Chapter 101: Deathbed Confessions

Lusac caught Varyna as her unconscious body fell forwards.

"Blast me and this stupid COP," he muttered in between breaths as he hauled the extra weight away from the castle where he'd quite literally nearly gotten cooked. He had a new appreciation for kechin after his almost roasting.

The shout of the nefitisians grew closer, and Lus came to the glum conclusion that he was not fast enough to escape while carrying Varyna.

But the thing was he couldn't just leave her. She'd gone back to rescue him when he'd stupidly been caught going after the pottery piece. He'd be those freaks' meal if not for her, so he was determined to get her to safety. The artifact he needed was safely stowed in his pocket, meaning if he could get off this disease-infested rock, the mission would be a success.

"Varyna," he said as he limped along.

She didn't respond.

Hopefully that meant she was totally out of it, because he absolutely did not want to have to try to explain his special system to her.

"Activate [Dash]," Lusac said, putting a monumental amount of thought into the phrase as well.

[Activating Dash for 50 seconds]

The shouting faded away into strange noises as the world slowed around him. Varyna remained as heavy as ever, but he now had the time to properly lift her into his arms and jog away. He made sure to take a strange path through the trees, hoping that the nefitisians' poor eyesight would hinder them from tracking them in the low light. His [Night Sight] was already on, making it easy for him to maneuver around the various obstacles with relative ease.

His [Dash] didn't last very long it seemed before he got the next notification.

[Dash deactivating]

[Cooldown: 5 minutes]

"I hope it was enough," he murmured to himself.

They were thick in the trees now, surrounded by undergrowth. Lus carefully laid Varyna down on a mostly soft spot of moss and leaves, taking care to keep her hidden as much as possible as he investigated her injuries.

Or rather injury.

He discovered only one wound, but it was fairly deep and bleeding quite a bit. The problem was that they were still a good distance from the crawler where any medical supplies would be, and he didn't dare take her out of here until he was sure the nefisitians had passed them by.

With no other options, Lus pulled his shirt off and tore it into long strips that he then used to dress her wound, careful not to aggravate it while ensuring there was enough pressure to limit the bleeding.

A breeze blew through their little hiding spot, and Lus shivered, clutching his arms to his bare chest. It was going to be a long night.

His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten in quite a while.

"Good thing I came prepared," he said to himself as he dug into his other pocket for the single [Revelation Cake] he was allowed to bring with him.

Before he could unwrap the smashed dessert, he noticed just how pale Varyna's face had become. If anyone needed a snack, it was the wounded one, not him.

Lus sighed and moved closer to Varyna. He gently nudged her. "Hey, wake up."

She groaned and twisted her head away.

"Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" he asked her.

The COP nodded weakly.

He carefully undid the packaging around the [Revelation Cake], broke a piece off, and held it to her mouth. "Here's something small. It's all I have."

Lus wasn't about to feed her his [Famous Chocote Chunk Cookies] and boost her [Charm] by an insane amount so she could manipulate him however she wanted. Even injured, she was dangerous, and he couldn't risk revealing the truth about his system and Leviathan to her.

That was also why he couldn't eat any of the [Revelation Cake] himself he realized. Their power made a person reveal everything.

Varyna nibbled the chunk of the cake slowly, every motion seeming to drain her more. It was a slow process, but after she finished that piece, he ripped off another for her. She ate most of that one before she started coughing rather violently.

"Let me find you some water to wash it down. Stay put." Lusac stood up and glanced around to make sure the nefitisians were nowhere to be found. It seemed safe enough to leave Varyna in the foliage where she was mostly hidden by the undergrowth.

Lus glanced around the dim forest, grateful for his [Night Sight], and tapped his chin.

"If I were water, where would I be?"

He might have been stupid to promise her water when he had no idea where to start looking for a clean source out here. Was there even a clean water source nearby?

"Wait a second." Lusac grinned to himself. "I have just the thing for this."

His last level up had given him a new cooking [Skill], [Ingredient Selection], and based on the description, it was supposed to help him locate ingredients for cooking. There wasn't a more basic cooking ingredient out there than water.

"Use [Ingredient Selection] to find water," he said aloud, making sure to put the proper amount of force into thinking it as well.

[Activating: Ingredient Selection]

[Ingredient Detected Nearby]

A small arrow showed up in the upper corner of his vision, opposite of the notification which pointed him to the left, away from Varyna and the castle of cannibals.

Lus hastily moved in that direction, doing his best to remain quiet as well just in case there were some lurking living corpses wandering the woods still.

As he followed the arrow, it guided him deeper into the forest. Eventually he no longer needed it as the sound of a bubbling stream reached his ears.

He arrived to discover that it was small, but the water looked clear to his eyes.

[Deactivating: Ingredient Selection]

"Bless the Watcher for this cooking system," Lus said, kneeling down next to the creek. He took several sips of the water, pressing his lips to the cool surface, and he happily discovered it tasted fresh and sweet. Now just to get some back to his patient.

Lus patted himself down. He didn't have a water bottle or other container handy to carry the water safely, and it would drain from his hands long before he got it all the way back to her. He temporarily considered sucking in a bunch and carrying it in his mouth, but he decided he'd only use that method as an absolute last resort.

Biting his lip as he sat by the stream, Lusac checked his pockets one last time. All he had was the pre-wrapped food and his all-in-cutter…

The cutter…?

Lus glanced around the small stream area, noticing several thick stones. It wasn't the best idea, but it had to be better than using his mouth for the water.

Selecting a stone that seemed a nice enough shape, he then pulled out the cutter. It took several tries to find the right setting, but eventually he found one that was hot enough to cut the rock without melting the entire thing.

It was dangerous work carving out the center of the rock, but he was able to form some type of rough bowl after several minutes. He rinsed the rock bowl several times to ensure it was properly cleaned and then filled it up with water and lifted it out of the creek.

It held, no leaks.

Perfect. Now he just needed to get back to Varyna without spilling any of it.

Lus glanced around, suddenly very aware of the fact he hadn't kept a firm mental map in his mind since he'd been so focused on following the arrow. Taking a calming breath, he replayed his movements from their little camp to give himself some kind of direction. He then carefully retraced his steps the best he could from memory. A few stumbles caused him to spill bits of his precious cargo, and it took more wandering around than he would have liked, but he did eventually locate Varyna once again, bringing with him about half the original amount of water.

She looked a little stronger.

He hoped.

Lus knelt down next to her, keeping his hands as steady as possible.

"Here. Water. Drink," he said.

Varyna's eyes half opened as she parted her lips just enough to accept the fluid. Lusac was careful to keep the flow slow to prevent her from drowning, and after a full minute, she'd consumed all he brought.

"T-thanks," she breathed.

"It's the least I could do after you saved my life. Honestly, I'm a little surprised you were willing to come back for me. I was sure I was toast." Lus set the empty bowl down and hugged his knees close.

Varyna coughed before responding. "I-I had to. Y-you have… Leviathan."

"Why do you care so much about Leviathan? Not that I have him–it. I'm just curious." Lusac looked down at her pale face. He needed to get her to a real medical facility, but he knew the nefitisians were still out looking for them.

"Need a… Demon… to get into D-demon Division," she answered.

"Eh. Who cares about the Demon Division? Surely what you do now is far more exciting." Lus hadn't realized that her need for a Demon was so… personal.

"Dream s-since a kid. Even have class… [Demon Hunter]."

He sucked his cheek. Great. Now by hogging Leviathan, he was crushing this girl's life-long dream. That made him feel extra terrible.

"Does it have to be Leviathan? For the Demon Division?" he asked.

"J-just need… a Demon. No o-others are still… free."

"You really chased me all the way across the galaxy for Leviathan?" he said, picking at the grass under his feet.

"N-no. Nemarian mafia, trouble, forced me into… hiding." Her voice was becoming faint, and Lus decided to let her rest.

"I'm sorry. You should sleep a little. In a couple of hours I'll get us back to the crawler and then we can return to camp so you can get some real help," he promised her.

Varyna closed her eyes, and her breathing became even.

Lus bent over her and checked the makeshift bandages. He knew his [Night Sight] wasn't perfect, but something was off about them. The blood, it wasn't the red it should have been. There was a black tinge to it.

Underneath the wrappings, he discovered something very bad.

The wound was infected with… something. It couldn't be nefitis since Varyna was immune. She had to be in order to be eligible to be a volunteer, but this still looked bad. Very bad.

Lusac replaced the dressing carefully and looked at the woods around him. If only he had the medical supplies from the crawler so he had ointment or something to fight the infection with. All he had out here were leaves and crap.

Or maybe not crap completely…

He remembered a lesson back on the Argo for the off-ship mission team members about certain healing herbs which could be used in an emergency. That had been about the common ones which grew on the colonized planets in the Gemini Sector, but surely there had to be some helpful ones on this planet too, right?

The only problem was that Lus wouldn't know what things could help just by looking at them. He'd need a guide book or something.

Why, oh why, didn't he have a [Skill] that could help him right now? He pulled up his system screen to look at the [Skills] available to buy, but none of them seemed all that applicable.

[Unfailing Feet]

[Unarmed Strike]

[Bottomless Pit]

[Boosted Metabolism]

Nothing that could cure Varyna's infection or guide him to the plants which could do so.

Lus had another idea as he swiped the screen away. Who was to say [Ingredient Selection] was limited to only the kinds of ingredients he knew? Surely it could help him find any kind of ingredient, even one for a healing poultice.

"Use [Ingredient Selection] to find plants that I can use to make something to cure an infection," Lusac said aloud. He thought hard about it too, shaping his mind to envision exactly what he wanted in hopes it would guide the system better.

[Activating Ingredient Selection]

[Ingredients detected nearby]

An arrow pointed off to the right. Lusac grinned and followed it. Being a [Chef] really was coming in handy after all.