Chapter 130: Condition

“Eliminate all mercenary soldiers!” Corporal Gerald’s heart leapt with joy upon hearing the command over the channel.

“Hurry inside! Mr. David has fainted!” the sniper sergeant shouted as he flung open the door.

Two medics rushed into the control room, and Corporal Gerald was a step behind. When he entered, he saw them using an identity wristband to unlock David’s exoskeleton armor.

Fortunately, David’s exoskeleton was a standard police model, designed to allow medics to remove it when the soldier was unconscious to provide timely treatment.

As the police exoskeleton came off, David’s body was revealed, stained with blood and his clothes torn in multiple places.

The fixation pins on his ribs drew a collective gasp from those present.

Rib fixation pins are an emergency wartime treatment, rarely used in peacetime. They involve forcibly pinning multiple screws into the body to join broken ribs—a procedure known to cause intense pain.

Of course, if not for David’s ability to mentally detach and transfer much of his consciousness into his shadow servant, thus mitigating the pain, he would have hesitated before undergoing such a procedure.

After the last mercenary soldier was shot and the image of the bullet striking his chest appeared in the shared vision, his tension finally eased.

The battle with Kush had drained tremendous energy. Coupled with torture and continuous mental exertion, his body had long reached its limit.

If not for the integration of two physical aptitude spheres that partially healed his injuries, he wouldn’t even have been able to operate the exoskeleton.

As soon as the fight ended and his guard dropped, he involuntarily slipped into unconsciousness.

“How is David’s condition?” Corporal Gerald asked anxiously after the medics finished scanning.

“David’s injuries are severe. Eleven ribs broken, twenty-three bone fractures throughout his body. Muscle and internal organ damage are less serious. But I noticed traces of emergency medication from the exoskeleton’s internal supply. He’s holding on with drugs,” one medic said gravely.

“He’s still a child!” Corporal Gerald slammed his fist against the wall, his voice heavy with regret.

He should have refused David’s help when he first sensed something was wrong but didn’t out of concern for his comrades.

Had he known the extent of David’s injuries, he never would have allowed him to sacrifice his body to aid these soldiers.

David bore no obligation to help—they were civilians, after all, and he hadn’t been officially certified as a soldier.

“Be careful. Use the best medicine. I’ll report to the captain,” Sergeant Gerald said, withdrawing his hand from the dent in the wall and addressing the medics.

The medics nodded. David was their benefactor, a city hero. Now that the hero was injured, they knew exactly what to do without further orders.

Five days passed. David lay bored in his hospital bed, surrounded by a sea of flowers.

In places like Perran City, or the Rock Star system, fresh flowers were a rare luxury.

Yet half the room was filled with every kind imaginable.

This time, he had truly been admitted as a patient. After the ribs were refixed and treated with top-tier medicines, full recovery would take about a week.

During this time, he had to remain in the hospital for daily treatment.

For five days, he couldn’t practice martial arts. Once his spirit partially recovered, he merged a knowledge sphere.

The shadow servant lay beside him. David gently placed his hand on its form, staring at the yellow-glowing knowledge sphere within it, eyes tinged with helplessness.

That yellow knowledge sphere was the power the shadow servant had gained by absorbing Kush’s soul.

“Knight’s Breathing Technique (Mastery 80, usage conditions unmet)”—that was the sphere’s attribute.

Though David desperately wanted to understand this technique, he couldn’t merge it without meeting its conditions.

The shadow servant hadn’t explained what those conditions were.

Besides the Knight’s Breathing Technique sphere, the shadow servant still held an unmerged Heavy Axe Mastery sphere (Mastery 78). All other spheres had been merged into David’s body during these days.

He hadn’t merged the Heavy Axe Mastery sphere because he was conducting an experiment—whether merging a large number of knowledge spheres could break through to a higher skill level.

This had been confirmed for knowledge-type spheres, but his combat-related spheres yielded a different conclusion.

Currently, his proficiency in War Hammer Mastery, Shield Mastery, and Heavy Axe Mastery were all at 99.

When he reached 99 proficiency, he continued merging more spheres of the same type, but none of the three combat skills improved.

If only one combat skill failed to improve, it might be chance, but all three remaining stagnant suggested a strong underlying cause.

These were proficiency-level combat skills; with persistent practice and his exceptional mental strength, he was confident he could elevate them to mastery level.

But advancing from mastery to perfection was difficult; it couldn’t be forced by simply stacking knowledge spheres. He couldn’t risk life and death every time he sought to reach perfection.

“Shadow servant, activate my attribute panel,” he commanded mentally.

Name: David Kerr
Strength: 3.5 (1)
Agility: 2.41 (1)
Constitution: 3.5 (1)
Spirit: 5.02 (1)
(2 Mastery), Mathematics (5 Mastery), General Knowledge (4 Mastery), Martial Arts (99 Proficiency), Electronic Warfare (98 Mastery), War Hammer Mastery (99 Proficiency), Sniping (20 Proficiency), Shield Mastery (99 Proficiency), Heavy Axe Mastery (99 Proficiency), Longsword Mastery (80 Mastery), Spear Mastery (1 Perfection), Mental Piercing (10 Proficiency), Mental Dormancy (99 Mastery), Soft Body Techniques (65 Mastery), Spaceship Piloting (10 Mastery), Hand-to-Hand Combat (23 Mastery), Stealth (51 Mastery), Strength Shockwave (Talent).

Kush’s soul had increased his spirit by 0.01, revealing how difficult it was to improve this attribute.

Mathematics and General Knowledge, along with two other subjects, had reached mastery level—David judged this to be on par with professional researchers.

He had researched the fallen civilian soldiers; among them, one was a writer, another a comprehensive information analyst, and the third an economic analyst at a bank. Each was a top figure in their respective fields.

Sadly, war had forced these civilians to take up arms, and they ultimately died.

David was now preparing for the cultural knowledge college entrance exam. He could freely choose from the best schools since his level already surpassed many teachers.

Of course, he would not take this path; he had clearly defined his goal—to become a powerful warrior like Garen.

Among his combat skills, only Spear Mastery had reached perfection.

This made him feel somewhat guilty toward Garen, who had stayed in Perran City for several days specifically to teach him War Hammer Mastery, yet David’s War Hammer Mastery remained at 99 proficiency.

If Myron heard this, he would surely come looking for David with his war hammer—Myron was still just a beginner in their shared training.

David’s abilities also now included spaceship piloting, hand-to-hand combat, and stealth—skills he hadn’t found matches for among the fallen civilian soldiers.

Spaceship piloting was understandable, but hand-to-hand combat and stealth were extremely rare skills. Both had reached mastery level, which meant they were among the very best.

Hand-to-hand combat was usually studied only by intelligence agents or police officers; stealth was even more specialized—hardly a livelihood but more a tradecraft.

David suspected there might have been spies from some organization or underworld bosses among the fallen civilian soldiers, but now all that was lost to time.