153.2. Partial Mortality

Instead, I turned to Edithe who was now standing nearly ten feet to my left. Her head was tilted back, as if she were in thought.

“So, you can keep the Skill up for five minutes. You can perceive everything in a five foot radius around you. You can only use it once a day. And you can expand your vision by sacrificing vision on one side.”

“I think it’s only sort of like that. There’s a limit to how much I can shift my [Spatial Sight].”

“It’ll probably be less restrictive the more you level the Skill. The radius too will increase.”

“I still prefer [Banish].”

I glanced over at Daniel who had picked up his apple and was in the middle of biting into it. I pointed a finger at it, using the Skill once more.

“[Banish]. Look, it only takes a minute before I can use it again!”

The Human man blinked as the apple in his hand disappeared. He was almost ashamed when he had to pick it back up again. I raised my head slightly.

“Although, I wish it could teleport larger objects. Like people.”

“Teleportation of any kind isn’t really the kind of Skill most people would get at Level 10, let alone Skills that teleport other people. Those are a lot more complex, and typically require a small ritual to be made or else it won’t work.”

“So, you’re saying I can’t teleport my enemies very high up into the air so that they fall and die?”

Edithe nodded, and I groaned. There went that plan.

I had a lot of other Skills to test out. Most of them I did already test out. The only ones I haven’t had the time to use were [Demon’s Mark] and [Haste].

I couldn’t really use the former. My instincts told me it was something I used on people. And I wasn’t going to test it out on my companions, only to have it curse them with a thousand years of pain or something equally as egregious as that.

But [Haste] on the other hand. I could tell what it did, but I wanted to test it out.

“Are you guys ready?”

I looked over at my companions. They shrugged.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Uh, I guess?”

“Alright.”

With a deep breath, I raised a hand and spoke softly.

“[Haste].”

As expected, the same effects of [Self Haste] overcame me. Each movement I made was far faster than it normally was, speaking included. Sure, I could slow down my speech enough so that others understood me. But it was annoying to do, so unless I really wanted to be heard, I typically just spoke really, really, really fast.

There was no difference. No difference except for the fact that my companions were moving nearly as quick as I was.

“WhatisgoingonthisfeelsveryweirdohfuckI’mgoingtopuke—”

Edithe was running around, almost unable to control where she was going. She just barely went around a tree before circling back at me.

“SalvosthisisgoodandalllbutIwanttoamekitstop!”

I chuckled.

“You can’t. You’ll have to wait for it to end.”

“You’vegottobefucking—”

She was cut off as Daniel slammed into her back. They both tumbled onto the ground, and just lay there, refusing to get up.

“I. Hate. This.”

The Human man spoke deliberately, pausing for an elongated period of time before saying each word. I proffered them both my hand.

“Come on, you’ve got to get used to it. Learn to speak like this, and move with [Haste] active like it was your normal speed.”

They both begrudgingly got back up. I ran ahead of them, gesturing for them to follow me. They couldn’t keep up. Not only was my [Agility] higher than theirs, I was also pretty sure the Skill was slightly less effective for them as it was for me.

Eventually, the Skill ended. And both of them nearly tripped and fell because of the sudden change in speed.

“There, there.”

I patted both of them on the back as they went to take a seat and rest. The sun was setting, and they already had a fire going from earlier. My stomach growled once more when I smelled the scent of the food cooking over the flames.

I tried not to think about it.

“I’ll be able to change back out of a Cyclops, then we’ll finally be able to return to the Plaguelands, right?”

“Yeah. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.”

Nodding, Edithe bit into a skewer of roasted meat.

“Honestly, I’m almost not looking forward to it.”

Daniel added to the side, waving his own bit of food.

“We won’t be able to eat good once we’re back in the Plaguelands. And that stench— uh, not a big fan of it at all.”

I just stared at him, not saying anything. A small smile spread across his face as he scooched over my way.

“What’s wrong, Salvos? Want to give it a try? There’s nothing wrong with eating, you know. And now that you actually need to eat, who knows, maybe you’ll like it.”

I felt my mouth watering as Daniel offered me his skewer. What he said made sense. Certainly, I had a need to eat while I was a Cyclops, or Human, or Kobold. Satiating that hunger was not a bad thing.

But I have made fun of my companions for eating in the past, despite them giving that exact same reason all the time. Sure, I was never really serious. I understood that they would literally die if they didn’t find proper sustenance. It just felt like I would lose something if I tried food now, and found that I liked it.

However, that was a good thing, right? I’d be indulging in something that was not only necessary for my survival, but also tasted good— or so they claimed. A tiny, little bite wouldn’t hurt anyone, right? I might as well try it, right?

I took the skewer from Daniel and stared at it— at the slightly overcooked sides of the meat, and at the light smoke rising from being recently taken from the fire. It was coated in a sheen of its own oil. Apparently something that was delicious to Humans.

I raised it as I slowly opened my mouth... and threw it at the Human man’s face.

“Nope! I’m not trying it! I will never ever, ever eat your stupid food!”

I didn't bite into a single piece of food, and later transformed back from a Cyclops as my companions went to sleep.