'Fuck me.'
After he was finished gloating, Zarek started to curse. He was really going to bleed out if this Challenge Hub didn't hurry up and do something about this.
Challenge Hubs didn't heal you—at least they shouldn't. But they were also designed to give you exactly what you needed, a reward perfectly suited to your needs. That was why Priya had ended up getting exactly the Skill she needed to take her abilities to the next level.
Once she reached C Class, her second Talent should come in if nothing unexpected happened. Then, Zarek would have even less to worry about.
The synergy between Priya's Talents was more than just a little bit scary. When all three of them Awakened, it could only be said that his girlfriend became a miniature tank. Though, much cuter.
'Okay… I'm becoming a little delirious… Anytime now would be nice, please…'
The problem with this Hub was known by Zarek from the start. It used so much of its energy conjuring up the Eclipse Threat that the amount it had left was limited.
Of course, this wouldn't screw Zarek out of what he deserved. But what it did mean was that it would take forever to accumulate the energy it needed to reward him properly.
Zarek had no choice but to change his focus from hoping for something that would heal him to something that stopped the bleeding.
The irony of this battle was that Zarek might be half-dead, but he had hardly used much of his energy at all. He still had plenty of Godsfall left, so he covered his bleeding limbs in Lurker's Godsfall, clogging up the gaping wound and stopping himself from bleeding out.
The good news? His blood began to pump semi-normally again.
The bad news? He was still in all sorts of pain.
'I better get my limbs back after this. If I'm going around with one arm and leg, I'm legitimately screwed.'
Actually, Zarek had experience in not just one but two lives with fighting with just one arm. It was hard to go through so much danger without losing something.
But he had never lost a leg before.
Well, he had lost a foot, but by then getting a decent approximation with a treasure was relatively easy, so it wasn't as bad.
But an entire leg? That was a problem, even if it was just cut off at the knee. A foot had been annoying enough, let alone this.
'Hurry up!' Zarek roared in his head.
The moment he said it, the pillar of light disappeared, and then the Hub blinked out of existence.
There, lying on the ground, Zarek blinked.
'… What the fuck.'
There was no healing, no notification, no pop-up screen to inform him of what he had gained. What the hell just happened? Who was fucking with him right now?
There was no way he had gone through all of that for nothing, right? What was he supposed to do now? Just hope that the boy-man wouldn't kill him?
This was the first thought Zarek spared toward the boy-man since the very start. In the apocalypse, anger was something you had to earn. Being enraged just for the sake of being enraged was something that killed you fast and quick.
Of course, Zarek rarely listened to his own advice, especially if it was related to Priya. But he knew when he could and couldn't afford to be reckless.
However, he was about to lose his mind.
'Focus!'
Zarek bit his tongue. His loss of blood and the shock his body was undergoing after losing two limbs were probably making him see double. He had to force himself to focus.
Luckily, his Charisma had been Limit-broken twice over, so he had the capital to force it.
Zarek did the only thing he could and pulled up his status menu, hoping that there was maybe something he had missed.
—
Name: [Zarek Ashborn]
Role: [Hero Candidate]
Profession: [Mnemonic Anato Scribe]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: D+] <B+>
>[Dexterity: D]
>[Intelligence: D+]
>[Endurance: DD]
>[Charisma: DDD] <B+>
Talents:
>[Axiograft: F-]
>>[Abilities: Graft]
[Comprehend, Imprint, and Graft]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
Skills:
[C Class Scouting: C+] <C+>
…
Notes:
[—]
—
Zarek's eyes sharpened, and he almost stood. Or, rather, he would have stood if not for the fact he literally only had one leg. He couldn't stand even if he wanted to.
His Profession—it had changed. But more important than that…
His Talents, all four of them… they had fused.
'Axiograft… Wait, where is the Growth Potential?'
The Growth Potential—it was gone, as though erased from existence. That didn't make any sense. Growth Potential was a basic function of the system. Even if he couldn't get a strong description of the Talent from his Scouting Skill, he should have been able to see its Growth Potential.
This was the first time he had seen a situation where he couldn't see his own Growth Potential.
There was a ripple through Zarek, and he felt a spike of pain again. He grit his teeth, not making a sound. With the gifting process seemingly already finished, he no longer had the protective barrier around him—which meant that the boy-man could approach whenever he wanted.
Zarek didn't know where he was, or if he thought that Zarek was already dead, but surely making noise wouldn't help.
'I'm going to die anyway like this…' Zarek grit his teeth. This was going to end up killing him.
If he survived an Eclipse Threat just to end up dying at the hands of a pathetic little boy with a man's head on his body, he was going to come back to life just to yeet himself off another cliff.
'Wait.'
Zarek's heart suddenly skipped a beat. His eyes turned to his arm that was splayed out to the side. The cuts had been so clean that his limbs didn't fly very far from him at all.
He tried to find his leg after, only to realize he had actually collapsed on top of it.
'Can I...?'