Leon woke up in a nest of warm blankets. The main lights were still off from the power outage, but it looked like someone had set up a few battery lanterns and put them on the shelves. Blinking, Leon quickly noticed the two men arguing just a few metres away from him, their voices echoing throughout the dark store.

“Are you fuckin’ with me right now?” The one man said, his accented voice making Leon frown. He was the one that wanted to kill him in case he was infected like in a zombie movie. “I get that your job makes you inclined to help people, but that kid is obviously infected. We can’t just let him walk out of here so that he can join the rest of the monsters out there.”

The other man let out a deep, weary sigh, and Leon immediately spotted the familiar blood-speckled lab coat. Since he was still alive, the man had obviously gotten his way in regard to helping him.

“How do you suppose that? Have you written a case study on how people transform into undead? If so, I would be incredibly grateful if you shared it.”

“What?” The man spluttered, raising his voice further. “You know I don’t, smartass.”

“Then why are you so certain he’s going to change? Because the demon that bit him was wearing a uniform? How do you know for certain the supermarket worker became infected from a bite when you didn’t see him transform in the first place? More importantly, where is the demon that bit the worker because I certainly can’t find it?”

The man growled in frustration, almost like a child that didn't get his way. “Maybe it wandered away. Besides, I don’t got to see a dog shit in the street to know who’d dun it. Some things are just obvious.”

"Because you saw it in a movie, right?" The doctor shook his head. "I can't believe I'm arguing about this."

They continued to argue in circles, allowing Leon to eventually zone out. He was still exhausted after the short nap, but that wasn’t the reason why. The shock of what happened earlier was just too much to process. Honestly, he was surprised to even be alive. The missing arm was to be expected, though. There was only pain coming from his right arm while the left had no sensation at all, so he had to assume it was gone.

The fact that he lived and breathed was mostly luck, and that terrified him.

So many things could have gone wrong. If Leon hadn’t been thrown into a display of knives, he wouldn’t have finished the demon off when he did, leaving it to continue its rampage and maybe even kill a few people. If there were two or maybe even three demons, Leon would've been killed in seconds. If he hadn’t seen that woman at the New Year’s party get killed, he would've had no idea that it was going to try and bite him on the neck, giving him a chance to sacrifice his arm in exchange for his life.

And if the guy in the lab coat who Leon assumed was a doctor hadn’t come at the last second, then he probably would've bled out by now. No, he actually wouldn’t have been able to stab the demon in the temple since it got smacked upside the head with a baseball bat first. His continued existence right now was nothing more than a set of lucky coincidences.

It was all over.

Leon had spent so much time training to become strong. Hours of work every single day since he was a child, and now it was all worthless. He was worthless. After what happened with his parents, Leon vowed to never be a burden again. Now, he'd truly failed that goal the very day that it was put to the test.

He would never regain his arm or have a chance at becoming independent. He was forever going to be a burden to those he loved, and that would all but force them to leave him behind. Leon's heart rate spiked at the thought of how helpless and weak he was. He needed to be stronger now more than ever, and yet the very first demon he faced, he got severely injured and lost an arm.

They were trapped in the building by demons and the threat of nuclear destruction. For all he knew, his mother was probably dead, torn apart by a monster from his nightmares. His friends would also be forced to leave him behind to save themselves. The worst part was that it wouldn't be their choice. Either they would support him and die, or leave him behind to save themselves.

The doctor shouldn't have tried to keep him alive. There was no way forward now, his only option to kill himself before a demon ate him alive, its maw of pointed fangs snapping at his-. As Leon's thoughts spiralled, a wave of strength rushed out of his stomach and spread around his body, warm and comforting.

Leon shot up. Strength filled him, steady and calm as it supported his injuries. And unlike the horrible fire in his now missing arm, this new power felt… right. Almost as if the substance swirling randomly throughout his body was meant to be there. But as soon as that wave of strength filled his body, it began to recede from his limbs and gather back in his abdomen where the sensations all but disappeared.

Odd, but he didn't have time to explore it now.

The two men had long since stopped arguing and looked over. Despite the Doctor’s insistence on defending him, Leon noticed his expression flicker with shock and fear. Still, that reaction was mild compared to the others. Someone yelped behind Leon, a few others gasped as they stopped taking food off the shelves, and one person even ran away. He bolted down to the end of the aisle as though Leon was going to pounce on him.

“Uh,” Leon said, glancing at the people around him before looking at the doctor. He was sitting on a milk crate with a bloody baseball bat under his legs while another man in a police uniform attempted to loom over him. “Thank you for saving my life, Sir. I would definitely be dead if you didn’t have such a kind heart.”

The tension faded by a notch, making Leon realise that they didn’t know he was unaffected by the demon’s bite. Despite the doctor’s insistence, he really had no idea what would happen in such an unprecedented situation.

“Thank goodness,” The doctor muttered, letting out a breath. “It’s alright, son. I was only doing my job. Besides, we have to band together in times like these or else we’ll all kill each other before the monsters get us.”

He glanced at the officer, earning a sneer in return.

“My name is Eric Goodwin, but you can just call me Eric. I'm the head doctor at the Oncology ward of the local university hospital, and these are my students."

Leon found a bunch of young adults looking at him cautiously. They were all from different backgrounds and none of them wore lab coats, but they did wear a range of professional clothing such as button-up shirts and blouses.

"If I may, son," Eric said, bringing Leon's attention back to him. "What the hell happened?”

That was when Leon noticed his surroundings. A few metres away from where he rested, a streak of blood was smeared across the floor where it abruptly ended in an oval of shattered tiles. They had obviously dragged him there before moving him further away, most likely to treat and clean him up. Spotting the puddle of black liquid, a shiver ran up Leon's spine. There was also a blackened, half-melted towel next to the cracked tiles, the scene telling its own story.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Leon felt sick knowing that had been inside his… arm? Wrapped up in a bandage by his side was his arm. Only unlike his expectations, it was still attached to his body. He immediately tried to clench his hand, but when that failed, he reached down to examine the bandages covering it.

"Stop!" Eric shouted, making Leon hesitate. "Your arm is still there, but it's currently bound for a reason. It's, uh, a bit hard to explain, so let me show you instead."

Eric walked over and pulled out his phone. He showed Leon a video of him while he was unconscious. Well, semi-conscious considering his left arm was tearing at a young man's shirt. Worse, it was grey and shrivelled just like the demon who had attacked him.

"Everything beneath your shoulder began to wither when that black fluid leaked out. A few of us rushed over, but then the hand came alive and attacked some of us. We quickly held it down and used a sedative from the pharmacy next door. I intended to fully sedate you for everyone's safety, but that obviously didn't work since you’re moving around just fine. After that, we bound your arm up so that it couldn't attack anyone again. You can probably take the bandage off with near certainty that your arm won't come alive. It seemed that your arm became weaker with each passing second, almost as if it was 'dying' without the black fluid."

Leon nodded, inwardly shocked at what was going on. His arm had been fully healed, but it had also been transformed as a side effect. Would it attack him if he unbandaged it? Would it rot and fall off without the black liquid? Or would it slowly infect him, turning him into a demon like it tried to before?

"Anyway, would you be comfortable sharing your experience with us? We're very curious as to what happened."

“I… don’t actually know,” Leon said, turning back to Eric. The older man's hair was greying at his temples and he had a kind face. Leon could lie, but that probably wouldn't help anyone. “After I killed the demon, a sensation of warmth soaked into my body. It felt like I was being reborn, and then a message appeared in front of my face. You know, the ones about aura saturation?”

Seeing the blank looks of everyone around him, Leon wondered what he was missing. "When the bombs dropped, did none of you feel like you were on fire?"

"No, we didn't experience any of that. The teaching hospital is farther out of the city so all the heads of department came together to discuss the situation, and as I was the head of the oncology ward, we decided that it would be best for my department to lead a group out to ground zero while the rest of the hospital waited for patients to start coming in. We were planning on meeting up with the military along with some paramedics, but then a flood of people and cars fleeing from some demons blocked the road. We had to get out of the ambulances and run until we eventually arrived here."

"And this guy is?" Leon said, glancing at the man who wanted Leon to die.

"That's Dominic, or Dom as he likes to be called. He's a hospital security guard that came along, but he isn't important," Eric said, not even turning to the man as his frown sunk into a glare. "Anyway, please continue on with your story."

Leon nodded, correcting his assumption that this was a police officer. "Anyway, a bunch of people, me included, felt like we were on fire when the bombs dropped. I thought it was radiation, but then I threw up and the heat faded away."

"That does sound like radiation exposure. Intense burning of the skin, nausea, and loss of consciousness are common symptoms, but they definitely do not fade away after vomiting."

Eric apologised for interrupting and gestured for Leon to continue.

"Most of us lived after throwing up, but a lot of people passed away as well. At least I think they did. I couldn't feel a pulse so I'm not entirely sure."

Leon took a deep breath to master himself. "After throwing up, there were these notifications that kept popping up. Like little lines of text that say how many points of 'aura saturation' I have. Anyway, after I killed the demon, my body filled with this gentle warmth, my aura saturation reached the limit of one hundred, and then the bite on my arm started burning."

"Burning? That's interesting. Do you think the burning in your arm was similar to the burning that made you throw up?"

Leon blinked, unsure of how to answer. "I think so. I initially believed it was radiation poisoning, but now I'm not so-"

“Stop foolin’ around, boy,” Dominic roared, his hand resting on the holstered gun at his hip. “Tell us the truth! You've been infected by that demon, haven't ya?”

Leon stood up and slowly backed away. If Dominic pulled his gun out, running away would be the only option. He wasn't going to fight someone with a loaded weapon. Leon mentally prepared himself to run, but as he took a deep breath, a gentle pressure began to spread out from his stomach.

It followed his circulation and gradually spread around his body, sinking into his muscles and bones. His mind focused as the world steadied itself, almost as if he'd been out of balance until now. Leon basked in the feeling, but when Dominic tensed up and some random medical staff gasped, he realised that his skin was steaming.

A dull haze curled over his arms and legs, and a bit even rose through the fabric of his torn-up tracksuit. It was almost like he'd jumped out of a hot bath and let the steam rise off of his skin in the cool night air. However, no matter how pressing the situation was, Leon was forced to ignore the mist when a screen appeared in front of his face.

[Congratulations! By saturating your flesh with natural aura, you have successfully awakened your spirit and gained the ability to control the force residing within your abdomen. This power is known as Qi, and it resides within a spiritual organ known as your dantian. All enlightened beings possess Qi. This power is a condensed form of natural aura, and although you are unable to see it right now, everything around you is producing this invisible aura. If you wish to learn more, send Qi through your channels in order to lay a foundation that will follow you for the rest of your life.]

Leon blinked as the notification disappeared, only to be bombarded with another.

[Congratulations! You have successfully ignited your life essence and reached level 1. All living beings possess life essence. It is the foundational pillar of existence and pervades all living entities. If you kill enemies of another species, your body will absorb most of their life essence. You will not, however, be able to absorb a substantial amount of life essence from your own species. The System has placed limits on this to ensure greater societal stability so please do not slaughter your own people to level up.]

[Interface unlocked.]