Finally, Ravian’s breath broke. He threw the last punch, his hand remained on Lian’s chest, and his head dropped.
The anger inside him began to crack, and his voice broke.
"What if he dies?"
Lian said nothing and just decided to listen. Now was not the time to speak, it was time to listen.
"What if he can’t lead the tribe anymore?" His shoulders trembled.
"I am the heir." He gave a bitter and short laugh.
"But I can’t even protect myself." Everything he had held back in front of his family was now pouring out.
"I am weak." He clenched his fist on Lian’s chest.
"I have always been weak. If I was as strong as him, he wouldn’t have had to go himself." His breath trembled.
"If I was as strong as you, no one could have done this to him."
Lian looked at him for a few moments, then, unlike the heavy atmosphere, laughed briefly.
"What’s so funny?" Ravian raised his head with anger.
"That you think becoming strong happens just by wishing and regretting." Lian said calmly, and then added.
"But if you really want to become strong, I can help you."
For a moment, Ravian even forgot his grief.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Like you?" His eyes brightened slightly.
A faint smile settled on Lian’s face.
"No." Then more seriously.
"Like yourself. But much stronger than what you are now." Reaching his level was almost impossible, especially for the natives of this world who had a completely different power system.
A spark of hope appeared in Ravian’s eyes, very weak but real and present.
"Besides, who said your father’s future or your tribe’s future is over?" Lian then said.
"Both his arms are cut off." Ravian lowered his gaze, his voice bitter.
"Even the tribe’s best healers can’t bring back lost arms."
Lian just smiled.
"Don’t worry."
Ravian raised his head and saw Lian’s strange confidence.
"Can you do something?"
Lian did not answer directly, he picked up the spear from the ground and handed it to him.
"Let’s go back."
Ravian looked at him for a few moments, then took the spear. This time he did not resist.
When the two returned to the tribe, Averian had been taken to the medical center. The medical center was built inside a wide and moist root.
The smell of medicinal plants, blood, smoke, and bitter pastes was in the air.
A few stone beds were placed on both sides of the space, healing plants were shining with white and green light above the patients’ heads.
Averian was lying on the main bed. The two ends of his arms were wrapped with layers of plant paste and cloth.
Three healers were standing around him. One was controlling the flow of vital mana, another was trying to keep the bleeding stopped.
The third was grinding plants in a stone bowl.
The level of healing in this world was thousands of steps behind the Ruined Realm and even Lian’s world. The difference was so great that it could not even be described.
Of course, it was also logical. This world did not have access to all the advantages that awakened ones had, and they were forced to treat patients with these same plants.
Sera, Nemi, their mother, a few tribe elders, and the guards’ commander were present.
When Sera saw Ravian, she immediately went to him and struck his chest with her healthy hand.
"Never do something so stupid again!"
Ravian said nothing, and Sera struck his chest again but this time weaker.
Tears were still on her face.
"Did you think if you also went and didn’t come back, what would our mother do?"
"I’m sorry." Ravian lowered his head.
Sera looked at him for a few moments, then turned to Lian.
"Thank you for bringing him back."
Lian nodded, his gaze fixed on Averian’s wounds. From close range, what he had seen was clearer.
Two almost identical cuts, smooth, the bones were not broken or shattered but only severed. On the edge of the wound, a very thin trace of cold and dark energy remained.
Something like a shadow that had frozen on the burnt tissue.
Lian frowned, his guess became stronger, and then he stepped forward.
"May I?"
"What are you going to do?" the main healer, an elderly woman with pale blue scales, asked hesitantly.
Lian reached his hand into his storage space.
He took out a small glass bottle, a green and golden liquid was swirling inside it. Even from behind the glass, its dense vital energy could be felt.
It was one of the healing potions he had bought, of course a B-rank healing potion that had high value, but he had no problem using this potion for this old man.
But Averian was not just the tribe leader. The information, security, and trust of the Lacerians largely depended on his survival and health.
Besides, he wanted to ask this old man some questions, so he could not let him die.
Lian opened the bottle’s cap. The healer stepped forward.
"Wait, what is that?"
Without answering, he poured the liquid on Averian’s chest and arms, and everyone was shocked for a moment.
"What are you doing?!" the healer shouted.
Before the liquid could spill on the bed, it turned into green and golden light. The bright energy spread over the tribe leader’s body. First, it gathered on the severed wounds.
The bleeding stopped at that same moment. The cloths started shining from underneath.
The healers stepped back. A quiet sound was heard from under the layers of cloth.
The sound of growth. White bone came out from the severed point. At first only a few centimeters, then faster, and the two arm bones took shape.
Red muscle strands wrapped around them. Veins grew like thin branches, and nerves formed among the tissue.
Skin stretched over the muscles, and finally, green and gray scales appeared on the surface.
Two complete forearms, two wrists, and fingers.
Averian’s hands regrew right before the eyes of everyone in the medical center.
The space became completely silent.
Nemi even forgot her crying. Sera looked at the new hands with a half-open mouth.
Averian’s wife had placed both hands on her mouth, her eyes full of disbelief and hope.
The healers had stepped back a few steps, their gaze at Lian was like looking at something sacred or incomprehensible.
Averian suddenly took a deep breath. His chest rose, and color returned to his face.
His eyes opened, he looked at the ceiling for a few moments, then turned his head and his gaze fell on his family, and then on his hands.
He raised them in front of his face, bent his fingers, and opened them again.
"This..." His voice was weak and confused.
"What happened?"
His wife could no longer hold back. She hugged him, and Nemi clung to her father from the other side. Sera also came closer.
Ravian stood a few steps back, but his eyes were wet.
"Your hands... came back." the main healer said with a trembling voice.
Averian gave his gaze to Lian. It took a while for him to put everything together, and then he moved away from his family and tried to sit up.
"You?"
"Yeah." Lian said calmly.
The tribe leader looked at him for a few moments. This time, the gratitude was not from the position of a leader, nor as someone who has a political debt.
His voice came from the deepest part of his being.
"Not just my children, but now you have also saved me. This is a favor that I will never forget as long as I live."
"Thank me later. First, tell me what happened." Lian said with a little seriousness.
Averian was silent for a few moments, then allowed the healers to open the remaining cloths.
His new hands were completely healthy. He took a deep breath and started explaining.
"When we reached the Silvervein, the Varkesh were already there." His tone was calm, but anger could be felt beneath it.
"I intended to talk, but those bastards wouldn’t even listen." His gaze hardened.
"Their commander directly ordered an attack." He explained about the conflict. The Varkesh had fortified themselves around the basin beforehand.
Their archers shot arrows from above the roots. The Lacerian forces were initially pushed back.
But Averian personally entered the battle, defeated two Varkesh commanders, broke their defensive line, and the tide slowly turned.
"We were winning." He said and added.
"A few of them had even dropped their weapons. That’s when that creature appeared."
"Looked like me?" Lian asked.
"Yeah." Averian nodded.
"Was it a man or a woman?"
"A woman."
Lian’s guess moved one step closer to certainty.
"Appearance?"
Averian thought for a few moments.
"She was tall, had fair skin, silver hair, and completely black eyes."
"She wore light dark armor, built for speed, the best armor I had ever seen, a masterpiece in every way." Then he said more slowly.
"There was no emotion on her face. No anger, no excitement, and not even hatred." He looked at his new hands.
"As if cutting off my hands was no different for her than cutting a dry branch."
"Her weapon was a sword?" Lian also wanted to use the last piece of the puzzle.
"Maybe it was a sword, but I didn’t even see it clearly." He placed his hand on the previous spot of the wound.
"The first strike cut off my right hand, the second cut off my left hand." His voice became heavy for a moment.
"She could have killed me, but she didn’t. She just said we no longer have the right to approach the water."
Averian said the strange woman then stepped aside. And the Varkesh allowed the remaining soldiers to pick him up and return to the tribe.
It was complete humiliation. Not just defeat, but a major warning.
Lian let out a quiet sigh. Silver hair, black eyes, an emotionless face, and speed that Averian could not even follow.
He was almost sure. Maybe there were other details, but the chance that another person with all these characteristics existed among the Awakened ones was very low.
"I want to see the Varkesh." He then added.
"But it’s dangerous." Nemi immediately raised her head.
Her worry was real. Whatever that creature was, it was someone who had defeated her father in a few moves.
What Lian also face deadly danger?