I had no choice.
I decisively raised my other hand and chopped my arm off.
With a pathetic squirt of blood my arm was severed from my torso.
The surprise of chopping my own arm off gave pause to the corpse attacking me.
Along with the mobility that I had regained, the act of chopping off my arm gave me a huge adrenaline boost which allowed me to fight through the pain.
Dropping to the ground I dodged the jab.
After I had dodged the jab I then pushed myself off the ground then closed the remaining distance between us and used my remaining hand to gauge his eyes out.
However I did not stop there.
I went further and got my hand around the rotting carcasses brain and squeezed.
At last the carcass had finally dropped dead.
I dropped to the floor panting.
That was the closest I had ever been to death.
I'm that moment of absolute death, my emotions were muted, my fear, my hesitance, my anxiety.
All were gone. I had no hate for the opponent at the time.
I only had eyes for my survival and he was in the way so I had done whatever I could to gain an advantage.
The act of chopping my arm off was something I never would have done had I not been in that state.
…
After mulling over the strange state that I had found myself in in the midst of combat I went over and picked up my chopped off arm.
The still bleeding stump was touched to the arm.
Following that I channeled aether into the arm and stump hoping that it would reattach.
…
After a stressful few minutes of hoping the arm was finally reattached.
It happened.
The tendons and muscles of the arm grew and reached out to the stump of my arm.
Connecting to the stump the arm firmly reattached, regrowing the skin all the while.
It took longer than any other healing I had done with my aether.
After I was no longer in pain I checked the system notification that had appeared after the defeat of the corpse.
[you have advanced to Tier/Level 8/1]
[Returning you to Low-Realm *****]
…
When I appeared back in the realm I was met with a wide stare of course it didn't happen immediately but it felt like it.
One moment I'm alone in the room having just appeared the next second Aoif had barged in.
"So bright"
"Aoif?"
"Ah, you have brightened"
Dreamily staring into my soul Aoif walks towards me. As she stares for longer a frown appears on her face.
"You are injured"
"Yes, however it has already healed," I responded.
She walks closer to me then takes my hand and leads me towards Delta and Tama who had set up in the other room for the night.
"You need food"
"I do, how did you know?"
She points to my stomach which as we entered the other room growled.
The healing of my wound had taken up all of the previous nutrition that I had taken earlier… or is it earlier, time had stopped at the time so would it be the same time.
Putting aside the implications of my time shenanigans, I ask Tama to cook me some food.
…
While Tama went to prepare food I handed the book on turrets that I found and was apparently able to take from the evolutionary realm, to Delta.
Delta takes the book and flips through it.
"Are you able to make these?"
"Yes"
"I need materials we don't have at the moment though"
"If you take Ali, and some workers do you think you would be able to construct some of them in a reasonable time frame.
"Some of these materials need to be processed properly with facilities we don't have but other than that I should be able to construct them."
I nod leaving Delta to herself before heading towards the kitchen where I found Tama cooking a veritable feast.
I don't know where she found all the spices as the food she was cooking would have been impossible to make without some spices.
I could even smell soy sauce which I had no idea how she went about making.
Sitting down at the table I left those thoughts and focused wholly on devouring the food before me.
…
"Aoif," I called after a minute of deliberation.
"My talent is evolution"
"Evolution?" She seemed surprised at the sudden revelation of not only my talent but that I trusted her enough to disclose it.
"I can evolve anything, humans, resources, anything you can think of. I most likely can evolve." I elaborated.
Aoif blinked, opening her mouth as if to say something then closing it before she said anything.
Instead of just telling her I went a step further and grabbed an aether core from my warehouse.
Once it was in my hand I focused on evolving it.
Gradually many changes occurred to the aether core.
First it's green shine transformed into an iron color then to silver, to gold, then finally after a moment it turned into a brilliant emerald color.
Stunned at the evolution, Aoif couldn't form a thought.
When she could, only one thing was on her mind.
Finally she brought to words the thoughts she had.
With hope in her eyes Aoif asked
"Can I evolve, can I see… can I really see for real"
"I…"
"I don't know, you might be able to but I can't promise you anything."
"Please try…" Aoif pleads in a whisper so quiet that the only reason I could hear her was because of how close her face was to me.
"I will," I whisper back.
Holding her close I hug and comfort her.
"Sorry"
"It's fine"
"Hope isn't something that happens that often, is it"
"No, even when I first got my talent, I could only see monochrome colors and shapes. My vision was still not there despite that."
Aoif takes a deep breath before continuing
"You were the first color I saw. When your name came upon the announcements it was so brilliant in color. I knew I needed to see you in person."
"Now you've given me hope, not only can I watch your color but I may even be able to see you."