Shrub appeared above him, smiling. “Anything too broken that I need to know about before I carry you to Lucy’s?”

  Richard groaned, closing his eyes. “Damn it, Shrub. One of these days, I’ll be carrying you to Lucy’s, I swear it.”

  He only chuckled before scooping Richard up like he was a child. Richard groaned, even as he tried to stifle it.

  “How about now? Any injuries I should know about?” Shrub asked as he began walking faster.

  “I’m just glad I can feel my toes,” Richard mumbled.

  “I know the feeling.”

  Richard noticed once again that Shrub had that hardened amber on his body. Something shrieked in the forest a little too close for comfort, and Shrub picked up the pace.

  “Shit, we can’t fight another one,” Marcus said somewhere near.

  Shrub glanced at Richard. “I’d like to run. It might jostle you a bit more than you’re used to, but it would get us back faster.”

  The creature shrieked again, and Richard thought of the two bosses they had already fought. Marcus was right. They couldn’t fight anything else today.

  “I’d like to get back to base two, please.”

  Shrub nodded, then threw Richard over his shoulder like he was a sack of potatoes. Richard grunted, then clamped his mouth shut as Shrub sprinted. He felt every jolt and grunted when Shrub leapt over a fallen log. A sharp pain cut across his ribs before a notification filled his vision.

  Master Health (basic) > Master Health (advanced)

  Reduce the sensation of unusual wounds by 10% > Reduce the sensation of unusual wounds by 40%

  Richard took a deep breath and tried to see if he noticed the thirty percent difference. He wanted to believe yes and kept forcing his mind to believe it so he could have a semblance of sanity. The desire to scream out in pain wasn’t as strong, even if it still hurt. He was also left with the question of “unusual wounds”. What did that mean? How many unusual wounds was he experiencing to have his ability upgraded? Also, why was it his master ability of unusual wounds instead of his very basic ability of finding the best escape route? That one was still at 10%. Then again, he couldn’t find the best escape if he kept dying.

  Shrub pulled to a halt right within the gates, and Richard heard Dmitri’s voice.

  “What is that in the forest we keep hearing?”

  “I don’t know.” Marcus was out of breath. “But between a mama lure and a crab boss, we didn’t want to stay and find out.”

  Richard didn’t remain for the rest of the conversation. Instead, Shrub carried him to Lucy’s, and he let out an annoyed breath. “Why do I get the feeling that the beach was actually ten times more deadly than the twisted forest?”

  Shrub shrugged. “It happens like that sometimes.”

  “The beach was supposed to be safe.”

  “Nowhere is safe. But I agree. The beach had never been that unsafe. It’s why they let me, an inexperienced guard, go with you all this time.”

  A second pair of hands helped ease Richard onto a bed. It took Richard a moment to recognize Fang.

  “I’m glad you’re alive,” Fang said.

  “Yeah. Because I still need to chew you out for what you did.”

  Fang’s face tilted in confusion. “Like… what?”

  “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me. You didn’t need to tell Amber anything,” Richard said.

  Fang blinked, then his eyes briefly glanced over Richard’s barely held together body and torn and bloody clothes. Richard closed his eyes and sighed. “We’ll talk about this later.”

  Shrub glanced over at the other bed, and Richard followed his gaze, his stomach dropping when he saw Leylah still unconscious. He remembered how uselessly she had tried to attack the crab. Honestly, if the bosses had attacked them while they were there the very first day, all of them would have been dead. Why did Marcus ever believe this was a good idea?

  Lucy rushed over to Leylah’s bed with a cup. She eased Leylah up to make it easier to pour the liquid down her throat. Richard tried to sit up to see better, but a sharp pain in his ribs kept him from doing so. Instead, he monitored his cooldown for healing his wounds. Two hours was a long time.

  Leylah took a deep, gasping breath, and everyone turned their focus on her. Somehow, Leylah slumped harder in Lucy’s arms, and Richard watched Lucy to see if he could pull the information out of her with his gaze. The way a smug smile appeared on Lucy’s face told him enough. She placed Leylah back against the bed before moving her glasses up to her hair to rub her eyes.

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  “Lucy?” Shrub asked.

  “She’s sleeping now. Will for a few hours for the healing to do its work. But she will live.” She brought her glasses back down to glare at Shrub. “Also, I hate your class. You’re all stupid meatheads running straight for death.”

  Shrub smiled. “Someone has to.”

  Lucy noticed Richard, her eyes running over his clothes and injuries. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “A crab almost cut me in half,” Richard said.

  Lucy cocked an eyebrow before coming over to him, tapping the side of her glasses. Fang scuttled out of her way.

  “Looks like the crab succeeded, but you hit your ability fast enough before the two pieces of you separated,” Lucy said.

  Amber’s face screwed up in disgust. “I think… I’m going to go.”

  “Probably wise.” Lucy placed her two pointer fingers against the rims of her glasses to study him again. She frowned, brows furrowed.

  “Am I needed?” Shrub asked.

  Lucy was still focused on whatever injury in Richard’s chest that had her attention. After a moment of silence, Lucy must have realized Shrub was still there. “No.” She sounded far more distracted than Richard thought possible. In that moment, Richard wondered if Lucy could see something with those glasses that gave a hint as to what was happening to him with these time jumps. Could she see the ghosts of injuries?

  “You almost drowned. I thought you were on the beach,” Lucy said.

  Richard stared at her, realizing she was studying his lungs.

  “Uh, yeah. I don’t know how, but the crab could create a ton of seawater that caught us all before trying to suck us back into its mouth,” Shrub said.

  Lucy shook her head. “Yeah, that makes more sense. Because if you newbies were in the ocean at all, you’d be dead.”

  Richard didn’t doubt that. It felt like his entire stay at base camp two was nothing short of miracle after miracle keeping him alive.

  “That being said, I was too hasty in having the other two leave so quickly. Everyone who touched that water needs to drink this to keep the parasites from boring into their brains.”

  Richard, who wanted to close his eyes, suddenly found no such need. “I’m sorry, the what?”

  Lucy gestured to his entire body. “You’ve got them crawling around you now. The damage to your lungs makes it difficult to heal you, because they need to be stopped from making a relentless march to your brain.”

  She was walking way too casually toward her station in the back, whipping something up quickly.

  “Can I feel them?” Richard touched his chest, wondering if the tingling on his skin was because those creatures were crawling all over it.

  “Mostly in your injuries. You have a whole slew of them in there. What’s so concerning are the wounds in your lungs. You might need a shower.” She kept stirring the potion, adding things to it. “That’s actually not a bad idea. Shrub, can you set up the shower? I want to take every precaution.”

  Shrub nodded, then scooted the bed next to Richard over to reveal a water drain and a collection of pipes. This gave the impression that he would need to stand in order to use this shower, but he still felt rather paralyzed.

  Lucy walked over with the cup, and Richard didn’t need to be told twice. He downed it and felt relief wash over him. He still didn’t know the full extent of his injuries, but he realized why he got an upgrade on his unusual pain ability.

  “Is the sea full of those parasites?” Richard asked.

  “The smaller the creature, the more terrifying its power,” Lucy said. She gestured toward Leylah. “There’s the human equivalent over there. I already imagine she’ll be visiting me constantly once she gets her class next week.”

  Richard glanced at his own level bar and, to his utter surprise, saw he was almost to level nine. Helping to fight a boss must have given him a ton of experience points, even though he felt like he was doing little.

  What surprised him most was Lucy casually mentioning class selections next week. How long had they been here? A week? A little more than a week? It felt like three years at least.

  Shrub screwed some pipes into place before shoving a gallon container into the bottom. He nodded to Lucy.

  “It’s done.”

  “Good.” She pulled out glasses and started pouring out the medicine. “Can you deliver these to each member of the party? The sooner, the better. That should take care of Amber and Fang, but I still expect to see the others for a full medical check. Except for Elias. He can burn with a parasitic fever for all I care.”

  Shrub looked like he was about to say something, but simply nodded and smiled as he collected the glasses and placed them in his inventory. Lucy walked over to the makeshift shower and filled most of it with water before pouring something into it.

  “I’m not sure I can walk,” Richard said as Shrub left.

  “No, you can’t. Your tibia is one good slip away from falling apart in a shattered mess.” Lucy pushed her glasses up her nose. “You know, back when I first got here, it was almost a rite of passage to walk on such injuries back into base two.” Lucy uncorked two healing potions before pouring them on his legs. Richard let out a small gasp at the heat before it soothed him. “Now it’s almost insensitive to talk about, because newbies are getting these kinds of injuries now.”

  Lucy placed the empty bottles on the table, then gestured toward the shower with her thumb. There wasn’t exactly a curtain, but Lucy had proven she didn’t care about nudity.

  “So how do we keep the apocalypse from killing us if Order’s gifts aren’t enough anymore?” Richard asked, pulling off his shirt.

  “Dunno.” Lucy checked on Leylah. “Would you like the simple answer of praying to Order to hope she gains more control over her brother?”

  Richard tested his newly healed legs before he dared stand on them to take off his pants. “No, I don’t want that answer.”

  Lucy chuckled. “Good. Then that’s probably why Order sent you. So you don’t wait around like most of the people here for a miracle.”

  Richard finished getting undressed and turned the knob because that seemed like the thing he was supposed to do. A cold sprinkle of water hit him. He shivered as the sprinkle turned into more of a shower.

  “I take it you’re not the wait for a miracle kind of girl?” Richard asked.

  “No. But I don’t really care to go claim the miracle, either,” Lucy said.

  “Oh, I doubt that,” Richard said, his teeth chattering. “You take people who should be dead and bring them back. Some would consider that a miracle.”

  Lucy grunted. The two of them fell silent, and Richard focused on his shower. It was the strangest sensation. The water itself was cold, but everywhere the droplets hit, he felt a sting of warmth much like the healing potion.

  “Do I keep letting it wash over me until the stinging stops?” Richard asked.

  “Yes.” Lucy moved over to her working table. Richard had honestly never seen such a tidy workspace. Everything seemed to be color-coded and sanitized. “Or I can tell you when I stop hearing them screaming.”

  She said it so simply, but Richard almost lost his head in the violent jerk motion he made to look at her. “I’m sorry… what?”

  She tapped her head. “The screaming parasites as they die. Rather cathartic, really.”

  He didn’t know what else to do but take her seriously.