*
With rush, I manifested back in the hospital, though a little too near to the ceiling of the room. Becoming a victim of gravity, the soft mattress of the bed wobbled like a pudding from the impact. The curtains rustled around from the wind produced, as hp points rushed to fill up my health pool. At times like these, whereby my hp pool was absurdly large, healing spells that go by percentages would be more efficient.
The gimmick of this bed was extremely convenient, to the point where it could register as a national treasure for other kingdoms. It could only be commercialised like this in our kingdom, due to our level of technology and confidence in our national defences. What it basically did was to store activated healing magic. Usually magic that has been activated disappears in an instant. If this was applied to offensive magic, wondrous new forms of assault can be formed.
To put it shortly, our kingdom has previously been split into 7 different parts. They corresponded to each of the great families, all before the hero King brought down the corrupted individuals and unified them into the kingdom of Ilnoa. With the king, 1000 years of prosperous peace brought research and an upgrade to the people's quality of life.
What happened was that when queen Fez was enthroned, she used the slightly advanced technology of her clan, the Tsukimi, to further the King's 1000 years of research. This brought a breakthrough in technology, allowing the storage of mana control or the mana pool.
More than 95% of people generally didn't want to risk their lives doing their job, hence the majority of people aren't adventurers. With this, they only had the mana control or intelligence stat that they were born with. With the new technology developed, they were finally able to temporarily increase their mana pool and use magic tools. This caused more magic tools to be produced and became widespread in the kingdom.
Continuing from that, other branches like storing activated magic started to open up. This bed would be nothing short of a miracle or a relic of God for other kingdoms, yet it had been rented in this very hospital, albeit so expensive practically only royalty can afford it.
Due to the storing of healing magic, it had slowly piled up while I was away. Even if it couldn't even fill 1% of my health, it ensured I stayed alive instead of succumb to my soul disease. At least this will be what I will refer to it as from now on, soul disease, the ailment that continuously eats at your numbed flesh, causing suffering all the way until death.
A headache assaults my conscious, my body's intense stress finally catching up to my mind. My temples felt so hot, I thought smoke was flying out of my ears. I had overused my body, and my health of 37 billion had been sacrificed to regenerate parts of my soul. It was time for my body to rest, or that I didn't have a choice anyway since I passed out.
Now I could at least feel warmth in the parts of my body below my neck. The skin's sense of touch still did not exist, however I could see the day when I finally recover. It seemed the soul acted the same as the body, as in the fact that it recovers on its own. Albeit a normal person wouldn't have 37 billion health and would die without this magical bed.
Rising up from my slumber, sunrise had already reached the sky. An orange blend painted the clouds and buildings, as if saying 'congrats, you managed to stay alive until this point'. Ignoring my craving for orange juice, the tranquility gave my conscious some respite. Yes, if I stayed alive for a while longer, I'll recover and start working on my goals. First is to explore my skills and potential, work towards finding more strength.
I adjusted my body's position and layed comfortably in bed. Hmm. It seemed that small movement had returned, mainly at the spine and hips. I couldn't move my arms, but my shoulders were capable of dragging them across the bed. Laying on my side, my eyelids gradually got heavier. Ugh, I'm so weak. Falling for so many things, the monsters anti-teleportation skill, my own soul's recovery, and now sleepiness. Will there come a day when not even sleep can stop me?
A strange lamenting cry escapes my lips, while I fall into the abyss of exhaustion. Who is this 'you'? I don't remember making Cress an enemy yet. It sounded like I was referring to someone who had defeated me once... *** < Perhaps I should look for love instead... > Time had passed since I last slept, the exhaustion took its toll more than I expected. I only woke up when it reached the afternoon, right before they managed to enter the room and become suspicious. "Wawawa-!....." (Iyori) She had taken a break from her job, to come over and hang out. Her face flushed with red as the conversation started with a bang. Her face betrayed her emotions as easily as taking baby from a candy. Wait.... "Huh?! Don't you already have me?" (Cress) Her cheeks tensed up, eyes observant and piqued with hopefulness. Her chest leaned forward with an odd allure to them, causing my eyes to turn away in a panic. <... You're more like a sister. I've only showed this much affection for my only family member... > "No way... Ahggghhhhh... " (Cress) Drool leaked down her lips and chin as she fell on her back. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared into blank space with all 4s in the air. "She took direct damage... Lilith, you don't understand the heart of a maiden despite being one...." (Iyori) Imaginary tears of pity streamed down her face as she dramatically pulled her face away out of my sight. Unknowingly, my own face had started flushing as my heartbeat grew louder. The pressure of it pressed against my ribcage with each thud, gradually growing louder as if pressing for an answer of some unknown question. Black hair bobbed up and down, rhythmically filling the vicinity with its sweet scent. She turned her face around with her eyebrows pointed in a 'v' shape and her lips raised at one corner. She had on a smug look that said she had expected the reaction, though her rosy, twitching cheeks and relaxed eyelids betrayed her reaction. "That self-satisfied look is annoying. Stop it." (Iyori) "Mouu~~ let me act my age for once! You know how youth eventually runs away from you right? Unless may... You're too old to understand..." (Cress) Her irises slide to the right, her smug face collapsed into one of ignoring reality. One could swear that they heard a whistle. "Ahh~~? Who are you calling old! I'm only a fe-!" (Iyori) A weak spot must have been hit to get her this riled up. She didn't even lose this much composure during battle, her cool head usually resisted all taunting. " What? Are you jealous now?" (Cress) <...> "I see... Yeah she was friends with the queen. But you are undeniably Cress's best friend. " (Cress) "I see." (Cress) Closing her eyes, she went closer than ever before, and went in for a hug. "You must have been more scared than I thought... I didn't think this would affect you too. I'm sorry, you don't have to worry about my old connections. You'll always be number 1."(Cress) Holding her arm covering my neck, as she hugged from the side, I managed to squeeze out a final mutter. " I know this ruins the mood. But you can move your arm?! "(Iyori)