“So what you’re telling,” the man towering over L began, “That you can’t work no more, cus’ you got a ‘quest,’ by Luke?”
L nodded eagerly.
“And this quest,” he began again, placing one pockmark hand over his face, “Is that this quest is...has to do with you finding a lair of monsters?”
“If Libra willing,” L replied. It was a local prayer.
“Got it. Bugger off now. Good luck roaming the forest for that dungeon of yours.”
“I will do my best to make you proud, sir,” L said, saluting.
The lead lumberjack gave L a nasty look before returning to his work. L shrugged and began to walk into the general direction of where the tragic death of Thrawl and his daughter occurred. The forest was densely packed with large trees, there branches and leaves allowing tiny rays of sun to break through. The earth bent and sunk around the trees, the roots pushing the dirt in every direction as they sunk further into the ground. He placed a hand on the trunk of a tree, feeling the moss squeeze under his weight. The sweet air gently brushed his face. He hiked through the woods with slow strides, stopping every once in a while to watch a deer or fox move through the field.
L arrived at the bank serine and with light footsteps, though the sign of the village women below washing their clothes interrupted his reflection slightly. He walked ways down, until the river bent a couple times, and slid down the slope to the edges of the river. He threw off his sweat ridden clothes into a pile. He then drenched them in water, and then twisted the water out of them. He laid them out in the sun to dry.
Stretching his sore limbs, he inspected his body. The creeping darkness reaching a few inches below his wrists, while the heavy coating of dark mana was up to the tips of his ankles, slightly higher than it was originally. The largest difference was his left hand, which now nearly glowed in dark. It looked depthless but heavy, as if looking into a starry night. His body slightly sizzled from the blazing sun, with ripples swaying across his left hand, threatening to break loose.
He jumped into the water. It parted before him, allowing L to sink for a few relaxing seconds. Moments after the rivers surface calmed, L sprung up from the bottom, spraying water all around him. He floated to the rip of the river, allowing his back to rest on the dirt.
No fucking way will I be hiking through the forest. Talk about a huge waste of time, L thought, and then appropriately burped lazily. He bent his head back, resting it against the tiny hard stones. Still, though. It’s been a couple weeks and I haven’t done anything significant.
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L closed his eyes, allowing himself to doze off. The next time he opened his eyes, a notification opened.
Evolution Complete: First Phase
Left Hand
You have thawed your flesh and mended your nerves. Your left hand now attracts dark mana much easier, enabling you to use greater magic. Beware, however, that the large influx of mana has physically weakened your hand, lowering control of any type of device or tool. Because of the large amounts of mana, on the other hand, defending against magic is now easier.
Permanent damage will occur if magic is miscast.
Your body continues to evolve. Use it wisely.
L snorted. Null had made himself scarce ever since that day, but his input into the notifications seems to have remained. He lifted himself off the water, and began to beat the now damp clothing into submission. The sun would soon dry it anyway, but having his penis dangling all over the place was discomforting, even for the likes of him. Seeing nothing happen, shook his head, and threw the clothes back down. He dragged his body to the slope, and took cover under the shade of the trees.
It was relatively quiet. The birds chirped above but L had heard their songs so many times in so many different worlds that they now became nothing beyond a minor annoyance. He sunk his head into his knees, sighing deeply.
What do I do now? There is no one to banter with, nothing to hunt, nothing to gain in these outskirts. Stuck with an impossible quest, with barely any decent progress into my character.
L pursed his lips. Tomorrow something would happen, he knew, but what, he did not. Any effort to push beyond that point was met with difficulty. He had the choice of digging up Thrawl’s blade and bow, and go hunt a for prey, but anything he would hunt would condemn him; after all, where would he had gotten the weapons to kill anything? The least expensive weapon sold for at least 20 Silver, and though he could harass Kullburd for a melee weapon, he would need a bow to hunt down anything that would not run blindly at him, and L knew for certain that trying to get money out of Kullburd would be the last straw.
He needed Kullburd for...something?
L sprang up, his fists clenched. “This is seriously getting dreadful. It’s because of the quest, right? I know something, don’t I?” he said, teeth grating and heart pumping. “Fine, be like that. I know it has to be this way, for now, but fuck you still. Fuck all of you. I’m so tired. It’s always like this,” L spluttered quickly, his voice lowering to a whisper. “It’s always like this, me being pulled by the nose while the rest of you giggle and amuse yourself as I stumble in the dark.”
His left hand pulsed.
“Yes, I choose this, no doubt, but that does not mean you can take joy in…” L’s voice died off. “Yeah, I know, I know, I’m just complaining. There is no merit in this argument. I could end at any time, go a different path, do what I want, but I did not. Now, I must suffer the consequences.”
He shook his head. “One more scheme, one more plot, one more lie. Tomorrow changes. Or the day after that, I don’t know. Whenever we did whatever we set out to do. But once we’re done with this nonsense, there will be no more of this business. I’m at the end of my days. I want to live them comfortably."
His hand pulsed again, more excitedly this time.
“Be patient. We’ve been like this for fifty years. What’s a few more months gonna do? A year, at most. Bear with it. No, my body will last, as long as you three don't bicker too much. We have time, we have time. I really hope we do."
A ripplet sunk through.
"Hope? Don't we always hope? It's a gamble. That's all we do. One gamble after the other. We've won most, lost some. Let's just win this one. It's a bit important. What do I do now, though? We have a free day. I have a day, actually, the rest of you could fuck off."
His left hand remained still at his side. L scratched his head with the other one, narrowing his eyes. "What do I even wanna do?"