Maids VS Apocalypse

[WARNING!

You have received critical damage.

HP: 23/100]

’No... shit...’

As he writhed in pain feeling like he was about to throw up his guts, a System notification appeared in front of Mark telling him the obvious. His HP had dropped to 25% then continued to decrease by one percent every few seconds.

It was already at 70% thanks to the damage leveling up had caused him. He had planned on avoiding anything dangerous until he healed but in the end, that choice wasn’t up to him.

As the number continued to drop it appeared like he was going to die then and there. A single hit was all it took to shave off most of his HP and the rest was bleeding away like the HP of a poisoned Pokemon.

"Hmm... You’re still awake after that? Maybe I held back a little too much."

Mark was too focused on his declining HP that he didn’t notice when his assailant reached him. As if the pain he was going through wasn’t enough, he had to feel the piercing sensation of his head being pulled up by the hair.

"The old man was right; you do have promise!"

[HP: 14/100]

"It would be a waste to kill you here so... how about you come work for us?"

[HP: 11/100]

"Say, you only Awakened a couple of days ago, right? Did those PK bastards brainwash you into joining them already?"

[HP: 09/100]

"Heeeyy! Anybody there?"

[HP: 07/100] 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The few slaps he got helped refresh his mind a little, but the horror of seeing his HP in the single digits was what fueled his desperation.

As a long-time gamer, Mark was in the habit of never letting the HP of his characters fall under 50%. If possible, he would prefer to have the gauge full at all times, but he wasn’t skilled enough to make no-hit runs so he always made sure to stock on health items no matter the game he played.

To his relief, the counter remained at 07/100 for a while, making him believe it wouldn’t go down below that number. It didn’t represent anything good, but considering his situation it was far better than a 02 or 01/100

’Health potion...’ He thought to himself, feeling the scythe of death on his neck. ’I need an HP potion!’

A new notification popped up following that thought.

[Warning! You have received critical damage.]

’I know, damn it!’ He wanted to shout but the air refused to get into his lungs. ’How about... you help me a little... instead...’

"Well, we will have enough time to talk later. Let’s get-"

As the woman pulling his hair spoke again, a strong wind blew right past his face forcing her to let go of him.

[WARNING! You have received critical damage.]

’Fucking... damn it! What do you expect me... to do!? Heal myself with... the power of... friendship?’

He was thankful to Lara for releasing him from the enemy’s grasp, but that didn’t change his situation all that much. The hooded woman seemed interested in making him join her side so he figured she wouldn’t kill him right away. For now, staying alive was his top priority, meaning he couldn’t do anything that put him at risk.

[WARNING! You have received critical damage.]

’You fucking... useless... piece of shit! Tell me something... I don’t know!’

[Beginning assessment...]

Whether it was in response to his thoughts or for some other reason, Mark didn’t know. The change in text displayed on the System screen gave him a bit of hope, but that hope was snatched the moment the text changed again.

[Proposal: Consume 01 Full Heal Potion to restore your HP.]

No sooner had he read the line of text than a new window appeared, showing him the front of the item shop. All other items were grayed out except for the Full Heal Potion, which was portrayed with the icon of a test tube filled with a green liquid.

In Maids VS Apocalypse, a Full Heal Potion was the highest grade healing item that can restore both HP and MP to their maximum, not to mention remove all status effects. If the item worked the same as in the game then consuming it would indeed save his life, but there was one problem.

’Where the hell... where the hell do you expect me to find... your Gold!!?’

Even if the prices were the same as in the game, there was no way he could’ve afforded such an item. A single Full Heal Potion costs 10000G now. After buying the Pierce +1 enchantment and the stun grenade he used against Malarak, Mark was left with only 30G, which wasn’t enough to buy anything besides a few screws and bolts.

The quests he took so far only awarded him AP and no Gold. How is he supposed to get the currency needed to buy items from the store? He had yet to find the answer to that.

Mark had a few items in his Inventory he could sell, but doing so felt like a major waste. The carcasses of the Stone Rhinos weren’t worth much, and his rewards from the SSS quest were too valuable to sell.

’The shop items are created through my abilities, right?’ He gritted his teeth, remembering his talk with Rebecca. ’Then stop demanding I pay and just give me what I want!!!’

He smashed the A button on his imaginary controller causing a small window to pop up asking him to select the number of items he wants. Mark raised the number all the way to 99 then pressed A on "Buy". To his absolute despair, another window appeared telling him that he didn’t have the 990000G needed to buy all those items.

The fighting continued in the background and Lara seemed too busy to come save him. Before long, the hooded woman will come for him again, this time taking him with her to god knows where.

’Gold... I need more Gold!’

His desperate plea was answered with another pop-up, this one unlike anything he had seen before.

[

Would you like to convert MP to G?

+1MP = 15G

]

Mark’s eyes widened a little at the System pop-up, but then he squeezed them shut, once again succumbing to despair. Although he would’ve been happy to see it any other time, in his current situation it only brought him misery. Just like his HP, his MP reserves weren’t looking good.

’No, wait...’

Closing all the System screens with a thought, Mark summoned his Player Menu and checked his MP. Thanks to his high Mind stat and Lara’s lap pillow, he had recovered quite a bit, reaching 60% in such a short amount of time. He thought the blow to his stomach burned all of it, but maybe because his Force Field wasn’t fully activated, he only lost 20%, leaving him with 40%.

Even if he were to convert all of it into Gold it still wouldn’t be enough to buy a single FHP, but wouldn’t doing so give him another option, at the very least?

While struggling against the mind-numbing pain, Mark did some mental calculations. A semblance of a plan appeared in his mind after a few seconds, and as it did, the corners of his mouth began to curl up.