Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Touching Some Grass

Noah’s eyes fluttered open, and he found himself lying in a bed. A thin white sheet was the only thing covering his body. The robes he’d been wearing were gone, and he was completely naked. Curiously, he sniffed his body once, and gagged.

Aurelia stepped into the room, glancing at him. “Ah, you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

“I feel like if I don’t take a shower right now, I’m going to die,” Noah replied.

“I figured as much. I burnt the robes you’d been wearing, there was no salvaging those. There’s a shower attached to his chamber, and I’ve started the mana script so it’s going to have warm water.”

“Thanks,” Noah replied, getting up from the bed.

Taking the sheet covering him, he wrapped it around his waist like some kind of Greek skirt, and made his way to the shower room. Stepping in, Noah found the chamber to be surprisingly similar to what he’d expect a modern shower room to look like. The room was made of carved stone slabs, with a metal shower that had a flat head with no holes, and a rune carved into it. And instead of a tap, there was another rune down below with the same symbol as the shower.

Walking under the showerhead, Noah sent a pulse of mana as water began to rain from above him.

“Fuck, that’s cold!”

“The rune on the right controls the warm water!” Aurelia’s voice came from outside, and Noah tapped the rune on the right side, and the water began to turn warm.

He let the sensation of the water pouring over him soak him, his muscles relaxing. Sighing in contentment, Noah let the shower wash away all the filth and grime from his body.

After a few minutes of soaking, Noah tapped the water rune, turning it off. Just as he was about to leave, a bright light flashed beneath his feet, and he noticed a glowing rune light up under him. The light engulfed him, and Noah felt an oddly cleansing sensation cover him from head to toe.

You’ve been inflicted with [Cleanse]!

You feel cleaner than ever.

You feel relaxed after a nice shower!

[Exhaustion] has been removed.

Noah inspected his body and found that every ounce of dirt and grime had been removed. Even the dirt under his nails was no longer stubbornly there. “This just made the entire day of almost dying worth it.”

Stepping outside the shower, he found a pair of white robes were neatly folded within a wardrobe. Noah picked one up, putting it on, and looked at himself in the mirror.

A pink scar covered his chest where he’d been stabbed. Similar scars were all over his body, little pink gashes that’d healed rapidly from the many cuts and bruises he’d received.

“Just yesterday I was at work, and now I can absorb blood and pull things out of nowhere,” Noah said.

Now that he finally had some time to himself, Noah had the time to look around for what exactly happened with that strange vision. Reaching out to his menu, he opened his overlay.

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Human (Modified)

Rank: F

Paths:

Exsanguinator - level 11

Astralwalker - level 9

Void Hunter - level 9

Attributes:

Power: 32

Agility: 23

Constitution: 26

Mystic: 36

Attribute points: 30

An uneasy feeling filled Noah’s gut at the thought that he may not even be human anymore with all the genetic tampering and whatnot that was mentioned, but lingering on the thought wouldn’t help him, and so he moved on.

Noah noticed his Attributes had all increased by 5. A significant jump, which essentially gave him nearly 6 levels worth of Attribute Points all across. His Constitution especially had skyrocketed, and Noah could feel the difference in his body. It was almost as if he was more alive. His body felt more energetic, more sensitive to sensations, and he just felt better overall.

Trying to test the changes, Noah jumped up to see if he could do superhuman feats now. Instead of reaching high up, he jumped up as normal, and almost slipped on the wet floor, barely catching himself from face planting.

“I guess not,” he murmured, flexing his muscles to see if he felt different.

He could remember the overpowering sensation from when he’d eaten the Mana Stone, an energy had flooded him. And even before that, he’d definitely been moving around faster than he should’ve been able to and jumping higher than he ever had before. So, something had clearly changed with him, but when Noah tried to replicate the differences right now, he didn’t feel anything significant.

It would take some figuring out to understand how this worked, and how he could consciously use his newly gained superhuman abilities, instead of just blind panic unlocking them for him.

Putting the experimentation on his Attributes aside, Noah went to his menu again, looking through once more. Opening the sub menu section, he selected the [Perks] tab.

Perks:

[Quest System]

[Inventory]

[Universal Language Comprehension]

[Identify]

[Voidborne]

[Fate Touched]

[Devourer]

As he’d expected, the question marks had been changed to Devourer after the vision. Clicking on the Perk, he expanded it to get its description.

[Devourer (Basic, Unique/Growth)]

You are the Devourer. A primal hungerlurks within you. You yearn to grow, to fight, to consume all that bar your path. Gain increased experience when fighting stronger enemies, but gain decreased experience when fighting weaker foes. Your abilities are enhanced to their maximum potential. Your instincts are sharper, your eyes see farther, and your spirit shall remain unwavering. Increases all Attributes by 5%.

Noah’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, that’s powerful!” he exclaimed, looking at the straight up 5% bonus to all his Attributes. “What the hell does Growth mean though?”

Focusing on the word, Noah tried to gain more understanding, and more words appeared in front of him.

Growth Attribute:

This attribute can increase in strength through either magical processes or your own actions.

Noah whistled. With every twenty stat points, he’d get an extra one for free. Scaled over hundreds of levels, that would add up quite significantly. Especially if I can increase the bonus with the Growth Attribute.

Opening his Attributes menu, Noah noticed his 30 free points. Noah decided to put one into an Attribute to check his Perk boost.

He put in 5 points to Mystic, not confirming his allocation, and first observed the Attribute. From the looks of it, the displayed Attributes were always rounded down, so he wouldn’t see the increase till the Attribute was at 20. After doing some calculations in his head, Noah allocated his free Attribute Points.

Power has increased to 47.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Agility has increased to 25.

Constitution has increased to 35.

Mystic has increased to 42.

His priority had been Power and mana capacity, which had been his biggest problem. For now, he’d also decided to keep a fairly even build. His Attributes had gained the 5% bonus, and received one additional point when they crossed twenty.

Feeling satisfied with his choices, he left the bathroom.

He found Aurelia waiting for him. “Do you want to take a shower too? That was probably the best one I’ve ever had. I’d thought you guys would have medieval technology and stuff, but I guess magic makes up for it.”

“I already took one,” Aurelia replied.

“Really? When?”

“When I was moving you here and searching around. So, a few minutes ago.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t look like it.”

Aurelia walked closer, putting a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, he felt the air around him begin to heat up, hot enough to prickle his skin as steam began to evaporate from him. A moment later, Aurelia stepped back, a satisfied smile on her face.

“Alright, I’ll admit, that’s convenient,” Noah said.

“One of the Perks of fire abilities. Another is that winter basically isn’t a concern for me. Which is such a relief. I think that’s a fairly big part of why I picked my Paths too,” Aurelia said, small flames dancing across her knuckles.

“Really? You dislike winter?” Noah asked. “I love winter. Freedom from dreadful heat, and snow fights are some of the peaks of my childhood.”

Aurelia grimaced, scrunching up her face in disgust. “I despise the cold. I’d rather be warm and cozy forever.”

“Understandable. I wonder if you’ll enjoy ice cream. Honestly, I’d hate summers, but ice cream makes up for it. You can eat them in winter too, but it’s not the same.”

“Ice cream?” Aurelia asked.

“It’s a dessert made of milk, a fuck-ton of sugar, and it’s one of the best things humanity has created in my world. Right after pizza,” Noah said.

“I can’t tell if I don’t understand you because whatever spell is translating isn’t working, or if you’re just being weird.”

“Who knows,” Noah said with a smile.

“Let’s head out. I don’t want to stay a second longer in this place,” Aurelia said.

“Me neither,” Noah replied.

It took a while for them to make their way through the underground caverns. After walking for half an hour, they noticed light streaming in from the outside. Noah rushed ahead, pushing through overgrown vines and plants at the entrance. He wiggled his bare feet, feeling the grass against his skin. He looked up at the sky, momentarily blinded by the light of the sun. As his vision adjusted, he saw two bright balls glowing in the bright blue sky.

“You guys have two suns?” he said, looking at Aurelia in surprise.

“You don’t? That’s so weird,” she replied.

“It really isn’t. How do you calculate day and night?”

“What do you mean? When the suns go down, it’s night. When they come out, it’s day. Though sometimes in winter it’s still too dark after first dawn, so the day really only begins after both the suns are out.”

“First dawn… huh?” Noah murmured, watching the suns hanging in the sky. He looked behind him and found two shadows that overlapped each other.

“This is so weird,” he murmured again, looking ahead to the landscape. The grass, the trees, the little insects that flew around felt both familiar and alien at the same time. He really was in a brand new world of magic.

Quest: Run! Run! Run! Complete.

Reward: [Map] system, unlocked.

A mini-map appeared at the corner of his vision, where he could see his current location. Every other place was dark and invisible, except for the cultist base that he’d already explored.

“Would be more useful if it wasn’t all blank,” Noah said. “Did you find the thing you were looking for?”

Aurelia nodded, a necklace appearing in her hand. “It’s a protective charm. Given to children to ward off evil spirits. Not really magical in any way. I found it in one of the prison cells.”

A sombre realisation settled on Noah.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: Lost Remembrance

You’ve found a necklace belonging to someone in Layfar Village. Find them and return the item.

Difficult: Easy.

Reward: Experience Points.

“Guess that makes it official. I just got a Quest to go to Layfar Village,” Noah said. He saw a little marker on his map, showing the location. “Let’s head out, shall we?”

Aurelia nodded. “We’ll set up camp, the suns will be down in a few hours. I suppose this’ll be your first adventuring Quest, so I better show you the ropes as your senior.”

“I’ll be looking forward to learning from you, senpai,” Noah said, bowing his head.

“I feel like you’re making fun of me, but I can’t tell why.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Aurelia rolled her eyes, walking away. Noah chuckled to himself as the two of them made their way into the forest.