Chapter 73 Self-inflicted injury
(Note: Trigger warning- includes self-harm and abuse but neither is explained in explicit detail)
After the nurses finished their discussion that went on for more than an hour, she found Dilan and Kathrine working on the Survivor’s list.
The basic draft was greatly compiled, and now everyone had to just add their information.
The most important column was what the Survivors planned to do in the future because it would determine how much food they would receive.
This was quite important, but it was not actually something Dilan was too worried about right now.
He looked up to Ella, who gave him a wry smile before she gave him the answer he had been waiting for.
“As long as you find a razor-sharp weapon that cuts neatly through your flesh, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to injure yourself lethally.
If we understood everything about your ability, and about the stats of the Log of the Ancient correctly, you should heal quickly as long as you stab yourself properly.
It would be for the best if you use some sort of sharp knife that has the perfect length of a blade to injure yourself just enough once it’s completely inside you!”
Ella felt weird that she was so serious about giving tips on how to inflict a deadly injury to oneself.
But even if that was the case, the little information she had about the Primordial Ascension, the Log of the Ancient, and the inhuman abilities and natural traits one could gain were a clear sign that logic was no more a prerequisite to act or decide something on their huge, and beautiful planet.
Thus, she took out a small kitchen knife which she found before continuing to speak,
“The blade of the weapon you will use should be around that long, and let me show you where you should stab yourself, and what kind of angle you should use. Take off your shirt and lay down.”
Ella was calmly instructing Dilan on what to do. Thus, he simply nodded his head before removing his shirt.
A nearly perfectly toned physique was revealed to everyone which was marred by the large scar in the center of his chest.-.
Many more scars could be seen, but all of them stemmed from wounds that had been treated badly.
The best example for this was the scar of the old tree trunk that had left a big hole in his chest which now one could easily see. On the other hand, the bullet hole Jack had caused didn’t even leave a tiny Scratch.
And the same could be said about the old wounds on both of his upper arms. Nobody was able to see a single scratch anymore.
That was the miraculous effect of the Regeneration ability.
But even then, Dilan’s body appeared to be riddled with a lot of old wounds, with most of them being scars of having been whipped!
There were numerous lengthy, yet thin scars that covered his entire body that were now white lines.
Upon seeing them, Ella couldn’t help but halt in her tracks.
Dilan’s physique might rival a well-built young man. However, it was not as if she hadn’t seen enough naked upper bodies in her career as a nurse.
But even then, Dilan’s body seemed to be amongst the worst bodies she had seen…and that included bodies of dead people as well!
She could only cover her mouth to stifle a gasp, but Kathrine couldn’t hold back and exclaimed, “What the hell?!”
Through her exclamation, they gained a lot of attention, which included Yvonne’s.
Hearing her sister exclaim, she rushed over, only to see that Dilan was slowly lowering himself to the ground in order to lay down.
While moving his body, one could clearly see the huge scar of the tree trunk on his chest, followed by every single scar that had been caused by whiplashes.
Clearly seeing his back that was covered in scars, Yvonne flinched for a moment as she subconsciously touched her own injuries that had been caused by a whip.
She had been told that they were not deep enough to cause scars, which had messed up her already troubled mind.
‘If I don’t get scars after being whipped by an Ascender…but he has these scars…Just what kind of monsters did he face before the Primordial Ascension??’
Many other Survivors were also looking over at Kathrine, only to see Dilan’s numerous old injuries.
Nobody said anything after Kathrine’s exclamation, and Dilan could already tell what was going on.
He also understood that their reaction was quite normal.
‘It’s not like all families are great and the members love each other unconditionally’ Dilan told himself with a faint smile on his face before he lifted his head from the ground.
“Can you tell me where I need to stab myself now? Just demonstrate it once, and I will try to recreate it!”
His words pulled Ella out of her trance, and she knelt down to start demonstrating Dilan everything.
The other nurses had also come over to take a look in order to see if Ella was doing everything correctly.
That was at least the reason they told themselves to come over to observe her demonstration, knowing exactly that the truth was different. They had simply wanted to figure out more about his scars because some of them looked extremely nasty.
Dilan didn’t mind onlookers. His entire focus was on using the correct way and angle in which he had to stab himself.
Once Ella showed him all the ways to injure himself lethally without injuring his organs, Dilan took over the knife from her hand before repeating the movements she had shown him.
It was not difficult to remember everything, and Dilan nodded his head after Ella demonstrated everything for a second time.
He was confident that there wouldn’t be an issue, which was why he gave her a small smile.
The only thing that made it look like he was a little bit worried were his eyes which gleamed faintly in self-doubt.
But even then, Dilan didn’t hesitate once he had imprinted everything in his mind.
He got up from the ground, went over to his mattress and bent down just to rummage through his backpack.
A moment later, Dilan got hold of the War dagger he had made out of the War Krendel’s claw.
It moved smoothly in his hands, and Dilan couldn’t help but smile bitterly seeing the black blade that gleamed faintly. It had been well sharpened and there were no saw-like edges that could rip open his innards.
Coating it with a little bit of mana, Dilan took a step away from his mattress before he held the war dagger in front of his body with both hands.
Taking a deep breath, he aimed at a specific spot on his abdomen before he stabbed himself.
Just at this moment, numerous memories flashed through his mind. In one such memory, a middle-aged man towered above the 10-year-old Dilan. He was holding a bloody whip in his hand, and whipped him over and over again until the young kid stopped screaming and quieted down.
At first glance, one couldn’t see that the chest of the young kid was moving faintly, indicating that he was still alive.
However, this small sign was already more than enough for the middle-aged man to whip him once again.
“How the hell am I supposed to be the father of useless trash like you!?!”
That was the only thing the young Dilan was able to hear before he lost his consciousness.
But just a moment later, the current Dilan regained his senses once again. Determination gleamed in his eyes with one particular thought flashing through his mind.
‘Who the hell told you to give birth to me if you cannot act like a father, you piece of shit!!’
A moment later, the tip of the dagger pierced through his skin. Cutting through his flesh, Dilan stopped using force just a moment later before his abdomen twitched just once.
Seeing him still stand on his feet made everybody stare at him with shock as they could clearly see that Dilan’s resolve was truly high enough to stab himself.
This was simply insane because nobody would have the willpower to do something like that.
Either Dilan was truly insane, or it was truly his unbending will and determination to become stronger that kept him striving for more.
Everything they had seen just a few minutes ago was already weird, but seeing Dilan stab himself was hard to believe.
Crimson blood trickled down from the injury, but Dilan merely gritted his teeth as he curled his fingers around the hilt of the War dagger and pulled it out of his abdomen.
What followed suit was blood flowing out of the self-inflicted wound as if the walls of a dam had broken and water was gushing out.
It hurt like hell as unbearable pain shot up from the wound, and Dilan began to wonder if he had truly stabbed himself just now. His senses were clouded and his brain turned foggy.
He couldn’t even think properly anymore and simply forced himself to activate his Origin ability.
[Regeneration]!
An itching sensation surrounded the deep knife wound, just for his ability to stop working after ten seconds had passed.
As such he activated his Origin abilityf once again.
[Regeneration]!
Ten seconds later the effect wore off again.
[Regeneration]!
And one last time after ten more seconds had passed, Dilan activated his ability once again.
[Regeneration]!
But that was not it, and Dilan closed his eyes forcing himself to think clearly.
He gathered the mana in his surroundings and filled the 0.1 units of mana he was missing after which he quickly activated his Origin ability once again.
[Regeneration]!
In a mere minute, his Origin ability had been activated a total of five times.
His body was rapidly healing, and the fountains of blood gushing out of his wound had stopped, before the levels of blood in his body would reach a dangerously low level.
But even then, Dilan couldn’t help but smile in pain as he took a look at the upgrade requirements of his Origin ability.
[1) Survive Deadly injuries! (4/5)]
He was satisfied with himself because everything had worked perfectly fine.
Thus, Dilan knew that he could repeat the same process over and over again.
In the end, the only issue would be enduring the enormous pain he was feeling even now, and overcoming the warnings of his own mind that told him it was stupid to injure himself.
But instead of listening to his mind, Dilan would rather follow his gut that told him one particular thing right now!
“I’m so fucking hungry!!”