Unlike the last time, Kairos decided to take it slow, only cutting out a tiny incision before beginning to drink. From the tiny incision, liquid rushed out as though there was a leak in a major pipe.
The amount that came out was far less than when he experimented with his future vision. However, that overbearingly sweet taste remained the same. Though it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time he tried it, it had this same uncomfortable quality despite being in low doses.
The liquid almost felt like water, having little to no viscosity, letting it slip down rather easily.
Kairos was a little nervous when doing this, but there didn’t seem to be any harmful effects yet. He thought about stopping at this point, but because the green orb would continue spewing out green liquid, he didn’t really want to. It was probably somehow tied into his mentality of not wanting to waste food.
Kairos slowly but steadily drank more and more of it.
He found that despite entering his stomach, he wasn’t feeling any more sated. It was almost as though it disappeared entirely by the time it had gotten there.
Another thing he noticed was that his leg began to feel a little numb, and so did the wound on his cheek. Though he couldn’t directly see what his cheek looked like, he could do so for his leg.
As such, he observed it closely.
It did not take him long to notice what was happening. The bleeding in his leg was slowing to a stop, while the flesh on the wound was reddening slightly, and gradually closing up.
By the time he had finished drinking most of the liquid, the wound on his leg had sealed up, as was the one on his cheek. There were still nasty red scars left over, but at this rate, they would disappear immediately.
Another effect Kairos realized was that the strain in his mind was disappearing quickly. It was quite a refreshing feeling and one that he was not used to. He could definitely see that this could become addicting, as normally his mind was always a little stressed out from seeing things twice.
The only slight reprieve was when he went to sleep, but then he would have dreams to follow up right after.
And those weren’t pleasant most of the time.
However, all of those things weren’t the ones he cared most about.
Rather, he could tell that his mana was being refilled, and not to a small amount. Despite having next to no mana earlier, he was now nearly half full.
Eventually, Kairos finished all of it. The green orb had retained its general shape as a sphere, but had also shrunk considerably. Now it looked quite similar to a marble. Though it didn’t look that useful, he decided to tuck it in his pocket.
Kairos looked down at where his leg wound used to be and saw that it had healed completely. He rubbed his chin.
“…Even if there are some unknown side effects, these are probably far too useful to just give up on.”
Though they didn’t turn out to be good explosives, this was actually better. Even if the only property was restoring mana, spells were far more effective than explosives anyway.
Kairos’ gaze shifted towards the other tree monsters that were thrashing their black branches around violently.
“I will end your suffering, do not worry.”
Though there were definitely some ulterior motives, he was going to help others out, so there was no reason to feel bad.
At least, that’s what he told himself.
And so, Kairos picked up the spear before running over towards one of the trees. Unlike before, when he felt incredibly muddled, now he felt like he was truly alive.
A black branch burst out of the ground, but he sidestepped before it could land on him. Then, a couple more shot down from the sky, but only slammed into the dirt next to him as he twisted to the side.
Black branches continued to shoot out of the ground, come down from the sky, and also sweep towards him. Yet, he dodged all of them and didn’t even have to rely on his future vision.
For the first time, he took in the effects of having high physical stat points and truly soaked it in. Before Kairos knew it, he was already next to one of the black trees. Without hesitation, his spear did a swift horizontal sweep.
A soft thunk rang out, and Kairos’ spear had traveled straight through the tree.
Yet, it didn’t seem as though the tree had been cut.
Nonetheless, Kairos pushed on the top of the trunk and caused it to slide over and expose another green orb. The tree seemed to notice what he was doing as it cried out in intense agony. Numerous black branches shot toward Kairos, very clearly targeted.
Unfortunately for the tree, Kairos fearlessly slammed his spear into the side of the green orb before tilting like a lever, causing it to pop out. He caught it with one hand.
[Killed Creature – 0.1 points awarded]
All of the black branches shooting towards him suddenly fell limp.
Only pausing to tuck the green orb away, Kairos continued towards other trees. It was rather simple for him to go through each and every one of them.
[Killed Creature – 0.1 points awarded]
[Killed Creature – 0.1 points awarded]
With every kill, the pressure he faced only decreased even further. The black trees could only watch in horror as all of their efforts to prevent their death were completely futile.
[Killed Creature – 0.1 points awarded] x 5
It soon became a little difficult for Kairos to hold onto all of the green orbs. He decided to pause his deforestation plans for a second and got next to Ling, who was sitting on the ground and keeping his head down.
Kairos tossed the green orbs next to his feet.
“Hold on to these for now.”
Ling looked up nervously.
“Um, alright.”
He picked a few of them up, but quickly found himself unable to hold them.
Kairos did not bother with it any longer and began to get rid of the rest of the trees still standing in the area. On the other hand, the black trees could do nothing but watch as they were helplessly slaughtered. While their roots were mobile, it seemed as though they couldn’t just uproot themselves and begin walking.
Such was the sad fate of a plant, unable to run from its predators.
[Killed Creature – 0.1 points awarded] x 8
Kairos suddenly found the place to be rather quiet, All of the thrashing had stopped, while stumps with their trunks next to them littered the place. Along with that, many limp black branches were scattered all over.
In all honesty, he found that there were fewer trees than he had originally thought there were. Though, now that he took a look at everything around him, it might’ve just been that he had killed them all too quickly.
He walked back over to Ling, carrying the green orbs.
As for Ling, he huddled with the green orbs almost like he was a hen with a bunch of eggs.
Kairos let out a soft sigh.
“We don’t have our backpacks with us right now. Do you see anything to make a makeshift bag out of?”
Ling looked around and scratched the back of his head.
“Uh, no.”
Kairos dropped the green orbs to the ground.
“Hm… I’m going to try and make one.”
He looked around the place and considered his options. His first instinct was to use his clothes, but he didn’t really want to strip. There were also Ling’s clothes, but he also really didn’t want to look at a shirtless Ling.
Kairos definitely wasn’t going to give up on the green orbs, so the only option left was to try and make something.
He picked up one of the black branches but found that they withered and broke apart as he did so. Despite being so tough earlier, now they were essentially a pile of ash.
Kairos clicked his tongue and moved on.
As he walked through the remains, he realized that the thin red leaves of the trees began dissipating, turning into a dark red liquid. As a smell permeated the air, he was able to figure out that the liquid was blood.
It was a scent Kairos was awfully familiar with.
Eventually, he came across a table.
Kairos didn’t really know how he didn’t see it earlier. Perhaps he had been too caught up in the moment.
Regardless, there was a rather large satchel of something on the table, with a piece of twine wrapped around the opening.
Kairos blinked.
“That’s convenient.”
After a second of thought, Kairos unwrapped it.
Skulls spilled out onto the table. They were all filled with dirt, while the nose and eye holes were covered with what looked like a black blindfold, but seemed a little too smooth to be fabric.
Kairos’ eyebrow twitched.
“…Huh.”
While he was wondering what these were for, Kairos had noticed that a tiny sapling came out from one of the skulls. And when he looked closer at the others, he found that they also had saplings within them.
Kairos decided to not think about it any longer, letting the contents spill out on the table while he took the satchel. The skulls rolled onto the table while the dirt inside spilled out. However, the saplings remained inside.
Kairos hesitated, wondering if he should get rid of these saplings. But at the same time, he didn’t care that much. And so, he left.
Once he got back to Ling, he stuffed all the green orbs into the satchel. As he was doing so, he posed a question.
“Hey, do you see any other bright blue lights?”
Ling scratched the back of his head.
“Um, there’s a lot in the air, but most of it is coming from those green things.”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“Other than these green orbs, what other high concentration of mana do you see?”
Ling surveyed the area before pointing to a place next to him.
“Um, right over there is quite a bit, but it is a bit scattered.”
Kairos wrapped the twine around the satchel that now had fifteen green orbs inside. As he picked it up, Ling reached out with his hand.
Kairos looked at him with a bit of confusion.
“What is it?”
Ling blinked a few times.
“Do you not want me to hold it?”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Uh, I can hold on to it fine.”
Ling scratched the back of his head.
“Ah, ok.”
Kairos shook his head before walking over to where Ling had pointed.
After walking over dead branches, he found himself standing over the corpse of the strange creature from earlier. Its bright green eyes and pale face remained, while its lanky black body seemed to become one with all the dead branches on the ground.
Kairos pointed towards it.
“Is the bright light right here?”
Ling nodded.
“Um, yeah.”
Kairos looked down at the corpse and hesitated. He felt it would feel pretty disgusting to try and pry away at the corpse below him. Yet, at the same time, he didn’t care enough to hold back.
Using his spear, he pushed away at the black branches connected to the lanky black body. With soft cracking sounds, they were disconnected from its body. Then, he peeled away at the skin.
But to his surprise, there was nothing there.
It was a hollow shell.
Kairos furrowed his brows before moving on to the creature’s head, prying away that as well. Green liquid splashed out from here, and once it cleared, it revealed a tiny green orb. It looked exactly like the one Kairos had used up.
He sighed.
“Well, whatever.”
Kairos shifted his gaze away, but as he did, he saw a paper buried underneath the black branches.