Galahad snuck into the living room to find that no one was in it, only a few dirty plates were on the coffee table with one still covered in some sliced fruit and fried fish.
'Oof, dad cooked dinner today. Otherwise it would be anything, but fish.' Derock had a knack for frying every type of protein he could in the kitchen one floor down. Galahad assumed it was because he liked to often use his forging skill 'Isoskinned,' an ability that allows his arms and hands to be temporarily impervious to the extreme heat of grease fryers and boiling water when he stuck his bare hands in it.
Galahad remembered his mother telling stories of his father abusing that power when he was younger. He would place bets with other rowdy friends on who could stay in a near frozen lake the longest, using his skill to always win.
He quietly passed by the large mirror on the wall and got a full glimpse of the day's aftermath. Blood and mud streaked across his head, tangling up his hair in all sorts of directions. His blue jacket looked more black and brown now, it was missing most of the left sleeve, torn apart everywhere else.
Once Galahad had a glimpse, he looked at the damage that remained on his body. Besides the gross scabbing all along his body, the only actual injuries visibly left on his body were the ones on his face, originally from the black orb.
The battle with the Succubus resulted in all the gnome and goblin orbs only rapidly healing the damage she brought on. It seemed the mana was only enough to heal the worst things done to his body, Galahad only assumed since the burns were the least threatening at the time.
'If I get anymore mana orbs, it's gonna start healing my face and neck. Seems like I'll have to hold off for a while before devouring any more.' He pulled the little pouch of orbs to take another look. The desire to confirm them was growing stronger with each second that passed as he stared at the blue orbs.
[ Do you wish to devour the mana orbs? ] [ Yes ] [ No ]
[ Boulder Golem lvl. 9 ] [ Locked ]
[ Boulder Golem lvl. 10 ] [ Locked ]
[ Cephalopodic Walker lvl. 16 ] [ Locked ]
[ Succubus lvl. 31 ] [ Locked ]
[ Wendigo lvl. 19 ] [ Locked ]
He couldn't consume them just yet, because his parents would see his horrific scars disappear after a few days and obviously notice. He couldn't explain it right now, or maybe not at all.
The more people who knew about the skill, the bigger the risk of his plan to save his friends falling apart. The people in the city might deem him a monster or demon hybrid and try to kill him, or the Count could have the city's research team at the school rip him open for experiments. He only told Solteer because the magic hawk might have helped without experimenting and killing him after they first met.
Galahad was gazing into the bag with so much focus, he almost didn't have enough time to hide behind the couch when the bathroom door opened. The warm water pipe he was climbing up should have indicated to him that the showers were being used, Galahad sat behind the couch realizing his mistakes for not hiding longer in his room.
Brett had just exited the shower based on the thundering footsteps, Galahad peeked around the corner to confirm his assumption. Sure enough his brother turned into the door of his room with only a towel on and shut it behind him.
Once Galahad heard the door lock, he booked it to the bathroom as quietly as he could. There were some dirty clothes on the floor, and the space was still steaming from the hot water vapor in the air. The fourth floor bathroom had just a sink, hand mirror, toilet, and small shower with a curtain and drainage.
Galahad was relieved to make his way into the familiar bathroom without anyone seeing his disheveled appearance, he took the chance to relax for the first time that day.
Carefully as he could, Galahad removed his jacket and shirt without getting any more muck in his remaining exposed injuries. He was about to take off his pants and turn the hot water back on, Brett opened the door.
"Oh, whoops. Oh, holy shit! What the hell happened to you?" Brett was shocked to see his brother out of his room, and was then shocked a second time at all the blood, sludge, and his sliced up clothes.
"Shhhh! Be quiet. I know this looks bad, but I was out in the forest. I'll explain after I'm done in here."
Brett shook his head and backed himself right out the door. Once the door was nearly closed, Brett had a request.
"Can you at least hand me my clothes and smock? Mom's said she's about to start laundry downstairs."
Galahad was carefully handing the clothes to the crack around the door, he tried not to spread the mess from his body onto his brother's clothes. Just as he was about to toss it out the door, one of Brett's hands grabbed at his wrist with the clear strength of a forger.
"At least tell me this first, is that your blood or someone else's?"
"It's definitely all mine. I also didn't lose my mind, and go out killing someone if that is what you're implying." Galahad wasn't sure what his brother was thinking in that moment, but he tried to play off the severity of his condition to not worry his brother.
The grip on Galahad's wrist seemed to soften a bit and a faint sigh could be heard from behind the door.
"Well damn," Brett jokingly swore. "If you killed someone, then that would have made me favorite child by default."
"Oh shut up third place." Galahad shoved his brother off and resumed the shower.
'Well at least he didn't see the healed parts of my body. I can just tell him I ran into trouble in the forest, simple as that.' He thought as the water churned it's way up the pipe very noisily.
Brett went into room with so many questions in his mind. The main one being how almost all of Galahad's left arm being healed.
*****
Galahad had what he determined possibly the best shower he had in a long time. All this despite the very low water pressure and questionable temperature changes throughout.
He didn't care, he spent a good amount of time pulling clumps of mud, monster, and scabs off his body. The rinsing was done over and over; until only half the shampoo was remaining in the glass and soap bar went from white to gray. Twenty minutes of purging the mess and cleaning had transformed him into what felt like a new man.
Once he was done cleaning, he realized the headache was subsiding very quickly. Galahad felt he could try to test his new class and skill with little more care since his life wasn't in mortal danger anymore.
Galahad willed his body to activate the skill and the bathroom was lit up red. The red flames on his body were moving rapidly, licking his body like he was made of wicker. The sensation was not corresponding with the scene, he felt as though he was enjoying the feeling of Fury and Fyre. It changed the way he felt about everything physiologically structured across his body.
The red flame made his body feel so much more stronger than before. Not only physically, but he felt like his brain was ready to respond faster, and was feeling more hardwired to make tactical decision instantly with no remorse. It wasn't just like a normal skill, it was like a whole new being of energy entered his body.
When Galahad brought his flaming hand up to the water pouring out the shower head faucet, he noticed the flames didn't change at all. The water ran along his body and across the cracks without any interference. Though the steam in the room was increasing to the point that he felt the heat he radiated from his own skill.
'Incredible, my first battle class skill is so powerful for level eight, I feel like I am practically level thirty. The only problem is this style of fighting removes any aspects of stealth.'
The bright flames were indeed a bit too powerful on the eyes, it would certainly draw any attention to himself when monsters were near.
[ 1:30 ] . . .
[ 1:29 ] . . .
[ 1:28 ] . . .
'And then there is the backlash it unleashes when my body is drain of all Chi.'
The timer stopped and disappeared after he cut himself off from the red flames. The remainder of his shower consisted of his regular duties before finally shutting off the water.
Once he stepped out the shower, Galahad took out the bandages and fruta oil he had grabbed from his room beforehand and began wrapping. It only took him a solid five minutes to wrap the cloth bandaging across his body while making it still look like his arm was damaged like the night before.
Once everything was cleaned up and his fake bandaging appeared to look like normal, he peeked his head out the door to see no one in the living room again. Without any distractions this time, he headed back to his room with the bundle of shredded clothes in hand. Galahad needed to get rid of the evidence of the forest before his parents asked about what happened.
'I just tell them nothing dangerous or crazy, and I'll feed Brett a partial truth. Everyone gets to hear what they wanna hear, and I won't be ripped open or shunned from Teramore.'
Galahad darted by the mirror again and caught a glimpse of himself looked in the mirror that was hung on the wall and nearly did a double take.
Galahad was known to be tall and thin like his mother before the incident; shortly after the incident, he lost a bit of body mass and thinned out even more to the point of looking very scrawny. His body struggled in the hospital to gain anyone fat or muscle back on, He was told to eat often by Pavell, otherwise he'd start bringing down his body's immune system.
Now he seemed to have lost even more fat, but gained a little muscle since the day before. The overall appearance had gone from draining illness to more of a toned physique. When he turned to face the mirror directly parallel to his body, he realized his shoulders seemed to push out a few millimeter in a more broader form than before. His body underwent some subtle, yet nearly impossible changes in just a few hours of collecting mana orbs.
'This is really weird, did this start when I blacked out last night? Or did this start when I unlocked the Spartan Class?'
Galahad didn't dwell on the changes for too long, he learned his lesson before and continued moving to his room before someone else saw him. He tossed all his mutilated clothing into a bag and tossed it out the window, down into the alleyway.
'Need to remember to dispose of those later, I just can't risk my parents discovering any of that by accident.' He reminded himself to get them tomorrow after finding an excuse to go outside.
Galahad went through his drawers and found some simple clothing to put on. He inspected the new scars across his body to see how obvious the damage was to anyone else who looked at him. The scar tissue across his arms and legs from the Succubus were glowing faintly pink from the warm shower, he needed to make sure his parents didn't see those anytime soon. The best option was to pass them off as older events in the dungeon to not arouse any suspicion.
Everything seemed in order, he checked the room again and nothing seemed strange. The arrow was hidden in a small spacing beneath the floorboards and his burnt bag was stilling missing. He did what he could and decided to play the rest of his night by ear.
Galahad walked out the door and turned to find his parents waiting by the only door to the stairs. The expressions on their faces meant he was in for a long discussion. The possibility on them knowing he had left the house was racing across his mind.
'Damn it, maybe the plummeting to death in the forest was the better option.'