My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 246: Fruit Of Desire

The nightmare slowly let its grasp of over Kace go, allowing him to return to reality as the first rays of sunlight spread throughout his room. 'Well, this could get awkward.' Kace thought as he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. 'She obviously didn't want me to know that she did that, but' Kace considered what he should do.

Should he let her keep her modesty and not bring it up? As far as she knew, he had not seen her naked. However, if he tells her about it, then their relationship might end up ruined. However, at least he would have been honest with her. 'I never was any good with girls.' Kace sighed. There was just too much at stake, either way, he looked at it.

'Maybe I'm overthinking it.' In the end, he decided to just wait it out and see how he felt about it when he actually saw her again. Until then, there was no point in fretting over it. 'Hopefully, Elderbeard gets here soon so we can go over the details of my class.' Kace was feeling rather power-hungry right now. 

Having just survived a near-death experience and gained more power from it, he was no eager to further top up his abilities. His mind wandered to Zornok. The hero, who when he was in the other world, somehow managed to seal off every ability and skill that he owned. 'At some point, I'll have to look into a way to counter that.'

To be honest, Kace was worried about being forced into a fight without all of his little tricks to help him out. For one thing, just because his abilities were sealed, that did not mean that the heroes were. If they could still use their devastating powers in Zornok's presence than all the stats in the world probably would not help him much.

While Kace contemplated his plans for the future, and more specifically the path he had to tread to power, he practised using his phantom head. Since he had nothing else to do until Elderbeard appeared, he could fully focus on at least partially mastering it. After all, once he was done here, then he would have to catch up to Sophia.

'I wonder if she's already arrived in the North?' Kace felt a little guilty and ashamed for some reason when he thought about her. 'Is it because I failed to accompany her? Or is it because of Lilly?' This was another thing that perplexing him. Why did he feel like he had cheated on her when they were not even together? 

Somehow, he felt like a storm was brewing on the horizon. He was not going to lie to himself, he was a little scared of how she might react when she found out about the time he spent with Lilly. Of course, he was sure that he could handle her in a fight now. However, there was a primal fear of dealing with an angry woman plaguing his mind.

As he was lost in his thoughts, his Hydra head warned him about the approach of Elderbeard. Kace smiled as he thought about the fact that its reaction was almost autonomous. He had not put any real thought into controlling it this time. 'It's still a ways off of being second nature, but its potential is already beginning to show itself.'

Kace imagined what it would be like when he fully upgraded the skill. 'If I'm right I'll gain an extra head at each level of the skill, up to a maximum of eight. Plus my own will make nine. There will be absolutely zero blind spots for me at that time.' Kace flashed a vicious grin as he thought about it. He could just imagine making seemingly impossible blocks and dodges. Totally catching his opponents by surprise.

It was at that moment that Elderbeard finally showed himself. The ancient Treant took his time to study Kace. He was obviously concerned about his rate of recovery first and foremost. Kace had to admit that he had been made to feel exceptionally welcome during his stay here. He was almost reluctant to go through with this last phase and end his time here.

"You've healed up well. You're quite resilient, aren't you?" Elderbeard chuckled.

"You know how it is. What doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger." 

"Hm, I've never heard that before. Is that an orc saying?"

"No." Kace half-laughed while waving a hand in the air. "I'm actually not sure where it's from."

Kace did not want to admit that it was a human saying. That would be the height of stupidity when faced with an ancient creature that hated them as much as Elderbeard did. Kace could feel the muscles in his face cramping as he forced a smile to stay in place. He was hoping that the Treant would not notice that something was amiss. 

"Hm, well maybe you should tell it to them? I'm fairly certain that they would be happy to receive such knowledge. However, they would probably twist its intended purpose into something more literal." Elderbeard let loose with another deep laugh that caused slight vibrations within Kace's room.

"I'll be sure to do that once I'm out of here."

"Ah, yes. Speaking of which. Here, this is for you." One of Elderbeard's branches reached inside the room to hover over the top of Kace. At the end of the branch was a pear-shaped fruit, its skin was a lush orange colour like a sunset.

"And what's this?" Kace could barely contain his curiosity as he stared at the strange fruit. It tickled his nose with an overly sweet scent.

"Well, it's what you asked for. This is the fruit that will let you change class."

Kace's eyes went wide for a moment as he stared at the fruit just within his reach. He thought it sounded ludicrous. 'A fruit can really make that happen? I thought it would be something life-threatening or more difficult to obtain.' Kace gave the fruit a dubious look after he thought about it.

"There's no need to be shy! I didn't grow this myself, you know! I'm far too old for it now. You should have seen the effort Lilly went to just to find someone willing to grow it for you." Elderbeard laughed when he saw the shocked look on Kace's face. Obviously, he had not been expecting Lilly to go to such lengths for him.

"She really didn't have to!" Kace blabbered as he gently took the offered fruit. " I never asked her to do anything like this!"

"Ah, my boy. This is what they call a woman's affection. If they really like or care about someone, well, they'll do anything to make that person happy. Even if that person isn't exactly aware of what it is, they need to be happy. You can be sure that they will have already figured it out."

Kace felt touched as he rolled the fruit around in his hands. It was a lot heavier than it looked. Not only that, but its skin was rough even though it looked smooth and without imperfections. Kace's stomach was yelling at him to devour this natural treasure right away!

"Now, Kace. Be warned. This fruit is a technique of my race. It took many centuries experiencing trials and errors to come up with it. It was obviously designed with our own species in mind, so I'm not sure what effect it will have on you." Elderbeard explained slowly while keeping a critical eye on him.

"Are you saying that there could be some bad side effects if I eat this thing?" Kace was feeling a little apprehensive about his own instincts to eat it now."

"No! Nothing like that. Just don't get your hopes up for overly powerful choices. If I had to guess I would assume it will have a diluted effect on the classes offered. Since I'm certain, you don't qualify for the better ones of my own race."

Kace nodded his head in understanding. 'That makes sense. It's been grown to accommodate their own search for power, which will be a completely different path from my own. It's no wonder that he's telling me not to get my hopes up. However, anything that's better suited for me can only be a good thing in the end.'

"How will I know what class would be a good match for me? Before you were confident that the Hexblade was a poor choice." Kace asked the Treant, hoping to gain some advice for when he had to make his own choice.

"Ah, no need to worry there. I'll wait right here and advise you if you want. Hopefully that way you won't go astray again so early in your life." Elderbeard gave him a sympathetic look. As if he had some kind of disease and that the fruit could be a cure or burden him with a different one.

"Thank you. Your advice would be most appreciated." Kace gently bowed his head, grateful for the wisdom that would be on offer right at his fingertips.

He turned his greedy looking eyes back on the innocent fruit. If it were a woman, then he would be getting accused of undressing her with his eyes. Which was a fair enough comparison in this situation. Especially since he was eager to discover the secrets that the fruit held beneath its skin. Kace took a deep breath to calm himself. 'Let's do this!' He eagerly bit into the fruit. Its warm, sweet juice flowed down from his mouth to his chin.

[System Notification: Class Change Liberation In Progress]