'How amazing!'
I exclaimed in my heart seeing how quickly the liquid worked and how I was not feeling any pain and discomfort. It almost felt as if what I had experienced earlier was nothing but an illusion.
Though I shouldn't be surprised since I have read about such things in webnovels many times—reading about something was one thing, and experiencing it was another.
Just then, I heard my younger sister, Cataline, or Cat as we called her, exclaim.
"What was that?!"
I snapped back to my senses and grimaced. Then, I calmly turned to her and said, "It was a Chinese concoction a friend of mine gave me. It helps to relieve pain."
"I... I'm not asking about that." Cataline said,
"Then what?" I raised my brows.
"I... it's nothing." Cataline opened her mouth but then shook her head and instead asked with a concerned look on her face, "Are you alright? You seemed to be in a lot of pain earlier."
"Yeah, I'm good. That Chinese concoction was really good." I nodded and reassuringly patted her head. Then, I looked around and saw the fire blazing all over the neighborhood.
"Let's go. We need to leave this place." I said,
"How are we going to leave, Ryan? We don't have a car?" My sister worriedly asked.
I also frowned.
When we were financially struggling after our father's death, we sold his truck. After I started working, I wanted to buy an old but similar truck from an acquaintance's garage but was never able to save up enough money.
I shook my head. This wasn't the time to think about old stuff.
Just then, I became aware of the intense heat from the fire around us and noticed Cataline's tender white skin had become red. She was constantly dabbing her face and exposed hands to give herself some relief, but it was of no use.
I quickly took out one of the Fire Avoidance Pearls.
It was a normal grape-sized, smooth-textured, red stone.
I figured it would activate if I willed it, but before activating, I asked.
'System, it won't have a side effect on me like the Flash Steps, right?'
[No, host. It will not.] The system responded through a flash message.
Feeling relieved, I activated it with a thought.
Si~
The pearl released a pulse of invisible energy that created a spherical barrier around me. Immediately, I felt all the heat assaulting me vanish.
I then looked at Cataline, who was looking at me, waiting for my answer.
I smiled and pointed behind her. "Don't worry, we'll leave with Vicky."
Cataline's eyes went wide when she heard me mention Vicky.
"Oh, no! Are they alright?" She hurriedly turned around, about to rush over to her house.
While she was distracted, I hurriedly put my arm around her shoulder and dropped the small stone in the chest pocket of her tee shirt before saying,
"Hey, calm down. They are alright. See, she is loading up her car."
As I spoke, Vicky rushed out of her burning house carrying a bag, which she threw in the back seat of the car.
Seeing her, I became a little emotional.
Vicky was our neighbor, and lived in the house next to ours with her daughter, Felicity.
She was the one who had saved me in my past life when I had lost consciousness after watching the roof collapse on my mom and sister.
After she threw the bag into the car's back seat, she looked in our direction. When she saw we were out, a relieved look appeared on her face.
In my past life, she must have seen me rushing into the house.
When she was ready to leave, she hadn't seen me and must have gone inside our collapsed house to check and found me passed out in the living room.
"Thank God they are alright." Cataline muttered, feeling relieved.
Felicity was already sitting in the passenger seat, looking around with an anxious look on her face.
I saw a conflicted look appear on Vicky's face and understood she wanted to take us with her knowing we had no vehicle, but because there was barely enough room for one person on the back seat with all the things loaded up, she was hesitating.
"Come. We'll leave with them." I said, and started walking toward them. Cataline followed after me.
As we walked, I secretly took out second Fire Avoidance Pearl, activated it and put it my pocket.
Right then, I noticed some system messages flashing on the system screen at the corner of my retina.
[Congratulations! You have conquered your fear of losing your mother and sister.]
[You have received 100 Conqueror Points, $10,000, and the skill Medicine Fluids (Level 1).]
I was happy to see I was rewarded for saving my mom and sister, and my happiness only increased when I saw I got a whopping 10,000 dollars and a skill, and unlike the Flash Steps, this one was permanent as there was no 'Temporary' tag added to it.
But then I read its description and became stunned.
[Medicine Fluids: Gives your fluids—blood, saliva, piss, and semen—healing properties and makes you able to heal any injury, illness, etc. ]
[Note: The level of the skill decides the effectiveness of the healing, and blood is most effective, followed by semen, saliva, and piss.]