As I was making my way through the kingdom, the sun was no longer seen over the horizon, the only lights guiding my path were lanterns hanging on buildings and poles. The streets were quieting down, but people were still mingling about, enjoying the night. I on the other hand was not enjoying the night, I now had half the vision I started with and was not used to it, so I kept bumping into people and things due to the change in depth perception and not being able to perceive directly left of me.

“Watch where you’re going,” said the lizard man I bounced off of.

“Sorry, my bad,” I replied quickly, hurrying off.”

‘Shit this is annoying, that’s the 6th person I’ve collided with, I wish I didn’t have to apologize, but it is my fault and right now I’m at figuratively at level one, also I would probably die in one hit by most adventurers, so I have to be careful to not get on anyone's bad side 'til I get stronger.’

Between bumping into people, I came to realize my left eye was still in the socket, while walking I didn’t feel wind flowing through an empty socket and when putting my hands to my left eye, I could still feel the eyeball still existing. Passing by a closed store front with a glass window, I examined my reflection, and I was right, my left eye was still in my skull, but it wasn’t the same as my right. My pupil was still black, my iris still yellow, but the whites of my left eye were now pitch black, it looked dead. But it still followed my line of sight, it just didn’t function.

‘This actually won’t be as big of a hindrance as I thought, most people probably won’t be able to tell that my left eye is out of commission, so if I don’t wear an eyepatch, I won’t have this impairment used against me in fights, hopefully.’

‘Well I’ll still have to get used to living without vision in my left eye, but let’s work on it one day at a time.’

I continued through the kingdom until I arrived back at the gate I entered at, I passed through the gate lit by multiple torches and passed the guards, I layed down on the grass only half a meter away from a torch on a stick, and shut my eyes.

As I layed there, waiting for slumber, I no longer heard the guards chattering and instead heard the shuffling of metal approaching me.

“Kid what are you doing lying down out here?”

I opened my eyes and saw Vikir standing above me.

“Oh hey Vikir, how’s it going?”

“Kid, what happened to your eye?”

“Uh, my eye has always looked like that.”

“. . .”

“Hey Anton, I’m gonna step away for a sec.”

“Alright.”

“Come with me for a sec kid.”

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I followed Vikir as he led me about 10 meters away from the gate.

“Okay kid, be honest with me, I won’t judge and I won’t tell another soul, what happened to your eye?”

“Promise not to tell another soul?”

“Promise, I’m just worried about you kid.”

“Okay, I went to the temple of Altajir and traded my left eye with the goddess for increased training improvement.”

“. . .”

“Are you fucking insane?”

“Hey I thought you wouldn’t judge.”

“I wasn’t gonna, but I didn’t know you did this to yourself for such a stupid and vague trade.”

“Okay, well I didn’t explain it that well, but I promise you, Altajir wouldn’t allow me to be vague.”

“That’s not the point, I’m guessing you did it because you want to become a higher rated adventurer and your impatient, but let me tell you as someone who is missing an eye, it’s not easy being an adventurer with such a limitation, you’re always worried about your blind spot, if your other eye gets dust, sweat, blood or anything in general caught in it, your effectively blind til it’s out, and your depth perception is changed forever.”

“Vikir, I have it all planned out, I’ll be fine.”

“Oh yeah, you’ll be fine, then catch,” Vikir threw a copper coin towards me.

I missed it.

“Okay it’s dark, I can barely see right now and it’s not because of the missing eyesight.”

“Kid, what you did was unwise and I believe short sighted.”

“Nice pun.”

“Be quiet, I also worry you’ve made your life as an adventurer not only more difficult, but more dangerous.”

“Vikir, I appreciate your concern, I really do, but please trust me, this is something I must do if I want to reach my goal, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t have a plan in mind.”

“Sigh, okay kid, you’re right, it’s your life, I’ll trust you.”

“Thank you.”

“Now for my other question, why were you lying on the ground out here?”

“Oh, I was gonna sleep out here.”

“. . . “

“Did you also give Altajir half your brain?”

“What, it’s free, there’s fire for warmth, and I have my own guards watching over me.”

Vikir squeezed the ridge of his nose between his fingers in frustration.

“Kid, you’re not going to do that, if I left you out here in the cold I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly, look I’m off my shift in about an hour, so if you can wait, I’ll allow you to sleep on the couch in my house.”

“Really, are you sure, I would really appreciate it, but aren’t you worried if I could be dangerous?”

“Kid, once you get to a certain level, you can sense the strength of an opponent and know whether you should take a fight or not, and you aren’t triggering any alarm bells for me, you are undoubtedly weird, but you remind me of someone else I knew who was innocently ignorant, so I’d rather you sleep somewhere safe.”

“Thanks Vikir, I really do appreciate it, and I’ll be sure to pay you back.”

“Don’t mention it kid, but you still owe me one silver for the adventurers license.”

“Yeah, I know, I remember.”