Out of the entire team of young talents the healer was the one most shocked to see Ajax go to heal the bear. He was busy but now that he finished with the skull fracture nobody else had any lethal wounds, there were some crippling wounds that he will be taking care of for the rest of the night and a good chunk of tomorrow but there was no way he could ignore something like this.

Most healing magic was either buried in a deep vault of a noble family or under the protection of the Healing Union yet here was this new healing spell that didn’t even require a chant. Most healing spells that did anything more than first aid worked on more of a chanel with the spell starting after an initial chant and a second chant being required to keep the spell going, that was how the healer examined and made sure all of the damage was fixed. The method was advanced yet it had one key issue, if you were chanting a healing spell you couldn’t chant an offensive spell so it meant that mages could only be off healers after combat had ended.

“I’ll need a mana break.” the healer said as he took out a potion and chugged it down before moving over to Ajax’s side. Unlike the potion Ajax took that instantly recovered some mana for him this one increased his mana regeneration, meaning he would get more mana but it would only come in ten minutes.

Much to the healers' relief, the healing spell Ajax was using on the bear was slowly working to piece the shattered bone back together in the paw. He had been at it for the last three minutes and the pieces weren’t even put together yet meaning the spell wasn’t all that quick when it came to any serious damage. It was still a great medical discovery but from the looks of it would be one that affected high end healers, or maybe even dedicated healers at all.

“There could still be some bruising but he should be able to put some weight on it now and swipe with it if it comes down to it.” Ajax said as he blew out a tired breath.

With only two hundred mana left Ajax was ready to go back to bed. He went over to his sleeping bag and didn’t even bother removing his armor as he collapsed and fell asleep in seconds. Nobody in the team chastised or moved to wake him, a good part of the members who suffered very little injuries even copied him and went back to bed so that they will be better rested if another attack happened.

“How strong was that mana potion you gave him?” the healer asked Trevor.

“I am not a mage, all I have are the basic potions.” Trevor responded.

With that information the healer knew that not only was Ajax’s healing slow it also wasn’t all that efficient but that was only true when it came to healing a bear. All healers knew that your efficiency when healing yourself was much higher than when healing others since you had a much better idea of what was wrong when you were the one sporting the wound. Even if it was improved, however, that healing wouldn’t do much to massive injuries.

The healing ability would be a godsent equivalent to an Epic skill for a physical fighter. In combat with others of comparable strength it wasn't a massive killing blow that won the fight and it wasn’t a slow bleed out, at least not in most cases. The fight usually ended because of a debilitating blow that shifted the match heavily to one side. This could be anything from a shattered elbow to a cut hamstring. Those wounds weren’t massive and as such Ajax would be able to heal them, not only that but he could also use the fact that he healed them as a surprise attack. When your opponent took a quick step with the foot you thought was limp there was every chance you could lose your head.

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“How are you doing buddy?” Trevor gently asked as he scratched the bear behind the ears.

“GRRRR!” with a mix between a purr and a growl the bear communicated his affection as well as a request to be fed.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get you some food just be a little patient.” Trevor shook his head with amusement at his bond. “Everyone that is not injured and taking watch, get to work gathering those golem bodies. The rock they are made of is solid so set up a few defensive barriers. If we are attacked again I want a few solid walls up around us.”

The rest of the night went by peacefully as did the next morning. The watch shift had swapped with the first rays of light. The new shift took over for the previous and continued building up their local defenses, Ajax had used a good chunk of the mana he recovered overnight to finish up healing the bear’s paw as well as the bruises on the bisons. While this may not look all that impactful it actually allowed the team to get a move on since their pack carriers could now move.

It was a little past noon when the team finally got moving again. None of the mages were at their full mana and Ajax was sitting at around halfway but it was still enough for them to get moving. They spent the rest of the day clearing a perimeter around their temporary base hoping to ensure they wouldn’t be attacked again the second night. The day went well, they didn’t find any more golems but the did come across both scorpions and massive worms.

Ajax was more careful during the battle with the scorpions this time around. Unlike when he faced them on the first day he wasn’t just going for the kill this time and took extra care not to crush the poison sack. The poison these scorpions carried was more akin to acid than poison being very corrosive to anything but the delicate organic material that made up the poison sack. It was so corrosive in fact that the number one method for killing the scorpions was to simply picture the sack and have the poison kill the scorpion afterwards by corroding it away from the inside.

“Oh no you don’t.” Both of the people bonded with bison quickly approached Ajax the moment they saw what he was doing after the fight was over. “You want to take that with you fine but you’re carrying it.”

Ajax opened his mouth to argue but stopped before he spoke his first word. He did see their point of view, all it would take was a small rip in the sack and not only would it spill all over the rest of the equipment it would also most likely ground the bison for a whole day of healing at the very least.

The second night was thankfully quiet. The team still didn;t get all that much of a restful sleep as all of them were still very much on edge after the attack the previous night but they were much more rested the following morning and they were ready to head off down river to see where the rest of the monsters on this floor were.

As they made their way through the rocky jungle the team had its first profitable find. They were also glad to see that it didn’t come in the form of a monster. In the middle of a rather large clearing was a massive rock covered in volcanic moss. The moss resembled the forest moss in texture but was a bright red in color, not only that but they could take this moss outside the dungeon where a skilled alchemist would be able to use it. The most common use for it would be for a fire resistance potion or in the creation of a fire resistant coating for a piece of armor.

Ajax was shocked to find out that you don’t actually drink resistance potions. All of his years of gaming just to find out that the elemental resistance potions were used by dousing yourself with them, he was thankful that came up in conversation before he had to use one as he would have made a fool of himself by drinking it.

Their journey came to a pause as they followed the magma river to a small pond. The pond’s most prominent feature was the large swirling whirlpool that looked to be stirring the magma.

“Well at least now we know why the magma doesn’t just cool and harden.” someone said as they carefully approached the edge.

“I think I see something swimming in there.” the scout said as he noticed ripples break away from the circular motions to head towards them.

“Furnace salamander!!!” Trevor shouted, a bit of panic creeping into his voice. “Everyone back the way we came quickly.”

The team didn’t waste a second. They weren’t even doing a tactical retreat away from the salamanders; they were clearly advancing in a different direction, not even stopping to take a pot shot towards the bloated lizards that had crawled out of the magma and were waddling quickly towards them.