Chapter 10: Crystal 101: How to Use It. 

After a few more mush of flesh, he finally grabbed onto something that wasn't bone. Titus immediately grabbed a hold of it as he forcefully ripped it out of the monster's mutilated carcass.

Without hesitation, Titus used the remaining dry part of his shirt to wipe the 'crystal' in his hand. It wasn't big, in comparison, it fit just perfectly within the triangle in the middle of his palm. It was really like 'crystal' and its surface was as smooth as that of mirrors. It was transparent. The only thing was, there seemed to be a 'fog' swirling inside that made it blurry.

Titus stood up and presented his findings to Uncle Brown. When he showed Uncle Brown the crystal, he was shocked at first, but it didn't last long and was immediately replaced by happiness. Uncle Brown stared at Titus, seemingly asking. Titus also nodded in confirmation. There really was something inside the monster and it could possibly grant them power accordingly to the words of the Voice, "the power you seek is hidden within."  Likewise, Titus was very happy but there was still one big question remaining...

"How do you use it?" They asked in unison.

Just as they were racking their brains out, Lee who just finished vomiting for the second time returned.

"Dad, what is that? Brother, did you get that from the inside of the monster?"

Even though Titus stank like hell, Lee who was very sensitive, disregarded it as curiosity immediately overtook his feeling of disgust.

"Yes, and it should grant us some sort of 'power' according to the Voice. But we don't know how to use it." Titus quickly filled Lee in on the situation.

Lee had his 'weeb sense' tingling, unlike Titus who only used novels, anime, etc. for occasional entertainment, he was a fan of it. He was well versed in such things and he immediately came up with ideas.

"Well, we can try and consume it but it's too risky. You could try crushing it if it's doable. Or you could drop your blood in it? Let's just see what happens. How about we do this and that first—"

As Lee was rambling on with solutions, they didn't remain idle either as they've tried the possibilities presented by him. When they ran through all the ideas only two options remained, eating and crushing it. Both seemed very unlikely to be done but this is their ticket to their survival so they should at least try crushing the 'crystal.' Eating it was too unreliable and it would be better to just keep it in the meantime and survive first in another way.

Titus prepared himself and started to use all the strength in his body to crush the crystal. But even before he could exert greater strength, the crystal had already and unexpectedly broke! Even though it looked like a crystal, it wasn't a crystal at all, why would a crystal be crushed by mere strength? They were just 'trying' and didn't have much hope. This was really unexpected.

But the surprise didn't stop there as the fog inside the crystal spread upwards and ultimately got sucked in Titus' nose as he breathed.  

Titus should be coughing up right now as it would be the body's normal reaction but he didn't. Titus could actually feel the fog went down from his nose before spreading throughout his body. He closed his eyes involuntarily in 'pleasure.' The fatigue and tenseness he felt were lifted and what was left, was comfort. He felt that he was full of strength. He was pretty sure that his strength doubled! That meant he had two people's worth of strength.

He was marvelling at the feeling when it was cut short by the stares of two pairs of eyes. Titus embarrassingly touched his nose and smiled awkwardly. He totally forgot that they were in a life and death situation.

"Uncle, Lee, you saw that I broke the crystal and I accidentally breathed in the fog. Actually, the fog is the 'power' that is residing on the monster and the crystal is just a container for it. Through the fog, my strength increased in a double and all of the fatigue I've felt was alleviated. What the Voice said was true!"

Listening to Titus, both Lee and Uncle Brown felt relieved and happy that at least there was hope in this 'now chaotic' world. Lee was about to celebrate when Titus suddenly frowned, stopping him. Titus made a 'be quiet' sign as his ears started twitching. It seemed that it wasn't only his strength that got improved, the fog also enhanced all of his other senses, that included his hearing. 

Footsteps were heading near them. Titus could hear exactly three pairs of footsteps, they should belong to the monsters by the lake, noticing something was wrong and came to inspect. 

"The monsters are coming."

Indeed they have been idle for too long. Since these 'fishmen' have some degree of intelligence, then it was only a matter of time before they suspected something was wrong.

"Uncle, Lee you should focus on killing one while I hold off the other two. We learned that it's more efficient to attack its eyes, so focus on piercing through it."

"Brother—"

"I will be okay, I just got a power boost from the crystal, so you don't have to worry about me. If you really feel bad for me then finish your battle sooner. I'll run up first then continue retreating after passing this wall (their cover). You and Uncle Brown should attack the monster behind the group while I keep the other two busy. You can then help me out once you're finished. Also, Uncle should use the crystal right after the monster is killed. It would make our battle with the remaining monsters easier."

After saying that, Titus immediately went into action. He first peeked through a crack to see the exact position of the monsters. It was only after he confirmed their location that he took the chance to lure them. 

Funny enough, he was really good at baiting. With that thought in mind, Titus shook his head as he ran and dove on the mud 'as if' he tripped.

The monsters saw a dumb human falling to the ground. Since it just rained, the human was bathed in mud and a horrified expression emerged from the human's dirty face as soon as he saw them. It was also at this time that they were craving some 'BBQ' so the timing when the human appeared could not be any better! They looked at each other and laughed at how stupid their 'prey' is.

Proofread by: @lynn

Author's Note:

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