"You finally woke up."
A murmur reached my ears. My eyelids made slight ripples, my fingertips trembled lightly, and my whole body started making little movements. My chest began to rise and fall slowly.
Red moonlight shone brightly on my pale, white, handsome face, making me open my eyes slowly. I found an unfamiliar ceiling above me, yet I remained still, not making any unnecessary movements. And the soft, exhausted voice reached my ears.
Following it, I lifted my neck to a low degree quietly and discovered a man wearing green robes lying on the wooden floor. While gritting my teeth, I clenched my fists because of the piercing pain all over my body. Even lifting my neck made me feel agonized. I bit my lips, enduring it, trying to stay silent.
I didn't focus on the pain—but on the man, who was more important. I observed the man cautiously. His breathing was rather calm, his body made little to no movements. It seemed he was asleep from exhaustion, with his face on the floor.
"It seems this man is asleep; however, why is he lying here?"
My eyes dashed towards the painted walls and the whole room.
"And what is this house?"
After staring at the green walls, I looked again at the man.
"From his appearance, he seems like a human."
A subtle light flashed in my eyes.
"Is he my enemy? Even if he is, I can't do anything to him, given that I don't know the number of enemies who could be out there."
"Even so, from his last words, I don't even know if he is my enemy? Or not."
Rex's words—"You finally woke up"—remained in my mind. They were filled with joy and weariness, which clouded my mind from deciding whether he possessed hostility toward me.
"I don't sense any malice from him, but trusting human actions is futile. Then should I escape?"
Subtly remembering the aftereffects of overusing Instant Regeneration from the chat with the mysterious figure, I noticed my body was in a much better condition than I anticipated. Still, it was far from enough for me to escape from this unfamiliar place.
"Indeed, my body is in a much better condition. I thought, even if I woke up by luck, my body would be damaged thoroughly—only flesh clinging desperately to my bones, every bit of energy being sucked out from it."
"And due to that, my skill, attempting to keep my body alive, would've tried to generate energy, making it an endless loop of damaging and repairing."
"With my energy slowly decreasing while trying to keep my body alive, and being used by the Instant Regeneration skill rapidly, in this process, my chances of survival would be close to zero."
I glanced at my hands—their flesh slightly sucked in, while the bone structure was revealed vividly. Veins popped out.
"I am still feeling extreme sensations of pain, yet my flesh is filled with the lowest level of energy. It's slightly less than when I recovered my torn limb after my fight against Crimson Fang."
"Still, this surely doesn't add up, unless there were external factors involved?"
I had my doubts, but I focused fully on the green-robed man. I felt he was the answer to my questions.
"Considering that what I can do is limited in my current condition, let's gather information about this man."
With that, I used Information Analysis on the man.
"Analyze."
🜂 [Information Analysis – Subject: Rex] 🜂Name: Rex AlmarionAge: 26Race: HumanHeight: 190 cmAffiliation: Lumina Field Battalion – 3rd Medic DivisionRole: Combat HealerMental State: Exhausted (Due to overuse of skills and using high amount of mana)
Status Overview:Strength: AverageSpeed: AverageDefense: Below AverageIntelligence: Above AverageCharm: Moderately HighMana Aptitude: MediumLuck: ████ ████ ████ (Trait: Undetermined — Detection Error)
Detected Skills:Vital Surge (Healing-type Active Skill)→ Restores injuries and enhances bodily recovery.→ Risk of caster fatigue increases with usage.
Pulse Mend (Passive Skill – Low-range aura)→ Promotes steady healing for nearby allies.
[Skill Locked – Insufficient Authority]
Abilities:Healing Touch (Innate)→ Subject's mana resonates well with life-type spells. Enhanced healing efficiency noted.
[Ability Concealed – Target's Power exceeds Threshold]
Remarks:Analysis suggests the subject is experienced in advanced support techniques. Non-aggressive nature detected. Combat capacity unclear. High trust level from surrounding allies.
While surveying the information, I found many interesting things about him, which sparked waves of thoughts in my mind.
"So this man is referred to as Rex Almarion; he is a human."
Nothing was surprising about it until I looked at his affiliation and role.
My brows raised, a mused expression formed, as my eyes shone subtly.
"He is affiliated with Lumina Field Battalion – 3rd Medic Division as a combat healer!"
My doubts became reality as I examined the man deeply, whirlwinds of thoughts dancing in my mind.
"No wonder I survived, and also in a better condition than expected!"
"Which implies this man healed me; however, what's his motive?"
"Why would he heal a stranger? He is affiliated with a group, then it doesn't make sense for him to do this."
Doubts started appearing in my mind. It was as clear as daylight that I didn't trust Rex. Well, it was unsurprising. No one trusts a stranger instantly—unless they're naive enough to survive in a world like this. Simple thoughts like "maybe he acted out of kindness" never really crossed my mind. Why? Because that's never been how I've lived. Not since everything I loved was torn apart.The illusion I once held of the world faded quickly. In its place, only the cruel reality remained—haunting me, shattering me.It struck me like a blacksmith's hammer: burning me, freezing me, and finally, molding me into a dull blade—one blunt enough to break even the sharpest swords.Though it was painful, it gave me something ordinary people couldn't have…
While thoughts about why Rex healed me lingered in my mind, with no clue about it, I could only be wary of him.
"Considering that he healed me from that condition until he got exhausted and collapsed, he must want something from me, which means he won't do anything to me for now."
My fist was clenched tightly.
"Unless he is a fool filled with kindness that wants to help others, like in those storybooks."
"No one does anything for free in this world."
After they left me, I learned it many times over and over until it got carved on my soul…
"And if he is a kind fool, then using him is easy, even if he is smarter than average people."Kind people were fools in my eyes; they showed kindness to everyone, and that was the reason they also had to suffer. If you are kind, you'll think everyone is like you, but no! They are all cruel and vicious people who can do anything for their benefit. Some also showed kindness to me—but they also suffered the worst fate because they showed compassion to me…
Refocusing on his stats, his physical stats were nothing shocking.
"His charm is quite high."
Looking at him again, he had green hair like fresh spring leaves, red eyes glittering like rubies, white pale skin like marble. He looked like a top model from my old world. It would be an understatement to say he is not more handsome than them.
"His mana aptitude is medium? And what is mana?"
"As I lack knowledge about this world, I should keep in mind for now that Rex has medium mana aptitude."
Unknowingly, my fists were slightly clenched because I had no information about this world, and now I was in a place where escaping and fighting back was difficult. Still, I tried to get more of the information I could from here.
"His luck stat is hidden? Naturally, it must mean there's a power gap between us, which is already quite obvious, since he is a combat healer. Despite his stats, he must be trained in something."
My brows were raised as I looked at his skills.
"He must have used Vital Surge on me, and that must also be the reason he got fatigued and fell unconscious."
"And as for his other skills and abilities, they are not useful for me right now, and his other skills and abilities are hidden due to the power gap."
And as for the remark:
"From this remark, it's clear he is one of those non-aggressive types. It will be slightly difficult to manipulate him then."
"Even so, there's a good thing that he is trusted by his surrounding people, which means he is good at his job and has polite behavior."
"Because humans never trust someone easily who they consider rude and incompetent at their job. In movies, they show people trusting rude and incompetent people. But in reality, it's not true. It's quite the opposite."
While these thoughts were running through my head, light footsteps were heard outside of Rex's house. They were getting closer and closer.
Soon, reaching near the door.
Knock-Knock
A sound of the door knocking came, and hearing the sound, my eyes widened.
"Someone is here!"
As I wondered this… a voice finally came.
"Rex, open the door."