A total of about twenty minutes passed and both, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue remained silent. Both rested quietly, trying to recover as much energy as possible as quickly as possible.
Although both, he and she, had leveled up at least once after absorbing the Soul Power of the Second Order Surprisingly Strong Archaic Bear, recovering 100% of the Stamina and Mana consumed during the battle, the fatigue that seemed to come from deep within their souls was not something that the Soul Record could casually fix just by leveling up a couple of times.
The strain that Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue faced during the battle against their first Second Order enemy had reached such a level that while fighting they consumed more Stamina than they normally would.
Can we win? Can we survive? What will happen to the rest? What about my near and dear ones? All these and many more were questions that both, he and she, faced constantly, every second, and every minute that passed.
Bai Zemin was no different from Shangguan Bing Xue in that sense. After all, while he was confident of at least not dying even if he ended up seriously injured, the reality was that he had no confidence in coming out victorious either.
Being completely honest with himself, Bai Zemin believed that he would be able to chase away the Second Order Surprisingly Strong Archaic Bear. As for killing it, such a thing never crossed his mind.
However, adding the two M3 IFVs to the equation changed everything.
Furthermore, if it weren't for the fact that Bai Zemin had saved up over sixty free status points to distribute to any of his overall stats, increasing his Strength enough to threaten the Second Order Surprisingly Strong Archaic Bear, he definitely wouldn't have been able to fight for so long.
"Fortunately, Lightning Movement didn't run out in the middle of combat, or else it would have been a problem to tell if that damn bear's head exploded or mine would be the one that ended up exploding later." Bai Zemin couldn't help but rejoice out loud.
The Second Order Surprisingly Strong Archaic Bear's Agility stat was undoubtedly high. High to the point where it could stand on equal footing against Bai Zemin with Lightning Movement activated.
This meant that if he lost the great increase in Agility and thus movement speed of Lightning Movement, Bai Zemin would definitely have died. Therefore, the battle was to be concluded in five minutes at the most!
Shangguan Bing Xue slowly opened her eyes as she heard the man's muttering a short distance away. Without looking at him, she calmly asked, "Lightning Movement is the name of that skill that allows you and Cai Jingyi to make clones and boost your Agility abruptly?"
If it was in the past, Bai Zemin would definitely not answer anything that had to do with his skills to Shangguan Bing Xue. However, after the battle they had just faced, things were a bit different.
Not only was it partly thanks to her existence that he managed to win and was not forced to despair, but even when he was in such a miserable condition she did not seem to have any intention of betraying him either.
That being said; Bai Zemin's overall power at this time was perhaps, at best, 40% of his maximum total. This was because not only had he lost mobility in one arm, but his entire body hurt so much that even the slightest movement brought him hellish suffering.
After all, the Second Order Surprisingly Strong Archaic Bear had hit practically his entire body and even if it hadn't broken all his bones, Bai Zemin was sure that if he took off his clothes he would see his body covered in ugly contusions.
Besides, the question she had asked was not particularly private nor did it reveal crucial information. Therefore, Bai Zemin did not think too much about it and answered.
"That's right. Lightning Movement is my strongest movement skill. It's the same skill that Cai Jingyi has."
"I see." She nodded.
Although she was curious as to how it was possible for two people to acquire such a powerful movement skill practically at the same time, she decided not to ask too much. After all, everyone had their own secrets.
After a moment of silence, Bai Zemin grunted softly and struggled to stand up. His face tightened slightly at the pain and itching he felt all over.
Lilith had explained to him previously that this was the result of his body recovering from deep wounds at surprisingly high speeds, so he did his best to ignore that discomfort.
"It will probably take you about a week to heal that wound on your face." Shangguan Bing Xue seemed to have rested enough as she also stood up while looking him in the face.
A week? Bai Zemin was surprised. Soon, however, he forced a smile and asked, "So bad is it?"
She, having seen the speed at which he recovered in the past from his battle against the First Order Blazing Beetle, should be aware of how high his recovery speed was. But even then she said such words.
Shangguan Bing Xue said nothing and instead extended her palm forward. A faint icy mist gathered around it and soon a small ice sliver formed on her hand.
"You look at it." She handed the ice mirror to him.
"That skill is really convenient." Bai Zemin wanted to chuckle but didn't dare for fear of making his wound worse.
Seeing his reflection in the ice, Bai Zemin secretly sighed and his heart filled with lingering fear.
There was a long cut on his face. From the chin on the right side to the bottom of the eye he saw a large bloody wound of not too pleasant appearance. Apart from the red flesh, Bai Zemin could also see in several parts the white bones of his own skull.
"You really were lucky." Shangguan Bing Xue pointed out. She looked at him with the same indifferent expression as always and her eyes did not seem particularly displeased by the sight. "One or two more centimeters could have cost you your life."
Bai Zemin was silent before nodding. Indeed, death had been closer than he thought.
Even with his high Health, it would take him at least four or five days to recover, and to avoid a scar he would probably need Kang Lan to use Lesser Healing on the wound once or twice.
"Forget it." Bai Zemin shook his head and looked at her before saying with a bit of surprise, "But I'm surprised that you can still keep your composure even seeing me like this."
Forget that women were delicate and not too fond of ugly things, even he himself was a bit scared when he saw his own reflection. However, the woman before him did not even have a visible reaction to the naked eye, which was surprising and made him curious.
Shangguan Bing Xue shrugged and said something that surprised Bai Zemin even more.
"At the end of the day, you and I are made of flesh and blood. You lost the layer that embellishes a little and covers the ugliness of our bodies... Besides, I stopped caring about things like external beauty when I was young. I'd rather worry more about whether a person has a trustworthy soul or whether under so much beauty he or she is actually hiding an evil being."