My sight is blinded as I''m falling down straight with my hammer head underneath me.


    *Bang*


    I feel no pain, yet I don''t see for a brief moment.


    All I can feel is terrible strain on my shoulders from the impact.


    A satisfying bang with a powerful crack resonates in my ears, and a slight pain starts to emerge from the bottoms of my feet.


    A simple, fast thought flashes through my mind.


    Dummy, wasn’t simply smashing the thing not enough? Nighttime is for exploring the new fancy powers, not now!


    The pain in my feet is either from the landing or the acid melting god knows which part of my body.


    <hr>


    My eyesight finally adjusts after the bright yellow flash, so I can assume that my eyes were not hit by anything.


    Something shined as I landed, and my night vision exaggerated it.


    Looking beneath myself quickly to assess the damage, I see my legs knee-deep in the sand and the wide-open carcass of a trilobite creature releasing its last breaths. Its health bar disappears the moment I open my eyes.


    *Ding*


    “You just had to steal it for yourself, right?”


    Mike breaks the sudden silence in the vast desert.


    My arms are deflating, and I stand there quietly, ignoring his stupid remarks.


    What concerns me more is that not only do my feet hurt from the sudden fall, but some weird pain is in my stomach too.


    Feels almost like I ate something spicy.


    *Squelch*


    I grunt as I use the remaining energy to pull out the hammer from the carcass.


    *Hiss*


    “Shit, shit!”


    The weird feeling in my gut is put right on the second lane as I hear hissing from the head and handle connection of my hammer.


    Wiggling it quickly around, I bash it in the sand to suck up all the moisture.


    “No, no, no, no…” I mutter under my nose.


    “What’s going on?” asks the night vision bearer, clearly forgetting that the acid did melt one of the shields before.


    The hammer handle was once a part of a living thing, and it seems that the weakest spot got slightly covered in acid and started to melt—exactly as the first shield was destroyed.


    Great, there is no better time to visit the blacksmith statue in the cave.


    Ignoring Mike and the pain, I rub some of the sand manually over the spot, trying to stop dissolving as fast as possible, saving my precious weapon.


    Now, after I’m completely sure the melting has stopped, I open my inventory and use the remaining energy to toss the hammer inside.


    It shrinks into a miniature right away.


    My brain starts to focus on the second important thing—the pain in my gut.


    “Ugh.”


    I grunt as I hold my stomach with my hand. My eyes are crossing, and the closest thing I can imagine to describe the pain is chugging a whole bottle of Da Bomb.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    *Thud*


    Letting myself go, I bash with my back into the sand, feet still knee-deep.


    “Mark! What’s going on?” the old man asks, wading through the sand.


    “I don’t know. I just wanted to test something new and ended up doing something stupid again,” I answer while laying there, gazing up at the stars.


    “You’ve seen that golden flash too, right?” Mike asks the old man, Astrid crawls toward us.


    “What do you mean?” He shakes his head.


    What the hell is he talking about? I wonder. A golden flash? Might be the thing that blinded me. Or that was the showcase of my new power?


    “What golden flash? Where?” While heavily breathing through the stomach ache, I ask the skinny man.


    “Your stomach flashed like you’ve eaten the brightest light bulb on earth. What is this?” he asks with a slightly suspicious tone.


    “I... I’m not sure. I was just trying to overuse my Focus. That’s it,” I answer after a slight pause and now hope that it wasn’t too obvious.


    He is definitely suspecting that I have another new power, which he does not.


    “Can you walk, boy?”


    “I’m not trying to hurry, but we should get back to safety as soon as possible. The closest safe place is the cave we’ve slept in already.”


    The old man must be reading my mind. I crack a smile through the pain.


    “Yes, yes, I was thinking about that place. I’ll be fine; give me a second and I will catch up,” I answer while still laying there, in front of a carcass of a trilobite creature.


    “I hope so. I don’t feel like I could carry you around.” He looks at me from the top; clearly, he does not see me well, but I see his expression more than clear in a blue tint, and it makes me hurt a bit.


    He is disappointed, shaking his head in disbelief that I made a stupid, dangerous test, just right after I died from one.


    That fall was probably close to being lethal, as I used not only Focus but somehow even my new power.


    The enchanted hammer''s weight reacts to the power I wield, so it was probably extremely heavy and pulled me down with more force—without me noticing as the enchantment ignores what I feel.


    If the old man only knew what secret I’ve just uncovered.


    <hr>


    No more encounters; it’s a straight walk towards the edge with Mike leading the way, carrying his girlfriend.


    I chit-chat a bit with Harald, planning our night and lighting the candles to warm up the place and add extra coziness.


    He does not ask about the death and completely avoids talking about the events.


    <hr>


    *Powerful jet pocket lighter sound*


    The old man lights the first thick candle to which Mike points him.


    We repeat what we did before, slowly expanding the light in the cave by lighting more and more candles, at least for the rest of the crew.


    Everything is looking intact, and despite waking up completely rejuvenated a few hours ago, I feel terribly sleepy now.


    With my night vision, a slight gaze into the flame is more than painful for me.


    Mike switches his eyes and he’s done, unlike me now.


    I explain all this and tug myself into the sleeping bag in the farthest corner.


    *Snap*


    Astrid calls for Pocco and cuddles before sleeping.


    They don’t talk, only pet and cuddle, and that is a big *phew* for me, as I’m the one holding a second secret from all of them.


    This is not going to end well if I continue.


    <hr>


    Waking up after a long night''s sleep, I quickly notice I’m the only one in the cave, well, if I don’t count the godling statue which might or might not be present at all.


    The first thing that comes to my mind is that I possess a new, undiscovered power.


    What it does and how I activate it is a mystery for me.


    Closing my fist tightly, I call for Focus and shift the muscle mass. My fist and my forearm swell and pump, veins protruding, my forearm almost twice the size.


    At the moment, I stop the focus.


    Now, what? I ask myself, gazing at my arm.


    “Come on, new power! Do your magic!” I whisper while thinking of it, but nothing happens, as hard as I try to activate it.


    I stop right away after being interrupted by voices, which are coming from the crack in the wall.


    I assume the party simply went outside to have breakfast.


    “Good!” I whisper.


    Jumping on my feet and relocating closer to the pedestal, I pull myself up with ease by slightly using Focus.


    My hammer slides right into the hand of a statue.


    Standing up there, almost face-to-face with the statue, I''m eagerly awaiting.


    *Whoosh*


    The hammer disappears, and I await the voice to start talking, though I’m kinda stressed as I’d rather do this secretly. It might be all because of Mike anyway—I justify my shady actions.


    <hr>


    “Ohhhhh, you again?” the voice resonates.


    “Ssshhhhhh.” I grab the statue by the other hand, trying to hush it.


    “I know that this might sound rude, but can you please fix my handle joint?”


    “The beetle is deeead? Bring the proof to my brother Verdalos; he will like it a lot!”


    “Ssshhhh, sorry, and thank you,” I whisper, not asking him more and end the conversation. Verdalos, good. I will write this down in my task list.


    The hammer starts to materialize, and a feeling of joy fills my body as the joint looks different than before.


    It appears fused with the metal itself.


    “Thank you!” I whisper and rub the statue''s hand.


    Hopping down from the pedestal, I snap my fingers immediately.


    *Poof*


    The white cat appears from the dust cloud.


    “Heyyy, buddy.” I awkwardly pat him right away in between his tiny ears, glancing around the cave for any movement.


    “You could’ve mentioned that the well is filled with the most lethal liquid I’ve ever witnessed, but anyway, my gratitude is unmeasurable,” I continue whispering.


    “Meow.”


    “Now, why did you only tell this to me if anyone can enter that place, right?” I carefully pull the information from the ghostly animal.


    “Three.” He answers.


    I stop for a moment, thinking.


    “Only three people can get it?” I try my luck with the first question.


    “Yes. Meow.”


    Bingo! I was ready to ask more variants: one can enter it only three times, only three places like that exist, only three archways contain the power, others only acid? My mind wanders.


    “Good. So two more are available?"


    "Can, let’s say, Harald and Astrid get them if I tell them about it?” I ask the floating cat.


    “No.” He answers right away.


    “Why not?” I frown.


    “Two are used.”