But now that it has come to this, there's no turning back. They couldn't make it like it was the other's fault. No one would care. They'd both be punished. And come said punishment, it would be a fate far worse than death. A one that makes them beg for it. All they could do was one thing...
SIGH~
"Fine!!" Berom said, digging his long ashen nails in Arkam's shoulders. Looking him dead in the eyes he said, "The last resort it is!"
...faking their deaths.
...
[Time: 04:50:07 | 04/10/532]
"Roughly an hour had passed."
Kevin, rather now 'Tallaq', checked the time to see how well he had been doing so far. He shook his head remembering how he doubted the use of this exact feature. And the [Map].
During his hike he found out a few more things about his system. One is that, when he reaches a certain spot, the place's name and a few more details get displayed on the map. For example where he was, was called the [Grimhold Woods]
He also kept activating his [Gaze] Skill so often that it was now sitting at level 7. The level up only increased the activation duration, along with the heat vision option being unlocked.
He switched the [Gaze] vision types along the way and found a few wounded creatures. Critters and small sized mammals. And even them, he didn't heal completely. Just enough so that they don't die. But not too much that they'd be back to their feet. And start attacking him.
He used them to grind his [Heal] skill on them only when he deemed them harmless to him.
[Skill/Exclusive - Heal]
- Allows the user to heal minor injuries, cleanse weak toxins and relieve mild pain.
- MP: Until the target heals or MP reserves run out.
It was quite the 'whack' skill. In his own words. No definite MP to be consumed means that he won't be able to choose the optimal Skill when in the thick of it.
It made it even harder for him to tell how much is enough to keep his targets alive and him safe. He had to be very familiar with all types of injuries and toxins to know what would need how much. Hence the healing spree.
But the upside was that it had no Cool-down time. Which would have been a hustle. Especially in the midst of the battlefield.
Not that he was intending to partake in any.
'[Gaze]'
He activated his Skill yet another time. With his vision alternating between 'heat mode' and 'mana mode' as he called them. And in doing that, he found a fleeting source of heat. Somewhere behind a few trees and bushes.
He used the mana mode. And found that the mana coming from the source was burning out. Both figuratively and literally.
At the source, there was a grey black-hole-like structure twirling inwards. Losing size with every passing second. Taking his dagger out, he took small cautious steps. Upon arriving at a clearing he found a bloody figure. Covered in cuts and burns here and there. Their face was obscured by whatever short hair they got. And they were leaning on a tree in a sitting position.
'I think it's a she.'
He checked the surroundings using his Skill that now has two modes. Upon clearing the area he rushed forwards. He leaned forwards and put his palms a few inches away from his target, immediately using his Skill.
"[Scan]" He didn't bother about doing it mentally.
The air rippled faintly, like a thread being plucked in silence. Mana stirred—not with violence, but with eerie precision. It coiled up from within him, responding to his command like a trained current, steady and cold.
Lines of light flickered into being before his outstretched hands, spiraling outward in fine arcs of red and silver, weaving a delicate circular array in the air.
The sorcery pattern formed quickly—a clean, symmetrical emblem of intersecting circles and razor-thin lines, shaped like a magical stethoscope or diagnostic compass, its purpose etched into every point of the symmetry.
As the final sigil locked in, a rune of a stethoscope clad in red and silver flared above the wounded figure—a lens of light that magnified pain itself.
In an instant, the spell took hold. The circle began hovering all over the figure. Like a bee around a flower.
The target's body began to glow with ghostly red lines, bleeding softly through her tattered clothing. Cuts, bruises, and abrasions lit up like cracked glass veins, radiating from her limbs and torso.
Then came the darker hues—deep purple blotches blooming across her chest and intestines, like bruised ink trapped beneath her skin.
A faint thrum echoed through the clearing as the sorcery circle suspended above her rotated slowly, casting a shifting light across her injuries.
Her entire body flickered in and out of a shimmering, anatomical outline—like an x-ray made of burning starlight, exposing every wound, every internal distortion, every foreign substance clinging to her being.
"Let's stop the bleeding first. [Heal]!!"
His body began to emit some transparent energy that looked like steam, but never truly left his body. More like engulf him.
Then an emerald circle of some intricate design appeared right before his palms before the magic got released from the green circle and onto the 'target' it went. Engulfing her entirely.
Immediately garnering him notification messages about his [Heal] getting more EXP points. Which he disregarded.
Blood began to slowly flow back into the wounds that it came from. Then the torn flesh began to slowly and lazily crawl back together before the skin began to stitch itself up. All the while sizzling like sausages on a saucepan.
'Freaky!' He said at the sounds he heard a dozen times by now.
[Ding! Heal Lv 1 -> Lv 3]
"[Scan]"
He then checked the target again. No more red patches were found. And only the purple ones left.
'They were so severe that it leveled up twice?' He grinned greedily, internally thanking the girl for almost dying. He then proceeded to check his MP...
[MP: 1528]
...which caused his grin to fall immediately. And a sigh escaped him.
SIGH~
'Well that explains the level up.' He thought to himself before returning his attention to the person.
"Guess that's all for the wounds. And what are these I wonder."
He then focused all his attention towards the purple patches and applied his Skill yet again.
"[Heal]!"
The same process happened again.
He pointed his hands onto the person before him. His body began to emit the transparent energy that looked like steam. A bright green circle appeared. The magic got injected onto the target.
And, again, he got notifications saying that his [Heal] Skill was getting more EXP points. But this time they were much more that they practically blindfolded him.
He began to feel dizzy. Ragged breathes escaping him as his back got drenched in cold sweat, he began swaying around. Before his vision went completely blank. And...
THUD!!
...he fainted.
Not even knowing that he achieved his goal. That the first ever human patient he got was well and alive, and that it was thanks to him.
Not that he cared.
...
"!!!"
Kevin began to slowly and cautiously open his eyes. Nothing else moved. Just his eyelids. Not because he felt danger, which was there. Nor because he wanted to be subtle about anything, which he severely needed right now. No, it was not.
It was just a force of habit.
You'd be surprised to know the number of evasive skills you develop when you live in a screwed up family like his.
'Old habits die hard.'
He smiled bitterly as he sat up with his back hunched over. His temples began to hammer at the sides with each and every passing beat. His ears were ringing. And his entire body was on pins and needles.
He'd have asked what happened had he had any company, however wary of them he might get. But such things were far beyond his current budget. So he did what he hated the most in his past life.
'[System Logs]'