It hurts. I could still vividly feel the blood falling down my face as i was slowly losing my life. The pain ceased once in a while but the cold blade of the sword that cut off my arm still imprinted in my mind.
The helplessness left at the time was gnawing away at my mind snapping something inside of me.
"Haah" I can still breathe. Taking a deep ragged breath i felt myself lying on a soft surface.
My eye opened, my vision blurry. I could see some black silhouettes near me, walking closer. As if my life depended on it, i quickly punched in their direction. My fist colided with one of them seemingly knocking it out while the other stood in place stunned. After i stood up my head got light headed but the fear that my body still felt kept me from toppling over.
Trying to grab it i raised my other hand and-
My hand?Didn't it get cut off? Stopping my assault i waited until my vision settled down and noticed a prosthetic arm connected to my previous stump.
"Wha..?" Before i could exclaim my surprise, the remaining figure corrected her glasses looking at the person lying on the ground.
"I kindly ask of you to not hit our doctors." The lady kneeled next to the doctor and smacked him a few times on the face which worked as he woke up while rubbing his face. It was as if he was used to this already.
"Why do i have an arm?" I couldn't think of anything else as i still remembered the coldness of steel gliding through me muscles and severing them entirely.
Am i, in heaven now?
"Its a prosthetic arm which we gave you as payment for killing tribesmen." The nurse reassured me, waiting for the doctor to regain his senses.
But i didn't..
My thoughts stopped after i remembered that i stabbed one tribesman before getting captured, he was the one i most likely killed but..
"How do you know i killed any?" I was suspicious of them, it seemed to me as though they knew whatever i did in there and just wanted to make a joke out of me.
The nurse looked at me slightly surprised "Arent you a Chasm Seeker? Of course we checked your Terra Flux to see if it haf any 'records' of you killing them." She told me that acting like it was conpletely obvious, but the knowledge of chasm seekers and regular people like myself is extremely limited when it comes to going lower meaning i needed to become one for some information and legal access to the chasm.
"Well, it doesn't matter as you accomplished the task and got rewarded, we won't take away your prosthetic unless you didn't kill any." Nurse having reassured me, turned around with the doctor and then went away towards next patients.
Ugh. My body hurt all over and my vision was halfed due to the bandages covering my eye.
"I guess i figured out where i am now." Mumbling to myself i got up, stumbling towards the exit.
The place was a nursery located in Blood Empire territory, i figured it out by the crudely decorated surrounding and some banners hanging off walls with black background and a bleeding crown in the middle, it was the place that the other grade 7th chasm seeker looked over.
The King Slayer, or Mercenary king. Both titles were given to him by accomplishing great feats. The mercenary king was the most popular one as he was the person to lead and create the most diverse department that worked for everything via contract system. People recieved appropriate tasks based on their grades and trust aswell as learned from veteran mercenaries who get great money from the department as compensation.
I wasn't the only one in the nursery as many more who were trapped in this crazy place were tended to or in a deep sleep due to injuries. There was also the old man who warned me to not get out of cage, he was eating some food by the looks of it. He noticed me and seeing the sorry state i was in, he simply looked down shaking his head and then continued the meal.
Walking up to the door i pushed it open and felt the fresh air-
"This smells disgusting"
The streets were completely filled with people but unlike the 1st floor it looked more. Crude. People didn't have many stands as most simply put their wares on big cloths and sat on the ground shouting to passerbys. People here were all wearing some kind of protection, some leather armor, some padded and from time to time a heavily armored person would stand out with massive plated set walking with heavy thuds. It reeks.
Why is it that the section one that previously was a fresh foredt full of greenery and light fresh air turned into this dirty corner? Well that's because the people made it so! Or atleast partly. The sections were split into different floors that had slight changes turning into the very next section, terra Flux change was small when going down from floor to floor earning them the name. Sections on the other hand have immense changes in the amounts making the people have a need for staying on higher floors longer.
If someone had innate tolerance to terra flux then the time would be shortened but the strenght wouldn't increase faster as they havent absorbed enough of it.
I looked down at myself, wearing simple patient clothes before turning back inside into the infirmary.
I need some clothes. Although i was flat broke, my possesions should still be somewhere, they wouldn't just leave everything behind after dozens of people were robbed of their equipment.
That was also a great time for me to rest from the injuries and the pain which came from the sword. Well, its not like im cut right now or anything. Brushing off the bad feelings i had about my condition i went straight toward the nurse who was currently explaining the situation for the other awake patient.
I came up from behind her, poking at her shoulder with my index finger. "Hey miss, can i get my equipment back?"
She stopped from explaining to the other patient as she turned around to me and pointed at the man in the distance behind a desk, he seemed like one of the mercenaries wearing some armored boots and gloves but also normal clothes.
"Thank you." Nodding toward her i walked over to the man.
"Good morning" i greeted him in polite tone which seemed to slightly piss him off.
"What do want punk?" He sat up straight leaning over to me.
"I came here for my equipment." Stating my purpose the mercenary seemed suspicious but didn't press the matter further as he simply leaned back instantly.
"Just tell me what you had and il check the storage." He answered in somewhat impolite tone but i didn't care as i explained what kind of sword i had and clothes.
"Wait a sec." Standing up he went into the room behind him, i could hear some sounds of metal scraping against each other making my skin crawl slightly.
He came back holding a big longsword and a set of completely different clothes than the one i described.
"The clothes and weapons were sold so we just give whatever they had becore losing it."
He gave me a brief rundown on how this think worked.
I couldn't quite understand why people even did that but the sword was just like before with the exception of some uneven edges and overall in an unkept condition.
Going toward the closest bathroom to change into my newly acquires clothes.
Looking into the mirror i couldn't help but stare at myself for a while longer, my prosthetic arm looked extremely weak, but it was also. Weak. What, did you expect some power? Well tough luck to be in in the lowest grade or none at all.
Rubbing my tired eye alongside the big bandage that covered my face, i walked out of the bathroom with a plan in mind.