He was weary. Mentally, of course. Neither his soul nor body were easy to tire, nowadays, but stats did not do much to the weight and scarring which decades left in their wake.

  Zerathstra sighed and opened his eyes. The ocean stretched in all directions from his vantage point, and as he extended his senses outward, he found nothing that needed his attention. At least, nothing as bad as that disgusting catfish that had managed to ruin his arm.

  Looking down at the limb in question, he opened and closed his fist a few times, grimacing as some of the muscles tore while black blood seeped into the bandage. He’d regrown the arm at least five or six times by now, but the rot had affected something deeper than just flesh. Still, sooner or later, he’d flush it out. It was just annoying.

  The concept of Rot was a pain to deal with. Some might think the Life Aspect would be effective against it, but in truth, it was much more complicated than that. Trying to blindly reverse Rot with Life could easily end in disaster. After all, Rot itself was alive, in a way. It was just twisting what it affected. Breaking it down and altering it, and a careless use of the Life Aspect could just bolster the process and multiply the dangers ten-fold.

  With a sigh, Zerathstra cut off his blood flow at the shoulder, and with a focused, conscientious flex, he pulled all of the lingering Life essence out of the arm and into his body. The arm withered, and the fur turned pale before a few strands floated down to the floor, but they never got there. After all, ever since he’d come home, he made sure to keep his aura tightly wrapped around the arm, lest the Rot spread to the trees.

  A moment later, he tore the arm out at the shoulder and began the regrowing process while he held the desiccated arm aloft, along with the few strands of hair that had drifted down.

  Now he needed to burn them away, same as the other discarded arms.

  Zerathstra approached the old, vine-engraved chest in which he kept his most valuable items and picked out a simple-looking steel dagger with a red gem encased in its pommel. Trapping the holster under his arm, he drew out the dagger and held it up.

  The dagger of Elivana the Pure, he thought, then his lips stretched into a smile.

  Whenever the historic figure was spoken of in Thalis, she was portrayed as some saint-like clerical personification of calm and grace. Of purity and righteous fire. Which Zerathstra knew for a fact she would absolutely hate. If she was still around.

  She’d been a drunkard and a belligerent brawler. As for purity; the disgusting, beer-soaked tables under which she’d frequently pass out would say otherwise. There was no denying she had the ability to purify, of course, but that was more of a consequence to her main Aspect than a specialty.

  A fire that burns everything she deemed a target. Even wounds and souls.

  Zerathstra had been a little, barely intelligent C-rank when he’d first met her and her companions. Back when the seas and earth were still boiling out monsters and trying to recover from the cataclysm. Back when the idea of creating Thalis and other places like it hadn’t even been thought of yet.

  With slow movement, the ape cut a line across the corrupted arm. Wherever the tip of the blade cut, a white fire violently ignited and spread outwards, engulfing the whole arm until all of the limb was set ablaze. Even his aura was difficult to maintain around the small inferno, but thankfully, a few seconds later, nothing was left aside from a pile of floating dust. Not even the bone.

  Zerathstra exhaled and rolled his head, then turned and set the dagger back in its spot. He refrained from looking at the other trinkets. It was painful enough to see them when he was having a good day.

  How are they all gone while I’m the one still alive?

  He stretched his attention down and took in all the little sparks of life that filled the city. In his mind’s eye, he saw the children, studying and training hard. He saw a group of hunters hunched over a map as they planned their sortie. He watched the merchants, talking and haggling between themselves. He saw the only other non-human currently in his city as she taught a few children how to control the waters in which they were standing.

  The other instructors seemed to have taken a liking to the dolphin, and they even managed to create some sort of two-leveled pool just for her. One shallow part where the children could stand and practice, and one deeper for the dolphin herself.

  Maybe that’d do well for the human-beast relationship, he thought with a sigh. I should have put more effort into stuff like that earlier. Then again, most beasts don’t want to stay around for that long.

  Zerathstra rubbed his forehead and bared his teeth as he sensed the rot begin to settle into his arm once more. Maybe with the next generation he’d make more of an effort. Especially with the few families who remembered who they’d used to be in the old world. Leaving them to their devices while he just busied himself with keeping Thalis safe had been a mistake.

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  Thankfully, the fallout hadn’t been too bad, and Zerathstra really hoped the duel would be enough to calm the kraken down. He didn’t believe Henry was the sort of being that would take his anger out on a city full of innocent people. He really hoped it wouldn’t get to that point. And it wouldn’t have, if he hadn’t been busy fighting off an obnoxious A-rank that tried to enter his territory.

  That stupid catfish…

  Unfortunately, by the time Zerathstra had realized what was happening, it was already too late. He’d been too busy trying to contain the foreign essence in his arm to stop Tevarius' nonsensical attempt.

  The ape shook his head, and his eyes drifted to the wooden chest once more.

  Verunan would have been much better at this sort of thing than me…

  His old leader had been… well, a leader. He was good with people. He was the one who talked to strangers and forced the team to talk to each other when they were being brats. Talks which Zerathstra had probably been the most part of out of everyone. He bet the man would have done a much better job with Thalis, too. After all, he had been the one who’d come up with the idea of having multiple Pillar settlements around the world so the people living them grew stronger.

  Unfortunately, even though Thalis had more B-ranks than any other nation in the world—as far as Zerathstra knew—none but a handful had managed to rise to A-rank, none of whom wanted to take over.

  That damn druid. Leaving me with all this, he thought, looking up at the clear blue sky.

  Verunan had been one of the first who’d braved what’d come after A-rank. Sometimes, Zerathstra wondered if they were still alive somewhere. Suspended in some sort of stasis while the System decided what to do with them.

  The ape rubbed his eyes for a moment and sensed the city under his feet.

  He was tempted. Every day, the thought passed him by, and Zerathstra saw himself going to wherever it was everyone else had gone. Would he see them there?

  The ape sat back down and sighed. He pulled a golden apple out of his pouch, stared at it for a moment, then put it back in storage. He had made an oath to keep Thalis safe, and even though he’d considered it in the past, relocating just felt like a break of that promise.

  I’m just stuck here. Until someone accepts to take over. Someone from here…

  Zerathstra hummed. Maybe it was time to try again. To try to raise one of the humans to his level?

  Ugh.

  No sooner had the thought crossed his mind that he felt the energy leave his body. He’d tried so many times already, and it never worked out.

  Henry, then. I need him to figure out what is happening with the System.

  “[Nothing is happening with me, Zerathstra. But you can attempt ascension anytime you wish and find out for yourself,]” said the voice in his mind.

  The ape stilled for a second, and with a flex of his will, he shoved the presence away with his aura. The construct of the System buckled and dissolved back into mana.

  Annoyed, Zerathstra reached into the pouch and pulled the apple out once more. He took a crunchy bite out of it and stepped out of his hut. It was time to go talk to some people.

  ***

  Henry and Maurice hovered over the red, yellow-stomached, man-sized seahorse. It wasn’t too big, for a creature of its level. But it sure looked impressive. It had two stubby horn-like protrusions on its head, and its dorsal fins almost looked like coral tentacles, making it difficult to see in the reef environment. But they’d managed to down it. After pursuing it for nearly half an hour while it peppered them with its darts.

  “[It’s so small. And it hurts so much,]” complained Maurice as he continued working on the venom that had seeped into his claw. He kept waving it around, as if that would shake the substance out.

  Henry had to agree as he delayed checking the notification. “[It’s nasty. I count… mana sapping venom, anti-heal, pain inducing, spasming, and hallucination.]”

  “[I… Um,]” Maurice began talking, then flecks of half-digested kraken roe geysered out from between his mandibles.

  Henry eyed the vomit and, with an arm, picked the crab and moved him away from the artificial cloud he’d just created while small fish came to nibble on the previous contents of Maurice’s stomach.

  “[Nausea too, I guess,]” Henry said. “[Nasty. The good news is, this is the last one. We can head back. Are you ready?]”

  Maurice tried to respond, but instead, he just spewed out some more. “[Alright. Come on, Let me heal you.]”

  The crab was about to protest once more, then he deflated as shiver went through his many legs. “[...Okay. Thanks. This feels awful.]”

  Henry could only agree.

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