“Hm… Well, doctor's orders.”

  Arthur pried open the colourless, tin container, soon after the woman left. Inside, just as he had initially counted, were fourteen pairs of small, purple pills, wrapped in transparent paper.

  He took one out, rolling it around in his fingers. The inside of the container was chilled, and he could see various glyphs and circuits embedded in it, probably to keep that cool temperature inside.

  The purple, glowing paste had solidified almost completely thanks to the cold, though still being somewhat malleable. It reminded him of certain candies back in his world.

  The paper wrapping was crispy and rough. The woman had told him to consume it whole, without unwrapping it, so it was probably some sort of edible wrapping. Maybe that was the reason for the container, instead of handing them to him directly.

  “This is safe to eat, right?”He glanced at the air, trying to get an answer from the Archive. The window appeared on cue, and with its usual lengthy manner, explained that it should be relatively safe to consume.

  The procedure had been completed in a successful and accurate manner, and the prayers also seemed to function correctly. The results wouldn't be immediate, the Archive noted, but with repeated taking, his Ley Lines would be fine.

  He nodded, but even after reading those words, Arthur looked at the purple pills with an uncertain expression.

  He didn't think it was weird to still be unsure, considering that was, quite literally, magic medicine. Although he accepted that magic existed in that world, believing that medicine would work thanks to prayers was hard.

  Not to mention, he didn't even really know how severe the damage to his Ley Lines was, nor did he know how to feel or observe them. He was completely trusting the woman's words.

  With a sigh, he flicked the small, candy like pill in the air, landing it in his mouth. He rolled it around for a bit, trying to catch any flavour, but the wrapping paper covered it almost completely.

  As he swallowed it, he could feel it quickly go down towards his stomach, accompanied by a chilly sensation. It reminded him of drinking cool water during warm days, a refreshing and somewhat comfortable sensation.

  Almost subconsciously, he fixed his posture, sitting upright, as if to avoid choking on the medicine.

  The chilly sensation persisted for a few moments, refreshing his stomach, but he couldn't feel much more than that. Perhaps it was due to the involvement of magic, but he expected more noticeable effects.

  He placed his palms on the surface of the bed behind him, as support, before speaking to the air. “Is this it? No bright lights, or symbols, or anything?”

  He was awaiting a response from the Archive confirming that, explaining something like ‘It is simply medicine in the end’, but to his surprise, the concepts of the text box which appeared were different from that.

  Instead of responding with a clear answer, a window which he had already read through appeared in front of his eyes, the one explaining the purpose and function of Ark. More specifically, the text was cut short, highlighting a passage which exposed the state of ‘Dipping’. That is, a state in which a person could perceive the Ark and Archê around them, as if using a sixth sense.

  “Hm… What, do I need to do this, Dipping thing?”

  He moved two fingers next to his lips, brushing his chin while thinking. Perhaps the Archive sensed his intent to try and figure this matter out by himself, and didn't provide any additional help.

  “This medicine is used to fix my Ley Lines… Well, that's assuming that they're even damaged at all.”

  He moved his hand down, tracing an imaginary line from his lips to the lowermost part of his abdomen. He imagined bright, ethereal circuits coursing through his body, with a purple hue, affected by the medicine.

  He remembered reading that Ark flowed through those circuits, after passing through the Core, the supposed organ close to the heart. He envisioned it as some sort of sphere engrained with glyphs and symbols, but had no way of knowing.

  If the Moonstone explosion had affected that body's Ley Lines, he wondered whether they had been severed or pierced in the wounded spots. He ran his circles through the bloodstained bandages.

  The physical bleeding wasn't impactful enough to leave him weakened, or in an endangered condition, but what if the damage to the Ley Lines was worse?Maybe he'd suddenly fall over, and bleed Ark out all over the medical bay's floor. ‘No, I feel like it wouldn't be like that.’

  Even if veins and Ley Lines were often compared for their similarities and overlapping positions, he assumed an individual couldn't physically bleed Ark, an energy form.

  Would it be released passively in the atmosphere around him, then? He chuckled at the thought, envisioning himself as some sort of magic radiation emitting person.

  ‘Like a magic microwave! Maybe I can cook myself a magical meal…’

  He shook his head, forcing his thought process back into a more serious one after lampooning at himself.

  He looked down at his body, letting his fingers brush against the wounded spots. They still stinged quite a bit. If he removed the bandages, which he had done once, he could see the pierced flesh underneath.

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  ‘Ah, I guess it wanted to tell me that. Of course, if it's a wound to something related to the invisible organ, the Core, and the vein-like system, the Ley Lines, I couldn't see it with just my sight alone.’

  He nodded to himself, suddenly understanding what the Archive could have meant by showing him the text window talking about Ark and Dipping.

  Then, he needed to figure out how to enter and leave that state at will, if he wanted to understand the situation his own body was in, at the moment.

  He let himself fall down onto the mattress backwards, wincing in pain from the impact. Maybe it was due to having poked most of his injuries, but they were starting to hurt again, under the bandages.

  He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to gather the information he had about Dipping in his mind. He only knew that it was some sort of state, maybe akin to meditation, in which one could perceive Archê and Ark.

  Even for one of the Archive's descriptions, that was quite vague. Supposedly, Archê, as well as the invisible Core and Ley Lines, were imperceptible, and were mostly used and interacted with in a fully instinctual manner.

  The closest thing he could think of, would be as if he needed to learn how to move an arm by flexing and pulling every single muscle individually. Or if he had to learn how to make his blood circulate manually, by pumping his own heart.

  That wasn't something someone could just learn in a day, especially considering in this case, the heart and circulatory system were invisible and possibly damaged, and the blood was a supposedly infinite energy.

  Even if all he had to do for now was figure out how to perceive those three things, it still seemed impossible. The entire thing of Archê, as he understood it, was that it was imperceptible, so how could he perceive it?

  ‘No, wait, didn't I already do it, though?’

  He once again shot up, a sudden realization forming in his mind. His eyes widened slowly, with an excited grin growing on his face.

  With a flick of his wrist towards the air, the Archive's window related to Ark once again appeared. He quickly scrolled down to the passage talking about Dipping, and there, he read once again a very important part.

  Despite the many theories and traditions of Archêometry, from varied ethnic backgrounds and countries, some things stayed the same, even throughout the ages and languages.

  One of those things, was the term ‘Dipping’. Although it varied slightly, the word used always had another meaning, no matter the language or theory: a term which could also be used for entering a body of water.

  In some languages it could be translated as ‘sinking’, or as ‘swimming’. And the reason was extremely simple. That being, the seemingly universal sensations and feelings experienced when one entered the ‘Dipping’ state.

  “As if my entire body was sinking into an abyss, surrounded by water on every side, though with no trouble breathing… Isn't this the same as that?”

  The scene which flashed in his mind, the memory of when he first woke up in the medical bay. Or rather, right before he woke up, that strange dream which caused him to bleed from his eyes and nose.

  The grin on his face only grew. He already had a stepping stone to reach the state of Dipping, if he could recreate that feeling of being submerged in the abyss.

  All he had to do now, was try and keep trying, until he could figure out how to enter that state at will again. He let himself fall back down onto the bed, focusing all his attention on the sensations of his body.

  —

  “Shit, that bastard… After all I was willing to do for him… I swear, once I find him…”

  At the mess hall, in a table hidden near a corner. A young boy, with pale, short hair, and skin of a hue close to gray, was cursing under his breath, clearly angered. Every other word, he put a spoonful of food in his mouth, forcing himself to eat.

  It had been a few days now since the incident at the Moonstone Refinement Facility. Ayn didn't quite understand what happened. He only saw a sudden flash of light, and the next moment, Arthur was being brought away by a hooded figure.

  He tried to rush over to figure out the situation, and why he was being forced out of the room, but the crowd of curious onlookers, and the densely packed workbench stopped him from doing so.

  Unless he tried to leap over his co-workers, which would inevitably result with him getting beaten up after stepping on some poor guy's head, he would've had no way to reach him.

  And even then, a security guard would probably have stopped him, since he had already clocked in for his work hours. In the end, he couldn't have done anything.

  He poked at the mass inside his bowl with his spoon, a scorn plastered over his face. He managed to keep his cool and wits about the situation for the past two days, but being served that same meal he shared with Arthur again, was akin to adding salt on the wound.

  Or rather, pouring an entire shaker's worth of salt into an open, gushing, bleeding laceration, as well as some lemon juice, and even some Steel Tipped Rose extract.

  He was tasked with looking after the transmigrator, for the time being, and he managed to fail at doing so on the very first day. He stabbed the spoon in the mashed potatoes out of anger, before chewing up the spoonful.

  It only made him angrier, but at the very least, it was tasty. Maybe it was due to the transmigrator's comments on it, but it started to taste better than it did before. For a prison, this food wasn't shabby at all.

  “Whatever… For now, I can only keep asking around…”He sighed, calming himself down. During his free time, and even during working hours, all he did was run around, asking questions about a long haired, wounded elf. Though, most of the responses were the same.

  He had only been in prison for around half a day before the incident, so there's no way anyone would remember his face clearly, even if they had seen him. Ayn clicked his tongue, shifting his gaze briefly.

  On another side of the mess hall, a heated argument between prisoners seemed to be starting. He could see a few figures standing around a table, clearly irritated. Three Homunculi, and a beret wearing Tribefolk.

  “Oh yeah, that's good. As soon as I find him, I'm beating his arse. Maybe I can get a favour from some other prisoner…”

  He covered his mouth with a hand while snickering. He would most likely get punished if he tried harming Arthur seriously, but he wasn't planning to, anyways. At most, he'd slap him on the back of his head.

  Still, before he could slap Arthur on the back of his head, the problem remained of finding him. He wasn't sure whether he got wounded at the facility and was carried off to some medical bay, or someone was after him.

  His expression suddenly grew into a graver one. In the case of the former option, then he just would have to wait until the other elf got discharged, and the situation would resolve itself without a problem.

  However, if someone truly was after Arthur, that would imply they knew about him. Or rather, about his body, and the reason he and Ayn were in that prison to begin with. Ayn clicked his tongue.

  ‘That would be the worst case scenario… I have to hold out until she gets here…’

  He slowly lowered his spoon, to eat another mouthful of mashed potatoes and calm his mind, trying to steer away his thoughts from the worst case scenario. However, the food on the spoon soon went flying in every direction, including on Ayn's face.

  From the opposite side of the mess hall, a curtain of smoke quickly rose, as the echo of an explosion rebounded in the prison's walls.