With Lith's greeting, Miwa blinked her eyes and said, "Am I dreaming?"
Lith flicked her forehead. "This is real life."
"Ow." Miwa rubbed her forehead. While doing so, a bad premonition swelled up within her mind and her emotions turned chaotic.
Sensitive to changes within a human, Lith immediately used a Life spell and calmed Miwa down.
He didn't let her thoughts turn chaotic and had her rationally think things through.
Miwa knitted her brows and instead of letting out a shocked exaggerated reaction, she sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, going into a state of deep meditation.
Lith and Dennis gave her time to think and didn't disturb her.
While having her eyes closed and her brows knitted, Miwa thought, 'How is this possible? Didn't the devil kill me? I was leading my second life and when I went to sleep… I actually woke up in my first life? How? What coincidence is this?'
Lith, Dennis, and the rest sat down beside Miwa in a cross-legged position. They waited for her to recover fully so that they could adventure further.
Miwa's expression could be seen turning into annoyed to shocked to terrified and then frustrated and eventually sorrowful.
A drop of tear leaked from her closed eyes and whatever she may be going through, although Lith and Dennis did not know it, they could feel her sadness.
A while later, Miwa still had a sad expression on her face.
Lith couldn't endure it anymore and walked up to her.
He hugged her and rubbed her back.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"It's okay, things happen. I'm here for you and will always be there…" Lith comforted.
Miwa, in a deep state of meditation, after feeling Lith's warmth, had her expression eased slightly.
Lith still could not tell what made her so sad, but whatever it may be, something had to be done about it.
If Miwa stayed sad like that, she may develop a heart demon. Her cultivation would be disrupted and she would lose herself completely.
Even though Lith knew Miwa did not follow the traditional cultivation route, all paths lead to a single place. Since such was the case, there were some things common to all—heart demons being one of them.
As her good friend, it was Lith's duty to help her.
Lith hugged Miwa for a long time. It was only after she showed signs of waking up did he loosen her hold on her.
Once Miwa woke up, she found herself embraced by Lith. Her head was on his broad shoulders and from here, she saw Dennis and two other strange boys sitting at a distance.
Being hugged by Lith, a warm feeling spread through her body. Unconsciously, she hugged him back and stayed like that for a bit.
"Are you alright now?" Lith asked, rubbing Miwa's back.
Miwa, her head still on Lith's shoulder, asked, "Is this the real life?"
"Yes." Lith said softly.
"This means my parents are dead…" Miwa said with sorrow.
Getting a chance at redoing her life and now being stripped off that, a lot of regrets swelled up within her heart.
She could not save her parents in this life. Her fate did not change. Her Master wasn't there. The love and care from her parents wasn't there. Once again, she was alone in this vast world.
The loneliness she was suffering could not be stated by mere words.
Her emotions were felt by Lith and at present, he could do nothing but comfort Miwa.
There were some battles which one had to fight alone. This was Miwa's one and he could do nothing but cheer her from afar.
After who knows how long, Miwa broke the hug and wiped her face.
While doing so, she said, "If any of you mention this moment to anybody, I will kill you."
Lith chuckled softly and didn't comment on it.
Miwa was still broken, but at least she could talk properly now.
"Can I ask what happened? You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Lith said.
"It's fine. I'll tell you." Miwa said. She then narrated the things that happened, how she got killed then thought she started her second life, and was now back to her previous one.
Listening to all of that, Lith pondered over it and said, "You were happy and more ambitious as ever in your second life, right?"
Miwa nodded. "Anyone would be in my place. Going to the past is a dream everybody has thought of some or the other day."
"Yes, you're not wrong about that. However, you were captured by a devil. You might be more happy and ambitious than before. It's only natural you are because the devil laid out steps for you to follow and feed onto it." Lith replied.
Miwa did not understand what he was saying and asked Lith to explain properly.
Lith eventually stated that devils feed on the ambitions and happiness of humans. She was captured by one and he purposefully gave her an illusion that she had died and regressed to the past.
After knowing all of it was an illusion, Miwa sucked in a cold breath of air.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWhatever had happened was far too real and she really could not tell the difference.
It was really scary.
No wonder people said the path of cultivation was one filled with thorns and hardships.
After chatting with Miwa some more, Lith felt it was time they set out.
While walking out of the cave, Lith said, "Those two new guys, they're my disciples. You two, come and introduce yourselves."
Hyunsuk and Shi walked towards Lith on his call.
If before they had some lingering doubts about their Master's capabilities, it was all cleared up and washed away now.
They saw how their Master dealt with the devil. Although he did not really win against him, just chasing him away and rescuing his friend was a big thing.
Not to mention, he also found a mythical ingredient to make a stew out of legends. He also went through my challenges and brought the two unscathed from them.
If he wasn't qualified to be their Master, then there was no one else who could teach them.
Hyunsuk and Shi had respect for their Master and looked at him with reverence.
Hyunsuk and Shi bowed in front of Miwa.
Lith looked at Hyunsuk and said, "This is my disciple number one, Hyunsuk. You can call him Junior Hyunsuk or Little Hyunsuk, whatever you like."
Lith then looked at Shi. "This is my disciple number two, Shi. You can call him Junior Shi or Little Shi…"
Lith suddenly paused. It didn't feel right to say this.
Miwa, Dennis, and Hyunsuk covered their mouths, trying not to laugh while Shi's face flushed red.
'Master… Why are you like this…'