The symphony of the night was a brutal thing. It was not the gentle rustle of leaves from my old world, but a cacophony of terror and violence that seeped through the wooden walls of the cottage. The deep, guttural snarls of the Grimfang Wolf were the bassline. The sharp, panicked shouts of the villagers provided the frantic melody. And cutting through it all, a new sound—a sharp, ozone crackle that raised the hairs on my arms.
Kaelen's lightning. It was happening.
I sat on the edge of my bed, knees pulled to my chest, the wool blanket a poor shield against the chill of fear. My new first-aid knowledge unhelpfully supplied a list of symptoms for extreme anxiety: rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, sweating.
No kidding, I thought miserably.
The comment section was a chaotic mirror of my own panic.
xXShadowBladeXx:NOW we're talking! Fight! Fight! Fight!
DragonFan42:Oh no! Be careful, Kaelen!
Romance4Ever:This is where he first unlocks his storm affinity! So epic! #PowerUp
SpoilerKing77:>>See? Told you. Grimfang Alpha. Nasty piece of work. Almost takes the kid's arm off in the original timeline.<<
My blood ran cold. His arm? I hadn't remembered that detail. In the novel, Kaelen's victory was swift and clean, fueled by rage. Lina's death was a clean, motivating tragedy. This sounded… messier.
A particularly loud crash echoed from the village square, followed by a pained cry that was unmistakably Kaelen's. My mother, in the other room, gasped and began praying to gods I didn't know the names of.
A new, urgent quest notification flashed, overlaying the comments.
[Urgent Side Quest: 'A Stitch in Time']
[Objective: The Male Lead is injured. His survival is paramount to overall plot stability. Provide assistance within 5 minutes.]
[Reward: 25 PDP, 'Kaelen's Favor (Minor)']
[Failure: Potential Male Lead death. Catastrophic Plot Derailment. Unknown System repercussions.]
"Are you kidding me?!" I hissed at the screen. The system's definition of 'stability' was apparently 'whatever keeps the main character alive.' My brilliant plan to stay out of it was crumbling.
The failure condition was a siren blaring in my mind. Catastrophic Plot Derailment. What did that mean? Would the world unravel? Would I just cease to exist? And 'Unknown System repercussions' sounded an awful lot like being deleted for failing my primary function.
I had fifteen PDP. I was broke. I couldn't buy a token for advice. My first-aid knowledge was my only tool.
Another cry of pain from outside. This one was weaker.
Cursing under my breath, I threw the blanket aside. I couldn't let him die. Not for moral reasons—I was still firmly on team #SaveElara—but for sheer, pragmatic survival. If the plot broke, I was almost certainly roadkill.
I scrambled to the hearth, grabbing the pot of water my mother had been heating and a relatively clean-looking cloth from a basket. It would have to do.
"Elara! What are you doing? Stay inside!" my mother cried as I yanked the door open.
"I have to help! I know what to do!" I yelled back, the words tasting like a lie.
The scene in the village square was a nightmare painted in moonlight and shadow. The Grimfang Wolf, a hulking beast of matted fur and dagger-like teeth, lay dead in a smoldering heap, the smell of burnt hair thick in the air. But the victory was not clean.
Kaelen was on his knees, clutching his left arm. Even from a distance, I could see the dark, glistening flow of blood between his fingers, soaking through his torn sleeve. His face was pale, etched with pain and shock. A few other villagers were tending to their own, giving the volatile young man a wide berth.
I sprinted over, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Kaelen! Let me see!"
He looked up, his grey eyes clouded with pain and confusion. "Elara? You should not be out here… you are unwell…"
"New symptoms. Sudden competence in field medicine," I babbled, dropping to my knees beside him. Gently but firmly, I pried his hand away from the wound.
I swallowed a gasp. It was bad. Four deep, parallel gashes ran from his shoulder to his elbow. They weren't just bleeding; they were oozing. The first-aid knowledge in my head immediately flagged it: risk of infection, risk of tendon damage, significant blood loss.
"Hold still," I commanded, my voice surprising me with its steadiness. I poured the warm water over the wound, clearing away the worst of the blood and dirt. He hissed in pain, his jaw clenching, but he didn't pull away. His wide eyes were fixed on me, on my focused expression, on hands that moved with a certainty Lina had never possessed.
I tore the cloth into strips. "This is going to hurt," I warned, before pressing a folded pad of cloth directly onto the worst of the bleeding and starting to wrap the strip around his arm to hold it in place. I tied it off with a tight, efficient knot I'd never known how to tie before today.
The entire process took maybe two minutes. When I was done, the bleeding had already begun to slow, contained by the pressure bandage.
Silence fell, except for our ragged breathing. The fight was over. The beast was dead. Kaelen was alive.
He stared at his bandaged arm, then back at me, his expression unreadable. The confusion was still there, but the pain was receding, replaced by something else. Something intense and curious.
"How did you know to do that?" he asked, his voice low.
Before I could concoct a flimsy lie about a dream or a book I'd read, the system notifications bloomed across my vision.
[Urgent Quest Complete: 'A Stitch in Time']
[Reward: 25 Plot Deviation Points awarded!]
[New Title Unlocked: 'The Unexpected Medic']
[+5% effectiveness for all non-combat healing items and skills.]
[Relationship Change: Kaelen's Favor (Neutral) -> (Curious)]
[Overall Plot Deviation: 3.7%]
I nearly laughed aloud. Three point seven percent! Saving the male lead's arm was worth a whopping three and a half percent deviation. It seemed the system really didn't like it when its main character got broken.
But the most interesting notification was the last one, a tiny pop-up from the comment section tab.
HistoryBuff01:Fascinating. The application of that specific pressure and binding technique is not documented in this region for another 200 years. How curious.
I froze. The comments weren't just spoilers and cheers. They were analysis. And they noticed anomalies.
Kaelen was still looking at me, waiting for an answer. I gave him a weak smile, the same one I'd used hours ago.
"I told you," I said, my voice trembling slightly with genuine, post-adrenaline shock. "I read it in a book."
The look in his stormy eyes told me he didn't believe a word of it. And for the first time, that didn't fill me with panic. It filled me with a tiny, thrilling spark of power.
I had changed the story. I had saved the hero. And the system had paid me handsomely for it.
As the villagers began to emerge, looking at me and my handiwork with new eyes, I realized something. I wasn't just surviving the plot anymore.
I was editing it.