Published at 7th of August 2020 8:34 pm

Chapter 648: Addicted

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Benjamin looked straight at Andrew with a confused expression on his face as he approached the young man standing in the entrance to the livingroom.

"What..." He muttered quietly, confused about what exactly was going on, "You... you're..."

"Growing fuckin' horns. Yes, I fucking know I am. Woke up with a blasting headache just to find out I have horns, patches of my skin are turnin' goddamn gray, and I'm even getting some nice tusks growin' on my lower jaw. Nearly ripped my beautiful wife's mouth open when I kissed her this mornin'. The fuck's happening, man?"

"...How many memories did you recover?" Benjamin asked immediately, and Andrew slowly crossed his arms, "Like... eight, nine or somethin'? I got back to the mainland the other day and visited the places we 'appeared' in. Every one of'em gave me a memory. Then there's the two memories I got from that short fucking clip of seein' Gran and Buldor... By the way, Buldor's the kid of my former mount, and I gifted 'im to Gran as a graduation gift or somethin'. I'm at like 9? Well, guess I could've remembered the 10th already, but I skipped past that cause I didn't feel like it at the moment, man."

"...Then these changes start at the 10th memory. I just recovered my 10th one as well. When you get back into the capsule, try to remember that one. Like me, you might be able to speak with your former self about some things." The old man suggested, and Andrew let out a deep sigh, "Listen, I think I've got other shit to worry about for now. I'm growing fucking horns. How am I supposed to deal with this crap? You, Evalia, and Xenia are all just gonna look the same as you used to, but Jyuuk and I are fucked. Are we really gonna turn into what we were like over there?"

"Probably. But does that feel wrong to you? Or aren't you feeling kind of calm now that you have your horns coming in?" Haruo came up behind Andrew and placed his hand onto the man's shoulder, "My body may not have started changing yet, but I sure as hell am recovering magic already. Similar to what's been happening to Eisen before. You don't have any magic, so maybe you didn't notice, but personally I start to feel... new things around me. It's my ability to sense life-energy. I didn't try yet, but I might be able to even make a seed sprout quicker if I try hard enough. The other day when we were going out on a walk, we went past the graveyard, and I felt myself weirdly attracted to it."

"You think you can use necromancy here?" Benjamin asked with a deep frown as he stared at the man in front of him, and Haruo slowly nodded his head, "I assume so. Listen, if Samuel's goal is really to bring magic over here, then he must have done his research. It must be possible to do so. Magic is a force that can exist here in this world, and it's created through mana. Mana on the other hand is created by numerous different forces. The most important ones that I assume Samuel is trying to reproduce here are for one, the mana created by the world itself, as well as the mana created by souls. Our souls are already capable of producing mana, since our souls became souls of the other world. But our bodies aren't used to it yet. So, our bodies are changing to the image of our souls over there, so that we can make use of mana normally."

Haruo explained his theory in detail to everyone that was here. Jasmin came rolling up behind him and tried to support that theory. Benjamin looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath, "So that means that our bodies can actually change because of mana, then." The old man said, "If that can happen to us, then it can-"

"Happen to animals as well. Fuck." Benji muttered quietly, understanding what exactly was going on, and the old man slowly nodded his head. That's exactly what had been going through his mind.

If Samuel succeeds to introduce mana to this world, there may be many benefits, but at the same time... Creatures that had never existed before will suddenly pop up all over the place. They will increase in size, they will become stronger. Too strong for regular people to handle. And the issue was that monsters were able to level up much, much quicker than people were.

It was different in the other world, since they had both existed since the beginning of times there. Things had been balanced over centuries, millenia even. But here... if every soul suddenly gained the ability to produce mana... Things would be troublesome.

Sure, people would become stronger as well. Maybe there wouldn't be a 'system' like in the other world, but that didn't mean that people wouldn't increase in strength considerably. It was still possible to get much, much stronger over time.

But animals, after turning into monsters, would have the upper hand. Most people wouldn't be able to go up against a small dog when he went wild... imagine going up against a wolf the size of a van.

Sure, a lot of strong weapons were a thing, but a regular old gun wouldn't be able to pierce the hide of even a rank 4 monster anymore. The bullets would act as if they were shot against a meter-thick steel wall.

And there weren't that many people that knew how to improve on the weapons that they had these days. At least that's what crossed Benjamin's mind as well, but then he realized that this wasn't the case after all.

"There are numerous players with crafting-occupations, right...? I imagine that the vast majority of them have the enchanting and alchemy skills... In case something goes wrong, we would have a lot of people that might be able to tell how to deal with certain situations. People that could lead this world through all these changes."

"If these changes happen in the first place. Our goal is to not let that happen in the first place, right?"

"Of course, but you never know what can happen... you never know how we and our opinions might change after we recover our memories." Benjamin pointed out bluntly. He looked at the people in front of him before taking a deep breath while turning over toward the clock, "I'm sorry, I have to get back. My arms should have regrown by now."

Benjamin made his way over toward the hallway leading to his bedroom, before Andrew held his arm in front of him, "What do you mean, your 'arms should have regrown by now'?"

"Exactly what I mean. I lost my arms, and they should be back now."

"Yes, but how did you lose them?" Andrew groaned loudly.

Benjamin slowly scratched his cheek before continuing to walk down the hallway, "Your student ripped my arms off in a duel. But it's fine, I cut him in half at the same time, so I won. By the way, apparently he wants to reincarnate now." Benjamin pointed out, but once more, he was quickly interrupted by someone.

"Dad, stop. Come back, we didn't finish talking about this yet." Tony said bluntly as he ran up to the old man, pulling him back a bit. But Benjamin just turned around and shook his head, "No. We finished, alright? What else is there left to say at this very moment? Sure, Brody is growing horns and tusks, but look at him. Usually you would freak out, right? It's the form he spent numerous millenia in. It's the form he's most comfortable in. We're all going to change, but we will be able to deal with it, because we've dealt with it for lifetimes already. But if we don't get back over there and deal with this whole situation, we're not going to be the last ones that have to deal with these changes. Now please, let me go. I have a few more duels to win." Benjamin stared at his son with something that had basically become a glare already.

Just a few moments after speaking with this intense tone of his, Benjamin realized what exactly he was doing. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and slowly turned around, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rough. I'm just under a lot of stress right now. I mean, I just remembered what it's like to have my arms ripped off for the first time... But not only the first time, but every other time that something similar happened as well. It's a bit overwhelming if it happens just once, but having the sensation flood into your mind thousandfold is more than just that."

"Dad... I'm not trying to say that I understand what you... what all of you are going through, but come on! You're acting like the only thing that's important is that other world. You're not even focusing on what's going on over here anymore."

"Yes, because what am I supposed to do over here? I can't do anything here. We can sit down and cry about everything all we want, but in the end, that's not going to solve anything. We have to deal with everything over there. That is the only way, Tony. I'm sorry that I've been absent, that I haven't been paying attention. But I'm trying to-"

"You're trying to do what? Save the world? Are you sure that you don't just like the way that you feel over there? That you're strong and healthy and can even regrow your goddamn arms after a short nap. That's why you want to be there. It's like you're addicted to that feeling, Dad."

"Tony." Benjamin said with a deep stare directed right at the man's eyes. They locked their sight with each other, and the old man just slowly turned around again, "What's so wrong with enjoying the feeling of being healthy, strong, and useful? You're right, I love those parts of my life over there, but they aren't the reason I'm doing anything, and you goddamn know that. Now, let this old man use the bit of life he has left in him to make a goddamn fucking difference before it's too late."

With determination in his voice and step, Benjamin made his way over to his bedroom. He pushed the door open and closed it down again soon after. With heavy steps, Benjamin walked over toward the capsule and quickly pulled it open. He climbed inside one foot after the other before turning the program on that would bring him to the other world.

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