Medic!

Jungle Hydra slain!
Encounter complete: All enemies defeated.
+948 Experience

Achievement Unlocked! - "First Blood"
Kill your first biological creature.
+1 Unallocated Stat Point
+100 Experience

Achievement Unlocked - "Welcome to the Jungle"
Kill a 'Jungle' enemy.
+Heartwood Core

Primary objective completed! - Getting Stronger
+2 Skill Points
+345 Experience

Ding!
You have leveled up!
Level 4 -> Level 5
+5 Unallocated Stat Points
+Paragon System Unlocked

Skill Rank Increased: Evasion ~ 2 -> 4
Evasion may now Critically Succeed, causing the attacker to become unbalanced. Critical dodges against ranged attacks allow the Gamer to snatch the projectile out of midair and add it to the Inventory.

New Skill: Weapon Proficiency (Whip) ~ 1
Confers the capacity to effectively use whip weaponry and increases weapon damage by 10%.
(Passive)

New Skill: Weapon Proficiency (Dagger) ~ 1
Confers the capacity to effectively use dagger weaponry and increases weapon damage by 10%.
(Passive)

Skill Concatenation triggered; Weapon Proficiency (Whip) and Weapon Proficiency (Dagger) have been combined into Gamer's Arsenal.

Gamer's Arsenal ~ 1
Confers the capacity to effectively use the following weapon classes and increases weapon damage by 10%.
[Whips] [Daggers]
(Passive)

Windows upon windows appeared to offer John the rewards of his kill or entice him with future prospects, but he couldn't pay attention to any of them. Every bit of frantic thought he could muster was focused solely on what he could do for the bleeding girl that had collapsed in front of him.

He tried to remember what he'd heard or seen people do. Check her pulse. How did they do that? See if she was breathing. He held a hand over her mouth and thought he felt something. There had to be a... John's eyes focused on the text that was rather lopsidedly oriented over Erica's head. Oh. Of course.

John cast Observe and **** down a surge of panic.

Erica Carpenter
Level 13 Berserker
<The Bloodaxe>
198/500 hp
32/144 mp
Status Effects: Wrath of Thor (07:21 remaining), ****, Bleeding Profusely (40 hp per minute)

He looked at her leg; the deep puncture marks from the bite were still there and, as her status implied, bleeding badly. He had minutes... maybe only seconds to save her. John frantically switched through the pages of his Character Sheet. He couldn't use Planning at will, a fact that was starting to grate on his nerves. Forge, Gamer's Arsenal, Concealment... none of them would help. Rend would only make the situation worse!

The only thing John had were the potions, and he grabbed both out of his inventory. Uncapping the full one, he carefully lifted Erica up and pressed the flask to her lips. She wouldn't drink, the liquid running down the side of her cheek, and his heart stopped momentarily. John's insides flipped over as he fought panic, managing to stave off despair long enough for Fear Resistance to kick in. He took a deep breath and checked her health: 161/500 hp; there was no time to waste with fruitless thought or dread. John acted.

He uncapped the potion and took a sip, holding it in his cheeks and then leaning down to press his lips to hers. It wasn't a very romantic kiss, with him trying to figure out a way to **** the liquid into her mouth and get her to swallow. A part of John knew the futility of his actions. The potion could only restore 25 hp at most and probably wouldn't cure the bleeding... but he wasn't going to let Erica die without trying.

Awkwardly and far too slowly for his liking, John administered the rest of the potion and reluctantly Observed her again.

Erica Carpenter
102/500 hp
12/144 mp
Status Effects: Wrath of Thor (05:41 remaining), ****, Bleeding Lightly (10 hp per minute)

She was alive! Still bleeding and in immensely bad shape, but alive!

Achievement Unlocked! "The Kiss of Life"
Saved someone's life through a kiss, you Casanova.
+10% increased rp gains from medical treatment

John glared at his newest popup with boiling-over anger. Really? Now was the time to worry about a relationship? Who did the Developer think they were? If he didn't completely stop the bleeding, then Erica would still...

New Skill: Paramedic ~ 1
Confers knowledge of basic first aid and field medicine. Non-magical healing efficiency is increased by 10%.

This was what he needed. John looked back at the slowly-dying girl and prayed he'd know what to do.

Of course! The injury could get infected, he needed to wash it off. John used the last dregs of the remaining potion to clean off Erica's wound and searched through his things for something to wipe it down with. He pulled his shirt out of the second equipment set and tore the right sleeve off. Converting the cloth to strips, he started to bandage the wound. As his fingers followed a process that John knew he'd never learned, he watched Erica's health drop slower. The treatment reduced the bleeding to 2 hp per minute, and he sighed in relief as she appeared to stabilize.

John rested Erica on his lap, keeping her head elevated, and then let go of the tension he'd been holding. His fingers started shaking.

Oh god, we nearly died... we nearly died! I need to get us out of here...

He looked down at his patient, no, his friend. She was breathing calmly now and something about her unexpected serenity helped John find some peace of his own.

Stick to the plan. I can get us through this. Just... stick to the plan.

Right. He had things to do still. John pulled up his Character Sheet and tried to remember the windows he'd ignored before.

First things first, he leveled up. That meant five points of stats, which he'd need to be careful with. Boosting wisdom or intellect further were tempting... but as long as Erica remained **** he'd need to carry her, and that would take strength. It'd be best to spend them only when he was ready to get moving and hope she woke up before then. He let the decision weigh on his mind as he switched to the Progress Screen.

There was a lot to take in. New achievements, new quests and the previously blank window had been filled in with something labeled Paragon. Curiosity piqued, he started with that. The window was illuminated with a gilded light that slowly ran along the edges and around the silver background. In its center was a circle containing an icon of an opened lock, pulsing with the same glow. John got the sense he should press it.

Paragon System Unqthpji
Pleaxj xujsi dtzw knwxy Ufwflts Point ns one of ymj ktqqtbnsl yreex:
-Ufwagon Gtid
-Ufwflts Mind
-Paraltn Stzl

What the fuck?

The text glitched between readable and nonsense, and the window warped in a way that reminded him of screen tearing. He tried tapping on the first entry, but that only worsened the situation.

Ufwflts Gtid 0/5: Lfns 5 ifrflj wjxnxyfshj flfnsxy fqq xtzwhjx tk ifrflj, nshqzinsl zsfxujhyji, fsi hzrzqfynaj ujwrfsjsy umdxnhfq xyfy gtszxjx.
1: +5 IW, +1 yt XYW, FLN, JSI
2: +5 NB, +2 dy CDB, KQS, OXN
20: +1 +-8?, +999999999999 "; <<<, >>>, !!11!1!
?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ???? ???? ???
A: +A @#, +A $ )!, ^%&, ?\$................................................................................................................................................................................. ..................................................... .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

John leaned away from the screen, on the verge of closing his Character Sheet when the window simply... disappeared. Where it had been, there was only a spinning circle. Something was loading. He waited, seeing if it changed or brought back the Paragon page, but as the seconds passed and nothing happened.... his attention wandered elsewhere.

Killing the hydra had netted him two achievements, two new quests and completed the non-optional part of his daily quest. Ignoring the fact it had also nearly cost him and Erica their lives, it was quite a payout! John mentally noted another stat point for the calculations and checked out the description of his latest item.

Heartwood Core
The life-giving catalyst of a wood elemental, it still beats with the pulse of nature.
(Material)

While certainly flavorful, all that John got out of the description was that wood elementals existed. So, he tried a different angle and opened the Forge menu.

There wasn't a search bar, so he just thought the words 'Heartwood' and 'Core' as hard as he could. In a pleasant surprise, the options narrowed to just over a dozen weapons and a shield. Most were staves, and they all required other materials he was lacking; at least he knew what it could be used for.

John switched back to the Progress Screen and glanced at the Paragon window. It was still loading. On his lap, Erica breathed gently, and her health ticked up by a point. He could wait...