<h4>Chapter 36: Recovery and Lollipop</h4>


    Adam, Nera, Katrin, and Mark sessfully climbed into the fighter and left Deste Forest as fast as possible.


    Naturally, Damien was here as well. In front of him, on the table was a massive azure crystal - the only thing left of the Azure Smander, as it was the most valuable part.


    "We are approaching the citadel. We will arrive in ten minutes." The pilot said calmly as his voice spread throughout the fighter via the speakers.


    "Alright! Soon, we''ll be home, and this long day will be over!" Damien waved his hand, sitting rxed in his chair with his legs draped over the table.


    "Excuse me..."


    Katrin timidly approached him, which wasn''t like her at all. Usually, she acted much more confident and even cocky.


    "Hmm? You need something hottie?" Damien smirked, directing his gaze from her face to her bosom.


    ''Naughty...'' Beth muttered.


    Katrin nodded.


    "Yeah, I wanted to thank you for your help. Without you, we would have died!" Katrin bowed low, she sounded more than sincere.


    Damien shrugged his shoulders.


    "You don''t have to thank me. I was going to booze tonight and spend the night in thepany of lovelydies, but you''ve given me a much more interesting time!"


    "Mr. Damien... Pardon my rudeness, but didn''t you only fight the monster for one minute?" Mark asked, scratching the back of his head.


    Damien smirked.


    "Rookie, sometimes even one second can be so important that your whole life is decided! Adam, am I saying this right?" Damien nced at Adam, who was half asleep sitting in the corner.


    He was very tired, more than the others, also he was badly hurt, especially his broken arm.


    "Agh...? One second can decide a life...?" Adam mumbled slurred, "Yeah, I guess I''d agree with that."


    Damien only smiled silently, putting on his sleep mask with a light p.


    "That''s it, go sit somewhere out of the way." Damien waved his hand like an annoying fly away, turning to Katrin, "Your selfish intentions are as obvious as the fact that you need a shower. You stink."


    Katrin blushed with embarrassment and shame, but she didn''t fight with Damien, she had no right to.


    Adam was falling asleep, andstly, he nced at Damien, who cast a curious nce at him. It seemed that their brief acquaintance would not end there.


    ...


    The fighter descended, everyone was asleep, not just Adam. Damien was the only one who remained awake because for him it was nothing more than entertainment.


    A group of military officers and medics met them and immediately sent them for medical examination. No one woke them up, instead, they were injected with sleeping pills and a dose of vitamins.


    Among the military, there were several Harvesters that took the azure crystal, rting it to the research department.


    On the way out of the fighter aircraft, a rxed Damien was met by La - the woman who wanted to fight Adam in the forge.


    "Would you like to talk? I think we have a lot to discuss." La offered casting a nce at Adam, the doctors carrying him away.


    "Oh, I thought you were going to invite me to your ce for the night. I wouldn''t say no, you know?" Damien smirked.


    ...


    La and Damien stood on the Citadel wall, overlooking a vast wastnd lit only by a lonely moon. The cold wind blew against them like a mutepanion ready to overhear their conversation.


    "Looks like you made it through without a problem, as usual." La waved her hand.


    Damien shrugged.


    "Yeah... but I''ll be honest if he hadn''t been among the missing, I wouldn''t have pushed things so aggressively," Damien smirked.


    "Sure. Naturalborn Phantoms have been showing up less and lesstely. Not everyone in high ces agrees with this intention of the government, but honestly, it is the right decision." La nodded with a slight uncertainty in her gaze.


    Damien sighed.


    "It''s simple, I can see why they do it."


    "Hmm?" La gave him a questioning look.


    "They want to bet on quantity over quality since we already have quality. It''s much more effective to make ten Artificialborn Phantoms than to send them to fight a monster 1 vs. 1. If 10% of them can win, it''s already a sess. Moreover, quantity is already a quality in itself. Ten Artificialborn Phantoms can definitely handle one Naturalborn One."


    Damien replied while looking at a few silhouettes in the distance. They were the squads of Phantoms that had taken over the night missions.


    La sighed heavily, scratching her forearm awkwardly.


    "You say that... but if you had the power to change that, would you make your Phantom path different? I mean, would you change the beginning?"


    "You know the answer to that." Damien shrugged nonchntly, "If you''ve been through the ordeal of life, the real hell, there''s no way you''d want to erase that event from your history because it''s your greatest victory - the victory that became the sprout of your future self."


    La didn''t answer anything, she just bit her lip with a deep, thoughtful look.


    "By the way... I heard that the development department hase up with something really interesting. You were the first to try out the exoskeleton, so maybe, soon, Naturalborn Phantoms will be a lot more." Damien said with a slight smile.


    "Pffft!"


    La snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.


    "That young man, Adam, he wouldn''t even fight me even though I did my best to do so! He said he doesn''t fight humans! Damn him!"


    "Hahahahahahaha! Yeah, I heard that, not a bad line, by the way... what about my guess?" Damien''s gaze became sharper, "With an exoskeleton, it''s really possible to kill a monster and be a Naturalborn Phantom?"


    La sighed heavily.


    "No one knows yet. The exoskeleton that I tested a couple of days ago was the first one. Right now, it''s being tested and upgraded, nothing more. It will take a lot more time and experimentation to find out about the possibility of bing a Naturalborn Phantom. I''m sure it won''t be as easy as we''d like it to be."


    "Hah, yeah, it looks that way." Damien shook his head, then he smiled widely, looking predatorily at La.


    "So? How about we brighten this night with each other after all? Military women are my weakness, you know that."


    "Agh, you''re lucky I like strong men."


    "Hahaha, that''s me!"


    ...


    Adam opened his eyes.


    It had been a little over twenty-four hours since they had gotten back, the fatigue and sleeping pills had yed their part.


    However, he was not on a bed with a white sheet but immersed in a green liquid inside a special medical pod.


    In the end, besides the many bruises and scratches, he had one major injury: a fracture. However, a few muscles were badly stretched, on the verge of tearing, and that also needed a long treatment.


    A normal person with a fracture would have to wait a month or more for the wound to heal, but it was different for Phantoms.


    Turning around, he saw a girl with long purple hair tied back in a ponytail. She was monitoring his vitals on a tablet. She was sucking on a lollipop, moving it from one side to the other with a thoughtful look.


    "Hmm? Awake? An hour earlier than I expected. Well, all the better." The girl shrugged, opening the pod and letting Adam step outside.


    He came outpletely naked, he didn''t realize it since he was in mild shock.


    The girl looked down at him, stopping her gaze on his face and just below his waist, longer than she should have.


    "My name is Jena, I''m your doctor, but it''s not that important. I have a question for you." Jena uttered, pulling a lollipop out of her mouth and pointing it at Adam.


    "What...? Sure, ask."


    "Will you be my lover?"