Life Giver

Having dealt with the Black Viper, Casmir and the rest of the students quickly brought Zaya into the cave to tend to her wounds.

This cave not only had a protective array but also various equipment and living arrangements like food, beds and even some medicine. Also, it was obvious from the state of the cave that a small group of people had been living here but there were no clues as to were the caves occupants were now.

Cor'Dana and Daroch laid Zaya on a bed carefully as the other students sat down nearby, they were still in shock from what had happened.

Casmir sat down alone in a corner of the cave telling everyone to "Give me some space for a minute" as he tended to his own wounds. He only asked Daroch to quickly help him fix his dislocated shoulder before he wrapped his own arm in a splint using his knowledge of first aid.

Afterwards Casmir just sat there staring blankly at the cave wall ahead of him, clearly deep in thought.

There was a cold silence that drifted through the cave, those students who did nothing to help felt a variety of emotions like guilt, weakness and anger at their reactions to the crisis. Some of them would even glance at Casmir from time to time wondering how he could react so swiftly to a crisis, silently praising him but also envying him.

Of course what only Casmir knew was that his reaction was out of his control, if any other person were in danger he didn't know if he would react as selflessly as he did then. Zaya was, whether Casmir would admit it or not, very important to Casmir and not just as a friend.

Meanwhile, Cor'Dana and the Tree Ent Daroch were using some of the medicines they found in the cave to treat Zaya's wounds.

They crushed a few healing pills, mixing them with water to feed her before they lathered her blister like wounds with special lotions and then finally they wrapped her body in bandages to cover her wounds.

It was fortunate that Daroch knew what he was doing in relation to first aid on people from the Animal races like Zaya, many people tended to only learn how to apply first aid according to their specific physiologies. Naturally the physiology of an Elemental from the energy races was far different to that off someone from the Floral races, like Daroch or the Animal races like Casmir.

Daroch had guided Cor'Dana in helping him treat Zaya's wounds however just as they were finishing bandaging her wounds, Cor'Dana accidentally brushed his metal arm against one of Zaya's wounds causing it to bleed.

"Shit.." Cor'Dana cursed as he quickly grabbed a cloth and pressured this new wound.

Daroch watched this with a slight frown on his rough tree-like face, not because he blamed Cor'Dana for his mistake, Cor'Dana had already done well for his first time. It was the colour of Zaya's blood the caused him to frown, its usual dark red colour was much darker than usual.

"Give me that bandage, use this one." Daroch said in a rough groaning voice as he handed Cor'Dana a fresh bandage.

Daroch then examined the fresh blood on the bandage, it was darker than usual and there was a slight green tint to it. He then rubbed some of the blood between his fingers and found it to be slightly stickier than normal.

Seeing this Daroch's eyes opened wide before he quickly turned around and started riffling through the medicine box next to him.

As this happened, in another corner of the cave Casmir was silently experimenting with his new ability, trying to understand its uses and how it had influenced his thoughts. He wasn't paying attention to Zaya because he was confident that Zaya was in good hands and he wasn't in the best shape to help.

From Casmir testing he had determined that the Life Body Cycle and the Will resonance state had somehow become linked through his Soul Flame.

Casmir knew the Life Body Cycle originated from the small crystal inside the Life Giver Orb, while the Will Resonance state must have stemmed from a primal form of his Will and thus the Soul Flame that now resides in the Life Giver Orb was its origin.

Following that reasoning Casmir re-entered the space of the Life Giver Orb while quietly activating the Will Resonance state and just as he expected, Casmir saw a strange energy flow out of his Soul Flame before passing through the Life Body Cycle crystal and then disappearing into his body.

Casmir took the chance to re-examined the Life Body Cycle crystal as he watched.

'Life Body Cycle (Complete)

Qi absorption rate increased by 20%.

Can be used on other people.

The Life Body Cycle has resonated with the Soul, they are now linked and cannot be used independently.

Soul Energy is boosted by 5%.'

Casmir was quite happy about the enhanced Qi absorption rate but he was very cautious of its effects on his soul.

Surely his soul was too important to be 'linked' to the Life Body Cycle, something he doesn't understand or trust. Unfortunately Casmir didn't have a choice in the matter, he could try to research it in the future.

Casmir then returned to the real world and attempted to cultivate for a moment to test his Qi energy absorption speed.

After stabilising his breathing, Casmir started drawing in the Qi energy in the air through his spine before funnelling it into his Dantian as he would everyday. Casmir was immediately surprised to find that the invisible 'channel' in his spine that Qi energy flowed through felt bigger somehow, allowing more Qi energy to be converted into his cultivation base.

Casmir smiled happily knowing that he would need to spend less time each day cultivating to reach his cultivation limit. Normally it would take a few hours to 'fill up' his cultivation base as it were and this change would shave off at least half an hour of time each day.

Casmir then spent a short time thinking about the effects of using his Soul Flame on his thoughts.

By repeatedly using it for short periods Casmir realised that it essentially heightened his emotions, for example when he looked Zaya he would feel rage, then sadness, then happiness and even l.u.s.t.

Fortunately Casmir managed to control these emotions and this let him realise that as long as he didn't give in to them, his Soul Flame was a massive boost to his strength.

It gave him a slowed perspective on time, it boosted his control over his body even further than the former Will Resonance state did and it gave him the ability to gather Qi energy to use in attacks, although he hadn't tested this ability in the cave.

Casmir was very cautious with showing this ability as it related to his Life Giver Orb and his progress with the Will Resonance state. He believed that Master Bluefire would be able to give him some insight into this ability as she had previously hinted to him that the Will Resonance state was only the beginning of some larger cultivation path.

As Casmir sat there deep in thought, suddenly, Daroch stood up and called out to everyone.

"Everyone! Quickly search the cave for more medicine, Zaya needs it or she'll die!"

Daroch then rushed over to a empty bed before he started rummaging through various containers nearby and looking underneath the bed for more.

"What do you mean she'll die?!" Casmir called out as he got up and quickly walked over to Zaya to examine her.

Zaya was unconscious and she looked like she was in pain but all of her wounds had been cleaned and covered and she was breathing quiet steadily.

Daroch looked up from the container he was rummaging through to speak.

"That acid she was exposed to contains some type of venom, her blood has already started becoming viscous and her body isn't able to filter her blood causing it to darken."

"If she isn't given something to neutralise the venom soon her body won't last. Fortunately her body is well trained and vigorous so she should last another hour or so but after that.."

Hearing his words, everyone that was previous resting and absorbed in their own thoughts quickly jumped up and started rummaging through the various containers belonging to the caves inhabitants.

Casmir however, after thinking for a moment, simply stood still with a pale expression on his face.

Seeing this Cor'Dana called out to him "Casmir what are you doing? Come and help us we can still find some medicine!"

"..It's no use.." Casmir mumbled.

Cor'Dana looked at Casmir in confusion, "What do you mean it's no use? There's bound to be some more medicine here somewhere, don't give up until we've searched everywhere."

Casmir sighed deeply before he explained.

"They won't have the anti-venom here. That Black Viper isn't a native species or we would have heard about it before, a ferocious beast that can bypass arrays is way to dangerous to not have been mentioned in our studies of local ferocious beasts.. the Ellaris Guardship would have probably wiped them out if they knew about it."

"There's no way this caves former inhabitants have a specific anti-venom for such a rare or non-native species and the medical pills they have are barely Grade 2... Only a broad-spectrum anti-venom at Grade 3 would work on Zaya considering how strong the Black Viper was."

Hearing Casmir everyone paused in their search and one student even questioned Casmir's deduction.

"How do you know so much about the treatment?"

"He does dual studies.. Qi studies and.. Biology.." Cor'Dana reluctantly explained, unwilling to admit that what Casmir said made perfect sense.

Meanwhile Daroch quickly understood what Casmir was saying, he wasn't as experienced as Casmir was with biology but he trusted Casmir. So he started thinking of any other way to help Zaya when he suddenly remembered something.

"The main camp.." Daroch said hopefully in his deep groaning voice.

Casmir's eyes quickly shot open as he heard Daroch.

"You're right!.. They should have emergency high grade pills for things like this.. Do you remember which direction it was from here?" Casmir asked as he quickly walked over to Zaya and started trying to move her.

Cor'Dana however quickly stopped Casmir.

"Wait! Wait!.. We can't just walk to the main camp, Instructor Redfire told us to stay here. Not to mention the way to the main camp is directly through ferocious beast territory, even normally it would be extremely dangerous and what if that Black Viper isn't alone?"

Casmir stopped as he heard Cor'Dana, looking at Zaya deeply while he thought the situation through.

"We don't know when instructor Redfire will come back... chances are he believes we're just waiting here, perfectly safe having giving us that Array Orb... but we can't wait.. and I can make it to the main camp.." Casmir explained.

Cor'Dana quickly walked over to Casmir and placed his hand on Casmir's shoulder.

"You shouldn't risk your life.." Cor'Dana said quietly.

In response Casmir turned his head and looked at Cor'Dana, a blue fiery aura suddenly appearing around him.

However compared to when this aura appeared around Casmir earlier, during his fight with the Black Viper, it appeared much calmer and contained like a gently bonfire in the cold night.

Cor'Dana retracted his hand from Casmir's shoulder in fear as he saw this aura, reminded of what Casmir was like when this aura appeared before, a wild animal ready to kill.

Yet when Cor'Dana looked Into Casmir's eyes, there was no killing intent or manic ferocity like before.

Casmir's eyes were warm and calm, they gave of a sense of protection and strength that instilled a feeling of trust in Cor'Dana.

It was as if Casmir's most base emotions were revealed and anyone could see that they displayed a fierce protective instinct combined with a calm yet firm resolve.

"I am Willing!.. to risk my life for her is my choice.."