Vesa stayed silent for a moment. Alex was not wrong.
One of the uses of life force did let them regenerate their bodies, even if their heads were destroyed.
However, this world was not a game.
Vesa had not told them about that use because she worried Alex and Mingyue might abuse it and end up with serious mental damage.
Facing death was not a simple matter.
Even the past Progenitor had gone through a period of madness after his first death.
The darkness, fear, and terror that followed had turned him into a cruel tyrant for many centuries before he recovered.
Alex went quiet.
He did not care if he went crazy or died over and over again, if it meant he could help his sister.
But he could not drag Mingyue into that kind of hell.
It did not take him long to reach the facility again.
Emily lay on the bed, her face still pale. Only the middle to the tips of her hair were still golden now.
The rest had turned white.
When Alex saw her condition, his hands clenched into fists.
He pushed his ability to its maximum, running through every possible path and every chance to cure Emily.
The first option was to use the new cultivation technique, but it was too risky, and the result was not guaranteed.
The second option was to search for the rumored healing elixir, said to be found by hunters in high level dungeons.
People said it could cure any illness and extend a person's lifespan.
The third option was to ask Mingyue if there was a solution from her world.
The last option was to have Emily cultivate using the normal, proven method.
While Alex thought about all of this, Vesa also hesitated.
Vesa had a solution, but it would put a heavy burden on Alex.
After a while, Vesa decided it was worth it. This would also increase Alex's trust in the system.
[King, I have a solution, but it will require a massive amount of life energy.]
"Don't waste time, say it, Vesa."
[As you know, I can use runes.]
[There is one I can use now, but it will cost one thousand life energy, and you will need to inject it every week or every few days, depending on her usage.]
[This rune will act as a new source of life force, switching the consumption from her own.]
[So her own life force will not decrease.]
[At the same time, it will help her recover to her peak condition.]
Alex's eyes widened.
He wanted to ask why Vesa had not mentioned this earlier, but it did not matter now.
He just needed to gather more life force.
[Lifeforce: 125/1,200]
Alex knew he could not repeat his earlier mistake.
He needed to build a stockpile of life force besides what he planned to use for Emily.
Without wasting any more time, Alex left the facility and went deeper into the forest.
CRACK!
BOOM!!
Later, Alex's body was covered in sweat and blood. His clothes were torn, and part of his hand was missing.
In his remaining hand, he held a 1.5 meter Warhammer.
It was made from a special metal that could change its weight from a tenth of an average adult's weight to ten times that weight.
The Warhammer was black with a silver sheen on its head.
Emily had given it to him a few days ago, along with a dozen Mana Guns and other items.
Right now, he planted the Warhammer on the ground and leaned on it to stay standing. His breathing was heavy.
A new message appeared in front of his tired eyes.
His gaze still held a firm light as the stump of his missing hand started to regenerate.
[King, you are too reckless.]
[Why not attack the tiger from a distance?]
[Your experience in real combat is almost non-existent.]
Alex's only fighting experience came from VR games.
Those games had helped him a lot, not only the adult ones.
Without that practice, he knew that even with his current strength and ability, this battle could have gone much worse.
"I know what I'm doing, Vesa.
Just look for the next target that meets my criteria."
Alex had already calculated many possibilities.
He could have dodged the tiger's fast attack, but if he did, his body would not have been strong enough to launch a proper counterattack right after.
The fight would have dragged on.
So he chose to sacrifice his arm.
When the tiger bit down on it, he used the Warhammer to smash its head, crushing it in one blow.
His top priority now was to fill his life force as quickly as possible.
The method was brutal and full of pain, but Alex's veins still burned with adrenaline.
With Emily's situation, he did not care about anything else.
[Lifeforce: 980/1,200]
While Vesa searched for the next suitable target, Alex sat on the ground in a lotus position and started absorbing more crystals.
This time he drew in two energies at once.
He spread mana along his spine while qi coated with mana wove through the muscles in his back, waist, and arms.
This ruined the careful sequence he had planned before, but right now he urgently needed to increase his strength.
There were no issues when he transformed his spine.
However, when the qi started weaving through his muscles, every cell felt like it was being roughly inflated.
The pain was even worse than when his arm had been torn off, and he was doing it to three body sections at the same time.
He felt his muscle fibers being torn and sewn again, becoming more compact and packed with power.
After a few minutes that felt like an eternity, Alex stood up.
He swung the hammer left and right. The whooshing sound was faster than before.
BAM!
He slammed it into the ground and opened a new deep crater.
Alex turned his gaze to the dead tiger's body.
His eyes shone red, and his body broke apart into green particles that floated through the air toward the corpse.