pain due to encountering a rare phenomenon known as mana deviation when he fought Potters.

Tion could still vividly remember how his insides seemed to have caught fire and began burning, how it felt like they were being pulled out and then being cut into bits.

The memory of what had happened that day was still fresh in his mind and still made him shiver, yet in the end, here he was not up to a week later going through another painful ordeal.

This time it wasn't like it was Tion's fault though. 

The second Tion had woken up, right before he could even register his location and the several women that were around him, a heavy headache had hit him and a warning for him to find an isolated place had been transmitted to him by his gourd.

Apparently, the mana deviation hadn't just screwed up Tion's body and mana, it had also screwed with his avatar spirit, most especially affecting the absorption process of the lightening avatar spirit.

Instead of the trickles of memory which Tion was used to receiving and easily pushing to the back of his mind for future use, this time a storm of memories that were not his had flooded his head and now it took him all he had not to scream out in anguish as his brain tried to handle the overload while the gourd tried to regain control of the process.

Though it looked like this was just an issue of receiving too much information, the truth was that there was more to it and Tion was in a very dangerous situation

Feelings of anger, love, sadness and hate, emotions that were not his filled Tion and threatened to overrun his own emotions, and that was the real danger as if Tion's head was to be filled with the memory and feelings of the much older Konrad, then would he still be Tion or would he be Konrad.

"Say are you sure you can't filter out some memories, must I have everything," Tion asked and in the end, the black gourd's reply was still the same.

"....."

"Sorry, but I can't help but have to ask, do you know how convenient it would have been if we could just take what we wanted and leave the rest, I mean what the hell am I doing with knowledge of how this guy makes his special booze."

"....."

"Yeah, I understand, I can't always have everything. 

Hmm, you're rapidly getting smart you know, even beginning to give me advice."

"...…."

"That's a wild boast"

"...….."

"I see perhaps you are right that I still need to change my mindset in some area, but for now, let's not go thinking about my mother, that woman is in a whole different category of her power."

Being able to understand his avatar's thoughts through the feelings it sent him and then being able to communicate with it by just thinking, Tion used their conversation as a way to distract himself from the pain he was feeling.

Tion didn't know how long it lasted, but after several hours, the feeling that his head would soon explode disappeared and he fell with his back to the ground, breathing heavily while staring at the white ceiling.

"You were finally able to contain it" Tion muttered for extra clarity.

"...."

"Man, so until I get my mana coils healed, I won't be able to make use of you."

"....."

Still looking at the ceiling, Tion raised his right hand and began rubbing his forehead, his thought going to his battle with Potters and he couldn't help but wonder whether it was worth it, because though he was yet to get a diagnosis, from what the gourd was telling him, he wouldn't be able to engage in any kind of training or mana use for quite a long time and this was something that did not sit with well with Tion.

Remembering the events that had led to him even falling into Mana deviation, Tion couldn't help but want to curse out at the bastard that had cowardly attacked him from the side but then he held himself.

"Don't be a hypocrite Tion, it was a battle, a battle which was fueled by everyone's own selfish desires.

We aren't samurais that will go crying about fighting with honour, I can complain that I would have killed Potters if someone hadn't intervened, but that would just be me lying and avoiding the truth that I fell into mana deviation and lost because I was weak.

I thought I had gotten a firm grasp on the lightning bow, but from what happened, it seems I have a long way to go.

I can't be getting tunnel vision when I'm using a technique, all I would be doing is allowing myself open to an attack." 

After thinking this much, Tion took a small break to scratch his nose and then he continued,

"Dad always said to be grateful for whatever I had because there are those who beg and cry for those same things.

He also said to never give yourself excuses for your failure or blame your lack of success on your circumstances, because there are always those that are doing far better than you despite being in worse situations.

My battle with Potters was a very educative one, and I should feel privileged and grateful that I had a guardian like Leah with me, most people would have died were they in my situation."

Tion spent some time on the floor thinking and then suddenly he got up and headed out of the white room, after all, he was still very much injured and needed to heal.

"I'm surprised Mom didn't break her way in here though."