Vincent's gaze went over to what Kazumi meant. "Accept Promised Quest rewards." He said with an excited grin. [Promised Quest Rewards] *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid... Vincent saw the rewards window scroll a wall of repeated text. It was mind-boggling. Vincent soon remembered how the quest was corrupted as if a strange force was influencing Promised Quest's ability power. [The numbers are repeating, but if I count the current numbers are added percentages, then it's about fifty percent. Nevertheless, the count is still growing higher...] [Does it mean you are going to be immune to acid?] "Does it mean I am going to be immune to acid?" Both said at the same time. A few seconds later, the wall of text stopped, and a new line appeared. It brought a grin to Vincent's face and a ray of happiness to Kazumi's soul. [Promised Quest Rewards] *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +1% *Total Minor Acid Mitigation Gained +100% as rewards. The reward tally window abruptly closed, and a new notification window popped out. [Host acquired Mutation Trait - Minor Acid Mitigation stage ten(Max)] [Minor Acid Mitigation is now available to mutate when conditions are met. (Suffer and tolerate Moderate Acid condition.)] Vincent used Inspection again and checked the newly updated stats assertively. His face was fighting a tug of war. He wanted to grin from being happy, yet to further upgrade his tolerance traits meant he had to suffer excruciating pain. *Promised Quest(3 quests active.) *Mutation Trait - Pain Mitigation stage one(5/10), Minor Acid Mitigation stage ten (Max) "This world is dangerous! Why is the acid that can melt people alive considered as minor?" Vincent addressed the ridiculous power gap in this strange world. His body shivered at the thought to suffer more acid pain. Kazumi wanted to tease Vincent, but to mention the need to pass a worse acid ordeal wasn't a funny thing to mention. So Kazumin held her tongue in the end. Vincent felt frustrated at the enormous wall blocking his resistance upgrades. It was like a spiky wall, as he needed to suffer acid to build immunity. The more he climbed to reach the summit, the more sufferings he had to endure. 'If my body has gained the ability to start building resistances against harmful conditions, does it mean I need to burn, freeze, poison... ' Vincent shivered at the thought of the ordeal he might have to withstand for each individual condition. [Look on the bright side. Promised Quest has helped in acquiring a trait. Traits are similar to empowering your genetic structure, so the more traits you mutate, the stronger your body will become.] "Yes. You are right. I should be happy about this and let future me handle the pain." Vincent sighed at the rocky road ahead of him. [Now that's the spirit procrastinator Vincent. My mana is a bit low, so I'm about to send you away. Remember to heal. You have fourteen heals left.] Vincent nodded and closed his eyes. The pain quickly rushed to his pain receptors, and his eyes opened with a gleam of life. They looked like the eyes of a fighter burning with the will to live. His intention to cast all the accumulated healing spells was burning brighter than the day. "Soul Power Minor Heal, Soul..." Vincent repeated each soul spell without waiting for the effect to end. His body became layered with multiple Minor Healing spells. The once comatose person was glowing brighter than the sun. [-10sp used for Soul Power Minor Heal on Vincent Agius. Host discount activates. 130sp Remaining.] [-10sp used for Soul Power Minor Heal on Vincent Agius. Host discount activates. 120sp Remaining.] [-10sp....] Ester squinted her eyes, Lupa turned her head as the brightness was too much for her, and Tula raised her hands to cover her eyes. The three girls wanted to talk to Vincent after worryingly watching him in a comatose state for so long. After his body stopped glowing, Vincent fell asleep from the healing, exhausting all his stamina. Ester, Lupa, Kazumi, and Tula stared at Vincent with a surprised expression painted on their faces. A lot of his flesh and muscle tissue restored itself. The once thin mummy was no more. Even though Minor Heal couldn't do much, it started exhibiting effects similar to Moderate Heal after being used too many times. "Vincent has regained a lot of thickness to his body. I think he will be able to remain the same old Vincent." Ester held her mouth not to cry, but tears of joy soon poured on her cheeks. Lupa didn't say a word while she touched Vincent's body. She was happy that the bones weren't poking anymore. He felt a little bit thinner as when they first met in the wooden cabin. "Big brother will be fine. I'm so happy... waaa... " Tula quickly approached Ester and hugged her. She then cried in joy along with Ester. The three girls decided to set camp and stay there for the night. They didn't have any food remaining, so they had to eat the ant eggs for a couple of days now. The unformed carapace of the small ants was easy to break. They could be eaten like a crab. Strangely, the small ants tasted between a smoky chicken and beef under the campfire's flame, but they were incredibly chewy and hard to swallow. Lupa ate anything in front of her eyes without complaint. On the other hand, Ester and Tula didn't like eating the ants too much. However, Lupa forced their bellies to grumble until both had to give in. Lupa ate the ants as if they were a delicacy and then eyed for Ester's and Tula's portion. Who wouldn't protect their food? Both had to eat or starve. *Day 45* On the following day, Vincent slowly squinted his eyes open. The pain he felt yesterday was gone. However, his senses were dulled from the trauma his body passed through. His sense of touch was negligible. "Good morning, my mate. Let me help you." Lupa approached with a wide excited grin on her face. He quickly extended her hands and prepared to help Vincent get up. However, Vincent found it difficult to muster enough strength to stand up. One thing flashed on his thoughts, 'Do I need rehabilitation after I regained the muscles I ripped off?' [You should take it easy and learn to move your current battered body. What you suffered can't be written off with a swish of a magic wand. Even if this is a world with healing magic, terms and conditions apply.] Vincent understood his current predicament. He asked Lupa to help him get out of the cart as he could barely lift his limbs. Ester and Tula were awake since they found it hard to sleep from the anticipation of Vincent waking up. When they noticed Lupa trying to help Vincent, the two rushed to help as well. Ester, Lupa, and Tula lifted Vincent from his arms and legs. It made Vincent feel terribly embarrassed as he was almost handled like a corpse, but with care. Kazumi couldn't stop laughing at his predicament, which in turn made Vincent want to bury himself. Later, Vincent decided to cast Minor heal two times. He became tired, but the most important thing was to regain his muscle tissue back. His gaze lowered, and Vincent used Inspection to check his condition. [Name] Vincent Agius [Condition] Injured, Tired, Traumatized Body(Receptive sensors dampened), Crippled(Damaged muscle body and limbs), Scarred Burnt Skin [Soul Power] 0sp [Class] Soul Hero [Class] Soul Mutation 'Is it not enough?' Vincent cursed his luck in his thoughts. [Your condition looks better than it was before.] Kazumi tried to stay positive. She could understand how distraught Vincent felt. She could see his condition while Ester, Lupa, and Tula couldn't. Ester, Lupa, and Tula stared at Vincent when he told them a few bits of his condition. Vincent refrained from saying everything because he didn't want to cause unwanted distress. Vincent quickly changed the subject by slowly summoning a barrel of water and a few Ani Bananas. Ester and Tula couldn't gaze away from the bananas while Lupa drooled as she held one in her hands. Lupa gently lifted the fruit and gave it a good sniff. A tear trickled from her eyes as if she didn't eat for weeks. As if it was a treasure from heaven. Ester and Tula didn't shy from a good meal as their bellies growled to eat. They quickly took one each and savored every bite. Vincent felt a bit uncomfortable watching them eat without minding him. The three cute girls acted as if they had food foodgasm and were in a world of their own. 'How much did they dislike eating ants to cause such reactions?' Vincent pondered. [Looks like food wins every girl's heart. Food even steals a girl's heart, haha. They forgot about you, haha.] Kazumi rolled on the emerald grass as her laughter was too much to bear. Vincent tried to lift himself up, but it was too challenging to accomplish. He couldn't believe a person didn't have enough strength to lift his body. But he was that kind of person now. A few hours later, Ester and Lupa were helping Vincent to stand. Vincent limped step after another to restrengthen his lost leg muscles. A day soon passed. Vincent felt he barely made any progress since he couldn't balance himself to stay still. Standing with his own strength became his next goal. Being helped and surrounded by cute girls was nice and all. However, it hurt his ego as Vincent promised to protect Ester and Lupa and give them a good life. Listening to Kazumi giggle from time to time made him feel worse. The image of becoming cool vanished from his mind. Vincent sat next to the campfire with Lupa feeding him. The sly wolf girl would sometimes glace at Ester and raise a triumphant grin. Vincent didn't want to resign to this kind of life. He had enough of hospitals and people taking care of him. With his eye burning full of determination, he ate the food given to him and then slept with the goal of recovery in mind. *Day 46* Another morning arrived. Vincent quickly cast his two heals as it quickly became a morning routine. He felt much better after the pain and itchiness reduced. With his hopes up, Vincent used Inspection on his body. [Name] Vincent Agius [Condition] Healthy, Tired, Traumatized Body(Receptive sensors lightly damped), Crippled(Damaged muscle), Scarred Burnt Skin [Soul Power] 0sp [Class] Soul Hero [Class] Soul Mutation The conditions he was suffering from were slowly becoming better. However, it was two heals every day.