The Protagonist System

173 A Life Worth Living

I spent most of the day worried about how to breach the subject of the camera, then Viper surprised me by telling me about it over supper. It was such a relief to find out the camera was hers and that she wanted a way to look in on me when she was working alone in the garage downstairs or if I needed her for something.

“You know, I never thought I would ever need a baby monitor.” Viper joked.

I couldn't help it and joked right back. “Well, there's no reason I can't keep trying to give you a reason to keep it after I'm healed up enough to not need it.”

Viper blushed and she also looked really shy.

“You're going to kill me if you keep looking so damn cute.” I told her and her blush rose to epic proportions. “Yes, just like that.”

Viper leaned over the table and kissed me. “Don't you dare die on me or I'll somehow bring you back to life and then kill you myself.”

I couldn't help it and laughed. “I'm not going to argue about that not making sense.”

“Good, you're learning.” Viper said with a grin and went back to eating her spaghetti.

It was actually really nice to have a sit down dinner with her like this. There was no arguing or underhanded comments, which on reflection seemed like a really weird thing to expect every time I sat down to eat.

I ducked my head slightly and went over Hank's memories in my head. They had slunk off into the corner like all the other memories I had, except I noticed I had gained a few things that I normally wouldn't notice.

Why did I try to dismiss Bobbie's abuse like it didn't mean anything and only Viper pointing it out stopped me from explaining it away and making excuses? Why was I relieved that I could eat a whole meal without bickering or an argument starting? That was definitely not normal behavior on my part and it bugged me.

“Hank? What is it?” Viper asked me and put her fork down. “What's bothering you?”

“You really can read me like a book.” I said and sighed as I lifted my head to look at her. “I'm sitting here eating a meal with a woman that's not my wife, and all I feel is relief that we can talk without arguing or making backhanded compliments to each other.”

Viper looked sad after hearing that. “I'm sorry.”

I reached across the table and took her hand. “Are you apologizing that you're a better dinner companion or that I'm bothered by the fact I haven't had a quiet meal in years?”

Viper intertwined our fingers together. “You're upset that you've gotten used to having arguments all the time?”

I thought about how she worded that and nodded. “I think that's what's wrong. In my head, I know what happened with Bobbie was wrong; and yet, the back of my mind keeps trying to justify it and I keep thinking it's my fault.”

Viper sighed. “Hank, that's not a normal way to think.”

“I know, which is the problem.” I said and thought about it. “Do you know what Stockholm Syndrome is?” I asked and she gasped. “I'm going to take that as a yes.”

Viper's other hand reached across the table and she cupped the side of my face. “We have a lot to talk about and... if it's okay with you, I need to call a few people.”

I leaned my head into her hand. “You're already doing so much for me. I can't ask you to...”

“I need to make those calls first, apparently.” Viper interrupted me and stood up. She leaned over the table and kissed me, let my face and my hand go, then walked over to the phone hanging on the wall.

I sat there and didn't listen in to the two whispered conversations she had, because I didn't want her to hate me for eavesdropping, which was also a weird thought to have. She hung up the phone and took a deep breath, let it out, and walked back over to the table and sat down.

“Let's finish eating and then we can cuddle on the couch.” Viper said and I nodded.

For some reason, I felt like this was not going to turn out like I thought it was going to. Oh, I didn't doubt that Viper had genuinely called for help, since she did want to help me as much as she could. The problem I had was that the help was going to vigorously object to my interpretation of things. I was biased, after all.

Viper cleared up the dishes and pushed my wheelchair over to the couch. I did my octopus impression and pulled myself onto the couch and settled down in the corner on my left side, that way she could cuddle into my right side and I would feel everything.

We watched a movie and I once again thought it was a relief that I could sit there and not worry about sparking an argument. I could also show affection to the woman next to me in various ways without her thinking I was trying to coerce her into having sex with me.

This was proven when I used a hand to turn Viper's face towards mine and I gave her a slow and tender kiss for several seconds. All she did was blush a little, give me a warm smile, and went right back to watching the television. It was honestly refreshing to feel so relaxed after everything that happened and I was thankful that I had someone like Viper to pick up the pieces of my life.

When I thought about that, I mentally sighed. I wasn't sure what I was going to do about the kids and I couldn't do anything until I could sneak a potion to check the effects. The only time I had been alone since yesterday was when I was left in the bedroom. She didn't want me trying to haul myself around the apartment with half of my body disabled, at least not for a few days until I was used to it.

I agreed, just because I knew she was genuinely concerned I would get caught up somewhere and she wouldn't know until she left work for meals and found me where I would be stuck. I didn't want her worrying excessively like that, because she was already worrying enough for the both of us.

My chance for a brief bout of time alone occurred after Viper helped me climb back into the wheelchair and tucked my floppy arm into my side and secured my left ankle to the footrest. I had a great idea and hoped it worked, because it should give me a few minutes of privacy.

“I think I'm ready to try using the actual bathroom instead of the bedpan.” I said and she gave me raised eyebrows. “No, no, I just need to pee. Trying to move my butt off of this thing to perch on the toilet without you around is just asking for trouble.”

Viper let out a little laugh. “How are you supposed to reach the toilet while sitting down, then?”

Without missing a beat, I raised my working hand and slowly extended my index finger to be a foot long. Her eyes widened at the implication and she blushed as her eyes dropped down to my crotch and went back to my face.

“No, I haven't had to do that.” I said, a bit proudly. I was all natural down there and I hadn't tried the ribbed look for her yet. After what happened with Bobbie, I wasn't sure I should.

Viper's blush didn't fade as she bent down to give me a long lingering kiss that almost made my toes curl up. I popped a boner and she looked pleased at my reaction, then she let out a soft laugh.

“I think I just made things harder for your trip to the bathroom.” Viper said, her pun making me groan. She giggled and reached down to pat me there, then she pushed my wheelchair over to the bathroom and left me inside as she shut the door. “Holler when you're done!”

“I might be busy for a few extra minutes, dammit!” I shouted through the door.

Viper laughed and was completely unrepentant for doing that to me. It was a good thing I didn't really need to go, so I had plenty of time now do conduct a few experiments. I checked with my wand first and there were no monitoring devices, so the first test was with a Pepper-Up potion. I checked it with a diagnostic spell and it was fine, so I checked myself.

The damage was actually worse than what the doctor said and I had severe nerve damage and the spell said I had an aneurysm as well. Luckily, it must have happened while they were operating, because it had been repaired and there was no damage to my brain from that, which was a huge relief.

I swallowed the potion and waited a few seconds, then checked my diagnosis again. There was no change, except for a rise in my body temperature and some steam out of my ears. This was a great result, because it meant some effects still worked on me.

I took out a Wiggenweld Potion next, one that was used to heal people, wake them from a sleeping potion, and it gave a stamina boost. I swallowed it down and waited for about ten seconds and felt some energy flow through me. My back straightened and my slouching posture disappeared. I cast the diagnostic spell on myself again and the results were both minor and encouraging.

There was a reason that potions weren't poured down people's throats constantly to stack the effects. You could get potion sickness if you drank too many of them and they didn't work any faster if you drank more than one. You had to wait for it to finish working and then could take another. So, that's what I did. I waited for a full minute and then downed another one.

Again, it was another ten seconds before I felt that small surge of energy and I cast the diagnostic spell once more. Only some of the nerve damage had been healed and I mentally did the calculations in my head for how many I would need to bring myself back to full health. It was a lot and it would take weeks of sneaking off to the bathroom to take them, which sucked.

As I thought about a better way to heal myself, I suddenly remembered my Adventurer Card and the various skills I had on it. I took it out and it had been changed slightly. There was actually a scrolling portion where my skill list was and I flipped through them to look for healing. I couldn't find anything in the 'H' section and frowned. I was sure that I had a healing skill or spell somewhere.

I turned the card over to look at my feats and blessings and softly cursed. All of them had been disabled, including Minor Regeneration, Mind Blank, and my Blessings of Balance, Fortune, and Forge. It was no wonder why I was being so easily manipulated and being hurt constantly. Since I knew they had been granted with divinity, I flipped my card back over and looked for my new Touch of Divinity skill.

How could I have forgotten about that? I asked myself and soon found it. I didn't get angry at seeing it started at Level 0 and had no effect at all, because right beside it was the point cost of 1,000 Karma Points. I clicked it and the 0 changed to a 1 with a bright glow. Thankfully, I was facing away from the door and my body blocked most of it.

I felt something click in the back of my mind and I let out a sigh as my swirling emotions dulled slightly. My eyes went to the cost beside the Level 1 skill and frowned. It now cost 2,000 Karma Points to go to the next level and that could be a problem. If it doubled each level to increase it and there were 10 levels to the skill, then it would cost me just over a million points to get to that final level.

That was kind of terrifying, actually. I flipped the card back over to look at the feats and saw they were all at 10%, which meant I wouldn't be magically getting them all back in full right away, unless I went extremely into debt and would have to spend the next few decades in punishment worlds as I tried to build up enough Karma to pay it off and get back to my regular trips.

Yeah, that was not going to happen. Two in a row had been bad enough and I barely managed to not go all murder-hobo in them. If I had to do constant worlds that were full of horror creatures, all I could do was be a murder-hobo in order to survive. That was not going to be fun at all.

I felt the Minor Regeneration kick in and it was going really slow at only 10% efficiency, so I resigned myself to a long time for recovery, then I remembered something about Hestia being surprised I had so many skills when she accepted me into her Familia... and then I gasped as I remembered the two healing spells I had learned just before leaving that world.

It had been so long ago that I had completely forgotten about them and then I realized not having my Mind Blank perk active for so long had hurt me more than anything else that happened to me. I checked my current Karma Points and did the math. I could afford to buy up to Level 6 and still have some points left over for miscellaneous things, assuming I continued to earn positive Karma.

That would allow me to raise my base level up to 60, with each Divine level granting me access to 10 levels. That was going to be a huge relief and would unlock a few more things, like the next bump to my magic. I sat there for a few minutes as I thought about what to do and a knock on the door gained my attention.

“Are you okay in there?” Viper asked me.

“I'm fine... ugh... just... hold on. I need to clean the pipes.” I said and heard her chuckle.

I actually opened up my pants and stretched myself out and peed into the toilet. I wiggled it without touching it and pulled it back, used a bit of tissue to dry it off, and closed myself up. I put my mental gymnastics aside and flushed the toilet, leaving the seat down, and washed my sole hand in the sink for propriety's sake.

“Okay, I'm done.” I said and Viper opened the door.

She saw me dry my hand on a hand towel and nodded slightly, as I figured she would appreciate cleanliness, and pushed me out of the bathroom towards my bedroom. It didn't take long to get me back into the bed and settled.

“Goodnight, Hank.” Viper said and put the wheelchair off to the side of the room and out of the way.

I patted the bed beside me instead of saying it back. “You don't have to leave and we don't have to do anything.” I said, just in case she thought I was angling for more than to hold her.

Viper looked conflicted and spoke softly. “I'm sorry, I have something I need to do and I won't be back for an hour or so.”

I didn't let anything show on my face at the rejection. “That's okay. If I'm still awake, I'll see you when you get back.”

Viper nodded and went to the bedroom's door. She turned back to face me and looked sad. She didn't say anything and left the room, the door shutting behind her with a soft click.

I waited for several minutes and listened for movement. I didn't hear anything and figured she had left, so I laid back and closed my eyes. I knew the camera was watching me, so I couldn't do anything obvious and thought back to those two healing spells I had gained way back in Danmachi.

One was for personal healing and took a while to set up and cast, especially with my magic limited as it was, and the other was an area of effect that was quicker to cast but took longer to take effect. They both had a bright visual component, so I needed both seclusion and privacy before I could even attempt them.

The second thing I needed was to check my magic spells to see if they were unlocked. If they weren't, I currently could level myself up to level 10 using some of the experience my Adventure Card had been collecting for decades. I was sure I would need to spend my Karma Points to level up my Divine skill at least once more, because that was how I assumed I would be screwed over.

I checked my spells and the personal one was locked until I reached a base level of 25, so that meant I needed to level up my Touch of Divinity skill twice more to get it to 3 and give myself the option of levelling my base level up to 30. Since I had so many XP points on the Adventurer Card that it only showed an infinity symbol, I wasn't worried about being stuck.

In the end I said screw it and levelled my Divine skill up to level 5, making my perks settle at a clean 50% effectiveness, and it left me with 34,330 Karma Points. I could have spent another 32,000 for Level 6, except that would nearly clean me out and I just knew that something would come up and I wouldn't have the points to handle it.

Thankfully, I had opened my eyes and watched if there were any visible effects from me spending so much Karma. There wasn't, since the card was still in my inventory, so I relaxed. I would need to wait for some privacy before I could physically touch the Adventurer Card and use my Divine skill on it to add the experience points to level myself up to my new maximum of Level 50.

I had to hold in my laugh and excitement about that. I was used to working at a diminished level for so long that I suspected becoming so strong so quickly was going to be a huge rush... and I couldn't wait to experience it.

My hand twitched and I had to stop myself from raising it in a cheer, then I realized something important. It was my LEFT hand. I had felt the muscles twitch and a huge smile grew on my face, because my regeneration perk was working hard trying to fix the damage and I couldn't have been happier.