Sensing this was most likely a test to see if I was worth saving in the first place, I put all my effort into maintaining my position, and slowly started to rise, getting used to this sensation. After a couple of minutes of battling the pressure, I was able to get onto both legs again, as I had to put weight onto both of them. Feeling the healing leg start to creak and groan, I knew that I had limited time before I collapsed again.
That's when I started to walk towards the guy in the chair, hoping that this was sort of a concentration thing. If I could prove that I could resist his constant pressure, then he would for sure relent this constant onslaught. At least, I hope he will. Taking a light step forward, albeit shakily, I was able to get my left foot to move forward a couple of inches.
Not a complete step, but It was getting there. Raising my head high, I put weight on my left foot, and agony filled my senses. Nearly falling flat on my face, I regained my balance and continued forward. With each step, the pressure seemed to listen. Maybe it was a placebo effect, but damn was it working. So it felt as if I had just a heavy pack on.
Stumbling over to the throne, I stood a good six feet away from it, lest I might get attacked. Who knows, maybe that pressure was supposed to weaken me to a state of no resistance, though I doubt that was the intention.
"Good job. My gut feeling about you was right. You can't feel the pressure anymore, right?" The mysterious and powerful man said. I nodded.
"Wow, this is beyond my expectations. It seems the heavens have blessed you. Do you have a name, boy?" The man asked again. It would seem he thinks I am of great talent, which could be true, as I have been able to live this long by myself. I guess with my appearance he did have to ask if I had a name.
To keep things as simple as possible, and to find a way to get out of here first, I will pretend to be mute, to not be curious about my background. This would also help if he ever went to authorities when I escaped because he would not have any info on me. To be honest, I think this is a pretty solid plan. Without delay, I shook my head, going along with my escape plan.
"I see. Can you at least talk?" He asked, probably knowing the answer already. Again, I shook my head slowly. Sighing, the old man stood up and walked past me, but not before placing a hand on my shoulder, "Follow me." he whispered, a small smile on his face.
Without any delay, he let go of my shoulder, expecting me to follow. With no other option, and taking the advice of the other guy, I followed him out of the room, trying my best to keep myself upright with a fractured left leg. As I walked out of the throne room, which I assumed it was, I saw the hallway that I came out of, which was now much less scary, now that I passed whatever that test was.
The question was, is the test over, or will the real one begin wherever he is taking me?
Chapter 17
***Back in the Present***
Looking over my status, it would seem the spores that I just absorbed were trying to take over me! It is very unsettling to see that something that you created could come back to kill me, and would have succeeded if I did not have a strong will. However, I did get some benefits from the pain I went through by absorbing the spores.
My stats went up quite a bit, although I do not know the power scaling of this world. I will have to check that out later. Anyways, the level jump from one to 25 in a couple of hours, or minutes, I don't know, was a pretty big step up. Then again, was a deadly process, so I would assume that that much black energy, or Mana, would easily override someone weaker than me.
I also think that I look sick! The stripes on my body look like a professional tattoo artist did they? I think that the black and purple tone of my spores is also amazing. It might not be the best hiding color in a green forest, but I don't give a fuck. With the new strength flowing through my system, it was time to leave this brutal scene.
Latching onto a nearby tree with around ten times the speed as before, it seemed that the status sheet was not the only thing updated. The spores felt like they were going into overdrive with no sign of stopping. The euphoria of this was indescribable. Swinging from tree to tree, I felt like I was in a certain famous ninja anime.
Still, I need to look for more monsters to test the waters of danger, and also test what I could do with this new power. It was not long until my wish came true. The wish granted was, of course, more monsters! What was better as it was the monsters that nearly killed me before, the Alter Hounds!
Swinging once more high into the air, I increased my mass and fell like a rock into the middle of the pack, who were eating a carcass of what seemed to be a Tankasaurus. These seemed to be the most common monsters in this forest. Anyways, It's time to test out my new increase in power.
Aiming myself into the center of the group, I felt the impact of two Hounds, spines shattering into pieces by my density, which is about 100 pounds of my compression weight. It's a good thing that my eyes, which I still have materialized, can be permanently damaged, or else they would have burst by the sudden stop.
Rolling on the squishy ground, now filled with the guts of the two poor Hounds that I brutally crushed, I pushed myself off of them and morphed into Gallen, which took less than a second to do. Surprised By my speed of morphing, I stumbled backward, right over another stunned Alter Hound, which fell under me and I tripped over it, waking it up.