I crawled up against a tree. It took a while but my elbows were back in place and no bones were peaking out of my skin.
This was a level above self-harm. I was brutalising myself.
"Natural Predator." I mumbled, needing to check if someone latched onto the smell of blood. Or if there was someone who could help this poor man out.
Only to realise that there weren't any people around me. Just beasts. And luckily none of them was aiming for me, yet.
I needed to climb on top of a tree for safety. But my body was a little too messed up to pull that stunt. To fix that I just needed to eat more meat.
I opened the rucksack on my back, pulled some monster flesh out, and shoved it in my mouth. Chewing vigorously. My broken ribs started to heal along with my wrists, arms and basically every bone that got wrecked.
The thick air was going into my lungs again and my internal bleeding was slowing down.
"Haah... hic... haah..." That was insane. I'm never doing that again.
Falling your death was the worst way to go. From what I had experienced. If not for the time in Rottheim, then this time, I definitely developed a trauma.
"YOU ALIVE?!" Suddenly I heard a call... But just barely. Even with my ability on. Vivi's voice was strong.
"YEAH!" I shouted back. My voice, on the other hand, wasn't that loud.
"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!" She still heard me?!
"Maybe." I mumbled.
"WHAT DO WE DO NOW?" Wait, she heard that too? We're like five kilometres away. Vivi was definitely not a human.
"Just go to the city. I'll be there in less than a month. If it takes me any longer... Then just move on." I got up and dug my hand in the bark, taking my time to climb up that tree.
.
.
.
"ALRIGHT." Vivi said solemnly. Wasn't that too quick? She should have at least contested it a little.
Oh well, it was fair. It wasn't like I treated them well.
###
It took an hour but I was finally sitting on top of a thick branch just looking out into the forest. My mind was judging the situation, but just barely. I was trying to figure out a way to Ohnicht... But nothing was coming to mind.
I mean what was I going to do even if I got there? Get killed by that God? I couldn't even land safely.
I didn't know how I felt about all of this.
But while thinking about all that for half an hour, I did come to a conclusion.
That skeletal version of myself wasn't coming back out. Not under my control at least.
Pulling that reckless stunt, I would've died right now, but that form didn't even try to manifest itself. The trigger wasn't stress, it was something else entirely. Something Liu avoided speaking to me about since the incident. I wasn't happy with what was going on with my body, and how I didn't understand any of it.
Though at this point it was clear. I was getting nowhere with the amount of strength I had.
"Oi, Liu." I put my rucksack behind me and hardened another exoskeleton holding it in place against the bark. And then I cracked the point where the exoskeleton met my back. Then I lay down on that branch.
[Yes.]
"You sure you can't tell me how to go back to being a skeleton?"
[Yes.]
She was unsurprisingly stubborn and unwilling to give up her position. Even though she was in my debt after having me give up on killing Rumie.
Well, I could just have her pay another way.
"Then become my guide."
[Yes?]
"I need a map of this place and all the beasts I can kill here. Separate them by the rank and list the most efficient technique along with it."
[You can't make me do th-]
"Or else, I'll just stop the hunt against the deity right now. The only reason you didn't butt in was that you knew I would survive... But I can change that very quickly." One thing I understood was that she needed me to go up against that deity.
She wasn't nice enough to help me when I was at my lowest, she needed me and I needed her. It was a symbiotic relationship. That was also why I couldn't fully trust her. But I could exploit that weakness.
I was getting rather used to this world of eat or be eaten, or in my case, use or be used. But it was never that simple. We were just using each other to different degrees.
"Alright, I shall guide you." The book appeared in front of me and the pages started flipping until they stopped dead centre.
Purple mist started to blow around the book and then suddenly a head started to emerge out of the bindings.
Peach hair, peach skin, and turquoise eyes. Wearing the simplest white flowing dress. An apparition came out and passed right through me. She was the size of my hand...
The All-Knowing Goddess, Liu.
She floated around and then landed on my shoulder. I couldn't feel her.
"You're an extremely unpleasant fellow." She sighed.
"Blame the game, not the player."
Liu pulled on the chain and the grimoire came floating towards her. Her minuscule hand touched a page and silver lines got engraved on the page. Curved, elevations, rivers- it was a map.
"I'll take you to the monsters you should be hunting considering your level, but do remember that I cannot predict everything. I can only go off of what I know. So always keep your head up."
"Weren't you supposed to be all-knowing?"
"If thinking that is what brings you humans comfort, then sure." She floated in front of me and settled down on my chest, giving me straight eye contact. "Just know that even after following my words to a T, you might not be able to beat the God of Weaponry but you should be able to give it a decent shot."
"Why would you think that I would grow by that much?"
"Because the deity puts his trust in you. And you have my knowledge at my disposal." She said sincerely.
In all honesty, I didn't understand her. She was always respectful when that deity's name came up. She even made me bow down to him in the first encounter. But now she wanted him dead. It didn't make any sense.
But delving into her problems was a pain in the ass I didn't want.
"You have only used the powers you had been given to scrape by and survive while exerting the minimum possible effort to become stronger."
"I didn't need to."
"But now you do. It's your turn to push yourself beyond the limit to become an overwhelming being." She stretched her arms as if she had gotten up from a long nap.
"If you say so."
"I do... So from now, you shall entrust yourself to me and do what I tell you. And right now, I'm telling you to sleep. You roughed up your body incredibly badly during the fall."
.
.
.
"You don't say." What was she, my Mother? Ughh, I don't even want to remember her. I knew that that woman liked money, and I understood her reasons for that too. But to sell her son off.
Was just sad.
I felt my eyes welling up.
Damn it. Switching moods at the drop of the hat. I was indeed a mess.
"Enough with your unpleasant remarks. Please sleep."
"Alright."