SSSSS-Rank: Negative Leveling-Chapter 67: Respect

Luthra woke up in the same oversized bed he’d started the day in, except this time his entire body was wrapped in enchanted bandages that glowed with a faint green light.

’How long was I out?’

He tried to sit up and immediately regretted it, pain shooting through every part of his torso. His ribs were still broken, his shoulder was back in its socket but barely functional, and his head felt like someone had used it as a drum.

"Don’t move, you idiot." Khorvash’s voice came from the corner of the room where she was sitting in a chair, arms crossed. "Misha said if you tear those bandages, you’ll bleed out in about five minutes."

"Noted." He laid back down, staring at the ceiling. "How long?"

"Two days, you’ve been unconscious for two full days, Rebecca was convinced you were going to die, she wouldn’t leave your side until I physically carried her out to sleep."

’Two days, that’s longer than I expected.’

"And Kane?"

"Also unconscious for about a day and a half, he woke up this morning, said something about respecting your tenacity, then asked for breakfast and went back to sleep." Khorvash stood up and walked over to the bed. "You won, officially, the Syndicate sent a messenger confirming that by the rules of single combat, you retain ownership of the mines and all associated territory."

"That’s good."

"Good, that’s all you have to say, you nearly died, Luthra, you were bleeding internally in three different places, you had seven broken ribs, a fractured skull, and your left lung was partially collapsed, Misha had to use medical supplies worth more than this entire building just to keep you stable."

He looked at her, saw the genuine concern in her eyes, and felt something uncomfortable in his chest. "I’m sorry for worrying you."

She blinked, clearly not expecting the apology. "Don’t do that, don’t get all sentimental on me, I’m trying to be mad at you."

"You can be mad and I can be sorry, both things can be true."

Khorvash sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle him. "You know, when I was in that cage, watching you fight Silas, I thought you were just another crazy human with a death wish, but watching you fight Kane, seeing you refuse to give up even when your body was literally falling apart, I realized something."

"What?"

"You’re not just stubborn, you genuinely don’t know how to quit, it’s not bravery or determination, it’s like the concept of surrender doesn’t exist in your brain, that’s both impressive and terrifying."

’Is that how people see me, as someone who doesn’t know when to quit?’

"I quit once," he said quietly. "When I was sixteen and my family disowned me, I thought about giving up, thought about just accepting that I was worthless and finding some quiet place to disappear, but then I realized that giving up wouldn’t change anything, I’d still be worthless, the only difference was whether I did something about it or not."

Khorvash was quiet for a moment. "So you decided to do fifty thousand push-ups a day instead of therapy."

"Therapy costs money."

"You’re ridiculous."

The door opened, and Rebecca burst in, her eyes red from crying. When she saw Luthra was awake, she stopped in the doorway, then ran over and grabbed his hand, careful not to touch any of the bandages.

"You’re awake, Misha said you might not wake up for another week, she said your brain was swollen and your body was in shock."

"I’m tougher than I look." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"You look like a mummy that got run over by a cart."

"Then I’m tougher than that."

She laughed, then started crying again, and Luthra awkwardly patted her hand with his one functional arm. Comforting people was not something he’d ever been good at.

"I’m okay, Rebecca, it’s going to take more than a guy with a hammer to kill me."

"He threw you into a building, the whole building fell down."

"And I got back up."

"After you both fell down at the same time and nobody moved for like a whole minute and everyone thought you were both dead."

’Was it really that close, I remember collapsing, but I thought I got up first.’

Khorvash answered his unspoken question. "You both hit the ground at the same time, you were unconscious for about thirty seconds, he was out for about forty-five, technically you won by being conscious first, even though you immediately passed out again from blood loss."

"I’ll take it."

Misha walked in, carrying a tray with what looked like soup and bread. "So the corpse finally wakes up, good timing, I was about to sell your room to someone else."

"How’s the community?"

"Growing, actually, word spread about what you did, freed slaves from three other operations have started showing up, asking for sanctuary, we’re up to almost four hundred people now, all of them looking to you as their leader."

"I’m not a leader."

"Too bad, you freed them, you fought for them, that makes you their leader whether you like it or not." She set the tray down on the bedside table. "Also, Kane wants to talk to you when you’re able to walk, he’s leaving tomorrow and he said he has something important to discuss."

"What does he want?"

"No idea, he won’t talk to anyone but you, says it’s between fighters."

Luthra ate the soup slowly, his body desperately needing the nutrition. It was some kind of meat and vegetable thing, probably made from supplies they’d bought with the cores he’d collected weeks ago.

By the time he finished eating, he felt slightly more human. "Help me stand up."

"Absolutely not," Misha said immediately.

"I need to walk, I need to talk to Kane, and I need to make sure my body still works."

"Your body doesn’t work, you have seven broken ribs."

"Had, Khorvash said that was two days ago, with enchanted bandages they should be mostly healed by now."

Khorvash and Misha exchanged looks, then the dragon girl sighed and offered her arm. "Fine, but if you collapse again, I’m leaving you on the floor."

With Khorvash’s support on one side and gritting his teeth against the pain, Luthra managed to stand, his legs shaking but functional. Walking was agony, each step sending jolts of pain through his torso, but he made it across the room and back.

"See, functional."

"You’re sweating and your face is white, that’s not functional, that’s moving through spite."

"Still moving."

He made his way downstairs, Khorvash staying close in case he fell. The workers in the main area saw him and several of them stopped what they were doing to stare. Some looked relieved, others looked worried, a few even looked relieved.

Kane was sitting in what used to be Silas’s office, eating a massive plate of food, his own set of bandages visible under his shirt. When Luthra walked in, the big man looked up and grinned.

"There he is, the crazy bastard who actually beat me, how you feeling, kid?"

"Like I fought a B-Rank hunter with my bare hands."

"Same, haven’t felt this beat up since I fought a wyvern pack in the western mountains, that was a good fight, this was a good fight, you should be proud."

Luthra sat down across from him, every movement still painful. "Misha said you wanted to talk."

"Yeah, I do, got a proposition for you." Kane leaned back in his chair, wincing slightly at the movement. "See, the thing is, the Syndicate sent me here to reclaim this territory and bring you in, either as a member or as a corpse, but you won, fair and square, which puts me in an interesting position."

"How so?"

"Because the Syndicate doesn’t actually care that much about these mines, they’re profitable, but they’re not critical, what they care about is looking strong, maintaining their reputation, and right now, you’re making them look weak."

’So this isn’t over, they’ll just send someone else.’

"You’re saying more hunters are coming."

"Eventually, yeah, probably someone A-Rank next time, and unlike me, they won’t be interested in a fair fight, they’ll just kill everyone here and burn the place

to the ground to make a point."

Rebecca, who had followed them down, made a small sound of fear.

Kane looked at her, then back at Luthra. "But here’s the thing, I can buy you time, I can go back and tell them that you’re too dangerous to confront directly right now, that you’ve got unknown abilities that make you a threat even to higher-ranked hunters, which is true by the way, that void zone thing you did, I’ve never seen anything like it."

"And in exchange?"

"In exchange, you owe me a favor, nothing crazy, nothing that’ll get you killed, but someday I’m going to need help with something, and when I call, you answer, deal?"

Luthra studied Kane’s face, looking for deception, for hidden agendas, but all he saw was a tired fighter who respected another fighter.

’He could have demanded territory, money, resources, but instead he’s asking for a future favor, which means he sees value in having me as an ally rather than an enemy.’

"How long can you buy me?"

"Six months, maybe a year if I’m convincing, after that, the higher-ups will decide you’re too much of a liability and they’ll send someone serious, someone who won’t challenge you to a duel, they’ll just assassinate you in your sleep."

"That’s not a lot of time."

"It’s enough time to get stronger, to build this place into something defensible, to maybe make some allies who can help you stand against the Syndicate when they finally come calling." Kane stood up, offering his hand. "So, do we have a deal?"

Luthra looked at the offered hand, then at Rebecca who was watching him with wide eyes, then at Khorvash who gave him a small nod.

He reached out and shook Kane’s hand. "Deal, but I want something else too."

"Name it."

"Information, I need to know how the Syndicate works, who the real power players are, and what I’d need to do to actually make them leave me alone permanently."

Kane laughed, a genuine sound of amusement. "Kid, if you want them to leave you alone permanently, you’d need to either join them at the highest levels, which isn’t happening, or become so powerful that attacking you would cost them more than they’d gain, which means you’d need to hit A-Rank minimum, probably S-Rank to really make them think twice."

"Then I guess I’ll aim for S-Rank."

The big man’s grin widened. "I like your confidence, alright, I’ll send you information packets, organizational charts, anything that might help you understand what you’re up against, consider it part of the deal."

They shook hands again, this time with genuine respect between them.

Kane gathered his things, including his massive war hammer which was still scorched from the enchanted bandages and leaking a faint amount of residual mana. As he mounted his wasteland lizard, he looked back at Luthra one more time.

"You know, kid, in another life, we could have been friends, good luck with the whole trying not to get assassinated thing."

"Thanks, good luck with the Syndicate not killing you for losing."

"They won’t, I’m too valuable, plus I can honestly say you’re the real deal, that counts for something." He kicked his lizard into motion. "Stay alive, Luthra, I want to see how far you actually get."

Kane rode out of the courtyard, and Luthra watched him go, feeling the weight of the deal he’d just made.

Khorvash walked up beside him. "So, you’ve got six months to a year before someone A-Rank shows up to kill you, what’s the plan?"

"Same plan as always, get stronger, train harder, and figure out how to use my system to its full potential." He turned to look at the growing community around them. "But first, we need to actually build something worth defending."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that when you can barely walk?"

"Very carefully and with a lot of help."

Rebecca tugged on his shirt. "Can I help too, I want to fight with you next time, I don’t want to just watch and be scared."

Luthra looked down at her, saw the determination in her eyes, and made a decision. "Alright, then starting tomorrow, I’ll train you properly, no more just watching, you’re going to learn how to really fight."

Her face lit up. "Really?"

"Really, but I’m not going to go easy on you, if you want to fight alongside me, you need to be able to handle yourself."

"I can handle it."

"We’ll see."

As they walked back inside, Luthra felt something shift in his perspective, up until now, he’d been focused purely on his own survival, his own growth, but looking at Rebecca, at the freed slaves building new lives, at Khorvash who’d chosen to stay even though she could leave anytime, he realized something.

He wasn’t alone anymore, and that meant he had more to protect than just himself.

’Six months to a year before the Syndicate sends someone serious, that means I need to hit at least Level -10, maybe even -15 if I push it, I need to figure out how to use my negative mana more efficiently, and I need to actually learn how to lead these people.’

It was a lot, maybe too much, but then again, fifty thousand push-ups a day was also too much, and he’d done that for five years.

’One step at a time, just like always.’