After carefully checking his system, allocating his stats, reviewing his progress, and going through every active quest, Fai became certain of one thing.
He was going to reach level 12 far sooner than the system itself seemed to anticipate.
At the moment, he had three ongoing quests. Well… two, if he chose not to count the quest that simply demanded he reach Level 12. Each quest carried a straightforward requirement, nothing overly complicated.
One was his daily quest, which was already nearing completion. The other was the assessment quest , the one that truly mattered.
For some reason, just thinking about the experience points he would gain from completing them sent a sharp rush of dopamine through his body. His heart beat faster, excitement buzzing beneath his skin like electricity.
'I don't even know if I should start questioning my sanity, ' Fai thought wryly.
'Getting this excited over numbers, levels, and rewards… that can't be normal, right?'
And yet, even as he acknowledged how strange it was, the feeling didn't fade. If anything, it intensified. His mind felt clear, focused. His body felt light.
Right now, Fai was ready.He was pumped.
Leaning back against the rough stone surface behind him, Fai let out a long, slow breath. The wall was cold, uneven, and uncomfortable, but waiting was far worse. Waiting left too much room for thoughts to creep in, to spiral and twist into worries he didn't want to face.
A short distance away, Johnson lay on the ground, his chest rising and falling faintly with each shallow breath. The boy was alive,that much was obvious, but from Fai's perspective, he was nowhere near healed.
The wounds that covered Johnson's body had slowly begun to close. The bleeding had stopped, the gashes no longer looked fresh, but they were far from healed. His skin still looked torn and fragile, as if one wrong movement might cause everything to reopen.
' Aren't mutants supposed to heal faster than normal humans?' Fai wondered, his gaze lingering on Johnson longer than he realized.
'So what's taking him so long?'
There was no mockery in the thought, only genuine curiosity. From where Fai stood, Johnson's recovery looked… underwhelming.
'Honestly' , he continued silently, 'looking at him like this, I wouldn't even say there's much of a difference between him and a normal human .'
When a human became a mutant, nearly everything about their body changed. Their physical systems were reinforced, optimized, upgraded to a level far beyond what ordinary humans could achieve. Strength, endurance, reflexes, every aspect of their existence improved.
The source of all this was the mutant core.
Once formed, the core became the center of a mutant's power, forcing energy to circulate throughout their veins. This energy strengthened their connection to their mutation and enhanced their bodily functions. The higher the stage of the core, the more refined and powerful the mutant became.
Naturally, this also affected healing.
A mutant with broken bones or severe injuries would recover faster than a normal human. Their bodies repaired themselves more efficiently, responding to damage with accelerated regeneration.
But accelerated didn't mean miraculous.
It didn't mean wounds closed before your eyes or bones snapped back into place instantly. Unless a mutant possessed a healing- or regeneration-type mutation, the process would still take time, hours, days, sometimes even weeks.
So, logically speaking, Johnson's healing rate was far superior to that of an average human.
That much was true.
But what Fai failed to realize, what he hadn't consciously acknowledged, was that he was comparing Johnson's recovery to his own.
And that comparison wasn't fair.
Johnson was a human. A mutated human, yes—but still human at his core.
Fai, on the other hand…Fai wasn't human anymore.At least, not completely.And he wasn't a mutant either.He was something else entirely.Something different.Something unheard of.
A SEEDLING
Time passed slowly after that. Too slowly.Eventually, Fai couldn't take it anymore.
This time, it wasn't the dopamine-fueled excitement urging him forward. It was something heavier. Something more genuine.
Worry.
The assessment quest had clear conditions. One of them required the group to possess five golden coins, which Fai already had. But the other requirement was far more unforgiving.They had to reach the exit within a strict time limit.
Forty-eight hours.Two days.
And right now, they were wasting that precious time doing absolutely nothing.
Yes, Johnson was injured. Fai understood that. He wasn't heartless. But Johnson was conscious, breathing, and,most importantly, capable of movement.
'He can still walk… right? ' Fai thought, frustration creeping in.
'So why are we still here?'
Every second they stayed put was a second they couldn't get back. They didn't even know where the exit was. Everything they had so far was based on guesses, assumptions, and fragmented information.
The uncertainty gnawed at him.
'I can't just sit here anymore.'
He had to say something.Slowly, Fai pushed himself off the wall and made his way toward the others. His footsteps echoed softly against the stone floor, each one steady, deliberate. Once he was close enough, he spoke.
"Hey, guys… I think we should get going."
His voice was calm, but firm, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"I know Johnson is still hurt," he continued, raising a hand slightly before anyone could interrupt. "And I'm not saying that letting him rest is a bad thing. It's not. But if we really want to make it through this stage of the assessment, we need to start using our time wisely."
He paused, letting his words sink in.
Fai knew that simply telling them to move wouldn't be enough. If anything, it might make him sound selfish or impatient. If he wanted them to truly listen, he had to appeal to something they all cared about.
The assessment.
"No matter what," Fai went on, "we all came here with the same goal. This stage has a time limit. If we keep waiting around, we might not make it through at all."
Sarah was the first to respond.
"You're right," she said, pushing herself up to her feet. "I guess I completely forgot about the time limit."
She brushed dust off her clothes, her expression thoughtful.
"If that's the case," she added, "then yeah… we've wasted enough time already."
Johnson let out a low groan as he shifted, slowly forcing himself upright. His movements were stiff, his hand still trembling slightly from pain—but he was standing.
"Anything you say, pal," he said with a crooked grin. "I agree with you all the way."
His injuries weren't healed. Not even close. But he could move.
And that was enough.With that decision made, the group gathered themselves once more.Without another word, they began to move again,forward, deeper into the unknown.
The assessment wasn't over yet.
And neither was their will to make it through .