Pain. Severe pain throughout his body woke the pale-faced boy with an unceasing impulse. Widening his eyelids, Asan woke up and immediately felt a wave of paralysis that prevented him from moving. His mind was unable to think, so he was panicked and confused.
"Where... Where am I?" he asked weakly into the darkness surrounding him.
He heard no sounds or anything else. He remembered fighting Ronnie and then Laszlo had helped him at the end, after which he had lost consciousness. What happened to the others? Were they alive? Had the pervitin affected the rest of them, and had everyone made it to the warehouses?
When the boy tried to get up, burning pain in his legs stopped him. Right, he had torn his muscles when making impossible side-to-side movements during the fight. He wanted to examine his body, but it was so dark that he couldn't see a thing.
And what was he supposed to do? A loud groan came from his stomach, indicating the boy's hunger, and his throat was incredibly dry, as if he had been in a desert. Licking his parched lips, he tried to sit up when suddenly he saw light coming from somewhere to the right and heard the sound of a door opening. Straining to turn his head, he saw a familiar silhouette in the firelight Laszlo.
"O... Hi, Laz..." The boy managed to greet with a hoarse and weak voice.
The flame flickered, and its owner soon began running towards Asan, causing him to briefly fear for a moment, but he quickly understood what was happening.
"Asan! Asan your division, you're alive!" The friend shouted as he approached Asan. As soon as he got close, he felt the embrace of his friend, but at the same time, pain.
Even from simple touches, it became unbearably painful.
"Mgh!" Asan involuntarily groaned, feeling the searing pain in his back.
Laszlo immediately jumped back from him with frightened eyes, then slumped. But soon he sat down next to his friend, illuminating his body with his small flame.
Now Asan could examine his own body, and… It was terrible. He saw that his hand, which he had used to wield the hammer, was swollen, and his legs were grotesquely covered in bruises, especially around the calves. His entire body was also wrapped in bandages. In some places on his body, there were bloody stains, giving Asan an even more uncertain appearance.
"H-How… How did you get out?" Asan whispered, shifting his gaze to his friend. His voice became grimmer after seeing the injuries on himself.
Laszlo slumped. Sadness was clearly reflected in his eyes, and Asan noticed how he nervously bit his lip, gnawing at it.
"We barely made it, with great difficulty, Asan. We managed almost at the last moment, but even so… There were casualties. Three in total."
Although it can be called a miracle that anyone survived at all, even so… Those who survived are not in the best condition right now. I feel terrible myself, of course not as bad as you, but still pretty awful."
Someone died. It was natural that not everyone could escape in that situation. Laszlo's words were undeniable; Asan was actually surprised that he could barely move after such injuries, let alone others.
"And… How did you guys get here? You never answered" Asan asked uncertainly, starting to rub his stiff neck.
Laszlo was silent for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
"We managed to kill the remaining Ronnie thanks to the drug that kicked in just in time. The others also came to their senses somehow, and we started moving towards the hangar. But when we were almost there, the drug wore off, and three people died immediately. A man and… a woman with a child."
They didn't manage to arrive on time. And you know what's the worst thing? The rain. The rain stopped when we got to the warehouses, right before the entrance, it suddenly disappeared! bitch! It just vanished!" Laszlo said, switching to a shout. Asan felt a storm of emotions in his heart and listened silently.
Fate. This was fate's joke, when you go through a treacherous path where people might die, and when you're almost there, the main enemy turns out to be dead. It's like if you want to take revenge on someone and you're almost at your goal, only to find out that they died of old age. Although the comparison isn't great, the emotions are the same—pain, bitterness, sadness, anger, confusion. All this pressure heavily affects your mental health, leading to irreparable consequences. But that's not the point.
"Clear…"
"How long have we been here?" Asan asked, stopping rubbing his neck and began to examine his body more closely.
"It's been three days. They gave you a separate hangar because you were delirious and screaming a lot. You probably don't remember this, but you woke up a couple of times. Your eyes were wild, and you raved about surviving and killing everyone. We had to do that to keep morale up. But don't worry, Bridgite took care of you the most. She barely slept at night just so you could feel a bit better for a second, so... Don't forget to thank her" said Laszlo and started to get up.
Why was she doing this? Maybe it's part of doctors' code of honor that the sickest patient needs the best care? Anyway, Laszlo was right.
He will definitely thank this girl who did everything to keep Asan's body alive.
"Where are you going?" Noticing Laszlo's movement, Asan decided to ask.
"I'm going to call Brigitta so she can examine you and give an estimate of your injuries. We can't just sit here forever; we need to at least find out how long it will take for you to recover" replied Laszlo and walked away, once again leaving the boy in the darkness. Hearing the door close, Asan lay on the cold Paul and decided to do something else. Opening the system, he was immediately flooded with notifications about victories that he quickly dismissed. Fortunately, he had gained a level.
[Level Increased!]
[characteristics]
[Level - 3]
[strength - 13]
[endurance - 28]
[agility - 16]
[perception - 11]
[intelligence - 12]
[wisdom - 10]
[Health points - 55/140]
[Mana - 32/120]
[Aura - Blocked]
Available points for distribution – 10.
The guy looked at the increased characteristics and was happy that he had finally leveled up. To be honest, he had a strong feeling that System for some reason slowed down experience accumulation, because the amount of time required to level up was too long. Anyway, he could already imagine wiping his nose at Laszlo and others, saying that he was now level 3. Still, it wasn't worth boasting about it too much.
Noticing his Health points, the guy just sighed gloomily.
[Health points – 55/14
He had already realized that his health wouldn't fully recover until his body healed from the wounds. But this didn't make things easier. He needed to figure out where to allocate the remaining 10 stat points. There was no point in investing in Vitality, since he already had quite a few health points, and mana always seemed sufficient. That left Agility, Dexterity, Perception, and Mana Regeneration.
Mana Regeneration could be immediately ruled out because it only restores mana. Perhaps it might prove useful in the future, but right now it was almost the most useless thing he had. Perception affects the senses, well... That's what Asan thought. It might come in handy in battle, and overall it sounded pretty good, but not enough to pour points into it. There were still Agility and Dexterity left.
With those two, everything is clear, he will either be able to lift a heavier barbell or dodge most attacks by bending his body at an incredible angle. Whether the first or the second, it sounds tempting.
And yet, what exactly was missing from his body at that moment to move better and be capable of killing all Ronnie rather than just some? The answer quickly came to mind. Immediately, five points of attributes flew into agility, which his body lacked. Yes, being stronger is cool, but he received two hits because he couldn't dodge in time, or got tangled up in their legs. Overall, he considered himself pretty slow, and that didn't sit well with him.
As soon as the points were allocated, Asan tried to figure out what had changed in his body, but unfortunately, with such injuries, it was impossible, although the wrist on his intact arm… Moved much more flexibly?
A strange feeling that told him little about increased agility. Suddenly, he heard the doors to the hangar opening and decided to take one last look at the system characteristics before getting distracted.
[strength - 13]
[endurance - 28]
[agility - 21]
[perception - 11]
[intelligence - 12]
[wisdom - 10]
[Health points - 55/140]
[Mana - 32/120]
[Aura - Blocked]
Points available for distribution: 5.
The guy decided to leave five points... Just in case. That was how it had always been. He felt calmer knowing that five points could help him in a pinch.
***
In the red light filtering through the street, Asan saw a short girl in a light sweater and sports pants. In her left hand, she held a torch that allowed him to clearly see her body and face. Asan hadn't previously looked closely at her face, but noticed that
She had a small, neat nose, small lips, and beautiful skin, free of unnecessary blemishes. Except for her hair, which was disgustingly dirty, though Asan's hair was like that too.
The girl walked silently towards him. Asan noticed that she was carrying a bottle of water and a can in one hand, pinching the bottle cap between her fingers. Approaching him, she squatted down and placed the food and water on Paul.
"How are you, Asan?" she said in a soft voice.
Asan didn't react to this; the girl's voice interested him little.
"Terrible. My whole body hurts terribly, and I can hardly move my legs" the guy answered honestly, looking at his legs, which were wrapped in bandages.
"Of course! You fought like a madman and got injured, all under the influence of drugs!" the girl said, throwing a furious but simultaneously understanding look at Asan.
The boy was not ashamed; he folded his hands into a steeple and looked at her questioningly.
"Wasn't this the best solution?" he asked in surprise. This was the best thing his mind could come up with at the time; if there was something better, he would have known about it.
"It was... And this... The worst thing. Just... Just promise me that you'll never touch that crap again, it's destroying you from the inside, I understand the situation forced you... But don't do it anymore!" the girl said, for some reason agitated. Ashan didn't need much intelligence to figure out why.
"Did you have problems with this?" he carefully asked her, though it was more like a challenge, because the girl immediately drooped.
"I don't want to talk about it, it's in the past. Let's just... I'll examine you" she quietly said and began examining her patient. Asan offered no resistance whatsoever.
Now the rain had become the most hated phenomenon in Asan's life.