Chapter 47 - Back To Normal

Disgusting.

I earned XP for killing someone.

Simply disgusting.

I flopped to the ground and stared up at the sky, feeling the rush of battle slowly drain away. The man’s body parts were scattered around the clearing and the ground was soaked in blood.

Grrrrr.

Despite the incoming headache, I forced myself to fly up and prepare for another fight. Thankfully, ‘mutation’ was still active, meaning I would most likely be able to deal with whatever threat lay ahead of me.

Sniff. Sniff.

Something rustled in the bushes on the opposite side of the clearing, and slowly waddled out. It was a creature about as large as a coconut, back lined with spikes and a long, wiggling snout.

‘The spike-o-chidna?’ I thought out loud. What was that doing here?

I backed away, saws ready to chop it up if it even came near me. My sword might not have been able to cut through its shell, but these saws definitely would. Speaking of my sword, it was still embedded in the ground, wedged between a mound of rocks.

Slurp.

I looked back to the spike-o-chidna, who was now licking the quickly drying blood of the dead man.

How ironic. He was now feeding his pet with his own blood.

Concluding that the monster didn’t want to attack me, I retrieved my sword. Its blade snapped off as I pulled it out, and the item information changed from ‘Longsword (Element Infused)’ to ‘Broken Longsword (Element Infused)’.

‘Huh.’ I thought dumbly, and tossed it deep into the forest.

There was no point in my keeping a broken sword. Where could I hide it? It was useless now, anyways. I could always use ‘element infusion’ on another sword.

‘Thank you.’ I said to it. ‘I wouldn’t have survived without you.’

I floated up even further and surveyed the damage.

The clearing was now a hole. Just a hole. Three metres deep.

Yeah, there was no way I could hide that shit.

There was only one thing to do.

Run away.

I arrived back home before the sun set.

Cle’de and Kai’ra were already back, but I managed to sneak in through my room’s window. My human body still had two hours on cooldown, so I couldn’t leave and ask them if they’d come into my room. I was conflicted.

Seriously conflicted, because of three important things.

First off. The human female body.

Now that I was no longer affected by it, my sexual urge had returned. But I knew that the moment I transformed into it, I would once again lose my male desire. It was incredibly frustrating. Also, if anyone caught me with my female body and actually recognized me… that would lead to some big problems. Although yes, it was a good replacement for my male body when it was on cooldown, it still affected my thinking and that was something I was trying to avoid. Especially since it was even more obvious while in that body.

I came to the decision that I would only use ‘potato body’ minimally. Only during school or when I was going out, because it was simply too risky.

Secondly, the man.

What had happened to him? Surely he wasn’t normally like that? Something told me that he wasn’t just crazy.

He kept muttering about death- which I wouldn’t exactly say was standard, but he was also trying to kill me. And Gorgon? Who was this Gorgon character he kept talking about? I made a note to ask Red about that when he came to see me again.

The third was the system.

To level up, I had to kill monsters. But it wasn’t just monsters that I could kill. I could kill humans too, and by the looks of it, they gave a whole lot more XP.

What if I…

‘Don’t even think about it.’

Even a potato had a conscientious.

‘So what does leveling up even do, anyways?’

[Leveling up grants you a range of SP, stat points, which you can use to improve certain statistics, such as physical strength, mental strength, physical endurance, and mental endurance.]

‘Right. Statistics.’ I said before she had a chance to inform me of how to open the window.

___________________________________________

Statistics

Xera Purity: 10%

Xera Capacity: ∞

Xera Regeneration: ∞

Physical Strength Boost: 26.5% {0}

Mental Strength Boost: 26.5% {0}

Physical Endurance Boost: 26.5% {0}

Mental Endurance Boost: 26.5% {0}

[25 Stat Points Available]

___________________________________________

‘Twenty five stat points?’ I read aloud. ‘Isn’t that too many for a single levelup?’

[That’s correct! You only receive five stat points when you level up. The reason why you have twenty five points is because the skill points from the old system have been transferred over.]

Oh, that was right. That was part of the bonus I’d received from ascending.

‘Hmm… Let’s see…’ What should I spend the stat points on? I already received a significant bonus from the faith I accumulated.

In terms of physical strength and endurance, my potato body wasn’t good for either of those. I could only move with the help of telekinesis, which would benefit from a mental strength and endurance boost. On the other hand, my human body was already strong, but was quite weak in terms of durability. There was a short limit on the amount it could regenerate, and once I hit that, I would be forced to leave. Also, physical endurance might help with the ‘funnel’ concept when using magic...

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I ended up not doing anything. I simply couldn’t decide.

Eve had said that it didn’t matter much anyways, since it wasn’t likely that I’d be fighting against proper enemies for a long time. I was awoken from my short nap an hour later by Rya’de calling for dinner.

‘When did they get back?’ I wondered out loud.

[About twenty minutes ago.]

‘Oh, thanks Eve.’ More and more recently, Eve seemed to be… assisting me with my personal life.

‘Potato body.’

The strange sensation I now recognised as transformation filled my body. I glance down at myself, glad to see the sausage in between my legs. Being a girl now seemed like a fantasy hard for me to comprehend. After slipping on some clothes, someone knocked on the door.

“June? Are you there?” I heard Cle’de’s voice call from outside.

“Yeah…” I said instinctively, reminded of the way my body altered my way of thinking.

“It’s dinnertime.”

I opened the door to a surprised Cle’de and walked straight past her down the corridor, completely ignoring her.

“June! How was your first day of school?” Ma’ra asked expectantly as I walked into the dining room.

“Pretty good!” I faked a laugh. “The people around here are a lot nicer than I thought.”

Silently, Cle’de shoved past me and sat down in her spot on the dining table.

“That’s great!” Ma’ra smiled as she carried a few plates out of the kitchen. “You’re going to love today’s dinner.”

I didn’t feel hungry, but the taste of food in my mouth was something my mind begged for. So, I returned the smile and sat on the other end of the table, opposite Cle’de. “I bet I will!” I replied just as enthusiastically.

“It’s mash potatoes with a nice drizzle of gravy, accompanied by roast wardair, which is like chicken, and even more potatoes! But roasted this time!”

“That sounds grea- WHAT???”

“Potatoes? Do you not like them?” She asked innocently.

I gazed around the table, and everyone stared back at me.

“I’m… allergic… don’t like… can’t eat…” I stuttered, unable to think of a good reason on the spot.

“Ha ha ha!” Rya’de burst out laughing and clapped me on the back before pulling out a seat. “Don’t worry about it. If you don’t like something, we won’t force you to eat it.”

“Ha… thanks…” I replied awkwardly and stared at the slushy brown mess on my plate.

Yeah, no. Even if I could eat in this human body, even if I was technically human in this body, I still didn’t want to commit a sin as grave as eating something of the same species I was.

I looked up, straight into Cle’de’s eyes, and frowned.

She looked down.

‘Yeah… That’s what I thought.’

Putting her aside, I desperately searched for other thoughts apart from; ‘If I eat this potato, does that count as me being a cannibal?’ and ‘Oh god, will I survive if I get turned into that?’

School. Tath. What I’d witnessed this morning. I wouldn’t bring it up with her- or Leon for that matter. It seemed like a private conversation and I didn’t want to intrude. I just wanted to learn more about the actual magic itself, more spells, and gain more faith. Wasn’t too much to ask, was it? Also, I needed to cram in whatever time I could to swing a damn sword in order to complete my class quest. The last thing on my list was to speak to Red about the whole incident earlier today and begin to control void magic.

Three goals.

Oh, and, since I was doing this, I might as well add one more onto the list.

Find Cherry.