3 In the face of death, he retaliated. (1/2)

It took a long time to get his breath back to normal. ”It's impossible. It can't happen to me. System, run a full check of my body. I want to have a detailed analysis. I want to know all about it.”

[Initiating the analysis. Asking for permission to draw…]

The system couldn't complete his words, yet Aiden had already confirmed it, ”Just do whatever you want.”

Moments ago, he struggled hard to survive a little longer, but now that the system had informed him of his inevitable fate, he couldn't believe it. Even if it was an error-free system.

The shock was so great that the needle pierced around his neck was no longer painful. It took a few minutes, but every minute was an eternity for Aiden.

Age:16

Element: Wind

Level: 2 (2)

Grade: D (A)

Strength: 7 (11)

Agility: 9 (17)

Endurance: 5 (21)

Dexterity: 7 (15)

Intelligence: 10 (15)

Health: 18/57 (-/89)

Mana: 10/32 (-/81)

Battle rating: Level 2 (Level 5)

Skill: [Reduce Drag] [Air Punch] [Air spike] [Wind Skin] [Wind Burst] [Wind Scythe] [Wind Gale]

]

”How can my stats be reduced by so much?” Aiden was expressing his disbelief and the system provided him with an answer.

[The efficiency of the left shoulder is reduced due to injury. Due to acute mana poisoning, excess mana is constantly corroding the muscles and bones of the body, and…]

”Stop it.” Aiden growled, ”Tell me what the hell's wrong with my body?”

As soon as he asked, an image of a human body appeared in front of his vision. A transparent body with lines all over it.

'These are not the blood vessels, but the mana channels. And the place where all the mana is stored is the bright spot in his abdomen. It's called the 'mana vessel,' but there's one thing Aiden couldn't understand. ”What is the bright point over the heart?”

It seemed that PADS was waiting for him to ask the question.

[This is the body of an acute mana poisoned patient. To be precise, it is the body of one who cultivates magic using the Eastern Methodology.]

[By Eastern methodology, mana is absorbed from the surrounding area and stored in the mana vessel. But when one is diagnosed with acute mana poisoning, another vessel appears in the body.]

The point at the heart began to blink as the system spoke. The mana flow within the body, which has been streamlining until now, has become turbulent. And the mana began to flow to the heart.

[In the case of ordinary mana poisoning, the vessels formed at the limbs. So, by discarding that part, one could survive. But in the case of an acute one, the vessel is much stronger, and even if one goes through a heart transplant, it will...]

”Shut up. Shut up” Aiden screamed like crazy. He was not even worried about the result of his careless action. He went crazy and somewhere in the middle of this craziness he screamed out loud, ”Medicine.”

”Yes, there is a medicine” He tried to slide down the tree but his impatience peeled the skin from here and there. Aiden was unable to give a damn about the new wound as he ran to the Pod Shuttle.

The shuttle was in the shape of an egg and was three meters high. The outer shell was already repairing itself, but that wasn't important as Aiden ran straight inside.

He was looking for an anti-mana poisoning medicine, but it wasn't there. He looked at the place where the backup drugs were supposed to be, and it wasn't there either. It wasn't just the mana poisoning drug, there wasn't a single medicine in the entire shuttle.

”It can't be.” Aiden fell to the floor as he grabbed his head, ”How could he forget to distribute the drugs?”

Aiden had no idea whether the device was attempting to be dramatic or not, but it decided to tell him.

[It is concluded from the toxicology report that you have not received any shots of anti-poisoning in the last month.]

”Huh! What did you say?” Aiden screamed in rage. But he understood everything the next moment.

”Alex, it's Alex. Only he can do that. He was responsible for distributing the shots. He was the one who was supposed to put the medicine on the shuttle.”

Horror, rage, fear, anger weakened his mental health. Weakness, too, invaded his body, and he could no longer stand.

”Why? Alex why?” Aiden kept banging the hard metal floor as the snot and tears were making a mess of his face. His nose was not effective either. He struggled to breathe with his mouth.

”Why didn't you let me know when the serum of the shot was changed?” Somewhere in this depression, his anger turned toward the system.

But the system's voice was as cold as ever, [The host activated me today. So before this time I don't have any recollection of the incident.]

[The host had obtained only one serum of increased mana absorption during this time. Remaining impact period: 17:24:13. Given the host's body condition, it's recommended that the host must remove the serum residue ...]

Aiden could no longer listen to it and smashed the neckband on the floor. Even if he knew that it had no connection to his misfortune, he still couldn't stop torturing that inanimate device.

”They want to kill me. Mana absorption serum? You bastard...” Even if he could understand, he still couldn't believe it. ”But why? Why Alex why?” He struggled to get hold of the last straw of reasoning.

”Could it be that he also likes Elijah?” In a moment of hopeless reasoning, he understood the secret behind his attempted murder.

”Yes, that's exactly what it would have been. Every time I was with her, he...” Aiden couldn't finish his reasoning. Veins popped up on his forehead as he slammed his pained hand on the floor.

”I'm going to kill you. Even if I have to die, I'm going to kill that bastard with my hand.” He shouted in rage.

How many people have the mental fortitude to accept their death? And in case of Aiden, it was a premeditated murder. For a teenager with above-average intelligence, it was just too much to accept.

There was a fire burning in his heart, and only vengeance could extinguish it. ”I have to kill him before I die. Otherwise... ”As he thought about the things he could do to Elijah, his rage grew stronger.

'Should I tell Elijah that?' He discarded the thought as soon as it had appeared. 'Once she hears about it, she will try to help... No, I can't let her do that. On top of that, I don't know about the intentions of others.

'Even without others, Alex isn't the one I could beat at my top, much less now.' The more he thought about it, the more worried he got. ”It's going to be hard but not impossible.”

Aiden wasn't the one who would give up in the face of a tough challenge but would try harder. It was because of this characteristic that he had become the top of the thirty 'Desert Base 3' recruits.

Everything fell silent at the next moment. Aiden stood there looking out at the dark forest. He was calm compared to his raging outburst a moment ago. He didn't have any useless thoughts in his mind. He just had one goal now, and that's to kill Alex.

The air around him changed as he grabbed the tortured PADS neckband. After all, it was a military class. The scratch has been repaired. He put it on as the cold voice came back in his ears.

[Under maintenance. Time remaining: 3:24]

Aiden did not dare to waste a single moment. He moved to check the stuff stored in the suttle. ”There's no weapon as expected.” Aiden couldn't find his trusted Conmet blade.

A couple of energy bars, two mana drinks, two sets of camouflage suits. That was all Aiden could find, and he stuffed it all in the bag.

Looking at the mana drink, Aiden was about to slam in on the ground but stopped. ”It's not like I have any backup water.” He sighed and stuffed the pair of bottles in the bag.

[PADS-X is back online.]