Toby shot after the fucker into the forest.

Lucky for him, the fucker wasn’t that fast, not when he was wounded to the point of having blood leaked out from his mouth.

“Where the fuck do you think you're going fucker!” Toby shouted as he charged full speed.

The bastard turned his head back before Toby slammed into his back like a rocket. Toby heard a snapping sound of bones breaking as he slammed the bastard into the ground.

“Sword!” Toby floated toward the sword and picked it up with [Magic Hand]. He breathed a sigh of relief as the sword was intact.

There was no time to waste as he looked toward the cabin and prepared to shoot back.

Yet, before he could do so, the sword suddenly crumbled as blue lines spread from the sword’s handle to the tip. Once all the sword was covered in blue lines, water oozed out from the lines like it was a water balloon instead of a sword. The sword turned into a pile of useless metal pieces as they fell to the ground.

[Water Element lost. Searching. The closest Water Element that can be used for healing is two hundred and forty-three feet to the Northeast direction. Calculating. The user does not have a Skill that can extract Element from nature.]

Toby looked at the pieces of metal on the ground. He turned around and looked at the one responsible for this. Despite dying from the wounds as he lay on the ground like a cockroach, he was still sneering at Toby. He stopped moving after that, but the sneer remained.

[Dark Lord Corruption Progress: 1%]

[Dark Lord Curse activated. All stats increase by 20 points. All Skills’ Rank increase by 1]

Memories flooded into Toby’s mind, memories that he desperately tried to forget. Memories that he desperately wanted to forget.

“Mom, I’m home.”

“TOBY, CALL THE AMBULANCE.”

“SIS! Mom, what…”

“CALL THE AMBULANCE.”

“Ah… Come on, come on, pick up…. Please send an ambulance to X street, X district. My sister was hit on the head with a blunt weapon. She won’t stop bleeding.”

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU WILL BE HERE IN AN HOUR. THE SNOW IS TOO THICK? WHO THE FUCK GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT? FUCK. DON’T FUCKING HANG UP ON ME.”

“The fuck are you two screaming in the middle of the night for?”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP. I’M GOING TO KILL YOU ONCE I’M BACK FROM THE HOSPITAL.”

“Fucking hell, the fuck did you say?”

“Mom, help me tie something to sis' head to stop the bleeding. I’m carrying sis to the hospital... I’m off.”

“I’m not done speaking, you son of a bitch!”

“…”

“Come on, sis, stay strong. You promise you will be at my wedding, remember. Not that I have a girlfriend, but I’m getting there.”

“We haven’t even traveled the country yet. We made plans, remember? Our next stop, hot spring.”

“Oh yeah, you said you got yourself an online boyfriend, right? I haven’t congratulated you yet. Congratulation sis. So, stay awake, yeah? Wake up so we can celebrate. I have enough money from my job now. We can go to those fancy places. Yeah. That fancy home-cook restaurant thing. The food there must taste like heaven if there are so many people going there, right? Mom’s cooking is horrible, so we should go out. We can take mom too. I have the money.”

“See, I have my first paycheck today. I can work now. I can provide for us. We don’t have to stay with that piece of shit anymore. I will get us a house. It will be you, me, and mom. Just the three of us. I can pay for your medical bill too. We can be free.”

“It's freezing today, isn’t it? Sorry, sis, I should have brought a coat or a jacket for you. But don’t worry, we are almost there.”

“See that light, it's light from the Christmas tree in the middle of town. Yeah, they going fancy today, hehe.”

“…Come one, sis, say something. My mouth is kind of dry here. Aren’t you supposed to be the talkative one?”

“It’s so cold.”

“Please, please… don’t die.”

“…”

“PLEASE HELP. My sister has been hit in the head. She won’t stop bleeding.”

“….”

“No, I’m ok. I don’t need a blanket. My sister. Doc, what about my sister?”

“Why are you shaking your head?"

"What do you mean she has been dead for over an hour? That’s a lie, right? Her body is just cold because of the weather. It’s the snow. She can’t be dead. You’re lying to me, right? I can hear her heartbeat behind me. I can feel her warm breath on my neck. She must be alive. She must be.”

“I DON’T NEED TO FUCKING CALM DOWN. Please. Tell me you’re lying. Please.”

“Ha…haha…I don’t fucking need your sorry. I need my sister.”

“…”

“You son of a bitch, how dare yo… What? You think I’m scared of a bitch’s knife? Come on, kill me if…you…dare… You… you….”

“TOBY! What have you done?”

“I free us.”

[You killed a Rank 2 – Human – Warrior Path - Fighter for the first time]

[Reward: 20 Exp. Exp: 20 -> 40]

[Reward: 40 Life Exp. Life Exp: 90 -> 120]

[You have Level Up: 2 -> 3. Reward: 10 Distribution Points]

“Little Toby, snap out of it.”

[Dark Lord Curse deactivated. All stats and Skills return to their normal state]

Toby felt a strong hand stopping him from moving. He was about to retaliate when he saw it was Grillion. He was being held by Grillion.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“Gramp?”

But something was wrong.

“Gramp! You’re bleeding.” The goblin's body was covered in small but deep wounds; fresh blood was dripping out of those wounds. Toby tried to use [Healing Hand] to heal the old goblin, but he couldn’t.

[No usable Water Element close by. Healing fail]

Healing. Right. Lily. Toby jumped.

“Stay calm, little Toby.” The goblin took out a small piece of bread soaked in jam and ate it. The moment he did so, his bleeding stopped. “And whatever you do, don’t look down.”

“Don’t look down?” That was exactly what Toby did. And he was stunned.

The fact that he could 'see’ everything so clearly made it worse.

They were standing on top of the mutilated body of the bastard. Or rather, what was left of it. Toby couldn’t even call it a corpse anymore. It was a gruesome mass of crushed meat that didn’t have any resemblance to a human body at all.

Next to that pile of meat were two floating hands made of black mana. The hands were covered in blackened blood. Not a single spot on those hands didn’t have blood as they stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing to that sunken face and chest.

The man’s head was crushed at the middle point, right where his nose was supposed to be. It sunk like a messy, bloody quicksand hole with brain matter still clinging to the exposed pieces of the skull. The eyes were already long gone as they popped out of his head and dangled on his cheeks. His chest suffered the same fate as his chest cavity caved in. Two broken left ribs protruded through the skin, taking tendons and meat on their way out. Limbs were broken and bent at angles they shouldn’t be in, as broken bones stuck out from the elbows and heels touched the posterior thighs.

Ruptured lungs and kidneys exposed from the same hole the ribs stuck out from. A long trail of intestine was pulled out from inside the gut and thrown on the ground like some fucked-up discarded rope.

The whole body was covered in blood oozing out from irregular and gasping wounds as flesh was torn and shredded in multiple directions, exposing the spasming muscle beneath.

Everything was soaked in blood. A large pool of blood formed beneath the body and slowly crawled outward. Blood spatter all around the surroundings – on the ground, on the grass, on the tree – everywhere. An arm was even ripped off and thrown with such force that it stuck on a tree branch as blood dripped down from it.

The very air submerged in the stench of blood and a mix of pungent, slightly putrid smell.

Everything was so grotesque and nauseating that Toby couldn’t process how he was responsible for this.

He looked up at Grillion. The old goblin eyes stared at Toby, but his iris was shaking, his breath ragged, and his sweat poured down his face.

Toby knew that look. He had seen it too many times before. They all looked at him like this when they found out he killed his piece of shit of a father.

Eyes full of fear and disgust.

Toby couldn’t stop himself any longer. He puked everything out. But there was only mucus and bile left.

As Toby was vomiting, Grillion carried him away from the pile of meat that could no longer be called a corpse and put him on the ground. Toby kept on vomiting even though there was nothing left to vomit as Grillion poured water from a drinking bottle on him to wash away the blood. Once Toby was clean enough, Grillion bent down and patted Toby’s shell.

Toby didn’t know how long it took for him to stop. But when he did, he finally remembered what he was here for. “Lily.” He mumbled.

“Gramp.” Toby shouted. “We can’t let Lily die. She needs healing. Take me there.”

Grillion sighed, then nodded. He picked Toby up and ran toward the burning cabin without saying a word.

Pull yourself together, Toby. This isn’t the fucking time to be a pussy. Lily is dying. System, what can I do to heal Lily now that the Water Element is gone?

[Turtle System needs to scan the target before Turtle System can provide the most efficient way to heal the target]

There is still a chance. Hope returned to Toby’s eyes. Please. Don’t die on me, Lily. I won’t let you die.

The closer they got to the burning cabin, the louder Toby heard Lukas’ cry.

Bursting out from the tree, Grillion ran as fast as possible and only stopped when he stood next to Lily. Once they were there, Lukas looked up at them with his face full of tears and snorts as he kneeled next to Lily.

“Big sis… She won’t stop bleeding,” Lukas said as words choked in his mouth.

“I know. I will do something about it.” Toby said as he floated down and landed next to Lily.

He placed his flippers on Lily and followed The System’s instructions on how to scan her. He poured Mana into her to ‘see’ what kind of damage was done to her on a cellular level. She was stabbed through the right lung, which left behind a jagged tear in the lung tissues, and many cells ruptured and torn. Blood vessels severed, causing blood to pour inside the lungs instead of air. Her heart wasn’t beating anymore, but her brain was still alive. There was still a chance.

System, what can I fully heal her?

[At the user’s Rank, fully healing the target is impossible]

“FUCK.” Toby’s loud curse made Grillion and Lukas flinched. Then do whatever the fuck it needed to save her life.

[Searching. Calculating. The user has yet to reach Rank 4. The Item needed to restore the target’s life force cannot be found]

“Then fucking use mine.” Toby roared, frustrated with this damned System for the first time.

[Understood. Calculating. The user has sufficient life force to transfer to the target without damaging the user’s life force]

[Processing. To save the target's life, the user must prepare these Skills and Items before following the instructions.

Skill required: Rank 2 Skill – Life From Flame.

Items required: Rank 2 Item – [Mermaid’s Tear] for Water Element, Rank 2 Item – [Buring Glass Seed] for Fire Element. The user can purchase said Items from The Shop while…]

“I don’t give a damn what you do! Just fucking do it!”

[Understood. Purchasing Items needed from The Shop]

[Items purchased from The Shop: Mermaid’s Tear, Burning Glass Seed, Nutrients Pack]

[Life Exp spend: 90. Life Exp: 120 -> 30]

Three balls of glowing light appeared out of nowhere next to Toby’s head and landed on the ground gently next to him. Much to Grillion and Lukas’s wide eyes. The balls of light disappeared. In their place was a glass bottle of clear water that looked like liquid diamonds, a pinky-size, burned seed with smoke coming out of it, and a hand-size transparent glass bottle with murky water that looked like protein shakes inside.

[Not enough Life Exp to purchase Rank 2 Skill.

Recalculating. Reducing tutorial Mana and Skill Support System to create Rank 2 Skill – Life From Flame.

Calculating. Tutorial time left: five minutes and thirty-one seconds]

[Life Exp spend: 30. Life Exp: 30 -> 0]

[Rank 2 Skill – Life From Flame created]

“What must I do now?” Toby asked, ignoring the cost completely.

Following The System’s instruction, Toby used pure Mana to stimulate Lily’s heart to make it beat again. It wasn’t pretty, as he was basically grasping her heart and forcing it to beat. He made sure to ‘see’ blood circulating again before moving on.

Moving on to the lung, he used pure Mana again to artificially pump air through the lung to deliver oxygen to Lily’s brain and other organs while carefully draining the blood away. It was a race against time since he knew he couldn’t do this without the tutorial’s perfect Mana control.

[Tutorial time left: four minutes and fifty-nine seconds]

The System said Lily’s body might go into shock after such trauma, so Toby needed to use [Healing Hand] to soothe her nervous system.

Once her body stabilized, he used [Healing Hand] to quickly repair any severed arteries, veins, and capillaries while making sure there wasn’t any more blood loss. A large amount of water churned and disappeared into sparkly particles from the small bottle next to him.

[Tutorial time left: three minutes and sixteen seconds]

With no more blood loss, Toby focused [Healing Hand] on healing Lily’s heart and lungs while pumping the nutrients into her bloodstream before he closed the wound. The moment it was done, the Mermaid Tears burst into particles. Only a small amount of it left, but it might still be enough to heal himself after this.

He quickly scanned her body again and let the System take control to eliminate any infections that might remain.

[Tutorial time left: two and forty-four seconds]

The last step.

Toby used [Life From Flame] and transferred a portion of his life force to Lily to make up for her lost life force. It felt like a burning knife was cutting away his organ bit by bit. The cut was hurt, but the burning sensation was worse.

Toby smiled. It wasn’t as painful as being left alone.

Slowly, a green light that flowed like a river appeared from Toby’s heart and flowed to his flippers into Lily’s heart. The seed on the ground crumbled to dust the instant that light appeared.

Once a path was established between two hearts, the burning sensation stopped and was replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling instead. Like he was sharing something more than just life force.

[Tutorial time left: fifty-one seconds]

Come one, please work, please work. Toby prayed. So did Grillion and Lukas.

[Tutorial time left: five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds]

“COME ONE, WORK.”

[Two seconds. One second]

Right before the timer hit zero, the green light finished moving from Toby to Lily. Operation ended.

And Lily’s right index finger twitched.

[You save a being from near death after its lungs were punctured for the first time]

[Reward: 200 Life Exp. Life Exp: 0 -> 200]