Chapter 629: Day 5,147 – Good People Versus Necessity

Chapter 629: Day 5,147 – Good People Versus Necessity

As Jacob and Doctor Katz fussed over me I thought back to when I had explained that Jacob was the Master Fleshcrafter to Doctor Katz and the rest of my team.

Michael, the knowledge Jacob has is too much, Doctor Katz said. I nodded at this. I get he is smart, but there are several things he has developed that require research. You asked me to watch his research. We were traveling to another zone after having stopped at Purgatory to pick up supplies and make sure things were running smoothly.

This is considered top secret, but he is from the Dragon Empire, I replied.

Really? You let someone like that survive? Michelle asked.

It is worse than that. There was one individual who disappeared, with no word on if they were alive or dead. Everyone else at a senior level was killed off, or there was some kind of confirmation on their deaths. I know since I spoke with Clarissa on this, Doctor Katz said while staring intently at me.

Jacob was formally known as the Master Fleshcrafter, I calmly replied. There was silence at this.

And you let him live? He attacked you? Captain Francis asked.

There is no way he is trustworthy, Doctor Katz added.

It seems like a big risk, Michelle added.

He is too useful. And there are standing orders that if I die, he goes as well. He is watched, his research is reviewed. But as you admitted Doctor Katz, his knowledge of biological energy interactions is beyond anyone else's knowledge. It is something I decided.

Michael, Emperor Michael. That man is evil. What he has doneit is horrible beyond anything I can say, Doctor Katz said.

I know and it is decided. We cant afford to throw away anything useful even if it is evil.

And when he bites back? When he betrays you? Doctor Katz challenged me.

Self-preservation. He isnt evil, merely lacking in morals and he has a desire to survive. I trust his survival instinct. And his knowledge is important. In the end it is my risk to take, I said. Captain Francis and Michelle didnt have anything more to say.

It is your choice, but we fought a war, Doctor Katz clearly wanted the last word.

We were fighting against the Divine Empress. She was the root cause of all the problems and now she is dead. He will repay his debt by putting all the knowledge he has gained to good use.

I was grateful that I had made that decision to keep Jacob around. He was a horrible person, but if anyone was going to be able to fix me, it would be him. If I died, he would die as well. It was that simple. Jacob was only around due to how useful he was. I had neither forgiven him nor forgotten about his actions. Doctor Katz and the others could be upset with him, but their opinions didnt matter in this instance.

The knowledge he had and his insight into energy and biological material was a key component in Purgatorys security and advancement. He also complimented Doctor Katz in terms of healthcare amazingly well.

We have cleared the spheres energy area. It is decreasing it looks like, we need to descend and watch out for flying monsters, Jacob said. I felt the air boat shifting. Jacob then came over to me along with Doctor Katz.

Try again now, he said and I closed my eyes. The massive headache was still there. The spread has stopped, there is some minor corrections. I let out a gasp as I blacked out for a moment.

Alright, start, Jacob said and then called out for me to stop. Any issues? he asked Doctor Katz.

None. You can increase to thirty seconds, Doctor Katz said, and I repeated the process once more. Doctor Katz had me stop at forty seconds of pushing on my stats and taking a one-minute break. I felt like my brain was going to explode out of my head.

There is nothing else you can do? Clarissa asked Jacob.

No. Anything, I would do would pale in comparison to the System. It is self-correcting the damage to a certain extent when Michael focuses. He will need to keep up this regimen at all times. Breaks over, again, Jacob said.

You mentioned days? Will it really take that long? Clarissa asked.

That was with constant focus on his stats. Now it could be weeks, since the damage will be harder to repair. It wont get easier. He is just developing more tolerance from what I can tell, Jacob said.

How can you even tell that? Doctor Katz asked.

Previous experiments. Disrupting the stats has been something I have looked into. For the purpose of enhancing stats. Again, he said the last bit to me.

And how many of those people didnt deserve their fate, Doctor Katz said.

All of them didnt deserve what happened. But I had no choice. And if that knowledge wasnt gained, then Michael wouldnt have a chance to recover now. His survival is built on the backs of those test subjects, Jacob countered.

Enough. Focus on assisting Michael and watching him. If he is adapting the time, he tries to access his stats can be increased? Clarissa asked.

Yes, Jacob said.

No, Doctor Katz replied. The cranial pressure is immense. His brain needs to relax and let the pressure decrease.

And that will just let the curse damage set in. Curse damage like this is far worse than brain damage. Brain damage can be fixed, curse damage, once it sets in, will be impossible to correct, specifically curse damage to stats. He isnt fixing the damage. It is self-correcting. But that correction will get worse over time. That is why he cant be allowed to slow down, Jacob insisted.

Increase the time to the very limit of his physical ability. Michael, I know it hurts, but you have to keep going, Clarissa said.

Yes, I muttered out. It was still very hard to breathe, and my head was killing me. But Jacob was right. I couldnt let myself become crippled. I refused after all the suffering I had been through. I focused again, pushing myself to the very limit. Hopefully my brain didnt explode.

After a minute and a half, I passed out. I woke up fairly soon after passing out by being shook awake. I then forced myself to continue. It was the only thing I could focus on. I drowned out what the other people were saying around me.

I kept working on pushing my stats again and again. Not taking breaks. I heard people talking loudly, but I needed to fix myself as soon as possible. I blacked out again and woke up to my face being cleaned off with a bloody rag. I got right back to work to pushing against the stats. If I bled out, then I bled out. But the headache was bearable now.

No matter what I would continue. I couldnt afford to be weak. I needed to show my strength and to push past the pain and the hardship. I wasnt useless. I was going to survive. All the years of investment would not be thrown away. So even though I felt terrible, I didnt stop. I couldnt stop.

Michael! Michael! Doctor Katz was right in my face. I stopped to listen to him. Good, you are looking at me. You need to stop. You are losing too much blood. I cant keep up. You need to rest now. Listen, dont argue. I get that you are worried about the curse damage, but it wont matter if you are dead. I had my eyes closed, and I could feel the blood running down my face. That wasnt good. I would stop trying to fix my stats for now.