Chapter 85
Elijah's eyes opened to the dim light of the bedroom above the bar, and for a long moment he simply lay there staring at the wooden beams of the ceiling while his body refused to respond to any of the commands his mind was sending.
His arms remained motionless at his sides, his legs felt like they had been filled with lead, and every breath he took was shallow and ragged in a way that made the Healing and Adaptation breathing of the Eternal Grounded Tree technique struggle to find purchase in his damaged lungs.
The bandages that Doctor Ben had wrapped around his chest were tight against his skin, but he could feel the broken ribs beneath them grinding against each other with each inhale, and the pain was a constant companion that had been with him for so many hours now that he had almost grown accustomed to its presence.
He tried to push himself up onto his elbows, and his body screamed in protest so loudly that his vision went white for a moment before settling back into the familiar gray of the dimly lit room.
His arms would not move, his legs remained stubbornly still, and his chest rose and fell in short, desperate gasps that did nothing to fill his lungs with the air they so desperately needed.
He realized with a cold certainty that he was trapped in his own broken body with no way to speed the healing that would eventually make him whole again.
The silence of the room pressed down on him, broken only by the distant sounds of the gambling den operating floors below and the occasional creak of the old building settling around him.
"System," he said, and his voice was barely a whisper, rough and broken from hours of disuse.
The familiar screen flickered into existence in the corner of his vision, the pale blue light casting strange shadows across the ceiling above him.
[You look terrible, Little King. Have you considered not getting beaten half to death by people who are stronger than you?]
Elijah let out a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a cough, and the movement sent a fresh wave of pain through his ribs that made him wince and press his eyes shut for a moment before he could speak again.
"I'll take that under consideration," he managed, his voice still rough and barely above a whisper. "I have a question. Can you create something that would heal my body faster than this?"
The screen flickered, and when the text appeared again, Elijah could almost hear the prideful tone in the words.
[The system can create anything, Little King. Healing pills, body tempering pills, elixirs that would accelerate your recovery far beyond what your breathing technique alone can achieve. The system mentioned this capability when you first inquired about equipment creation. The system specifically stated: 'From Unique Techniques to weapons to armor to tools. Anything, really, provided the required System Points are available.']
Elijah stared at the words for a long moment, and something that was equal parts frustration and exhaustion bubbled up in his chest.
"Why didn't you tell me about the pills before? Specifically the ones that could temper my body and help me reach my physical limits faster?"
The system's response came quickly, and there was no apology in the words that appeared.
[The Little King did not ask. The system provided information about available capabilities, but the system does not volunteer specific solutions to problems the Little King has not identified. This is not a nursery, and the system is not a nursemaid. The King must learn to ask the right questions.]
Elijah closed his eyes and let out a slow breath through his nose, careful not to disturb his broken ribs any more than necessary.
The system was infuriating, and it had been infuriating since the moment it had first appeared in his vision, but he could not deny that it was also consistent.
It had told him it could create anything, and it had meant anything, and he had simply never thought to ask about pills or elixirs because his mind had been focused on techniques and equipment and the immediate challenges in front of him.
"Fine," he said, opening his eyes again. "Show me what you have. Pills that can heal my body and temper it to reach my physical limits faster."
The screen flickered and expanded, filling his vision with a list of options that made his eyes widen despite the pain that still radiated through his skull.
[Available Body Tempering Pills - Tier 1 to Tier 2]
[Tier 1 Body Tempering Pill (Low Quality) - 500 System Points]
Effect: Slightly accelerates physical growth and provides minor healing. Increases all physical stats by 1-2 points depending on current proximity to physical limit. Best used when far from physical limit.
[Tier 1 Body Tempering Pill (Standard Quality) - 1,000 System Points]
Effect: Moderately accelerates physical growth and provides standard healing. Increases all physical stats by 2-4 points depending on current proximity to physical limit.
[Tier 1 Body Tempering Pill (High Quality) - 1,500 System Points]
Effect: Significantly accelerates physical growth and provides enhanced healing. Increases all physical stats by 3-6 points depending on current proximity to physical limit.
[Tier 2 Body Tempering Pill (Low Quality) - 2,000 System Points]
Effect: Greatly accelerates physical growth and provides substantial healing. Increases all physical stats by 5-8 points depending on current proximity to physical limit. Note: Most effective when within 10 points of physical limit.
[Tier 2 Body Tempering Pill (Standard Quality) - 2,500 System Points]
Effect: Powerfully accelerates physical growth and provides major healing. Increases all physical stats by 7-10 points depending on current proximity to physical limit.
[Tier 2 Body Tempering Pill (High Quality) - 3,000 System Points]
Effect: Dramatically accelerates physical growth and provides exceptional healing. Increases all physical stats by 9-12 points depending on current proximity to physical limit. Warning: May cause significant pain during tempering process.
[Current System Points: 3,700]
Elijah read through the list twice, his mind working through the numbers even as his broken body continued to protest every small movement he made.
His current stats were all hovering between forty-two and forty-five, just below his physical limit of fifty, and the Tier 2 Low Quality pill would provide enough of a boost to push him to that limit while also healing the damage that Jack had done to him.
It would cost two thousand system points, leaving him with seventeen hundred for whatever came next, and that seemed like a reasonable price to pay for being able to move again.
He thought about the pills themselves, about the fact that they existed in this world outside of the system's creation.
He had heard of body tempering pills before, had read about them on online.
They were real things, created by alchemists and sold on the open market, but the prices were astronomical.
A low-quality Tier 1 pill might cost fifty thousand dollars if you could find one, and the higher quality pills climbed into the millions and even billions depending on their rarity and the reputation of the alchemist who had created them.
He had never seriously considered purchasing one because the cost was so far beyond anything he could afford that it might as well have been a dream.
Even now, with the Azura Gang generating a hundred thousand dollars a week in revenue, the idea of spending millions on a single pill seemed absurd when that money could be used to expand their territory and protect their people and build something that would last.
But the system could create them for a fraction of that cost, or rather for a different kind of currency entirely.
"The Tier 2 Low Quality pill," he said, his voice still quiet but steadier than it had been before. "I'll take it."
[Purchase confirmed: Tier 2 Body Tempering Pill (Low Quality) - 2,000 System Points]
[System Points: 3,700 → 1,700]