The prospect of landing directly in this mysteriously potent pool of Profound Toxin would have been considerably more charming if it had been deep enough to allow him to not break into pieces upon impact. That it was about three hand spans across with a rim of solid rock did not alleviate his worries either.

But when he was just about to be crushed against it, the liquid in the font gurgled and rushed up to envelop him. He screamed but the sound was completely swallowed up in a moment by the sudden aggression.

A sensation not unlike that of being pulled through a fracture rippled through his body, upturning his organs for just a second before they settled back into position.

He was back in the opaque ocean. This time, before he could even think about going on another exploratory adventure, the toxin drained completely and left him unable to move at all.

A single bead of blue rapidly grew into a swirling sphere the size of a human head. It grew a tiny little glob of a body with four equally little, completely disproportionate limbs that seemed intended to resemble arms and legs.

The little guy jabbed its nubby arm down with clear annoyance.

"I'm not in the mood for this kind of crap this time, mate. Can we just get on with it?" Eik said.

It bubbled in anger and he snorted. "Alright, fine, I'm sorry, okay?" he grumbled. "I won't do it again. You happy now?"

It nodded and morphed into letters that aligned into words.

"Thank you," Eik muttered.

[Evolution possible, Current path derived from intimate relationship with — (Unique) Profound Toxin]

[Return to standard path possible: Evolution to C-rank possible]

[Evolve?]

[Advancement along current alternative evolutionary path possible: Alternative evolutionary path derived from intimate relationship with — (Unique) Profound Toxin]

[Alternative evolutionary path: Apostle of Toxin]

[Evolve?]

Before the entirety of the message had even been completely spelled out, the latter option began to swell up and slowly float closer to his eyes. Soon it also began to wiggle conspicuously.

"You don't have to do that this time. I know I doubted the usefulness of the Path of Profound Toxin last time I was here, but I've learned my lesson since then. What you're offering me here is amazing and I won't hesitate in my choice now."

The floating jelly text wiggled in apparent glee and morphed once more into a gigantic lance, probably more than a hundred meters in length. Spinning slightly on its own axis, it slowly floated toward his chest before suddenly speeding up to the point where Eik couldn't even follow it with his eyes as it pierced his solar plexus.

Damn, that hurt. A lot. Enough to make him scream, except his voice would not come out. He tried to, supplying enough air for a siren, but his vocal cords refused to comply.

The moment the end of the lance disappeared into his skin, his vision blackened and the world faded.

***

When he woke up the soft, squishy body of the fused Living Manifestation was still under his head, allowing him to wake up comfortably.

Olivia was sitting in the chair and reading something. Bin, on the other hand, was staring at him with her face mere inches from his own, exhaling the smell of whatever she had just eaten right into his nostrils.

"Wah!" he yelped in shock and sat up with a jerk, barely avoiding slamming his nose into her face. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," she moped.

"So?" Olivia asked, pulling him to his feet. "How did it go?"

"I think I got it!" he said with a smile and pulled out the wooden plaque.

[Successfully pioneered an alternative evolutionary path — (Unique) Apostle of Toxin]

"So you're C-rank now?" she asked.

"Basically, yeah. It feels a little… surreal, to be honest. I'm slowly but surely beginning to catch up with you, finally."

"Alright, alright," she chuckled. "Don't get ahead of yourself there, buddy."

The creak of a door directed their eyes as Michael came out of one of the adjacent rooms. Like most houses in Forest, the one Olivia had shared with her now deceased mother was not exactly what one might refer to as large.

"Mikey, you're up." Eik said. "Did you manage to get a bit of sleep?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Somehow, yeah. I couldn't get the thoughts inside my head to leave me alone but I must have been exhausted, because before I knew it I was out like a light."

"That's good. Sleep is more important than ever at times like this."

"What are you up to anyway?"

"I just reached C-rank," Eik said.

"You just rea— Are you serious?" the young healer spluttered in genuine surprise. "Didn't you just—? You're seriously already at C-rank? You're among the strongest people in Forest at this point!"

"I don't know. It just happened someh—"

"What's there to be surprised about?" Heath piped up from the doorway of the other small room. "Eik is the best among us, after all."

Eik shot him a side eye. "Heath…"

"No, it's simple. You're just not the same as we are. You're different. You're something more than human, aren't you?" Heath was growing more agitated by the second.

Eik glanced to Bin. She looked frightened, hugging the blubbery Living Manifestation tightly, eyes locked on Heath's face. "Heath, please. Come on, man. We're in this together. We all have our parts to play in order to come out of this alive."

"Maybe so, Eik," the tank said, something akin to malice creeping into his voice. "but I can't help but think that the role you have to play is monumental and of actual significance while the one I and the rest of us have is… trivial."

"Don't say that, dude," Michael said.

"Why not? We both know it's true."

Michael hesitated at that, his face conflicted.

Eik didn't know what to say either. Heath was hurting. Of course he was. Sonja was dead and none of them had been able to do a damn thing about it. But…

"What happened wasn't my fault, Heath, and you know it wasn't. I get that you're feeling t—"

"You have no idea how I'm feeling, Eik! Sonja's fucking dead!" the big man snarled.

"Oh, get over yourself, Heath!" Eik shot back, the agitated mood getting to him. "There isn't a human on this planet who hasn't watched someone they love die right in front of their eyes. And if you think for one second that you're the only one mourning Sonja's death, then your mind is even more muddled than I thought it was!"

Heath's jaw tensed and he looked ready to punch his friend in the mouth. "Screw you, Eik," he hissed. "I don't need this shit." He stomped across the room and almost ripped the door off its hinges, leaving it swinging as he left.

Eik fell back into a chair. "Aaah, fuck," he sighed. "I've gone and done it, haven't I?"

"N-No, it's going to be okay. We just have to… get through this. He's probably still in shock. He's venting."

"You're right. I probably shouldn't have snapped back at him like that."

"No, it's okay," Michael said to Eik's surprise. "You're allowed to be on a short fuse as well, not just him. Just promise that you'll make up later."

Eik snorted. "Thanks. Yeah, we'll do that. At some point…" He still had a few things to do. Namely travel around the world on a mission that might well end up yielding no results whatsoever.

***

"And how do I use this?" Eik asked, turning over in his hand the simple, unadorned emblem he had received from Mikla. Mikla was helping Eik churn out as much medicine and pain killer as they possibly could before the trip.

He had managed to locate a space to open a fracture that would spit Eik out somewhere around City Hall Square in Copenhagen. Eik and Olivia would set off within the hour.

"Just break it," the fracture specialist said and held up his fist. "Crush it in your hand or smash it on the ground. Whatever works so long as it breaks."

"And it'll summon you?"

"No, it will send a signal to me that I can use to quickly triangulate your position and open a fracture to you."

"But I already have this one that I got from Andihar Dayarunar," he said and held up a similar looking contraption, except that one was covered in decorative gold, an image of the family crest carved into the center of it.

"Oh," Mikla said, taken slightly aback. "It does pretty much the same, although the signal from that one might be stronger."

"Why don't you give this to everyone you send on a mission?"

"We usually do," he replied with a puzzled expression.

Eik frowned. "What about the kids you sent on that exploratory mission way back when? The kids we saved from Moon Shall Swallow."

"These don't really work across worlds. Building something like that would be… very expensive."

"Then how will you know when I use it?"

"I'll leave it with the troops of the Nidafjeld Alliance stationed here. They can get to me quickly if need be."

"And what about the one from Andihar?"

Mikla shrugged. "I imagine he's going to leave one or two of his people here to receive the signal and then contact him directly in the event of an emergency. I'm really not surprised that you couldn't persuade him to come with you. In fact, despite everything, my brain can't quite seem to comprehend that you've suddenly become such good friends with that man."

"Is he that strong?"

The fracture specialist nodded seriously, not looking up as he mashed Eik's mixture into the wax and began to roll them into individual doses. "He's probably one of the strongest S-rankers in the Alliance. He's kind of a legend."

"So Earth has capacity to hold S-rankers now?" he asked, trepidation rife. "Isn't that a little fast? I thought it would take some time at least."

"No, no, I highly doubt it. He can change size at will and grow to more than a hundred times his normal size, or shrink down more than a hundred times. It's a power he's famous for. While he obviously isn't capable of inflating his own power rank, he can artificially decrease it which then allows him to visit worlds that aren't yet ready to handle his actual strength. That's what he did here as well. It's supposed to be quite uncomfortable actually."

"Then why didn't he use his size changing abilities when he came to help us?"

Mikla gave him a look. "That's really a question you should be asking him. I don't have a clue."

"Eik?" Olivia called as she came through the door. "I've got the supplies. Where's your bag of holding?"

"Hey, it's on the table over there. Bring it here and I'll stuff it all in."

"I love this thing," she said and grabbed the rucksack. "I'm getting one when we get back."

"It's expensive, you know."

"And I'll earn some money. Don't worry about it," she chuckled.

Next to arrive was Michael. He was there to pick up a large portion of the medicine for use in the clinics around Forest which were currently filled far beyond capacity. Luckily the Nidafjeld Alliance was finally taking their role seriously and supplying both healers, defenders, and medicine to Forest. And house Dayarunar had pledged medicine and light assistance where it was needed the most.

"Are you about to leave?" the healer asked as he entered.

"Yeah, we just need to get this last bit finished."

"I'll help."

Eik had already talked to Elaine Haness who had promised to help his assistant Robert while he was away. She had been devastated by the loss of her brother Carl who had died in the Championships, but if anything it only seemed to have pushed her to become even busier. She was working through her grief, literally.

Robert had been by to pick up supplies a couple of times in the past to hours, delivering them to vendors and merchant to help distribute Eik's product more efficiently. Eik had offered the young man to come with him on the expedition, but had received a respectful but firm rejection.

The last of the medicine went into its packaging and Eik handed it over to Michael. He gave his friend a tight hug. Mikla got one as well.

"And Heath?" he asked.

"He still hasn't come back," Michael informed him somberly. "I think he just needs some time."

"Yeah, of course," Eik muttered. "Tell him I was sad not to be able to say goodbye. And that he'd better tolerate a hug when I get back."

"Will do," Michael promised with a smile.

"Thanks, man." He followed Olivia out of the door.

Michael frowned. "I feel like this goodbye is too small. People ought to know what you're doing for them."

"This is just as much something I'm doing for myself, so… I prefer it this way."

"And I can't let this punk get into too much trouble without me," Olivia grinned.

Eik pulled both Mikla and Michael into another hug. "We'll see you. Hopefully soon."

The fracture hummed softly as they disappeared through its blue surface.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.