Jason woke up. The first thing that greeted him was the stinging pain at his flank. Propping himself only made it worse. That’s not a good sign. He brought up his status window and scanned through it.

 

Jason Park

Job : Assassin

Level 30

EP : 45/151(+10)

E.Guard : 0/3555(+30)

Strength : 95

Agility : 113

Dexterity : 52

Stamina : 52

Energy : 47(+2)

E.Resist : 47

Points : 0

Unique Trait : Rapid Growth

Skills :  Intermediate Swordsmanship Lv.6, Major Heal lv.1, Energy Guard Lv.9, Wind Cutter Lv.MAX, Shadow Sneak Lv.5, Intermediate Archery Lv.4, Parry Lv.5, Scan Lv.9, Basic Projectile Throwing Lv.4, Blood Edge Combo Lv.1, Novice Smithing Lv.4, Basic Blunt Weapon Mastery Lv.4, Triple Strafe Lv.3, Minor Defense Buff Lv.9, Night Vision Lv.MAX, Wind Clad Lv.1, Lightning Fury Lv.2, Contract Lv.1, Basic Tailoring Lv.1, Poison Coat Lv.3.

 

He smiled. His hand ripped off the bandage over his flank, and blood spilled out. The wound barely clotted, a sign it wasn’t looking good. It wasn’t a small cut wound that could heal over time. Jason’s immediately hovered his hand over the bullet wound. A green glow emitted as slowly his cells rejuvenated, spurning a cycle of healing. 

 

The glow died down and what left was a subtle scar. It was messy with blood all over the place, but at least Jason could breathe out of relief. He was out from the danger of dying, and that thought brought his sight over to a particular person.

 

Tapeesa…

 

In just a flash, he stood in front of the ice-figure of Tapeesa. He stared at her with a blue window appearing in his sight. 

 

Adriana Tapeesa Igruk Lv: 21  Job: Cryogenist EP:0/120, I.H.B:1/2750 (Frozen) Str:10, Agi:37, Dex:7, Sta:10, En: 45, E.R: 10 Status Condition : Frozen Skill: E.Boomerang, Ice Heart Barrier, Frost Orb, Icicle Spear

 

Her guard isn’t broken yet and that status effect, frozen. It must be one of the side effects of making her guard stay intact.

 

He knelt down in front of her and reached out with his hand. Major Heal activated with intense green glow encasing the ice-figure of Tapeesa. 

 

Arrluk, who had been sleeping, awakened by the intense light as he was the closest to his granddaughter. “Hmm?” He woke up and saw Jason doing something to Tapeesa. His half-open eyes went wide, and his heart beat faster. He propped himself and leaned closer to them. He didn’t say a word and let Jason did his thing. He knew better not to disturb someone who was trying to save his granddaughter.

 

What’s going on? Her guard isn’t recovering? Jason couldn’t hide his surprise. The green glow emitted from his hand intensified. The light brightened the darkness of the tunnel. One by one woke up, questioning the source of the annoying light.

 

“Jason?” Esther saw her brother, and so did the rest. Nuniq came closer, and he knew what those green light meant. Nuniq smiled, but the smile on his grandfather was no longer there. 

 

Arrluk saw the change in Jason’s countenance and he got a bad feeling about it. The green glow died down and yet nothing had changed. There was silence with darkness taking control of the underground space. 

 

“Tapeesa?…” Nuniq called out to his sister, yet there was no response. 

 

“What’s wrong with my granddaughter?!” Arrluk burst forward and grabbed Jason by the collar. He demanded an answer. He knew the prowess of Jason’s Major Heal as he too, was once injured and healed by it.

 

Jason ignored the aggressive action of a caring grandfather with his eyes still staring at the sight of Tapeese, and he wasn’t merely staring. He spammed his Scan numerous times with the same status window kept on reemerging. 

 

“Answer me, damn it!” Arrluk shouted. Nuniq came to a realization. He followed the faint outline of Jason’s figure and ran at him. The bottled-up frustration exploded as he smacked a punch right at Jason. 

 

Jason grabbed the incoming knuckle at the last second. He didn’t mind getting grab by the collar, but a punch was not welcomed. The sole of his feet lunged forward, striking Nuniq by the pit of his stomach. The strength behind the kick propelled the teenager in the air and slammed right at the dirt wall. 

 

“What’s the meaning of this? Answer me, Jason!” Arrluk vaguely saw what happened to Nuniq, but the precious matter of Tapeesa took priority. 

 

Jason still ignored the old man and kept on spamming his Scan at Tapeesa. Then, it came. The thing he waited.

 

Scan level up to level 10

 

 

Scan has reached the maximum level

 

 

Upgrade into Analyze Lv.1

 

 

Adriana Tapeesa Igruk Lv: 21  Job: Cryogenist EP:0/120, I.H.B:1/2750 (Frozen) Str:10, Agi:37, Dex:7, Sta:10, En: 45, E.R: 10 Status Condition : Frozen* Skill: E.Boomerang Lv.13, Ice Heart Barrier Lv.3, Frost Orb Lv.2, Icicle Spear Lv.2   Three Size: B-33 W-24 H-34   *The last line of defense for Ice Heart Barrier. Encased the user in hard ice thickness. The only method in unfreezing is through a full day of basking under the sunlight. Other methods include ???

 

*The last line of defense for Ice Heart Barrier. Encased the user in hard ice thickness. The only method in unfreezing is through a full day of basking under the sunlight. Other methods include ???

 

A plethora of new windows bombarded Jason’s sight. He gambled to the fact that his Scan might not upgrade into a stronger version, but somehow he lucked it out. With his Analyze, the status window turned more detail, and he got what he sought, the method in undoing her frozen status effect. 

 

So a twenty-four-hour sunbath? That’s easy enough to do, but the other methods… 

 

His eyes landed over the numerous question marks. He judged that his level was still low to access more information. But another thing drew interest. 

 

Really? A woman’s three sizes? Is that really necessary? He questioned the existence of those numbers, and he doubted whether it was helpful in this warring state. 

 

“Speak!” Arrluk shouted, not caring whether that stinger tail would hear him or not. His treasured grandchild lay there frozen in ice, and what kind of grandfather would he be if he just ignored it?

 

Under his night vision, Jason saw the desperate eyes of Arrluk. It showed that the old man had a heart. He wondered whether his parents would do the same to him.

 

“She’s fine,” Jason said, finally opening his mouth.

 

“Fine? You call that being fine?!” Nuniq came back roaring, ignoring the pain that wrecked his body. No matter how annoyed he was by his sister, Tapeesa was still family and family matters, more so to the Igruk family.

 

Jason grabbed Arrluk by the wrist and made him let go of his collar. The old man didn’t retaliate as he slowly let go.

 

“Explain,” said Arrluk.

 

“It’s her guard special effect. It froze her to keep her alive,” said Jason.

 

“Special effect? I don’t know what you’re saying. Her Ice Barrier isn’t like that,” Arrluk countered back. He had his suspicion.

 

“Well, I guess she forgot to mention that her Ice Barrier had upgraded into Ice Heat Barrier. And that frozen thing might be one of its new effects,” Jason said.

 

Arrluk fell into a deep state of thought. Then he turned back to Jason. “If you had known, why didn’t you tell us?” 

 

“I would if I know. A second ago, my Scan upgraded into a new skill, and you know what I meant by that, don’t you?” Jason said.

 

Arrluk stared at Jason’s silhouette as there was barely any light in here. 

 

“Then how do we undo it?” Arrluk brought back to the main question.

 

“From what I got here, it’s just a simple sunbath for a whole day,” Jason said.

 

“Is that true?” Arrluk grabbed Jason by the shoulders. Deep down, he hoped Jason wasn’t lying just to escape from his wrath.

 

“Up to you to believe it or not,” Jason shrugged off Arrluk’s hands and went towards the hole. 

 

“Since she isn’t in danger, we better think of a plan in what should we do,” Jason said. He peeked through the hole and saw the sky blanketed by the starry night. 

 

“Careful, man,” said Hakeem as he watched Jason poking out his head through the hole.

 

Jason took a look around and saw the carnage of broken Apache helicopters. But his intention was to find the giant stinger. A few more spin, and yet there was nothing. The sky was clear from any roaming giant stinger, but he didn’t let his guard down. He returned back to the safety of the underground cave.

 

“I didn’t see any stinger,” Jason said.

 

“So should we make a run for it?” Hakeem said.

 

“No,” Jason flat-out denied that suggestion. “It’s too risky, that giant stinger might have something that we don’t know. It might be able to camouflage or something similar,” it was an assumption, and he hoped it wasn’t. 

 

“So should we continue digging? For now, that’s our best bet of making out of here alive,” said Esther.

 

“I agree with Miss Park. It’s better if we make our way through the underground, with our status, digging a tunnel won’t be difficult,” said Arrluk. The old man yearned more than anyone in this underground cave to get both of his grandchildren to safety, especially for Tapeesa, since she needed an appropriate amount of sunlight. 

 

“Digging would be fine, but I’ll go take a look around outside. For now, I need all of you to stay put and rest,” said Jason.

 

“Are you crazy?! You’re going to get yourself killed,” said Esther. 

 

“Hmph, just let that prick be,” Nuniq mumbled in his low voice.

 

“Man, if you’re going out there, I’m coming with you,” said Hakeem. He wasn’t going to let Jason go alone. He knew how reckless this friend of his could be.

 

“I appreciate the concerns, but I can turn invisible,” Jason said. “Like I said, I’ll go out for recon, and all of you stay quiet and don’t do something idiotic while I’m gone.”

 

“Wait, if you can turn invisible, then just take us along with you and escape from this damn place,” Nuniq thought of something and threw at it for discussion. 

 

“Hmm? That’s a surprise, for once you’re using your brain,” said Jason.

 

“What? I… Wait, what do you mean by that? Are you-” Nuniq was going to blow over his top, but Arrluk stepped in and stopped him from making a ruckus.

 

“Nuniq’s words made sense Mr.Park. Wouldn’t it be easier if we go through that method?” Arrluk asked on behalf of his grandchild.

 

“We can do that, but there are still risks involved with that plan. We don’t know the extent of that giant stinger capabilities. Who knows, it might even have a detection skill. Since I, for once, met a monster that can see through my invisibility, and that’s a risk I won’t take,” Jason said. “And another thing, with that size of a monster, it’s better to be cautious than just winging it.”

 

“Why? Are you scared? The great Jason scared of a tail?” Nuniq still resented the man for kicking him right in the stomach. He won’t back down, not without throwing some petty insult at him.

 

“Yea, I’m scared,” Jason said. His words took Nuniq by surprise. The teenager never predicted that Jason would speak such words.

 

“Unlike you lots, I met a monster that’s big as a skyscraper, and the feeling I felt back then was the same with this ‘tail’, and a word of advice, you better be scared or else you won’t know what might come,” Jason said.

 

The whole group fell into silence. Jason’s words put a big dent in their reality. Even the old man thought about the goosebumps he felt back when he heard those noises coming from the deep ravine. His instinct told him to run, and that was something he made sure to follow.

 

“Come on, gather up. I need to heal you guys before leaving,” Jason said. The whole group gathered in a circle as Jason healed them one by one. Nuniq, who was the furthest from the group, was pulled over by Arrluk. Although he acted tough with Jason, he still wanted to be healed. 

 

“Forgive me Mr.Park. The boy is still uncouth, but he didn’t mean bad,” Arrluk tried to mend the two relationships.

 

But for Jason, he didn’t care about it. What matters was keeping all of these people alive, and he owed it to them.

 

“It’s fine. He’s still a kid,” Jason said with his hand reaching out to Nuniq. He healed the boy and hit him lightly at the head. “Try not to make a problem while I’m gone.”

 

Nuniq could only stare at him as he watched Jason climbed up the hole. The moment he was out, he took in a deep breath of fresh air, and not a second too late, he vanished into thin air.