Chapter 18: Testing The New Gear
I woke up the next morning feeling like I had just spent the past 3 days awake.
Apparently going to sleep while highly stressed does not allow for good rest. Who would've thought?
Not me.
'God, I feel like I never went to sleep. This sucks.'
While I wished that I could go to sleep, my body felt otherwise since I felt like I could run a marathon.
Too bad my mind felt like a ball of putty.
I stumbled out of my room only to see Jacob, who seemed to be in a much better state than I was.
I decided to ask him how he was able to look like nothing had changed.
"How do you look like this isn't affecting you in the slightest?"
Jacob looked at me and replied with a frown on his face.
"I am part of an organization that knows more about the world than anybody else. You learn to accept mortal danger as a fact of life, which I can assure it is."
"I do not like that reasoning, but I can see no falsities in that statement, which means I can only hate that it is true."
"You're starting to pick up the mindset of the average guide, which I do not know whether to like or dislike."
"I am too tired for this, can we talk about this later?"
"I can see that you need some time to fully wake up, so we will definitely talk later."
"Great."
Ending that conversation with that one word, I proceeded to turn around and walk away.
I felt that the forest was a good place to wake up my mind, and definitely not a place for me to play around to escape reality for a bit.
Absolutely not.
---
It only took me an hour to wake up enough to start flying around the forest using my hooks, since I had learned that I could cancel my hooks mid pull.
It was interesting to watch a slimy chain start to fade into particles until I realized that I was about to collide with a tree.
thankfully I had several hooks to use, so I used one o my hooks to pull me to another tree.
It did not help my situation since I was flying at another tree now.
I decided to upgrade the challenge and tried to use two hooks instead of one, which ended up with me getting dragged across the ground face first.
I had missed the trees and hit the ground and the forward pull had launched my upper half towards the ground.
'Note to self: try for better aim, since dirt does not taste good.'
After getting up and spitting several blades of grass out of my mouth, I decided to test out the saddle I got from the bag.
I pulled the saddle out of my bag and placed it on the ground.
I almost forgot to jump on top of the slime, which ended up with me jumping on the saddle while the slime was appearing.
It was not fun.
'I will never do that again, as that was one of the most painful experiences I have ever felt.'
I decided to wait until I was done cringing in pain before I began moving, which was a very good choice.
once I tried moving forward, the slime jumped at least two feet into the air. I was expecting the ride to be bumpier but the experience was quite pleasant.
Until I tried to jump.
I was launched at least 30 feet into the air and detached from the saddle. While the slime fell quickly, I was still in the air with nothing to hold on to.
I did not have anything to cushion my landing, unlike the slime, so I had no choice but to take a chance and attempt to use two hooks at once.
It worked out pretty well since I managed to hit two trees, which sent me rocketing towards the forest floor.
Lucky for me the slime was nearby, so I used my hook to grab the saddle and pull me toward my slime mount.
I realized that I was not going to stop, so I decided to use a hook to suspend myself between the slime and a tree.
I had finally managed to stop my descent.
"That was terrifying! and fun! I felt like I was using 3D maneuver gear, and it is awesome!"
And then I realized that I was speaking to nobody.
'I kinda feel embarrassed even though there is nobody here. Still, that was really fun.'
I decided to take a break so that I could rest my overworked mind.
---
An hour later, it started raining.
'It's raining, and that means that I can test my hooks against flying enemies!'
I waited until I saw a flying fish before starting to use my hooks again.
I first tried to throw my hook at the flying fish, which lead to both expected and unexpected results.
We both went flying at each other. Apparently the weight of the object you are grappling matters too, so the flying fish got pulled towards me.
The hook pulling me was a constant, so that won't change. Ever.
I dismissed the hooks since I did not want to know what flying fish tasted like, and proceeded to throw a knife at it, which lead to unexpected results once again.
The knife bisected it cleanly.
'At least it didn't explode this time.'
I was enjoying my newfound aerial freedom a little too much, so I spent the next hour and a half just killing flying fish. And then I saw something interesting.
It was another goldfish.
But it was wearing a tin helmet and wielding a golden dagger.
[Fearless Goldfish Warrior
hp 50/50]
'That is such a weirdly named goldfish.'
I watched as it slowly approached me with no idea as to what it was doing.
And as soon as it got close to me, one of the least expected things happened.
It tried to stab me. Aggressively.
"Oh ok then, have it your way."
I immediately dodged and proceeded to punt the goldfish several meters away.
I did not expect it to just explode on impact. Apparently goldfish do not have a good defense.
"Oh come on! Can't I just have one fight without some sort of explosion?"
I could not.
I also decided that today has been a little too fun, and decided to try and face the problem at hand: The future.
I headed back home, preparing for one of the most important conversations I have had yet.
To be continued...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Cold_Housefire
Cold_Housefire This is going to be the only chapter for today since I woke up a 6 PM.
I have been trying to keep my release schedule to be before 8 PM, but after 7:40, so I am not able to make a second chapter for today. Sorry about that.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone