Later that same day~
…
Ryu slowly opened his eyes…
The first thing he saw was a bright light directly above him.
“Urghh-!
H-Huh?”
“…”
He had blinked several times, his vision gradually adjusting to the unfamiliar ceiling…
For a moment, he couldn’t remember where he was.
Then the events of the day came rushing back to him.
The cafeteria.
The red-haired bastard…
The beating.
His attempted counterattack.,.
“…Oh.”
Ryu slowly tried to sit up.
The moment he moved, his entire body protested.
“Ow!”
He immediately stopped, grimacing as he placed a hand against his side: ‘Okay…
That was a terrible idea Ryu…’
His body felt like it had been run through a blender.
Every movement seemed to awaken another sore spot, and even breathing too deeply made him wince…
A woman wearing a nurse’s uniform noticed him moving and immediately walked over: “Careful.
Don’t move too quickly.” She warned.
Ryu looked toward her: “Oh…
You’re the nurse…?”
She nodded before checking him over;
“You were brought here after being badly beaten up.
You’ve got quite a few injuries, so you need to take it easy for the next few days.”
Ryu frowned…
“How bad is it?” He asked
The nurse gave him a look that suggested she wasn’t particularly impressed with his question…
“Bad enough that you shouldn’t be walking around right now.” She explained.
“…Oh.” He could only imagine what face he was making.
She continued checking him over before adding: “…I’d recommend that you take the rest of the week off.
Give your body some time to recover properly…”
“The whole week…?”
“Yes.” She responded rather curtly.
Ryu stared at the ceiling for a moment: ‘Well…
There goes school.’ At least, for the rest of the week.
He sighed, saying: “Alright.
I understand…”
The nurse nodded before returning to her work.
“…”
Seeing that she was gone, Ryu slowly lowered himself back onto the bed, careful not to move too quickly…
The moment his head touched the pillow, he let out a quiet breath: ‘Welp…
That was stupid.’
He stared at the ceiling, thinking: ‘Really, really stupid.’
He had been in another world for barely a day and had already gotten himself beaten up badly enough to spend the rest of the week in the nurse’s office.
‘What was I even thinking?’ He chided himself.
He could have very well easily walk away from that kind of situation…
He could’ve kept his mouth shut!
He could’ve simply let the guy have his little power trip, and gone on with his day…
Instead, he’d decided to provoke him.
Ryu covered his face with one hand: ‘Yeah…
I’m an idiot.’
But then he remembered the look on the red-haired youth’s face when Ryu had gotten back up.
And that moment when the guy had instinctively raised his arm to protect himself from Ryu’s punch…
Ryu’s lips slowly curled upward: “…But damn.”
A quiet laugh escaped him: ‘Ha!
He looked like such a coward!’
Ryu chuckled again, immediately regretting it when his ribs protested;
“Ow…
Ow, okay!
Laughing hurts…”
He wiped the small smile from his face, but the amusement remained: ‘Heh…
Still worth it.’
After settling down again, Ryu remembered something.
His ability.
More specifically…
His status.
He hadn’t checked it since before leaving for school.
‘Status…’ He willed.
[Ding!]
The translucent screen appeared in front of him.
Ryu’s eyes immediately went toward his condition…
…
_____
[Name: Ryu Takane
Age: 17
Height: 171.3 cm
Weight: 62.5 kg
Health: 15%
Stamina: 100%
Condition: Badly Injured]
_____
…
Ryu stared: ‘…15%?’ His expression stiffened at the sight: ‘Its no wonder I feel like crap!’
He continued reading…
Only to realize that…
Something had changed.
There were new entries underneath his existing information;
[Pain Tolerance – Lvl 1]
[Willpower – Lvl 1]
[Enhanced Stamina – Lvl 1]
…
Ryu blinked: ‘Wha-?
I’m not crazy…
These weren’t there before…’ He stared at the first one…
[Pain Tolerance – Lvl 1: Increases the user’s ability to endure and remain functional while experiencing pain.]
“So…”
Ryu looked down at himself.
‘That probably explains why I was still moving after all that beating…’
He moved his attention to the next entry;
[Willpower – Lvl 1: Strengthens the user’s mental determination, allowing them to continue acting despite physical or mental strain.]
Ryu’s eyebrows lifted: “…Huh.”
He thought back to what had happened.
The moment when he should’ve stayed down.
The feeling that something inside him was forcing him back onto his feet…
‘So that wasn’t just adrenaline…?’ He double takes that entire scenario in his mind.
His gaze moved downward.
[Enhanced Stamina – Lvl 1: Improves the user’s ability to sustain physical activity and resist fatigue.]
Ryu remained silent.
Three new abilities…
Three things that hadn’t been there before…
And they had all appeared after he had been pushed to his limits.
He looked toward the original ability listed at the top…
[Overcome – Lv.
Max: ??????]
“…”
Ryu found himself just staring at it for several seconds…
Eventually asking himself: ‘Could it be…
Are you doing this?’
There was, of course, no response…
He was reasoning to himself.
He leaned back against the pillow: ‘Maybe…’ His eyes narrowed slightly: ‘…Maybe this is what ROB meant.’
The ability’s name had always bothered him.
It seemed deceptively straight forward.
Overcome…
It sounded less like a normal ability, and more like something that was supposed to happen.
He just didn’t know how else to think of it…
And now, after being beaten nearly senseless, his body had somehow developed new abilities…?
‘Huh…
Interesting…’ He thought to himself.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt like he had found a clue of sorts…
However, he quickly dismissed the status screen, and closed his eyes to relax…
Whatever Overcome was…
He was starting to think he’d find out much sooner than he expected to.
But all he had now, were just theories.
.
.
.
End