The air in the treatment room was calm.
The white walls with blue veins were shining, and the healing crystals installed in the four corners of the room were slowly spreading healing energy in the space.
The steady sound of the machines filled the room’s silence, and through the large window next to the bed, the gentle light of the sun was shining inside.
Lian slowly looked around to test his vision, and there was no sign of that heavy darkness or dizziness.
The only thing he felt was pain, pain that was flowing through almost all the bones in his body.
With some difficulty, he moved his head and noticed that almost his entire body was covered with bandages.
He had been awake for a few dozen minutes now, after he woke up, Seraphina had rushed to bring the doctors and healers of the base here to examine him.
At that same moment, the door opened.
An elderly physician wearing the white robe of the healers entered. When he saw that Lian was awake, he gave a faint smile and calmly approached the bed.
"Finally awake."
"...How many days was I unconscious?" Lian asked with a hoarse voice, just by considering how he felt, he was sure he had slept for more than a day.
"You were unconscious for two full days." The physician opened the file and looked at the information inside.
"You had burned almost all of your mana, more than ten bones were fractured, and much of your internal organs were damaged." He paused for a moment and then continued with a serious look.
"If you hadn’t activated those defensive skills simultaneously... not even one healthy cell would have remained in your body." They had checked his entire condition step by step.
A large part of the attacks that had hit this boy had been absorbed by his defensive skills and had kept his body safe.
Lian involuntarily gave a bitter smile, he was really lucky that he had obtained Molten Armor just a few days ago, otherwise he would have had no chance of standing against that monster.
He would have been killed in that first attack.
The physician shook his head.
"In all my life... I have only seen two people survive after such damage, and now... you are the third." A few moments of silence passed between them.
At that same time, Seraphina finally returned to the room, and her eyes sparkled for a moment and she breathed a sigh of relief.
She calmly came next to the bed.
"My work here is done, his condition is completely stable." The physician looked at both of them and left the room.
"Finally, I was afraid it would take longer, do you know how worried you made me! In just one month, you’ve worried me to the point of death three times!" Seraphina said angrily.
First, when Lian was summoned to the Ruined Realm as one of the victims, second, when he went to the border city, and now this is the third time.
She couldn’t understand this boy, is it really that hard to stay away from trouble and danger?
"I’m sorry." Lian said with a weak smile.
Seraphina made a fake frown.
"Half your body was almost destroyed, if you had arrived a few minutes later, you probably wouldn’t be here now." She then slowly let out her breath.
"For two days, I came here almost every few hours." A tired smile settled on her lips.
"Thank you so much, honestly, I never had a mother to nag at me, but I guess you’ve filled that position well." Lian added sarcastically.
"Sigh! Was that an insult or a compliment?" Seraphina looked at him with a real frown.
"Whichever you prefer."
"Forget it... I think I should go back to my work now, everyone is still busy collecting loot and rebuilding the base." She looked at Lian for a few moments.
"You just rest."
Lian calmly nodded.
"Okay."
Before leaving, Seraphina made sure once more that his condition was stable, and then the door closed.
Lian was completely alone and finally had the chance to look at his status.
A few seconds later... he opened the system window.
At that same moment... the entire space in front of him was filled with blue notifications, so many that even scrolling the page was not enough.
Dozens of notifications related to experience, killing monsters, new skills, quest rewards, he calmly started closing the notifications and finally reached the most important one.
[ Emergency Quest Completed ]
[ Base #3 Successfully Defended ]
[ Rewards: +1 Level, +100 Stat Points, +10 Fragments ]
"Reward reduction due to external help, huh..." Lian involuntarily smiled, the system’s behavior was clear, and he had guessed such a thing.
He continued closing the notifications, at the bottom of the page, the amount of his free stat points was displayed.
Stats points: 110
A frown settled on his face.
"One hundred and ten?" He had not been present in the final battle against the Abyssal River Drake, so there was no way he could have gotten points for killing that monster.
So... where did those ten extra points come from? He thought for a few moments and then suddenly his gaze fell on his current level.
[ Level 16 ]
At that same moment, he understood.
"Right..." The Quest had caused him to go up one Level, so those ten points... must be the Level Up reward.
But his frown deepened.
"Only ten?" He remembered the general information about five-star classes.
Between Level 10 and 20... each Level gives fifty Stat Points, but the Monster class gives only ten?
He was silent for a few seconds and then shrugged.
"So this class finally has a weakness too." But he very soon lost interest, for him, obtaining Stat Points was much easier than for normal people.
By hunting monsters, they constantly generated points.
In contrast, only four Levels remained until the first Evolution, and that thought alone was enough to revive excitement in his being.
He immediately opened the next page and decided to take a look at his new skills.
[ New Skills Acquired ]
His eyes sparkled a little, he had obtained four new skills.
He opened the first skill, which he had obtained from the Ironhorn Marsh Drake.
[ Iron Fortress Charge ]
[ Rank: Common ( + ) ]
[ Description: Concentrates all physical power into a direct charge, charge speed increases significantly, upon impact, a powerful shockwave is released, the chance of breaking shields and armors is very high, the longer the charge distance, the greater the impact power. The power of each strike depends on the amount of mana consumed. ]
Lian read the description for a few moments.
"Not bad for breaking defensive lines." This was a skill he could use in wars to break the enemy’s military formations.
Then he went to the second skill, which he had obtained from the Thunder Spine Serpent.
[ Thunderstep ]
[ Rank: Common ( + ) ]
[ Description: With each movement, lightning energy is stored in the user’s legs, allows instant Dash over short distances up to 500 meters, after each Dash, an electrical explosion is created, enemies around who are at least 5 levels weaker than the user become temporarily paralyzed. Consumes 2 mana per minute. ]
This time Lian’s eyes really sparkled.
"If I combine this with Fallen Wolf Speed..." He did not even finish the sentence, this skill could take his speed to a completely new level.
Without a doubt... this was one of the best skills he had obtained so far.
Besides, paralyzing enemies was also a huge help, even if it only works on enemies 5 levels weaker than him, it can be very helpful in wars or battles with large groups of monsters.
Besides, if it is upgraded, its range and offensive power might increase too.
The third skill.
[ Predator’s Frenzy ]
[ Rank: Common ( + ) ]
[ Description: Each time the user kills an enemy 5 levels higher, Attack Speed increases by 3 units, Critical Damage also increases by 3 units. Consumes 3 mana per minute. ]
A calm smile settled on Lian’s face.
"So the more I kill, the stronger I become, but if I’m not mistaken, attack speed and Critical Damage are among the traits that become accessible after the first evolution."
This was exactly suitable for his own crazy fighting style, and what caught his attention was that this skill increased trait stats that an awakened one who has not passed the first evolution does not have access to.
Critical Damage and attack speed are both traits that can be increased with fragments, but unfortunately, their panel is still not open.
And the last skill, which he had obtained from the River Fang Eel.
[ Water Air ]
[ Rank: Common ( + ) ]
[ Description: The user can breathe underwater without any problem, resistance in water increases by 20%. ]
Lian calmly nodded, compared to the previous ones, it was weaker, but at least he no longer needs to worry in water environments.
Defense... Diamond Skin and Solar Forge Aegis, almost perfect.
Speed... Fallen Wolf Speed, Thunderstep.
Tracking... Predator’s Instincts.
Field control... Eternal Frozen Apocalypse.
And now... his offensive power had also made a big leap, but despite all this... he quietly whispered under his breath.
"But still not enough to kill a Level 35."
The battle with the Abyssal River Drake had taught him that he still had a very long way to go to reach the most powerful creatures of this world.
Still... a long road lay ahead.
At that same moment...
Knock...
Knock...
The quiet sound of knocking on the door was heard, Lian raised his head.
The door opened and one of the doctors entered the room and said with respect.
"Two people have come to see you."
Lian raised an eyebrow.
"Who?"
The doctor paused for a moment.
"Commander Elizabeth." And then he continued.
"And Commander Valerian Cross."
Lian remained motionless for a few seconds, then calmly closed the system window.
It seemed... the commanders of both bases had come to say hello.