It was silent.

A place that couldn't be described. An empty location that one could drown out all the noises that affected them.

Jake found himself slowly losing his identity in this horizonless place. He had not produced any thoughts as he lied in the sea of perfection.

A voice whispered to him, "Wake up…..." 

It aroused Jake's consciousness. Slowly, Jake began to wake up.

He tried to resist the voice but the whisperings continued.

"Wake up…..."

"Wake up...."

"Wake up, Jake!"

Answering the call, Jake's eyes fluttered open. His eyes reacted to the light as he slowly adjusted to it.

The first thing he heard was a loud scurrying voice, "Inform the king. He is awake!"

After he fully opened his eyes, Jake ignored the stinging pain and focused on what he saw.

He was laid on a bed, or rather, he was tied to a bed with numerous medicines applied to his bare body.

Beside him was a healer. He could tell that from her long dress and side bags that smelled of herbal medicines.

'She is the one that did this to me,' Jake surmised.

He couldn't move his body, due to the rope tying him down, and had to watch as the healer brought her face close to his.

She caressed her index finger on his right eyelid, which caused him more discomfort.

"Stay calm!" she said to him as she brought out a small case from her pockets.

Opening it, she revealed a small crystalline glass and fixed it into his right eye, after a lot of struggle from Jake. 

"It is commendable. You did not scream. I usually have patients screaming," chuckled the healer.

As she did not get any reaction from Jake who calmly watched her, she chipped in, "I'm Klara. I know you can hear me. Stop giving me that stare. If not for me you would have died. Plus, I fixed your eye, didn't I?"

Listening to her words, Jake found it difficult to talk, but still spoke out in his cold voice, "What did you do?"

If he found out that she tampered with his body, he would make sure to kill her.

Maintaining her warm nature, Klara started, "Do you know that those born with two different colored eyes, Leze, are always special? They always possessed abilities that are unachievable through cultivation, just like you."

She smiled, "Don't be alarmed. You severely damaged your special eye during your previous battle. I took care of you and healed your injuries to a certain point. However, I know not if your eye would still work. But just in case, I slid a lens to protect it. Instead of using an eye patch."

Digging out a big mirror from her pockets, Klara gave it to Jake.

The latter looked at his appearance and realized that the eye lens was unnoticeable. Moreover, it helped hide his eye condition by making the eye more blue than purple.

Yet, he didn't thank the healer. If he wasn't forced to a battle, he wouldn't have been this badly injured.

"What are the ropes for?" Jake voiced out his thoughts.

No matter how he thought of it, the ropes binding him were definitely strange.

If they wanted to bind him, why ropes and not a metal chain or cuffs?

"Well, you are dangerous, aren't you? The ropes are the best items suitable for binding you. Can you feel it," mused Klara

Jake's mind analyzed the ropes, 'Hmm…..think would explain why every time I try to absorb [Spirit Essence], it gets absorbed by the rope instead. It is also weakening my physical strength.'

He realized that he was already at the mercy of the other party.

Jake's thoughts were obstructed from the footsteps he heard outside the tent he was in.

"Well, that's my cue," smiled Klara.

Just before she left, she switched Jake's spot to a chair and tied him there.

Jake didn't even try to escape. Just talking was painful enough.

As she left the tent, multiple recognizable figures entered the tent.

Jake found himself surrounded by them.

The figures were what was left of the royal family and a few guards.

One of them, a middle-aged man with an intense bearing locked his eye on Jake.

It was just a stare but it was able to make Jake's heart palpitate in ways he never knew was possible.

'So, this is the aura pressure of the king,' recognized Jake.

He calmed his emotions and coldly uttered to all of them, "What do you want?"

The king ignored him and looked at his brother. 

When Conan received the go-ahead from Caspian, he began his interrogation, "Jake, right?"

Sitting down on other chairs, the rest focused on him.

"Yes," hissed Jake.

It would have been childish if he kept mum.

He also wanted to understand what exactly they planned for him.

"First question, where did you learn [Netherspark] from?" asked Conan.

[Netherspark] was a very sensitive topic.

"I'm an orphan. My great grandparents were nomads who devoted their lives to studying the language. They passed their discovery on to my grandparents, who passed it on to my parents, who taught me before they died," Jake confidently disclosed.

Although he was lying, it wouldn't matter as the group had no way to verify it.

He was sure that they doubted his words, but they couldn't do anything about it as there was always a possibility that he was right.

Conan understood this, which led to him skipping the question.

He asked another intense question, "What are you doing in the Dark Forest?"

"The same reason as you, escaping," smiled Jake.

Knowing what they were going to ask, he cut them short, "I saw the invasion. I hid and took an underground path, leading to where I am now."

One of the guards couldn't help but shout, "You ran away?"

The guard gripped his sword firmly as he tried to control his own emotions.

"Yes, I did... just like you did," surmised Jake.