I check the resistances I gained during the fight with the crocodile. Since I [Bolster Resistance], I gained new values after the skill ended.

[Resistance: Piercing 210 > 271]

[Resistance: Slashing 100 > 199]

Not bad. I expected more.

This manaorgan is surprisingly hefty for its size, like a jug filled with water. I tip it over, and nothing comes out.

Since this manaorgan was where the crocodile had the most mana, maybe I can imbue some into it.

"..."

Nothing. Maybe it's damaged or something. It's still "alive" even though it's outside the body, so maybe it's dormant. I wonder how much this thing is worth.

Because of my curiosity, I pumped [Heal Anything] into the organ to see what would happen.

The dark blue color of this tube-filled kidney suddenly gets paler as water starts streaming out of the organ, drenching the sand around me.

I stop "healing" the organ causing it to go back to its dark blue color, no longer spewing out water.

Using my finger, I wipe a droplet off one of those tubes and taste it. It's cleaner and fresher than the pond water.

I'm very close to crying out in joy. As long as I don't lose this beautiful kidney, I'll be able to survive this hellhole. I hope it doesn't have a shelf life.

I should probably stock up on supplies while this oasis is still teeming with life in case I don't find the exit for a while.

Drying meats would be difficult without salt, and since the sun is unbearably hot, the flesh would cook instead. That's still better than having rotting meat, though.

I harvest some of the plants around, what's left of the plants. With the water rising then falling rapidly, most plants have been washed away and left to dry.

I find more cacti, the same kind I found earlier in the fracture. Strangely they don't have any spines on them. Besides that, they are the same.

[??? Cactus]

It's the shape and size of a grapefruit with a single white flower on top. There are multiple cacti bunched together in clusters.

My [Scientific Insight+] doesn't know what that is, and it isn't in my [Lexicon] either. I can find out what this is the hard way.

I pick one and take a bite. It tastes better than the last cactus I ate. It's very bitter, not a good sign.

It doesn't seem poisonous, but something is off about this cactus…

[Perception 40 > 45]

[Spirit 220 > 225]

Did it raise some of my stats? I eat some more, but nothing happens. Something wrong…

The world's colors seem brighter, sounds are crisper, and everything feels magnificent! I just drugged myself, didn't I?

I'm freaking out. Everything I feel is enhanced, from the sensations from the air to my own emotions. I'm on edge right now.

Did I hear something? It sounded like a whisper. I look over at Beryl.

"Did you say anything?"

"No."

"Just checking… what?"

*Click Click*

Her head tilts in curiosity, but I'm distracted by her carapace and eyes. Both are undulating and shifting colors.

I start scratching at my face, scraping my nails against my skin. I can almost feel the hair follicles growing. The half-eaten crocodile is twitching like it's about to come back alive. I hear running water, but I don't see any running water.

There's something off in the distance, but it seems like the sun is getting closer and fierier, so I can't make it out.

I try opening some system windows, but it melts and droops In front of me. I deactivate [Broken Liver] and feel the world around me stop.

I didn't realize it until now, but the entire world was dancing around me.

I look around, double-checking my surroundings.

The crocodile is still an unmoving half-eaten corpse. There are no sounds of water. Beryl looks normal again and isn't talking. But there is nothing in the distance anymore.

"What the fuck was that?"

[??? Cactus]

Still no indication of what kind of cactus this is, but I'm sure I just went on a bad trip. I don't know how long it's been since time felt a little weird, but it shouldn't have been more than a few minutes.

I wonder what was in the distance. I looked down at the pile of cacti and decided to take a bite from one of them, and nothing happened. I take another bite after activating [Broken Liver].

The colors get brighter once again as I strain my eyes. A mountain a few hundred feet tall sits on the horizon. I don't know if I'm hallucinating, but I might as well walk over there.

I've been traveling parallel to the mountain, which angers me. If I had strayed a little to the right during my travels, I might have already been there. I pick up Beryl and head out, stumbling over my feet as the world around me melts.

~

Water can't fix my cotton mouth. I've been consuming cacti for three days straight because when the world went back to normal, the mountain disappeared, no matter how close I was to it.

At least it wasn't an illusion. I wonder what this section of the lost world represented. Was it a typical desert, uninhabited except for the monsters that make their home here, or was it a place that a civilization lived at, turned to sand after the world broke?

The world gets dimmer, and my heightened senses die as the mountain sits in place. Ah, it wasn't a hallucination. I didn't waste three days.

*Click Click*

"Told you."

*Click Click*

I wish I knew how to speak antlion. During my trek, I noted everything about the cactus and its effects and finally got a name.

[Spirit Cactus

A rare type of cactus that induces a hallucinogenic impact that heightens the user's perception while strengthening their soul. The flower on top can brew into a tea with similar effects.

Shamans use this cactus in sacred rituals.]

[Broken Liver] probably enhanced the "perception" aspect of the cactus, allowing me to spot the mountain from far away, but if that's the case, then why didn't I see other things on the horizon? The name [Spirit Cactus] makes me wonder what rituals shamans would do with the cactus.

If I have to fight an actual spirit without my [Spirit Stone], I'll be pissed. Actually, Flash Gordon is a [Elemental Stone], but my point still stands.

I reach the mountain. Stone punches through the ground where loose sand used to be. A monolith of sturdy earth, something I haven't seen in a long time.

I don't see any way to traverse it without directly climbing it. Beryl hasn't grown into her wings yet, or so I believe, since she doesn't fly, and carrying all my stuff while climbing would be irritating.

Consuming another cactus might be the answer. It brought me to this mountain, so It might help me find a way up it. I've been feeding Beryl a little bit of it as well because she gets hissy when I'm eating something she isn't

If any sign of her getting sick from the cactus, I'd [Martyr] it away and ride the bad times on my own.

I munch on a cactus while walking the perimeter of the mountain. I don't get very far when the world starts to melt again, and the stone turns a vibrant shade of red. A convenient path lies in front of me, carved out of the stone wall.

That wasn't there before, was it?

I hear more whispering, which I've grown accustomed to ignoring, but it seems to agree. I reached out to where the wall was and felt nothing. I step onto the path, and it holds my weight. It's real.

As I climb, it's getting hotter. My feet are accustomed to walking on hot surfaces, so I ignore the pain and keep climbing.

It takes me a few hours to reach the summit of the mountain. I'm taking my time because the dancing world makes me disorientated and clumsier than usual.

The mountain is not a mountain but a volcano filled with magma. It's pulsating and churning like a heartbeat. Bubbling and spewing, gasses escape making it sound like it's crying. The heat burns the very air I breathe.

A temple floats on a stone island in the middle of the magma pool. It looks grand but is painted with dark ashes from the volcano. If I get any closer to the magma, I'll combust.

I fix my liver, changing the scene drastically. Where there was a magma pool, there was nothing but rock. The stone is cool to the touch compared to the magma it held. Everything here is barren.

There is no temple, and there is no island. It's like the magma solidified and what I saw before was nothing more than a hallucination. It felt so real.

I remove the effects of the cactus from Beryl before making my way to where I believe the temple was in the hallucination. There is nothing to signify that there was something ever here. Do I?

Do I consume another cactus? I'm running low. I wanted to keep a few in pots for my manor, eventually.

I triple-check that I'm standing where the temple was before eating the second to last cactus. Beryl doesn't get any. If these hallucinations aren't fake, she should suffer for any mistakes I make.

I'm sure I can survive long enough to cleanse my body before succumbing to any magma-filled death.

The scenery changes around me gradually, like it was always there, and the barren landscape I saw before was an illusion.

I'm immediately greeted face to face with somebodies face.

I almost attacked the figure, but it turned out it was a statue of a dwarven man with a scowl. The scowl doesn't seem to be out of anger, but how someone who forgot their glasses would look if they had a mean-looking face.

The armor looked magnificently crafted, but the age on the stone dulled any particularities I could pick out. The dwarf's beard is braided with precious metals, interlocking with the stone locks.

The surrounding room is in ruins, the entrance and other doors are blocked off by rubble, and there are carved words everywhere. The writing is in a language I can barely understand. I have a dwarvish language guide in my [Lexicon] but not this exact script.

Being in the middle annoys me. It's like using half the recommended amount of drink mix to make juice. At that point, just drink water or add the rest of the mix.

The cactus is making me feel weird.

The dwarvish individual is probably a great leader or an idol of worship since it's the only one here, and I don't see any remnants of other statues.

But I spot something out of the ordinary, a simple stone wall that's minutely asymmetrical compared to the other walls. I run my fingers over the stone bricks and felt them in great detail.

I start ripping stone bricks out of the walls revealing nothing... Maybe I should go through one of the doors.