Zi-Cheng hesitated, he wasn’t sure how to respond.

Elena’s intention, her conviction was clear, but he simply couldn’t give her what she wanted. For those five hundred potions, he already pushed Developer Mode to its absolute limit.

If he pushed any further….

His hand instinctively pressed against his right eye.

That searing pain. That red-drenched vision.

Crossing that line wasn’t just some penalty game. The cost was something he knew he couldn’t afford.

Reese saw the look on his face, and decided to step in.

“Elena, I get it. You want to help as many people as possible, but we only have three days left before the event. Asking for more potions now is just—”

“What if I said I could help with production?”

Elena’s voice was steady, unlike Zi-Cheng, there was no hesitation.

She stepped forward, stopping at the workbench where dozens of half-finished potions sat quietly.

A faint crimson glow began to radiate from her hands.

“I always thought my skill could only be used on people,” she murmured. “But after watching Ven work, I started wondering—”

Her fingers hovered over a bottle of unfinished potion.

“If I applied my skill to a potion instead… what would happen?”

A gentle breeze stirred through the room, brushing softly against Zi-Cheng’s cheek.

Elena lifted a freshly brewed bottle of Peach Potion, her hands glowing with a faint crimson light.

Almost immediately, the air was filled with a rich, sweet fragrance, like the ripest of peaches basking in the summer sun. The once-clear liquid within the bottle began to shift, absorbing the light that pulsed from Elena’s fingertips. Slowly, its color deepened into a delicate blush pink, shimmering as though infused with life itself.

She took a steady breath, her voice calm yet filled with quiet conviction.

"First, Empathetic Heart to enhance the potion’s potency… then, Transference—"

With a graceful motion, she lifted her arms.

The glow within the bottle flared, no longer just light but something almost alive. Like a school of radiant fish, the luminous essence leapt from the potion, scattering into the air in brilliant arcs.

One by one, the tiny streaks of red light danced across the workbench, touching the half-finished potions. The moment they made contact, the dull, inert mixtures flickered awake, transforming in waves of soft pink luminescence.

The sight was breathtaking.

Zi-Cheng watched in stunned silence as the bottles pulsed with newfound energy, the entire table glowing like a sea of sparkling stars, each potion now alive with the same warmth that radiated from Elena herself.

This confirmed what he had suspected all along, Elena’s power was never meant for combat.

It existed to heal, to nurture, and to uplift.

In an instant, dozens of potions were completed, their soft glow flickering across the table like embers scattered in the dark.

image [https://i.imgur.com/Vnwt8P5.jpeg]

But such a magnificent sight came at a cost.

Elena staggered. Her body swayed, legs buckling beneath her. She barely managed to steady herself, her face turned ghostly pale as sweat rolled down her forehead in thick, heavy beads.

“Elena, stop!” Reese rushed forward, hands firmly pressing down on Elena’s shoulders.

“I can still do this!” Elena gasped, forcing herself upright.

The soft-spoken, easygoing girl was gone. In her place stood an unshakable force, immovable as stone. No matter how hard Reese tried, Elena simply refused to back down.

(Why? What’s driving her to push herself this far?)

Zi-Cheng stood in shock, his mind racing.

He knew this feeling too well. The delusion that sheer willpower alone could defy the body’s breaking point. The reckless belief that limits were just an illusion, blinding one from seeing the inevitable cost.

If she kept going—

Something inside him snapped.

Zi-Cheng lunged forward, catching Elena’s wrist with an unrelenting grip.

"Enough!" His voice cut through the air, sharp and final. "You can’t just brute-force your way through! Pushing past the limit won’t make you stronger! What good does it do if it breaks you?"

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

His words slammed into her like a crashing wave.

Elena’s breath caught. Her body tensed, as if the entire world had just ground to a halt.

The soft red glow surrounding her hands wavered—then vanished.

“I… I’m sorry…”

Elena lowered her head like a child caught red-handed, her stubborn eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Zi-Cheng had seen that look before.

It was a memory from his old world, of someone just as headstrong.

Lin Kai-Wen.

From the moment she joined the team, she pushed herself harder than anyone, as if she had something to prove. Night after night, she stayed behind, taking on challenge after challenge, like she was racing against something unseen. No matter how many times they told her to slow down, to pace herself, she would always be there the next morning, asleep at her desk.

Zi-Cheng had warned her again and again not to overdo it. But all she ever heard was doubt, like he was questioning her ability. The more he tried to stop her, the harder she pushed back.

Until her body couldn’t take it anymore.

“What happened to her?” Elena asked softly.

Zi-Cheng exhaled. “After a year of nonstop grinding… she collapsed at work.”

Her family saw it as nothing less than workplace harassment. They accused the team of pressuring her into overwork, that it was their fault she burned herself out. No matter how much Kai-Wen tried to explain, it didn’t matter.

To her family, nothing could justify what had happened.

And so, despite her protests, she was forced to leave.

And that’s when Zi-Cheng saw it—her stubborn eyes, shimmering with unshed tears.

The same look Elena had now.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me.”

Elena hesitated, her fingers tightening slightly around the edge of her sleeve. A flicker of something unreadable crossed her face, but it quickly became a small casual smile.

“I don’t have a family. Even if something happens to me, no one’s going to blame you.”

Her voice was light, as if the words held no weight at all.

But Reese caught them.

And she did not like what she heard.

“What about Morris? Or Victor?” Her voice was sharper than before, edged with something close to anger. “What about me? And Ven? You think we wouldn’t care just because we’re not family?”

Zi-Cheng let out a slow breath, his gaze drifted to an unfinished bottle of Peach Potion.

The red glow had faded, but the scent of Egg Peaches still lingered.

And just like that, a memory resurfaced.

Kai-Wen’s last words before she walked away.

“I just wanted to help.”

Zi-Cheng came to a realization – some people are just wired differently.

They give everything for others, expecting nothing in return. But that doesn’t mean they want their efforts to be ignored, dismissed, or forgotten.

“Elena, I’m not rejecting what you’re trying to do.” Zi-Cheng met her gaze, his tone steady. “But pushing past your limits like this won’t accomplish anything.”

Kai-Wen’s mistake had taught him something important, that the words of concern often fell on deaf ears. Instead of lecturing her, guiding her toward a safer approach would have been a better option.

He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

“You don’t need to break yourself over this. Just don’t use your ability on all the potions at once.”

Elena blinked in surprise.

She had been bracing for a scolding, but instead, she was met with something entirely different.

“Let’s start small. Focus on just two bottles. We’ll see how much your body can handle first.”

“Ven, are you sure about this…?”

Reese wasn’t convinced, but when she saw Elena finally loosen up, she let out a small sigh and decided not to argue.

With Elena’s ability in play, potion production surged, nearly doubling their usual output. By the time the three days were up, they had not only met Victor’s target of five hundred but surpassed it. Over six hundred bottles of Peach Potion now sat in the Sanctuary warehouse, prepped and ready for the free clinic event.

"How do you manage all those potions anyway?" Zi-Cheng asked as he placed the last potion into the wooden crate. "I mean, does the Sanctuary have a logistics team or something?"

Three days of non-stop grinding, and finally, the massive order was done. There would still be more to make during the free clinic event, but at least, for now, he could take a break.

“No worries! Every year, people who’ve received help from the Sanctuary come back to volunteer.”

Elena giggled, as if she was looking forward to a reunion with old friends.

“That many volunteers, huh?” Zi-Cheng mused.

“Not really,” Elena admitted. “Working at the free clinic event means dealing with injured people up close, and that...well…”

“You mean people might run into someone they know.”

Elena nodded.

As a combatant at the arena, there were only two ways to leave the ring – either you walked out, or you didn’t. Some injuries meant the end of a career, while others ruined lives with irreversible damage. It’s a loss that wasn’t easily forgiven.

“I’ve heard that settling scores is pretty common in the old district.” Elena’s voice carried a bitter edge. “If it weren’t for the city guards and… certain groups keeping things in check, who knows how bad it would get.”

(Certain groups? She can’t possibly mean….)

Zi-Cheng frowned. He knew every city had its fair share of shady business, but the fact that even Elena, an ordinary girl raised by the Sanctuary, practically isolated from the rest of the city, was aware of these people spoke volumes.

(So gangsters and thugs are volunteering at a free clinic?)

The thought alone nearly made him rolled his eyes.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t entirely ridiculous. The free clinic itself was already an oddity, treating not just the poor and elderly, but also fighters too broke to afford treatment, ex-combatants barely scraping by, and people who had taken one too many hits in the ring….

The idea of two former opponents, once at each other’s throat, now sitting side by side waiting for medical aid, it was almost laughable.

But that was the reality.