Paragon

Hisui Incursion [23]

PARAGON

Hisui Incursion Arc [23]

Chapter 75 : Winter Festival

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Hisui Region - Diamond Settlement

"Owwwwww," Ash groaned.

"I'm not sure what you thought was going to happen."

Ash laid face down on his bed in the clinic as Riley applied yet another bath of Aura to him. His shirt was off and the Aura seeped into the cuts across his back with painful stings. Just as they'd begun to close up, he'd gone and reopened nearly all of them.

"Our fingers are getting tired, boy!" one of his nurses snapped from behind a white cloth tied around her face. She was an elderly lady and had administered most of his treatment. "Next time those gashes open, you can stitch them up again yourself!" She huffed and strode out.

"Yeah, yeah," Ash mumbled. "It worked, though."

He glanced up at Riley and saw the man smirk.

"Sabrina is alive and well," Riley said. "And still in the north."

"I need to hurry up and get better," Ash said. "We need to get back to the others as soon as possible."

"Careful, Ash."

"I know, I know. But my body—"

"I wasn't talking about your body." Riley lowered his hands and his Aura faded as he completed the treatment. "All we know is that Sabrina is in the north. There's no reason to assume any of the others are with her. That would be wishful thinking. I mean, look at where we ended up."

Ash suppressed his distaste at Riley's sober assessment. Obviously he knew that, but he wanted to believe that Sabrina wasn't alone, in the same way that they weren't. "Even if they're not with her, if any of them are nearby, they will have seen it and gone to her."

"Let's hope that's the case. With Hisui as it is now, solitude can be fatal."

Ash slowly sat up, careful to tax his body as little as possible, especially where his wounds were the worst. "You're just a ball of optimism, aren't you?"

"Sorry," Riley smiled. "No more of that, I promise." He collapsed into a chair beside Ash's bed.

He didn't appear fatigued at first glance but Ash knew him well enough to know that the excessive Aura treatments were slowly draining him, and he felt a pang of guilt. "I was thinking of starting my training again later today. You don't have to supervise, I promise I won't do anything crazy this time."

"As comforting as that is, crazy is what you need to do if you want to grow at all." Riley smirked at him. "You'll never level up just grinding low level slimes."

Ash cocked his head to the side. "What's that mean?"

Riley frowned. "Grinding? Like in a video game? You've never heard of that?"

Ash shook his head.

"It's like...repeating a menial task to become stronger." He itched his neck. "I feel silly explaining this to you. You're younger than me, you're supposed to know these things."

Ash chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't really play video games as a kid."

"Probably for the best," Riley shrugged. "You may never have become the trainer you are today if you had."

"You think so?"

"Oh, yes. I'd probably be the King of the Guardians right now, but unfortunately, my parents bought a desktop when I was three and sadly, my potential died on the vine right there."