“WRAHH!”
The Handless Fiend took a light spear into its chest, finishing it off for good.
You have slain a Lv 90 Handless Fiend! Gained 3,025,000 Exp (300%)
Learned [Chromatic Indigo] Lv 7!
Learned [Relay Magic] Lv 8!
Attempting to siphon [Create Magic Hands]...
0%...2%...4%...
This time the process wasn’t interrupted because Sol cast [Harden Earth] before killing the boss.
Sol patiently waited as the percentage increased until another message popped up.
100%
Assimilating talent skill. (Note: This may hurt)
“Hurt? Guh! AHHHH!”
Sol fell to the ground with his entire body in pain. It was unlike learning any skill where the knowledge would normally be ingrained into his mind. It was as if his own body was changing in ways he couldn't comprehend to obtain the access to the ability.
Sol felt his hands burning so he looked down to see that they were no longer there. But just as he was lamenting the loss of his hands, two appeared in front of him, floating in the air. They felt like a part of his own body even though they weren’t connected physically. Just like his now gone hands, he could control the floating hands, making them slowly spin around and move their fingers. It wasn’t just two hands, Sol felt like he had countless hands waiting for him to call upon them.
Learned [Create Magic Hands] Lv 9!
When the painful sensation began to cease, Sol knew the process was over.
‘My hands…’
Sol raised his arms in a hurry, but to his surprise, his hands were there, completely unharmed. Sol closed and opened them as he felt the sensation of his hands once more, but he couldn’t help but doubt them after what he saw.
‘Are these hands really mine? But what I saw…’
Amber walked over to Sol and placed her hand on his shoulder, waking him from his confused state.
“You okay?”
“Oh uh, yeah. Sorry about that, I got the skill.”
Amber could see it in his eyes that he was lying, but she didn't know what to say. The look on his face reminded her of someone who was just healed after being tortured, unable to comprehend the pain they went through and left wondering if it ever happened. While healing magic could take away the physical scars, the mental ones would linger for much longer.
“Huh? What are you doing?”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Waiting.”
Sol saw Amber sit down on the ground next to him. Though she couldn’t comfort him with words, she would wait until he was able to carry forward.
The two sat in silence as Sol kept touching his hands and other things in his near vicinity. There were no words that could describe how he truly felt, his hands were completely identical to how he remembered them, but something still felt off.
‘It was like… I traded my hands for new ones…’
Maybe in an attempt to make sense of it all, Sol turned to Amber in hopes she saw something.
“Amber, did you happen to see my hands disappear for a moment?”
She thought back to when she saw him on the ground a minute ago and shook her head.
‘Did I really just imagine it?’
If it was true, and Sol hoped it was, it still didn’t explain why he saw them disappear.
‘Was it a pain-induced hallucination or something more? Forget it, thinking about it further isn’t going to help and will just make me more confused. These are my hands regardless if they aren’t the same as before.’
Sol stood up and dusted himself off before offering a hand for Amber to get up as well. She grabbed his hand and got up.
“Okay now?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine as long as I get some rest. Let's go.”
The two left the boss room and made their way to the teleport sigil and were transported to the first floor of the dungeon. By the time they left, it was late in the morning, and after fighting a boss three times back to back, the two were very tired. Even though neither of them was significantly hurt, and they killed the boss rather quickly, it took a lot of energy and mana to do so.
‘Woah, the city is absolutely packed right now.’
Sol noticed during the walk to their inn that there were many more people than normal. It didn’t take a detective to figure out why; decorations were put up everywhere, and even the nearby chatter gave it away.
“You're participating too? Do you want to team up?”
“Sorry, I already got a party and historically in past knight selections that had tests that required teamwork, groups of 4 usually performed better.”
Further off, a merchant was announcing to the passersby.
“Fifteen percent off weapon and armor enchantments! Get an edge over the competition!”
Likely because of the 15% discount, a huge line could be seen trailing out of his store; the merchant planned to make a big profit off the ridiculous amounts of adventurers and other professions in the capital.
Sol and Amber navigated through the crowd until they arrived at the inn. Even the inn was packed full of people, with one arguing with a young man who was manning the counter. Sol didn’t recognize the youth, but he guessed he was the son of the innkeepers.
“How do you not have any rooms either! This is the sixth inn I’ve been to!”
“I’m really sorry, but we are full as well… I could show you on a map a few other inns that might have a room…”
“Where do you think the last five inns sent me?! This is a damn wild goose chase!”
The man, frustrated by the unavailability of every single inn he had been to, slammed his fist down on the counter.
“Please calm down! How about we-”
“Fuck off!”
The man threw a punch towards the receptionist in anger. All the spectators were shocked, and a few began to move to stop him, but they were too far away to get there in time.
Just as the fist was about to reach the young man's face, the attacker felt his body become incredibly heavy. His fist’s trajectory curved downwards as he lost his balance and fell towards the ground. Before the man could process why he felt so heavy, the weight was already gone.
“Huh? What was that!”
He looked around in a panic, but all he saw were four big men surrounding him.
“I think it’s time for you to go.”
“B-but!”
The attacker was more concerned over what caused him to feel so heavy all of a sudden, but no one cared. One of the men grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him outside.
“You're drunk; come back when you're sober and learn some manners.”
“I haven’t even drank today!”
“Sure, buddy.”
With a rough toss, the man was thrown outside the inn. He considered going back, but the look of the four men gave him the feeling he would regret it if he did so. The man quickly got up and ran away, frightened he would anger them further.
As this was happening, Sol and Amber stood in the crowd, watching the man run away. Sol’s left hand that was in his pocket glowing a dark purple stopped glowing when he decided the man would no longer be an issue.
“Let's get some rest, Amber.”
“Okay.”