The temporary camp was thick with the scent of medicinal herbs, masked only slightly by the faint, metallic tang of blood.
Outside the tents, in a makeshift medical area, several blood-stained hunters lay on cots. Some groaned in pain, others were unconscious, and a few struggled to stand and rejoin the fray, only to be pushed back down by Felyne doctors.
"Just stay down and do as you're told, meow! Or do you actually want to go back out there and die, meow?"
"Stop squirming, your arm is going to snap, meow!"
"I need some felvine, I'm so exhausted, meow..."
"Another patient! Clear a bed, meow!"
Dumpling came racing in, skidding to a halt at the entrance of the temporary camp with his Felyne cart. Gasping for breath, he hopped down and hoisted Leon out of the cart, carefully laying him onto a stretcher.
"Critically injured hunter, meow!" Dumpling shouted toward the medical tent. "Hurry! Prepare a blood transfusion and IV drip immediately, meow!"
Several Felyne doctors swarmed them. One Felyne inserted a tube directly into Leon's arm, and a cool medicinal fluid began to flow slowly into his veins.
The moment Leon was carried into the medical tent, the area descended into chaos. Even the Admiral rushed over, his face etched with concern.
"The hunter's blood pressure is dropping fast, meow!"
"Heart rate is irregular, meow!"
"You can't die here, meow!"
Leon lay on the bed, his face as pale as parchment and his lips cracked. His chest rose and fell in shallow, labored breaths. His entire body had been scorched by dragon breath, and the puncture wound in his shoulder was still seeping blood.
The Decimation Claws were shattered. Dumpling had only managed to recover half of one blade, still stained with Malzeno's blood.
The Felyne doctors quickly surrounded him, spreading out the stretcher and stripping away the charred Vaal Hazak armor to reveal a chest covered in scars and blackened, burnt skin.
Leon looked like a scorched husk. Only the slight movement of his chest showed he was still clinging to a fragile rhythm of life.
"I can't stop the bleeding, meow!"
"Change the blood bag! Faster, faster!"
"Ready the shock... counting down. Three, two—"
Dumpling stood by the bed, paws wringing together in a frantic knot. He paced in circles, muttering, "Newbie, you've gotta wake up, meow! If you don't wake up now, there's really no hope left..."
He lowered his head and grabbed Leon's hand, his voice breaking. "Hey! Didn't you say... you were going to take down that Malzeno? Didn't you say you wouldn't lose, and you'd never run away, meow?"
Dumpling's voice trailed off into a whisper. A profound sense of helplessness washed over him.
The Felyne doctors continued their frantic efforts. The rapid beeping of the monitors grew faster and sharper, signaling a failing heart rate.
Leon remained motionless.
"Epinephrine injection—prepare!"
"Hurry! His breathing is about to stop, meow!"
Dumpling had always followed behind Leon, watching him hunt monsters. Though he desperately wanted to help, a Felyne's strength couldn't match a human's. His damage was limited, so he could only ever be a support.
But... he wasn't satisfied with that.
Dumpling kept his head low, ears drooping. He gripped Leon's cold palm tightly, his mind a chaotic blur.
"Heart rate is too low, meow!"
"Prepare to defibrillate! High-voltage mode, meow!"
He had seen severely injured hunters before. This wasn't his first time facing life and death.
But this time was different.
A deep bond had formed between them.
This was the partner who would jump in front of him without a second thought, taking a monster's hit without retreating. The madman who would fight to the death to cover a retreat even when he couldn't stand.
"How... how could you fall like this, meow..." Dumpling's vision blurred, and he felt a damp warmth in his paws.
He looked up and sniffed hard, but he couldn't hold back any longer. Two streaks of tears rolled down his whiskers.
"Defibrillator ready—clear!"
"Meow! The heartbeat is back!"
"Oh gods... that was close..."
Dumpling remembered when he first started hunting with Leon. He didn't know how to coordinate at all. He couldn't even throw a stone straight. He wasn't amazing like Coco...
But Leon never blamed him. He just patted his head patiently and said, 'Don't worry, take it slow. You'll become strong one day, too.'
At the time, Dumpling thought it was just a comfort. But the longer they spent together, the more he realized—Leon actually believed in him.
'I don't want to just watch from behind, meow...'
'I don't want to just be support, meow...'
Dumpling's heart began to race. A strange power started boiling within him.
He stood up, paws clenched. An inexplicable heat surged from the depths of his chest, as if long-suppressed anger, regret, and conviction were all resonating at once.
'We're going to grind that dragon into the dirt!'
'We'll get stronger together. We'll never back down!'
Time seemed to stand still.
Just as the resolve in Dumpling's eyes hardened, faint crimson lines appeared on his chest. They spread along his forepaws to his forehead, forming a runic mark.
"Meow...?" Dumpling blinked, confused. He didn't know what was happening, only that a massive surge of energy was roiling inside him, as if he were entering some kind of resonance with Leon.
In the next second.
Something seemed to explode in Dumpling's mind. His consciousness was pulled into a dark void.
[ACTIVATED HIDDEN TRAIT: HEART-BOND RESONANCE]
[EFFECT: ALLOWS THE SHARING OF VITALITY, STAMINA, AND ATTRIBUTE EFFECTS WITH A SPECIFIC TARGET. SHARED LIFE, RESONATING HEARTS.]
"This is..." Dumpling's eyes widened. He looked at Leon, seeing the same strange markings appearing on the hunter's body.
He was alive. He wasn't dead yet!
Dumpling could clearly feel a faint spark of life...
Just then, Leon's fingers twitched. He muttered, "Sys... tem... assign points..."
[ATTRIBUTES: STRENGTH 52, AGILITY 38, VITALITY 38, PERCEPTION 35 (UNASSIGNED POINTS: 29)]
[VITALITY +1, CURRENT 39]
[UNASSIGNED POINTS: 28]
Suddenly, a change occurred.
Leon slowly opened his eyes. The Felyne doctors around him looked like they had seen a ghost, their eyes wide with shock as they stared at one another.
"He... he's awake, meow!"
"This... this is a miracle, meow..."
"Quick, go tell the Admiral, meow!"
"Check his vitals immediately, meow!"
The Felyne doctors scrambled to adjust the equipment while continuing the IV and checking his bandages.
In the midst of the chaos, Leon's gaze was incredibly clear. Even with his cracked lips and a body weakened to the limit, his resolve was unshakable.
"Dumpling..." Leon forced the words out, his voice sounding like a ragged cloth being torn.
Dumpling froze for a second, then tears began to fall again. "You're finally awake, meow!"
"I'm... I'm not dead yet..." Leon smirked. He tried to smile, but the movement pulled at the wounds on his face, making him hiss in pain.
"You almost left us just now, meow!" Dumpling laughed through his tears, wiping his nose. "You need to rest now. Don't move."
Leon didn't speak. He remembered the complete darkness, the feeling of his consciousness severing from his body.
But just before the end, a powerful, unfamiliar emotion had yanked him back from the edge of death.
Leon looked down to see faint red markings on his chest, identical to the mark on Dumpling's forehead.
Then, a translucent blue system prompt appeared before his eyes—
[FELYNE: DUMPLING]
[SPECIALIZATION: HUNTING SUPPORT, COOKING, MATERIAL GATHERING, TRACKING]
[SKILLS: VIGORWASP SPRAY, FLASHFLY CAGE, CORAL ORCHESTRA, PLUNDERBLADE]
[HIDDEN TRAIT: HEART-BOND RESONANCE (LEON)]
[EFFECT: ALLOWS THE SHARING OF VITALITY, STAMINA, AND ATTRIBUTE EFFECTS WITH THE BOUND TARGET. SHARED LIFE, RESONATING HEARTS.]
Leon stared at the text, then at Dumpling. He whispered, "Strange... what is this?"
The path he was on was drifting further and further from the game. A Felyne's hidden trait was something he had never even heard of.
The mounting mysteries made Leon wonder what his system actually was.
But he wasn't the type to overthink things. He pushed the confusion aside, his mind already set on hunting Malzeno again.
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