Allen looked away from the dead ogre mage. A small puddle of viscous green blood had gathered under the corpse and it showed no signs of life. He was sure it was dead, even if the message wouldn’t show up until his whole team was ‘out of conflict.’ He wasn’t exactly sure how the System decided such, but he had learned to trust it and move on. Thus, he wasted no time leaving the scene.

“I might have fucking died if I hadn’t reacted as fast as I did,” Allen thought in the back of his head. He suddenly felt better about choosing Killer Instinct; the skill had just proved itself to be better than he had remembered. “Dead Calm also would have saved me with the focus boost, but that’s not important anymore. That ogre probably leveled me up twice on its own anyway… and there’s still plenty more to kill.”

Allen left through the tents again, though not nearly as fast as he had been before fighting the Pyrokinetic. His injuries were quite bad this time, even if he chose not to focus on them. The pain was still dulled by the thrill of the fight, but he knew that wasn’t going to last.

Amelia would heal him as soon as he reached her, but the injuries were still severe. The Ogre Pyrokinetic had incinerated his left sleeve and melted his arm down to the bone. Despite blocking with that arm, his face was scorched and blistering while some of his hair had been burnt away. Then there was a circle burnt through his hoodie and the T-shirt below, leaving a third-degree burn the size of a dinner plate right in the center of his abdomen. His HP was at less than half and his stamina was around three quarters depleted. All he could do was follow the pull on his mana and hope it wouldn’t take him into battle.

Allen figured Christopher would have the sense to bring him to Amelia before sending him to fight more ogres. “Christopher is smart though,” Allen told himself, “…and it’s more than just being a professor of math. He’s been here for as long as I have.”

Allen rushed as fast as he could through the camp site, limping slightly from a pain in his leg he was only just then starting to feel. The sounds of ogres and Camila were very close, Allen could even feel rumbling shockwaves through the ground, presumably the chief wielding its weapon. He made no objections when the pull on his mana guided him in the opposite direction.

About a minute of running through smoldering tents and debris followed, which was more than enough time for his adrenaline to wear off. When Allen reached the edge of the ogre camp he soon collapsed just inside the forested side of the valley.

The only bright side was that the ogre’s fire had cauterized the wounds it had inflicted, which was why lower-level fire tended to be safer. That is, if one could survive the initial barrage and the being set on fire part.

Allen controlled his breathing and grit his teeth. After falling over, he just couldn’t move anymore, the pain was too much to handle in his current state. He could only try not to look at his arm or abdomen and lay on the ground for what seemed like an hour.

“Just over there,” came a voice, not too distant but considerably muted.

Rustling sounds followed, suggesting a fast pace. Allen looked over behind him to find Amelia wheeling Christopher though the woods. As soon as the healer had gotten close enough, she left the professor and rushed up to the injured Assassin.

Allen watched as Amelia wordlessly knelt down and placed her hands on either side of the burn on his abdomen. Inadvertently looking at his own injury, he quickly decided to take back his previous statement. The scabbing flesh had torn open from his movement and was definitely bleeding copiously.

Instead of looking at his wound, Allen watched Amelia use her magic. “There’s no reaction on her face at all,” Allen thought. “Either she hides her concern very well, or… there is none.”

The bleeding stopped after a few seconds, at which point Amelia moved on to Allen’s destroyed arm. The bone was showing on the outside of his forearm and he couldn’t move his hand at all, other than getting it to twitch and shake around. A few more seconds passed before the bleeding stopped there as well.

“You don’t seem affected… by all this gore, huh?” Allen asked, wincing hard as the flesh on his abdomen started regrowing.

Amelia looked up at Allen with a confused expression. “Why would I be affected by an injury I know I can heal?” A certain realization seemed to dawn on her after her eyes lingered on Allen’s for a few moments, “I’ve… I’ve probably seen more blood than you,” she continued.

“Well…” Allen began, chuckling a little. He clenched his teeth again while Amelia knit his burnt abdominal muscles back together. “…That’s debatable,” he said.

Rather than reply, Amelia only smiled slightly. It was an expression Allen would have missed if her face hadn’t been so close to his.

Allen decided to look away when Amelia randomly chose to switch her focus back to his arm, leaving his abdomen skinless with the pink muscle exposed below. The skin on his face was still stinging brutally while his arm healed. The healing magic did almost nothing for the pain, but the warm feeling it caused was enough to distract from the burnt muscle revitalizing and expanding over his bone.

Around five minutes had passed and Allen still felt excruciating pain all over his body. He was certain that his previous self would have passed out by then, but Allen was stronger than that. Even with his mental stats reset, along with his entire soul, the person that he had become was still there, unchanged. He had endured worse pain and in much more desperate situations than the one he found himself in then. Stability would make him numb to the pain and indifferent to his own suffering, but it was true character that allowed him to withstand the agony on his own. He didn’t need a stat to be psychologically strong, he had years of experience.

Another five minutes later and Allen looked down at himself again. His skin was reforming on his stomach and his face was completely healed. Even his hair was restored to exactly how it had been before. Only a few more seconds passed before the pain faded from his body, leaving a warm feeling that spread though his body, like putting on clothes fresh out of the dryer. His stamina had also regenerated to about two thirds, which was adequate.

“All done,” Amelia declared, jumping up with a bright smile.

Allen’s heart twisted not for the first time during that healing session. “Here I am getting a teenage crush… right after a whole monologue about my hardening experiences.”

Allen sighed as he got to his feet and stretched his body, making sure he couldn’t feel any aches or pains.

“That was spectacular,” congratulated Christopher, his face actually lighting up for a change. “Your control of healing mana was excellent and very deliberate. You clearly have experience as well.”

Amelia blushed a little. “Well, um… I wanted to be a doctor before I ended up here. Magic doesn’t really count though… but I know enough about anatomy for it to make a difference.”

“I see,” Christopher said, nodding. “Well… we should probably get to the others then; their mana has grown shaky.”

“So, you can tell when we’re at our limits?” Allen asked. He was very interested in knowing how he could better communicate with the professor while he was guiding them around. Their current method was very crude.

“Indeed, though it is quite vague and very difficult to sense at the current level of my skill,” the professor replied. “I’m merely looking for when the control of your mana wavers slightly under strain. I can only tell when you are healthy, unhealthy, or dead.”

Nodding, Allen walked off towards the camp again. They still had thirty-something more monsters to kill, including the boss. He grinned at the thought of the fight. It was nothing all that interesting given the low levels, but it had been nearly four years since Allen had really put himself in the level of danger that he was about to.

“Wait,” Christopher started.

“Yes?” Allen turned around to see that the Mage and the Healer hadn’t moved. “Aren’t we going to find the chief ogre?” he asked.

Christopher smirked back. “Why not bring it here?” he said.