[Priscilla…. What happened?]

Mash sent the message in a little bit of a daze. His own thoughts were still struggling a bit to deal with all of the information. It got worse as Priscilla serenaded him with what had happened over the past few minutes. Less than five minutes had passed in total, yet the images he was getting made it feel significantly longer. He hadn’t lost his mind instantly. Priscilla maintained control of his body for a while. His hunger had built and built until even she had to cave into it. She had started by eating some of his reserves, but his body took over at some point. He switched from the rations and simply charged at the basilisk.

The images grew more gruesome and disgusting. He had ignored the water completely and started tearing chunks out of the monster with his bare teeth. Seeing the water flow into his mouth made him shiver. The images melded with his own. They were an echo of what he had done to the fruit. Memories overlapped with what Priscilla was showing him. And he knew that both were real. Despite having eaten the basilisk in its entirety, his stomach felt empty. It ached and twisted with a deep hunger. Although, he didn’t feel like he would lose his mind again.

His friends had waded through the water and were close enough now that he could reply without shouting. He opened his mouth to do just that. And closed it again without saying a thing. The others were clearly still angry, and they were posturing for a fight. None of them seemed entirely sure if he was going to attack again. He could even feel some of their emotions through his domain. The situation was oddly making him feel better. They weren’t afraid. Even with all the emotions running around, he didn’t detect a smidgen of fear.

“What in the world were you thinking? If Priscilla didn’t warn us, you would’ve attacked one of us.”

Luke’s voice was a degree louder than everyone else, though they were all saying much of the same. Jill’s version included several curses though. While Lisa’s remark was weirdly polite. Mash responded slowly. His mind still felt overwhelmed. Too many different thoughts were running through his mind. Plus, he had to resist the urge to brag to his friends about the changes to his class.

“Wait, then you don’t know what happened?”

The words came from his lips and that alone. It felt like his mind wasn’t involved in the slightest.

“All we knew was that you were going to go batshit crazy. I teleported everyone out when Priscilla told us that, and…. That doesn’t matter! You could’ve killed us asshole! What was that?”

Jill’s responded to his question, and Mash nodded his head as if they were having a normal question. She trailed off a little when she realized. Then she got really angry. Her voice turned into a cascade of shrieks.

“I upgraded my golden body, and I guess I killed the boss.”

Mash still felt like he wasn’t really responding properly. He was saying half of what he wanted to.

“How many times are you going to do something like this?”

Red wasn’t shouting. Everyone went silent as she spoke, and Mash knew better than to think that she actually wanted a response. Cold fury radiated from her voice as she continued; her hands clenched tightly into fists.

“Every single time you do something stupid like this, you promise to let us know next time. And yet here we are again. If not for Priscilla, you very well might have killed Lisa. She was right next to you when-“

“I’m fine. And uh not particularly mad either. Though I would like to know, why you decided to upgrade the skill then. I thought you said you would do it tonight.”

Lisa interrupted Red’s chastisement. As she said, her voice was as calm as ever. As she spoke it shifted closer to concern. Then she paused and just stared at Mash for a second, then spoke even more gently.

“I think he needs healing. His mana is off.”

Mash was busy processing her words and barely reacted when Luke placed a hand on his forearm. His healing worked immediately and the fog that muddled his mind cleared instantly. The clarity gave him realization, and he began formulating his response. This time he was actually able to think about it first.

As he thought about the situation as a whole, he did vaguely remember telling Lisa that he would upgrade the skill after they had left the dungeon. Why had he changed his mind? It wasn’t boredom as he had pretended. No, it had just felt like the right moment. Was it the boss? It had been his instincts that had pushed him to do it. He realized what it must have been, and nearly shouted it to the others.

“Inhumanity. I mean chimeric constitution. I think it probably told me that it was the right time for it. I mean it doesn’t tell me but something like that. I’m still to blame for doing it, but it was probably what made me think it was the right time for it.”

Mash wasn’t really able to narrow down his explanation well, even with a clear mind. He wasn’t certain about the reasoning, and it felt more like an excuse the more he talked. When he realized what he was doing, he shut his mouth. There had to be a better way to go about this. Slowly, very slowly, he took in a breath. His lungs filled completely before he let out a breath. Then he began his explanation again. This time he started from just before, he had started the upgrade and what exactly had happened during it. The way he had known that he couldn’t stop. That he would’ve done more damage had he tried to resist. Although, he also admitted that all of that was just speculation.

“It might’ve all been in my head. And even that is just an excuse. I’m seriously sorry.”

He finished with an apology. There was nothing else he could say in the end.

“Like I said earlier. I am not angry, nor do you need to apologize. Skills can change people; I know that better than most. And I’ve done worse to you. More importantly, though, how did your skills change?”

Lisa replied quickly. Her gaze was straight, and her voice was vibrating with poorly kept excitement. Mash was taken aback. He could’ve seriously harmed her; how could she just ignore that? Even if she was interested in classes, this was excessive. Mash narrowed his eyes and really looked at Lisa. Studied her mana and expression carefully. His domain revealed nothing, but his eyes showed much. There were small cuts spread across her clothes. Part of her hair was missing too. Now that he was looking, he could tell that she was still injured a little.

“Lisa, you can and should care about your life. Even without changing your class, you are free to do whatever you want with your life now. I’m not saying you shouldn’t advance. Wait, that wasn’t. I mean that you should’ve always cared about your life regardless of your class….”

Mash let his words trail off as Lisa stepped back as if slapped. The excitement in her eyes swapped with horror, and Mash felt like his insides were turning. Lisa stared at him with wide eyes, and tears began to stream to slide down her cheeks. She futilely rubbed at them with her palms. They continued to fall around her hands, and Mash felt worse. He had wanted to make her feel better. He needed to say something, right?

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to. Uh, I was trying to make you feel better.”

He stopped as Lisa waved one hand at him, her palm open to stop him. She still cried though she forced out a response. Every word was parted by a short breath as she struggled to stop the tears.

“It's not that. I forgot that my life mattered. And then you said it. And then I couldn’t… How could I forget that?”

It hurt to hear the question. Mash could only imagine how hard it must be to say it. Yet, that was her reality. It was the way she had managed to persevere for so long, and that was the worst part of it. She had needed to think that way.

With no way to respond to something like that, he just stood there silently. Mash stared at Lisa, awkwardly watching her cry. Her eyes sparkled a little because of the tears. He could hug her, or at least pat her back or something. His sister had done that for him. But they weren’t exactly close enough to do that either. Even if he was quick to form connections, he had only known her for a few days. The sound of Luke clearing his throat loudly made everyone turn their heads toward him. Mash’s half-raised hand fall back to his side, as Luke’s words broke him from the moment.

“Let’s get out of here. I think we could all use a break. One where we are not knees deep in sewer water.”

What proceeded that statement, was the most awkward dungeon clears that probably ever happened. None of them said anything despite the treasure room that had opened in the center of the room. The water seemed to drain around it, although the actual water level didn’t change. Mash’s domain let him see that there was an enchantment on the floor, and he guessed it was just moving to another part of the dungeon. The runes surrounded a ladder that descended to a lower section of the dungeon. They had learned about this too and weren’t expecting much from the rewards.

Mash descended the ladder last. His hands slipped a few times on the wet metal that jutted from the stone. Most of the metal had a brownish hue, which he hoped was just rust. While most of the water was caught by the magic, a few drops managed to slip past. He could see them with his domain, but he didn’t have the space to dodge. His back was almost scraping against the stone wall behind him. The cramped feeling only grew as he descended into the room.

It was no bigger than a room at an inn. While that normally wouldn’t be an issue, it was here when stacks of gold bars filled most of the space around him. The ladder had led directly into the middle of the room, and he was forced to wait on the ladder while the others shoveled some of the gold into their storage spaces. Once they cleared a spot for him, he was finally able to join them. The reward was several thousand gold pieces arranged messily around the room.

Mash ignored the gold entirely. His domain let him see past the piles of gold, and he noticed something far more interesting behind one of the walls of the room. He was somewhat tempted to keep it a secret and make a surprise of it, but he reconsidered quickly. There were times for surprises, and this was not one of them.

“There's a chest behind that wall there. I can’t see inside the chest the though.”

Which meant that they should probably take the chest itself. Something that could get around his domain would be extremely valuable.

“Of course, there is.”

Red sighed and muttered the comment loudly enough for them all to hear. Mash chafed at the remark. The long day and recent events had definitely worn their patience thin, but she shouldn’t complain about a hidden reward. One that very literally wasn’t documented in the guild records. Jill gratifyingly smacked Red on the back of the head. She winced and apologized.

“Sorry Mash. Just tired.”

He waved her off, recognizing that he was probably the only one who had really gained something. Instead, he let his excitement for the chest push him onward. Whatever was inside was probably extremely valuable. Either other adventurers had found it and didn’t report it to the guild, or they were the first people to discover it.