After listening to that recommendation, he only became more stressed. Enthusiasm was something that Steve tried to grab a hold of, but right now it slipped through his exhausted, four fingers! 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Furthermore, it seemed pointless to just crawl through the streets aimlessly, so he asked. "Okay, but can you help me figure out where to find a potion?"

[Alchemists aren't exactly favored upon, throughout this city, so you will need to seek someone who sells potions illegally.] She added.

At this point, Steve started feeling agitated. This 'system' gave him such a vague recommendation, it was a useless tip even, because he wouldn't be able to find such a healthy alchemist in time, on the count that he couldn't even walk! The system may be teasing him, for all he knew.

"You're fucking with me, it'll take me forever to find an alchemist." He complained, but the system did not answer.

This short burst of anger got his blood pumping, so ironically, he started thinking straight for just a few seconds. Throughout these short seconds, he got a little idea. He was wearing this expensive-looking, green shirt, but in this case this shirt alone may help him survive a little while longer, so he put it into use. He took it off, slowly, and then twisted it a few times to create this sort of tension. This shirt was soaked in blood anyway, so there was no point in preserving it for any later use.

Then, he tied it around his waist to cover the stab wound on his back as best as he could. If those frogs hadn't stabbed through any of his organs, then he may be able to survive this nasty wound. However, the pressure that he put on his wound was so strong that he got knocked out several seconds later, he got knocked out cold. He put a halt to the severe blood loss, yes, but an unconscious man wasn't so different from a dead man, so he still might die after all.

…

Steve woke up after what felt like an eternity later! It was dusk now, so he may have slept for a few hours. He didn't feel so restful, so it was unlikely that this nap had helped much, but he was still alive and that mattered the most.

As soon as he woke up, the system was quick to spam him with another one of her recommendations. She was insistent.

[You must find a potion, however illegal it may be. Your wound can catch an infection, which can develop into a blood infection, and you don't want to suffer anything like that. Please, get moving!] She said.

"It still sounds crazy to me that potions, which can heal you, are illegal. That's so stupid!" He complained.

[These lands are barbaric, as I said.] She doubled back, [Potions can be beneficial, but they are seen as weird, dark magic. There are at least seven religions in this city alone that go against the arcane arts, so you can take a guess on how rare any particular portions are. But since you're still alive, you must seek them out, or you can find a medicinal herb at the very least!]

"Well, I'm surprisingly alive, so herbs it is." He muttered.

Afterwards, he sat up straight, and wanted to push his luck a bit further. On the count that he could harbor coherent thoughts again, he figured that he would be strong enough to walk now, so he tried exactly that!

Steve clung on the alleyway's walls, and forced himself to stand up. He managed to gain a bit more after he walked for a few steps, but he felt that he wouldn't be able to walk for long. It was hard enough to walk already, even with the support of the stone walls, so he might over-exert himself pretty quickly.

The system appreciated all of this effort, even if it might end up in vain, so she decided to make him a little promise. She wanted to give him a bit of motivation!

[Good job, Steve! I also want to tell you that if you find a health potion, and drink it, you will then get rewarded with fifty-system-points! Points of that amount should be just enough to help you buy a bodily upgrade, so I hope this motivates you to live, to survive.] She encouraged.

An upgrade of any sort didn't sound bad right now, but the system's promise only served to distract him from the pain, he didn't really get motivated. He just continued to walk across the alleyway, glued to the wall, and then half a minute later, he heard a sudden, but soft feminine tone behind him. For a second, he thought that he was going to get stabbed again, because no one seemed to walk through this alleyway unless they had to!

"Oh you poor thing, you look horrible!" She said.

Steve looked behind him, and noticed this strong figure, of a very feminine looking frog. These features contradicted one another, but she bore them with pride!

This lady had enough intimate curves to raise anyone's senses of breeding, she even had a fair amount of green hair on her head, so Steve felt a bit aroused here regardless of how he was one punch away from death! He was excited.

Anyway, the frog lady rushed towards him, made him sit down slowly and comfortably, and afterwards she promised to help even more. She pulled something out of her bag.

Without a sense of discretion, she then offered. "This is a strong, healing potion, it will patch your wounds up right away, sir! Here, please drink it!"

Considering the aura that this newcomer effortlessly radiated, he had enough reasons to trust her. Even if he didn't trust her, he was desperate, and a desperate man could not be picky!

Steve yanked the bottle off of her hands, and chucked it down his throat afterwards! It was a small bottle, so he didn't need much time to drink the whole thing. The potion was refreshing, because it had a hint of grape vine within it, which may help numb the pain soon.

Perhaps it worked too well, because a minute later, Steve couldn't move his legs anymore, he was paralyzed! It only took a few seconds for his arms to be rendered out of use as well, so the system may have had a point earlier, when she advised him not to drink suspicious potions.

Steve wasn't even given the chance to complain, because he was forced to embrace the uncomfortable effects of unconsciousness seconds later. In other words, he blacked out again!

~June 24, 1959~

Steve pictured the day when he met the love of his life, well, he was dreaming about it at least. It was a lovely sunny day, within one of the many beaches of Greece.

That was where he met Ashley, the very woman who would later on become his wife. Both of their families were visiting Greece, they were from the U.S. and that had ended up being their ice breaker, it got them talking.

On that day, she was wearing this beautiful, yellow sundress, which complimented her feminine features so gracefully and beautifully. Her smile could blind the lesser, and from that day onwards, their relationship developed towards the better, and the two of them had been through thick and thin! He died peacefully, after all, he died from old age, so that hinted how good his prior, human life had been.

It was very demotivating to think that he was here now, it was soul crushing, this world hadn't treated him well so far, so he'd rather not be in it if he had a choice. He missed his old wife dearly, as her radiant smile shone across his dreams to the point where it was almost haunting, the grief he felt was crippling, it was far greater than any type of pain that he could experience in this new world! His soul may never recover from this grief, but as far as facts were concerned, he had to live with it.

…

Steve woke up. Since he could feel his head throbbing like a sore thumb, it was unlikely that he had died, the afterlife still eluded him. He woke up because of this horrendous headache, and he couldn't do anything about it, he couldn't even rub the temple of his head because well, his hands were restricted. He was tied up.

Seconds later, Steve discovered that these couple of shackles were behind his current, unfortunate immobility. Now this was a terrible situation that he was in, but he was still happy that his limbs didn't feel as numb as they were anymore, they weren't paralyzed! This was the only good thing that he could notice for the time being.

Nevertheless, these shackles have spread his limbs far apart from each other, on this narrow and flat board, as if he was supposed to resemble the figure of Christ! He could not escape, no matter what he tried, so if it was that lady who tied him up, then she surely knew what she was doing.