7 The Surface

[Hand of The Souls]

All of a sudden, a blue orb appeared in my chest, and from it, nerves, muscles, tendons, and skin erupted from the center.

They coated my skeleton, recreating my body to the image that my soul had plastered inside my head.

There were a few tweaks, such as getting rid of some of my blemishes and making me just a bit taller, but once the process had finished, I looked down at my naked body and nodded with approval.

"Pretty good," I muttered while squeezing my hand as tight as I could.

But, seeing as how I had no clothes, I quickly conjured a shirt and pants before exiting the dungeon, swiftly and discreetly following the naive adventurers.

They quickly led the way to the exit of this cave, and after making sure I didn't burn in the sun, I quickly stepped outside and felt the warm sun graze my face.

In front of me was a long prairie with the wind blowing peacefully and the clouds above almost parting for my greeting.

With each step I took, I felt the prickly grass graze my feet, and my pale white skin, which had been even further accentuated after dying, absorbed the nutritious vitamin C.

My long black hair ruffled with the wind, forcing me to move it out of the way as I attempted to look at the beautiful sigh just a bit longer.

"Seems they're going this way," I muttered before turning to a small dirt road that led to the entrance of this cave.

It was rocky and definitely unattended, so I quickly conjured some sneakers around my feet after placing my hand on my chest and allowing a small blue orb to glow even brighter.

With this new skill, I was able to do pretty much anything with my body as long as it was touching me, meaning I could turn myself into a complete stranger, acquire as many different clothes as I wanted, or even conjure some intimidating armor.

The armor might look big, scary, and strong, but in reality, it will probably just be as soft and brittle as the clothes wrapping my body.

I was nowhere near as strong as I used to be, and these skills couldn't make up for the difference in an experienced adventurer… so I needed a good source of XP.

"I could… just kill these humans," I muttered as I felt no remorse toward practically everybody and everything.

I might have flesh, but my organs are still nonexistent, meaning my heart and brain, which would help create such emotions, wasn't present.

So, just as I began to approach the humans at a rapid pace, I suddenly felt twenty humans hiding in plain sight.

They were clearly using [Stealth], and unbeknownst to the humans I was trailing, they were the targets of such assassins.

Upon getting close enough, each assassin slashed their daggers at the vital points of this trio, but it seemed they had actually been letting them get closer so they could destroy each of them at a moment's notice.

The bloodbath was completely one-sided, with the trio slashing and hacking at all of the assassins, leaving everybody alive for some strange reason.

[Darkness Manipulation]

I finished them off by using the shadows of the trees that arched over the dirt road, absorbing all of their XP, some of it even spilling into my next evolution.

[You have hit the level cap]

[Evolution Available]

[Extra XP will be granted upon evolution]

"Wait, can I even evolve? I should be able to, right? I mean, I'm a monster, so it should be plausible…."

But, before I could do anything more, the trio noticed me, who was hiding behind a tree, silencing my presence by eradicating my breath.

"Identify yourself," The swordsman, who was obviously the leader, demanded.

"Forgive me. I was lost in the forest and noticed you all, so I wanted to track you back to civilization," I replied, slowly revealing myself from behind the tree.

Seems I underestimated them… I can't beat them in a fight… but it's not like I need them for XP anyway.

"We aren't the best people for you to travel with. We're currently wanted in most places," The leader replied.

"That's fine. We don't have to associate with each other once we arrive," I muttered before walking next to them.

We both scanned each other like we were attempting to sense each other's level and intimidation factor.

"Well, you do you," He shrugged, and I followed him all the way to the nearest city: Vralo, the capital of magic.

Seems I'm still on earth, at least… that's reassuring, but I should check the date on my own otherwise, these people might get suspicious.

As soon as we arrived at the gate, the adventurers offered to sneak me in since it was obvious I didn't have any form of identification, and seeing how there was no downside, I took them up on their offer.

We circled around the line and got to the city wall, completely out of sight from any of the guards who stood there lazily, slowly allowing people in and denying entry to anybody suspicious.

The leader of this trio slowly opened up a hatch towards the very bottom of this wall that was camouflaged perfectly against the stone wall.

It was nearly undetectable by any normal person.

We slowly opened it up and crawled through it until we reached the end of the wall… but it seemed a trap had been set up.

These people were more wanted than I thought, as their secret entrance had been compromised by law enforcement, and seeing how they all had black suits on and had that insignia of a snake stitched onto them, it was obvious they were from the government.

The trio attempted to fight back, creating massive explosions that ripped apart the wooden tavern we were in, allowing the perfect chance for me to escape.

I quickly changed into that of a little kid crossing the street and ran away as fast as I could, taking shelter in an alleyway far from the chaos.

"I hope we meet again someday,"