Yeoman lay at the bottom of a pit. For once, his plans didn’t go astray. Dozens of dryads were standing around the edge of the pit, looking down at him.
“I can’t believe this is what he really wanted,” one of the dryads said.
“Shush, his ghost might hear you.”
“You should start,” another dryad said, nudging Tanaeci.
Yeoman’s human eyes were closed, but he was lucky none of the dryads knew the beads on his head were crow eyes. Maybe he should’ve considered it unlucky. Did he really want to watch what came next? Tanaeci stepped closer to the edge of the pit and clutched her stomach. Yeoman kept his crow eyes open, afraid closing them now would hint at him still being alive. It didn’t take much to convince the dryads he was dead. All he had to do was stop consciously breathing and not respond to anything they did. The dryads weren’t one to mourn, which Yeoman was thankful for. He didn’t have to suffer through the guilt of causing someone grief by tricking them into thinking he was dead. Instead, he got to deal with dryad vomit to the face. That’s where Tanaeci had aimed her mouth. Yeoman had no idea if she had done it on purpose.
There was another retching sound, but it sounded muffled, which made sense considering Yeoman’s head was covered in soul water. For some reason, the experience reminded Yeoman of taking a shower—probably because the liquid was warm. As a biochemical engineer, Yeoman had gone through many fluid mechanics problems involving rate of flow and volume. Since he knew the depth of the pit, and he knew the rate at which the liquid was being dispersed, logically, he should’ve been able to calculate how long it would take for the process of submerging him to finish. However, he had also been close to failing his fluid mechanics course, only saved by the curve—or as he liked to call it, the fellow incompetence of his peers. Thus, Yeoman had no idea how long it’d actually take, so he could only lay there and wait for the sounds of splashing liquid to stop. Once it did, Yeoman waited for a bit longer before standing up. Even while he was standing, he was still completely submerged in the liquid.
Yeoman reached into his pocket and retrieved the shadow pouch. He crouched down, put the pouch at the very bottom of the pit, and opened it. In a flash, most of the liquid vanished inside, leaving a layer of white froth on the walls and floor of the pit. Yeoman was a bit stunned at how quickly the shadow pouch had sucked everything in, but that didn’t stop him from activating his Ravenwood Ring. His vision swirled, and he found himself standing in front of a certain corrupted woman, who was humming and rocking back and forth on a chair while knitting. There was a swishing sound, and Yeoman’s vision zoomed out at a rapid rate. He didn’t know what had happened until after his body had hit the wall behind him.
“Don’t suddenly appear like that,” Lindyss said and frowned. She placed her foot down to prevent her chair from rocking any further. A shadow was shrinking away from Yeoman, returning to Lindyss’ feet. Evidently, her shadow had attacked him.
Yeoman coughed out a mouthful of black blood. He couldn’t move; the majority of the bones in his body had been broken. Luckily, his skull was still intact, or he might’ve died from that sudden blow. Of course, this situation wasn’t really much better. “I brought back the dryad soul water.”
“Oh.” Lindyss blinked and put her crocheting needles to the side. She walked up to Yeoman and crouched in front of him, placing her hands on his shoulders. A gush of black light flowed from her palms into Yeoman’s body, and surges of heat assaulted every inch of his flesh. It was the closest thing he had felt to pain since becoming a zombie. If he were still a human, he was sure he would’ve passed out or died from the ordeal. “I patched up your flesh and bones with my mana. You should really be more careful next time, and don’t break your body like that.”
Yeoman didn’t know what to say at the corrupted woman’s shamelessness.
“Also, are you a moron?” Lindyss asked while standing. “Just because you turned into half a plant doesn’t mean you don’t need to eat or drink. Your body is missing a lot of nutrients. If you don’t consume something soon, your muscles will fail you. Eat a brain or two; they’re good for you.”
Yeoman moved his hand. Somehow, the movement felt different. Unfortunately, Yeoman had turned into a zombie, and he couldn’t quite grasp what had changed. If he had to describe it, he’d describe the sensation as firmer, more solid.
“My mana fixed your nutrient problem, but that’s only temporary. Oh, I also fixed the problem with your weak bladder,” Lindyss said as she sat back down in her chair. “Now, let me see the soul water.”
Weak bladder? Yeoman was reminded of the side effect he had obtained from eating a rotten Fruit of Knowledge. He cleared away the awkwardness in his head before taking the shadow pouch out of his pocket. He hesitated before handing it over to Lindyss. “Some of my stuff is still inside.”
Lindyss pinched the top of the shadow pouch and tugged, opening a small slit. Her nose wrinkled, and she gagged before closing the pouch. Her brow furrowed, and she let out a snort before stamping her foot against the ground. A pit opened up in front of her, and she pinched her nose shut with her left hand. With her right hand, she held onto the bottom of the shadow pouch and emptied its contents into the pit. Surprisingly, Yeoman’s belongings floated in the air instead of falling into the pit with the chunky liquid. When the pouch was empty, Lindyss tossed it to the side and waved her hand. A gust of air pressed down from above, blowing Yeoman’s belongings clean in an instant like a high-pressure hand dryer in a fancy airport bathroom. With another stomp of her foot, Lindyss sealed off the dryad soul water with some earth magic, covering the top of the pit with a slab of rock.
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Witnessing the corrupted woman’s magic, Yeoman felt a little helpless. Could genetic evolution accomplish things like that for him? It didn’t seem possible. Since that was the case, wouldn’t the next stages become more and more difficult to complete? The ceiling of genetic evolution was too low compared to the power levels of magicians and immortals.
“You got more soul water than I expected,” Lindyss said, staring at Yeoman as if she were seeing him for the first time. “As promised, you can have an equal amount of water from the fountain.” She picked up her crocheting needles and crossed her legs while leaning back. When she saw Yeoman hesitating, she flicked her finger, and the shadow pouch that she had discarded flew towards Yeoman, hitting him in the chest. He caught it before it could fall to the ground. Without warning, a beam of black light flew from Lindyss’ finger, striking the pouch. “I’ve recharged the mana inside of it. It should last another six months. Come back before the time’s up, and I’ll recharge it again.”
“Thank you,” Yeoman said, confirming Lindyss’ words by reading the pouch’s item description on his fleshwatch. He stored his belongings, which were still floating in the air, into the pouch before walking over to the pond behind the corrupted woman. He crouched down and dipped the shadow pouch into the fountain. Lindyss had told him he could take an equal amount of the fountain’s water, but the pond wasn’t very large, and Yeoman was sure he’d empty out the Fountain of Youth if he did that. He decided to ask to be sure. “An equal amount will drain the fountain.”
“It’ll refill,” Lindyss said, not sounding particularly worried.
Since he had gotten permission, Yeoman shrugged and pushed the shadow pouch to the bottom of the pond. Then, he opened the top. In an instant, the liquid was sucked into the pouch. When he had submerged his wrist into the water, a light had flashed from his fleshwatch.
[Fountain of Youth Water (Epic): Drink to unlock Turritopsis dohrnii’s ability of returning to infancy.]
Yeoman had no idea what the hell a Turritopsis dohrnii was, but he only knew of one animal that could return to infancy: the immortal jellyfish. It seemed like drinking the water wouldn’t magically revert him back to his body’s prime; rather, it would give him the ability to turn himself back into a baby. Well, either way, it was better to have it than not have it. With that, Yeoman put the shadow pouch to his lips and poured himself a mouthful of water. Nothing happened. Perhaps he hadn’t drank enough? Yeoman drank from the pouch until a blue light flashed from his wrist.
[Unlocked Turritopsis dohrnii’s infancy reversion.]
Yeoman was satisfied. Wouldn’t he be able to sell this water in the aliens’ store? He had obtained the whole Fountain of Youth, and while it was only the size of a small pond, Yeoman estimated there had to be at least fifteen—fourteen now—usages within the pouch. He had to give one usage to the adventurers’ guild to complete the mission. He didn’t mind giving Ella and Cody a usage either. Then, there were still eleven portions he could sell. Old people everywhere would probably be willing to pay an exorbitant amount for it.
Yeoman exhaled and placed the shadow pouch into his pocket. He shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatched. First, he had to accept and complete the quest from the adventurers’ guild. They’d probably let him accept it seeing as he had the necessary quest item, right? Maybe his party’s rank, which had stagnated, would increase while he was at it.
“How much longer are you going to stick around?” Lindyss’ voice pulled Yeoman out of his thoughts. “When you get back to the graveyard, tell the skeletons not to disturb me for the foreseeable future, not even in the case of an emergency. If there’s a problem, they can tell Grimmy.”
“Understood,” Yeoman said. Was the corrupted woman letting him leave just like that? She didn’t have any more tasks for him? It seemed like she was about to enter a recovery period with her newfound dryad soul water. “I’ll be going then…?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lindyss said. “Don’t cause any trouble.”
Yeoman nodded and headed towards the exit. There was a door in front of him. He grabbed the handle … and instantly collapsed. A surge of mana had entered his body from his palm, rampaging through his flesh and bones.
Lindyss clicked her tongue upon seeing the sight. She placed her crocheting needles in her lap and sighed. “Didn’t I tell you to be more careful?” she asked and flicked a few beams of black light at Yeoman. “Look at you, breaking your body less than five minutes after I warned you.”
Yeoman really had nothing to say about the woman’s shamelessness. Neither of the times just now were his fault, but he couldn’t even protest. He could only blame himself for being too weak. “Yes, I’ll be more careful next time,” Yeoman said, lying on the ground. Flashes of heat filled his body, covering every inch of his skin. By the time the black beams of light faded away, Yeoman found that his flesh and bones had been fixed. Again. It might’ve been his imagination, but his body felt even more solid than last time. He stood up and hesitated, unsure of how to open the door.
“It’s safe now,” Lindyss said. “Take care of your body. If I have to fix your bones again the next time I see you, I’ll be very disappointed.”
“Yeah…,” Yeoman said. He sighed as he opened the door and left. Previously, there hadn’t been any monsters, and it was the same this time. The basilisk was still there, but it was fast asleep. Yeoman managed to make it out of the dungeon without issue, a little surprised he hadn’t stepped into any other traps that would’ve instantly destroyed his bones. He exhaled and spread his wings, soaking in the sunlight. It was time to head to the adventurers’ guild. Once he was there, he’d hand in the water from the Fountain of Youth and look for any information about his party.
***
Cody wiped his brow with the back of his arm. He lowered his bow and checked his fleshwatch.
[Obtained Lizardman Gene Fragment]
[Would you like to combine 100 Lizardman Gene Fragments into Lizardman Gene (Epic)?]
[Yes] [No]
Cody pressed on the [Yes] button, and a wave of pain washed over him. He gritted his teeth and forcefully exhaled through his nostrils as if releasing that breath would relieve his suffering.
“Done?” Ella asked, observing Cody from the side. “I guess that means we can finally move on to those centaurs.”
Cody clenched and unclenched his hands, testing out his newfound strength increase. “Yeah. It’s a shame Yeoman didn’t make it. He missed out on so much grinding.” Cody couldn’t suppress his smirk from appearing on his lips. “I wonder what he’ll think when he finds out we’ve caught up to him.”
Joanne rolled her eyes. “He’s still a party member. Should you be that happy about him falling behind?”
“I’m not happy,” Cody said. “I’m—”
A blinding light flashed from all the party members’ wrists at once.
[Bonus Mission: Become a B-ranked Party. 1/1]
[Bonus Mission: Become a A-ranked Party. 1/1]
[Bonus Mission: Complete SSS-ranked Mission “Fountain of Youth”. 1/1]
Cody rubbed his eyes and doublechecked the text on his wrist. “…What the fuck?”