Chapter 1323  1323 A Touch Maudlin


    --- Kat ---


    It was the next morning and Kat was out for a jog. There wasn''t really much to discuss after Thyme dropped that bombshell. Partially because Thyme just vanished after they finished speaking. For everyone else… it was gettingte and now that the adrenaline wore off they were ready for bed. Lily especially, which meant Kat had gone along.


    Lily was still asleep, and part of Kat wanted to justy in bed with her… but a much greater part implored her to get up and just… do something. So here Kat was running swiftps around the ind. It wasn''t particrly hard, and nowhere near max speed but it was a nice feeling.


    Kat wasn''t sure it actually did anything for her. Exercise was… questionable now that she was a demon. Oh Kat was sure it was possible to exercise, but her regeneration seemed to keep her in good shape, perhaps closer to perfect shape. It was also hard to get tired without just using demonic energy. It was a different kind of ''tiring''. Kat wasn''t even sure how much she''d need to lift, or for how long to get a decent workout.


    March seemed to suffer from the same problem. Kat had spotted the woman on her run. She''d grabbed one of the tter boulders around the ind and was now using it as a recement for gym weights. Lastp she was working out her legs. It looked somewhatical. The boulder itself was huge, easily asrge as her hotel room and clearly quite heavy… yet March was able to lift it without too much strain. Or at least, she wasn''t using her steam powers to help.


    Now Kat was sure that she could do the same. Without the limiter band Thyme had her wearing, lifting such a weight wouldn''t be hard… but it was odd to think about sometimes. On the whole, Kat had gotten used to being a demon. Having a tail, wings, horns. These things were all simply a fact of life now. Even with an enhanced memory… it was just so hard to remember what it was like to be human.


    Perhaps that was unfair. That humanity wasn''t so easily discarded… but a lot of demons didn''t see all that alien. Kat wasn''t sure if that was due to her new nature, or if it was simply the way of things and she would have recognised that even as a human. There was no way to tell, and Kat wasn''t going to beat herself up over it. She was happy in her own skin, both before and after. It seemed like such a little thing in the end. So Kat didn''t worry about it.


    Sometimes though… it wasn''t the being the demon part that caught her. It was the ridiculous amount of strength. Sure, it wasn''t technically inhuman. March was right there with her, lifting boulders like it was just a regr set of weights at the gym. It made Kat wonder what that made March.


    Human technically, but was she really the same? The words were the same ording to her trantion ability. But gically? Well, Kat was no biologist, she couldn''t even begin to work out how different the different versions of humans she knew of would be. Did higher energy alter the underlying biology or did it just support it? Was magic the reason elves and dwarves could have kids with each other? All questions Kat didn''t know the answer to, nor did she really want them.


    No, what mattered was actions. How they saw the world… and in some ways it could be very strange. March lifting boulders was just a convenient example because Kat could see it right now and it was on her mind. Burnice''s practice had a simr issue. She was throwing around des of wind, and her katas looked like more sophisticated dances then the ballerinas Kat had seen on tv.


    Magic seemed to make people more in some ways, but it was hard to tell if the people who cultivated it became so… unique or if simply living here did it. Kat hadn''t exactly met a lot of people in this world, or the others she''d visited. Almost everyone she''d interacted with was using higher energy for something. Were these people just the outliers? The geniuses of a different world?


    Perhaps they made a bigger difference here. All of the rulers, the kings and queens, they were powerful. Here political office wasn''t just a matter of being well connected or smart, you also needed to be the big stick. The king wasn''t just an old figurehead here, he was also the nuclear option. How did that shape culture? Did it make more people strive for a ce in the government? Because it meant they too were strong? Or did it drive them off. Scare them away from making a difference because they were smart but weak?


    With magic it was harder to be both smart and weak… but Nixilei had said there were some people who just couldn''t do anything with there mana. What happened to them? Could they still get to Rank 1 and 2 somehow? Were they destined to be nothing more than store clerks? It was so hard to say.


    Kat let out a sigh, "I''m having rather strange thoughts on this run. When I wasying in bed there was nothing bothering me, I just felt a bit jittery but now I''m contemting the socio-politicalndscape of a foreign dimension. What happened to my simple run?"


    Shaking her head, Kat''s mind couldn''t help but move towards Marigold. She was… certainly something. She''d taken her ''hobby'' to an extreme entirely impossible without regeneration affinity. It wasn''t even a matter of ''unusualpared to earth'' but probably ''unusualpared to literally everyone''. Kat had to wonder if having regeneration helped pushed you in that direction.


    *If so… I might only be safe because I''m asexual. Does she enjoy the pain because it also gives her pleasure, or does she just enjoy the feeling of pain? Once again, am I safe because I don''t really get those urges or will I one day decide that stabbing myself is a good joke? I mean, sure in abstract it''s very silly in cartoons and stuff… but that would really hurt.


    Then again. I''ve seen those videos. A shocking amount of research has proved that humans would rather shock themselves painfully then remain bored. Though… I''m not human anymore. So do I have the same problem? I have to have… at least an echo of it. I''m here running for no reason other than the fact I felt the need to move… and listening to some of the kids I knew exercise is just aplicated form of torture. So perhaps it''s toote for me.*


    Kat shook her head as she slowed down. It was time to wake Lily for breakfast. Walking in the front door she saw Gareth hobbling towards a bench, leaning heavily on Green. *Huh… was… is he that bad? I would''ve gone to see him if I''d known. I suppose Lily can get a bit more sleep. She''ll be happy with that.*


    Kat slid into position behind them and when the pair got to the food, Kat said "I can carry some stuff for you both. I don''t n on eating yet… or perhaps at all. I should probably have something but if I do I''ll eat with Lily,"


    "Thanks," said Gareth as he started pointing out what he wanted.


    Kat picked up two tes and started to load them up. "So… how are you Gareth? I would havee and visited if I thought it was bad… and I mean, people did say it was bad but… how do I exin this. Hmm… my worldview for healing waspletely destroyed… I don''t want to call it recently but I guess I''d gotten used to Thyme being able to fix everything,"


    Gareth let out a bit of a shakyugh. "I''ll live Kat. In fact, I''ll recover fully so there really isn''t anything to worry about. Thyme did inform me that they had a way to see mepletely healed this morning… but I was also told it could be a bit of risk so I turned him down. I can''tpete today after all,"


    "Yes because you''re a big dumb idiot. My big dumb idiot, but still a big idiot," said Green.


    Kat dolled out the tes as the three of them sat down. "So… you''ll be ok?"


    "Yes, I will. Not immediately because what I did to myself… look, I don''t know the truth of the matter, but the two main schools of thought im it damages the soul, while the other side says it burns lifespan. I don''t know which if either of them are true… but I recognise that it was a dumb mistake, especially for a contest I didn''t have a chance at winning. Maybe if I waspeting for first ce-" Gareth was cut off…


    When Green smacked the back of his head. Hard. "No, no killing yourself for first, second third, any of the ces. If Thyme wasn''t so good you could be dead. Don''t be an idiot,"


    "Yes dear," mumbled Gareth.