Desmond did not expect to have to ditch his “friend.” If he had, he would have not given him any levels. Desmond was the only living thing on earth- no, this world was not true earth, but still, he was the only person who had the ability to use mana for now.
Desmond looked back on what had happened. Had the restrictions on inter-world fighting dropped already? That was clearly not earth life. What earth life had a specialized compartment on their back to launch acid? What bugs went all the way up to his knees? Plus, a portion of humans could control animal life now, and his friend was one of those people, he had seen it! He was just unlucky, but he had lost so much work in less than a minute! Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do now.
Desmond looked down the alley he was resting in. If someone found him without his legs, he would be incredibly suspicious, so he needed to repair his legs soon and hopefully get back to his living space. Fortunately, he had a way to do this. A very rare skill that he had unlocked at the very start of whatever this world was. Limb regeneration. It was a skill that he accidentally got, and he had never used it before, but it would come in handy now and it had during the battle.
Desmond pumped mana into the skill, drastically increasing the speed at which it grew his bones, flesh, and muscle back, glad that he could handle the pain with his insanely high willpower stat. His theory was that yes, he was an undiagnosed psychopath, but since there was only one willpower stat, his tolerance of death had empowered other things in the stat's domain.
He looked at his legs again. They were renewed, but not normal. They were thinner for now, and since he was out of mana, he would have to deal with the slower regeneration. Eating some food would be helpful to renew them as well. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any money, and even though housing was free now, with the insane rate that humans could build houses, food was not free, for whatever reason.
Desmond stumbled as he tried to stand on his weak legs. As it turned out, they couldn’t support him all alone, and any more regeneration without mana would take days instead of minutes. Fortunately, he had just gotten a teleportation skill. Without mana though, it would take a long time to activate again, so it was a bust. So, he would have to walk.
Desmond grabbed at a pipe near him. The floor around the pipe had a tarp and tools on it. He grabbed the tools and unscrewed the pipe, which was a nice length for use as a walking stick.
Fortunately, he was in a place which had very few people. The pipe was also shut down. Desmond was in the correct area of the city, thankfully, and due to the exponential nature of mana, he would be able to recharge with his mana filled home.
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“Desmond, what are you doing?” One of his actual friends, whom he hadn’t seen asked, “what’s up with your legs?”
There wasn’t really any way he could lie about it, suddenly having super scrawny and shriveled legs? Oh yeah, I just skipped leg day, “I got my legs ripped off by a different god’s beast” Desmond scowled, “I had just gained a teleport trait and was able to get back, but my regrow trait has slowed down for now, I need to get home,”
“Huh, uh, Desmond, did the restrictions on world hopping- or whatever the gods called it, really open up?” his friend said, pulling up an old looking phone, the best they could get at the moment.
“I don’t know! I was with someone who had the animal control ability thing, and they weren’t able to control it, they died,”
“Woah! Desmond, why do you have to say it with, like, no emotion? Anyways, all the restrictions should be opened in about a day, I really don’t know what must have happened,” they said with a grim expression.
“Yeah, me neither. I’m going home,” Desmond said, walking in the direction of his house.
“Desmond! Hold on! I wanted to ask where you got that pipe!”
Desmond didn’t respond, he was thinking, how many levels would that thing grant him?
Clearly, it had been able to kill someone of about level 20, although they had not used their levels to their full ability. Desmond himself was already level 50, yet if it hadn’t been for his brand new teleportation skill, he would have definitely died.
Desmond walked into the apartment building he lived in. In the basement. The stairs down weren’t a problem, but getting up would be difficult. Fortunately, he would have his legs repaired before then, hopefully. He left the pipe at the top of the stairs, in a position so it wouldn’t roll down the stairs.
Desmond walked into his room, gripping the railings. his room was full of earth attuned mana. He was pretty sure that it could be dangerous if left unchecked, but he was able to stir up the mana enough to stop anything bad. Desmond trailed along his wall, leaning on it for support. He pulled himself onto his bed which wasn’t too high up, thankfully.
Looking back again, Desmond felt angry. He was specifically breaking that man for reasons, he had reasons for it! Without being harsh, humanity would die! Unfortunately, killing people was the most efficient method for leveling, and until the restrictions on travel between the planes were lifted. And god, GOD wanted them to win, he repeated it to himself again, literal god.
He had to kill, he had to make others kill. For now, the strong survived. Desmond thought again, one day and the plane travel would open up. He hadn’t known, but he may have broken that man for no reason. “Well, the past is the past” he said to himself, he could probably sneak in one more kill before the planes open up? Maybe he would just meditate and regenerate all of his mana. He sighed. Yeah, he would just meditate in his bed.