Around half a day passes. During that time, I keep infusing my mana into my disciple. She is still sick and woke up only once, briefly enough for me to let her drink some water.
When the transmitter in my hands finally attempts to connect me, I accept it quickly.
(Darren here. We have confirmed your story, Nathaniel. To be honest, I didn't expect you to leave the items there as well.)
(It's a risk from my side, you could take them and disappear, but take it as a show of my goodwill and the trust I’ve put in you.)
(I see.)
As I wait for the answer, I decide not to tell him about the tiny anchor I left on one of the items. The anchor I created using my [Tether] will be used to teleport to their location the moment he refuses me.
If he does so, I will just force them to heal this little half-demon who has so far only given me trouble.
Darren continues, (You will find what you are looking for in one hour at this location.) He then carefully describes the area and how to get there.
He also warns me not to attract the attention of any veilshriekers, just in case.
When our connection ends, I put the transmitter away and look at the girl under the blanket, with a few thermal orbs near her.
Both of us are surrounded by a barrier that disrupts the mana we are letting out, making us much harder to detect. The room we are in is dark, mold growing in the corners, but it's deep within one of the skyscraper-like buildings.
The interior is simple; the furniture has been broken or eaten away by the passage of time.
“You are causing me so much trouble,” I sigh and poke the cheek of the sick girl. Then I pull on one of her tiny horns.
Well, it's probably my fault too, but let's not mention it. This should help toughen her up. Back in my day, I went through much worse.
I open the community and this time click on Hard difficulty.
Noname (Hell, group 4) - hello
FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - food!
Damn it, Biscuit, what are you doing here?
Noname (Hell, group 4) - food food.
FoodFood (Hell, group 4) - food food!
Samuel (Hard, Legion) - Hello, Noname.
Emma (Hard, Legion) - Another person from Hell difficulty, hello Noname, I hope you are doing well!
Fox (Hard, Hoarders) - Noname, run or these military psychos will get their hands on you, lol.
Eagle (Hard, Hoarders) - run run run run run.
Samuel (Hard, Legion) - Fox, once again, we are part of the US military, we are not “military psychos” as you like to call us.
Fox (Hard, Hoarders) - the world is going to shit and you’re still playing at soldiers, how can you expect anyone to take you seriously?
Emma (Hard, Legion) - You can ignore them Noname, group Hoarders is a bit more open-spirited than they should be.
Samuel (Hard, Legion) - As Emma said, Noname, just ignore them. I hope we can talk during the tournament. I will be honest with you. We don't know how many people got into the tutorial or how many rounds there are. Nor do we know what's happening to Earth so I hope you will see some reason and the need for some rules for the people that make it out of the tutorial.
Noname (Hell, group 4) - We can talk, but I don't promise anything.
Samuel (Hard, Legion) - Even that is fine. Sset already told us your group is from the US and you can imagine how terrifying an uncontrollable returner can become to people from Earth. There need to be rules.
Fox (Hard, Hoarders) - For all you know the earth is already overrun by monsters or people from the first 4 rounds of the tutorial. There is no need to feel any responsibility to your country. They can't control you anymore.
Emma (Hard, Legion) - Fox, some surely think like that, but not all of us do. We were given these powers for a reason.
Eagle (Hard, Hoarders) - Heh, you can do whatever you want. You can try to control all the people from Hard difficulty, but I'm sure just one person from Hell would be enough to mess you up.
Emma (Hard, Legion) - Logically people from Hell are the strongest, but I don't think it's possible for them to fight against everyone in Hard difficulty. We have over 5 times the members.
I don't know. I'm pretty sure I could take on a few dozen people from Hard difficulty, looking at what Cipher, Goldie, and the frosty guy were capable of.
I read a bit longer, but they seem to be too into fighting, so I turn off the community, deciding to save my limit and try my luck with more reasonable people.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Once again, I poke the cheek of my disciple. It's getting really frustrating that I seem to be incapable of learning a healing skill, and I start to wonder if there’s some reason for that. Is it a limit of my talent? Is it just that I'm not a good vessel for healing skills? Am I blocked by the system?
I don't mean a passive skill or a trait; I’ve been offered plenty of healing, but all of them seem to be geared towards myself.
Could it be because of my subclass? Is Pride something that won't allow me to heal others? That doesn't make too much sense, I think. It also doesn't feel right that the system would actively “block” something like that, but it already limits the number of passive skills I can have, so maybe?
Another question to get answered.
Deciding to head to the spot, I pick up the little half-demon and shrink the barrier. Then I create a small anchor, leave it here and head outside.
After moving to the rooftops, I move slowly. I try to keep as much mana as possible inside of my body and keep it from leaking, so I only boost my body and jump. The feeling is usually something I would enjoy, but the risk of failing my Floor quest after it already started somehow takes away from that.
Maybe that was the intention of the system, to give me an annoying quest and watch me suffer, or just force us into situations where we have to improvise and adapt.
After half an hour of traveling, I stop on one of the rooftops. This one is different from every other rooftop I’ve visited, but it's hard to describe.
Only after I get closer do I start to pick up on it.
There is a weird field around the rooftop. I barely sense any mana from it, even when I'm so close, and I couldn’t see anything from further away. Just passing by, even up close, I wouldn't notice any of it.
Taking a few more steps, I pass through the barrier, and the moment I do, the scenery changes. Finally, I can see the small cottage on top of the skyscraper.
The cottage is built out of wood and looks to be cozy and clean, if a bit simple. The building is surrounded by pots containing hundreds of grasses and flowers, even a few smaller trees.
It's like a scene straight from a fairy tale and doesn’t fit in with the surroundings.
“Please don't knock over any of my pots, young man,” a voice shouts from inside.
Walking carefully between them, I reach the door and then enter without hesitation.
“So brave,” the ancient-looking woman inside giggles, almost childishly.
[Vitalist - lvl 101]
“I only expected to find some items,” I say and stop.
The inside of the cottage is as cozy as the outside. Fitted with old wooden furniture that has been well cared for. The interior is extremely clean, furnished with carpets and flowers and weird glasses filled with colorful liquids taking up every surface. I notice several pairs of boots next to me and looking up, the Vitalist herself is wearing a pair of warm interior slippers.
Deciding that there is no reason to be antagonistic, yet, I take off my shoes while keeping hold of my disciple and step in my socks only.
“So very handsome and well-behaved. An unusual combination indeed,” the old woman gestures for me to move closer and points at the bed nearby.
Carefully, I lay the little half-demon on it and step back. Then I let out some of my mana using it to observe.
The woman notices and asks, “What would you do if I hurt her?”
“I will kill you before you can,” I say simply to clear things out.
I saw Lily healing a lot of times and even felt it on my skin. I will be capable of sensing if she tries anything else.
As if expecting that, she laughs again, “Darren warned me about you. Things like: 'He saw the Veil Guardian and survived, you have to be extremely careful!' or 'You dumb old woman! Do you have any idea how many people rely on you? What if he kills you?'”
Her hands carefully touch the little girl and even after seeing little horns under her hair, she doesn't say a word. I, on the other hand, intensify my observation and collect some thermal and kinetic energy inside of my body.
Without saying more, she just heals her. The mana she’s using isn't exactly the same as Lily's. The old woman's mana feels rougher and weaker, but at this point, I'm not all that surprised.
I’ve long since gotten used to the fact that we people from Hell difficulty often have superior skills and abilities.
"Poor little girl. Pummeled, internal wounds, poisoned, tears in her tissues, high internal temperature, shock, small concussion," she names each wound in succession.
When she looks at me, "I can heal her, but what will you give me in exchange, young man?"
This granny is totally shameless.
"Ask Darren," I tell her.
"Fuck Darren," she answers simply.
She is quite feisty, isn't she?
She continues, "You can still have Darren owe you, but I will want something as well. The little girl would have died without my help."
"You would heal her even without me giving you anything in exchange," I say.
Her eyebrows move up, and a light flickers behind her eyes.
What now, granny? Did you think I wouldn't notice how worried you became? How quickly you started healing and your sighs of relief as the girl got better? Even though she is acting cheeky, the granny seems to be kindhearted, well, at least to kids.
"Maybe, but I think I will still get something out of you. Some small service or help. Nothing too difficult because that would annoy you and you would just refuse. But if I ask for something small, you will help."
Is there something wrong with my face? Is the system giving people the ability to read me like a book? Or is it the power of the true extrovert I’ve heard about so often? The power of someone feeding on the energy of introverts to survive and learn to read people not with talent but through sheer quantity of interactions.
"I'm right, I think, hehe, I might ask you later! For now, it's fine, the little girl is already healed and will wake up soon."
Acknowledging that with a simple nod, I pass by her and grab my disciple, then turn around to leave only to be met by the old woman blocking my way.
"Leaving already?" she asks.
"Yes, this place is making me sleepy," I take another step.
Her smile only deepens, seemingly not bothered that I identified the effects of the field that’s been set up around this rooftop.
I also identify its source, some small item inside a compartment inside one of the walls.
She finally lets me pass, "I think you should talk with Darren. He could find a use for someone like you, and I believe it would be worth it for you as well."
"Yes, yes," I put on my shoes and then turn to face her.
For a moment, I consider releasing some of my mana and startling her for such a cheap trick with the field that was supposed to make me fall asleep, but in the end, I decide against it. It seems like I will be dealing with these people for a while. This kind of "Locating survivors" didn't seem to count as finishing the side quest.
In the end, I just step outside and knock over a few of her flower pots while the old granny screams something at me.
I knock down the last one, jump onto the roof, and head back deeper into the ruined city.