Kat didn't sleep. She didn't meditate either. When the early morning came around and Xiang woke up, Kat just informed him he could go back to sleep. Kat had sent of a message to everyone, just to let them know she was fine. It might have been stretching the truth a bit, but it wasn't a lie certainly.
Kat didn't really know where her thoughts wanted to go. They seemed to hover around the events of yesterday, but do everything they could not to address the elephant in the room. Kat, at one point after insisting Xiang get more sleep, tried to force herself to confront the problem. She replayed the scene over in her mind half a dozen times… but it didn't really help.
It didn't hurt either. If asked, Kat would have said it was like watching a movie. Sure, she was watching someone die over and over again. But she didn't know them, and she just couldn't find it within herself to considering it important. *I have no idea how to deal with that fact though. Is it strange that my mind is telling me I should be feeling worse about something? I'm not sure?*
To compound the feeling of unease, Kat felt, for the first time, like she could actually eat something. Sure she could always eat, but now there was that faint desire she remembers having back when she was human. It wasn't a gnawing or all-consuming hunger, more like a gentle reminder sitting on the edge of her mind, urging her to get around to it… eventually.
*Hey system? How badly do I actually need food? I haven't eaten for… two weeks now and I think I'm just now starting to feel it. I've got at least a few more days here though? Should I be looking for food?*
Unknown. Based on data already collected about other similar demons it is suspected that User Kat can continue operating at peak levels for another two weeks without issues.
*Oh… that's… well that's a lot better than I thought. If that's the case though… is there an issue with eating too frequently? I mean, I don't let my figure bother me too much… but I have no idea what would even constitute an acceptable level of exercise if I started to get fat and I'd hate to have my weight slow me down.*
User Kat is likely fine. Consumed food is burned by demonic energy and absorbed into the body. Excess is expelled through breathing normally. Breaking down the entirety of food means most of it can be used. Demons require only minimal nourishment outside of Demonic Energy unless they are Gluttony related.
*Good to know?* With that Kat let her mind continue to wander until Xiang got up for real. After he pulled himself out of his sleeping bag and had yet more crackers. *Seriously, how is he able to just eat those? Surely he needs something else right?* Kat asked about his wounds.
"I should be fine. As a cultivator it is only a minor issue to damage my body is such a superficial way. Still, that bandit had a bit of qi on his sword at the time, and it will take me some time to remove that. I suspect I shall be healed before the end of the day even if walking for so long will drain me somewhat" said Xiang.
*Huh… that's… wow, he answered like a normal human being. Who are you and what have you done with Xiang?* Despite her joking thoughts Kat nodded "We need to turn into the forest here. Apparently if we continue in that direction, we will reach the compound" said Kat.
*An interesting note, is that this confirms Xiang is using that weird energy to keep up with us even when we can't see him glowing. I don't know what the broader implications of that might be right now, but I feel like I should keep it in mind.*
"Ok" said Xiang, pulling himself up to his feet. He winced slightly, presumably as the wound gave him a sharp dose of pain. Kat turned around to head off into the forest, and she felt her smile twitch. *Should I do something about? I mean… he hasn't and surely someone who lives a life here would no better than I would about first aid… the again they don't have the benefits of modern medicine… but they do have magic qi shit to deal with it, so maybe he does know what he's doing.*
It took Kat two steps to remember, that this was Xiang she was thinking about, he wouldn't know careful if it smashed him in the face. *Should I ask? Yes… yes I think I should.* "Will you need to bind your wound Xiang?" asked Kat as she walked, assuming she could just stop if necessary.
"This? No, of course not. This is just a scratch" said Xiang, sounding so sure of himself Kat was almost willing to believe him.
Of course, a quick glance backward dissuaded her from that course of action. Even her brief glimpse let her see that his chest was bleeding and soaking into his outfit… which still had a massive hole in it. *There is no way that's in any way acceptable. Maybe… MAY BE it is when you don't have qi injected into, if I take Xiang at his word about that anyway… but clearly this particular wound isn't fine, or at least, he's bleeding a lot and it might be a problem.*
"Are you sure? That's an awful lot of blood-" *Do I say it? Keep up the act? Yeah might as well throw it in* "for a human to be losing" said Kat
Xiang glanced down to his chest and saw the clearly blood-soaked leather. "It's fine" said Xiang, but it was in his overconfident voice Kat now recognised as his act… or maybe he did believe it, Kat wouldn't actually bet either way.
"Right… but if you pass out then I want you to know I helped as much as I could with your revenge and you died to your own foolishness" said Kat. *I hope this convinces him to look at it. I really don't think that amount of blood is healthy, and I'm pretty sure even these few extra steps have caused him to pale noticeably.*
"I-" Xiang said, but stopped and frowned. Looking down at his outfit, Xiang ran his fingers over the wound and winced as he poked said open wound like an idiot. "I guess if it worries you" said Xiang
*Idiot.* Thought Kat shaking her head, but she stopped. Xiang then proceeded to take off his armour for the first time. Kat had to suppress a wince as the layers came off and he had to pull open the scab on his chest and separate the clothing layers from all the dried blood. It was when Xiang got to the shirt layer that Kat's eyes narrowed more seriously.
Xiang had a plain grey training shirt that was likely once white. That however wasn't the issue. The issue was that a good chunk of said shirt was IN the wound. Kat felt like slapping the boy. *I should have known really. I haven't seen him take off his armour even to sleep, so why would he take off his shirt.*
Kat suppressed a grimace as Xiang realised the issue and started to extract the various fibres of cloth from his now certainly bleeding wound. *Well… what the hell do I do about this? I know we need some water…* "Xiang do you have enough water to wash your wounds?" asked Kat
Xiang tilted his head from one side to another. "Maybe? I have four bottles for travel that I refilled in the previous town, but I've already gone through two of them. Had to drink extra because of the fight."
Kat clicked her tongue. "Can your qi deal with that? I can't help you if that gets infected. Washing it out should help, but I don't know if you can afford it" said Kat
Xiang glanced down at his hands. The shirt had now been mostly removed, but it was clear the wound was still rather dirty. "It… it should be fine?" said Xiang, clearly a question even to his own ears.
"Alright" said Kat. *I don't want this brat killing himself… even if he did kill that bandit…* Kat shook her head. *No, I don't want him killing himself from dehydration or from infection. Let's hope that there is a well or something at this base. That should help right?*
Kat sighed.. *This might be the first time I wish my fire was a bit more like real fire. I could cauterise the wound… well no that's probably a bit gruesome even for me… but I could at least… well no I couldn't melt ice that I made because I wouldn't be able to make it… and is demon made ice safe to eat?*