《The Elemental Arena》Chapter Eight - Consequences of War

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Nathan glanced at his two allies. Asahi dropped into a competent fighter’s stance and prowled up the bank. He crouched in ambush behind a large tree where his camouflaged outfit helped conceal him from the trail’s view. Johanna, by contrast, was standing by the creek’s edge, panic written across her face, probably a mirror image of his own. She no longer held a rock for a weapon, having abandoned it for some inane reason halfway on their hike.

Seeing her inaction spurred Nathan to finally move. He shoved Mr. Rock into her hands, arming her with his greatest weapon. But she appeared confused by his generous gift, forcing him to waste a valuable second on explanation. “Take him, I’ll get another.” When she continued staring at him blankly, he sighed. “Okay, if you see a rat… then smash the rat.” She finally nodded.

He waded into the creek water despite his shoes becoming wet, frantically searching the rocks for an appropriate sized replacement. Unfortunately, most of the rocks were either pebble sized or stupidly large and unwieldy. He already regretted his hasty decision to give his weapon away. Mr. Rock was best rock.

As he disappointedly scanned the shallow creek, he heard another screech behind him. For lack of a better option, he grunted as he lifted a big stone out of the water with both hands. It was slightly larger than his head, and even with his increased stats it proved encumbering. He’d either underestimated its weight or overestimated himself. His back must have thought both because it spasmed with a sharp pain.

He dumped the rock with a splash and straightened to stretch the cramp away. His Grandfather’s favorite words only then decided to make an appearance in his brain; always lift with your legs, not your back.

Spinning to look back up the trail, he spied a horned beaver monster bounding towards him. Caught off guard, he stumbled backwards, tripping over the large rock he’d inconveniently dropped by his feet. He became drenched as he landed on his butt. Worse than that, was the knowledge he was officially going to die from his own stupidity.

Johanna was already splashing past him, moving away from the monster. She ran up the other creek bank. Nathan frowned, not just because she wasn’t going to save him... it meant Mr. Rock was fleeing the battle too.

He couldn’t spare them another thought since the beaver was already at the bank. The critter leapt, horns pointed towards him like a pair of lances.

Asahi, waiting for this moment, stepped from behind the tree and yelled in Japanese. Red energy spiralled around his leg as he performed an incredible looking front kick, catching the monster squarely with his combat boot. The skill added 50% damage and the force knocked the beaver silly like a rag doll. It splashed down a few yards upstream from Nathan. The wounded creature churned in the shallow water as it flailed its legs.

Another screech made both men wince but it wasn’t from the wet beaver. A second rodent soared towards Asahi’s back, having approached down the trail unnoticed. Asahi, even with his quick reactions, was too slow to dodge. One of the enemy horns grazed his thigh, eliciting a sickening spray of blood as it sliced cleanly through both camo material and leg muscle. Good God, those horns must be razor sharp.

The contact caused the leaping beaver to spin out of control. It crash landed in the tall grass off the side of the trail, disappearing from view. Nathan, still gaping at his ally’s injury, felt a flash of guilt for having frozen up. He scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain in his back. He ran to where he’d seen the second beaver fly into the grass-like plants.

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He spotted it as soon as he reached the edge of the trail. The beaver had tumbled and rolled, flattening the grass in its path. Regaining its feet and facing him, its hind legs bunched to spring. Nathan had an instant of surprise before he instinctively threw himself into some brambles. The monster whizzed through the air where he’d previously stood.

A moment later, he heard a gurgling screech followed by a sickening crunch. Regaining his feet, he discovered a shaky Asahi with a pixelating beaver under his foot. His thigh continued to gush blood. Nathan had to admit the boot stomp was a pretty sweet finishing move, but how was the man even standing?

Asahi locked eyes with Nathan and spoke through gritted teeth. “Not over yet. Finish off the other beaver...” He trailed off as he plopped to the ground, clutching his wound. Nathan had a brief glance at the leg and the sight sickened him further.

Nathan turned back to the creek. It was time to contribute his meager fighting skills to the battle.

He quickly spotted the first monster climbing up the bank towards them. It was limping, obviously hurt, and Nathan couldn’t make sense of why it still wanted to fight.

Knowing the monster was most dangerous when allowed time to leap, he decided to take the initiative. He rushed it. He arrived in a few quick steps and punted. The Fire energy from his attack buff, already tensed in his muscles, released in response. His leg accelerated faster and hit far harder than should’ve been possible. His foot connected with the underside of its head, red swirly mist exploding outward from the force of the impact.

The beaver was apparently too injured to prevent becoming the football in the field goal kick. Its neck broke as it flipped onto its back, body dissolving a few seconds later. The Attack Up symbol on his wristband faded away, the buff used up.

Breathing hard, he let the utter ridiculousness of the situation wash over him. He’d been entering his office that morning, worried about drinking his coffee. Now he was fumbling through battles to the death with monsters. It was nuts. And a beaver had wrecked Asahi’s leg. An injury of that nature, if it could even be healed, was going to make their survival much more difficult.

He glanced towards the opposite bank to check on Johanna who fled. His fists balled, his spiked adrenaline needing a new target to vent its energy. Asahi wouldn’t have been hurt if she’d stood her ground.

Nathan quickly spotted her, and his anger transformed to shock. Johanna, wielding Mr. Rock, was locked in battle with a third beaver.

His surprise then changed to fear. He hadn’t known there was a third beaver. But he really should have. He’d heard three distinct screeches. It was his fault for not staying aware of the situation. Was that why she crossed the creek at the beginning of the fight? He’d thought she’d been running away, but maybe not. If she hadn’t been over there, the last beaver might have surprised their flank the same as the second.

While Nathan’s mind raced, his legs propelled himself forward. He leapt the creek, intent on blindsiding the monster. The third beaver bunched its legs, readying its jump at Johanna.

Nathan arrived a moment too late to prevent its attack. The beaver sprang, tilting its horns towards her middle. Instead of dodging, Johanna swung Mr. Rock down with both hands.

...and she missed.

The beaver’s dual horns impaled her stomach. She groaned weakly as Mr. Rock tumbled out of her grip.

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“Johanna!” he cried out.

She collapsed backward, dragging the beaver down on top of her. Its horns were still penetrating her midsection. Instead of pulling them out, the beaver instead thrashed left and right, intent on causing more harm to her vulnerable belly.

Nathan reached the combatants a moment later. “Attack Up!” he screamed, grabbing the back of the beaver’s neck. He squeezed. Energy bulged his muscles and the color red swirled through the air around his hands. He heard something pop. He yanked the creature away from Johanna, freeing its horns from her body. A red mist of blood splattered out, eerily similar to his skill’s energy glow.

“Attack Up!” he shouted again, reactivating the buff and depleting his remaining EPs. He smashed the beaver to the ground by its neck. The air filled with a dark red glow from the rapid buff activations.

His hands suddenly became empty. He held only pixelated light, weightless and immaterial. Then it was gone.

He whirled back to the woman. She was slightly propped up by tree roots and stared down unbelievingly as she held her stomach in with her hands. Blood oozed between her fingers, and Nathan had to avert his gaze or be sick.

“Help…” Johanna murmured.

Nathan was clueless what to do; he’d never administered medical aid before. The idea paralyzed him. He didn’t do blood. His stomach became queasy even thinking about it, while actually touching wounds was the stuff of his nightmares.

He took a few calming breaths. He couldn’t help anyone unless he could think it through. She needed to heal, and so far, learning Physical skills was their main method. But did she have one to learn?

“Johanna, quick, read your messages.”

“I… help.” Her voice trembled along with her ragged breathing.

They didn’t have time. “Just open your wristband!” He realized he was shouting, panic lacing his voice. He took another deep breath and willed himself to speak softer, though he knew he was nowhere close to calm. “A new skill could heal you. See if you got one from the battle.”

She blinked at him. Then her eyes seemed to come into focus though she didn’t reply. A moment later, her interface opened, angled horizontally from her midsection where she still held her hands over her wounds.

Nathan carefully guided her arm upward into a position she could read her screen. He could tell by her eyes she had begun reading, and he held his breath in anticipation.

“No... no skill...” her voice trailed off as she let her blue screen vanish. She returned her hand to her stomach.

His heart sank at the lack of a solution. He was adrift without a life raft now.

He racked his mind, searching for anything remotely helpful. He knew gut wounds were bad. Fatally bad. He remembered in the movie Reservoir Dogs how it took a long time to die from a gunshot to the stomach. Her injury was kind of the same thing, right? He cursed. A stupid movie was the extent of his knowledge. He also lacked medical supplies except for dirty clothes for bandages. He was useless.

So what could he do?

Fire? He had the knowledge to make it both from his camping trips and thanks to the survival skill. With a fire, he could cauterize the wounds. But building a fire with only natural components would take a lot of time. For that matter, would burning the wound actually help someone in her condition? She was holding her stomach to keep her freaking insides from falling out. That wasn’t an easy fix. A real doctor would perform some kind of fancy surgery on her intestines first. But he didn’t have the tools, education, or mental fortitude for anything like that. If only he had a skill… a skill, that’s it!

He pulled the remains of his wet and bloody t-shirt out of his back pocket and pressed it down to Johanna’s stomach. He removed her hands from underneath it and placed them on the outside of the shirt. The entire time he was careful not to look directly at the wound lest he lose his nerve.

“Johanna, keep the pressure on your wound like you’re doing. I’ll get help.”

“Don’t leave…” she said, her tone pleading.

“I’ll be back in a minute, I promise.”

Without waiting for acknowledgment, he dashed down the bank and jumped across the water. He scrambled up the other bank to Asahi’s position.

The soldier nodded to him. “Johanna-san? How is her condition?” The man had already removed his uniform top and was in the process of tearing strips of fabric from his olive green shirt underneath. Nathan intentionally didn’t look at his wounded leg.

“Bad stomach wound. Asahi, I need you to use Injury Stabilize on her. It’s her only chance. Think you can stand up if I help?”

“Nathan-san…” he began then stopped. “I…” He hung his head as his words trailed off.

“What is it?” Nathan asked impatiently. Time was absolutely critical.

“I already used it… on myself.”

Nathan’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh no…” Nathan narrowed his eyes on the unnoticed green plus sign on the man’s choker.

Asahi’s expression was miserable. “For my leg, before I knew she would be injured.”

Nathan nodded grimly. It made sense. But it also meant Johanna was as good as dead. He tried his best to remain calm. Freaking out would be the worst thing he could do right then.

“Check and see if you learned a skill, at least you might be able to heal up.”

Asahi shook his head. “No new skills, I checked first.”

Nathan gritted his teeth. Nothing was going right.

He decided to man up and see for himself if the stabilize skill even worked. He braced himself, reluctantly taking a peek at Asahi’s gory leg wound. Miraculously, the bleeding had completely stopped. The wound looked terrible, but given how bad it’d been before, Asahi would likely be bleeding out right now if not for the skill use. The effect would only last twenty minutes so Nathan needed to make the most of it.

He glanced at the other man’s glowing wristband, relieved to be looking anywhere other than the leg. The man’s digital EP counter indicated he had 1 EP left. Crap. The skill cost a massive 20 EPs per activation.

Nathan tried to calculate how long it would take to regenerate to 20. The stat description mentioned a player’s maximum energy amount replenished fully in an hour’s time and he knew Asahi had a max of 34. He reflected sourly on the fact that math wasn’t his strongest suit. He was entirely too dependent on a calculator. Half an hour or so was his best guess. Asahi would lose the stabilizing effect on himself well before being able to activate it again on Johanna. That would be the trickiest time, when neither injured player would be under the skill’s effect.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Nathan said. “While you’re still stabilized, let’s get you across the creek next to Johanna. We then get your leg fixed up, like with a tourniquet or something, so when your buff effect runs out, you’ll remain somewhat stable the old fashioned way. Once you’re back at 20 EPs, you stabilize skill Johanna instead of redoing yourself since she’s in worse shape.”

“I agree. But assuming she survives long enough to be stabilized, the twenty minute effect is not much time to then save her.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Nathan snapped.

Asahi’s jaw tightened, but said nothing.

Nathan was immediately plagued by guilt for his outburst. He was letting his stress take control. The man was wounded, but was still concerned for Johanna, same as him. “Sorry... we’ll just cross that bridge when we get there.”

“Hai. Please help me up.”

Nathan helped the man stand and then ducked under his shoulder to support him. Then they moved as fast as Asahi’s injury would allow. With the stabilize skill active in his system, the task was much easier for the man than should’ve been humanly possible. The man evidently still experienced the pain, but walking wasn’t making it worse or causing it to bleed. Even still, it took an excruciatingly long time to cross the creek.

He sat Asahi down a couple yards below Johanna on the creek bank so he would have easy access to water. Then he moved up to Johanna’s position and knelt over her. Her eyes were closed and she was shivering. Thankfully, she still held his now completely soaked red shirt to her stomach.

“Johanna. How’re you doing?”

She opened her eyes and it took her a moment to focus them on Nathan. “Help…” she said weakly.

“I will. I need you to stay awake so you can keep the pressure on your tummy. Asahi is here too. Once I get him fixed up, he’s going to use his stabilize skill on you. You’re doing great, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“I…” she said, but apparently didn’t have the strength to finish whatever she wanted to say. Nathan winced. She kept holding her stomach though which was all he could ask of her.

He moved back to Asahi. To build his courage to examine the wound, he tried to rationalize what needed to be done. For some reason, his survival skill was silent on the matter. Perhaps he needed to level up the skill to gain medical knowledge? While that was a nice thought, he doubted it worked that way. More likely medicine was completely outside its purview. Either way, it wasn’t helping him now. He’d have to do it skill-less.

For his first task, preventing the leg from bleeding again after the stabilize effect expired was obvious. But how? He understood that a tourniquet was useful in an academic sense, but didn’t actually know how to properly do one. He tried to remember what he’d seen on television. The purpose of a tourniquet is supposed to limit the blood flow. Based on that common sense, he figured it’d need to be placed higher up on the leg between the wound and Asahi’s heart.

Nathan’s stomach rebelled at the thought of doing any of this. He repeated his mantra of breathe, breathe, breathe. The wave of nausea temporarily passed. He took one more deep breath and then got to work.

“Asahi, the strips of shirt you made, I’ll need them.”

“That was my intention.” He handed three wide strips of green fabric to Nathan. Other than sweat, they were the cleanest piece of clothing Nathan had seen in what felt like a long time.

Now he needed something for leverage. Nathan searched around for a sturdy stick. He crossed the creek again to collect a fallen branch. He broke it in half with his foot and then knocked off the extra branches and leaves to create two sticks of manageable size. He leapt the creek once more and rejoined the two injured players. He noted that Johanna’s eyes were closed again.

“Johanna, you still awake?”

Her eyes opened. “Yes,” her voice trembled. Then she closed them again.

This wasn't going to work. He needed to keep her awake so she could keep pressure on her wound, at least until he finished with Asahi.

“Johanna, you said earlier that you’d gone through childbirth. Do you have kids?”

She opened her eyes again. “Yes.”

“How old are they?”

“Nine... and… six.” Her words were barely louder than a whisper.

“Boys or girls?”

“Girls…”

“That’s wonderful. We’ll get you all fixed up and then they’ll be happy to see their mom when we go home. I just need you to stay awake and keep that pressure on your stomach. Think you can do that?”

She barely nodded her head in acknowledgement. Nathan focused back on Asahi. The soldier was already pulling down his camo patterned trousers and Nathan awkwardly helped him move them over the wound. The man winced in pain but otherwise offered no complaints.

The laceration was about five inches across the front of the thigh and over an inch deep. Possibly even deeper but Nathan refused to inspect any closer. He put the middle of the longest strip of fabric under the thigh, making sure to get it higher up the leg than the cut. Grabbing the stick and placing it on the front of the upper leg, he wrapped both ends of the fabric over it. Making one more complete pass around and under the leg, he finished by tying the two ends in a double knot on the front.

Now he just had to tighten the fabric strip.

“Do it,” Asahi said.

Hoping he knew what he was doing, Nathan used both hands to rotate the stick. The leverage pulled the fabric tighter. Theoretically, it would reduce the blood flow to the wound, which would be necessary when he was no longer under the protection of the stabilize skill. Not knowing how tight it should be, he decided to make it as tight as possible.

Asahi gritted his teeth during the process, but said nothing. Meanwhile Nathan was feeling like a complete wuss from his quesiness. He doubted the soldier ever became light headed and dizzy just from the sight of blood.

Once the strip was as tight as he could make it, he took a second piece of cloth and wrapped it around the second stick and over the first strip. He repeated the process of rotating the second stick to make the new strip as tight as possible. Then he took the last piece of fabric and wrapped it around the leg and over both sticks. He tied it tight to help the sticks hold their tension.

Amateur tourniquet finished. He was now ready for the next task; cleaning the wound. He knew from American Civil War movies that infection could kill just as well as blood loss.

“Okay,” Nathan said. “Let’s wash the wound before bandaging it.”

“Hai.”

Nathan scooped the water up and splashed it directly on the wound, his Wilderness Survival skill thankfully kicking in to reassure him the water was clean. He did his best to wash out the dirt and whatever other nasty bacterial things that might’ve been living on the beaver’s horn. He hoped they weren’t poisonous beavers. His survival skill remained unhelpfully silent when he focused on the creatures. Perhaps he needed an animal knowledge skill?

Asahi meanwhile kept pressure on the tourniquet, probably not trusting Nathan’s knot tying skills. He didn’t blame the man, Nathan had always been lousy at knots for someone who liked to camp as much as he did. Thankfully, the survival skill had gifted him some knot tying competency and the tourniquet came out far better than expected.

Nathan gagged twice during the blood washing process, but he was able to finish. He removed his remaining blue shirt and ripped off one of the sleeves. Not really satisfied with the cleanliness of the makeshift bandage, he dunked and rinsed it in the creek. Now that his bandage was ‘sterile,’ and he could only say that with large quotation marks, he wrapped it around Asahi’s wound and tied it off with a knot.

One injury down, one to go.

“Johanna, how you doing up there?” he called up the bank.

He heard her mumble something unintelligible. She was fading on them, he needed to be faster. He helped Asahi up once again and they moved back to her location. The older player settled into a comfortable position next to the injured woman. Nathan checked the man’s EP counter. Only 10 EPs. The 20 needed seemed so far away.

He helped Asahi move closer to Johanna, settling him down next to the injured woman. Her eyes were closed again, her face as white as a ghost. He was worried she wouldn't make it for the fifteen-ish minutes they still needed.

If only Nathan had gotten the stabilize skill too. Unfortunately, his Mental stat was too low so the system would never offer it to him. He would need to upgrade some of his skills to improve his stats. Then it hit him. How had he not thought of the upgrades?

“Asahi, can you buy any skill upgrades?”

“No, I already upgraded General Fitness to level two and not enough NPs for anything else.”

“Drat. Upgrading Physical skills can heal a person too. I should’ve thought of it immediately. But I suppose I’m bound to make mistakes, it’s my first time playing doctor.”

“You are doing an admirable job. Even doctors would be confused by this alien skill technology. Though may I ask, have you checked your own messages?”

“Not yet. If I learned a new skill, it’d put me out of commission for several minutes, which would be disastrous. I’m too busy for a nap right now.”

“Ah, indeed,” he said, nodding.

“Do you think Johanna still has the NPs for a skill upgrade?”

“It’s possible. Probable, even, given her general lack of interest in skills and their mechanics. But she is critically injured. She would not survive what the skill learning process inflicts on a person.”

Nathan hadn’t thought of that. The soldier was right, skill learning was outrageously rigourous on the body. Inflicting full body pain on someone who already had a fatal wound would be unwise.

Horrified, he realized he’d nearly killed Johanna earlier when he attempted to have her learn a new skill. The fact she failed had been a blessing in disguise. But did they have any other options? She was certainly going to die without intervention.

After a moment of contemplation on how the skills and stat upgrades might interact together, he was struck with an idea. “How about after you stabilize her with your skill? Would she survive a skill upgrade then?”

Asahi appeared thoughtful. “Maybe. It would be a gamble.”

“We have to risk it.” But for it to work, Johanna had to be conscious to start the upgrade process herself. He turned back to the woman. “Johanna? Johanna?”

She didn’t respond. He glanced over to find her shirt bandage having fallen down from her limp grip.

He blanched. “Johanna! Wake up!”

She didn’t respond, which was not encouraging. Her wound desperately needed pressure on it.

He braced himself. He’d have to apply the pressure himself, the mere idea of which twisted his stomach. He’d known it was likely to happen, but the thought of touching the wound horrified him beyond reason.

But despite his reluctance, he knew he would do it.

He tentatively placed his hands on the bloody shirt and repositioned it to fully cover her exposed innards. Then he pressed down on her abdomen, feeling the movement of squishy parts through the fabric.

It was too much. His gorge rose and he barely turned his head in time to vomit. But despite his sickness, he continued to maintain pressure on her wound, terrified to let it slip for even a moment.

“She isn’t waking,” he said to Asahi after recovering somewhat.

Instead of replying, the man gasped out in pain. The blue bandage on his leg turned red in the middle. The green plus sign on his choker vanished, the stabilize effect evidently wearing off. The tourniquet was the only thing keeping him from additional blood loss.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Hai,” the soldier gritted through his teeth. He held the tourniquet stick tight. “We did well in preparing for this. Tend to Johanna-san now.”

Nathan nodded as he continued to hold pressure on Johanna’s stomach. A few minutes passed in relative silence. Asahi’s EP counter seemed to be taking an eternity. The older man called out each time it increased but Johanna’s breathing grew increasingly shallow.

She had to live. After Kean, he didn’t think he could handle another death.

The instant Asahi accumulated 20 EPs, the man reached over to the injured woman. He touched her stomach next to where Nathan was applying pressure. He spoke a word in Japanese and green energy flowed from his hand into her body, sinking through her skin. Nathan nervously watched the process, his own hands trembling.

As soon as the energy was absorbed, she opened her mouth and took a long breath. The stabilize symbol appeared on her collar.

“Johanna?” Nathan said.

“Johanna-san?” Asahi said.

They both repeated her name several more times.

Her eyes finally opened. She focused on the Japanese man. “Asahi?” she whispered.

“Hai, I am here. Listen carefully, Johanna-san. Have you enough NPs to do a skill upgrade?”

“What…?” she struggled to say.

As she spoke, Nathan could feel the contents under his hands move. He tried not to gag again.

“We figured out a way to heal you,” Nathan added, finding talking helped distract him from his squeamishness. “You need to open your interface. Select General Fitness I and then select upgrade.”

“I don’t…” she began. The effort to talk was obviously taking a lot out of her.

“Johanna-san, listen to him. This will heal you,” Asahi reassured.

She seemed to respond to Asahi’s words since she weakly lifted her arm in the air. The man gently gripped her elbow to support it. If Nathan didn’t know better, he wouldn’t have realized Asahi was also seriously wounded with the way he was helping her. The soldier did recently learn the Team Player passive skill and Nathan briefly wondered how it was affecting the man’s actions or if this was his normal behavior. These skills could fundamentally change who they were which was a disquieting thought. But that was a worry for later.

Johanna opened her interface and looked at the screen. “Is… fuzzy.”

“That’s okay,” Nathan said. “You just need to focus for a moment. Try to select General Fitness I under your skill list.”

Her brows knitted in concentration. It took a disturbingly long time before she said, “...kay.”

“Now select to upgrade it. It will ask you to confirm. Pick yes.”

Instead, she closed her eyes. Nathan sighed in frustration. They were so close. He knew it must be taking everything she had.

“Johanna,” he said. She opened her eyes again. “Please select the line to upgrade.” When she blinked at him in confusion, he added, “On your blue screen.”

She nodded slightly and then looked back at her interface. She would’ve already dropped the screen if not for Asahi’s grip on her arm. She concentrated again. After a few tense moments, she cried out and her whole body began to convulse.

She’d done it. She had started the upgrade.

“Keep pressure on her!” Asahi said.

“Trying!”

It was easier said than done. He knew that everything outside of her needed to be pushed back inside. If not, the healing process would likely go horribly wrong. It probably would anyway. At least General Fitness II was a +2 Physical stat gain. That was more healing than most of the skills which gave only +1. But would it heal enough? He couldn’t say. Whether she’d even survive the process, he was even less sure. But they were committed now.

Johanna thrashed until she finally fell unconscious. Her heart rate continued to speed out of control, but her lack of motion at least made keeping pressure on the wound easier. Nathan could feel unnatural shifting under the shirt as he pushed it against her. He tried his best not to think about it. Once the shifting stopped, he pulled out the blood soaked shirt from the wound’s inside, careful to keep the entire scene covered. If the skin were to heal, a shirt stuck inside her was the last thing she needed.

Eventually, her pulse rate returned to normal and her breathing became regular. Her body fully relaxed. The upgrade was over.

Nathan and Asahi glanced at each other. The look was one of relief that she’d survived the ordeal, but also worry if her wound had actually healed correctly.

Nathan slowly peeled the shirt back. He took a quick peek. Her stomach was coated in blood… a frightening amount. But Nathan forced himself to look at what lay beneath the blood. Skin existed where once two large openings had been. Oh thank God.

The skin was red and raw, not completely healed. She would likely have twin scars from it. But what about her insides? They wouldn’t know until she woke up, and Nathan wasn’t about to interrupt her rest now. She needed sleep.

He also removed her shirt bandage from around her head. The cut on her scalp was completely healed. It left behind a scar, but at least it would be covered up by her hair. He sighed in relief. One less thing to worry about. Unfortunately, they still needed to clean her up. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to that.

Asahi made his own inspection of her healing. Once he appeared satisfied, he leaned back and closed his eyes. In only a couple seconds, his breathing slowed and became even as he fell asleep.

Nathan still needed to do something about the man’s leg. A tourniquet was only a short term solution. Cauterizing it with fire was still his best option since the man wasn’t eligible for a skill upgrade for the instant healing. But there wasn’t enough time to build a fire before the next hourly round of attacks.

And the next attack! How was he going to fight them by himself?

Before he would allow himself to succumb to fear, he focused on what he could do. He should take care of his own needs for once, thirst being chief among them. He hadn’t drank anything since the prelims, and the sweat dripping off his hair was a good indication he needed to hydrate. He put his mouth directly to the creek water and took a long and satisfying drink. Then he washed his hands, looking up at a big tree with mock interest so as not to see the red tint to the water as it flowed away.

His wristband was still glowing and he was tempted to check it, but felt that bathing would be more immediately gratifying. He’d need to be fast though. He had maybe twenty minutes before the next monster attack and it would be foolish not to read his messages before then.

All of his clothes were already wet so he stripped them off. He washed himself in the water, slightly downstream from where they were ‘camped.’ He wouldn’t contaminate the drinking area any more than he already had. The water stung in several places, but otherwise the cool liquid was refreshing. He reluctantly got out after only a couple minutes since he was pressed for time. Sparing a few more minutes, he quickly rinsed the blood out of his clothes.

Once finished, he examined his soaking wet underwear and sighed. He was not looking forward to putting his wet outfit back on. Instead, he laid out his clothes on a rock to sun while he plopped down on a rocky ledge. His clothes wouldn’t dry much in the few minutes he had to spare, but it was better than nothing.

With a bit of trepidation, he finally pulled up his interface.

[Your (3) participating group members have been awarded 1 NP each for the defeat of three tier 0 monsters.]

[Due to your concerted first aid efforts on fellow players, you have been awarded 3 NPs and have learned the First Aid I skill.]

As soon as he read the last word, a sudden electrical storm raged through his brain. His mind no longer functioned, only pain existed in his world. He was unaware how long it lasted. Eventually, the tempest dissipated and his thoughts began returning to him, the dominant thought revolving around how much he hated his life at that moment. He despised the aliens and their painful game. He especially loathed the nanites who were doing surgery in his body while he was fully conscious. Seriously, how hard would it be to give anesthesia too?

Once he finished pitying himself, he focused on the one good thing; a new skill. And it sounded amazing. First freaking aid! Exactly what he needed. He switched to his character sheet to check it out.

[First Aid I: (Activated Skill - heal minor injuries and illnesses instantly and improve natural recovery rates by 3x for six hours - cost: 20 EPs.) (Gain +2 Mental.)]

It was an incredible ability, totally different from Asahi’s Injury Stabilize skill. This was the first skill he’d gotten that mimicked traditional magic in one of his old games. Healing magic was a trademark of priests, clerics, druids, and shamans. Except instead of being the holy power of a god or his ancient ancestors, this miracle came from tiny nanite computers. He felt kind of bad for hating on the little guys a moment ago, they’d come through big time for him with a new skill. He held no qualms with being a nanite priest if it meant saving his friends’ lives whenever he wanted.

He dashed to Asahi’s sleeping form. He’d activate it on the soldier first since Johanna already received a healing effect. Nathan was vaguely aware of his nudity, but in his excitement, he didn’t really care. Besides, everyone who might see him was passed out with worse problems.

He thought about the skill. First Aid only healed minor injuries immediately, so what technically counted as minor? If the soldier’s leg wound didn’t qualify, then the skill would triple the man’s natural recovery rate for six hours. Not as good, but still incredible.

He placed his hands on the soldier’s leg. He had 27 EPs so shouldn’t have an issue activating it. Remembering how he used his other skill, he shouted out, “First Aid!” The dramatic skill invocation sounded weirder when paired with a healing skill than with his attack buff. But it worked.

He could sense something unknown pooling within himself. His arms became warm as mysterious energy passed along them. His hands began to glow green. Then the glow turned red, followed by yellow, silver, and then blue. Asahi’s leg in turn glowed white briefly and then it faded into his skin and wound. Nathan was left breathing hard. The skill usage had been a strange, almost surreal, experience in both his mind and body. The process had been pleasant for him, a stark contrast to everything else in this world.

A new buff symbol appeared on Asahi’s collar, a white plus sign identical to the stabilize skill’s green moniker. First Aid didn’t have an elemental requirement, so he concluded white must be a neutral color.

He unwound the bandage around Asahi’s leg, disappointed to find the wound was still there. The cut must be considered worse than a ‘minor injury’ or else it would’ve healed immediately. But Asahi’s complexion appeared healthier, perhaps from the increased 3x recovery effect of the skill? He hoped it would be enough to help the man, but he doubted it. If the wound was naturally stable it would be another story, but how did a recovery boost help a wound that hadn’t actually been treated yet? When Asahi was back at 20 EPs, Nathan would need to wake him so he could redose himself with Injury Stabilize again.

He sat back on the rock and checked over his character sheet. A lot of changes had happened since arriving here. He now had 130 Physical, 118 Mental, & 19 NPs. He was disheartened he didn’t meet the requirements to upgrade any other skill though. Nor did he gain any additional NPs from using the First Aid skill on a player. Maybe he only received additional NPs for performing first aid manually instead of with a skill? The nanites must appreciate hard work. Either that, or they didn’t want him abusing the mechanic to farm infinite NPs.

He then read the description for upgrading his new healing skill.

[Upgrade requirements for level II: Requirements - 50 NPs, Mental 125.]

The 50 NP cost was steep and he was a long ways from having the 125 Mental requirement to upgrade it any time soon.

His reading was soon interrupted by voices. Human voices. He jumped up, both nervous and excited at the prospect of finding other players. He then glanced down, suddenly mortified to remember he was wearing nothing at all except for his forearm bracers. He was dressed like a half-crazed barbarian warrior, and that was only if the observer was being generous.

Three figures crested the hill above him and abruptly halted their conversation.

“There’s someone there,” said a woman with a British accent as she pointed at Nathan.

“What’s he wearing?” a man’s voice replied.

“Not nearly enough, that’s for sure,” she replied. “What kind of insane person runs around a monster infested forest in only their birthday suit?”

Good job, Nathan. And they say first impressions are the most important.

    people are reading<The Elemental Arena>
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