Mash P.O.V

Mash sat in the same place he had originally been. Jill had arrived a little while ago but was exploring the forest at the moment. He knew why his friends kept doing that, they just wanted to be around in case he did something stupid. It was both reassuring and a little frightening. He felt pressured by their concern. The others probably didn’t worry about something like that, and he knew that they didn’t actually want to pressure him. They just wanted to be around him. That didn’t change how he felt about it though. He wanted to do right by them, to meet their expectations. However, he didn’t know if he could do that.

He was done sorting through his memories. He had been done for a few hours now, and he hadn’t been able to make any conclusions. It wasn’t that he hadn’t learned anything, rather he just couldn’t decide anything. The way he saw his past, he was able to spot all the mistakes he made. His rashness and arrogance. His stupidity and greed. How little he had been concerned about anything other than his own improvement. In satisfying himself. He could see himself now for the fool that he was. He decided to carry all of the burdens while running from it at the same time. How had even managed that?

His back was still against the same tree, and the grass had softened from his constant use. He had moved a little but always returned to the same place. No matter the time of day, the spot seemed to always avoid the sun. It was probably the best place he could’ve found, especially if he considered how much he had used. It was his world, so monopolizing a seat seemed appropriate. Plus, he found that he was able to focus better sitting there. He focused on his thoughts and had come up with a sort of plan. It couldn’t really be called a proper plan, as he hadn’t set any end goal for the moment. Ultimately, he took that to be his biggest mistake.

Everything that had happened to him had led him to make some wild end goals. Those that were too large and unreasonable to get done. He smiled a little as he laid his head back against the tree. He should’ve been able to see how unreasonable his aspirations had been. Not even a year had passed, but he felt like those goals were less than childish. And more than that, they were overly cruel. The first thing he had wanted to do was overthrow the kingdom. It had been partially fueled by revenge, but also because he had pushed the blame onto the general and other nobles. What kind of kid would decide to do something like that?

It was ultimately his goals that drove it into him that he probably had done damage to his mind. He had hoped to find things to disprove that theory, but the more he searched, the more contradictions he stumbled upon. He was walking backward in a lot of ways now, and that left him to decide what he thought about who was. One of the contradictions he stumbled upon, was his desire to grow stronger, but his stronger desire to avoid massacring anyone. The very nature of classes was to kill. It was the universal method of gaining strength, and Mash didn’t know if he wanted to do that anymore. When he thought about that, he realized he wanted to keep fighting though. Either his experiences or determination had shaped his desires, and he liked to fight strong monsters. He even revealed a little in defeating them and stealing their abilities.

That was one of the few realizations that had frightened him. He couldn’t tell if that was a product of who he was, or the strange things that had happened with his class, and the class itself. He wondered if he gained a taste for it. The other problem with his desire to fight strong monsters was that he was bound to cause more problems for others. Was he really ok with that? His somewhat forced smile broke, and he ran his fingers up his forehead. The hair on his forehead gently fell back as he ran his hand through it. he felt like he needed to find a balance but didn’t know where to start with that. It seemed like the balance was the most difficult thing to manage. He wanted to go all in on every idea but knew that was a bad habit. Instead, he decided the best way to deal with the balance was when it came up. It was something that he needed to decide at the moment.

Although he had made a better plan. It wasn’t overly complex, nor did it have some complex long-term goal. He decided to set those aside for the moment. It was difficult to get rid of some of them, but he could at least learn more before coming back to them. The most important thing now was the set some achievable goals. Ones that he could fully agree with and accomplish. The first of which would be to apologize and tell those his decisions had affected. He would talk with the others before doing it, but he felt like it was something he needed to do. Whatever it led to, he deserved it. However, he did know better than to just accept any punishment or rebuke.

He was worried about bringing that up with his friends. His other, much more doable, the goal would be the more awkward of the two discussions. He really wanted to get their input on that plan but decided he wanted to tell them of his madness first. It was a pressing concern that he had pushed off the past two days. It really was something he kept running from but decided the time had come for that discussion. He hoped that they would be able to help him identify what exactly about his thinking wasn’t normal.

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Almost as soon as he had the thought, he felt the ground beneath him shake. A loud noise seemed to bellow from the distance. He turned toward it as fast as he could and saw something coming toward him. The air was rippling like it was water, and those were heading right at him. It didn’t seem harmful, and he wondered if it was some weird kind of weather. He didn’t really know what his world had in store for him. As it got closer, he realized that the rippling effect was just affecting the air. The ground and trees also seemed to be rippling. Looking in that direction, he thought that was where Jill had been heading.

The situation crashed into him like a boulder. The very space was rippling, and that meant that she was probably in trouble. His mind raced with the probabilities, and he figured there was only one being that could chase her here and do something like that. had the god she had encountered followed her. His first reaction was to run. Without thinking about his skills in the slightest, he started to sprint. With his stats, each step carried him far further than it would have before. The wind buffeted him like a wall, but he didn’t care in the slightest. And just kept running.

[Forms!]

Priscilla's message shook him out of his panic, and he reacted quickly. He wasn’t going to be able to fight a god without going all out. Even though he hadn’t perfected his ideal, Priscilla had helped him consider a few different forms. Some that were more refined and polished. He hadn’t actually tested any of them though. Priscilla alone had been working on them while he had been sorting out his thoughts. She had told him when he came up with one, but he hadn’t tested them yet. It seemed like now was the time.

The form most focused on speed was simply named the Chimeric Wyvern form. It was a combination of his cat form’s reflexes and eyes while using his wyvern form's wings and scales. They weren’t as durable as his dragon form's wings, but they were significantly lighter. Finally, he used his treant form to restructure his bones and body, while taking his dragon form's raw power. The combination would let him use extremely powerful wind magic, and he should theoretically be able to fly very quickly. Mash started the transformation mid-run.

His steps became lighter but each one carried him a little further than the previous. The inside of his body was changing slightly and the wind around him propelled him even before he took to the air. With the control he had now, his face's shape didn’t change in the slightest with the scales. Once the transformation had finished, he noticed the drain on his energy. It would probably only last a few minutes. A quarter of an hour at best. But that would still mean he could travel an incredible distance.

Mash’s foot fell flat on the ground, and he pushed with all of his strength. In the same motion, he forced the wind to catch on his now completed wings. His leap caused the nearby trees to shift and left a crater around his feet. The force though was incredible, and he flew into the air. The tree branches and things he crashed into, didn’t even slow him down. As soon as he cleared the treetops, he used the wing to propel him forward. His wings opened to catch as much of it as he could manage. He moved so fast in that moment, that he felt something break. One of his wings had snapped as the force was too great. Pain sprang out, but Priscilla reacted quickly to the damage. He felt his now wooden bones repair themselves. Then they grew denser and held against the wind.

With a glance back, he saw just how far that jump had carried him. The distance was unbelievable. He bet that he could have literally leaped over a mountain if he tried. The ripple had arrived, and he felt nothing as it passed through him. It didn’t even disturb his magic. That only worried him more. Despite just breaking his wings, he put more energy behind his magic. Even with his improved eyesight, he could only barely understand where he was going. The form’s problems became evident in an instant. It was too fast for its own good. Maybe he would need the dragon form’s durability to be able to move this fast. That would lower his speed though, so it wasn’t really a solution. He didn’t give it much concern as he saw where he was going.

An enormous crater could be spotted in the distance. If he didn’t know any better, he would say a small comet had landed. The hole was easily big enough to fit a village, maybe even a town. His mouth felt open, as he flew towards it. That was a mistake and he immediately shut it as the air almost made him gag. It wasn’t that he couldn’t manage the same, but it would take some preparation. He didn’t see the god which was a small relief. From what Jill had said the god was enormous.

That relief was as brief as a gust of wind. It might mean that it had already finished what it wanted to do. Worry, panic, and fear mixed in him like a storm. He had just started to feel better, and this had happened. With how fast he was flying, he almost missed Jill. His domain just barely touched her though, and he stopped. His wings broke again when he stopped suddenly. He crashed into the ground roughly. He dug his head up immediately and looked toward where Jill was.