Chapter 42

The Replacements

Bring.

Brrinnnggg.

Brrriinnnggg.

A chiming sound was going off, that was so loud that I couldn’t help but wake up.

“What, huh?” I blurt out as I reach out wildly trying to swat at the alarm clock, only to realize that I am not in my room, that there is no such thing as an alarm clock, and I somehow fell asleep in a chair. I was apparently a lot more tired than I expected, if I fell asleep in a chair. Also my body, despite being so young is telling me that sleeping in a chair was a bad idea. Of course, I am young which means that just stretching is already causing the knots in my muscles to go away. I so do love this younger body.

Bbbrrriiinnnggg.

Oh, right, the noise that awoke me. By now even Zero is stirring. I look around the room, to see a glowing magical light coming from the cracks of a cabinet. I have a particularly hard time finding most items that are inside other items, but when magic is involved, they all but glow to my sense. In this case, the glowing magic ball is no different, as I can easily find it.

Moving over I open up the cabinet to find and touch the magic ball.

The minute I do, I can see the magical image of the person at the far end of the ball. This is the great thing about my Angel’s Sight, the fact that this is all magic, means I can see it clearly, well more clearly than the general silhouettes that I see on people. So in this case, I see a rather old human male with tan skin, silver hair and deep set bags under his eyes appear in the ball.

“Oh, good there is a survivor.” The voice of the old human calls out from the other end of the ball.

“I, what?” I ask.

“You are a survivor, oh, and I see you were to be the Apprentice under Dr. Kiran.”

As the voice speaks, the details of what happened last night? Earlier today? I don’t know. Honestly everything is one big blur to me.

I check my timer to see that I have unlocked my new class skill.

Class Skill Perk Gained: Spirit Magic Spell Creation: With this skill you can create spirit-based magic spells, so long as your Magical Theory and Spell Theory are adequate to generate the spell you wish to make. Skill Spirit Magic Spell Creation is an Endurance, Personality, Sociability, Appearance, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.

Seeing the description, I realize that the new skill Dr. Kiran taught me Magical Theory was likely a prerequisite needed for this very skill. In fact, seeing the skill, it was clear that this was likely a function of the original Spell Creation skill that was so coveted. Everyone just saw the final end goal, and wanted that, never really understanding that there were different components needed to get to this final point. Also, this meant that others would need to be trained under me, if only so they could take advantage of this skill.

This skill also makes me wonder about the underlying mechanics of the game. Since I wanted this skill as part of my class, is that what caused this whole crazy chain of quests designed to get me to save Zero? Thinking about this, I also realize that the system is jerk, as there were times when it wanted me to absorb Zero’s energy to gain immediate power. I am glad I didn’t do that, but doubly glad now, as that was likely a test to see if I was deserving of this skill. Had I been willing to sacrifice Zero, then the system would have likely given me this remarkable skill, but I would forever be crippled in it as I was missing the prerequisite Magical Theory skill to make the spell truly invaluable.

This of course brought up the question, what was the difference between Magical Theory and Spell Theory. One obviously focused on the actual process of spells and how they were formed, how they circulated through your body. But Magical Theory seemed to imply that there were a few certain fundamental aspects that governed all magic. The fact that Dr. Kiran was teaching me to heal with my right hand, meant that there were at the very least benefits to that. That I could use Spirit Magic in far more ways than I originally thought, so long as I knew the basic principles of magic and went along with them. Or if I fought them, I would have to likely pay a price in the terms of spell time, mana cost, accuracy, or range. The more I thought, the more I realized there was likely some truth to this whole chain of events, that I was just on the cusp of understanding.

“Hello… Hello.”

“What? Oh, sorry, I was just a little distracted.”

“No doubt, I can fully understand with everything that has happened. It appears that renegades have gone through and destroyed the town to rubble. Right now, we need people to help out wherever possible. Could I enlist your aide in helping new settlers rebuild the town? We need a dedicated healer, and unfortunately you are the only person we have available at the moment.”

New Quest: Not The Healer They Wanted…: Due to an unfortunate string of events, the town of Crossroads finds itself at a perilous point in its development. You have been asked by the Mage’s Guild Head Healer: Robert Vittal, to stay in Crossroads for the time being and be a dedicated healer. Rewards: Experience, Badge: Super Healer (150), New Skills, Increased Relationships with each faction you heal.

Seeing that quest, I couldn’t help but see that it was clearly an upgrade to the mere Apprentice badge I had been offered. Also, this would likely help me out even more in the long run, of course there is only one problem.

“I would, and will, but there is just one problem.”

At the comment that I will, I feel something click into place in my mind, letting me know my answer has been accepted.

“What?”

“I barely passed the apprenticeship," I say honestly, as I don’t have much in the way of actual healing experience.

“Not to worry, I am granting you ownership of everything in Dr. Kiran’s office, along with access to the restricted healer’s section of the mage’s library. Know that this does not grant you complete access, but you are allowed to look for answers to questions you seek.”

Status updated: Mage Guild Membership has temporarily risen to Acting Lead Healer of Crossroads Mage’s Guild. Temporary access to Dr. Kiran’s notes, medical supplies, and office is granted. Temporary access to the Crossroad Mage’s Guild Restricted Section on Healing is also granted.

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“Okay.” I say, seeing the notice.

“Very good if there are no other concerns.”

“Uh, wait, there is one.”

“What is it?” He asks, looking slightly annoyed at the disruption again.

“Sorry, I am just a member in good standing with all of the other guilds, could you let them know that they can come to me for healing as well.”

“Already noted, but thank you for thinking of our sister guilds, in times like these we all need to come together. The fact that you are willing to immediately think of others is a boon we wish to encourage here at the Mage’s Guild.” The head Healer for the Guild, Robert Vittal said.

Silence.

“Well, if there is nothing else, then I really must be going here. Thank you for this, and please stay with us.”

“Oh sure,” I say not quite understanding the last statement.

Click.

Only once he is off, does the full ramification of his last statement make sense. He wants me to stay on and help the rebuilding process of this town. While destroying is easy, and often rewarded by quick grabs of power, true power comes from being at the core of a developing town, when it tries to logically build its way back up from rubble.

This quest is perfect for me, as it means I can learn at my own pace, reading books and manuscripts to take in knowledge quickly. Also, this was the games way of trying to reestablish a balance, a quest chain had been taken away from me, but a better chain was now made available so long as I filled out the prerequisites. Namely, I had to learn to be a doctor myself based on what I read and learned. Then apply that in real time to people who would come in needing assistance, thus further reinforcing what I had learned, while also giving me new knowledge and different evolving skill sets to build from. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but smile to myself, as I decided I was going to devote myself fully to this.

In real life doing this would be impossible, this would be the equivalent of being made a doctor after just gaining access to the hallow net, sure you could use Boolean logic to find what you needed or wanted, but that would only be half of what learning was. The other half would be taking what was presented to you and being able to apply it to the real world.

I figured I had a bit of time before I would officially be needed to provide healing to people. Just now the higher ups in the different Guilds were learning about what had happened and were now sending out gear and supplies. In the game, this is what our guild fees and dues went to. Logically the guild had spent a lot of time and resources into setting up this outpost here as a fall back place for people to exchange knowledge or sell items found on higher levels of the tower. By having one city, a hub at the base of a tower, it meant that people would be more willing to come here in search of food, or other resources needed to delve deeper into the tower. Also places like this over time would eventually become key trading places where knowledge of what lay on higher floors would be made available to the public. All of this was needed, if this tower was going to be built up. The tortoise spire tower used to have a town, but it was ransacked so many times that the people eventually stopped coming and the tower became a ghost tower where only the heartiest of explorers would go.

Crossroads was close to that, in fact, if I left the town likely would be left to go to rubble. As it was, since I, a regressor, was here, I was forcing the game to allocate resources to this town. Resources that logically had to come from the guild who would bring their family and friends with them, in order to rebuild. When they came to rebuild their families would need housing and different shops that they would then build and move into as time went on. Basically, the indestructible nature of Guild Halls all but assured the towns would rebuild, eventually.

I also knew that the game made sure that regressors like me, those willing to stay and help the rebuilding process were vital to a town, as this meant other regressors and adventurers could come here and not have to deal with the devastation brought by other murder hobos that seemed okay with ruining everything for everyone.

This was likely the best part of the game, for me at least, it gave us all an option to exceed and be rewarded for what we would naturally do on our own. Me, I would naturally want to learn more, and helping out never hurt. For people that just wanted to adventure they could easily do that, while never getting caught up in the politics of rebuilding a city, and the possible political ramifications of that. In fact that was how the Maltese empire was founded, a group of regressors banded together after high level adventuring parties rode through and decimated Wonderly village, though at the time it was named something else entirely. Still the group of regressors all worked in consort with each other, and built up the city to be a political powerhouse. Since the six regressors all worked so hard to build the city up, they were raised in social statuses each time the city increased in size and power. Then finally their work was so recognized by the system and by fellow regressors that they were eventually elevated to the six original royal families of Maltese. I am not saying I intend to do that here, but that is what could happen. I could be the sole ruler of a tower empire, an empire that I would be uniquely capable of ruling. I would be lying if I said that this train of thought didn’t have a bit of an appeal to me, but that was not my life. That was not what I wanted from this life anyways, at least not at the moment. For the moment, I just wanted to learn an invaluable trade craft, healing, and magic spell creation, and turn that into fun and profit.

Also being queen would be so boring, stealing from yourself never sounds as much fun as stealing from an oppressive regime. Sadly being queen means that I would eventually be seen as the very oppressive regime that I would in turn wish to steal from. That is why I do not see this lasting for long, though as an Elf, I am granted an exceptionally long life span. Also with my spell theory, I could likely become a healing powerhouse. Just as I am having this thought I get a new system message.

Quest Update: Not The Healer They Wanted…: You have agreed to become the resident healer for the Crossroads branch of the Mage’s Guild. In order to become a true healer, you must take on certain basic knowledge levels. To become a true Apprentice Healer, you must find five items of scientific knowledge related to healing that will help you advance (0/5). To become a Journeyman Healer, you will need to find ten items of scientific knowledge related to healing that will help you advance (0/10). To become a true doctor of healing, you will need to find twenty-five items of scientific knowledge related to healing that will help you advance (0/25).

The minute the glass ball in my hand goes dim, I notice that multiple items around the room are now glowing to me. Before the items in the room had been under the fog of war mentality, meaning that unless I had been given them directly, or I pilfered them, or they were otherwise noted as being of importance, they would remain dull and lifeless, now that I was given the task of becoming an Apprentice healer and beyond, they all glowed to me. Also, it didn’t hurt that this room was mine, at least for the time being. Of course this was only temporary, as another healer likely will come along and test my resolve to see both how much I have improved since I was given the task of becoming the healer the town needed. If I learned too little, then I would immediately be cast out from my role and thanked, though likely receiving far fewer rewards. Of course, the true rewards lay in reading these glowing texts before me and ingesting the new knowledge that each one potentially offered. With so many tomes of knowledge I knew new skills were just waiting around the corner. Also, some of these tomes would hopefully help me improve my Magical Theory and Spell Theory skills, which would be needed to increase my new Class skill Spirit-Magic Spell Creation. Those three skills were my primary reason for staying here at the Mage’s Guild, well that and the fact that since I had an office here, I was effectively granted asylum from having to leave here and be subjected to being attacked by random murder hobos that were still roaming the streets. The minute they killed Dr. Kiran, their ability to enter the Mage’s Guild became impossible as any affiliation they had with the guild would at the very least be temporarily revoked. This membership revocation was done to protect regressors like me from having to go back out into a war-torn street that they had no chance of living.

Thinking about it, this might also be the system’s way of helping me survive a little longer, as the system had no problem with letting me get killed by my own stupidity to various creatures, though it did try to protect players who generally avoided violence. Also right now, my staying alive had a direct impact on this tower, as I was the only way this tower could grow in number of levels, and therefore grow in importance. Currently the tower would be capped at almost the minimum level of floors as I had only conquered the first floor, at least according to my quest log.

Hidden Quest Updated: First Acanarus Tower Climber: Your goal of getting a recognized degree from Arcanarus University has been noted. Explore the tower, reach the fiftieth floor and receive the reward that you seek. Reward: Experience, Arcanarus University Diploma, Title: Arcanarus University Graduate. Floors completed (1/50).

Honestly, with my new class skill that Diploma doesn’t look nearly as exciting as it used to, but that is fine, I still have it as a quest and it is one that I intend to complete. At the very least, the Diploma will be a good badge worth having and telling others about.

“Hello?” A groggy Zero speaks up and talks to me.

“Hello, how are you feeling?”

“Like I got runover by a train.” Zero says, as he just clasps his head.

At that I stare at him.

“What?”

“Did you just tell a Meta Joke?”

“A what?”

“A Meta Joke, a terrible joke that you then get me to explain first how it was a joke and then how you would find it funny.”

“What? I still don’t get it.”

At this I inwardly groan, as I can all but tell that this is a meta joke. “You said, that you feel that you got run over by a train. That is a bad joke as you literally got your injury from sleeping in our train car, then getting slammed into the wall, where you cracked open your head. Now, that I am explaining it to you, can you at least see the irony?”

“Oh, haha. I guess that could be considered a pretty good joke.”

I just shake my head, then go about pulling out the glowing objects in the room, there are fifteen in all, meaning that if I learn them all and internalize them I will be considered a Journeyman Healer at the very least. It is at this time that I realize why access to the restricted section of the library was added, as I will likely need to go there for the final ten, or more, items. Still, this is a good start at the very least.

“What is all of that?” Zero asks.

“This is my training material. I am going to be this town’s resident Healer, at least for the moment.” I tell my familiar.

Zero nods his snout, but then instantly clutches his head. “Ow.”

“Yeah, you likely still have some minor injuries.” I say, “lie back.”

He does, and with that I begin once again circulating the blood in his body, while applying more healing paste. So it was that my first patient on my way to becoming a true healer was my familiar.