As Lynn struggled to stay up, he heard hurried footsteps and saw Alice running over, concern on her face as she discovered his situation.
Lynn tried to get back on his feet, but a wave of dizziness overwhelmed him. His vision blurred as his overtaxed body threatened to shut down.
"Don't try to stand yet, you need to rest," Alice said firmly, crouching down next to him. She pulled out a water bottle and placed it in his functioning hand.
"Drink this, it will help stabilize you," she instructed. Lynn nodded weakly and took small sips, the cool liquid soothing his parched throat.
After a few minutes, the spasms subsided and Lynn began to feel some strength returning to his limbs. The reckless cellular manipulation had stretched his abilities to their limit, but his base attributes were high enough now to avoid total collapse.
"That was foolishly reckless, you know," Alice chided him as Lynn slowly stood up, leaning against the wall for support.
"You could've waited for me to handle the normal zombies," Alice added. "There was no need to push yourself so far against those two mutants."
Lynn shook his head stubbornly. "I wanted to test the limits of my abilities. This was the perfect opportunity."
Alice looked like she wanted to argue further but held her tongue with a sigh. "At least sit and recover for a moment before continuing," she said.
Too weary to argue, Lynn sank down against the wall and closed his eyes. His body screamed at him to rest after being pushed so close to its limits.
After about 10 minutes, Lynn felt recovered enough to easily move his right hand. The brief rest period had helped stabilize him.
He took off his backpack and grabbed some zombie cores from within, intending to use them to recover quicker. As he absorbed the invigorating essence inside, he could feel his own energy and vitality restoring.
In the same time, he could feel the lingering damage done to his right arm which was temporarily enhanced. The muscles fibers had been shredded from the extreme stimulation of cellular growth. The bones had microfractures spiderwebbing through them. The veins were inflamed and tender from the rush of blood needed to supply the overgrown tissues.
Although the damages were not disabling, if left unchecked, they would worsen over time and compromise the limb's function. But luckily, as a doctor, Lynn could use his skills to accelerate the healing.
Activating [Cell Proliferation], Lynn meticulously manipulated the cells and tissues in his arm.
Within five minutes, the lingering damage from Lynn's reckless stunt had been corrected through his precise cellular control. Lynn flexed his arm, feeling the proper strength and responsiveness restored.
"Much better," he muttered. Alice watched Lynn's rapid self-healing with amazement. While his healing ability is undoubtedly remarkable, but it was expected from a doctor, what truly stands out is his exceptional combat power.
She couldn't help but ask curiously, "What is your profession exactly?"
"Profession?" Lynn took a fraction of a second to reflect before answering, "I am a doctor."
Alice looked at him skeptically. "I was asking about the profession sequences you follow. Is it [Battle Doctor]?"
Lynn hesitated. He had no idea what the "profession sequences" were that Alice mentioned. Until just over a week ago, the only extraordinary thing he had encountered was his own reincarnation. But in the span of that single week, he had experienced a cascade of bizarre events - the ominous countdown timer, the mysterious Nightmare Paradise, finding himself trapped in this zombie-infested hospital…
It was all still so new and overwhelming. He grasped only fragments of how this world and its powers functioned.
Seeing Alice awaiting his response, Lynn nodded his head and decided to tell a vague half-truth. "I am also a bit special," he said. "I can use the zombie's cores to reinforce myself."
He quickly steered the focus away from himself by returning the question. "And what about you? What is your profession sequence?"
Alice gave him an appraising look, as if weighing whether to pry deeper. But she simply answered, "I follow the [Demon Hunter] sequence, though I am still in the early stages so I don't really have any incredible combat abilities."
Lynn nodded along, pretending to understand.
"I am a [Detective]" Alice continued. "My main abilities are used for investigation."
She gestured at the messy scene around them, the remains of the two mutant zombies Lynn had battled. "Your combat abilities far surpass mine currently," Alice said, her tone a mixture of admiration and concern. "You are the main force to exit this hospital, so don't push yourself and get severely hurt."
Lynn rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself back there," he admitted.
After finishing their conversation, Lynn used the opportunity to extract the cores from the two fallen mutants.
Extracting the core from the brawler zombie was straightforward, but the armored zombie posed more of a challenge. Due to the dense bone plates that covered its body, Lynn had to carefully wedge his blade into the gaps and joints, prying away sections of armor to access the core buried within.
The process was grueling and messy, but eventually Lynn extracted the valuable core. As expected, he heard the now familiar sound of gaining experience points.
[Ding!]
[+5% experience gained]
[Ding!]
[+5% experience gained]
Lynn noted that the amount of experience gained was less than before. This was to be expected, as normal zombies were not giving experience anymore due to his increased level. For the mutant zombies, the experience rewards would diminish.
Soon the hunt of zombies will be useless, and even mutant zombie will only provide a negligible increase.
Before long, the long-awaited notification reached his ears. Lynn heard the notification for reaching the next level.
[Ding!]
[Class [Doctor] +1 Level: +1 Attribute Point, +1 Skill Point].
[Your body has been strengthened: Intelligence +1, Dexterity +1]