Aimless Ascension

Gale woke up in the middle of the night, utterly annoyed at the audacity of these people.

Honestly, he wasn't getting any sleep, alert after everything that happened today. That's why he found the interloper before they could even make the alarm construct blare.

Seriously though, the newcomer seemed to be totally amateur or utterly confident in their ability to come in and go back unfettered.

Well, Gale would look to see which one of the two the interloper was. Even though it was pretty clear, they took it a little too easily, taking him as a common farmer.

Equipping a common sword, Gale got out of the house. With the light of two half moons and his augmented senses, he didn't have any problem on the way.

However, he halted just five paces coming out of the house at the very first look of the interloper, who was barely able to creep towards the farmhouse.

It was a woman, well, girl, to be honest, dragging her legs to move. Drips of blood trailed the way she came in. Her clothes were tattered with blood, as injuries and claw marks spread all over her body.

It looked like she had a spectacular wrestle with a wild beast and lost, though she managed to keep her life and escape.

She hadn't noticed Gale yet, still dragging herself barely. Honestly, it was a miracle that she managed to drag herself this far with all the injuries.

'So not an enemy,' Gale mused, inspecting whether the injuries were real.

The wounded girl was alerted and turned, feeling the feather of aura brushed against her. She found Gale standing with a sword, frowning at her.

"Ple. . .please . . ." the girl uttered, blood dripping down from her lips. She fell to the ground at the notice of help, though still conscious. Barely.

Gale took a deep breath and hurried towards the fallen figure. Gale stooped next to her and met her gaze. "Would you mind if I inspect you . . ."

There was no reply for a while, then she affirmed, blinking. Well, it could be a sign of confusion as well, since Gale wasn't sure if she could even hear him clearly. But Gale took it as an affirmation and touched her palm.

He ran his Qi into her body, earning a yelp of pain from her. Gale still continued, discovering all her Qi was in disarray with all the injuries she was afflicted with.

Gale guided all disarrayed Qi to calm down with his Qi. He continued for about two minutes, though it wasn't finished yet. In those two minutes, she moaned whenever the Qi travelled near her wounds.

Gale carried her into the house after that. The girl closed her eyes, though still conscious, though not completely. He enabled the light construct to enlighten the home and laid her on the bed.

She whimpered at the transfer. Her navel was showing with the tattered clothes, bloody with a serious injury in her waist. A deep claw mark ran on her thigh, bleeding at little movement or twitch. The last terrible wound was a bite mark below her right knee. She had lost some flesh there. It would take some time to heal that.

Other than that, there were bruises of claw marks on her arms, chest, and back, but they weren't that serious. In contrast, the other wounds were serious enough to end her life as a practitioner.

Gale went to the other room and rummaged through all the stuff to bring back healing potions, antiseptic medicine, ointments, gauze, bandages, fresh clothes, and hot water.

He didn't make her drink the healing potion first, as it was not a good idea to introduce a new root of energy when her own Qi was in disarray. He dozed her with painkillers, removed her tattered clothes and washed her wounds.

The girl groaned and wailed throughout the process as he applied medicine to her wounds. She finally passed out at some point. Gale finished applying the healing ointments and bandaged the wounds to cover her in new clothes.

After all that, he helped calm her Qi, guiding with his own. He had to sit next to her for half an hour to make it happen. Finally, when he was done, he made her drink the healing potion. The girl was an iron ranker, so he figured her body could handle it.

All the treatment was a weird experience, not that he never helped a woman with their injuries, but never like this. Not to mention, this girl was a complete stranger.

He wondered what her response would be when she woke up later, knowing a man had changed her clothes and treated her wounds. Well, if she makes a big fuss about like an ungrateful brat, all he had to do was kick her out.

Done with the treatment, Gale moved out of the room. Regrettably, all his other rooms were full of spirit coins or other stuff. In the end, he could only rest on the couch.

Today had turned out to be such a bother.

***

Gale woke up at dawn to find the wounded girl nowhere to be seen. Honestly, he didn't think she had in her to move after such wounds. Her injuries were serious enough to take weeks to heal.

Gale might even be able to find her if he searched around. With such wounds, she wouldn't be able to go far.

Well, she did leave him with something. There was a note lying on the side table next to the bed. Gale read:

[This Su Mei apologises for leaving, exchanging no words of gratitude. However, this humble girl believes gratitude must be paid with action, not just words. Regardless, I'm exceedingly grateful to you for caring for my wounds and taking me into your house. I wouldn't have made it out without your help.

[Until I find a way to pay my gratitude, this Su Mei owes a great deal of debt to. . .Mysterious Farmer Expert.

[Thank you.

[– Su Mei]

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