Tough Time

When Leus reached the library Robert and Felix were on guard duty so he greeted them in a cheerful tone

"Hey guys, how are you doing?"

"We're fine, Young Master, what about you?"

"Amazing ... I was able to resolve something that was weighing on my mind"

Felix smiled and replied

"Glad to know it's like that, let us know if there's anything you need"

"Actually there is.

I might not get out for an entire month this time, I already told Mom, but as I said last time, if someone asks about me and it's an emergency either directly take care of the matter or tell Master Arno.

I'll always take full responsibility for anything that happens"

"Understood"

Leus told them to relay his orders to the other guards as well and then walked inside to speak with Arno

Arno was at his desk reading a book when he noticed Leus coming towards him.

He narrowed his eyes and thought to himself

'Subtle but effective changes'

"Hey Master"

"It seems like you've dealt with your predicaments in the past few days."

Leus tilted his head

"How do you know?"

Arno just smirked

"After living for so long I can notice the slightest changes in someone's aura, It's my sagacity"

Leus wasn't entirely convinced

'Master likes to ramble about himself sometimes'

But obviously, he didn't say any of that and replied

"You're right, Master, I went back there and that helped me change my view of the situation"

"Really? That's pretty good.

Now with these things out of the way you can focus on your training, Let's go."

Leus was confused as to why Arno was coming with him to the training room

'He doesn't need to come this time ...'

He silently followed Arno and they entered the room

Arno picked up a brown colored Mana Crystal from the shelf and said

"Leus, Go bring your helmet"

Leus nodded and went to his bedroom.

He stood in front of the wardrobe and realized

'I'm too short'

So he stood on top of a chair to be able to reach above the wardrobe.

On top of the wardrobe, there were a couple of items along with a metallic helmet, Leus picked the helmet up and came down then walked back to Arno.

'What is this helmet for.'

The helmet was metallic and clearly made to cover the entire face, it had a pointy top, two small holes for the eyes, and perforations for the mouth.

Inside the helmet, there was a thick piece of cloth covering the cheeks and the forehead, along with the top and the back of the head.

The helmet's color was shiny silver and it weighed around 2 Kilograms

'This looks like a war helmet .. Do I really need that?'

Leus looked at Arno and Arno just said

"Put it on"

Leus reluctantly complied and put it on his head

'It's hard to see ... also hard to breathe'

Leus tried to speak but his voice came out muffled due to the opening being just small holes.

Arno ignored what Leus was trying to say and said

"Just walk inside the Barrier"

Leus gave up on communicating and walked inside the Barrier.

Inside, the Mana Crystal was placed in the middle of the Magic Circle.

Leus looked at Arno through the small holes and he could make out that Arno was signaling him to begin, so he sat down on the floor and placed his hand on the Magic Circle and activated the Barrier.

Then he placed his hand on the Mana Crystal and willed it to release all its mana.

The Barrier turned yellowish brown.

To the outside, the entire Barrier became a yellowish-brown ball that was impossible to see through, but to Leus, he was in the middle of an intense storm of sand, dust, and metal.

The Barrier was full of madly whirling swarfs of stone and metal, dust covered the entire barrier and it made Leus unable to see even his hand.

'What the hell is this'

The whirling dust started hitting Leus' skin and grazing it everywhere, causing superficial wounds all over his body and making him bleed.

Within seconds, Leus' entire body started burning him.

'I don't need a helmet, I need a full-fledged armor'

'My entire body is being tormented'

On the bright side, his face was safe.

He used Healing on himself a couple of times but then he realized something

'I can heal myself all day, but I'll just keep getting grazed and cut over and over, there's no point of it at all, it's just a waste of Mana.'

Leus was very confused

'Why would Arno give me a helmet but not an armor? The pain is making it hard to concentrate on anything, Arno must've known that.'

But as he had no way to ask Arno or to reduce his pain he quickly gave up and pushed all these thoughts away.

'It's not like Arno didn't know, he has done this for a reason.

I can leave right now, but that would just be childish, I'd be wasting a Mana Crystal just for being in pain ...'

Leus strengthened his resolve

'I'm not a little kid, it's fine, it won't kill me.'

'I'll force my way out of this by unlocking the Abstract as fast as possible, the book said it's a simple one, I'll just do it.

'This is my best way out'

Arno stood outside the Barrier for about 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes passed he slowly clapped alone in the room

"The best subject so far!"

"The first 10 minutes are the decisive ones, Good luck."

Then he left the room

Naturally, Leus didn't hear him, but Arno didn't care about that, he was just pleased that Leus didn't open the barrier and leave.

Meanwhile inside the Barrier, Leus was experiencing the toughest time of his life.

The helmet was making it difficult to breathe, on top of that, the air was filled with dust and was irritating to his lungs.

His clothes had cuts all over them and multiple red stains because of his constant bleeding.

But regardless of all that, Leus bit on his lips and tried to bear the pain.