Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. I had exams all week, so it was hard finding time to write. And as always, thank you for those who donated.

Waking Up

Hunger…

… pain…

….thirst….

I was stuck in a seemingly endless perpetual state of agony. It felt as if every single one of my pain receptors were overloaded with jolts of intense electricity. My skin was on fire, my insides were turning, the back of my skull was throbbing. It was a blurry haze of indescribable discomfort. Like a thick miasma that bogged me down and drowned me.

With my mind in total disarray, and my body in shambles, I was slowly sinking into a world void of any light, hope, or relief, unable and unaware of doing anything to prevent it.

Like a drop in an infinitely expanding ocean, the tiny sliver of half-consciousness that I could just barely hold onto was my only life raft. I instinctively knew that if I were to fall of this tiny life raft, then I’d be lost forever. Adrift in this made up ephemeral world, with no way of ever getting back.

In short, I felt the cold tendrils of death slowly encircling around me, violently rocking my raft with ill intent and obvious malice. On more than one occasion, I felt the bitter cold spray of the expanding ocean. My tiny raft threatened to capsize, the wood began to creak and break, water flooded the insides, my body felt cold.

The unshakable feeling of death constantly loomed over me like an imminent thunder cloud. Within this tiny, broken, half flooded raft, I found myself sitting there, a look of blank peace etched on my face. Faced with the threat of death, the tiny me whom I watched from above was inexplicably calm, his eyes closed shut, almost as if in meditation, while his hands rested lightly by his side.

He did not do anything particularly grand, but it felt as if the restless waters that surrounded this seemingly infinite space quietly subsided, while the grey storms hanging overhead, slowly dissipated. With the quelling turmoil, the little me within the tiny raft slowly raised his left palm up in the air.

The open palm lingered in mid air for a fraction of a second, before it abruptly closed in on itself, forming a tight fist.

All of a sudden, the infinite space around me, rapidly closed in. The tiny raft cracked like thunder and the resulting splinters flew towards my fist. Like a gluttonous black hole, everything within this ephemeral world was swallowed and consumed by that seemingly tiny fist.

The pain that had been subdued, came rushing forward like a torrential storm, and my eyes abruptly opened.

***

Through my half squinted eyes, I stared upwards, a somewhat blank and empty expression on my face. Everything around me was a blur, my eyes were glazed, and an constant buzzing in my ears resonated like claps of thunder.

Like the brief moment of half consciousness one experiences after abruptly waking up, my mind right now was in total disarray. I could vaguely sense that I was currently lying on the floor face up, but at the same time, I felt an indescribable nauseating sensation, almost as if I were on a rocking boat caught in the middle of a summer thunderstorm.

I attempted to crane my neck forward, but after struggling for what felt like an eternity, the stiff smothering feeling that weighed down on me continued to persist. I gave up shortly after, and instead, waited for my vision, as well as my other senses to adjust.

After an uncountable amount of time passed, my foggy vision cleared up, and I found myself staring up at a stark grey ceiling. The sunlight barely illuminated the hall around me, the wall casting a giant shadow that covered up almost half of my upper body.

With my sight, my other senses quickly returned. The numb sensation all over my body that I did not even know I had, slowly faded, only to be replaced by the keen awareness of my own body, and the abrupt feeling of pain.

My muscles felt as if they had atrophied overnight, while my bones felt as if they had been crushed and grinded down by a steamroller. There was a distinct pulsating pain on the back of my skull, and my chest felt congested to the point where it made it hard to breathe.

Above all though, amidst this chaotic mess of sensations, the irritating gnawing at the back of my throat was what bothered me the most. It was a feeling similar to a sore throat, but at the same time, it was completely different. As if a cat had repeatedly used my trachea as a scratching board, I felt hoarse, and incapable of talking. When I did try, all I could produce were dry and unintelligible coughing noises.

It did not take long for me to come to the conclusion that the current irritation in my throat, as well as a few of the myriad of symptoms my body had, were due to dehydration. The course dryness I felt was something I’ve never experienced before, yet an instinctual feeling deep within me told me all that I needed to know.

Pushed by this primal urge, all other thoughts in my head rapidly vanished. Even in my half dazed state, I knew how important water was. Things like how long I’ve been out, or whether or not the Manticore was still after me, were all pushed to the back of my mind.

My right hand slightly spasmed, as I tried to push off from the ground. With a cracking sound, my knees bent with great difficulty. My back strained to bend forward, while my neck craned upwards with equal difficulty. Moving my body took a considerable toll. It was as if gravity had suddenly increased all around me. It was like my body was stuck in a pool of quicksand, restricting my movement and sapping away at what little stamina I had in reserve.

I struggled for a while, only succeeding after who knows how many trials. Using the wall of the hallway as a support, I eventually stood up onto my feet. While I did succeed, the simple action of getting up consumed a lot of my energy, and for the first time, I was reminded of just how hungry I was.

With still slightly foggy vision, my eyes scanned the space around me, only to rest on a slightly opened door at the end of the hall. Behind the door, I could vaguely make out what looked to be a tiled floor, as well as the obscure outlines of what looks like a toilet.

‘The Bathroom…’ I tried voicing out my thoughts, but it came out as a raspy cough instead.

I staggered towards the door with great difficulty.

The bathroom was a small little square space, complete with a toilet, bathtub, and a sink. While this sort of arrangement was out of place in japan, where it was normal for the toilet to be separate from the rest of the bathroom, for a place like Setoha city, where foreigners made up a good 40% of the city’s population, it wasn’t all that odd of a set up.

I tried on all the faucets in the sink and bathtub, but like what I had expected, with the exception of some left over, dirty brownish colored run off, there was no water remaining. Whether something happened to the pipes, or whether this was a natural occurrence due to the lack of maintenance for the past few months, the fact remained that there was no clean water available.

Seeing the brown run off slowly drain into the gasket at the bottom of the sink, my face darkened as a slight frown creased my mouth downward.

I thought for a moment, before a brief memory flashed in my mind.

‘If I couldn’t get water from the sink or the bathtub, then there was always the toilet. After all, toilets have water too.’

I staggered towards the small, strangely clean toilet with somewhat unsteady foot steps. Staring down at the bowl in front of me, I could see a pool of clear water at the bottom of the toilet. While the toilet itself was spotless, the water was somewhat yellow, a clear indicator of the rust and grime that transmitted through the drainage pipes within. Its surface was as still as glass, and reflected a solemn eyed youth with overgrown hair. The youth, with his somewhat pale face, and dark bags underneath his eyes, stared right back at me with a somewhat indifferent expression.

I maintained the stare for a good second or two before I moved into action. My right hand reached past the toilet bowl before they rested on top of the tank cover behind the toilet. With one pull, I exerted what little strength I could muster and yanked the tank cover clean off.

A deafening crack resonated throughout the room as the porcelain cover fell to the tiled floor and splintered into numerous pieces. I paid this slight incident no matter, as I rested my left hand onto the tank and reached down inside with my right.

My body shook for a moment, before I lost my strength and tumbled forward. My left hand slid, as my head entered the tank. My head was quickly submerged in transparent water that was unlike the yellow substance within the bowl.

While the feeling of refreshing coolness was somewhat out of place within the heat of the summer, it brought slight clarity to my muddle headed mind. Without fanfare, I immediately began drinking, practically inhaling the water as it touched my slightly opened mouth.

An uncountable amount of time passed before my head emerged out from the bowl. I staggered backwards, a slightly satisfied expression etched onto my face, before I collapsed down onto the bathroom floor.

My shirt was soaked wet, and my chest heaved up and down with exasperation, but the itchy dry feeling within my throat had decreased. While the feeling of thirst still persisted, I felt that over consuming and drinking too much water right now might be counterproductive.

After drinking all that water, and having subsided the intense feeling of thirst, a new sensation surged throughout my body; fatigue. A wave of intense tiredness took hold, suppressing all the pain that I had previously felt.

I tried to suppress this rising feeling of lethargy using my [Sensory Remapping] skill, but surprisingly enough it did not work. I had attempted to use this skill earlier, when I subconsciously tried to repress the pain and thirst I felt, but it had not worked then either. Back then, spurred by the gnawing itch in my throat, I had pushed the issue to the back of my mind, but now, after another consecutive failure, I could no longer suppress the frown on my face.

I forced out a tired sigh, as I leaned back against the sink.

Right now my mind was in a state of total disarray. There were various things that worried me, like why my skill wasn’t working, or how the others were doing, or how bad my current state was… All these differing thoughts and concerns bogged me down, and left me with a somewhat helpless feeling, one that I could not shake off, no matter how hard I tried.

Staring lazily at the now wet floor in front of me, I quietly began to think. I swam through that bog of chaotic thoughts and images within my head, as I tried to collect myself, and assess my current situation.

… First off, judging from my dehydration from earlier, at least a day… maybe two days has passed since my battle with the Manticore. In addition, my stomach was practically hollow. While it wasn’t a clear indicator, the gnawing sense of hunger that almost overwhelmed me as I weakly patted my empty abdomen, was more than enough to indicate that a considerable amount of time had passed.

But even after pushing this feeling of hunger aside, the rest of my body wasn’t doing any better. This was especially true for my left arm and hand. Just moving it took a considerable toll from my body. And it wasn’t just the fact that moving it was tiring, but it physically hurt.

It was almost as if all the joints and veins within my arm had been jumbled up and regurgitated into an incomprehensible mess. This feeling only lasted from my left shoulder downwards, stopping somewhere around my wrist. Beyond my left wrist… was a feeling of numb emptiness.

I hesitated to look at my left arm, and instead stared down at my other arm.

The first thing I noticed was the blue veins that ran through my right arm. They were very distinct, almost vibrant, and made quite a stark contrast with my almost ash grey pale skin. The veins themselves throbbed, and pulsed, violently so, as if my body was struggling to supply adequate blood and oxygen throughout the rest of my body.

I did not say anything, but looking down at my right arm, I could not help but feel worried deep inside.

Was this a side effect of extreme stamina depletion? Something like a drugged up version of the Physical Exhaustion status? While this possibility entered my mind, I felt that it was not wholly accurate. I felt that these current symptoms, coupled with the feeling of lethargy I was going through, was deeply connected to something I had done during the battle… Unfortunately, right now, I could not quite remember the specific details to said battle.

I thought silently for a second, before I immediately brought up my window panel. If I wanted to assess my current situation, then it would be best to start from scratch.

Status Window Name Mayo Hide Age 17 Race Human Level 47 Gender Male Titles Pioneer, Psychopath, Dungeon Explorer, Monster Hunter Health 20/560 (46) Health Regen. 0.03 / Sec Mana

(unavailable) 560 (31) Mana Regen. 0.015 / Sec Stamina 302/760 (331) Stamina Regen. 0.055 / Sec - Strength 130 (31) Agility 187 (31) Greater Vitality 90 (31) Dexterity 125 (31) Intelligence 26 (31) Wisdom 76 (31) Leadership 0 (23) Luck 0 (23) Defense 50 (31) Accuracy 20 (31) Physical Resistance 9 (31) Magic Resistance 7 (31) Endurance 5 (31) Perception 5 (31) Insight 5 (31) - Skills Equip (Active)

Identification (Active)

All Heal (Active)

Dissection + (Active)

Sensory Remapping + (Active)

Searing Armor (Active)

All Purpose Crafting (Active)

Butcher (Active)

Shadow Sprint (Active)

Amphibian (Active)

Lesser Draconic Boost ++ (Active)

Ferocity (Active)

Body Maneuver (Passive)

Dagger Mastery (Passive)

Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive)

Sword Mastery (Passive) Current Status Effect(s) Extreme Physical Exhaustion

Mental Strain

Starvation

Lesser Dehydration

Extreme Burn Out

Strain

Fracture

Bruise

Infection Unallocated Points 70

I stared blankly at the floating blue window panel for a few seconds, before an uncontrollable sigh leaked out from my chapped lips.

The first thing I noticed was that I had jumped two levels, and that I had a boat load of unallocated points.

At first this left me in a brief state of shock and confusion, before I finally managed to piece together what had happened. The Manticore had died. While I was asleep, the Manticore had kicked the bucket, probably unable to heal from the last injury I had given it.

Thinking about it now, it isn’t all that surprising. After all, an explosive literally detonated within its skull. Surviving from something like that is no easy feat, even for an other world boss class monster. It probably died from the status effects that that last attack had given him… something close to [Massive Bleeding] or probably a [Brain Hemorrhage].

While I realized this, I still found it rather hard to believe. I mean, that thing was extremely strong, scarily so. For it to die while I was asleep… After the Draconic Flare had failed to kill it off immediately, I honestly expected it to survive. Apparently, I had overestimated its regenerating capabilities.

“...”

Well, although it was a surprise, in the end, it was a good surprise. That just meant I had one less thing to worry about.

As I made a mental note to return to the school and collect my loot, I moved on to the next issue on my Window Panel.

There was a very large list under the column labeled [Status Effects].

[Extreme Physical Exhaustion], [Mental Strain], [Starvation]... the list was exceedingly long, and brought a rather large frown to my face. I even received something like [Mental Strain], despite that fact that I didn’t use any magic back then… Seeing such a list, the only thing I could respond with was with a rather long and drawn out sigh.

In the end, reading through all these deterrents, I concluded that each effect stacked, and each and everyone of them contributed to my current state.

Right now, my current combat strength was probably not even 1/10th of my maximum capabilities. I was still somewhat in a daze, and it took me a while to mentally process all of this. While listing all of the effects of each status effects was a chore, in the end, the biggest importance was the fact that they weakened me.

I looked through the list of status effects once more, almost in utter disbelief. Primarily, I was quite frankly surprised I had survived at all. From the untreated injuries I had after the fight, it wouldn’t have been all that surprising if I had died due to some sort of [Bleeding] effect or something.

After thinking about it a little, I came to the conclusion that this was probably due to my [Greater Vitality] stat. It probably gave me some form of resistance against those gradual hp loss type status effects, and somewhat helped facilitate my healing. I had a rather vague understanding as to how the system’s rules worked, but considering the fact that I survived, I took it all with a grain of salt.

Although in the end, while [Greater Vitality] kept me from dying, it could not help me make a complete recovery.

My stats were greatly hampered by status effects like Mental Strain, Extreme Physical Exhaustion, Strain, and Starvation, while my HP regeneration, and Stamina regeneration were limited, and slowed by Fracture, Bruise, and Lesser Dehydration.

As I was assessing my body in order to confirm with the status effects I had, I took note of [Fracture]. At first I did not know what injury [Fracture] was related to, but after some thought, and recalling the previous fight, I unconsciously looked down towards my left arm.

A disgusting color of purple. The wrist was extremely swollen, and some puss came out from an open cut near the base of my thumb joint. The whole area was caked in dark red blood stains, and the hand itself was lamely resting on my inner thigh, no ounce of power or energy within.

Looking at my own mangled hand, I could not help but grimace at its mere sight.

I was once again reminded that I could not feel anything from this hand. This lack of sensation, matched with such a gruesome visual cue sent a shiver of unease running through my spine. In addition, going by the slightly discolored puss leaking out from my hand, it was probable that the [Infection] status effect originated from this injury.

[Infection] was one of the things I dreaded the most. Back in the dungeon, because of Cielle’s immediate healing, it was practically impossible for an injury to stagnate and fester to the point of infection, but now, without such a convenient ally, what I had dreaded the most had finally occurred.

Something like illness and disease, were things that were extremely difficult to deal with. Unlike injuries, they could not be healed by a simple healing spell or a health potion. This alone made it extremely dangerous, and exceedingly deadly. In a world where medical supplies and medical knowledge were greatly limited, [Illness], [Disease], [Infection], these things were without a doubt much, much scarier than your run of the mill monster.

Because of the [Infection] status, my HP regeneration had been severely capped (Although several other status effects contributed to this). In addition, outside of the normal physical changes an infection brought along, it also lowered all of my stats, and slowed my reaction speed.

Faced with such a grim reality, I laughed dryly, as I offhandedly wondered whether or not Cielle’s [Gemini Blue] could cure [Infection]...

I looked around the bathroom, before I wearily got up and stood in front of the sink. There, I opened the cabinet behind the mirror, and began searching for anything useful. To my surprise, there were a few bottles of medicine. I tried using [Identify] on the bottles, but unfortunately, it was a fruitless endeavor.

This was something I had expected though. Although I knew it was bound to end in failure, I still could not help but try. After reading through that list of status effects, I had discovered that the status effect, [Extreme Burnout] prohibited me from activating any active skills. This included [Identify].

I was exasperated.

After another sigh leaked out from my mouth, I supported myself on the sink with my good arm, and gathered the few bottles of medicine I could find within the cabinet. I searched the bathroom thoroughly for any other useful objects, and found a first aid kit underneath the sink.

Unfortunately though, the family that had lived here wasn’t particularly very prepared. Their first aid kit was rather sparse, only containing a sewing kit, some band aids, and a roll of gauze.

After gathering the supplies, I hesitated for a second, before I staggered over towards the water tank behind the toilet. I thoroughly washed my left hand with some of the water. While I was inwardly bitter at using such a precious resource, I knew full well that left untreated, an infection could be just as dangerous, if not more so than Dehydration.

5 minutes passed before I finally finished.

My hand looked marginally better than before, but not by much. I raised my left arm up to my eye level, and sighed once more as I saw my own hand lamely droop like a puppet with its strings cut.

What made this image even more downheartening was the fact even though this should be painful, it wasn’t. I could not feel anything. Numb. It was just numb.

I sighed and wondered whether or not it would be better to just cut this hand off and avoid all the hassle.

“...”

I glanced back at my window panel and stared dead eyed at all my unallocated points. After some deliberation, I ultimately decided to place a majority of it into [Greater Vitality]. My train of thought was that, it would help improve my current situation. It might make me recover faster, or it might give a sort of slight boost in disease or illness resistance.

While there wasn’t any significant physical change after I dumped nearly 50 points into [Greater Vitality], right off the bat, I felt a bit of energy return to my atrophied body. This small change was enough to significantly improve my once downtrodden mood.

Afterwards, I shoved all the medicine bottles into my pockets while I used one of the rolls of gauze to haphazardly bandage my hand. While I lamented on not having [Equip]’s item boost at a time like this, my amateur actions were still better than doing nothing.

I drank a few more gulps of water from the toilet tank, before I finally decided to find some food, and staggered out into the hallway.

At the hallway, in a spot smeared with dried blood, I saw the Manticore egg. It's leaned on the wall, while besides it, my sword [Fynch] sat, its handle coated in a heavy shade of dark crimson.

I moved to pick up the sword with my good hand, before I sluggishly made my way over towards the kitchen, where I promptly began searching for food. The cabinets that should have been stacked full of goods were bare, while the food in the refrigerator had long since gone bad.

I dejectedly sighed. While it was growing apparent that I wasn’t going to find anything edible, the gnawing feeling in my stomach continued to unceasingly push me forward.

After 10 minutes of searching, the only thing I had to show for all my efforts, were a bottle of soy sauce, a salt shaker, and a container filled with garlic powder. In a fit of desperation, I searched through the piles of rotting food within the refrigerator, hoping to find anything consumable.

In the end, I found a jar of fermented pickles discreetly placed in between some rancid mayonnaise and a lump of rotting vegetables.

Without much fanfare, I quietly ate the fermented pickles. The taste was rather bland, and the food going down felt like coarse sandpaper, and jagger broken glass, but in the end, food was food, and given my current circumstances, I had no right to complain.

After a few rounds of coughing, spitting, and swallowing, I managed to empty out the entire jar. Unfortunately, instead of fixing my hunger, the gnawing sensation within my stomach only intensified. It was as if someone had placed a single drop of water into a thirsty man’s tongue. I clutched at my abdomen with a rather limp hand, before I moved towards the living room.

I crashed down onto the dust covered coach, before the weariness and fatigue from earlier slowly enclosed around me like wisps of heavy fog. My eyes slowly drooped, before the lull of sleep further drowned out my consciousness.

I mentally made a checklist of the things I needed to do before I entered another round of restless sleep.