Chapter 11 Growth
Huff
Huff
Huff
"Wow, just like that? Haha, she really is a beauty."
Kreed layed motionlessly on the slippery wooden floor of the Pier. His gaze was fixed on the small vessel that had taken most of his attention as of late.
The vessel which he decided to call Grape now looked almost spotless. Well as spotless as it could get. The outside surface had regained a bit of it's clean white finish. The inside was drained and clean to the point of usability.
Kreed had repaired the engine, even replacing the two motors that had rotted away. Now he was completely finished.
And just like that an entire month had gone by.
Well it wasn't to bad. In that one month Kreed had accomplished more than he would have expected. Well of course he couldn't tell when a day would start and end but based on his sleep schedule he could guess as much.
Before Kreed had no idea of how long he had been on the island. So to have his status confirm that he had indeed spent 15 years on the island was a great feeling.
Now Kreed was one step closer to escaping this retched place.
Although in the past month Kreed hadn't only worked on Grape. No he also managed to deepen his understanding of the three relics he had gained.
Firstly there was the chain of territory. Before he thought that he could simply teleport from anywhere back to his territory. But no to his dismay it turn out that distance was one of the main factors influencing his teleportation.
The further away he was the longer it would take for him to teleport. However this aspect still needed testing as the island was to close a distance for any noticable difference in time.
Halfway through the month he also came to a startling conclusion one that he still had not figured out as of yet.
Based on what he knew, he could return to the island whenever he wanted with the ability of visitor. However if he was to escape then returning would be useless, since he would have to fix an entire new vessel to escape once again.
He could leave it as a last resort, or means of escape. Since he would be on an island that no one could enter without consequences, or return after gaining sufficient knowledge. But that would mean being unable to use his territory and the attributes that came with it. He also wouldn't be able to call upon any being and reap the benefits of the rules that he had established.
On the other hand he could leave with his relic and once on mainland find a safe spot to designate as his territory. But that would mean abandoning the island.
Of course he could return but he would have to travel all the way back by boat.
Well it's no like he had anything to come back to.
There was a third option that Kreed had figured out after a bit of experimenting. It turns out that if he dismissed the relic both chains would automatically return to him.
Using this method he could leave the first chain on the island until he had secured a safe and suitable living place. Then summon it and reap the benefits of the territory.
Kreed was leaning more towards the last option as he wanted to ensure that he would safely escape the treacherous waters surrounding the island before leaving any hope that he would have an escape route behind.
However he still hadn't choose any options as of yet.
But there was other things he had learned within that month. For his first ever gained relic, there was not much. Except for the sudden realization of what a divine rank relic could really do.
After a little accident, Kreed had been injured. He was walking towards the grape one day when the wooden floor of the Pier gave out. A large splinter of wood driving it's way into is leg.
After reveling in pain for a bit Kreed summoned the fruit. And as soon as it manifested he witness it's miraculous power once more. The wound on his foot healed without so much as a scab or bruise.
After this incident Kreed tried many scenarios all resulting in a fast and suddenly healed wound. Kreed would have been seen as a madman for purposefully hurting himself, sometimes he even felt that he was doing way to much for the sake of experimenting, but he had long gone mad so it didn't bother him.
There were two other discoveries he had made aswell. Firstly was the fact that every time he summoned the relic the dark curse filled air around him would dissolve creating a space of utter purity. It was similar to the space of his territory in the sense that it cleaned the air of it's poison and impurities but the fruit felt different it felt more holy, more divine.
'i guess that figures, while the chains we're made of the feathers of a divine being they were battered and destroyed after a long battle.
Where as the fruit was created by the unknown.
How did they describe it? The 'unknown' planted a tree, and it bore fruit. The fruit became divine as it was blessed with life. So I guess the Being called Gabriel of whom the feathers once belonged is of a lower rank than of the creature called the 'unknown'.'
'How did it wish for me to refer to it again? The father of all? Yes I think that was it.'
Kreed needed to remember said name if he wished to invite the creature as a guest to his territory once again.
Other than that the second thing that he learned was of the fruit's ability to heal any being in it's presence. Kreed tested this theory with some palers that he had managed to capture. After Injuring a couple of them, each with a different means he summoned the fruit and watched dumbfoundedly as all their traces of injuries disappeared. To test some of the more horrifying theory that he didn't wish to try on him self. He dismembered a paler, poisoned another and place one in a hot bath of water. For each case however the relic seemed to heal them back to their prime state without any resistance.
For reference the paler which he tried to boil alive, became calm and started to swim in the steaming hot water despite it's otherworldly outburst moments before the relic was summoned.
It seemed that the fruit really healed any being in it's presence. Both in body and mind.
Because of this Kreed made countless plans to exploit this fruits ability to the fullest. He could basically walk through a burning fire and be healed faster than he was burned. He basically could become in invincible, no scratch that he could become invincible alongside many of his comrades. And that was only it's passive abilitiy. There was still two that he had to figure out.
But with one ability that fruit seemed to equal the playing field with the chain of territory using all it's abilities.
'I guess that's just the difference in rank.'
The sphere of boundless couldn't compare to these relics in terms of utility but it wasn't anything to scoff at either.
Kreed learned that if he dropped it from a small distance, it would practically do nothing. However if he dropped it form his shoulders height it could dent even tempered metal. Because of this there was now countless craters and obstruction all over the island. Many of the unusable ships and boats had become a target for Kreed.
As he tossed the silver sphere, large and loud explosions would shake the island. The targeted vessel being rendered and torn to pieces.
However the sphere would remain as unimaginably round and silver as ever.
Kreed basically possessed a destructive projectile the size of a baseball.
Not to mention that the main use of this relic was still unknown and it's other ability of being crafted into something else was still to come. Kreed was rather satisfied with everything he had learned.
In one month he had reached an entirely new level of growth.
As for his last relic there wasn't much for him to do with it.
Kreed didn't know how to curse and all of the creatures on the island had long grown immune to the poison of Dallas so that aspect wasn't very useful either. For now Dallas's momento was of no use to him.
As Kreed sat up, he struggled to not stagger.
He was completely exhausted after an entire month of work.
Infront of him stood the very focus of his efforts. The grape swayed gently as the dark murky water caressed it's surface.
Kreed stared at it for a bit before turning towards the main island.
From where he stood he could see the main dormitories as well as the research building that had partially collapsed.
He could also see the large chilling ribcage of Dallas the great dragon like creature. Although the rest of it's body was hidden behind another building and more rubble, the ribcage was at least 10 meters wide if not More.
Before long Kreed began walking back to his room.
Tomorrow was finally the day, he would be able to escape this hellish place. So now he would have to try to at least have the best sleep of his entire life.
He did deserve it after all did he not?
*****
Lying on his bed, Kreed stared at the ceiling. He was completely exhausted, but the pleasure of finishing his goal erased any doubt that lingered.
Now he was at peace.
In one month he had not only received two divine rank relics, but a profound and hidden one aswell.
He had experienced more in this month than he ever had before.
But there was always a troubling thought that he couldn't quite comprehend.
In this case it was the words of the creature he had met in the dark cathedral hall.
The creature described him as an irregular. According to it's description irregulars were beings that broke some law of the universe.
Of course Kreed didn't know what law he had broken but because of the creatures excitement over meeting him, things weren't looking up.
Based on what it had mentioned, Kreed supposably did not possess an Autonomic nervous system or ANS for short.
Based on the little education he had received and the books he had read the ANS seemed to be an important system that was meant to run subconsciously within his body.
Of course Kreed had never experienced anything of the sort. Like the ability to breathe without concentrating, or not having to manually release hormones and instructions for his body to follow.
Kreed had always assumed that all humans were like or similar to him, so the thought of not having to be constantly thinking about the actions of every cell in his body seemed foreign.
But after learning what the creature had told him, he suddenly had a epitome or revelation of sorts.
His long asked question was answered.
Why did he survive the disaster 10 years ago? Because he was in control of his immune system and developed a resistance to the poison. Everything made sense now.
But then did his strange mutation make him any different from the average human?
No to Kreed if what the creature had said was true, then he had been disadvantaged from birth.
Kreed had learnt that the brain took as much sustenance as his physical body. So the extra load of having to manually think and instruct every fiber in his body was a large injustice to him.
Yet it felt natural. He had also confirmed that because of this alteration in his body he constantly needed food, as he would always feel hungry.
To add insult to injuries, he was constantly starving and the erations weren't doing his body any justice.
There was also the fact that Kreed would always fall asleep randomly. This was probably also a side effect of his mutation.
His exhaustion would constantly build up and his mind would grow weary before he ultimately fell asleep.
Now however, with his recent revelation Kreed had many thoughts of improvement. Both for his inherent flaw and his physical body.
At first he had thought that his power of added clearance was absolutely useless, but after an entire month of using it. He couldn't help but be surprised.
His mind was drastically different, now he could spend longer periods of time awake and focused, his thoughts were much clearer and precise, and he could form better theories and assumption easily.
To him having the knowledge that he could could control every cell within his body, meant that he could also change them.
And if he could change them then he could evolve and upgrade his bodys build and internal make up. However he needed time and knowledge to achieve anything of the sort.
For now he would have to focus entirely on his escape.
And of course, trying to get the greatest night of rest possible.