Chapter 8: Poison Resistance, Acquired!

It was nearly nightfall when I decided to keep on moving. I brushed my hair away from my face and headed towards the water body I had seen. The smell of the snakes' blood seemed to make the monsters stay away from me. I was thankful for that since I didn't have the energy to fight another beast. I found a cave on my way to the water body and I got in. Finding a couple of dry branches around the entrance of the cave, I started a fire and took out the flask of blood. Poison resistance was a power I needed. Back when the kingdom was falling, I was poisoned as a way of weaken me for the next battle. It was one of the Duke's subordinates who gave me the poison in the camp as a 'gift' for working hard to defend Grabania from the Empire. A foolish trick that I couldn't see through as he was a partner I frequently trained with. In order to not repeat the same mistakes, I needed to obtain resistance to any kind of poison. Best way would be to survive after taking in the strongest poison I could find. I drank a bit of the blood in huge gulps and wipe my mouth after drinking it. I crossed my legs starting to take in more mana from my surroundings and flowing it through my veins. 'Mana gets rid of impurities, it can also help in healing if you know the right thing to do.' That sly old man's words came into my head. Once I was sure I had more mana than usual flowing in me I stopped the cycle. I didn't want to get rid of the poison. I wanted it to not be a problem anymore. It only took me a few seconds to keel over coughing out blood. I clutched my chest tightly, 'it hurt.' My entire body hurt. My vision became hazy and I couldn't see anything in front of me. My senses were numbed and the only thing I could feel was pain. It felt like something was trying to crawl out of my skin. I was heating up but it wasn't time yet. I wanted to hold out as long as I could before I used mana cycle again. 'Just a bit more. A little bit more.' I kept on telling myself in order to hold out as long as I could. Once I couldn't take it anymore I used mana cycle so that I wouldn't die and repeated the same process again. Drink more blood, use mana cycle then let my body fight the poison without mana. I kept at it for three days until I passed out.

When morning came I opened my eyes slowly. I wasn't dead. I stretched my hand grabbing the flask. I took a mouthful of the remaining blood and waited and waited and waited. Nothing happened. I sat up laughing. 'It worked. It bloody worked.' Crossing off getting poisoned again by that traitor I started a fire and cooked the snake meat. I was starving after not eating for days. Some monsters came to the entrance of the cave after smelling the meat but none of them got in. The smell of the snakes' blood seemed to keep them at bay. I stayed in the cave for a while trying to control the poison in my body trying to find a way to utilize it. I stretched out my hand palm open. I let mana form on my palm like a little ball of flame dancing along my fingertips. I watched it ember and grow as it took it the mana in its surroundings. I tried circulating my poisoned blood with my mana together. The flame slowly changed into a bright green color. I kept at it for most part of the day until the color turned slightly darker.

I glanced at the monsters at the entrance. Standing up with a wicked smile on my lips, "you'll be my experiments from now on." I shot the green mana at the beasts and it surrounded them like a green fog. I saw them struggle to get away from it. A few managed to run away but most of them collapsed one after the other. I went to them. Only the weak ones died and the rest passed out. I dragged the dead ones into the cave and left the ones that had passed out.

After skinning and cleaning them I headed to the water body. I smelled too much like poison. Taking off my clothes, I rinsed them in order to get rid of the smell and the snakes' blood before getting into the water after placing them aside. I went under water holding my breath for a while before surfacing. The cold water felt great against my skin. I swam around in the water enjoying the feeling. It had been such a long time since I felt this free. It was refreshing. I ran my hands through my hair untangling it and getting rid of the mud and blood.

I didn't feel it. I couldn't sense it as it wrapped its tentacles around my leg and dragged me into the water. I gasped, getting pulled deeper and deeper by the monster, as I took in a breath full of water. I tried yanking it off but I couldn't. It tightened its hold on me and I could feel it pricking my skin. I let out a scream in the pain air bubbles escaping from my mouth. A hybrid kraken. How did it even get into this waters? I looked around the water looking for something to hit it with. There was nothing within my reach. I couldn't hold my breath any longer. Panicking, I started hitting it as hard as I could with my fists. I was losing strength but I couldn't give up. I hit it harder as my blood flowed into the water turning it red around my leg. Bubbles of air escaped from my mouth, I was running out of air. Mustering up all of my strength I hit it as hard as I could, a burst of mana flowing from me and into the krakens' tentacle. It let go and I swam away from its reach as fast as I could. I glance down for a second and saw something glowing from a distance. A feint white light that had settled at the bottom of the lake. Ignoring it, I got out of the water as fast as I could. I coughed up water as soon as I touched solid ground. My lungs were on fire. I struggled to breath as I drew in deep breaths gasping for air. I clutched my throat as I laid on my front. Calming down slightly after a couple of minutes, I took in deep slow breaths. Sitting up, I glanced back at the water. I could feel something calling me. The thing I saw inside. It was calling me to it, asking me to find it. I wobbled as I stood up and grabbed my clothes. I wanted to figure out what it was. But its guard was something I couldn't handle.

I glanced at the wound on my leg. It nearly crushed my leg. Its tentacles had tiny teeth that bit into my skin. I limped slowly as I headed back to my cave. I collapsed onto ground and passed out. I wasn't sure how long I was passed out but when I woke up the fire was out and a coat was covering me up. I shot up grabbing my dagger as I looked around. No one was in the cave with me. I let out a relieved sigh and took in the scent from the coat. 'Librarian.' He came to check up on me. Having mixed feelings about his presence, I placed the dagger onto the ground and saw that my leg was bandaged. I touched the wound noticing that it didn't hurt anymore. 'Could he also use healing magic?'

I placed my head on the wall of the cave as the thoughts of the white light I saw in the lake filled my head. I wasn't strong enough to face the monster in the lake. It was something that the present me couldn't handle. There was only one thing I needed to do. I needed to train. Quite simple right?