Chapter 17

Alex awoke the next morning to the smell of cooked meat. He stood up and dressed in the clothes that Eve gave to him. He looked through my finances and saw that he had 950 coins. Alex didn’t want to buy anything at the moment except the alchemy lab for Eve. He went into the home purchases interface and found the alchemy lab.

Alchemy Lab Tier I

A beginner’s lab for mixing materials using alchemy. Comes with burners and beakers of various sizes along with a mortar and pestle to grind up materials. Cost 400 coins.

Alex purchased the lab and felt the familiar rumble signaling that the construction of the addition was now underway.

Construction time remaining: 12 hours 29 minutes.

Now that his purchase was complete, he went out to the kitchen, and there he found his two female companions.

“Well good morning sleepy head. Look who decided to finally get out of bed”, said Bella.

“Did you have a ‘good’ dream last night”, Eve said with a wink.

Alex smiled and said, “Wouldn't you like to know? I will never tell though.”

Eve stuck her tongue out at me in a mocking way before offering me some of the meat she cooked. Alex graciously accepted and they all ate. Life here had become a lot less harsh than it was before.

I now have a stable food supply, shelter, and even clean water. I can train and grow stronger to protect myself in relative safety. Honestly, this is no longer a hell hole.

His next step was to go to the tannery and deposited all of the fur and leather that Alex had in his inventory.

The group all finished eating and then Alex said, “Hey Eve, the alchemy lab is being built right now. It should be ready tonight.”

“Thank you. Using the herbalism skill I’ve been finding a lot of ingredients while we travel and around the exterior of the house. I also just bought a book on beginning potions that includes a healing potion and a poison potion. I definitely want to get to working on those.”

“Poison? That is great! I had an idea on how to deal with those goblins. When I was in there I found that there is a room where the cook their food. I thought that if I had a strong poison I might be able to sneak in and dump it into their food so that when they eat it would kill them all.”

“Not a bad plan but I don’t’ know if I can make a poison strong enough to kill them. I’ll give it my best shot.”

“I Got access to the store as well and purchased a book on blacksmithing. Can you build me a smithy?”

“Of course but where will you get the raw materials?”

“Weaker materials like copper and iron are not that expensive. In our world I know that to make steel which is lighter and stronger than iron all you have to do is mix coal with the iron. I don’t exactly how much or the method but I’m sure I can figure it out”, said Bella.

“I’m curious what do you plan in making?”, Alex asked.

“Well first I would like to make us some better weapons namely a set of swords for me and a metal shield for you. If Eve wants another wand I think it would be better to buy it from the store as my stuff will probably not give her any increases like the one she currently has.”

"Can I ask why you want swords? I mean you seem to be doing pretty well with your spear", Alex asked.

"Honestly, after seeing you fight I think the sword might be a better weapon than my spear for me."

“I don't know how good I am with my sword and shield but if you want to try with the sword I will help you in any way I can."

"That sounds great. Thanks!"

I searched the interface for the smithy and found it right away.

Smithy Tier I

Beginning room for a novice blacksmith. Comes complete with a forge, bellows, anvil, and various tools for smelting, shaping, and forging metals. Cost 500 coins

Man that just about cleans out all of my cash but it was worth it. Now I can get potions and weapons from the girls so I don't really need much else.

Alex selected the smithy to be built and the coins were deducted from his inventory. Another screen popped up in front of me.

Congratulations you have completed the achievement, Rookie builder for building 10 rooms in your home. For completing this achievement you can select to have any room upgraded to the next tier free of charge. Your options are:

Kitchen

Training room

Tannery

Smithy

Alchemy lab

Medical Triage

Select now?

Select at a later time?

I think I will select at a later time. I believe the medical triage would be best especially since I plan on invading the goblin home base over the next few days but we will see.

“A wise choice Spartan, delaying until you have more information is a prudent choice when you have the option. Only one word of caution, the tier II upgrades will probably take at least double the time to complete. If that is so then you upgrades could take at least an entire day and you may not be able to use the room or its benefits while it is upgrading”, said Eve.

“Good to know but it would be a waste right now to just go and pick one so I will wait until I am sure of what I will need most”, Alex replied.

With all that being said, Alex walked out of the kitchen and into the tannery. He wanted to try using some of the furs he had acquired to make some new equipment. He grabbed a few pieces of leather and walked toward a mannequin of an upper body. His first choice was to create a leather chest piece. He wanted it to be supple yet hard enough to take some of the damage if an attack landed on his body. He shaped the pieces around the mannequin that resembled his own physique.

It is amazing that the three mannequins in here have the sizes of the three people who live here. That is definitely a benefit and it makes creating equipment much easier.

Once the pieces were on the mannequin, Alex began cutting away the pieces that were unnecessary. Finally, he had a piece that was the right size. Next, he took some of the soft rabbit furs and put them around the openings for the neck, arms, and torso. On the sides, Alex put leather straps so that they could be tightened or loosened for a better fit. The next thing he did was to dye the new piece of equipment black. Once it was out of the dye, Alex placed it on a drying rack and went on to the next thing on his to-do list, training.

Alex walked out of the tannery and entered the training room. There is saw Bella already in a meditative state.

She sure learns quickly.

Alex walked to the other side of the room so as to not disturb her and sat down and began his own meditation. Once in the meditative state, Alex quickly moved to his ki reservoir. This time he was a bit nervous when he approached it. As soon as he was close enough the reservoir began to ripple in anticipation. Alex began to concentrate and let his will move to it in order to begin to use its power. There was no resistance at all. The energy was as docile as a baby lamb. It began moving towards Alex and immediately he could feel the increase in his strength. My muscles drank the energy as it came toward him as if they were dying of thirst.

“Alice, let me know when my strength is about double. I want that to be my limit as three times was too much.”

“Understood. Running analysis of your current strength, you are currently at 1.5 times your normal strength.”

“Ok, I will keep going.”

Alex continued drawing on the energy. This time it was slower than the previous day.

“1.7 times normal.”

Then it happened. The lake began to swirl and force its way towards him. Alex was not ready and the energy shot into him.

“2.2 times normal. Push the energy out now before you injure yourself.”

“I know!”

Alex forced his will onto the energy pushing it back toward the lake. He could feel that it was no longer entering his body but the amount already empowering him was not decreasing. Alex tried harder to remove the energy but nothing was happening. It was taking all of his strength to just keep the energy at bay. The power that it was exerting on him was giving me a headache.

“I won’t let you beat me! I will master using your strength!”

The lake rippled as if to laugh at Alex then a surge came from it putting even more pressure on his mind. He fell to one knee as the battle for supremacy continued. Alex felt light-headed but he refused to give in to whatever was fighting him. The power that was trying to flow into him felt like it was weighing him down almost as if gravity had increased. Alex slammed my fist down into the ground creating fissures at the point of impact. The frustration of him not being in control was building.

“I will not lose! No! NO! NOOOOOO!”, Alex screamed pounding his fists into the ground creating more and more fissures.

The power that the energy was exerting seemed to feel weaker.

This is my chance!

Alex used every ounce of strength he had left and expelled the energy from his body. Alex fell facedown for a few moments while he breathed heavily.

“This is a difficult ordeal. I think I should stop at 1.5 times my strength and work on making that as fast as possible. Somewhere around 1.7 times my strength my ki tries to overwhelm me. Maybe my mental ability or my physique is not strong enough at this time. I don’t know but this fighting against my ki feels dangerous and I don’t want to be in the triage every day.”

“All of your concerns are valid. Currently, fighting at 1.5 times your normal ability would put you at a significant advantage to any of the foes you have faced thus far except for the titano boa that resides in the lake.”

“Oh, that is its name?”

“Yes by upgrading me to tier III, I now have access to the entire bestiary of this world. Your plan is the highest efficiency currently and increasing your mental ability when you level would help you with controlling your ki energy. Your energy is manipulated by the strength of your mind even though Its effect occurs in your body.”

“Ok, well each level I receive I will level up my mental ability until I am able to control my energy.”

“That would be a good decision. You may also be able to improve your physique by training your body physically.”

“You mean I can increase by simply working out?”

“Yes, it may be possible. Physique is based on muscle strength and endurance so it stands to be that if you increase these two on your own you should increase those stats.”

“I understand that but I’m so strong that what could I do to increase my strength at this point?”

“Currently, your training center is not leveled high enough but when you do have enough funds to level it up then you could purchase the tier II version which includes a set of training dummies, weighted clothes, and free weights. By wearing the weighted clothes as you go through your Pankration techniques you should increase your strength and endurance. You could also lift weights to improve your muscle strength.”

“That sounds good except for the weight training part. Martial artists need to have functional strength, not just big muscles. Is there a way to increase the weight of the weighted training clothes or maybe since you are a futuristic piece of technology maybe increase the gravity of the room so that I could do bodyweight exercises?”

“Searching…. Searching…. The gravity field is a tier III upgrade. To purchase that you will need over 15,000 coins. Another temporary solution to this problem is to get Eve to learn a gravity-based spell with her mana and her cast it on you.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Yes, gravity is a space-type spell. It is more difficult than the simple flame and earth spike spells that she has learned so far but it is possible.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Alright I will ask her about that. I feel better now I’m going to try gathering my ki a few more times before I stop my meditation.”

“Understood. I will help you know when you have reached the 1.5 times you normal strenghth point. When you get there remember the feeling so that you don’t need me to do it for you.”

“I got it.”

Alex centered himself again by calming his breathing. His body relaxed and he began to allow the ki to flow again. Alex quickly heard Alice’s message and then stopped the flow. He released it and then started the process again. He did the entire process over a dozen times each time feeling how strong he was at 1.5 times his normal strength. Slowly, Alex began to memorize the feeling. He was far from mastering it but he was able to speed up the flow so that it only took about 10 seconds to get to that measure of his strength so it was a good day of ki training. Once Alex felt satisfied he awoke from his meditation to find Bella already training with her two weapons.

Alex watched her for a few moments and he was a bit impressed.

Is it because of her skill, speed, or those boobs bouncing up and down? Snap out of it man! It’s time for you to train. I have to really stop thinking about ass and tits all the time.

Alex pulled out his sword and shield and began going through the Pankration movements he had learned. He focused on his shield being attack and defense as well as his sword being defense and attack. Alex put as much strength and speed as he could into every movement while remaining in perfect form.

Hmmm… Currently, I can only do perfect form with about 50% of my strength and speed. I really need to practice this some more as this is what my life depends on each day.

Alex continued practicing thrusts, slashes, shield bashes, counterattacks, parrys, and weapon deflections. Each time in his mind he saw a situation when he would have used the movements whether it was fighting a goblin, a wolf, or a mutated rabbit. Sweat began to flow from his forehead but he didn’t stop. Alex's breathing became labored and his muscles were burning from swinging the shield and sword around non-stop. Finally, his form began to suffer and he knew it was time to stop. Alex looked over at Bella and she was still practicing the same two attacks, a sword thrust and a downward slash with her hatchet.

“Excuse me, Bella. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Sure, go right ahead”, she said as she stopped her training.

“Why do you only practice those two attacks?”

“It’s simple. A great martial artist once said that I don’t fear the man with a thousand kicks. I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times.”

“What?”

“You are so thick sometimes. It’s kind of one of your most adorable characteristics. It means that you should learn a few moves and practice them until they are etched in your mind so that even in a stressful situation you can use them without thought. You practice them until they are automatic responses.”

“My training back home required me to learn multiple things in order to adapt in any situation but I get it how what you are doing could be successful. That sounds like a much more direct approach to training. Thank you, Bella.”

“No problem. You need anything else?”

“No I think I’m good for now”, Alex said as he walked through the door back into the main room.

Alex couldn’t help but think there was a bit of a smile on her face as he walked out but he paid it no attention. Alex walked out to find his wolves and saw that they were playfully fighting with each other. When they saw him they immediately ran up to me and sat down on their haunches.

“Food, Food, Food, Food!”

That was all he could hear through their neural link.

“I guess that means you two are hungry.”

Alex pulled out several pieces of rabbit meat from the ones he killed the other day and tossed them to the wolves. They immediately began tearing at the meat with their large canine teeth until there was nothing left.

“Hunt more food!”

“We go later.”

“Hunt later good!”

Their sentences are very simple but at least I can understand what they are thinking. Well, they are wolves so I guess this is pretty good for them.

Alex smiled and began stretching as some of my muscles were really sore from his workout. He stretched his shoulders, arms, chest, legs, and back. Alex was so into his stretches that he didn’t notice that the girls had already come outside.

“Nice!”, Bella said to Eve.

“I know right”, Eve replied.

Their voices caught his attention. Alex was stretching his legs in a straddle stretch. His legs were out horizontally to either side of his body while my torso was hanging down in the opening between. He saw them giggling and pointing. Instantly, He knew what they were talking about. Alex prolonged the situation for another moment to give them a little more time to look before standing up and saying nothing.

“Awww…. The show is already over?”, said Bella.

“Yeah, looking is free. Touching is going to cost you”, I replied.

“How much?”, Eve quickly retorted.

Alex looked her up and down and said, “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.”

They were both stunned by his response. Alex walked back into the house dismissing the shocked looks on their faces. He laughed to himself about how he was becoming more relaxed around them. Alex quickly went into the tannery and saw that his leather chest piece had dried. He picked it up and it looked really good. Alex was shocked at his own skill. It looked like a sleeveless vest made of thick leather. It offered decent protection to his torso but none to his arms. Alex lifted it over his head and slid it on. It fit great and the softness of the rabbit fur made it comfortable to wear. Once he got it over his head and his arms through the holes on the side, Alex began tightening the straps on either side of his oblique area. Once his armor was tightened, Alex went back out to show it off.

“Damn are your abs really the chiseled that they show through your armor?”, asked Bella

“Yes they are this chiseled but no they don’t show through the armor”, said Eve as she was already rubbing the front of my armor with her hand.

“Hey, I told you touching was going to cost you.”

“Yup and I’m still waiting on the price”, she said with a giggle.

“I’m glad you like the armor maybe I can make you one of your own.”

“Yeah that would be great and make me one too”, asked Bella.

Alex moved out of Eve's grip and started walking towards the woods with the wolves in tow. Bella and Eve jogged to catch up to him. He walked until we were outside of the goblin cave.

“I’m in the mood for some payback”, Alex said.

“Why are we doing this? I thought you said there were over 100 goblins in there.”

“I want to whittle down their numbers. I will hold them at the entrance and Bella kill anyone who manages to make it past me and my wolves. Eve, you use your flame skill to try and burn any of the ones who come to the entrance. If they start overwhelming me, Eve use your earth spike to bring them down.”

“I got it.”

“Me too.”

Alex rushed forward towards the opening of their cave to test his strength against the guards at the front. This time he didn’t use any special skills or ki, he just used his own fighting ability. When they saw him coming toward them they immediately charged.

Stupid goblins, moving away from the cave entrance would normally give my companions a way to get inside the cave unnoticed. I’ll have to remember that for the next time. Alright, let’s see what you’ve got goblins!

The first one reached Alex carrying a club and a metal shield. It swung the club towards his head which Alex easily avoided by ducking.

Defense into attack and attack into defense.

As he ducked Alex remembered the mantra of shield and sword pankration skills. He slashed at the goblins knee. The goblin was completely unprepared for the attack and his blade severed the leg just below the knee from the rest of its body. Blood squirted out and it fell to the ground writhing in pain. Alex followed his attack by rolling and protecting myself from the next attack from the other goblin guardian. It was carrying a polished sword and metal shield but its shield was considerably large. The shield could protect it from thigh to neck.

I think I will be taking your equipment after I kill you!

It slashed at Alex as he rolled but his shield kept me safe as its blade could not penetrate the nanite reinforced wood. It looked bewildered by the fact that its sword didn’t break his wooden shield. That was all he needed. As soon as Alex finished his forward roll, he jumped toward his enemy hiding his torso and sword behind his shield. The goblin raised its shield just as Alex thought it would allowing him to bang his shield against the goblin. Then Alex thrust his sword over the guradian's shield and directly into its head.

I guess leveling up and practicing made me a lot stronger. Well, no need to stop here.

Alex whistled loudly calling the girls and his wolves to come running. By the time they got there the opening of the cave was being filled with little green men with weapons. Alex stepped into the opening to make a choke point. The cave was only wide enough to fit 4 goblins across which were about the same size as 2 and a half people. Alex stood in the middle with a wolf on either side. He saw Capone slither onto the wall and coiled around a branch ready to strike. Eve stood as far as she could away from Alex and the wolves but she could still use her spells. Bella was on the edge of the cave wall waiting to strike at an unsuspecting enemy. Their group was ready for their charge.

The first few goblins rushed in only to be burned alive by one of Eve’s flame spells. The heat from that attack was insane and it forced a few of them to pause. Alex took the time to quickly change out his weapon and begin firing arrows.

“I didn’t know you could handle a bow”, said Bella.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me”, Alex replied with a smile as he fired another arrow killing another goblin.

She laughed and got back into a ready position. The next wave came and there was nothing obstructing their advance. Alex quickly switched back to his sword and shield so that he could blunt their charge. The first two that made it out slammed into him pushing Alex back about a half meter but he held strong. They were foolish and his wolves quickly ripped them apart as their focus must have solely been on the man with the sword and shield. The wolves threw the limp bodies to the ground and got ready for the next group. This time they came slowly and had better weapons.

The next group of goblins had spears with metal points that looked like iron or copper. Each tried to keep their distance and stab at Alex's group. The wolves snapped at them and darted back when the spears came too close. Alex blocked the spear thrusts with his shield and stepped back just a little each time. The wolves did the same. Soon they were in range of Capone and Bella’s sneak attacks They both attacked the goblins closest to them with lightning speed. Capone got one goblin in the neck. The goblin grabbed at its neck and fell down to the ground screaming as Capone got ready to attack again. Bella used her hatchet to break her enemy’s spear and her sword to pierce its chest. The little green man fell to the ground as the wolves and Alex rushed the two remaining goblins killing them quickly.

Alex and his group had already killed 10 of them and things seemed to be going well. Their teamwork and the effective bottleneck meant that the goblin's numbers didn’t count for anything. They managed to kill another 20 using the same tactic before they ran into trouble. The bodies of the dead were slowly forcing the group to move back towards the outside of the cave. If Alex and company moved back any farther they would lose the advantage of the bottleneck and be overrun. Then Alex heard it.

“ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!”

It was a guttural sound that made my heart tense up. Alex felt his body slow down. He looked left and right and saw that his team was also slowing down. A cold shiver ran down Alex's spine as he could sense something dangerous coming

What is going on? What is happening to my body? Is it...? Is it him, the leader? Has he come out already?

“Alice hypercognition now!”

“That roar has placed a fear status on you and your group as well as giving your enemies the bravery status. Fear reduces your speed by 2 and bravery does the opposite by increasing their speed by 2.”

“Shit! We are in trouble. Bella, Capone get back to the trees! I will hold them here!”

“But….”

“Do it now!”, Alex screamed as he activated his ki.

Alex saw Capone slither up onto Bella’s arm. They escaped as he felt the familiar wave of power rush through his body. The world slowed down as he began mercilessly slaughtering the goblins. Each swing of his sword and shield killed another of the small monsters.

“Watch me. When I dodge you dodge!”, I said to the wolves through our neural link.

“Yes”, they said in agreement.

I smashed a goblin with my shield and thrust my sword into another.

“Eve, get your most powerful flame spell ready.”

“Ok. I need about 20 seconds.”

“Alright, I’ll do my best to give it to you.”

The wolves and Alex fought like demons. They were a storm of metal and teeth killing goblin after goblin.

“The spell is ready now, Spartan. Get out of the way!”

“Now wolves, dodge!”

About 2 seconds later Alex felt an extreme heat coming from behind him. He ducked down as the blast hit the goblins in front of him exploding in a myriad of directions. Alex did not escape unscathed. He was blasted several meters back away from the cave. When he looked up the world was hazy and his vision was blurry. All he could hear was a ringing sound in his ear.

That was like an explosive or concussion grenade went off near me. I feel like I can't get up but I know I have to. I have to get out of here before the leader comes out.

As Alex's vision began to clear, he found that his hearing was returning.

Alice and the nanites must be healing me.

Alex was able to hear some sounds again. He saw that the goblins were rolling around on the ground screaming as their bodies were being eaten alive by the flames. He looked to the side and saw both of his wolves badly burned from the explosion.

“PAIN! PAIN! PAIN!”, is all the wolves could express through their neural link with me.

“You get better soon. We must run now or die!”, he replied.

One of the wolves dragged itself to its feet awkwardly. That wolf was missing an eye and most of the fur on its body all the way to the middle of its spine. The other wolf was burned badly through most of its body. One of its paws was burned down to the bone. It was in no shape to move let alone run.

I will not leave them behind.

Alex grabbed the wolf and put it on his shoulders as he and the less injured wolf began running away. The goblins were unable to give chase at first so the group escaped past the waterfall as quickly as they could.

I didn’t know how many we killed but I know we put a large dent in their forces. I’m pretty sure I leveled up as well. The girls were unharmed only the wolves and I took damage. With the triage center and the nanites within us, we should be fine. It’s just too bad we didn’t get to get all of those coins and equipment the dead goblins should have dropped.

Everyone was breathing heavily as we crossed the waterfall. Alex grabbed some water from one of his skins and looked over the wolves to make sure they drank especially the one he was carrying.

I really need to name these guys so that I can tell them apart.

Once everyone had rested he had Alice scan the area to see if the goblin force was coming.

“Nothing is coming this way Spartan. The goblins are probably taking care of their wounded and dead. You inflicted a very large blow on their colony by killing approximately 65 of their adults.”

“65? We killed that many?”

“Yes, you had killed 40 and Eve’s final spell ended up killing 25 more between the initial deaths and those that died from burning. Her final attack also left many more wounded.”

“Give me an update on my status.”

Injuries

Concussion

Ruptured Ear drum ®

2nd and 3rd degree burns

Facial trauma

Internal bleeding

Laceration to both arms

Laceration to forehead

Impaired sense of balance

Current fighting ability reduced by 43%

“Wow, that was much more informative than the previous updates. I guess the upgrades I gave you are showing even more dividends than I had expected”

“I’m glad you are pleased. You must make it to the medical triage quickly as one of your wolves is in critical condition. Its breathing is shallow and its pulse is faint. Even with the nanites within its body, it may die as its bodily functions are beginning to shut down. It is going into shock. You must hurry if you wish to save it!”

“I will do my best. Hold on my furry friend. I’ll get you back as quickly as possible.”

Alex picked the wolf back up on his shoulders and began to make his way back to the house. He didn’t see any rabbit monsters but he stayed on guard just in case. As the group got halfway through the area 2 of the rabbit creatures jumped out.

“Spartan get the wolves out of here. We will take care of this”, said Bella.

“Eve, you can’t have much mana left after that massive fireball spell. You take the wolves back home and I’ll fight with Bella.”

“No, you are the only one that could carry that wolf. Besides, my mana has recovered enough to take these two things on.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll go. Just make sure you two come back home alive.”

Bella giggled, “You almost sound worried.”

“Maybe a little bit!”, Alex said as I rushed off.

Bella, Capone, and Eve faced off against the rabbit monsters as Alex escaped back to the house. As he rushed home he began to feel weaker and weaker.

“Spartan, the amount blood you have lost is beyond what I can keep up with while you are moving. The nanites are doing their job and you will not die but I don’t know if you will be able to make it back before you lose consciousness.”

“I can’t quit now. Ahhhhhh!!!”

Alex's ki energy exploded into his muscles. He let the energy flow through him unchecked as he continued to run. He moved faster than he ever had before.

“Warning!! Warning!!! Ki energy exceeding the 1.5 times level!”

“It doesn’t matter. I will not him die!”

Alex continued running as the energy continued rushing into me.

“Warning!! Warning!!! Ki energy exceeding the 2 times level!”

Alex ignored the warnings and continued running at top speed. He could only focus on making it home before the wolf died.

“Warning!! Warning!!! Ki energy exceeding the 3 times level!”

Alex clenched my teeth knowing the maximum level his ki could increase his body had been reached. His muscles and joints were screaming at him to stop but he couldn’t.

The damage that I am doing to my joints, tendons, and ligaments can be healed but the wolf dying could not. I will not let a comrade die!

Alex pushed on. He was running on sheer willpower at this point. The pain in his body was at a level that his mind could no longer comprehend but the house was in sight. He kept running as the end was near. I reached for the door and it opened. He kept moving toward the door then he heard something that sounded like a series of gunshots.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A new pain erupted from his left shoulder, right knee, and the back of his right foot. The wolf flew from off of his shoulders as he fell forward. Its body smashed into the door and then onto the floor where it lay motionless.

“Spartan your ki energy increased the strain on your body too much. You have torn your Achilles tendon and Anterior Cruciate ligament on your right leg and you have torn your rotator cuff in your left shoulder!”, Alice yelled in my ear.

Alex dragged himself to the door and with his right arm he opened the door. With what little strength he had left he pushed the wolf into the medical triage center before passing out in the doorway.