Chapter 225 - 219. Night of Contending Feelings
A thorny mudfield. Thick and heavy and lonely. It was like walking through a pool of blood. The thorns were stabbing into the muddy ground and made it bleed.
It was eerie and disturbing, and if Zein didn’t know Joon, he would be scared. It was the soul of someone who repeatedly put himself in a hard situation, voluntarily. And in this lonely, painful field, there was only one solace.
A crimson flower, in the middle of a thorny field. Its color was the only bright thing in the monochrome field.
A single devotion. That was what Zein felt from Han Joon’s mana core. No wonder Radia talked about obsession before. It was like the man dedicated his entire life just for that flower to bloom, even while bleeding all over by his loneself.
It was...tragic.
Even while Zein was sending his water, and trying to make it as soothing as possible, nothing could penetrate the thorny barrier that surrounded the crimson flower. At the very least, however, he could heal that bleeding wound.
Just a little bit.
And when he was done, Zein had never felt so stuffy. He rarely got exhausted while guiding a single esper unless it was extremely disgusting. With Bassena, it was just a matter of stamina, and with other difficult espers, it was just a battle of wit. Han Joon’s mana core was not disgusting or vast, but...it was extremely cold and suffocating. And it sapped his mental energy a lot even though he merely cleaned one level of corrosion.
"How’s your probing?" the soldier gave him a relaxed smile when Zein opened his eyes again.
Instead of answering immediately, Zein stared at the soldier hard with furrowed brows. "Have you gone to the hospital?" he asked.
Han Joon arched his brow slightly, before responding with a deep smile. "All military personnel need to do physical check-ups twice a year, don’t you know that?"