Thoth shrank back at Alexander's reprimand and Vincent's...groan, the God quivering slightly in place. "...w-well, you know, l-last time if you didn't get a-at least some treatment from that poison, you'd die r-really quickly." She mumbled weakly, facing the floor as she pivoted her right foot around uneasily. "S-So, if someone has the potion, th-they can drink half of it so they don't die immediately, th-then run outside because they won't be fully paralyzed...and...and then they'll be back here, so they can drink the rest to get rid of the poison completely, a-and they don't have to worry about being paralyzed because there aren't monsters here. I...I thought it made sense."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't want to make anyone upset, I-I'll take them off the shelf. B-But that means I won't be able to sell anything, s-since I used up all my non-base materials making this. I'm such a dummy! I-I was just really excited people would be using my potions again, s-so I tried to make them in time for the opening, b-but I rushed it a-and Heka was right and I am just a dummy half-rate and...I-I'm sooooorryyyyyy!"

Her hands reaching up to her face, Thoth softly began to cry under the brutal verbal assault of Alexander, the wings on her head drooping down limply.

Good job, champ. You sure showed her.

---

Senna actually had to walk around for an unusually long stretch of time before she would finally feel a familiar breath on the back of her neck, her patron God revealing herself as was her nature.

"Aaa, sorry about leaving you waiting like that, Senna." Cernunnos remarked, lazily walking around from behind Senna to in front of her. The God seemed a little bit perturbed, off-edge from her usual, teasing self. "I know you've been here for a while. Loki's just been...she's been kind of out-of-it, so I've been trying to cheer her up. I just couldn't leave her alone like that, you know? Loki moping...it's just not right."

Shaking her head slightly as though to clear it, Cernunnos abruptly sloughed off her prior demeanor and took on something more alike her usual state.

"Sooooo, how was the Labyrinth~? Find anything neat? I saw a guy carrying another guy down the street, you know 'em? Ahaha, who am I kidding? I saw everything through your eyes, I know you know them. But neat job out there, you keep it up, you little go-getter~"

"So, what can I do for you? Status update, advice, or...maybe it's me you want~?"

Fuck's sake, Cern. She's eleven.

Gods… Alexander couldn’t stay mad, and the fact that he had pushed Thoth to tears did make him feel like a jerk. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, taking his helmet off to meet her eyes if she bothered to look at him after that, “I didn’t take your situation and circumstances into consideration.” He wasn’t the tallest person, but if she didn’t back away he’d kneel just slightly in front of her, hopefully making her more comfortable. She didn’t seem like the type of person to pursue profit at the cost of others, but blinded by his immediate emotions Alexander had simply picked the easiest target.

“Please stop beating yourself up, Goddess. Your antidote did save Vincent in the end,” he tried consoling her, “and I’m sure if adventurers are careful it won’t be too problematic.” Unsaid was that it wouldn’t be easy to remember a warning after a stressful battle and dealing with dying from poison. It was preferable to risk paralysis than certain death from poison in the end, and it seemed that he had just abused her best efforts. “Again I’m sorry,” he apologized again, bowing his head and hoping the Goddess accepted it.

He also hoped that his actions hadn’t soured Vincent’s relationship with Thoth on the Goddess’ part. If she accepted his apology, Alexander would sigh quietly and point out that Vincent had tried what Thoth had described. “Actually, he did drink a bit of the potion at first. A few moments later though, and it must have been painful enough for him to drink the rest. I don’t think there would have been enough time to escape. And what do you mean the last time? Are things different this time around?” If not, he would simply stay until she calmed down or chased him out.

Vincent found it hard to feel any particular compunction towards Thoth, given his current state, but as Alexander joined in verbalizing at her and the Goddess just about burst into tears, the paralyzed man's loud groan quietened down before stopping.

For fuck's sake, this wasn't going to help anyone in the long run. He wasn't particularly touched by what she said about her turmoil, but he did manage to grunt in assent as Alexander mentioned that the antitoxin HAD saved him from the poison. That much was true, at least, even if the side-effects were hardly much better.

Given his inability to do anything other than grunt at people in varying degrees of irritation, he just fell quiet again after that. He was still obscenely annoyed with the Goddess, but maybe he could just ride this out, calm down and talk to her himself about it afterwards.

That and as Alexander caught onto the reference to a 'last time', he couldn't help but quieten down in the hopes of knowing more.

Thoth seemed to calm down after a few seconds, though she continued sniffling to herself for some time even after Alexander's apology. "...i-it's really okay? Y-You're not mad anymore?" She croaked out shakily, wiping her eyes. "W-Well, um, i-it's okay. I'm sorry, I-I'm not really good in tense environments. Handling things like that was Sh-Shiva's job, so I'm still k-kind of adjusting." She mumbled. "...y-you can stand up, i-it's fine."

At Alexander's later question though, the God's face reddened sharply as she clamped her hands over her mouth, letting out a muffled yelp. A few moments later, she dropped her hands back to her sides, uneasily glancing off to the side. "...w-well, I'm not sure, but from what I saw, the Labyrinth's exerting less magical energy than H-Heka had estimated." She explained, faltering slightly when mentioning the Magic God's name. Evidently those two didn't have the most favorable relationship. "I-I haven't gotten a chance to talk with the others about it yet, s-so I might be wrong. Um...i-if you could not tell anyone I told you that, I'd really appreciate it. W-We're not supposed to share sensitive information with people who aren't at a blessing quota."

He cracked a small apologetic smile when the Goddess calmed down, even if she wasn’t fully recovered. “Just please be careful with those. And no… I can’t stay mad at someone who’s trying their best,” he said reassuringly, before he stood and took a step back to give her some personal room. “Shiva?” The name wasn’t familiar to him as one of the current Deities in the world, but he could only assume that they were one of Thoth’s peers.

Shiva’s identity took a back seat as he apparently picked up on a tidbit he very well shouldn’t have. “Oh geez,” he muttered, scratching at the back of his head at the idea that those monsters were weaker than they should have been, “I guess your idea was on point.” He was otherwise quiet as Thoth finished her explanation, though he did frown a bit at the mention of a “blessing quota”. While he could understand information that was distributed on a need to know basis, the idea that it had to be paid f- No, before he ran down that line of thought too much, it would be better to hear what the quota was from a Goddess rather than using his possibly mistaken assumptions. “Of course,” he agreed with a nod, “but would you be able to explain exactly what this blessing quota is?”

He spared a glance back towards Vincent just to make sure the other man was fine given his silence. Whether it was to hear better or because he had already expressed Vincent’s own views well enough he couldn’t tell, but the other man was still conscious so he turned back to Thoth.

As Thoth realized that she had mentioned someone by the name of "Shiva", she clamped her mouth shut again. Evidently, the alchemist God was subpar at keeping secrets. "Sh-Shiva's...p-please don't go asking around about him. E-Especially Ares, since you're in her Guild. I don't...e-everyone's trying their hardest, a-and I don't want them to have to remember things they don't want to." She stammered out. The notion of having what she had let slip seemed to give Thoth no shortage of unease.

"U-Um, I can tell you about the blessing quota, though. O-Or, at least, that's what I call it. We don't really have a name for it. Loki and Cernunnos call it the 'relationship meter'." She explained, after calming down a bit. "So...so you know that there each of us have multiple blessings we can give, r-right? The first order blessings are just affinity changes, but after the first one they become more like 'powers' that...um...that emulate the patron God, l-like how Hermes can fly or Loki can...do Loki stuff. Th-The blessing quota is how many blessings you have, and because we give you new ones when you reach a certain level of trustworthiness or ability in our eyes, the number of blessings you have determines how...er, how much secret information we're allowed to share. Th-That's part of why I don't want you asking about Shiva...h-he's...erm...classified."

Senna frowns a little upon hearing of Loki's moping, her concern shining through the slight blush on her cheeks from Cern's sexual harassment. "Loki... you mean that cheerful girl? I have a hard time imagining her being depressed, is she alright? If she's feeling lonely, we could hang out... or something."

The tiny ranger crosses her arms in thought for a moment, before remembering her initial purpose. "Right, could I get my status updated? That should increase my abilities, right? Oh, and if I've gotten any finder's fees, I'd love to collect those right now. And while we're at it, can I publish information on these potions? Thanks."

After getting her business completed, Senna takes some time to mull over her thoughts, before continuing on a more serious previous track. "I mean to head back into the Labyrinth until the end of the day, I'd guess. I've been meaning to ask, is it safe to rest in there? I noticed there were plenty of monsters, and not a lot of cover... would I be better off leaving the Labyrinth when I need to sleep? Wait... now that I think of it, do Monsters ever go to sleep?"

This was an important question. If Monsters could be caught sleeping, getting through the Labyrinth would be a lot easier and with a lot lower risk. Finally, as more of an afterthought, Senna adds "Thanks for the bow, by the way. I was a little worried about breaking mine, and it saved my life back there with the Goblin. Is there anywhere in town where I can buy arrows?"

Well… it seemed that Thoth was just naturally clumsy whether she was in the middle of a batch of potions or conversation. He nodded once again, though his expression was a bit concerned at the vague reference to the past. Alexander had always figured something had happened to cause the Gods to descend, and this seemed related especially given how she had mentioned the Deities didn’t want to remember. He simply nodded once more and reassuringly said, “I will say nothing.”

“Huh…” Alexander thought he recalled something along those lines; more capable and proven members would receive greater boons from Ares herself, or something. He supposed they were blessings from the Deities, so Thoth’s “blessing quota” was rather apt. “Right, makes sense to keep some information for the more experienced members. Thanks for answering,” he said in a relaxed tone as he figured his business here was complete. “Did you want Vincent anywhere while he recovers?” Alexander asked, figuring the front of her lab wasn’t exactly an appropriate spot to leave the paralyzed adventurer.

After that was all done with, he stopped by the blacksmith to get his weapon examined. The damage wasn’t too bad as he had suspected and parting with a few coins was enough for the repair job. It would be a while before he could use that particular blade again, but it wasn’t as if he only had one weapon. He would need to return to the Coliseum to grab it, but Alexander would have gone anyways simply to clean the dried slime off completely. A trio of Slimes and a single Goblin hardly felt like a kill count worthy of Ares’ attention, much less now that he knew the monsters were supposedly weaken than usual. Unless she wanted his presence for some reason, Alexander would only spend as much time as he needed at the Coliseum before he returned to the Labyrinth once again.

Cernunnos frowned slightly. "Mm, it's not that Loki's lonel-...well, it is a little bit. There's...um, there's a lot of stuff going on with her, and she hasn't had a whole lot of time to deal with it, so she's been kinda out of it. I'll go steal a pair of Ares's underwear for her once we're done here, that should help~" She remarked, her voice returning to its cheerful lilt towards the end.

"...oh, yeeeeaaah. Should prob'ly have mentioned this before. Monsters...what's a good word? Respawn? Non-unique monsters respawn after enough time passes, usually about a day, but it depends. Those Goblins and Slimes you killed will be back by this time tomorrow, so if you take a nap in the Labyrinth, be careful you don't oversleep. Monsters sleeping isn't a thing, though. They're not, like, the same sort of beings that you are. I guess some unique monsters might be able to enter something like sleep, but for them it'd be more like a meditative trance, and they're aware of their surroundings then, so surprising won't work. Don't worry, though, one of my blessings is great for that~"

At the mention of purchasing arrows, Cernunnos paused for a moment before responding. "...hm, I heard one of the Hermes guys, Terry Tanuki or something, was basically ruling the center city market. Maybe check there, but you'll probably be overcharged like hell." She suggested. "I wouldn't say you should buy too many, though. Once you get magic, that bow's usefulness will become a lot more apparent."

Having dealt with all of Senna's questions, a pale gold glow began to form in the air around Cernunnos, flowing through the air and towards Senna, melting into the girl's figure. "There, status updated! And here's your finder's fee!" She hummed, handing Senna a decent sum of gold. (Information private)

"I'mma go nab some Ares underwear, now. Bye, Senna~!"

And with that, Cernunnos kissed the little girl on the cheek and vanished, her presence erased to nothing.

---

"J-Just set him down anywhere, h-he'll be fine." Thoth murmured in response to Alexander. Once the Ares Guild member had left, she turned her attention back to the cauldron she had been working on earlier, completely ignoring Vincent.

---

Ares didn't have any particular need for Alexander's presence, so there is little to be said regarding what happened at the Coliseum. Since he stopped by, though, Ares obviously decided to update his status while he was there.

It took a bit longer for him to finish his business at the Coliseum thanks to the thin layer of dried slime that needed to be cleaned off. Given the brevity of his first journey into the Labyrinth, Alexander also chose to swap out his fully stocked sack from something a bit easier to carry like a messenger bag. It didn’t hold nearly as much supplies and equipment, but was easier and more comfortable to carry around. Unexpectedly, he had run into Ares and despite the real lack of words exchanged Alexander left the Goddess’ building stronger than before.

Vincent was still incapacitated for a few hours, Senna was who know where, but Alexander didn’t find that particularly problematic. The Poison Slimes were about the most dangerous creatures he had seen yet, and that was more for their ability to poison rather than anything. So long as he was fairly cautious and fought smart he didn’t think there would be much of a problem. He would investigate no further than the fifth floor if he even managed to get that far and then call it a day regardlessly. With that decided he made his way back towards the Labyrinth, picking up the occasional stone from the side of the path and placing it in his bag. Weapon and shield weren’t drawn until he actually entered the monster’s lair and from there on he moved forward carefully.

Alexander would be met with silence and solitude as he advanced down through the floors that had already been culled of monsters, the staircase to the third floor beckoning to him. It seemed that on the first and second floors, there was nothing of value to be gained for the time being, unless one considered Goblin corpses to have worth. Thus, he now had to decide whether or not to enter the third floor.

On one hand, with enhanced ability given by his status update and familiarity with the Poison Slimes, he would likely be able to tackle the enemies below on his own. That said, there could be something on the next floor beyond expectations.

Unsurprisingly, the first two floors didn’t seem any different from when they had left it just a while ago. The goblins’ corpses were still present along with puddles of inanimate Slime. As he descended to the second floor, Alexander clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Should have brought a few flasks,” he muttered as he glanced at the puddles of Poison Slime. Thoth could probably find some use for the naturally poisonous liquid; maybe a coating for his weapon? Well, it was something to remember for next time.

Naturally he decided to continue his journey downwards into the Labyrinth’s depths. He paused for a moment to strike a torch just to be safe, letting his shield hang from his arm to hold it. Alexander also brought out the disc that Ares had gifted to him at the start of this day, feeling its thrum in his hand before pocketing it again, and slowly making his way down to the third floor.

Advanced Manipulation System Reintroduction has been prepared.

Set: Reaccumulation of Authority is at 2% of original designation. Insufficient. Utilizing possessed Authority to enact Observation.

Expansion complete. 20% of all disclosed realities display ■ ■ ■ ■ ■. Judged as impermissible, eliminating from consideration. Eliminating considered realities that demonstrate potential for ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■. Warning: Termination of ■ ■ ■ ■ not confirmed. Base of existence has not been recognized in possessed Authority. Processing...processing complete.

■ ■ ■ ■ status unknown. Dispatching Failed Autonomous Will Extension ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ to ascertain status. Dispatch communicated.

Current chance of final success resulting from pooling all possible realities: approximately 35%. Insufficient. Probability will increase to 80% if ■ ■ ■ ■ is obtained. Placing Primary Priority on obtainment of ■ ■ ■ ■. Placing Secondary Priority on ascertaining status of ■ ■ ■ ■. Placing Tertiary Priority on reaccumulation of Authority. Placing Quaternary Priority on contingency for ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■. Placing Quinary Priority on...

---

The third floor seemed akin to those before. It was a pair of circular rooms, the walls and floor seeming like the basis of a natural cavern, but inexplicably lit as though it was not underground, but a sunny day in the outside world.

Simply by looking forwards, Alexander would see two existences on first glance, two slimes, laying next to each other on the ground in the first of the two rooms. One was, from the look of it, a Poison Slime. The other, a slime of a pale red color.

Upon Alexander's entry, the pair acted. The Poison Slime, in the pattern of its brethren, abruptly leapt off of the ground to close the distance between the two parties, tactlessly aiming for his head. The red slime, meanwhile, seemed to spread out along the ground as the previous floor's slime conglomerate had. While its core was no doubt somewhere within that expanding mass, Alexander would need to get closer to locate it precisely.

Alexander had to squint at the sudden brightness of his surroundings as the third floor was brightly illuminated for some inexplicable reasoning. “So much for the torch,” he muttered as he held it off to the side so the flame didn’t distract him as he observed this new floor. Naturally his eyes were drawn to the Slimes present just as the monsters were drawn and reacted to his presence. While curious about the new coloration of Slime, he would have to wonder later as the Poison Slime tensed and pounced.

With no use for the torch he tossed it towards the spreading red Slime with a flick of his wrist. They didn’t seem to be flammable, but perhaps it would ward the creature away from spreading itself in his direction while he dealt with the Poison Slime. He dropped low and darted forward towards the Poison Slime, intending to bisect the creature with a powerful blow and rush past its split halves. His shield was braced overhead to protect him from any splatter. The red slime, while not completely ignored, would be free to act as he took care of its poisonous brethren.

"...Bye", Senna mutters quietly as Cern disappears. Despite that she hadn't gotten a chance to say a proper goodbye, the girl was satisfied with the information she had gathered, and left the area feeling much smarter. She thinks over what she had experienced, and figures she could do without the towels for now.

Recalling the healing flasks she had discovered, Senna wonders for a while if there was any more cool loot to be found if she went on ahead of the others. Their enemies seemed to mostly consist of slimes, with only a few of those Goblin creatures on the first floor. With that in mind, Senna makes a decision, and heads back into the depths of the Labyrinth. She treads lightly, but quickly, making her way past the already-explored floors and keeping her senses alert for any possible unseen threats.

When she reaches the top of the third floor stairs, she stops, listening for a moment before creeping along the stairs.

...Hmm? It seems somebody had the same idea as her, as she could hear the sounds of a scuffle and see the back of one of the adventurers from earlier. Alexander, I think he was called? He was in a fight with a couple of Slimes. He and his foes probably hadn't noticed her yet... so, making a quick decision to conceal herself, Senna watches the fight start to unfold with her bow ready.

Alexander seemed strong, he could probably handle the two slimes himself. One was an odd colour, it probably had another special ability, like the poison slimes. She checks the ceiling quickly, looking out for any-

Oh.

There were slimes.

On the ceiling.

Without delay, Senna shouts out a warning to her fellow adventurer, preparing an arrow to be launched if one of the secret slimes made its move.

"Watch out above! Slimes on the ceiling."

The torch, as one might expect, fizzled out when Alexander tossed it into the small carpet of red slime.

Then, from the area of the slime, a fizzling sound continued to emanate. Curious.

However, this was not of much relevance to the matters at hand.

As one might expect, Alexander's attack was successful. Against these sorts of beings, this could hardly be called a fight. If they really were weaker than they were the last time the Labyrinth was open, one had to wonder how strong they would need to be in order to pose a legitimate threat. Granted that carelessness was still dangerous, as evidenced by a currently-paralyzed Vincent.

The Poison Slime was sliced down the middle, its remains splattering onto the front surface of Alexander's shield. However, as he cut through the slime...

-A red slime fell from the ceiling, moving to land squarely on his head. Tactical brilliance at its finest.

Hopefully Senna would help him out with that.

---

Warning: Temporal distortion actualization requires higher accumulation of Authority.

Seal on Omnipotent Failed Autonomous Will Extension ■ ■ ■ ■ judged to be sufficient. Extrinsic seal on Impossible Failed Autonomous Will Extension ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ judged to be sufficient. Will begin minor deconstruction of first-order seal to reaccumulate Authority sufficient to actualize temporal distortion. Initiating.

---

Back at Thoth's alchemical lab, the alchemist God was hard at work brewing her silver-colored liquid, whatever it was. The latest changes to it included dumping a copious amount of a strange white substance into the cauldron, from a jar labeled "Sugar". Interesting indeed.

This process went on for a while, with the paralyzed Vincent standing off to the side and Thoth humming cheerily as she brewed her potions, until she seemed to remember that Vincent was there.

"O-Oh, r-right!" She blurted out abruptly, eyes wide as she turned to face Vincent, as if confirming his existence. "...u-um, sorry, I-I got caught up in working. I don't rea-ah, no, bad Thoth, no rambling..." She mumbled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other uneasily. "...um, so, I-I don't have any anti-paralytics, but I-I just remembered that I can...um, well, I can update your status, which should clear away most of the effect."

...

...

...

It was probably a good thing that Vincent was currently paralyzed.

Regardless, after speaking, Thoth's face scrunched up in concentration as a soft purple light materialized around her body, flowing into Vincent's.

He felt the blade part the slime in half with ease, and subsequently the splatter as his shield blocked the inanimate fluid. Not quite as planned, but apparently successful nonetheless. 'Why that sou-' Thoughts interrupted and before he did anything else though, Senna’s warning reached his ears and he listened without hesitation; no glance in her direction or above to get a nice Slime to the face, Alexander simply threw himself to the side, rolling to a crouch and standing quickly.

Even then he began to move around the room as he surveyed his surroundings, including the ceiling, berating himself for his carelessness. He had seen the enemies and engaged without properly taking in his surroundings, and if not for Senna’s warnings he might currently be wearing a red Slime as a hat. As he put some distance away from the enemies by backpedalling towards the stairs where Senna stood with arrow drawn. “Thanks,” he called out in a grateful tone, “I’ll treat you to something after we’re done.”

When the Red Slime makes its decision to start falling, its fate has already been sealed. Given the forces of gravity, the gelatinous monster could only fall at a set rate. Because of this, in the moments directly after leaving the safety of the ceiling, it was left completely vulnerable to being picked off by Senna.

Her movements contained no waste. In a series of simple, precise actions, ingrained into her body's memory, she draws and looses an arrow accurately at the center point of the Slime's body, leading the target to take into account its speed and momentum. Knowing in her heart that the arrow would hit, she immediately pulls another from its quiver and takes aim at the other slime.

With her blessed speed, and with the skill of several years of careful training, by the time her first lethal shot finished piercing its target it was likely she would have already loosed the next one, this time at the slime's poisonous partner on the ceiling. Either way, she doubted the seemingly helpless creature would be able to react or dodge in time, especially seeing as it didn't seem to possess much in the way of intellect.

At this point, she was starting to push the limits of her superhuman capabilities. She knew from experience the awesome power the Goddess's blessing conveyed, but she had yet to fully test that power's limitations. This would be a good time, against opponents who she clearly outclassed in terms of ability. Better to understand these limits now, when she was in no real danger, than to be caught unawares later on.

It also earned her a free meal. Which is always a plus. At this thought, Senna smiles to herself internally, considering the words of her adoptive father. Something about free meals tasting better.

Senna's arrow pierced the falling slime with ease. There was nothing that could be called a struggle in the interaction. The slime's core was punched through by the arrow, a thin coating of slime covering the arrow as it flew off to the opposite side of the room. Without the core's life force binding the slime, the still-falling mass spread out, splattering along the floor over a decent area.

The exact same result occurred with the Poison Slime on the ceiling, something that had not even begun moving before it was struck. It was just sort of sitting on the ceiling, immobile. It didn't even seem like it was going to do anything. Odd.

The last monster of the third floor, almost all of its ground stained with green and red, was the red slime that had spread itself along the floor. Its core couldn't be sighted from the distance Senna and Alexander stood at, but as Senna had loosed her second arrow, it acted.

It started crawling on the floor away from them, towards the second room of the third floor.

Huh. Apparently slimes know how to retreat. That's cute.

As was typical for someone in his state, Vincent couldn't do much but watch and listen as Thoth described blessings, the boons attached to them, and used that to explain why she couldn't say more about the snippet of information she'd let slip. As Alexander left to attend to his own business, he was left by himself as he remained paralyzed, and decided to stay quiet as Thoth went back to work.

For a stretch of time, he just watched the Goddess set about brewing her potions- it wasn't exactly the best thing to get his mind off his state, but it was fascinating nonetheless to see her at work- but as she seemed to remember he was more than a rather grim, gaudy-looking ornament and turned to speak to him, he came back to life.

Another deep groan escaped him as Thoth mentioned the 'update'- it was less aggressive than the previous one, but it still seemed fairly annoyed.

Not that it lasted for long, though- as the Goddess focused and began to direct the energy towards her Guild Member, the noise quietened. Slowly, he felt weight lift from his body, and he felt a kind of fresh vitality enter him- moments later, he felt his fingers begin to move again, before-

THUNK.

"... ngh." Was all the noise he could manage as he found himself lying on his side on the floor. He could feel that the paralysis wasn't entirely gone- he still felt a significant weight over his body and slight creaks of pain accompanying any movement as feeling returned- but it was enough for now.

Without another word, he worked himself back onto his feet- somewhat shakily, but stable enough to stand as he used a nearby table to balance himself.

"I guess I should thank you for that," He mumbled, his voice quiet as he found himself able to talk again. He didn't sound happy, particularly, but he did sound grateful enough that the update had had such a significant effect on the paralysis. A voice in his head fed him information on the exact nature of the update, and that was encouraging too.