The Regressed NoBody

Type: Potion

Quantity: 1

Description:

A potent potion which upon consumption can heal injuries—even fatal life threatening injuries can be healed instantly. This potion’s healing attribute allows even lost limbs to be regenerated, and all poisonous effects can be completely nullified upon consumption, despite how fatal the poison maybe.

~~~~

I pondered, increasing my grip over the bottle which contained the crimson liquid inside.

‘Even lost limbs huh?’

If I sold this thing, then it would definitely go for trillions. A potion which could heal even lost limbs was something anyone would definitely desire.

But I stored the potion into the inventory as I heard fast foot steps approaching close to me.

“How long are you going keep poking the empty air in front of you?” Neil asked, arms crossed as he came to a halt just behind me.

I looked above at my companion, who was looking at me with a weird expression over his face, then replied. “Try it yourself, honestly its kinda fun!”

Neil rolled his eyes as he shrugged and sat down near the edge of the crater. I perfectly knew what he was thinking, based on the expression he was making right now. ‘This guy has gone nuts!’

I pushed my body upright, and sat beside my companion.

“Any luck?” I asked, sequentially turning to look at him.

He shook his head once and began to look down at the dissected corpse of the millipede.

After it had died we took our time and reaped the most important parts out. I took the pincers and hard skin of the millipede, which could be sold for a very high price, but Neil hadn’t taken anything.

It seemed like he wasn’t interested in collecting any of the monster’s remains. But I didn’t question him about it either.

“Well, then all we can do now is find a way out ourselves,” I said getting up from the ground and brushing my clean clothes off the dust. My coat was no longer, which had saddened me, it was a good quality coat, and so was my shirt, there were multiple holes in the front of my shirt, and my entire shirt was melted from the back, thanks to that acid.

Same with my pants, but I had a spare change of clothes with me, so I was saved from the embarrassment of being almost naked in my tattered clothes.

“But I haven’t yet went up that tunnel which goes up-hill,” Neil voiced as he also got up from the ground. “It might lead us up to the surface.”

I nodded at him, and soon we left the millipede’s den and traced our foot steps back to where the tunnel began.

I looked at the tunnel which went up-hill, as it went deeper. I took a moment, then entered the tunnel, Neil followed suit.

As we walked deeper into the tunnel, it became more steep as we reached upwards. The tunnel was wide enough to allow us to comfortably walk, but the silence between us was becoming awkward.

“Ehm, Shun,” Neil said breaking the silence, as I turned to look back at him. He looked like he had something to say. “Aren’t you going to ask me anything?” Neil pointed out himself, the thing which I was most curious about, since seeing it back in the millipede’s den.

His display and control of magic was outstanding. As well as the deviant form of mana which he had utilised. It was something I was really intrigued about. And judging from the manipulation and dominance he showed when using mana, I had came to the conclusion that his talent for being a mage was just as excellent as Adam's.

Then how was he able to wield the bow so well? I mean, people can wield other weapons, but they can't draw out their complete talent if not using the weapon which is according to their profession.

But, I wasn’t one to force information out of someone unless they weren’t ready to speak themselves, despite how curios I may become. And of course, the other way around if they were an enemy.

“You didn’t ask me anything about my abilities either,” I gave him a friendly smile, as I continued. “So who am I to ask you about your abilities, and I know that talking about your abilities and strengths is a sensitive topic to speak with a stranger.”

But Neil hurriedly interjected. “No...Shun isn’t a stranger, not anymore!”

“Is that so, then are we friends?” I asked with my face pulled into a wide grin.

Neil gave me a knowing look, as he placidly said with a smile. “Well, I consider you a friend, after you saved me twice.”

I chuckled as I kept climbing. “Then, should I consider myself your knight in white and shining armour, instead."

“Oy,” Neil muttered, with an almost embarrassed face.

“What? Should I carry you like a princess now?” I scoffed, as I firmed my footing, avoiding a big rock in front of me. “But that service is not yet applicable, Princess!”

Neil rolled his eyes, as he snorted. “Yeah, yeah, says the guy whose ass I saved back then.”

“Yeah, then who was the one who was weeping as he held onto my shirt. And what was it you said, “This time I will be the one to protect and help you”,” I ended my word with a deep cartoonish like voice, holding another chuckle back, as I turned my head backward to look at Neil. “That was really cool, Neil. I almost fell for you!" I held up my hand and gave my companion a thumbs up, sequentially shooting him a wink.

“Forget about that,” Neil shouted back, his crisp voice echoing in the cavern tunnel. “I just said that in the heat of the moment.”

“No, can’t,” I said with a shake of my head. “You looked so cool back then, but that wording you used, which cringe book did you read that dialogue out of?”

But Neil bumped me into the shoulder a little too aggressively, hurrying forward leaving me behind.

“Oy Neil, I was just making a joke, a joke,” I said as I followed my companion. “Oy Neil, are you even listening?

***

After climbing for more than half an hour we finally left the underground cave and appeared on the surface.

The mouth of the tunnel opened up to some place deep in the woods but close to the cave through which I had entered.

Then the place where the cure is must be close by. I mused, looking around me.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked Neil, who obviously looked tired now. His hair were a mess and so were in clothes. They had ripped from some places, and looked to be in poor condition.

“I thinking of returning back to my home,” he replied with a tired voice. “I have been away for a long time, so my family might be getting worried by now.”

I nodded, looking back at my friend.

“But, still it had been a while since I had this much fun on an adventure,” Neil said leaning against a lush tree, giving me a weary smile.

“Yeah, almost dying is really fun, don’t you think so, Neil?” I looked at him with my face pulled into a sheepish grin.

Neil inched closer to me and extended his hand forward. I took his hand and grabbed it firmly.

“I hope we meet again in the future, Shun. It was really fun fighting alongside you!” My companion said, his scarlet eyes bright and words strong.

A thin smile crept up my lips as I responded. “Yup, I also had fun, almost having my entire body melt from that acid.”

Neil and I shared one silent nod, then he whipped around and went deeper into the woods, the way which led to the exit.

Afterwards, I was left alone. I inhaled deeply as I stepped forward to the area here where the ingredient for the cure could be founded.

The sun was close to setting, and it almost eight. I needed to hurry back, I had wasted a lot of time, but I had gained a lot despite that.

I levelled up plenty and received a handsome reward after clearing the quest.

Soon enough, I came to a stop in front of an enormous lake deep in the inhabitant dungeon, and in the middle of the lake there was a piece of land, big enough, where multiple trees were growing.

I frowned looking at the water of the lake. I sighed with a tired inclination, then dived into the cold water.

I hurriedly reached the piece of land, standing in the middle of the lake, as the frigid cold bit away at my skin.

I walked closer to the azure coloured tree which grew here. Their size was the same as any normal sized tree, but there colour was different. And snow white petals were growing from the thick lush branches of these trees. The petals of these distinct trees were the ingredient for making the cure for the mana repulsion condition.

A soft breeze swayed the branches, as I jumped up a tree and retrieved an entire branch, and quickly stored it inside the system inventory.

But my eyes drifted across this area, the twilight dusk making the scenery look even more breath-taking, as an orange-red colour blanketed the sky. A soft breeze swayed the tree branches as it blew past.

“Well then, shall I go back!” I slowly said, breathing in the fresh air.

***

Amamiya Akito

“—aster!”

I heard a voice calling out to me. It was distant, almost hollow, but I heard it nonetheless. But it felt like it was pulling me toward itself. That voice reminded me of someone.

“Master!”

I heard that voice again, as I opened my eyes to look around myself. I was standing in a park. There was no one present here. Only the movements from the trees as they were swayed by the cold breeze, and the distant voice which was calling out to me.

Everything around me looked still, as I looked around the entirety of the park, but no one was here, except for me.

“MASTER!!!”

Again, I heard that voice, but this time more strongly and vividly. But it was calling me master for some reason. I didn’t know why. Why did that voice call out to me in such a manner? It was odd!

But deep within my heart, I felt like that voice belonged to someone dear to me. My heartbeat quickened everytime I heard that voice call out to me. I didn’t know why, but my heart felt desperate for that voice to call me that again. I wanted to hear that voice.

“Master!”

But then I turned over my heel, and I saw a child standing at the edge of the park, near the wide gate.

He was wearing a black tunic and a pair of shorts. But his face...his face was blurry. I couldn’t perfectly see his face, as if a veil prevented me not to. But I knew that boy from somewhere, my mind was telling me he was not but a stranger—someone I didn’t know. But my heart...it was making a painful beat, each time I blinked and saw the timid figure of that child. My eyes squinted, as I focused at his face, but my head began to split with a sharp headache.

Who was he? I felt like my heart was in a turmoil with my mind. As if he was someone precious to me. I wanted to know who he was? I wanted to ask why my heart was feeling like this just by seeing this child. I wanted to, but...the emotion of sorrow and pain engulfed me as I continued to gaze at the young child, as a deep melancholy emerged from within me.

But oddly enough, my heart felt at peace even just by gazing at him from afar.

My heart was filled with warmth—so much of it, it felt odd.

Why? I asked myself. Why was this young child making me feel like this? My heart was begging for me to remember something, but my mind kept on betraying me.

“Master, ■■,” That child said something, but I wasn’t able to hear him. As if the words were a blur, silent to my ears.

I pushed a step forward, but my movements were restricted for some reason.

But I pushed harder and moved my body. I fought against that invisible force bounding me.

That child turned way and was slowly walking out of the park.

I began running toward him, but the distance only widened with each step I covered. I wanted to know who he was. Just why was I so desperate to see him?

I felt like my heart could burst at any moment. Desperation bounded my heart, as blurry images began to cross through my mind, like a black and white retro film.

They were constant, fast, blurred and vague.

In those images, that child was there, but his face was still blurry. But even in those blurry images, he was calling out to me. These images in my mind were foreign to me.

Just what was happening to me?

“Master, I am sorry.” The child muttered with a weepy, sorrowful voice, which caused my heart to be pinched and pull. The bottom part of my stomach fell as an image crossed through my mind, in which that same boy, but now much older was clinging onto me, as I weakly laid in his embrace.

He was crying, his cries were agonising. A frown crept up my face, as his cries made my heart to wreck havoc inside me. But I couldn’t make out of those images. They were just too extreme, too vague.

I...

The sorrow and the pain they made me feel, it just felt too vivid, unlike a foggy, uncertain dream.

Why was he apologising? Just why was I feeling like this? What are all these blurry images I was seeing? I questioned myself over and over and over again.

I might have asked myself that same question hundreds of times in the span of a few seconds.

The closer I got to that young boy, the clearer his face, and those images in my head became.

His back was now facing me, as he was just a few steps away from exiting the park. I planted my hand over the child’s shoulder and pulled him back.

My heart was now racing, as if it could jump out of my chest. A torrent of emotion began to swirl inside my heart. He was definitely someone dear to me.

Someone who I had forgotten about. Someone so, so very dear, that I shouldn’t have forgotten, I wanted to remember him...but I just couldn’t come to remember anything about him.

The child weakly turned his head backward, but as I blinked, the young boy from in front of me disappeared, and now a tall looking youth stood in front of me.

Tears were falling down his sharp face, as I saw a deep, heart-wrenching sorrow and dread in his deep obsidian eyes. Which made my heart to twist even more. Shivers began running wildly all around my body, as I gazed into the abyssal like eyes of that youth.

But as I focused on the youth’s figure, he resembled the boy I had previously seen.

Long glossy black hair, dark obsidian eyes, and a sharp face, with a chiselled carved body. He was the boy I had seen who was talking to Takeru.

But why was I seeing him? And why was he crying?

“P-Please, forgive me! Master..."

The youth said, his voice hoarse and desperate.

My heart...it couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted to know who this boy was. I held the youth by both shoulders, as my brows furrowed, then I asked.

“Who...are you?”

“Forgive...me!” But that’s all he said in reply. Just then I felt a hard force pulling me backward.

My grip loosened over the youth, as I shouted.

“Wait a minute, please...wait!”

Wait. I shouted, as desperation lodged in my throat. I was pushed back, and soon he exited the park. I held out an arm to reach for him, but I was pulled back by that invisible force, pulling me towards itself.

I opened my mouth to say something, but just then, another image—but one which felt like a rather distant memory—surfaced in my mind.

The three of us—me, Takeru and that mysterious child from before—were joyfully enjoying a conversation.

The sudden shift of the images and emotions I felt, made my heart to feel like glass. I felt it could shatter.

But... I needed to know!

The torrent of images which were being played in my mind, became more vivid as if I was looking at them through a kaleidoscope—like a wild tempest swirling—but barely decipherable, as I said something which even I was completely unfamiliar with.

“Wait...SHUN!!!”

My eyes fluttered open, as I slowly pushed my body upright.

“What the hell...was that?” I muttered in a whisper, clearing the sweat over my forehead.

But from the side I saw the sliding door to the engawa open, through which the moonlight was coming inside from. There I saw Takeru sitting near the engawa, having a late night drink.

The youth’s long auburn hair were left loose, as he was wearing a crimson kimono.

I pushed the sheet placed over me away and walked closer to the engawa, as I corrected my kimono.

“What’s wrong Aki-san, can’t sleep?” Takeru asked as he snapped his head in my direction, twirling the small sake cup in his fingers.

I inhaled deeply, as I replied. “No, just had something on my mind.”

“That’s weird, for Aki-san to have something on his mind?” Takeru scoffed, taking a sip of the sake. There was a bottle laying on the tray beside him.

But my brows furrowed as I looked solemnly at Takeru. “Takeru, did you...”

“Did I what?” He asked.

“Did you feel something strange about that boy? Anything in particular?” I asked, unsure why I had asked him this. Was it because of that weird dream I had seen just moments ago? I didn’t know.

“You mean...Jiwoo-kun,” Takeru said as I quickly nodded back at him.

“Yeah, him!” I hurriedly muttered, as I snapped my fingers, pointing one at him.

“Well, it did felt like I had met him somewhere before,” Takeru pursed his lips, bringing the cup close to his mouth. The youth looked down at the pale white cup, as he continued with his words warm. “Somehow, I felt really comfortable around him. Like I had know him from somewhere before. Like we shared some kind of bond.”

“But why did you ask, Aki-san?” Takeru asked, turning to look at the bright full moon in the sky. The moonlight was illuminating the surrounding with its enchanting light, as I also lifted my head to look up at the full moon myself.

“Just cause!”

“Shun...huh?” I whispered to myself, just enough for Takeru to not hear me. But as I focused my mind back on those images and that youth, the melancholy in me increased.

But why did I call that kid—Jiwoo—, Shun?