Gaze in the Darkness

"Schlick!"

Hopp's well-maintained hand axe sank cleanly into a giant lizard's skull. Sticky red and pink matter sprayed from the wound, staining the surrounding water red.

The scent of blood roused the wild instincts of the nearby giant lizards. Instead of fleeing, they lunged at Hopp.

At such close range, how could Karl dare to fire another bolt?

He released his psychic energy. A wordless Mage Hand thrust outward, catching a giant lizard mid-leap and dragging it closer to Karl's position, throwing off its trajectory so it missed Hopp entirely.

These bulky brutes were formidable in strength. If one tackled him, even a professional like Hopp would struggle to break free.

Holding the Bag of Holding in one hand, Karl chanted a spell rapidly.

The giant lizard he'd redirected turned and charged straight at him.

Without pausing his incantation, Karl raised his Repeating Crossbow and loosed a bolt into the charging lizard's skull.

The two-hundred-pound body crashed to the ground. Karl stowed the crossbow and began chanting anew.

As the spell neared completion, Karl's voice rose in pitch.

This was his signal to Hopp that he was about to release the magic.

Just then, Hopp finished her berserker frenzy, her body slightly drained. Noticing the cue, she dove aside and retrieved the two hand axes she'd thrown earlier.

[Tasha's Acid Arrow]

Finally, Karl's spell completed. A line of acid, thirty feet long and five feet wide, shot forth from him, sweeping forward.

Every giant lizard within the line was drenched in the corrosive substance.

Their scales and skin began to dissolve rapidly, but the acid was quickly washed away by the rain and surface water.

The damage wasn't lethal—it didn't even seriously harm the lizards.

Yet under the nearly minute-long spray of acid, the lizards' claws and scales softened, weakened by the diluted solution.

Karl raised his Repeating Crossbow again, watching the lizards thrash in the water. Without mercy, he wound the string and pulled the trigger.

Bolt after bolt of conjured magic pierced the lizards' bodies. In the end, all seven giant lizards fell dead on the spot.

"Let's keep the lizard hides this time. With a bit of tanning, we can make two more sets of clothes."

Giant lizard hide was similar to crocodile leather. If handled properly, it would be more than enough for clothing.

Karl had watched plenty of educational videos in his past life and knew a thing or two about ancient tanning methods.

"As expected of an Arcanix student. You know so much."

Hopp looked at Karl with undisguised admiration, her eyes flickering with an unreadable light, as if lost in thought.

"Knowing a lot isn't as good as doing a lot. Practice is the only standard for testing truth."

Karl pulled a prepared basket from the Bag of Holding, hung it nearby, and took a hand axe from Hopp to begin cutting.

Because they had to preserve the lizard hides, their pace slowed considerably.

Fortunately, they were under the cap of a giant mushroom. Though they got rained on occasionally, most of the time they could work in relative shelter.

They also packed up the lizard bones to take back. Karl planned to try making Bone China once he advanced to Level 3.

Eating roasted meat every day got old.

"If only you could make a few more Bags of Holding," Hopp grumbled, carrying a basket full of meat and bones as she trudged through the rushing water.

"I'd like to, but the craftsmanship is too complex. I can't make them yet."

Karl, also carrying a basket of meat and bones, followed behind Hopp, swaying unsteadily from time to time.

The bones alone weighed over a hundred pounds. Even Hopp couldn't carry them over long distances.

Sweat mixed with rain dripped down their bodies. They walked and rested, eventually making it back beneath the Petrified Mushroom.

Hopp tied the basket to the Rope of Climbing, grabbed the rope's end, and climbed back up to the cap first.

Thankfully, the rope could bear over a ton of weight. Otherwise, they'd have to shuttle back and forth with the Bag of Holding.

Even so, the mechanism Karl had designed struggled to operate smoothly.

It took nearly three times as long as usual to haul Hopp and the two baskets up.

This made Karl reconsider optimizing the mechanism.

Soon, another Rope of Climbing descended from above. Karl waited a moment, then grabbed the rope and ascended.

'Maybe I could use a pulley system next time, or even install a cable car. But that would mean carving out this notch...'

Shaking off the rainwater, Karl stepped into the hut and shivered.

He infused the stone slab with a bit more anima, then snuffed out the glowing rivets. Skillfully, he stripped off his clothes and set them on the slab to dry.

But halfway through undressing, Karl froze.

Because in his vision, the world was still "bright."

He could clearly see the grain of the wooden planks beside him, as if there were still a light source in the room.

But that should be impossible—Karl hadn't yet cut any window openings into the house; the only light in the living room came from the faint glow seeping through the doorway.

With his former eyesight, he absolutely wouldn't have been able to see clearly.

Lost in thought, Hopp had already stripped off her clothes with practiced ease and walked over.

Crystalline droplets slid one by one down her fiery-red skin, her body trembling with each step, dizzying to behold.

The impact of this scene was far too much for Karl. To keep himself from conjuring too many improper thoughts, he hurriedly shut his eyes in fright.

But though his eyes were closed, his hands didn't stop moving.

Soon, his soaked clothes were peeled off, wrung dry, and draped over the stone slab.

Without meaning to, Karl cracked his eyes open for a split second and caught a glimpse of Hopp in his peripheral vision.

The girl was staring straight at Karl's lower body, her already fiery skin now flushed even brighter.

Focusing his attention, a faint wisp of spiritual energy radiated outward from Karl.

Then, an emotion—shyness mixed with curiosity—was captured and brought back by that spiritual energy.

'Could she see me clearly too? Darkvision can reach this level? Isn't that basically built-in infrared vision? No—infrared is only black and white; Darkvision still shows color in dim light.'

His body stiff, Karl sat down beside the stone slab with his eyes closed, his mood complicated.

He was about to enter the Dream World to check his status when Hopp leaned in. Her cool fingers traced across Karl's back, making him—already stirred up—even more "stirred."

Karl's eyes snapped open, and he stared at the stone slab as he asked, "What are you doing?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Hopp seemed startled by Karl's "intense" reaction; her expression turned flustered.

She tried hard not to look at him, but her gaze kept lingering on Karl's body again and again.

After a long pause, she finally spoke: "It looks like you're hurt on your back... right here..."

As she said this, Hopp pressed her palm against the spot where Karl had occasionally felt pain.

There, a twisted pattern had bulged up from Karl's skin.