Inside the ambulance

WEE WOO! WEE WOO!

Liam was lying flat on the stretcher. His eyes were closed but he was still conscious.

He was pretending to be asleep...

He can't be awake and just stand up, because he knew he was just injected with the strongest anesthetic drugs and tranquilizer that the paramedics got to let him stay unconscious.

They highly doubt that he will open his eyes from such a small surgery.

Unfortunately, he got the Immunity skill so no drug effects can affect him including the good ones so of course the anesthesia was not gonna work on him.

If there are no bad effects then there was also no need for the good effects.

That was also why he still felt the pain that was caused by the surgery that the paramedics are doing for him to heal.

'Ack! Ooooh! Keuk! Shitty alcohol! Urk!'

He was trying his best to hide his pain from the people around him and could only react deep inside his mind.

He really can't sleep right now even if he does want to sleep for his own good he can't because he have the Regeneration skill that would heal all his wounds in a short period of time.

Either being asleep or being awake and open his eyes, he would just make the people around him be shocked to a great extent.

The paramedics are busy preventing the blood of the patient from leaking out non-stop from his open wounds and injuries.

They were only two paramedics inside the ambulance. A young lady and a middle-aged man. They were both good at things.

The young woman was great at doing tasks but still inexperienced when finding a solution and the man was experienced but not just slightly above average with his movements.

They were like a talent against wisdom.

They were quite different at some point but they both know the same thing.

That a person with a critical condition can easily surpass 100 heartbeats per minute, then how can this guy's heart still be below 90 BPM?

"W-what? Is this possible? I think our ventilator is broken. Right?"

The blonde-haired girl was shocked and asked her co-worker on her side.

"I... I think so too."

The man answered in response with a puzzled look in his face.

Paramedics always need to be calm and composed but how can they not panic if the ventilator was currently not working properly.

How can they know when to use electric current to the heart of their patient if danger comes.

But unfortunately, they don't have time to panic now, the patient's life can also get affected by their mental state.

Soon they continued to do their own work.

The truth was, it's not the ventilator that have a problem.

It was Liam and his system, which have a problem.

The Health Recovery was a passive skill that lets the user replenish his HP for 1 point every minute. It can replenish the HP completely if the user's physical body has no severe damage and was resting.

Liam's body had so many injuries so it can only be refilled up to 80% of his HP that was also why his heart BPM was almost normal.

A moment later.

Liam somehow became bored, and at the same time, he was annoyed.

Why does he still need to pretend to be sleeping if he can just open his eyes?

However, he didn't want to do it because he have his dignity for others.

Or for just the beautiful blonde-haired girl. Well, that's what he thought.

Liam slightly opened his eyes narrowly that no can notice.

He almost smiled when he saw the blonde-haired girl with a soft oval-shaped face and a shiny brown eyes.

'Hm. Why do I feel like I'm missing something?'

He opened the system and checked it with his still narrowed eyes.

He ignored the notification window and immediately read the system.

'Hm? It's all working normally. My HP is 79, MP is 9, Stamina is 67. But this strange feeling is still crawling inside me.'

Liam then closed his system. He didn't care about it much because boredom was still filling him.

He even thought that it would have been more fun if his system has games and stuff.

He was currently having some pipe dreams in his mind right now.

A while later.

The ambulance stopped.

Liam's delusion was stopped by the paramedics taking him away. The stretcher was being taken to the emergency room. And a medical operation will get done for him once again.

'AaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaa...'

Sometime later.

'...aaaaAaaah. Oh! is it finally done now?'

The doctor that performed the operation to Liam called the nurses.

"I've done my operation. Take him to the surgeon in the operation theater right now. His in a critical condition."

Liam was listening to the conversation of the doctor and the nurses and he wanted to complain but too bad he's been injected by another dose of anesthesia and tranquilizer so all he have to do is... nothing.

He despaired, not just because he's gonna be pretending to be asleep for a long time again but because the beautiful lady was long gone from his side.

'HuwaaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...'

Another long sigh was being made inside Liam's heart and mind because he have to do another pain-enduring time.

A long, long time later.

'Aaaaahaaaaah... Oh wow! I'm in a patient room now.'

Liam thought as he fully opened his eyes for the first time in a long time.

It was early noon and he was currently lying on a patient's bed.

Almost all of his entire body was wrapped with bandages and it's even hard for him to move his head without using force.

"Oh my god. This patient room is so fancy. I only see this in movies. Is this a VIP room?"

"Yes Sir. You're in a VIP room."

"H-HOLY!"

Liam was surprised. His body shook greatly for a second and he forcefully moved his head to see the person who answered him.

"Sir! Please don't move too hard. Your injuries are just closing but they are still fresh. They would open if you move again."

It was the short blonde haired girl, who is the type that Liam likes.

"Ah. Y-yes... I'm so sorry for that." Liam said while his head is still facing the lady.

"That's including your head, sir. Please try to rest it. And also, the one who told us to place you in this VIP room is Mr. Hanes."

The girl said with a worried look.

"Oh. I see." Liam said as he turned back his head out of embarrassment.

'Ian you really are the best!'

His thoughts may be kinda terrible but he was really soft when talking to people who are not that close to him, especially girls.

"Aren't you a paramedic?" Liam asked the lady while fixedly staring at her.

"Of course. However, I also have experience with nursing people. And Mr. Hanes recommended me to nurse you although I'm not that good."

The girl answered with a nice and humble expression, then she formed a smile, narrowed her eyes, and tilt his head slightly as soon as she meets Liam's gaze.

Her eyes sparkled and her hair swayed as she moved.

'S-so gorgeous. I'm gonna melt...!'

Liam almost said his thoughts out loud for losing his composure because of the beautiful girl that was nursing him.

But held himself back because he will look like a freak by doing so.

"Ah, yes... That's really great." Liam mumbled while still gazing at the girl.

"Hm? What is great sir?" The girl asked like an innocent child.

"N-nothing! It's nothing... You can continue doing your work."

"Hm. I'm really sorry sir, I didn't really have time to ask Mr. Hanes, but can you please tell me your name." The girl asked Liam.

"Yes, sure. The name is Liam Keene and my number is..." Liam said excitedly.

"Ah Mr. Keene! There's no need for your number. It's only for your friends or family."

"...Okay..."

The nurse lady then leaves after writing some things at the medical paper.

"Sigh. Why did I try to say my number earlier."

Liam grumbled and felt slightly embarrassed and dejected by what he did.

'I still feel strange. Is it because I didn't ask her name... No, It's definitely not that.'

Liam shook his head.

DING!

"Oh right. There is my system's notification." Liam said out loud as he remembered the notification earlier at his house because the notification chimed just now.

He then opened it while he was still laying down on the bed. He first saw the notification window.

『You have endured pain for a very long time up until now. Endurance has been increased by 2 points.』

『The task [ Make an enemy be startled by you.] has been completed. You gained 2 Stat Points and 3 Skill Points.』

『The task [ Kill a person.] has been completed. You gained 4 Stat Points and 5 Skill Points.』

『You have leveled up. All attributes has been raised by 1 point.』

『It's the first time you leveled up since 'the system's guide' has been imparted to you. A bonus rewards will be given.』

『The reward [Upgrade one random skill] has been given to you. Would you activate it now? «Y // N»』

"FOR REAL!" Liam widened his eyes and shouted in surprise.

"I'll be damn! System, you're so generous. You rock! ha. I don't even know how to level up. Even my pain-endurance earlier have paid off and gave me a reward." He was so happy by the fact that the system gave him so many rewards.

CREAK

The door opened and a random female nurse came barging in the room with a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay, sir!?"

The nurse asked as he glanced at Liam.

"Eh? Y-yes. I'm sorry. I just remembered something." Liam replied.

"Okay, sir. I'll take my leave."

The nurse said before she went out of the room.

"I was kinda getting noisy. But damn! The rewards are so good. I know that leveling up a skill is really hard to even my athlete isn't upgrading. And yet it's upgrading a skill for free! How hard is that! Thank you so much system! I wish this is also the reward if I leveled up once again. Enough! Better open the bonus reward right now." Liam ended his delusions and excitedly chose the ACCEPT in the rewards with his mind.

『 The skill [Skill Absorption] has been upgraded. The [Skill Absorption] skill has been changed into [Absorption]. 』

『 The skill [Absorption] can absorb a target's one random attribute from 25%-50% and can also absorb one active and passive skill from them. 』

Liam saw and read all of the notification with his mouth agape and his widened eyes. He was frozen for a moment and then read again multiple times, checking if he's eyes are deceiving him. But it was all true.

"HEAVENS! This is a godly and a heaven-defying OP skill! It's sooooo good! Oh my god!"

Liam shouted and really wanted to move around and let his happiness flow out, but too bad, he can't move with a pack of bandages covering his entire body.

"Sir! Are you really okay!" The nurse hurriedly came back again to Liam's room then asked him another question with a worried look.

"Y-yes. I just remembered something again. Please don't come if I did that again next time. Sorry to bother you."

Liam felt sorry for the lady that was checking his condition.

The nurse then got out of his room after hearing the explanations of Liam.

'F*ck. This is so good. I really want to try this out right now.'

Liam was daydreaming for a moment but then he suddenly remembered something.

"F*CK!!!"

_______

In a hospital's hallway on the VIP floor.

The nurse once again heard the shout of the patient in the VIP room but he did not dare to come in because it's the VIP patient that have said it.

She was about to go down but then a doctor called her.

"Hey, nurse! Can you please tell the attendants to take this body to the morgue. And tell the staff to report the police that this guy has the same tattoo of the guy in the jail."

A middle-aged man doctor said to the nurse then he gave the gurney to the nurse.

"Ah, doc! What's the tattoo of this body?" The nurse asked.

"Letters are tattooed on his neck. It's D and an S. or DS."

"Okay, doc."

"Yes, Thank you very much."

After the doctor and the nurse said their farewell to each other, they went to different ways to do their own tasks.

_______

In Liam's VIP room

"F*ck. Shit. Damn it. Arghh. Why did I forget that." Liam continuously spouted some words.

'Shit! I didn't use the skill absorption to get that guy's skill!'

"I'm so dumb. Huwaaaah." Liam wanted to cry but he let out a sigh instead.

How can he forget to use his amazing skill to get another new skill from the guy? Just why!?

After a few minutes of regretting his stupidity, Liam was currently tired and bored. He thought that he could sleep now since his injuries are covered with bandages and the doctors or nurses won't see that it was already healed but...

"Hmmm... Oh wait! I think this is the nearest hospital to my town so that means that... that the dead guy is here. probably? It's better to check it later but... I really need to sleep first I'm so tired now." Liam then closed his eyes because that's the only thing he could do now.