Celia could be seen carrying a half-dead Rael on her back as she rushed through the forest.
'Please resist for a while, Rael!' Her eyes were red from crying on the way; she was pretty disturbed to see the hideous wounds on Rael's chest; most probably a result of the Alpha's sharp claws.
She would lie if she said that seeing the Alpha dead on the ground, with Rael beside it, didn't shock her.
The intensity of the fight was probably something she couldn't have participated in anyway, but this didn't make Celia stop blaming herself.
'Only if I was with him, I could at least attract that stupid Alpha's attention to me... And maybe, maybe Rael could've taken it down then.'
'Why did he have to go to such lengths to fight it? We should've just run away instead.'
Controlling her emotions, Celia tried to stop herself from crying. It was too much for the young woman; to see a person she had started taking a liking to lying in a pool of blood.
"Please be safe, Rael, you have to..." Softly muttering in the wind, Celia tried her best to keep Rael's body close to hers on the way back to the village.
A few minutes later, she finally arrived back at the village with Rael still on her back, not saying a single word to satisfy the villagers' own curiosity. Celia rushed straight to her uncle, the Village Head.
"Uncle!!! Come here, please save Rael!" Hearing his own niece's piercing scream, Reonald hurriedly left his abode to meet her.
"Celia? What happened to Rael?" Confused, Village Head Reonald was astonished to see the young man's horrendous wounds.
"We encountered an Alpha!"
"What? It was a pack led by an Alpha?! What did you..." As soon as he heard that, Reonald was already thinking of Celia's safety; that he was close to losing because of his own hasty decision.
"Rael killed it. But there's no time for that! You have to save him!" Dropping to her knees as she said this, Celia began to cry her heart out.
A sharp pain struck Reonald's heart when he saw Celia in such a state.
"Leave the courtyard; I'm going to do everything possible to save Rael."
Saying so, Reonald waved his hands. Celia weakly nodded at him before leaving only the two men behind.
'Rael, why exactly did you risk your life against the Alpha? Have you done it for Celia's sake?'
Not wasting any time, Reonald quickly closed his palms into a praying gesture; a soft green light left his palms and wrapped around Rael's hideous wound on his chest.
The deep wound that was close to 15 centimeters started to close by itself; but Reonald knew better than to be happy.
Since some of Rael's internal organs were surely affected by the Alpha, Reonald tried his best to use his Blessing a few more times.
'Bless!'
'Bless!'
'Bless!'
His face turned a bit pale when he saw that Rael didn't wake up; his heart was heavy as he was even prepared to call Celia back and tell her the bad news.
At that moment, though, a weak voice was heard; it was Rael's, "Crystals..."
Hearing that, Reonald was stunned for a while before reacting. Celia also left the Fs Grade White Crystals behind, but that wasn't everything she left; there was one more, a shining gray crystal.
[E- Grade Crystal]: Valuable resource for ranked lifeforms. Could be used to evolve your Rank.
"Here, I have the crystals, can you absorb them?" Village Head panicked when there was no response from Rael, that was until he noticed the young man tried to move his fingers.
Quickly placing the crystals on Rael's palm, Reonald sighed a breath of relief when he saw the young man reacting and moving them to his Inventory.
Since Rael could barely keep up his consciousness, he quickly willed his mind to open Inventory and absorb the crystals.
Not even paying any attention to the warning notice that appeared when he tried to absorb the gray crystal.
(Ding! Host is trying to absorb E- Grade Gray Crystal - it's dangerous to absorb crystals that have a higher rank than the host's own!)
After some time, the Village Head watched in astonishment as Rael's muscles suddenly bulged a bit, before they were once again back to normal.
Even his hair became a bit longer, before stopping.
All kinds of strange phenomena that would take months to happen were currently happening to Rael.
Reonald never saw something like this.
'I wonder if his own system would spare some energy to increase his regeneration speed.'
Without a choice, Reonald was made to wait for a few minutes, until he saw Rael's body twitching for a while.
'This should be the moment of truth.' Thought the man, while feeling some complexity inside his chest.
He was the one to blame for Rael's current state. He used some stupid crystals to tempt Rael and clear the wolf pack for him; something that was the Village's business, not a stranger's.
But since time cannot be turned back, Reonald can only continue to regret.
A few moments later after the twitch, Rael could be heard taking a few breaths. The young man seemed to be fine, the danger of death passing between him for the first time in a while.
'I survived...' Not checking his condition, Rael only looked at the notification messages he just received.
(Ding! Congratulations, host, for mastering his Lower Chaotic Bloodline!)
(Ding! Congratulations, host, for receiving a bloodline skill - First Chaos!)
[First Chaos]: E RANK LIFEFORM
- Description: This skill allows one to enter a state of heightened chaos, increasing their attack speed, damage, and the likelihood of chaotic effects in combat.
Rael's eyes gleamed with passion seeing that Bloodline Skill; it was the first one he received.
'That must've been the thing that managed to boost my power so much back then; the trigger must've been my mental state...'
Sighing, Rael felt bad about a single thing; his equipment, during the intense fight with a higher lifeform, the poor equipment couldn't resist and it broke to pieces.
Even his familiar Rare Black Spider Sword shattered.
But before Rael could mourn for them and see his other notifications, a figure dashed inside the courtyard, before throwing herself on him.
"Rael!" Celia's concern and her red eyes from crying so much managed to melt Rael's heart.
Before he could say anything, Celia grabbed his face with both her hands before sealing his lips.
Rael's eyes widened; he was shocked to see that Celia was directly going in for the kill.
But he wasn't the only one shocked; another man who witnessed the scene stood rooted on his spot, seeing his own pure niece kissing a man out of nowhere.
'My angel...'