I gulp, quietly staring, comprehending.
Gazing at the floating cat, speechless, my mind wanders, imagining all the possibilities as my eyes are running left and right.
Before I even ask another question, the time is up.
*Poof*
The cat disappears in a dust cloud.
“Someone must be more fresh than ever!” an old man asks loudly while squeezing through the crack in the rocky wall.
“Err. Yes, apparently I went over the limit yesterday again, by overusing my Focus and underestimating the height of a jump.”
I wiggle out of the awkward small talk as I have no idea what to answer.
But deep down, I know that the liar will sooner or later tangle in his own lies—at least that’s what my mom used to always tell me.
“There wasn’t time to talk more yesterday.”
He tries to continue and steer the conversation carefully.
“Isn’t there anything you want to tell me? Boy,” he adds.
*Gulp*
“No.”
“Well, not now.” Thinking quietly for a few seconds, I answer with uncertainty.
“Good.” He nods, looking me in the eye without blinking.
*Whoosh*
*Thud*
“Erm, my hammer."
"I’ve asked the blacksmith statue once again, and he fixed the joint. Take a look.” I remember to tell him, handing him the sledgehammer straight away.
He grabs it with such ease he almost throws it away, but then it *thuds* on the rocky ground as I used only two fingers to lift it, and the enchantment did its trick—making it super light, but the moment I stopped touching it, it reversed to its normal weight.
“Impossible craftsmanship, all I can say,” he tells me after observing it for a few seconds.
“The metal and the beetle''s horn are so well fused together, it is impossible to do this even with modern materials,” he keeps wondering, appreciating it.
“The car is alright, right?” he adds while handing me the hammer.
“Of course. Here in the inventory. Do you want me to…” I ask submissively.
“No, no, no...” He gesticulates, stopping me as I was about to pick it up right now and right here, in the middle of a cave.
“There will be time. Just keep it safe,” he adds.
I simply nod as he turns in place, checking the cave one last time.
<hr>
Squeezing myself out, I walk tediously, like I was almost learning how to do it.
My legs are probably still strained from the fall, but still, I think that I might be in the most normal physical state I have been in since here—if I count out two missing toes on my feet, of course.
No painkiller acid on me—yet, no stretched skin or any special side effect, the stomach ache has finally settled, and I’m both excited yet afraid to try to withdraw from the well of power.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
At least I think it works like that and it exists after all.
The old man joins the couple outside.
Astrid is chilling, leaning over the nearby tree, and Mike keeps spinning both sabres around the bushes.
His left hand apparently does not keep up with his right, and balancing them well seems to be his goal. Despite his moves looking clunky and his lack of proper fencing skills, he does pretty well for a complete amateur.
I bet there must be someone else beside the lecherous knight, who is currently a human jerky, who knows and might teach us a thing or two.
I notice he is not wearing the headscarf or an eyepatch anymore. It may sound easy just to keep your eye closed, but I don’t think it is that simple.
He must be confident enough that he will not open it accidentally and have a seizure afterward. His black, straight, thick hair, almost long enough to cover the side of his face, will after all make him look badass.
“Morning,” Astrid greets me, and Mike ignores me, grunting and blowing the air while spinning around training.
“Hey.” I wave at her awkwardly, straightening my back and broadening my shoulders. My arm is once again raised with confidence as, besides missing my sleeves on my turquoise shirt, I’m no longer ashamed of my disgusting stretch marks filled with dried blood.
The poor girl is well aware of the stumps, and I bet she wants to do the reset deep down, as she is the only one without that experience.
I wonder if I should tell her or Harald about the secret area, as now the most concerning thing is what the ghostly cat said.
<hr>
After an initial plan, we decided that we should return to the area where I died while trying to lift a car.
<hr>
Arriving at the area, I can already see from the distance a quite unpleasant thing.
“You might need this.” The old man hands me the shovel boldly without flinching an eye.
Seriously?
I clench my jaw after being in mild shock.
He did this already thrice, as his body never got pulverized like Mike’s or crushed into a pile of bones like mine before.
“Phew.”
At least my eyes are closed; I would be horrified for weeks.
Overall, it’s an indescribable feeling seeing your own corpse in front of you.
I look for the spot I assume is easiest to dig and hit the ground.
<hr>
Time has passed, sweat drips from my forehead, and an internal fight of joy and uneasiness lasts in my head. In the first place, I enjoy some manual labor while thinking of what the cat said—if there are three wells of power and two are used, that means there is somewhere someone either confused like me or walking here like a god among us.
But on the other hand, it’s unpleasant to dig your own shallow grave.
The couple chills a bit away from me, and the old man scouts the area, probably searching for green berries.
<hr>
“Done?”
The old man joins me, slipping something into his chest pocket with velcro.
*Panting*
“Done.”
The grave is shallow, and I’m glad nothing is sticking out.
When nobody was paying attention, I removed the sweatpants, socks, and sneakers from the corpse, exchanged them with a bulletproof vest in the inventory slot, and put it on.
As the old man looks at me, he notices I keep staring at the peak sticking from the ground further away, the one Mike tripped on.
“What caught your attention this time?” Harald asks loudly.
"Ssh!" I hush him, adding a hand gesture for emphasis. Quickly relocating myself closer, I sit on the ground and tear at the dried grass twisted around it.
A few dozen seconds pass.
*Thud-Thud*
I open my eyes wide.
“We have a buried snail,” I whisper.
<hr>
Mike stands up right away, picks his legless girlfriend, and they relocate closer.
“Hey, but this one’s a little bit bigger,” Astrid remarks from Mike’s embrace.
“I hear a heartbeat.” Sitting there in front of it, I look upon them.
“What do we do with it? Kill for exp?” I suggest.
“Markus, only you can smash it wide open,” Astrid points out.
“Or Harald can shoot it off. Also, if it wasn’t for Mike, I would have never found it.” I look at him while standing up.
“You mean as he stumbled and almost broke the bottles?” Astrid picks on him.
“Yeah,” I answer her without a look, focusing only on the beating shell.
Unsheathing my hammer, I prepare for the strike.
“Ready your weapon. I’ll crack the shell for you.”
The tall, slim man looks surprised and prepares his sabres.
*Bang*
The tip, the size of a golf ball, barely shatters.
“Make more room,” Harald gestures to Mike and Astrid.
“This will take some time,” he suggests.
“Aaargh!”
*Bang*
I scream and smash it on the same spot, and another part cracks off.
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<div>
<div>
Repeating this about five times, and slightly using Focus, I can feel the thing beginning to shatter.
“Next hit will be the final one. I feel it.” I tell the group and release some percentage of my Focus power manually, hoping somehow the well of power will get activated too.
*Bang* followed with a *crack*
Mucous fluid starts to pour out like from a tiny volcano, together with the unpleasant sound.
“Jeez.”
I step aside quickly and leave the room for Mike and his sabre.
*Squelching stab*
“Enjoy your ding,” I tell him and move away from it, scanning the area for more anomalies like this one.
“Mark!?”
Did Harald, Astrid, and Mike all just say my name at once? I stop right away.
“The health bar appeared,” Mike mentions with a shaky voice.
“And?” I ask impartially.
<div>
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<div>
As I turn, my eyes widen, and my mouth falls open.