Chapter 4: Waking Up... In A Bed?

I slowly pried my eyes open. Still drowsy from my slumber, I had to take a moment to digest what I was even looking at.

The roof acted like a surface of the water when watched from below. As in, it wasn't a solid piece of architecture but some kind of material instead.

'Where am I?' This was the first question that my drowsy mind managed to come up with. 'What happened?'

Pushing my head to the side, I saw a huge number of beds stacked evenly through the interior of this strange place. Noticing that rather than walls, it was surrounded with the same kind of cloth that made up the roof, I realized that this entire place was actually some massive tent.

Wait, beds?

Startled by the realization, I finally realized that I wasn't thrown in a ditch but was resting on a plain but comfortable bed.

'I think it's safe to say I passed the test, then.' This realization allowed me to finally relax a little. Strangely enough, I was well-rested. There was no sign of negative repercussions from standing under a scorching sun for several hours without as much as a sip of water.

'Status,' I called forth, hoping that the plain ol' numbers would help me make a bit more out of my situation.

BODY STATUS WINDOW

***

- Name: Arthur (Fian) Pendragon

- Age: 17

- Status: Rested

- Hidden Status: Confused

- Body Status: Mortal

- Hidden Body Status: Apostle

***

PROGRESS STATUS WINDOW

***

- Body status: Mortal

- Growth status: Body Purification

- Body status modifier:

- Endurance:54/100

- Willpower:13/100

Body Purification:0/300

{

- Skin Purification:0/100

- Flesh purification:0/100

- Bone purification:0/100

- Innards purification:0/100

- Core purification:0/100

}

***

Objective status window:

***

-

***

I breathed a sigh of relief. Given the status data, my rejuvenated body wasn't an effect of some kind of psychoactive drug but a result of actual rest.

'My endurance fell while my willpower grew a little,' I noticed, comparing the numbers to what I could recall from before the collapse.

Finally, I could make some sense of what those numbers meant.

Resting my body properly clearly served as a bucket of cold water splashed on my red-hot endurance. I was quite surprised that it didn't fall all the way down to zero. Yet, faced with the facts, I could either deny them or take them at face value.

Suffice to say, I wasn't one to throw away the reality when I didn't like it.

'Still, this willpower part is quite interesting,' I thought, staring down at the number thirteen for an extended period of time. It was higher than when I collapsed by an entire four points. Was it an effect of getting proper rest?

"You are awake," someone said in a calm voice. I ditched the system status away only to realize that a middle-aged lady stood right beside my bed with a curious look on her wrinkle-covered face.

"I am," I replied, unsure what the hell did she want with me. While I was quite eager to assume her clear, white robes as a sign of her profession, I ultimately decided not to. Who knew if this world marked its medics just like earth did?

"Good. I need to do some tests, please, do not resist," the woman said in a monotone voice betraying just how bored she was with her job. She reached forth and grabbed my hand. She set it up perpendicular to the bed before tightening her fingers on the inner side of my wrist.

I watched in silence how the woman closed her eyes. At the same time, a weird feeling started to well up somewhere in my abdomen.

For a moment, panic took over my mind. Was I getting aroused by just this little touch? But as I focused on this feeling, I could breathe a sigh of relief.

This strange feeling was only similar to one's lust awakening, but it wasn't the same.

'At least I didn't get a cursed body like that,' I thought, recalling several misadventures I suffered through back on earth in my earlier years.

"You are well-rested and calm," the woman said as she threw me a slightly surprised look.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no," she shook her head, "you just don't see people act so stoic often," she added before gracing me with a small smile.

At the very least, it seemed I managed to break her boredom a bit... Even if I had no idea how did I achieve that.

"Now then, what would you like to do first, slave picking or training?"