I felt like I was choking. I couldn’t breathe. “Michael calm down,” Doctor Katz said as he looked over me. My breathing grew a bit easier and my panic went down.

“Can’t. Breathe,” I gasped out.

“You took a heavy injury. Your stats were impacted. You need to focus on correcting them,” Doctor Katz said. I tried to focus on them, but I got a splitting headache.

“Can’t. Headache. Bad,” I gasped out.

“Subconscious interference and possible damage,” Jacob said. I heard the sound of rushing wind, and we were on an airboat from what I could tell.

“A restore from the store, might help,” Doctor Katz said.

“Unlikely. His base energy is heavily damaged. He might not register. And what is worse, is that you can’t reregister. Once you lose access, that is it. The System only checks in one direction,” Jacob said.

“Then what can we do. I can stabilize his breathing for now, but with his stats going haywire, that isn’t something physical,” Doctor Katz argued.

“Win?” I gasped out to ask. Clarissa was leaning over me then to explain what was going on.

“We did win Michael. But you took heavy damage. You have been unconscious for a day and a half. Right now we are taking the airboat I had arranged to pick us up with, in case any of us survived. Purgatory was stilled shielded, so I decided to head to the Forbidden City,” Clarissa explained.

I felt myself calm down at that. That was good. We had won. Clarissa moved out of the way as my two doctors stood back over me. I felt them poking my chest, which really hurt. Also, my right arm was gone. I could move the rest of my body thankfully. “It is the lingering contamination of the energy in the air, he wasn’t able to resist drawing in the energy,” Jacob said.

“That would make sense. Okay, Michael. You just need to hang on, until we clear the zones with fallout. It is going to take about a day. Just focus on breathing slowly. I need to space out the use of my skill with what energy I have left,” Doctor Katz said.

“Kay,” I replied quietly. I focused on steadying my breathing. Each breath was a struggle to breathe in. Like there was an elephant sitting on my chest.

“We should be clear by nightfall, and get back just before mid-day tomorrow,” Jacob said.

“Do you think we should over aim?” Captain Francis asked.

“He is stable. Saving a little bit of time wouldn’t be a huge help,” Jacob said.

“Better to get back on the ground sooner, so he can recover. As long as things remain stable. We can’t stress his heart or breathing,” Doctor Katz said.

“And he will be able to recover then?” Clarissa asked.

“Maybe. It is all variants of curse damage and it is massive. Best bet, we clear the sphere’s energy field, and he can draw in energy, and repair the damage. If he can’t, then things get a lot more complex. The biggest issue is fixing the disruption of his stats,” Jacob said.

“Awake,” I quietly said.

“My apologies Emperor Michael, but the issue is that when a shard of the sphere struck you, it disrupted all your stats centered around your chest. We removed the source of the issue, but it is getting slightly force. The progression has massively slowed down, but hasn’t reversed,” Jacob explained, and I tried to process what he was telling me. My stats were damaged, which was bad, very bad.

“Right now that difference, is straining your heart, lungs, and cardio vascular system. Doctor Katz is stabilizing your physical body, but the rest of it is shattered. Like a car that has had an impact, it is struggling to run properly. But there is no magic fix we have. You have to make the corrections yourself,” Jacob said.

“How?” I asked and he winced.

“You have read the research I have done on stat manipulation. Same concept. Or we can hope things reverse. We will have to test each stat carefully in a more receptive environment. The hope is that once we are clear of this energy from the sphere, things will begin correcting themselves in the other direction,” Jacob explained. I focused, but any attempt to focus on my energy or my stats led to a splitting headache.

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I was content to leave things alone for now. While Jacob might be a horrible person, at least Doctor Katz was watching over me.

“Deaths?” I asked.

“No one died. Even the Avatar. She was recovered as well. I knocked her out since she was rambling,” Jacob explained to me. That was disappointing. She should have been left behind to die. That was a missed opportunity to rid the Systemic Lands of a problem we didn’t need. But, she had somehow saved the day at the very end.

Maybe the Avatar could be turned into a weapon of some kind. The Avatar type Sword. Plus ten to emotional damage and confusion based attacks. Also, a small chance to inflict critical distraction at an inopportune moment.

“There is more,” Jacob said.

“That can wait, until he is better,” Clarissa said clearly annoyed.

“What?” I asked. I focused on breathing and then said another word. “Truth.”

“I suspect there is something still going on in the lower layer. That the sphere was a decoy of some kind. The fact that the System is still being blocked indicates that something is still going on. And while it could be lingering damage, it is far more likely there is still an active intelligence there,” Jacob explained. I closed my eyes as the words rang true in my mind.

“I need to rest and think before I make any plans. Also sort out your injuries first. But this isn’t over, not by a long shot. We need to recover and rearm,” Jacob explained. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh, cry, or both at the same time. Of course, something like the sphere would have multiple stages. Why wouldn’t it have multiple stages?

“After having checked the block terrain myself, I think it was linking the lower layer and the Systemic Lands togeather in some way. I need to check the sample I got, but if I had to guess, I would say the sphere was overlapping both areas at once, as a bridge. But right before it took critical damage, or when it took critical damage, it split. Did you see anything?” Jacob asked.

“No,” I replied.

“The pieces that remained behind are super energy dense, but there was less energy there than there should be. Since the lower layer, would be a fourth dimensional type escape, and the attacks took place here. Well, having an escape route would be the smart thing to do. Especially since the sphere didn’t move. My guess it was locked into place by being a bridge,” Jacob explained.

“That is a lot of leaps in logic,” Doctor Katz countered.

“Some of it may be stretching things, but it fits the knowledge we have. The sphere had intelligence. And it wasn’t moving, even if that would provide a large benefit. It was also constructing something. Those colored blocks it was building with had tiny energy channels like the golems. The sphere, outputs energy, it is drawing up,” he explained.

“For what purpose?” Michelle asked.

“To target the System in some way. But linking two things between our layer and the lower layer, locks them in positionally. It was drawing massive amounts of energy. Since we were blocked from looking at the lower layer even after the sphere’s destruction, there is something hiding there,” Jacob explained.

“Can a person make that trip?” Clarissa asked.

“It is questionable. I would need to run more tests. But it would be gear dependent, for breathing, and other things,” Jacob explained.

“Like what?” Clarissa asked.

“Skills, energy regeneration. There are a lot of details that need to be checked and prepared for,” Jacob said.

“I will expedite any requests. We need to get things working again, especially the monsters in the zones, in order to generate revenue,” Clarissa replied.

My breathing continued to be a struggle as I lay there listening in on the conversation. The airboats were too small to try and hide anything from other people on board. I focused more on myself, and the damage I had taken. It was immense. Punching the sphere and getting in close had been stupid. But it had created an opening for the Avatar.

At least the immediate threat was over, but there was still something out there causing problems. A loss and now a partial win. If we truly were capable, we would have immediately launched a follow up assault on this lower layer. Now we had to retreat and regroup once again. While it was a strength that helped me in the past, it had also hurt me. The Ritualist was a prime example of an enemy that got stronger with time to prepare.

The sphere was intelligent, and it would probably carry a grudge against me and be ready for my skills next time. I brought my left hand up and felt my chest. There were a lot of bandages there. I could feel that a good chunk had been removed, or I couldn’t feel it. I wiggled my right stump, that wasn’t good either.

“Store?” I asked out loud quietly.

“What was that, sorry, we were discussing other things,” Jacob said.

“Store,” I struggled to repeat.

“Getting a restoration is a bad idea. I have done experiments in the past. And your energy is scrambled enough to be registered as a non-valid person. Your stats need to be fixed first before you try and access the store. The System only checks in one direction when you use the store, if you energy is altered,” Jacob explained. I was sure there were countless bodies behind that piece of knowledge. But their sacrifice wasn’t in vein, since it provided key information for my situation right now.

“There is a non-standard option I don’t think you want. We could vat grow a new body, but it would be a copy with memory transference, and you would lose all your stats,” Jacob explained.

“No,” I said.

“That is fine, but it is an option. The damage is immense. If you can’t repair it, then there is nothing any of us can do to fix it. And using the store would be a very bad idea, while you are in such a state,” Jacob explained.

“There is no immediate urgency. I suggest we return to the Forbidden City, and Michael can make attempts to fix himself there while I keep an eye on his health,” Doctor Katz said.

“Yes,” I replied to that suggestion. Hopefully I would be able to sort out whatever had happened to me and get back on my feet quickly. I didn’t like feeling this weak and helpless. Curse that sphere, curse them all.

There didn’t appear to be mental corruption or weird thoughts, which was a huge plus. That would have created a massive disaster if that were the case. I couldn’t afford to have my brains scrambled.