Chapter 29
Nick woke up when the sun rose, he was sure that sleeping on a rock was not pleasant at all, but due to the pain in absolutely his entire body, except for his missing left arm, he still could not tell the difference. Looking at his status, he was not at all happy to see that his life force had dropped to 75%, now that he looked more closely, his stamina regeneration had dropped to 25%.
Not fun at all.
After looking at his status, he noticed a big increase in skills, and of course 30 free attribute points, which he immediately invested in mana regeneration.
Name: Dylan Ghostblade (Nick Miller) 15 years old
Race: Evolved Human [Rare] Lvl 27
Class: Mage of Arcane Will [Rare][Uniquely] Lvl 5
Class: Adept of the Art Phantom Sword [Rare] Lvl 5
Health 1370/1630 HP 2.445 HP/hour
Mana 25/2590 MP 2.43 MP/hour
Endurance 881/1870 ST 7 ST/hour 28.5 ST/hour
Statistics:
Strength 156
Dexterity 180
Stamina 187
Vitality 163
Constitution 165
Intelligence 167
Wisdom 146
Mental Control 204
Willpower 296
Perception 169
Charisma 45
Mana output 181
Mana 259
Mana Regeneration 243
Luck 37
0 free attribute points
Titles: Otherworldly Reincarnator [Legendary+], Special Skill Holder [Special], Contract with the Emerging Spirit [Uncommon], Class Line Progenitor [Legendary][Uniquely], Mage of Arcane Will [Rare], Adept of the Art Phantom Sword [Rare], Holder of the Unique Skill [Special][Uniquely].
Racial Skills:
Fast Recovery [Rare+]
Quick Learning [Uncommon]
Low adaptability of characteristics [Common]
Minor Adaptation [Common]
Lesser Mana Core [Common]
Low Mental Resistance [Common] Lvl 44
Low Poison Resistance [Common] Lvl 21
High Pain Resistance [Uncommon] Lvl 160
General Skills:
Reincarnator's Madness [Special][Unique] Lvl 402
Great Identification [Special] Lvl 401
Fake Status [Special] Lvl 401
Language Proficiency (Ramiast) [Uncommon] Lvl 168
Life Force Manipulation [Uncommon] Lvl 115
Lesser Spiritual Sense [Rare] Lvl 202
Lesser Soul Energy Manipulation [Rare] Lvl 201
Class: Mage of Arcane Will [Rare][Uniquely] Lvl 2
+90% to skill development speed,
+90% to understanding your own class.
Class Skills:
Magic Arcane Will [Rare] Lvl 218
Great Meditation [Rare] Lvl 210
Manipulation of Mana [Rare] Lvl 206
Mana Sense [Uncommon] Lvl 199
Casting Spells [Uncommon] Lvl 199
Magic of Stone [Uncommon] Lvl 136
Magic of Predictions [Uncommon] Lvl 123
Lesser Aura of Arcane Will [Common] Lvl 43
Parallel Thinking [Uncommon] Lvl 111
Class: Adept of the Art Phantom Sword [Rare] Lvl 2
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+60% to skill development speed,
+60% to understanding your own class.
Class Skills:
Phantom Sword Mastery [Uncommon+] Lvl 179
Stamina Manipulation [Uncommon] Lvl 150
Awakening of the Ghost [Uncommon+] Lvl 113
Ghost Flicker [Uncommon+] Lvl 109
Accelerated Perception [Uncommon] 115 Lvl
Nick lay on his back with his eyes open and thought that they had not yet been found, but when he heard Cassandra's voice, he was incredibly happy.
"Are you alive?" She asked and poked him with her foot. Even such a light push was very painful for him. Nick answered her with a hoarse voice.
"Why did you decide that I was dead?"
"Hmm, maybe that's because you lost so much blood that you should have been dead?"
"I think you're right, but you saw my race, I had every chance to survive, I'm stronger than normal people." Cassandra threw something that Nick didn't see.
"Maybe so, how high is your life force?"
"75%, but stamina regeneration is only 25%. How long ago did you find us?"
"Early yesterday evening, it was hard not to hear your blood. As for the arm, maybe Max can attach it back, if he has mana of course. For some reason, your limb didn't start to die off as quickly as it happens to all people." Cassandra asked with a subtext, Nick thought that this could be due to the Fast Recovery [Rare+] skill, after rereading its description, he realized that this was not the case.
Fast Recovery [Rare+] - Your body restores stamina and vitality 50% faster. (The skill does not heal damage directly, it only gives more vitality for natural healing.)
"I don't know, I don't have the skills to regenerate my body, I only use magic and life force to heal myself."
Nick answered, but Cassandra didn't believe him at all, the level of recovery she saw could be compared to her own, if she were 25 levels weaker. But she didn't focus on it.
"Okay, we'll be heading to our new camp in 20 minutes. We made you a wooden stretcher yesterday, so take heart, this is not going to be pleasant."
"Damn, I knew it would turn out exactly like this, I almost wish you hadn't come here."
"Yes, yes, as you say." Cassandra said and left.
Five minutes later, Linella came up to him, knelt down in front of him and began to stroke his head.
"How are you feeling sweetie, are you feeling like having some fun yet?" She asked with a silly face and a wink.
"Ha-ha-ha!" Nick laughed and winced in pain. When he calmed down, he was able to answer normally. "I appreciate your irony, but it literally makes my heart hurt right now."
"Mmm, that's good. I'll tell you something, yesterday Cassandra spent a long time healing you and spent all her mana on it, so be grateful. Also, Seth found the monster we killed yesterday, his claws are better than our weapons, so we almost win if they attach your arm."
"Yes, that creature's claws were comparable to my sword. I will repay them in the future, you don't have to worry."
"Okay." She said with a bright smile.
Nick and Lynella sat in silence until Cassandra and Seth arrived, carrying a stretcher. They tried to gently place him in it, but it was terribly painful. Nick almost stopped considering himself a man because of the pathetic sounds he made.
"Be patient!" Cassandra said sternly, which Linella did not like and she answered her.
"He's not a vampire, he doesn't have the ability to regenerate, and it's hard for anyone to cope with the pain of such a serious first injury."
"I know, but he has to deal with it." Cassandra snorted and tightened her grip on his shoulders.
He was lifted roughly and placed on a stretcher, now Nick could appreciate with mad pleasure how branches of different sizes cut into his back. It was even more terrible than lying on a rock, and he still had to spend the entire trip.
"Gentlemen, how long until we arrive at the new camp?" he asked in despair.
"We'll be there in maybe three hours at a slow pace, we'll need to move further up the river." Seth replied.
"Mmm, sorry Seth for not saying hi to you."
"It's okay, I can understand why you forgot about it." He said with almost a smile on his face.
Nick wondered why Seth was the way he was. He looked more like a ghost than a man, but he genuinely cared about their group and didn't refuse assignments. When Nick first met him, he saw him as a cowardly boy, but now he realized that Seth was probably not worried about the boot camp, but rather about the close interactions with his classmates.
Nick was slowly carried by Linella and Seth. Cassandra was carrying the corpse of the monster he had killed on her shoulder, Nick assumed that they were not ready to get rid of such a valuable animal. Most likely, they would take it to the alchemist for processing. They walked along the river bank, it was mostly flat and strewn with large stones, but they often had to go around the stones that blocked the way. During the walk, they did not meet dangerous animals, Cassandra grabbed a deer along the way and offered to eat a normal meal. Of course, no one was against it, the deer was cooked on the fire. Nick was incredibly happy with the new food. Of course, up until that moment, he did not want to eat at all, but when he smelled the aromatic meat, he almost choked on the saliva that had accumulated in his mouth. Linella had to feed him with her hands, which she enjoyed very much. Nick saw it in her eyes, but he could not complain since he could not raise his right hand anyway. The roasted deer was almost the most delicious meal he had ever had in his life, even though it was prepared without salt or seasoning.
This is what hunger does to a person.
Nick watched as everyone else ate the food with the same gusto, even Cassandra couldn't tear herself away from it. This prompted Nick to ask about her.
"Cassandra, why do you need to drink blood?" Cassandra didn't notice his uncomfortable tone and answered his question.
"Vampires are a cursed race, we must drink blood to restore our life force or else we will go crazy. Our stamina, life force, and mana recovery stats simply don't work if we don't drink blood. [True Vampires][Special] have an even higher blood requirement than [Young Vampires][Rare], this is because when we evolve, our [Blood Mana Core][Rare+] is transformed into a [Blood Core][Special++], I won't tell you exactly what benefits this skill gives, but I will say that we transform the blood mana, stamina, and life force inside our core into blood energy. We still have all of our stats and can store the blood mana inside the core, but we aim to transform them into the energy we need." Nick thought about what Cassandra said.
Hmm, this confirms my theory that her mana and life force do not recover unless she drinks blood. Very interesting. The fact that her core skill develops later is also curious. Most likely, the main advantage is that blood energy is better than life force, stamina and blood mana. It replaces all the functions of the three and enhances what it was needed for, convenient of course. But this somewhat limits young vampires. If she called her race cursed, it turns out that holy mana will be her the bane. It is also unclear how much time is needed to obtain blood energy and how much stronger it is than mana. Many questions.
"Thank you for explaining it to me." Cassandra waved her hand in response.
"Everyone in the high nobility knows this, so it's nothing special. We had a good meal, so let's get going."
They made their way again and an hour later they were near the camp. When they entered the camp many looked at him in horror. Seeing him without an arm and covered in frozen blood was not the most pleasant sight. Someone quickly called the prince and he was already there in a second along with two healers and an alchemist. Evander was completely pale, it was clear how much he was worried about them.
"Oh Gods, what happened to you Dylan, you look like a corpse, what happened to your hand?" Evander asked in a quiet voice.
"Evander, don't worry too much, I'm not dying. We were unlucky enough to encounter a [Rare] Lvl 73 monster."
"Do you think it was bad luck? I see that you were dying. Let's go, today we made a couple of wooden huts, we'll discuss everything there."
The prince went closer to the trees, there were two wooden buildings. Whoever made them did not bother with how. The houses were built from wooden trunks, which were slightly sharpened and put together so that they resembled a house, the size was small, about 5 by 5 meters and about 2 meters high. But Nick appreciated how much better it was than sleeping in the open air.
Why didn't we do this sooner? Yeah, it's hard when we're all a bit iffy about planning.
Nick was carried inside and placed on what looked like a wooden bed. He was first examined by healers who confirmed that he was in a stable condition, then a long conversation began about what had happened. Nick told the prince that they had fought [Ceros][Rare] Lvl 78, that they had not thought of running away, and how they had managed to win. Nick even admitted to Evander that he had used the life force stored in the sword. The prince took their conversation normally and rethought his strategy.
"Yeah, and how can you send people into the forest if such monsters can roam there."
"I don't know what advice to give you, but we might as well run into the Orc Leader and still all die."
"You're right, but we still need to think about the best squads. Well, this hut is yours, Linella has agreed to look after you until the healers restore more mana to reattach your arm."
"Thank you Evander!"
Nick said goodbye to the prince, this day was hard for him. And because of his poor physical condition, he was very tired, closing his eyes Nick quickly fell asleep despite the severe pain.