Chapter 16. End of flashback.
***
After I ate Seventh, it didn't take long for me to notice a change in myself.
Five minutes after the other six sisters left me, I felt my back steaming. I quickly understood that I had obtained a regeneration ability from eating Seventh.
Maybe some parts of my skin on my back didn't heal fully back then, so having a regeneration now, those unhealed parts will start healing.
Even with the regeneration I have obtained. The steaming on my back lasted for two days before it stopped. Another thing I learned is that I didn't simply gain a regeneration ability from her but other abilities too.
Some part of my mind had learned the language of this world, maybe because I was so focused on escaping them back then that I didn't even realize that I had understood their words when they screamed at me.
A week has passed since then, and I learned more about myself and my newfound abilities.
I was worried that I would collapse again after not eating or drinking all this time, but I found that my needs for water and food have increased significantly…
Wait, I didn't word that out right.
What I meant is that the (Rule of Threes) has increased significantly. From what I remembered, one can only last for three days without water before something happens to this person.
But it's been ten days since I quenched my thirst with the body fluids of Seventh corpse. I am very grateful for this. I may not know how long my needs for water are now, but this alone increased my survivability.
— — —
Two weeks after that, I found myself staring at a field of violet smoke before my eyes. In those weeks, I only continued to move without a stop, making sure I could cover as much land as I could.
Since I didn't have to worry about the (Rule of Threes), along with it, I found that I didn't need to sleep as long as I rested for a bit to regain my stamina.
Of course, I may be crazy now but not enough that I actually stopped sleeping for good. It's been two days since I found this area so I actually went to sleep since then.
And today was the last day of my rest before I continued to move beyond this area.
…
It hurts, if I had to say so. I already knew this smoke was poisonous, but the things I had gone through made this entire place seem relaxing.
Besides, I have that on me, for one hour I don't need to intake any of this poison in me, and the moment that time runs out, I just need to take one deep breath and have it working again.
— — —
Fuck, this smoke covers the sky itself so it's kinda hard to figure out how many days since I entered.
But if I go by the amount of time I took a breath inside this place, I have counted a total of 68 in total before I lose count of it.
There are 24 hours in a day, multiply that by three and the result will be 72, so before I lose count of breath, I have taken in this place, it's been three days since then.
Going back is not an ideal thing to do now, even if I start running now it still takes me a long time to get back to the area I was in before.
The only thing I can do now is continue to move forward without stopping, which I've been doing all this time, and hope I can get out of this place as soon as possible.
The poison doesn't bother me anyway. My regeneration ability seems to heal me from all sorts of damage be it physical, poison, and even mental damage.
— — —
Three hundred and eighty-four breaths…
That's how long I've been in this poisonous smoke. Around forty breaths ago, I found something changing in me…
As if my body is changing itself.
I don't know what's happening but I know I need to get out of this place as soon as I can.
After three hundred more breaths, I started to see something new before me. I can see the end of this poisonous smoke I'm in and can finally get out of here.
Still, I had to make sure I wouldn't fall down or anything like that, so I made sure to take my time to move since I couldn't really see anything in this place.
…..
Haaaaa. I can't believe it. A few more meters away I could finally escape from this smoke, but I fell down. The thing that was happening in me finally started.
I can't move anymore, as long as this thing that's changing in me doesn't stop, I don't think I can move forward even for a step.
Jake couldn't believe it. Just a few minor steps, and he could finally get out of the toxic smoke he was in. But something about him was changing, and if this change in him doesn't end, he can't move forward anymore.
Without a choice, Jake let the "change" in him… happen. And hope it doesn't last too long. Before Jake could even think about anything else, he fell into a deep slumber. And a week later, he woke up.
I don't know how long I was asleep, but the moment I woke up, I started running away from the poisonous smoke I was in and finally escaped for good.
Finally, after who knows how long I was in that place, I escaped… I looked back at the violet smoke behind me before looking forward.
As soon as I looked at the area I was moving towards, I found myself staring at a forest. It has the same trees I've been seeing and moving through all this time.
Without caring about anything else, I continued to walk again.
***
"....."
Three hours after I got out of that poisonous smoke, I finally found my first water source.
After hearing running water in my surroundings, I quickly ran towards where the sound was coming from.
The moment I set my eyes on it, I took a deep sip of the running water and could not care less whether it was drinkable or not.
Once I had drunk enough water, I found myself staring at my reflection, but the face before me was not me…
Yes. Technically it was me since I was staring at my reflection, but it was not the 19-year-old me, but my 14-year-old face.
Was the thing that was happening to me in that poisonous smoke, made my body regress back to the age of 14!?
— — —
How long have I been moving by now?
After some time taking in that my body went back to age 14, I started moving again. No one was gonna answer my questions about how it happened to me, so I decided to sleep it away and move the very next morning.
I found that I gain more abilities after my body reverts back to this age. Beyond that small water creek, I found animals starting to appear before me.
Along with monsters like wolves, goblins, orcs, I think? I don't know what the last one was since I can't tell the difference between orc, troll, and ogre. They all seem the same to me.
Anyway, back to the new abilities I have.
The new ability I found after going back to my 14-year-old body is that I'm a neutral entity to a range of monsters.
A while ago I found some newborn goblins and wolves fighting each other, but the moment one of them appeared behind me, it simply ignored me and ran towards the fight and started fighting with the other.
This is one of the abilities I found. The second one is that I can control others with my mind.
When one of the old wolves suddenly attacked me when I was escaping from those babies, I locked eyes with it and thought to myself not to attack me and kill the other wolves instead.
After I thought those words in my head, the wolf I locked eyes with did what I thought of. Watching them fight with each other, I didn't hesitate to run away from them.
So after going back to 14 years old, I can be a Neutral entity from a specific range of monsters, and the ability to control and command others when locking my eyes with them.
*****
Having the two newfound Abilities of his, Jake moved through the forest filled with monsters, with ease.
Each time he found himself being attacked by some monster, he would use his commanding ability on it and command it to kill itself.
After a month of walking nonstop in the forest, he finally found a human settlement. It took him two weeks to get there after finding it, and finally, he met the first human in this new world he was in.
***
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Got lazy at the last part of this chapter so... Sorry.
Please leave a comment or anything that can tell me you're actually reading this series of mine.
The next chapter will continue back in the temple where Jake was reading his status card..