30 - 9 = 21
After bidding the pharmacist farewell, Jenkins set off once more. The dice he rolled landed on a twelve, still above average. Although his [Destiny's Stage] had been overtaxed and had failed after the incident at the puppet theater, his luck still seed to be holding strong.
The flagstones paving the ancient town’s street were unusually long; the distance of a single house was roughly the length of two stones. And since the buildings on either side of the street were staggered rather than directly facing each other, each flagstone effectively corresponded to a particular door.
After his third roll, Jenkins had already traveled a distance equivalent to nearly forty houses, bringing him very close to the street's next intersection. He could even see it was a T-junction ahead, forcing him to choose between turning diagonally to the right or to the left.
When he ca to a stop this ti, he found himself next to the solid wall of a building on his right, which he couldn't enter. To his left was a courtyard sectioned off by a crooked fence. The space inside was just as dilapidated as the street, cluttered with all sorts of junk. Near the fence, Jenkins even spotted an overturned chicken coop, though it contained nothing but a few scattered bones, with no sign of its forr occupants.
"Was this a plot of land for the townspeople to raise chickens?"
Jenkins wondered.
He continued to survey the yard and noticed a well near the wall of the adjacent house. A large stone covered its mouth, and because the well's edge was so low, the stone almost blended in with the ground.
After a mont's hesitation, Jenkins stepped into the gateless courtyard and approached the well. He first extended his senses, confirming there was no feeling of danger, before carefully bending down to slide the heavy stone slab aside.
The instant a crack appeared, he was hit by a foul stench, like rotten eggs. As the sll wafted out, a swarm of green, mosquito-like insects flew out of the well.
Aside from the old woman and the pharmacist, these were the first additional creatures Jenkins had encountered on this street. The strange things were clearly not friendly; buzzing furiously, they erged from the well and imdiately sward toward him.
But then flas erupted from Jenkins’s pores, incinerating the insects completely. The burnt creatures didn't vanish entirely but dissolved into drops of blood-red pus that splattered onto the ground. Judging by the way the ground smoked and sizzled, a sting from these insects would likely have severe consequences.
The pus lingered on the ground, refusing to disappear. Jenkins imdiately thought of the containnt potion he had just acquired. But the potion was worth nine dice, and these green insects were so weak that he doubted they would yield anywhere near that amount. He hesitated, then decided against using it.
With the insects dealt with, he continued to move the stone. To his surprise, it wasn't a dry well; the water level was nearly at the brim. The dark water, under the dim light cast by the surrounding moss and the gri on the wall, faintly mirrored Jenkins’s reflection.
Then, the reflection spoke:
"Do you hunger for blood? Do you crave power? Then why not..."
A long, blood-red tentacle snaked out of the water. Its tip resembled the end of a blood-collection device.
"Why not let give you release,"
Jenkins said, reaching into the water. As his hand closed around sothing solid, he yanked it from the well. It was a waterlogged, deathly pale object that looked disturbingly like human skin. Tentacles extended from the back of its face.
Without giving the thing another chance to speak, a green and a golden light flashed together in his hand. The skin-thing let out a piercing scream as the tentacles behind its face imdiately wrapped around Jenkins’s arm.
"Don't kill ! Don't kill ! Don't you want to know the secrets of this town?"
The way the skin spoke was exceptionally bizarre.
"Of course not."
Jenkins stated flatly. Ignoring the black bruises the tentacles were leaving on his arm, he summoned his flas. Under the combined assault of divine power, life energy, and fire, the skin-thing finally stopped moving.
This ti, he didn't hesitate. He poured the containnt potion directly onto the skin. The yellowish liquid fell, staining the sallow skin a deep blood-red. The skin then began to tighten and shrink, finally leaving five blood-red dice in Jenkins’s hand.
"Damn, still a loss."
he muttered, annoyed.
With the disappearance of the skin-thing, the illusion of the water vanished as well, revealing the true scene below.
The well wasn't deep. Sludge had accumulated at the bottom, emitting an odor even more putrid than the earlier rotten-egg sll.
Although he couldn't see the bottom clearly even with his monocle, there was definitely sothing down there.
Jenkins wasn't foolish enough to jump in. He turned and rummaged through the yard, gathering a bamboo pole, a broken winch, a mud-caked rope, and a bucket missing two and a half planks. He summoned his Creation Pencil and, drawing a hamr and a handsaw, made so rough repairs with his crude carpentry skills.
First, he poked around the bottom of the well with the bamboo pole. Then, he managed to dredge up a heap of questionable wreckage with the bucket.
Most of the items were unrecognizable, ravaged by ti and moisture. What he could identify was a skeleton missing many of its bones, a blood collection vial clutched in its bony hand, two scattered dice in the mud, and a single bullet.
The skeleton and the vial were nothing special. Jenkins claid the two dice for himself. The bullet, however, was no ordinary piece of tal. It was long and slender, radiating a strong, yellow spiritual light. The projectile itself was a numbered item.
"This must be yours, right?"
he asked the bones beside him, but the long-dead could offer no reply.
So, Jenkins took the bullet as well. He then buried the skeleton and the vial together in the courtyard. By doing so, he no longer felt any guilt about taking the deceased's belongings.
20 5 2 = 27
The rest of the items in the yard were just junk. Besides, this strange realm couldn't last forever, and Jenkins couldn't afford to waste too much ti. After dealing with the skeleton, he set off again, rolling the dice. The result was a seven. While it was below average, the number was enough to carry him past the end of the street, allowing him to choose his next path.
Both the left and right paths were options, but before he started walking, Jenkins leaned forward to take a look. The path to the right was shrouded in a blood-red mist that looked highly suspicious. The path to the left was clear of fog, but in the darkness far down the street, he could faintly make out sothing blocking the way.
"Could the left path be a dead end?"
Jenkins thought with hesitation, but in the end, he chose to go left. The blood-red mist to the right gave him a deeply unsettling feeling, so for safety's sake, he decided to try the left path first.
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