Chapter 12: XP gain.

Stan Gibson and Ling Tingzhe were sitting beside the bed where Trisha Graham was lying, they had finished administering treatment to her wounds in the best way they could and she was now sleeping as they waited for her to wake up. They were quite confident that she would because she was now breathing in the normal way which anyone sleeping would.

In the course of waiting for her to wake up, Adoth then chose to give Stan the reports of his last task which was also his first legal task, reasoning being that he had to fight against the things that he is to protect earth against. 

[XP gained.]

As he heard the report from Adoth, he expected to hear more, yet none was coming so he had to ask questions to why but he could not do that in the presence of Ling since he was yet to know about the system, so he excused himself from the room, going down stairs where he would freely interact with Adoth with being interrupted by Ling due to curiosity of him speaking to himself.

“Adoth, why am I not getting any upgrade to my attributes and what do you main by XP gained?”

[You are to be degraded because you failed to complete the task successfully. By the way, not all tasks have the reward of upgrading your stats.]

“What do you mean by I failed to complete the task successfully? I saved Trisha and Ling. I helped them against those things that I don’t know where they come from. Besides, you didn’t tell me they were that strong.” Stan began to complain to Adoth, giving reasons why his attributes should be upgraded.

[The task was to save all three of them, but due to your delays, Rudo didn’t make it as such you deserve degradation. Talking about those aliens, you just faced the least in strength. Those were simple spies on a survey. They were sent to check the strength of human beings and your ability to kill them will make them come stronger with their advanced technologies and armory. So you have to be prepared for the worse.]

Ling overheard him talking and had to come over to the staircase where he asked from above. “Stan, who are you talking to?”

Stan didn’t know that he was that loud to have been heard by Ling but he had to answer Ling or he’ll come down the stairs desperate to see who he is talking to. “Oh, it’s no one, just myself.”

“Are you sure?” Ling doubted because he is not expected to be that loud if he was really talking to himself. As he asked, he made some approach to come down the stairs for confirmation.

“I think I heard Trisha. Check if she’s awake.” Stan had to say in haste to cause him to turn around and not come down those stairs.

Luckily for him, Trisha made some sounds which Ling was sure of and had to go back to the room to check on her. 

Just as he exhaled heavily as a sign of happiness that his words were taken by Ling because he did not hear any sound coming from upstairs more to even come from Trisha who was sleeping. Then he hears Lings call from above.

“Stan, get up here. She is awake.”

“Whoo,” he was shocked at such a coincidence, due to the way Ling had called his name telling him to come up to the room, he was certain it wasn’t a scam, so he rushed up to the room forfeiting the unfinished discussion he was having with Adoth. 

As he entered the room, Trisha looked to the door as she blurted out, “Gibson, you are here?” she was not expecting to see him there.

“Yes Trisha, he saved you. He saved us from those aliens.” Ling answered her question in Stan’s stead. Even though he had managed to beat one of the aliens, he knew for sure that he wouldn’t have survived if not for the intervention of Stan so he had every right to give him the credit.

Trisha could recall how he intervened in the fight but she didn’t expect him to stay after the fight because of the way he wanted to be alone even when she was trying to stay with him and even help him get back to the school as someone who is not without an implant. 

Stan didn’t know what to say in response to her question as he understood why had asked the question, but since staying silent would not help, he had to try changing the topic. “How are you feeling now?” 

“Better,” she smiled and then added. “Thank you Gibson. I always knew there was good in you.”

Ling then opens a bottle of water which they’ve preserved beside the bed and gives it to her. “Here, have a drink.”

After drinking the water, she then asked after taking some observation. “Where is Rudo?” 

As she asked that question, both their moods changed as they didn’t know how to break the news to her that Rudo was dead.

The expression on their face already gave her an answer but she doubted as she said with tears slowly coming out of her eyes. “Tell me it is not true… tell me he is downstairs resting…”

“He couldn’t make it, Trisha. Rudo is dead.” Ling said as he held her from making moves that would affect her and her wounds.

“No, that is a lie.” She cried out loud because she knew how much she tried to keep him alive by putting pressure on his wounds. She could not believe that all her effort to keep him alive was a waste.

[Stan, they are here, but it is up to you to run or get caught.]

This was the second time Stan was given the opportunity to choose between options on what to do and remembering how the last one went, that is how he was later imposed with an option to take, he vowed to make a choice instantly thinking the scenario of the past will repeat itself. Even though he did not reply to Adoth in words because Ling and Trisha would hear him, he had to take actions that would tell his decision. 

He walked close to Trisha and sat on the bed as he consoled her. “Trust me we did all we could to save him.” 

It took quite a while for Ling and Stan to calm her down and make her believe that there was nothing they could have done to save Rudo. 

Still in the mood of mourning Rudo, they heard noises coming from downstairs as the door was broken, then Master Sullivan and the other five elites who were responsible for breaking the door came upstairs at once since that was where Lisa had told them they would be without a doubt.

“Do not dare to make a move.” Sullivan said as he showed up in the room even before Stan thought of moving.