AN: Well, it seems like this AN comes far sooner than anticipated. I apologize for teh really late chapter, but RL kept me busy. It will probably cause the releases to slow down a bit too, but there's nothing I can do about that.On another note I would eb seriously thankful if some of you took the time to review my work critically. It would help me improve and maybe give me advice on how to make this story better-

*Crack* *Crack*

I moved various limbs to confirm that all of my bones had realigned.

Nodding in satisfaction after not feeling any pain I stood up, only to quickly stop in my tracks. I sat down from my awkward position.

I only noticed it in my last fight, but I have been too careless in the last few months.

In my whole life, I’ve rarely been wounded like this before. And all of those times there was a good reason for that.

And this time I’ve truly been too reckless. Fighting a beast head on without any prior knowledge about its specific abilities and weaknesses? Rushing at it without any kind of tactic?

What has gotten into me? This isn’t a fucking game, dammit. John, you have to get a grip on yourself!

I buried my head into my hands and sighed.

Next time I’ll be fucking careful. Definitely. This absolutely won’t happen again. I was really close to death a few times. Had the others not been with me…I would most likely have died.

I shivered when I remembered the pain I had experienced. Thankfully my pain resistance has increased considerably in the last few years and the regular meditation has made my body far tougher than it was before. Otherwise I would have fainted midway, which would have meant my sure death. Nobody could have saved me

The grip on my head tightened, trapping my hair within it. It quickly relaxed though as I had no intention to make my head look like a bird’s nest.

Checking my core, I felt that a good amount of mana was present. It seems like the core I swallowed was a relatively good one. Most likely from a deer or a similarly string being.

I stood up and walked through the already open door.

The sight of a massive pink beast lying on the ground radiating a big amount of pink mana greeted me, nearly causing me to narrow my eyes at the sudden brightness.

It wasn’t that far away from me, about fifteen meters. Now that I wasn’t occupied with fighting it to the death I got a closer look at it. I first turned my mana vision off to properly spectate it though. Otherwise it would look pretty much the same no matter where I look.

The pink beast turned black and golden, the golden being the original color and black the burnt spots. Instead of a proud mane there was just a layer of ash surrounding its head, showing that the flames were very effective against this kind of beast. I made a mental note to just stock up on flames the next time I have the time to as a big amount of mine were used up in this fight.

As my gaze continued inspecting it I noticed that its legs were even more horribly mutilated than I remember: Various bone shards were sticking out of them and the dried blood formed a thick crimson layer above everything, coloring the otherwise golden or black legs a dark crimson.

A faint burnt smell wafted into my nose, causing me to back away while pinching my nose.

I sighed in annoyance. God dammit, do I really have to do this?

Regardless of how reluctant I am I won’t be able to retrieve my beloved greatsword unless I cut this beast open and take it out.

This may not be the first time I had to do this but that doesn’t make it any better.

I slowly stepped towards the not even slightly rotting corpse while holding my nose.

Thankfully the only thing I have to endure is a heavily burnt body. If strong monsters didn’t take far longer to begin rotting I would have to deal with a whole lot of other problems.

I shivered a bit as I remembered the maggot infested flesh that I had to crawl through once.

Finally arriving at the mostly intact body of the great lion I noticed something very suspicious: It had no claws.

Now that I think about it I was never once hit by something sharp. Judging by its already ridiculous power I would most likely not be here anymore if it had them, but somewhere in its stomach, together with my friends.

I heard that there are all kinds of strange beasts out there but is a species that doesn’t have any other weapon beside its size capable of surviving in such a merciless environment?

Is such a beast capable of scaring every beast in such a wide radius away?

I don’t think so. Though this beast may have been strong it is definitely not capable of such a feat.

Could it be someone is manipulating things from the shadows?

But what could be the reason for that? We aren’t really that important in the big picture yet and while we have more than enough talent it would take us at least decades to become really powerful? And who could be stalking us at that, too? How is it possible to hide from our mana senses?

I shook my head. Even if someone did there is nothing I can do about that. No need to waste time with thinking about motives and such.

Hesitantly prying the wound on its side open I discovered a pretty clean cut with only a few fucktons of clotted blood barring my way. Dammit, I hate it if that happens!

Sighing, I conjured a dagger that was enchanted to be far sharper than normally and sliced the wound open again.

----------------------------------------------

I crawled out of the bloody hellhole that the gigantic corpse of the lion was, my beloved greatsword in hand, inhaling a bit of sweet, fresh air that doesn’t have to be supplied by my core.

“If you’re already bloody as hell why don’t you get my weapons too?” Frank, who suddenly appeared next to me, asked.

“Why don’t you get them yourself?” I replied, visibly annoyed.

“Awww, is someone irritated?” He teased me.

I stood up and flicked a bit of blood into his direction, hitting him in the chest.

“Calm down man, you’re overreacting.” Frank stared at the new bloodspots on his clothes.

I took a deep breath. “I guess I am. But that doesn’t really matter, does it? What does matter though is that you get your stuff yourself.” I absorbed my weapon back into my core and walked away.

“Why didn’t you use telekinesis? It would have been far easier and less…” he looked at my dirty outfit” bloody.” He said, causing me to visibly stiffen.

Fuck. Why didn’t I think about that?

Frank started to snicker when he saw my reaction.

I ignored him and continued walking even though my cheeks were burning. I won’t give him that satisfaction.

Is it just me or am I acting far more childish than I used to? Nah, it must be my imagination. After all I was an adult in my old life. Regressing in mental age is just too ridiculous, right?

I wonder where Greta and Owen are. In recent time they seem to vanish somewhere quite frequently. I wonder if Owen has finally grown some balls and has made some advances on her?

It is almost disappointing how childish their relationship stayed in the last few years. They still treat each other the same.

I guess it isn’t bad though. With puberty comes a whole lot of changes, some of which can be fatal for a group of friends like ours.

When I thought about the complications that love brought me in my last life I just wished to never fall in love. It is better not to do so, both for me and anyone who would want to be with me.

It seems that, even though a lot of time has passed, I still haven’t gotten over it, huh?

Sometimes I wonder if this is just an elaborate dream. Maybe I’m in a hospital somewhere, lying in a white bed with crappy technology that is barely capable of keeping me alive.

I can nearly imagine the scenery: Old fashioned white bed sheets with ugly white walls that should have been repainted a few years ago. A malnourished nurse that is more occupied with their private problems than with that of their patients tending to my immobile body, the screen showing few lifesigns.

When I think about how…fantastic this world is me being in a coma isn’t that unlikely, really. Mana, beasts that rule the world and a barely surviving humanity and a completely new world/dimension or whatever else the hell this is supposed to be are kind of, I don’t know, unrealistic? Strange?

And of course my humble self, blessed with monstrous talent, am in the middle of it, slaughtering monsters with my friends and fighting my way back home through strange lands.

Just like in a fairy tale.

But as far as I know no one has ever survived a direct by a bomb, especially in a city that is doomed to be destroyed. Even in the unlikely event that I survive the shrapnel and immense heat the collapsing buildings would still kill me. By the time anyone finds my body I would have been dead for quite some time.

That wouldn’t explain why it is me that is reincarnated though. Sure, I missed some very important things and maybe played a major role in determining the fate of the whole human race but so did many other people.

The only reason I could think of is that damned artifact meddling with reality itself. The object that was capable of throwing all of humanity into a never seen before war.

NO! I promised myself to never think about it again.

Why did I start now, of all times? Nearly ten fucking years into my new life? After the sun itself has decided to fuck me over and some overpowered bastard decided that we were too dangerous?

Why not earlier, like when I first found myself in this new world?

A pang of pain coming from my fists interrupted my train of thought.

I looked down and saw that my long fingernails were digging deeply into my palms, causing a few trails of blood to flow down from where they had penetrated the skin.

I quickly relaxed my arm and carefully pulled my fingernails out of the shallow wounds.

I seriously need to move on. This can’t go on forever. Dwelling in the past, constantly regretting mistakes that were made more than ten years ago. Isn’t that just pitiful?

But in the end, all of these things don’t really matter, do they? I should enjoy the present and think about the future if I have the time to. The past should stay the past, a memory that reminds me of my mistakes but not to the extent of haunting me even in my sleep.

“John, do your part and help us process it!” Frank called out.

“Hmm?” I quietly mumbled. How long have I been out like that?

“Yeah John, we can’t be the only ones doing all the work.” Greta remarked. It seems like I was quite deep in thought to not even have noticed her arrival. If she is here, then it means that Owen is also present.

I turned around and saw that my speculation was true. Greta and Owen stood next to each other directly in front of the gigantic wound.

Frank had moved nearer to its paws, most likely having noticed that they didn’t have any claws attached.

“Do we really have to do that today? It won’t start to rot for the next few days anyway.” I replied. I wasn’t in the mood to do some bloody and tedious work where I have to be careful not to accidentally damage the material.

“We’re lucky that nothing has already started feasting on it. We either start now or abandon the corpse altogether.” Frank reminded us.

I don’t really think that it’s luck though. The mana it leaks combined with the general lack of beasts in the area are probably the main reasons. But as a good friend I’ll let him live with his delusions.

“Ok ok, let’s start now.” I walked to where they were located, ready but unwilling to do the dirty work.

Well, I guess this is still better than wallowing in my own past in a run-down apartment complex, but not by much.