Chapter 254: Do You Have More Of These?
Jim's body was thrown in the air by his jump much higher than he initially thought. For him he felt like there was no gravity to hold him back, no boundary to limit his freedom.
Like a bird who spread its wings and soared to the sky, he was feeling the same kind of supremacy and invincibility right there, even for brief moments.
Then he bypassed the entire waves with ease before his body was drawn once again like a kite tied with a long invisible thread to the ground.
"Do not call me dumb again old man!" the moment he stood on the ground like he never fell a great distance down here he said in a warning tone.
"You need to stop questioning me and follow my lead."
"I don't trust you."
"You gotta be kidding, right?"
"I don't know you!"
"And here you say my name without telling... pretty much for not knowing me," the old man said before adding, "raise your head sweet boy, the waves are turning back."
Jim looked towards the direction of the waves to see something he never imagined to be true.
The gigantic waves that were moving at such a fast speed turned all around. They simply changed direction as if they passed through a reflective mirror and headed towards him.
Or he was the one to swap places to appear in their way once more.
"What now?" he anxiously asked.
"Didn't you learn anything from dealing with that kid? Hector?" The tone of the old man showed his discontent, "I hope when you get your memory back to show off more courage and calmness against any threat like that kid."
"What should I do now?" Jim ignored his words and demanded instructions.
"The same old game," the old man simply said, "you jump, evade whatever comes your way until that seed gets weakened and you restore enough of your soul."
"Then what?"
"Just jump!"
Jim did the same without question and managed to evade the gigantic assault of these waves.
"I'll never get tired of this," he laughed while landing safely and soundly. "How come I jump this high and land in such peace? Sh*t! They are turning back again!"
Before he could even get an answer from the old man the waves turned around fast enough to make him uneasy. "They are trying to corner me," he noticed this time the waves didn't march for a distance like before.
That left him a narrow window to maneuver.
"Yet the entire world around is spacious enough to buy yourself time," the old man simply said and he got what he meant by that.
"Good point," this time he didn't jump simply high in the air, but he aimed towards a direction.
Then when he landed he found that the waves were miles away from him. "They will need time to catch up," he cheerfully said.
"Don't count on that," the old man wasn't feeling the same as him, "they can travel fast."
"And I can jump faster."
The next moment Jim didn't even stand still and wait for them to catch up to him. He started jumping around. And that helped in expanding the distance between him and those waves.
"Shriek!"
"It's pissed off," Jim laughed before watching a new series of waves getting formed.
"That's much better," the old man said.
"Trying to tell me that was a bad move?"
"No, this way the seed will deplete its energy faster."
"Sounds like music in my ears," Jim started to jump towards a different direction from the two series of waves hunting them down.
"First you'll need to combine them together," the old man advised.
"And miss all the fun? Don't tell me I was that gloomy person before!"
"I bet you were."
"Damn!" Jim was in a very good mood, "I dunno about you old man, but I'm having much fun here."
"Enjoy it as long as it lasts then."
Jim kept jumping around while that seed didn't let him have his moments of fun without trying to get him. After five more shrieks and five extra waves, plus spending an hour playing around, the seed finally started to run low on energy.
"Blop!"
Like a water bubble bursting from consuming too much time in the open air, the waves started to burst one after another.
"'The seed is getting weaker," the old man said, "soon you won't have any threat at all."
"I hoped to say I'm glad it ended, but frankly I feel slight regret here."
"Don't be greedy," the old man chuckled, "you had your fun already."
"Barely enough," Jim muttered while watching more waves vanish, "barely enough old man."
"Hmm... Don't worry then, when you get outside you will have a lot of fun."
"Those old dudes don't look any fun to me," Jim said referring to the masters he saw before coming here.
"They aren't fun indeed," the old man agreed, "but you had something you planned to do once exiting the expedition."
"Is it amusing?" Jim asked.
"Very," the old man briefly said before the last wave vanished. "Now all you have is to stand still and wait until all the soul space becomes yours again."
Jim landed and glanced around. The entire world seemed to enter a weird stage of tranquility.
"This... looks annoyingly peaceful," Jim couldn't help but comment when he stood there for long minutes without doing anything else.
"I really miss the old you," the old man sighed, "you were much better than this new personality."
"But I like it," Jim sneered, "I wish to keep it."
"You are the master of your own fate," the old man simply said, "you can decide to keep or discard this, but I suggest you forget this."
"I'm having fun," Jim grinned, "who would hate fun?"
"It's hopeless," the old man sighed again, "'I hope your old self will return faster."
"I wish more fun things would happen here before that happens," Jim shrugged, "I don't mind sweating every now and then."
"..."
The old man decided to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the hours remaining here. As for Jim, he kept talking about anything and everything while putting the word fun in the middle of it all.
"Finally it's over," the old man said it as if he was relieved of a torture.
"Sigh, it was fun as long as it lasted," Jim shook his head, "now what?"
"You wait," the old man said while Jim glanced all over the world he was in. Now instead of that gloomy dark fog that previously filled the soul space, golden fog was filling every speck of it.
"What's that?"' Jim pointed to a certain spot where dark fog still persisted there. It was also where his umbilical thread was connecting his soul with the seed ended.
"It's the seed," the old man slowly said in some surprise, "it seems it wasn't totally purified with what you did so far."
"How can this be?" Jim slowly asked, "I can recall most of my memories now, and I know this spell won't end until that seed is depleted."
"I... dunno about this," the old man frankly said but the next moment Jim felt a strong and violent tremor all over the world.
"What's happening?" he asked, "talk to me old man."
Yet the next moment he felt a strong force compelling him and forced him to move far and travel beyond the limitations of this world.
The next moment he opened his eyes, glanced around while seeing the two masters nearby speaking in depth about something he didn't understand.
"How is the soul going to heal with such an amount of poison inside?" Mark kept asking and Igory kept repeating the same answer over and over again.
"I don't know."
"You are the one to start all this," Mark was losing his calm, "it has been hours since you injected him with all these poisons. He should be awakened by now and he isn't!"contemporary romance
"I told you," Igory shook his head, "doing this theoretically is fine and safe. However how the hell should I know anything that I never practically tested before?"
"You shouldn't have used such a theory over him in the first place," Mark shouted while Igory shrugged.
"I offered a solution and he took it," he said, "or don't tell me you have an alternative and didn't say it."
"Humph, I swear I won't let this go by without punishment."
"As if I care."
"Hi!"
Jim's sudden voice made the two masters glanced instantly at him with a mere shocked expression over their faces for a second there.
Then the two jumped over and kept asking questions like rain in the middle of the winter.
"What are you feeling now?"
"Did it succeed?"
"Did you regain your power back?"
"Your memories... Are they back?"
"Can you move around?"
"What happened?"
All of these questions and more hammered down Jim's head without pause until he raised his hand to stop them.
"Can you just... Chill it out?" he weakly said, "I'm feeling... terrible at the moment."
He glanced around and found himself bound to the seat he was sitting on. "Can you set me loose now? I'm fine, and it succeeded, that's all I can say for now."
"S- Sure," Mark moved and the bonds holding him to the seat were cut clean by the simple wave of his hand. "Can you walk now?" he asked.
"I'll see that," Jim slowly said before stepping off the seat. The moment his weak legs touched the ground they couldn't hold his body. He felt his body turning into the weight of a mountain, or his legs were so soft to carry his low weight.
He couldn't stand straight without leaning over the two masters who helped him not to fall. "Easy now," Igory said, "you just got off a terrible experience."
"Tell me about it," Jim said in a mocking tone before glancing at the seat, "I believe I should rest at the seat for now."
"Yeah," Mark nodded, "sounds like a good idea."
And the two helped him back to his seat then Igory took out another ore. "Take it," he said, "It should help you regenerate your energy if you still can."
"Thanks," Jim took the ore and the next moment the entire ore that was as big as Igory's big body shone brightly in golden light before turning to ash.
"Amazing!" Igory simply said with wide eyes, "this means your energy got upgraded by much."
"I hope this is a good thing," Jim smiled, "do you have more of these?"
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