Some time had passed since Damien's encounter with the beetle from hell, and with the adrenaline fully flushed from his body, he now sat near the caves river. He was starting to struggle to maintain his focus on dark vision and, as unsettling as it was, had no choice but to stop applying it. Plunging him in total darkness. The sad jerky he was now chewing on and the sound of running water where the only things keeping his senses occupied. His mind trying to process everything thus far.
'If I remember correctly, there were a fair bit over eight thousand different monster cards in circulation. I can't even begin to assume I know enough of them to identify every single monster I may run into. I can't even be sure there aren't monsters that never became cards... I wish I could just avoid everything dangerous, but that's looking less and less likely by the hour...' Damien continued to ponder as he took another bite of the preserved rations on hand.
'There's also the weirdly disproportionate damage me and the bug dealt each other...It felt like I was able to deal 3 or even 4 times more damage then they could...Is it because I was using the dark to boost my attack? Shouldn't be, I never used darkness to boost my own defenses, so if the darkness was to blame, I'd have taken a much bigger hit with that swing... the most likely thought is that its attack power was just that much lower...If Dharc's attack sat at 500, that bug must have sat even below that...well, gift horse, and all that. Lets not dwell on it.' Damien concluded as he moved on to another issue. He was tired. He'd been awake for well over 24 hours by now. Training his dark vision and keeping it active the entire time he'd been searching for a way out. Trying to conserve food while fighting a life or death battle against a carnivorous bug straight out of Kong's Skull Island.
'I should at least be glad I got out of that in one piece...but damn is it getting hard to breath...' Damien thought as he felt for his bruised ribs. A sharp pain assaulting him when he shifted his body now that the adrenaline had run dry. Thinking about it more, he remembered the vials he was carrying on his person when he first woke up. Out of fear, he quickly reactivated his dark vision and inspected the vials. Finding no damage, he let out a painful sign of relief. Pondering silently as he remembered the details of the medicine mentioned in the journal.
'The one with a different shade to it should be my "Red Medicine". I should save that one for a real issue...the other two, however, should be the lower tier "Blue Medicine". It may be worthwhile to try them to see how well they work..." Damien thought as he stored all but one vial of 'Blue Medicine'. Not wanting to risk an encounter in this condition, He disabled his dark vision once more and swiftly opened the vial and downed the contents inside. The instant the medicine entered his mouth, Damien's face contorted into a grimace as he tried his best not to spit it back out.
'Yup...that sure tasted like medicine...' He groaned out painfully as he lied back on the hard cave floor. Moments later, a blue light coated Damien, momentarily illuminating the cave. At that time, he made note of some writings along the cave walls he hadn't noticed prior. As the light faded away, returning the cave to its original darkness, the combination of relief from the pain and the accumulated fatigue caused him to finally lose consciousness for the first time since his arrival in this world. A deep, dreamless sleep overtaking him.
----
Waking from his slumber, Damien was momentarily startled by the eerie darkness. His mind taking a few seconds to recount his experiences. He wasn't sure how long he slept, but the lingering fatigue didn't offer much relief. Though he supposed it was likely due to the less than ideal sleep conditions. 'I guess I should just be happy nothing tried to eat me while I was out...' Damien thought to himself. Taking a moment to inspect his injury, and noting that the bruising was now gone.
'At least I know the stuff works...' Damien thought before getting up from his resting position and reactivated his dark vision. He'd spotted something before he lost consciousness and now it was time to see if he could get a better look. Without wasting any time, he walked over to the stone wall where he had previously noticed the text. He realized once he was closer that the text on the walls wasn't written, but carved. Which was a relief, considering he was currently color blind, so anything drawn or written would be impossible to read.
Taking the time to inspect the carvings, he noted some of them seemed to be trying to imitate the English alphabet . It was like a strange blend of three or more different languages jammed together into an unstable mess. He thought about ignoring them and continuing to search for an exit. Realistically, he may have never even realized they were there without the recovery light anyway.
"It wouldn't bode well to lose track of my way back....at worst I could end up losing my way entirely... than again, isn't this kind of thing exactly what Dharc wrote about in his journal? What could be worth coming to such a dangerous forest?" Damien pondered quietly as he continued to inspect the text before making a decision.
Choosing to take a chance and explore a bit, Damien proceeded to follow the cave markings, inspecting all the strange carvings as he walked. 'I have enough water in the canteen to easily last me 4 hours...If I don't find anything in an hour or two, I'll turn around.' He thought quietly as he closely inspected the minor details of the texts along the wall. Having a bit of fun trying to figure out what it could be saying. 'Kinda funny, I never took myself for an ancient literature guy. Never even looked into it. Maybe after this I'll go to the library and--' Damien's thoughts were cut short. realizing he probably wasn't even guaranteed to ever see another book-- much less a library-- any time soon.
"Right..." Damien noted quietly. A bit of melancholy in his voice as he stopped and wondered what he even planned to do after he got out. 'Am I going to just live a life as a run away prisoner? Or am I suppose to delude myself to thinking I can find the thing Dharc died searching for...' before his mind could fall too deeply down that rabbit hole, Damien lightly shook his head. Pushing the dark thoughts out. 'What am I even complaining about. Not much different than its always been. Only now I have god damned super powers!' He thought assuredly as he tried to refocus on the carvings along the walls.
As he pushed further ahead, Damien noted that the carvings seemed to be concentrated on a portion of the cave up ahead. As he got closer, he noticed there were carvings coming from every direction of that wall. Branching out to the walls, floor, and ceiling. Almost as if they all originated from that one spot. As Damien finally reached it, he only needed a small look before shock struck him. Losing any sense of composure, and without even realizing, he'd rushed to the wall. His hands slamming against it as he took in the sight of the carved slab inserted into the wall. Depicted within were three figures. An ape; or presumably some kind of chimp, a man walking tall, and a small alien creature much shorter in stature than the man prior. They stood in a row, all three seemingly walking in the same direction. It was an unmistakable design. He'd seen it countless times before as a magic card. An equip spell, to be exact.
"Unstable Evolution?!" Damien screamed out. Not believing it even after saying it out loud. There was no way this was the genuine artifact. An Item like this couldn't be in some random cave in the forest. At least, Damien didn't think so. Never the less, with shaky hands, Damien lightly touched the surface of the slab, as his fingers ran across its surface, a faint purple light illuminated the individual carvings. The light disrupting his dark vision, but Damien paid it no mind. Slowly and carefully, Damien ran his fingers along the edges of the slab. Slowly easing it off the wall. As it finally came loose, Damien took a firm, but careful hold of it. Fearing he could damage it.
As he inspected it carefully, It slowly began to glow more and more intensely. Damien had to disable his dark vision. The glow was so intense the slab now looked more like some kind of light construct. Bathing the entire cave in its light. The light was so blinding that Damien had to clench his eyes shut. Them having become greatly unaccustomed to light after almost two days of darkness. After a few seconds, the light died down before traveling into Damien's hands and up his arms. Covering his body in a purple glow. The slab in his hand lost all its luster. Crumbing away into dust.
As the light surrounding him drew into his body, Damien felt an immediate reaction. His strength soared. He felt this level of power was enough to potentially end his fight with the insect creature with the first blow! He felt incredibly light on his feet and the fatigue he'd been accumulating from the drawn out travel vanished like it had only been a dream. The light in the cave had long since died down, and Damien now sat in complete darkness once more, but he didn't even notice. His mind racing to consider all the possibilities available to him now that he's gained such a powerful ace.
'This is amazing! Holy hell! That bug would be nothing right now! I probably wouldn't even need darkness to kill it! I probably could trample over anything and everything in this cave or the forest! Life as a run away? Who cares if they wont accept me! I'll just rule over them. Trample over them and make this whole forest mine. Those villagers, I'll trample them too. I'll--'
Crash!*
Damien's thoughts came to an abrupt stop as his forehead caved into the stone wall in front of him. A single trail of blood worming its way down his face and too his chin. Though he never even noticed. His shaky hands clasped on to the wall for support as he groggily pulled his head back. The crumbling stone falling to the ground as he did.
Gasp* "What the hell are you thinking!" Damien screamed out anxiously. Now trying to gather his racing thoughts while he steadied himself. The sting from his head keeping him centered. "Trample enemies? Rule the forest!? Are you lucid!!?" He continued to scream at himself thru gasping breaths. His mind quickly trying to switch back to a logical state of mind.
After a series of deep breaths, Damien felt himself settle down. Giving him a chance to get a feel for his powers to see if he felt anything off. 'Okay....that wasn't in the card text, and I imagine there's a lot of things cards won't mention...' Damien began to channel his darkness. Moving it around himself before trying to do anything with it noticing it carried much more intensity than before. 'Alright. So, the card had two settings. If I had more life points than my opponent, It's suppose to set my Atk to 1000. If it's lower, it sets to 2400...I think in theory, It could be equal. So a neutral no gain to loss situation.'
Taking the time to channel his dark vision, Damien noted his range had increased dramatically. Maybe even doubling in range. 'Woah. Pretty safe bet to say it's got me set to 1000 for now. So I can at least be happy it made me stronger--Though I didn't much enjoy what it tried to do to my mind...'
Glancing around at the ground, he noted the crumpled remains of the slab at his feet. The slow drips of blood rhythmically dropping over them. 'There's no way of telling how equip spells actually work in the spirit world. So there's a good chance they don't only do what the text off the cards say. Meaning I should avoid touching equip spells for now unless I really have to. For now I'll keep a closer look at my power in case anything changes...' With that thought out of the day, Damien glanced back at the path back to the river. Deciding he should start heading back now. It didn't seem like there was much more here for him anyway.
'It's pretty safe to assume the "Unstable" part of Unstable Evolution had just as much to do with a physiological state as it did a physical. Meaning I'll have to be extra careful for now when I feel its effects.' Damien began to theorize. Taking the time to enjoy his heightened range of view. 'There's 3 characters written on the tablet itself. So I can stand to guess there's likely at least 3 personalities I need to be aware of. Though the "Human" one may just be my usual self...' He was just about to take a step when he felt his foot clash against something. Glancing down to note the bird staff he'd had on him all this time.
'Shit....I must of dropped it when I spotted the tablet...Stupid' Damien chastising himself again. Noting it was becoming quite the habit now. 'I was so absorbed in the moment I really dropped my only reliable weapon. What would it have helped if I got more power but lost my main way of using it? I need to be more careful...' With that thought out of the way, Damien took the staff in his hand once more. Continuing to make his way back towards the river path.