The PUB flashed and Oskar was flooded with new information.
A glance at it was enough for Oskar to realize most of the new information was gibberish. It looked like corrupted data or something. Again, he scanned the big cat, statue or not. As surreal as the night before was, it was hard to believe that she existed at all, let alone that she was now gone.
// Still a void, no info at all. And yeah dude, we’re gonna need a little while to work through all this. I’ll try to figure some of this out on my own, you got your own problems. //
Agreed, Oskar sent back, as he pulled his Goggles off to carefully clean with his shirt, and had to dry his eyes with a sleeve when sweat dripped into them before he could re-situate the Goggles. The air was stuffy and smelled like dry earth and dust.
Touwon was still sitting, rubbing his ears as he glanced around, taking everything in. Oskar was about to ask about the prosthetic even though he was afraid of the answer, but Touwon shushed him before he could say a word.
Rude.
// Hilarious. //
The Kobold’s demeanor was calm as he turned to his bag, reached over it, and picked up Oskar’s leg from where he’d sat it. Touwon had packed most of the bag back up after his tinkering session the night before and had apparently finished the leg after Oskar fell asleep. The little prick pulled out Oskar’s T-handle and double checked everything.
How did he even get it?!
// Hilariously. Love this guy. //
The Kobold stood and walked over to Oskar and squatted, his long, purple-colored ears dangling as he nodded his head downward and toward the prosthetic in his hands. The foot looked like a solid piece of metal, but then Touwon bent the ankle slightly, and held up his thumb and first finger about half an inch apart and shrugged.
“So, it moves?” Oskar asked. Touwon shook the fingers at him impatiently. “A little?”
Touwon nodded and right as Oskar looked back down at the foot in wonder, Touwon repeated the phrase perfectly. “A little.” Oskar jerked his head back up, but Touwon was already moving back toward his bag. The Kobold, who was now tightening the straps on his bag, ignored Oskar’s late, confused sounding, “Thanks.”
Oskar wiped his leg liner down carefully and pulled himself back up onto the nearby wall to put his prosthetic foot on. He’d stood with unexpected ease and then almost fell over the other side of the wall.
He righted himself, and slid the liner on his stump, and then slid the leg into the prosthetic socket. Standing slowly, Oskar overbalanced himself again as he tried to work his way into the socket.
Weird. I don’t feel dizzy. Yet something was going on with his balance- or maybe his body.
He’d grown muscle faster than what had been possible on earth, but because of the weight loss he’d experienced during those awful, sleepless, 6 months… the added muscle from the moving and fighting he’d done after arriving on this planet just made the leg fit tighter than it had in months.
Now comfortable in the prosthetic, Oskar looked around and realized the calico cat was peeking around the stone form of Bastet, confused and still. Staring at the cat, wide eyed, he called out to her gently.
“It’s okay, girl.”
She cautiously walked over and bumped her head against Oskar’s fake foot, and then looked around. Her bobbed tail moved behind her, the ethereal tail gone.
The air felt stagnant, and the temperature was even worse because of the still air. Oskar thought the air between the dunes was oppressive, but being in a dark cavern with the temperature rising was almost panic inducing. The roof of the cavern was covered by a thin enough layer of sand that the brutal morning suns overhead made the sand glow, giving the cavern a subtle, earthy light.
“There’s no way we can make it through the cavern heading back out, right? It’s going to be pitch black, hot as hell, and way too long a walk. Do we…“ Oskar trailed off, looking up. “Do we break through the roof?”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Everyone looked around and then up at the glass roof of the cavern. The calico meowed reproachfully at the group and walked towards the back of the cavern. Something had shattered the glass roof in this portion of the cavern at some point, probably long ago, and the sunlight shone through the glass near the break.
Maybe it’s possible to dig through the sand wall?
Oskar took a step forward and lost his balance again, having to grab on the wall to keep from toppling. He didn’t feel like he was experiencing vertigo, but his body was responding differently to his commands.
I feel more… forceful.
Powerful wasn’t quite the right word, since he was just trying to walk, but his movements felt exaggerated. Erik was looking at him worriedly, sweat beginning to stream down his brother’s face as the temperature rose in the large room. Oskar held up a finger to tell him to hold on and stopped trying to just figure it out on his own.
The PUB was doing his “Let Oskar figure it out on his own” thing, and Oskar was not currently in the mood for it.
Look, I obviously can’t figure out what’s going on, here. Wanna help me out before this cavern turns into an oven?
// I hate simplifying this so much and not making a joke but look at your body stats. //
Shaking his head at himself, he did exactly that, and what he saw explained everything except “how?”
Mind D+ Rank
Body
D Peak Rank Spirit D- Rank
// All your stats took a giant leap forward, but she pushed you up almost to C Body Rank. Your other stats went up, too, and stopped blocking the Spiritual knowledge you were lacking to push into D Rank. I get why she did it now, but that was really frustrating to be suppressed like that. //
Oh man, I'm not supressed any more! Also, I feel like I could jump fifteen feet in the air even without using Sora. Is it this normal to feel this much improvement within the same Rank?
// I don’t even have a body, and for some reason you’re asking me. You somehow ask questions I don’t know constantly, and now I’m thinking it’s because they’re below my intelligence threshold, not above my knowledge level. //
Funny. How do I adapt to this?
// Yeah, that was mean… sorry. Umm, instead of forcing your body to do something, try just thinking about it. Your reflexes are gonna be out of whack for a bit because your Body is slightly above your Mind and Spirit. No one achieves perfect balance, but you’ve just experienced months of casual growth over a nap. Well, maybe not months for you. You tend to get into a lot of trouble. //
Oskar tried again, thinking about walking more like he was riding a hoverboard or something back home. If you heavily leaned into it, you were overdoing it. Weirdly, thinking hard about leaning forward was usually enough to do the trick, so instead of rushing forward, he more just suggested it. His left leg went forward more or less normally, but he froze after the step like he was wearing magnetic boots.
“Sorry, guys. Thanks to Bastet, I apparently hit D Peak Body last night while I was asleep. My coordination is way off,” Oskar explained.
Fox said, “That is a great gift. I feel I am close to Peak D Rank myself. You are much stronger than you were before,” Fox nodded appreciatively. “This is good for us. Your fighting has been growing at an impressive rate. However, we are cooking alive here, so if you could manage to gather yourself, we would appreciate it.”
“Why all the sass?! I’m trying!” Oskar said but exhaled in relief when she winked at him.
They were all on the same page, but she was right. He needed to get it together. “Also, it’s not just my body that’s different. I can feel the Waysprings for miles around. Maybe this is the Spirit growth? If we were about a hundred meters further that way,” he pointed towards the wall on their right, “I might even be able to pull water to us.”
“Oss… no time for ‘ifs,’ just dig,” Erik said as he carefully climbed up the mound of sand that had broken through the glass ceiling and began scooping with his hand.
Oskar moved forward slowly, coming to grips with the changes in his body, and dug as well while Touwon and Fox gathered the rest of their things. The calico had walked up and gently nuzzled the stone form of Bastet, and then hopped up on Touwon’s bag to rest the moment he closed it up and sat it down so he could help dig.
At one point, Erik’s hand grazed the roof, and he recoiled, looking down at the group, cursing. After a second, he said, “Okay, that’s freaking hot. Don’t touch the glass.”
Touwon walked up behind him and waved him down, and Erik slid down the hot sand to make room for the Kobold. Erik was trying to shake sand out of his clothes, but Oskar knew that was all but pointless. Oskar had to remind himself that Erik hadn’t spent quite as much time roughing it in the open elements as they had.
“There’s almost no point, man. It’s like it creeps into everything,” Oskar said with a huff. “Remember, in Iraq when I wrote you about my little CD player that was vacuum sealed in a Ziplock bag? About how, after a sandstorm, the bag somehow had freaking sand in it?”
Erik nodded, smirking as he pulled his robe away from his body to cool off. His robe was sticking to his body with sweat, and Oskar knew how miserable his brother must have felt.
“Well, this sand is worse. I just try to keep it from rubbing between my thighs.”
Erik gave a dramatic sigh and wiped sweat from his forehead.
Oskar laughed as he dug, “Resigned dejection. Now you’re getting it!”