Once they left the vault, Iris and Jude left the queen behind to go over everything they had just received. They didn’t go back to their nest though, choosing instead to climb to a branch that overlooked the birds and the rest of the forest. It was a sea of red leaves underneath them, and straight ahead, the blue open sky. Those birds that felt better after Iris’ treatment were zooming up, down, left and right, flying with all their might. The ones that lacked feathers still were itching to join them.

After settling on the branch and appreciating the dichotomy of death below and life above, Jude said, “Status,” and a floating window appeared in front of him.

[Name: Jude Masters

Occupation: Linguist

Sub-Occupation: Unknown

Lvl. 1

Health: 425

Mana: 100

Dexterity: 10

Strength: 65

Agility: 10

Notice: Other status options will open on level up.

Translation/Interpretation lvl. 10 (Max)

Fly lvl. 1]

It was frustrating, but Jude still had no equipment information to his status. He needed to level up fast so that he could at least unlock that and learn more about the items he had acquired. From what he could tell, his health and mana had increased significantly, and so had his strength.

“Can I see yours?” Jude asked Iris. “My status doesn’t help me much at all. At least Fly has been added to my skills.”

“Sure, here,” Iris replied and shared her screen with Jude.

[Name: Iris Lee

Occupation: Healer

Sub-Occupation: Unknown

Weapon: Shards of the Full Moon (Unique-F) - Dex: 50, Spell Power: 2

Armor: Adapted Fae Chrysalis (Unique-D) - HP:200, MP:175

Lvl. 3

Health: 500

Mana: 425 (+50)

Dexterity: 75

Strength: 10

Agility: 25

Stamina 25

Intelligence: 60

Notice: More status options available at level 5.

First-Aid lvl. 10 (Max)

Heal lvl. 3

Purify lvl. 3

Keen Vision (Unique-F)

Shadowstep lvl. 1

Titles:

Savior of the Fae - White Magic cast on creatures of the Fae Realm will have increased effect. Fae will view you with benevolence. Bonus: +50 mana.]

“At level 1, Shadowstep allows me to bamf for 15 meters, so about 50 feet, and I can use it once per minute. It uses ten mana on cast though, so it’s not free,” Iris explained.

“That means you have to leave at least ten mana available for it when we go into battle so you can get out quickly if things don’t go our way. I wish I could see as much as you. Guess it’s time to ‘Learn How to Fly,’” Jude said while playing an air guitar.

“There goes my hero…” Iris replied sarcastically.

“Hah! At least you caught the reference. OK, we should go back to the queen now. I think I’ll ask Rost to watch over me, and you should learn Mana Life.”

“You think I’ll be able to? Queen Millicent took forever to learn it. We only have three weeks left.”

“Just try. Even if you don’t learn it, you might learn something else. More understanding of magic is never a bad thing. Let’s do your thing first so that I can translate it for you, and once you know what to work on, I’ll go do my thing.”

“That’ll work. What time is it anyway? I lost all sense of it in that vault.”

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“Oh, right. Hmm… It’s almost 6 p.m. The sun will set soon. Let’s go anyway. Maybe we can find something to work on overnight.”

Having decided, Jude and Iris headed back to talk to Queen Millicent.

“We hope for your satisfaction,” the queen said when they approached.

“Very much so,” Jude said. “We are here to figure out what to do next. I have a new skill, Fly. So, I would like to request help with it from Rost. I could go out there and practice by myself, but if something goes wrong and I fall, that’ll be it for me. Also, Iris is ready to learn Mana Life.”

“Lots to do, but daylight eludes us.”

“We know,” Jude replied. “Is there anything you can teach her that she can work on overnight?”

“Mana Life requires a lot of mana. Have her deplete her pool completely every day.”

Jude was interpreting everything to Iris as the queen spoke, so hearing that, Iris said, “I guess I have to deal with being completely out. I can just make medical tools to use it up before I go to sleep today. When we have more time, I should probably use my other skills to level them up too. I have so much mana now…”

After settling on what Iris would do that night, the queen spoke to Rost about overseeing Jude’s training, and the king sang in agreement. They would start early the next morning.

“I have another question,” Jude said. “What do the birds eat? I know they bring us fish every day, and there is fruit from the tree, but do they hunt? Are there any other animals in the forest?”

“On the edge of the forest, opposite the red pulse, there are still roaming animals. They are warped by the rot, however. The birds need meat more substantial than the small fish. They eat knowing its poison.”

“Can I join them on a hunt?”

Queen Millicent pondered the idea before turning to Rost to ask the question. The bird king stared at Jude for a few moments before nodding in agreement.

“Once I have a handle on this new spell, I should join you as well. We’ll both be hunting, so I should do what I can without hesitation,” Iris added.

“Fair enough,” Jude agreed. There was no point in leaving Iris vulnerable. If she could take care of herself, the bigger the chance that both of them would return alive.

All that they could do for that day was done, so they enjoyed the sunset and the night sky before eventually returning to the nest, where Iris spent all of her mana on empty vials. She hoped that eventually the purified panacea that she created would last more than an hour in liquid form.

As soon as the sun rose, Jude and Iris got up and headed back to see Queen Millicent.

“What We will teach you, savior, will be painful,” the queen told Iris. “For Mana Life, you have to burn your mana instead of your life force. For that to happen, your life force needs to be constantly depleting. You will have to infect yourself.”

“What?!” Jude exclaimed as fast as the previous words left his mouth. “You want her to infect herself with rot?”

“It’s fine. I took that chance when I was testing the panacea, remember?”

“Riiight! I forgot you were reckless like that…”

Queen Millicent continued, “When the rot takes you, focus on the mana in your body. Picture yourself coating your organs with mana. Do not purify yourself. Just protect it. Live like that. Heal yourself only when you feel about to die.”

“This is crazy…” Jude said, but he knew the queen had gone through it herself. In fact, she had gone through it not knowing that she would gain that spell.

“We will guide the mana in your body when you start to show you how it is done.”

“No time like the present,” Iris said and pulled out a needle filled with a red liquid.

“What is that?!” Jude asked when he saw it.

“Concentrated rot. When I was healing the birds when you went to Mythrini’s cabin, I took samples. I wanted to create some kind of antigen that would combat The Devourer’s original rot, but I guess this will serve another purpose.” As she said that, she plunged the needle into her arm and pushed the liquid inside of her. The rot took hold quickly. Red veins spread everywhere from the puncture point in her arm, and she immediately felt her health starting to drop. “At least infection will go faster this way.”

Queen Millicent was surprised to see how rapidly the rot had spread within Iris, but she also knew that what was happening was a glimpse into the other potential of healers.

“Sit,” the queen said, and Iris did as she was told.

The queen approached Iris, standing tall over her. Queen Millicent was already taller than both of them, and now that she wasn’t hunched over, dying, the difference in stature was even more prominent.

Queen Millicent placed her hand on Iris’ head, and Iris felt like her blood started coursing in the direction of the touch. That was impossible, of course. What the queen was guiding toward her own hand was the accumulated mana within Iris.

“Remember this feeling. Understanding it. Replicate it,” Queen Millicent said. Then, the mana gathered by the queen started dispersing within Iris’ body. It searched for Iris’ organs, found them and surrounded them in a protective barrier. Iris had enough mana to cover all of her major organs, but the goal was to adjust it as both her health and mana depleted.

Iris’ eyes were bloodshot, and cold sweat streamed down her face, but she felt some relief when the mana within her started protecting her body. She knew the training would be a painful experience.

“We are done,” Queen Millicent announced. “Practice.”

“Yes…” Iris struggled to respond.

“This… It may be too much,” Jude said.

“Fine… You go… Learn to… Fly…” she struggled to say.

Jude was hesitant to do so, but Iris had chosen to undergo the painful training, so he had no right to stop her. She was trying to get stronger just as he was.

“I’ll see you later,” he said. He couldn’t kiss her or touch her or anything because she was completely infected. Her very skin was a vector of contagion. In fact, after Queen Millicent had touched Iris’ head, Iris had actually purified the queen’s hand.

“Later…” Iris replied.

Queen Millicent would stay by Iris’ side the entire time. The queen was a healer herself and would act if anything outside of expectations occurred. Knowing that, Jude wasn’t worried. He just didn’t want Iris to suffer as much as she was.

Iris, who was still sitting, closed her eyes to focus on the feeling of the mana in her body, and Jude turned to leave with Rost. The bird king was waiting for Jude perched on a branch just outside the queen’s nest. They had no way of communicating with each other, but Jude nodded to let Rost know that he was ready.

Then, he triggered Fly. The black, spectral wings extended out of Jude’s back, and he launched from the tree, the open blue sky in front of him. Rost followed soon after, and behind the king, came the rest of the hunting flock.

The flock overtook Jude—they would be the guides to the location—and Rost remained by Jude to act in case of an emergency. They flew like that for 50 seconds. Jude was making sure to check his watch since he didn’t have an internal clock for the new skill yet. After those 50 seconds, Jude soared straight up for ten seconds, until his wings disappeared in midair. The momentum kept him going further up for about five seconds before he initiated a ten-second free fall, which he knew would drop him roughly 1,000 feet from his experience skydiving. It was 1,000 feet for the first ten seconds, and once he hit critical velocity, it was 1,000 feet every five seconds after, which is why he had flown up. He wanted to delay the critical velocity fall long enough to trigger the skill again, and it worked just as he had intended.

As soon as Fly was available again, he used it, and his wings spread once more across the sky. Rost watched everything ready to take action, but the bird king didn’t need to.

They flew hard and fast in those 50-second intervals when Jude had just triggered his skill, so it only took them a total of five casts to get to the hunting grounds. Fly cost Jude ten mana, just like Shadowstep for Iris, so he still had half of his mana left, enough to get back.

Now, it was time to start the second part of his training.