A Unique Magic Skill

“Gemini Blue?” I audibly repeated the skill name with a hint of curiosity in my voice.

It was an odd sounding skill that’s to be sure, but I didn’t voice that opinion out loud, considering it might hurt Cielle’s feelings otherwise. Although I doubt she’s that sensitive.

Off to my side, I saw Cielle nod her head while her eyes visibly went from left to right. Looking closely, I could tell she was still busily reading over the new information on her skill.

After a while, Her eye’s refocused back on me.

“So, what does it do?” I asked nonchalantly, not really expecting an answer.

By this point, the two of us were still strangers, and although I might have gone out of my way to help Hina, since its common human courtesy, I didn’t necessarily trust the two girls in front of me.

This logic was fortified by my years of constant isolationism. When you’ve never had anybody close you could trust, its kind of hard to start now.

Besides, I already had a general guess as to what it could do. Well, no, that statement’s not accurate. The only thing I knew was it had something to do with healing. Following the trend with my own unique skill, [All Heal], then the common conclusion would be that [Gemini Blue] was also a skill somehow related to healing.

But it seems like Cielle is a bit more open and less cautious than the paranoid me.

She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out. Her expression indicated that it wasn’t that she didn’t want to explain, but rather she didn’t know how.

She closed her mouth into a tight frown, squinted, and tilted her head in a thinking position.

After a while, she finally spoke up.

“Well, it can heal… sort of.”

It was my turn to frown. What did she mean by sort of?

Seeing my facial expression, Cielle frowned as well, her originally haggard mess of silky black hair drooped down to cover her whole face as she looked down, and crossed her arms.

Seemingly having come up with no solution, Cielle just sighed.

“It… it might be faster if I just show you.” She stated simply while her body moved into an awkward position in front of her sister.

By the way, it seems to me that Hina had become our sort of pseudo guinea pig for all things healing related, from hp potions to healing skills… I won’t say anything to Cielle about it though, since I don’t think she’s realized we’ve started using her injured sister like that… For now I’ll let it continue, mostly since its convenient.

Cielle moved her hands awkwardly towards her sister. Her hands palmed out, almost touching the clothes on her sister’s body.

Through the mat of hair blocking her face, I could see that her expression was also a bit awkward, as if wondering whether such a pose was truly necessary.

In a low, and soft voice, two words leaked out from her lips,

“Gemini Blue…”

In the next instant something blue and transparent emerged from her outstretched palms. It was also rather viscose and was shaped like a misshapen bubble.

It  had a pale glow to it, much like the color and vibrancy of the status windows.

The blue-bubble-blob congregated at the center between her palms to form one big cohesive bubble. Small flickers of light could be seen dancing around freely in this blue universe.

Once the bubbles had joined together, they then extended out slowly and began to spread onto Hina.

Cielle’s expression showed a bit of apprehension at this point. From the looks of things, it seems like she didn’t quite trust her ability, which was only natural. Although after a bit, her stance got… steadier, as if to show her own conviction.

She continued on with her weird skill.

The bubble blob seemed to thin as it seeped into Hina’s clothes then onto her flesh. In a little under 10 seconds, every trace of [Gemini Blue], from the pale blue bubble to the tiny sparkles, were now gone. They had completely entered Hina’s body doing whatever it was they were meant to do.

We waited in silence. I wasn’t quite sure what was happening and Cielle looked just as confused as me.

After 30 seconds of silence, the blue began to seep out from every pour of Hina’s skin.

I heard Cielle let out a relieved sigh. She swiped the cold sweat on her forehead and continued to glare at what was happening.

What seeped out this time wasn’t the original viscose liquid bubble but rather a fine mist of light blue. The blue floated along, as if waiting for the rest of it to leave Hina’s body before it began to congregate above her.

The mist slowly patched together and swirled into conformed unison. Slowly, its shifty form changed and once again the familiar viscose bubble liquid was now harmlessly floating in mid air. Although there were some noticeable differences.

For one, the once pale blue was no darker, more harsher and less pleasing to the eyes. The specks of light which danced around before were now nowhere to be seen, instead what replaced them were masses of dark black. Black so dark that they even stood out from the dark blue of the bubble.

“Whew~...” Cielle breathed out a sigh of relief after confirming her first use of her new ability resulted in a success.

Although, I was still a bit confused, seeing Cielle’s relieved face, I somewhat understood that at least her ability hadn’t failed.

Thinking this type of skill was hp related, I immediately went and checked Hina’s status once again.

Hina Nayer - Level 1

HP: 95/100

The immediate thing I noticed was that Hina’s status effect had gone away. Although I had no means of confirming whether this was due to her hp rising above a certain level or due to Cielle’s unique skill.

“... It seems like Hina’s almost fully healed.” I noted, informing Cielle of her success.

Cielle, who by now had also come to the same conclusion nodded enthusiastically as she gazed upon the blob of dark liquid she produced.

I tilted my head to the side.

What was this weird gelatinous object? It contrasted the original bubble of liquid Cielle had produced and even after the successful heal of its target, it remained.

I cautiously moved closer. My face inched into the blob in order to discern it better.

Due to my curiosity , I ended up using identify on it, but I was simply met with a panel of question marks. Completely useless.

I continued to stare when the blue bubble began bobbing back and forth. It’s gelatinous form jiggled weirdly as a faint sloshing sound could be heard through the quiet of the room.

[Should I touch it? I really want to touch it...Maybe I’ll touch it.]

Ridiculous thoughts like this filled my mind as I continued to stare at the blob with perturbed eyes.

It was quite a sight to see. The dark blue mass was both similar yet different to the earlier blob of light blue.

I wondered whether touching it will have the same effects as the light blue from before.

Maybe the reason it changed color was because of the healing that just took place.

I was curious, yet at the same time I was still cautious. I imagined what it would feel like, touching the blob. watching it jiggle like jello… But all the same, I couldn’t even begin to picture all the consequences such an unknown element could have...

So tentatively, I made a compromise.

I pulled out Efhermet and placed the tip of the blade a mere inches apart from the blob.

With one cautious bend of the wrist, I touched the cold metal onto the gelatinous form.

“....”

“Ah…:” Cielle’s voice let out a surprised leak, not because something had happened, but rather she just now noticed I was messing around with her new skill.

While nothing happened at first, slowly the blobs squirmed and as if moved, they began to trickle in my direction. The blue blobs traveled down the spine of the blade, approaching my outstretched hand.

I didn’t do anything at first, my innate curiosity momentarily shutting out the danger compass I kept lodge in the back of my mind.

I looked closely as the first dark blue eventually made its way onto the flesh of my hand.

Instantly, a jolt of pain wracked my extended body part. My arm reflexively tensed, as I gritted through my teeth. My hand didn’t move at first, which gave opportunity for more pieces of blob to touch my skin, which caused even more agony.

An audible ringing in my ears dulled out the gasp of surprise that exasperated out of Cielle’s voice.

She made a motion with her hands, as if to recall or move the blob, but she was a bit too slow. Through cold sweat and ragged breathing, my  body began to move in automatic. I ignored the coming pain, and instead, my hand that came in contact with the blob moved down at increased speeds.

The bladed edge sunk down deeper and deeper into the bubble until eventually, it split.

With an audible pop, the once congregated mass of dark blue now floated aimlessly in two separate pieces, setting free both my hand and dagger from its gelatinous clutches.

I quickly pulled back my hand while the pain subsided due to the loss of contact with anymore of the blue.

“That bubble is dangerous…” I sighed out while caressing my hand.

I looked up at my own status, and, like I already guessed, my hp had trickled down by 5. The pain correlated with hp loss, but to me, it seemed like I received more pain than loss of hp.

I looked back down at my hand and was surprised to see that, despite the immense pain, there were no outside injury to my hand.

I sighed again.  

What I just did was pretty stupid.

Cielle, who saw all this happening made an apologetic face. Going by how her expression contorted, I’d say she knew something along the lines of what just happened was bound to happen.

I turned towards her, and just as I was about to tell her not to worry about what just happened and that it was all my fault to begin with, something unexpected happen.

Ding!

An information panel popped up at the wrong time.

Due to the successful use of [Dissect], your skill level has gone up.

New information regarding the newly dissected material is available.

While I knew that examining various species using dissect allowed me to learn various things about their anatomy and their weak points, I never quite expected [Dissect]’s special attributes applied to non-living things.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

From the looks of it, my quiet observation and hasty knife swing out of desperation caused [Dissect]’s passive attribute to activate.

“Umm….”

I heard Cielle’s soft voice speak out while I examined the new information panel.

I turned towards the girl while I closed the panel. I looked at her for a second, before I apologized.

“Sorry for touching your skill.” I said. “ I didn’t expect something like that to happen.”

She nodded. “No, i-its my fault for not warning you….”

She inwardly closed in on herself, as if chiding her earlier mistake.

I observed her weird action and looked closely at the girl I ran into for the first time.

Going by how she presented herself, I’d say she was quite a shy person. Or at least someone not used to social interaction. I was the same in that regard, but instead of acting shy and reserved, I was more apathetic to people.

“It was my fault, sorry…” She once again remarked while looking down guiltily.

I found such an action cute and endearing, but I didn’t say that outloud. Instead of ogling the girl infront of me, what I wanted to know more about was her skill. While it did cause me injury, it also fanned the flames of curiosity rooted deep within me.

“Then, can you explain now?” I prompted, making sure my tone of voice come off as if I wanted to know why I got injured.

Going by how she acted, I assumed a more forceful approach would be best used on Cielle. If I continued to just apologize alongside her, I wasn’t going to get my answers.

Since this girl wasn’t used to taking initiative, then I’d do it for her. And while, stirring the conversation to get her to explain her new skill did make me feel bad, I was overcome with curiosity. After all, this was the first real “magic” that I’ve seen.

Despite all the weirdness that has happened today, seeing what even the system labels as genuine “magic” was somewhat novel, and I really did want to find out more.While I was a bit jealous, especially since I wasn’t able to use such a fanciful ability, my natural inquiring nature won out.

So with a not-so-heavy heart, I chose to manipulate the shy girl’s personality in order to satiate my own curiosity.

“Um…” Cielle hesitated for a bit.

“Its the least you could do.” I said, a hint of mock sadness in my voice.

“Even after I went through all the trouble of acquiring these hp potions…” My voice trailed off, as if implying she owed me a favor for such hard work.

“uuuu…”

Cielle’s body curled inwardly into herself. Her face pointed downwards, overcome with a sense of shame and guilt.

Yet she still maintained silence. Maybe, just like me, she realized it was smarter not to willfully explain your skills to strangers.

But such common sense wasn’t going to stop me.

“To not say anything, even after I got injured….even though you said it was your own fault….”

“uuu….”

“I had to fight several monsters in order to just get even one potion…” I gripped my shoulder and winced in false injury.

“...uuuu…..”

“I fought long and hard...five hours straight…”

“uuu…”

“And I didn’t even get a thank you…” I hammered the final nail in the figurative coffin with this last sentence.

[I’m sorry Cielle, but your skill… its just too interesting!}

I inwardly apologized as I observed Cielle with a forced frown on my face.

Guilt was a strong tool. Especially against moral minded regular people. Using it now, especially after I did  substantial effort on my part  in healing her sister, mixed her guilt with a sense of obligation.

The effects were satisfactory.

Cielle, almost driven to tears, began to willfully explain. While she was unwilling at first, probably since, like me, she realized the importance of both secrecy and skills and how it was never a smart idea to reveal your hand even to the closest of friends (which we were not), eventually though, as Cielle went on explaining, she somewhat became more willing. The information flowed into my ears as I satiated my curiosity.

In short, [Gemini Blue] was a Unique Magic Skill that didn’t heal per say, but rather, it pushed out the painful stuff and injuries. Rather than forcibly rising the hp like traditional methods (i.e. the hp potion), which resulted in the eventual self regeneration of the body, Cielle’s ability did the reverse.

It forced regeneration to occur within the body. And since hp and the physical body have a direct relationship, when the body healed, hp would undoubtedly rise as well. This was completely different from how regular heals worked.

Rather, this method of healing was actually better than regular healing, like say, with an hp potion. Status effects remained active even when hp potions were used, but when [Gemini Blue] was used, the body heals first, and inadvertently, the injury causing the status effect heals as a result.

When I asked as to whether her skill could heal wounds like amputation or long term paralysis, she answered that she doesn’t know. Which was natural, since she just received her skill not long ago.

Cielle then went on to explain the other aspect of her new skill. The aspect I was most curious about.

Like the name implied - [Gemini Blue] had a second side. The twin side of her skill.

Once the body healed, according to Cielle, the manifestation of injury would leak out and coalesce into another bubble. This bubble converted the injury from before into heightened, pure, unadulterated pain.

The dark bubble’s concentrated pain could result in an hp loss either greater than the original hp healed or less. Really, it depended on how sensitive one was too pain.

This darker, more violent side of [Gemini Blue] allowed for a means of offense.

As I listened in on her explanation, I used identify on the floating blobs that still resided aimlessly above Hina’s body

[Identify!]

Dark Gemini

A mysterious liquid bubble produced by the unique magic skill; [Gemini Blue].

Touching it will hurt.

Thanks to [Dissect]’s effects earlier, the question marks were replaced with information, but nothing on it was anything that Cielle hadn’t already told me about.

After Cielle had finished explaining, I asked a question.

“Does the blob disappear?” I pointed to the dark blue object while I spoke.

Although ten minutes had passed earlier, the blob showed no indication of disappearing.

Cielle opened her mouth as if to speak before abruptly stopping. She then frowned.

“I-I don’t know, that wasn’t on the status window…”

“I see…”

“....”

“Well, um… can you try to force it to disappear. Like with a thought or something.” I presented.

“I-I’ll try…”

Momentarily, Cielle scrunched up her face and looked hard at the blob. A few minutes later, she breathed out an exasperated sigh.

It seems like it was a failure.

We both stared at the mass for a while, not knowing what to do.

While I could already tell that this skill would be great in mid battle, when it could be used to convert ally injury into attack, it seems that in a situation where no enemy was present, the residue of Cielle’s skill is quite… troublesome.

“Can you move it?” I asked.

“Ah um…” Cielle then stared quietly at the blob for a moment. Eventually, the blob twitched. Then it began swaying back and forth before it started to circle Cielle’s soft frame.

“Yes I can.” She confirmed while the bubble moved.

[Hmm… then I guess for now, since we can’t get rid of it, we'll put it away.]

I moved over to the back of the art room. While Cielle tilted her head and stared at me questioningly from the back, I ignored her and continued rummaging around.

After a few minutes, I eventually found what I was looking for.

I carried an empty transparent plastic container. Earlier, this was used to house old canvases that the art students drew on. I removed all that unnecessary stuff and brought back the plastic container with me.

I placed it down next to the table Hina was still sleeping on.

Speaking of which, while Hina’s hp was almost fully healed, and she could probably heal herself back up to 100 just with her own power, she was still unconscious. Even though her status effect disappeared, she still rested comfortably on that cold metal table.

I attributed this fact to mental fatigue. I don’t know how someone’s mind might react from being so close to death and then being brought abruptly back to full recovery in the span of a few hours.

Moving on, I pulled the lid open, and pointed with my finger.

“Since we can’t get rid of it, for now we’ll put it in here so that nobody gets hurt.” I stated.

Cielle, who in the time I was gone was seemingly playing around with her new skill, moving the dark mass of pain this way and that, nodded as she readily agreed to storing her own ‘residue’.

She maneuvered the mass into the container and I closed it once everything had gone inside. The blob sloshed inside the container as I moved it away from us. It would have been bad if an accident happened and we inadvertently caused some of the contents to spill onto us.

I made extra precautions, even when the lid was on.

Once that was done, I inwardly smiled to myself.

I walked back over to Hina and Cielle when I heard an unexpected grumbling noise. Like a monster’s rumbling growl, I tensed my body up, before I abruptly released it.

I chided myself. That wasn’t an enemy, rather....

I looked up at the direction of the noise, and made eye contact with a red faced girl who desperately covered her face with a curtain of black hair.

“...” I stared at her quietly.

“...” She stared back.

“....”

“...”

“...”

“I-I’m hungry….”

She finally spoke in a quiet and embarrassed voice after a brief spite of awkward eye contact and long silence.

****

Author's Note:

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