Gabriel was searching through the cupboards for a stitching kit.
" Why is the nurse never there. " Gabriel complained under hi breath.
" We killed her. " Dai Yu said.
Gabriel glanced at her. Nobody seemed to be taken aback by her statement so it was probably true. It had barely been two days since they came to the palace and they have already killed the nurse ? To each their hobbies, he supposed.
Gabriel finally found the stitches deep inside the cupboard.
Both Xie Ling and Li Xinyu were on the infirmary bed.
" Hey, who is that for ? " Xie Ling asked in a scared voice.
" You. " Gabriel answered, leaving no room for argument.
" I don't think that's necessary. My wound isn't even bleeding anymore ! " Xie Ling waved at the massive scar on his stomach.
But the movement was too sudden for his freshly scarred body and Xie Ling hissed in pain.
" The wound is too big and too deep. The stitches will help align the wound edges for proper healing. " Gabriel explained.
Xie Ling didn't seem to like it but didn't argue again. He removed his top. His torso was full of other scars, most of them old. His arm still had the burns Gabriel inflicted on him. They hadn't healed at all.
Before stitching the wound up, Gabriel cleaned it with disinfectant. Xie Ling's muscles were tense. His teeth gritted against each other.
Gabriel glanced at him. It was surprising how someone so eager to fight was so weak to pain.
" Do you want me to knock you out. ? " Dai Yu asked.
Gabriel glared at her, annoyed that he hadn't thought of it first. But it didn't matter since Xie Ling refused anyway.
Gabriel started on the stitches, trying to do them as quickly as possible.
" The Fifth Lord sure is scary. " Li Xinyu, who had woken up, tried to fill the silence.
" Do we know what cultivation stage he is at ? " Dai Yu asked.
" Peak Nascent Soul I would guess. " Xie Ling gritted out.
Gabriel hadn't thought of using Appraisal on Lord Zhou, but Nascent Soul seemed about right.
" But that would put him at the same level as our Sect Leader. " Li Xinyu seemed be to find that strange.
" Are you talking about the Orthodox Leader or the Demonic Leader ? " Dai Yu snarked.
She was just as hostile toward Li Xinyu as before. Li Xinyu was visibly annoyed but didn't say anything. Gabriel thought he was trying to avoid a fight while he was still hurt.
" Whatever. I don't have any big injury so I'll just go back to my room. " Li Xinyu stood up.
An awkward silence weighted them down. All of them knew Li Xinyu wasn't allowed in his room since he lost his status as core disciple. But the man himself had been knocked out when the Lord fired him.
" Erm.. " Xie Ling tried to speak up.
Gabriel didn't even bother. Even if they said nothing Liu Jing would eventually throw him out, so why take responsibility.
" Do you think you get to stay a core disciple when you just lay on the ground for half the fight ? " Dai Yu said without remorse.
" I fainted ! That wasn't my fault. " He replied.
" Yes it is. If you were more endurant or managed to dodge, you wouldn't have fainted. The fact that you were the only one who fainted while all of us managed to dodge or endure prove that you're too weak. " Gabriel said coldly.
Gabriel neither liked nor disliked Li Xinyu, but the way he refused to admit he was weak was annoying. Among the four disciples, Li Xinyu was definitely the weakest. And to find someone like that boldly claiming that he didn't deserve his punishment was just… ugh.
Li Xinyu looked at them with righteous fury.
Xie Ling didn't say anything and avoided his gaze. Li Xinyu stood up and left.
" I'm done. " Gabriel finished the last stitch before standing up too.
He left Xie Ling and Dai Yu to go back to his room. On his way there he went to the room where he got the pills yesterday.
" Hello. " He greeted the old woman with a nod.
" Ah ! " She recognized him. " You're Xie Ling's friend. I'm so happy that loner finally made a friend. " She said with a warm smile.
Friends, huh. How did that lady come to that conclusion, he thought. Either Xie Ling told her they were friends, or Gabriel and him acted close enough for the old woman to assume they were friendly with each other. Both those possibilities weren't unpleasant to Gabriel.
" I'm also thankful to have him as a friend. " Gabriel said, his voice stayed blank out of of habit.
He worried his monotone voice would sound insincere, but luckily the old woman didn't take any offense. Gabriel should probably stop calling her old woman. Well, she should have just introduced herself. Wait, Gabriel hadn't introduced himself either. He mentally slapped himself.
" I'm Jia Bu. " Gabriel held out his hand for a handshake.
" Nice to meet you. I'm Huang Chun, but any friend of Xie Ling can call me Auntie. " She shook his hand with a surprising amount of strength.
Gabriel remembered why his was here.
" Could I have my pills for the day, please ? " Gabriel requested and remembered at the last second to add a ' please '.
He often forgot to polite. But he had to be polite, at least with elderly people if no one else. The old woman- no, Huang Chun nodded and opened a drawer behin her. She pulled out the two familiar pills. Gabriel thanked her before leaving.
He immediately ate the body reinforcing pill and saved the qi pill. He was planning on trading it with Xie Ling again.
Back to his room, Gabriel cast Sanctuary thrice, that was the maximum of times he could cast the spell before his magic was completely depleted. Once done, he activated Magic Regeneration to level up that too. He wanted to use Divine Fire Art at the same time, unfortunately it seemed to only activate in combat.
There were only four days left before the tournament started. If he lost even a single fight he would die. He needed to become stronger and fast. He reopened the rewards of the survival quest.
[ + 10 Shop Points ]
[ + 10 Stat Points ]
[ + Last Breathe ( lvl 1 ) ]
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. He opened the description of the last reward.
[ Last Breathe ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Description
Activates only when close to death. Double all your stat. ]
Damn, he thought. That's one good skill. Gabriel hoped he wouldn't have to use it, but still, knowing it was there as a safety net reassured him. Gabriel opened his status.
[ Status
Gabriel Everly
Level 14
Bloodlines : Dove ( lvl 14 ), Angel ( lvl 4 )
Strength 60
Agility 65
Charm 122
Endurance 61
Magic 146
Skills : Magic Missile ( lvl 5 ), Heal ( lvl 7 ), Lunge ( lvl 1 ), Stealth ( lvl 3 ), Track ( lvl 1 ), Eyesight ( lvl 1 ), Devour ( lvl 2 ), Bless ( lvl 2 ), Fly ( lvl 1 ), Sanctuary ( lvl 2 ), Divine Fire Art ( lvl 4 ), Divine Influence ( lvl 1 ) , Shape Shifting ( lvl 2 ), Magic Regeneration ( lvl 3 ), Appraisal ( lvl 1 ), Celestial Tyrant's Method ( lvl 3 ), Judgement ( lvl 1 ), Qi Refining ( lvl 1 )
Stat Points : 30 ]
Hm. What to spend his points on, Gabriel thought. Definitely not magic, charm seemed to be useless. That left strength, agility and endurance. Gabriel remembered his spar with Xie Ling and the 'fight' against Lord Zhou, even if it was more of a one-sided beat down. Upgrading his endurance wasn't very important with his Heal skill. As for agility, Gabriel was planning on buying a skill to make-up for his lack of agility.
He put all of the thirty points into strength. Next Gabriel opened the shop to buy the skill he wanted.
[ Shop
1 Stat Point : 1 Shop Point
Animal Instincts 6 Shop Points
Singing 5 Shop Points
Basic Swordsmanship 7 Shop Points
Archery 7 Shop Points
Meditation 10 Shop Points
Teleportation 15 Shop Points ]
Gabriel had twenty three shop points left. He bought Teleportation to make up for his lack of agility. No other skills picked his interest and he closed the shop.
[ Teleportation ( lvl 1 ) ]
[ Description
Allow you to teleport. ]
Good. There's no cooldown. Gabriel tried out the skill, but he found his magic lacking. He sighed. Magic Regeneration didn't work fast enough to his liking. Gabriel needed to level up that skill along with all the others. Leveling up Teleportation should decrease the magic cost too. He sighed again. He needed to level them up fast. The tournament was fast approaching.
The ' Death' punishment to the tournament quest lived rent free in his head. He needed to grow more powerful and fast.
Gabriel sat on his bed, sitting in a familiar position. He started using the Celestial Tyrant's Method once again to meditate. He breathed in, breathed out. But his body was too tired, his eyelids too heavy. He closed his eyes to try focusing on his magic, but he soon found himself falling asleep.