Free Web NovelChapter 123: Chapter 122 - Permission
Point-of-View: Inoka Fonseka
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"Come on, man, why do we have to train so early?" I groaned lazily, clinging to the warm embrace of my bed.
"Because you yourself said that today’s forecast has heavy rains scheduled for later in the day, so let’s get it over with now," Replied Zoraiz, as he pulled on my arm, trying to make me get up.
"It’s only 7 AM, you know that I can’t function until at least after 10 AM...whatever, let’s train in the rain, I’m sure there’ll be missions where we’ll end up fighting in the rain!" I pointed out as I wrenched my arm free of his grasp and rolled to the corner of my bed, by the wall of the RV.
"...I agree with that logic, I suppose, but not with your motives," He sighed in exasperation, before glancing at the time and relenting, "Alright, fine, you win. And go to sleep earlier if it’s so hard for you to function in the morning."
"Sure, whatever," I replied with a yawn, snuggling into my pillow as I decided to go back to sleep.
It was the 7th of July, the day after that Fallen Angel crashed the cricket match and massacred everyone in the stadium. Naturally, the tournament had been subsequently canceled, and the UN contacted Harmony about it.
And it seems like those annoying-ass higher ups agreed to take out the Fallen Angel the next time he appears...of course, it’s not like they themselves will actually do anything useful in that regard. Neo brought Mike here last night, who informed us about the situation.
And wouldn’t you know it, they suspect that the Fallen Angel is in fact a Demon of Sin. But it’s just a coincidence, I didn’t jinx it. At least, I’m pretty sure I didn’t...right?
Anyway, he was the Demon of the Sin of Pride, Lucifer. They don’t know exactly how powerful he is or whatever, but based on historical records, they’ve estimated him to be at least on par with Dracula. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
The next time he appears, the higher ups want Neo to take Aurora to go face him, since they can’t exactly ignore the fact that she’s stronger than anyone else in Harmony.
As for the rest of us, well...we’d probably be killed instantly. I’ve continued to work on my Restoration technique, with tranquilized, small lizards as my test subjects. I can use it pretty reliably now, but last night, I came to a realization.
After Mike told us about this whole Fallen Angel situation, I felt kinda restless and like I needed to improve faster or something. But then I figured that it’d be pointless to rush the process, so instead, I decided to get drunk.
And that’s when it happened.
While intoxicated, I went over to the box of lizards, pressed the button that releases the tranquilizing gas into the box, and once the creatures were paralyzed, I took one out and began using Restoration.
It wasn’t injured, and I didn’t cut it or anything, but I figured that I could, like, get it into super good shape or something like that. But I was having no effect, so I kinda then lost focus and let my mind wander.
Not sure how I got to the point I did, but after a while, I found myself thinking about growing an extra pair of limbs on the lizard, and by the time I realized what I was doing, well...the lizard had six legs.
Admittedly, the new legs that I grew looked a bit crude and slightly misshapen, but...they worked. The lizard was back in the box, crawling around, and all six legs were moving. And I did that while I was drunk.
Meaning that I can probably do it even better when sober. And most importantly...I can probably do it on a human too. Could I grow myself an extra pair of arms?
The lizard was small, so modifying its body to sustain an extra pair of limbs wasn’t too difficult. But a human body is much bigger, I’ll have to make a lot of adjustments-...oh, and then there’s the matter of not being able to go back to normal easily.
At the very least, it’ll be extremely painful. And growing a full two arms will probably immensely exhaust the person it’s being done to. Still...the fact that the possibility exists at all is pretty cool.
Hm...also, Restoration doesn’t really apply to growing new body parts. I think I’ll go with...Evolution? Nah, that’s not quite right. Oh, how about Proliferation? No, that feels a bit off too. Wait, what about Augmentation?
Yeah...yeah, I like that! So, Restoration and Augmentation...hey, I might be some kind of Light Skill prodigy, awesome!
Hey, I wonder if I can extend my bones like spikes out of my knuckles? Huh...now that I got that idea in my head, I really, really want to give it a try. Wait, but how would I return my knuckles back to normal?
Definitely don’t wanna be stuck with those...oh, wait, I know, I can grow them out about a bit more, while making the base of the extra length be super thin and brittle, allowing me to snap them off. After that, I just have to close up the skin over my knuckles and-...oh, right, this could be painful.
Easy enough fix, I’ll just use Alleviate on myself to block out the pain. I wonder what else I can do with this technique? Suddenly, I feel pretty pumped up and motivated, this is-...
"Hey, you awake?" Suddenly came Alexis’s voice, as my door opened and she poked her head in.
"You know, you should really knock before entering a guy’s room. You could easily end up walking in on a guy while he’s doing something you probably don’t wanna see," I remarked dryly.
"Whatever, that probably won’t happ-...," She began, before trailing off as her eyes widened for a moment, before clearing her throat and adding, "Anyway, Zoraiz asked Mike, and we got permission to go check out the nearest town, just for a couple of hours. Come on, let’s go!"
"Ugh, seriously? You guys can go, I’m good right here," I responded with a wave of my hand, before inquiring suspiciously, "Also, hold on a sec, have you actually walked in on a guy beating his meat?"
"N-no, that wasn’t-...j-just drop it! Anyway, uh, back to the matter at hand. Come on, you’re a local here, you can show us the ropes. Plus, none of us speak the language, so...," She replied objectively.
"It’s fine, most people here speak at least a little bit of English, you’ll be just fine. And besides, I think this is a bad idea...you guys will stand out so much. Besides me, the only one who might blend in is Zoraiz. Tourism’s been down in the last few years since the country’s gone through something of an economic disaster, so white people are a pretty rare sight here," I pointed out in response, before surmising, "Or, in other words, you guys will stick out like sore thumbs and get stared at."
Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s not too far from the truth. Tourism has been down in the last few years.
"Nah, Aurora can use Ward to keep people’s attentions away from us," She countered smugly.
Crap, that beats my argument...
"Alright, fine, whatever. Go if you want, but please leave me out of it," I muttered with a sigh.
Just the thought of running into someone I knew from before I ended up at Harmony, as remote as that possibility is, it just...it just makes my stomach turn.
"Come on, don’t be such a downer, dude. Just a couple of hours won’t hurt. And besides, if you stay back by yourself, you’ll totally feel left out once we get back and talk about all the experiences we had while out there," She replied with a smirk.
...no, I won’t. Well, maybe a little bit...
"I’m so gonna regret this...alright, fine, you win, stupid brat," I relented with a reluctant sigh, as I sat up.
"Hey, I’m eighteen now, you know!" She exclaimed indignantly.
"Yeah, well, that didn’t automatically make you more mature."
"Hmph, you’re such a dick."
"Whatever, brat. Alright, get out, I’ll be out after I get changed."
As she left the RV and shut the door, I put on a loose black shirt over a white t-shirt, leaving the buttons open, as I put on a pair of dark grey trousers and headed out after putting on my shoes.
"Woah, you weren’t lying...you actually convinced him to tag along?" Remarked Zoraiz with an exaggerated look of shock.
"Cut it out," I sighed in exasperation, before asking, "How did you guys get permission for this, anyway?"
"About that, since the people building the base inside the waterfall are on break today, and since Mike is the only other person here, we can go since no one will find out," Grinned Dieter in response.
"Well, we can always pull out at any time if things go wrong," Shrugged Mike sheepishly.
Talk about irresponsible...
"You can’t be serious," I groaned in disbelief.
"It’s fine, even if anyone does find out, Mike will get all the blame, so it’s cool," Smirked Alexis with a thumbs up.
"Um, I’m not totally comfortable with this, but I have to admit...I’m kinda curious to see what it’s like too," Admitted Aurora wryly.
"Come on, let’s get going already. And lighten up already, dude. I mean, what could possibly go wrong in a random, obscure town, right?" Added Zoraiz.
"Careful...," I sighed in response, "You’re gonna jinx it." freēwēbnovel.com
"Okay, seriously, enough with the jinx crap," Groaned Alexis in exasperation.
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