72 Limb Upgrade (2/2)
”You're joking, right?” He scoffed. ”Why would you even need so much mutant flesh? It's not even very valuable. Why waste our time?”
”I naturally have my uses for it.” Ed replied. ”Just do it. You can leave now.”
”Fine, fine.” He waved. ”I'm going back to the pub.” A portal appeared, and he happily walked into it while twirling his cane.
Ed stared at the sun setting against the sparkling waves, the sound of the ocean reverberating within his ears. He glanced back at the crocodile, a tired look in his eyes. 'I'll get started tomorrow. I haven't slept on a real bed in weeks.'
He walked towards the abandoned shack from before. His mana snaked out and began melting the dust, collecting it into a disgustingly large dust-ball that he tossed outside. The shop was full of old merchandise, most of it already being damaged beyond repair. There was a basket full of ordinary shark teeth, likely from before the mana apocalypse. Everything else was basically unrecognizable from the deterioration.
He walked through a door in the back of the shop, entering another dark room full of dust. He held up his hand and a soft white glow appeared as he utilized the light mana-battery. 'The hell?!' He had been expecting to see a storeroom, but instead it was a tiny bedroom with a cot that was completely torn to pieces. However, that was not the surprising thing. What was surprising, was the pile of eggs in the corner. Each egg was the size of four human fists put together. The eggshells were a mix of various colors, corresponding to the seven elements. However, most of the eggshells were already broken. Only one egg was still in pristine condition. It was colored a mix of red and blue, the two colors bleeding into each other in a swirl pattern.
'I wonder what laid it?' He picked up the egg in his hand and weighed it, surprised at how heavy it was. 'For an egg of this size to be in this shack... The mutant would be too big. It must have been carried in by somebody.' He knelt down and examined the broken eggshells. They were brittle with age, seeming to have been there a very long time. 'Maybe someone used to live on this island and brought the eggs inside? Then this egg never hatched? Which means this egg likely won't ever hatch?'
Tired and not particularly caring, he set the egg back down on the ground. He melted the dust out of the room just like he had done for the previous one. Then he melted the cot to fix it and laid down to rest. His thoughts faded as he quickly drifted off to sleep.
Several hours later.
'Itchy.' Ed lazily scratched his chest with his right hand, making the itch go away. A brief moment later, the itch returned again. He scratched his chest and swatted something away, presuming it to be a large bug. Such a thing wasn't worth waking up for. Espers had incredible life-force. Unless the bug was a mutant from Australia with particularly deadly poison, it was unlikely to affect his health at all.
The itch returned once again. Subconsciously, he reached to scratch it again, still mostly asleep. Suddenly, he felt a pinch against his fingers. A slightly moist feeling covering them. His eyes lazily flickered open. Light appeared in his other hand, casting a bright light on the intruder within the darkness.
A vertical pupil, half-red and half-blue, stared at Ed. A baby crocodile the size of two human fists was biting his fingers. Its scales were completely red, glistening like blood as the light shined upon them.
'A baby croc?' Ed wondered as he grabbed it with his right hand, lifting it closer to his face.
”Grr!” The baby crocodile growled, seemingly discontent with being picked up. A small wisp of flame appeared in its mouth and shot toward him.
Ed calmly used mana to wipe out the flames as he stared curiously at the creature. 'Is it related to the big crocodile I killed?' He set the crocodile down on the ground next to the cot. It wasn't capable of hurting him even if it wanted too. Slowly, he began to drift back off to sleep.
Morning. Ed groggily rubbed his eyes as he woke up. He pushed his body up off the cot, feeling something roll down his chest in the process. He rose an eyebrow in confusion as he looked down. The baby crocodile had fallen into his lap. 'This thing isn't going to live long.' He sighed while shaking his head. 'No self-preservation instincts,' He ignored the sleeping crocodile and got out of bed, heading outside of the shack.
The giant crocodile corpse still lied untouched. It was likely that other mutants were afraid to even come near it. He began using his mana to push the crocodile's original mana out of the corpse, melting the flesh in the process. He formed it into condensed backpacks that would be easy for World Walker to carry and transport. Each backpack represented a future mana-infused soldier if his experiments went as planned.
Several hours later. Ed had completely exhausted his mana. Sweat poured down his body as it trembled. His breathing was heavy. 'Heh, I don't even remember the last time I experienced mana-exhaustion. Probably not since before I started cultivating.' He turned around and was surprised to see the baby crocodile staring silently at him.
Seeing that the esper was done with his work, the crocodile swiftly scuttled forward. It bit right into the flesh of the giant croc, seeming to delight in the bountiful meal full of mana.
”Oy, that's probably your sibling or mother or something, you know?” Ed couldn't help but say aloud.
The croc glanced at him before returning to its meal, seemingly intent on ignoring him.
'Whatever.' He shrugged as he walked away. He found some old fishing rods outside the shack and fixed one up with his powers. He walked towards a small hill that made for an ideal fishing spot and created a small platform with his mana. He attached a small piece of crocodile flesh to the fishing hook. The fishing line flew out as he flicked the fishing pole. Then he placed it within the platform to hold it in place. He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes in meditation.
Nearly an hour later, he felt something tugging on the fishing line. His eyes shot open as he grabbed the pole and began to reel in the catch, a slight smile on his face. 'I need to relax like this more often. My father used to love taking me fishing as a kid.' He reeled the fishing line in, being careful not to break the pole with his incredible strength. Ripples appeared on the water as the hooked fish was brought closer and closer to shore. He yanked the pole backwards, causing the hooked fish to fly into the air.
The fish flew forward in a blueish blur, landing right next to Ed. It was the same baby crocodile as before, except that its skin had changed color from red to blue. It happily gnawed on the fish bait.
Ed stared at the crocodile speechlessly. 'I spare a mutant for once and now I can't get rid of the damn thing?!'