New Class Paths Available.
Path of the Merciful.
Path of the Archmage.
Path of the Merciful. 1/5
Improve the quality of life of 250 sapient creatures.
0/250
Reward: 1000 XP
Path of the Archmage. 1/5
Create 10 advanced or higher spells.
0/10
Reward: 1000 XP
Lee sat in his room thinking about his new paths as he waited for Regina to return to the hospital. For now, he sat at his deck with the doors locked and soaked in the silence, while it lasted. The Path of the Archmage class path was pretty straight forward; create ten advanced or higher spells. The Path of the Merciful was… ambiguous, to say the least. Improve the quality of life? Was that healing? Curing illness? Buying an old lady a walker? He wasn’t sure, and he’d have to do some testing to figure out its intricacies.
He could progress in the Path of the Archmage rather quickly if he put his mind and time into it, and he’d probably do so when he got some free time in the future. The problem he was facing at the moment was just being too damn busy.
Patients came in everyday, and until he got a proper medical staff set up to his standards, then he was going to be doing the majority of the healing. This accounted for the biggest time sink he had to deal with.
Next, was teaching the newest healers. This was a task that was non-negotiable, as he wouldn’t trust anyone else to handle it. He had his spell book, and every other healer he’d taught so far didn’t truly understand the knowledge he’d been giving out. After having taught so many different people, he came to realize that they didn’t care about helping people. Not in the same way he did. It hadn’t started with the military either. Lee had just been too blind to see the signs back in Lopus, when he taught the adventurers. These two groups were more alike than he’d originally thought.
They cared about saving the lives of their allies, not the common folk.
While sure, out of the hundreds of people he’d taught so far, not all of them had been that way. Maybe a handful saw the good in what he was doing and became inspired by it. But a handful wasn’t going to be enough to run this place when he eventually left, and a handful definitely wasn’t enough to combat the Healer’s Sanctum, who had begun making their moves.
He needed to talk to Regina and Fatalina to get a good idea about how and if the Healer’s Sanctum felt the effects of his efforts. He’d taught enough people to cut severely into the profits, that’s for sure, but he still needed to wait and bide his time so that those he taught could spread about the kingdom. The bad part about teaching the military was that he knew where they were going, and it wasn’t where he wanted them to go. They wouldn’t help with breaking their hold on their monopoly.
The clacking of footsteps from outside his room brought him out of his thoughts and troubles. A gentle knock rang out in his undecorated room. “Come in.”
Regina entered the room, shut the door, then flattened out her maid uniform. She stared into his eyes and spoke a single sentence that Lee had been dreading. “Kleif Marrow is no more. I left a message for the other two healers. They’ll know not to come here and mess with us.”
Lee stared into her unflinching, remorseless brown eyes for a few seconds, then released an enormous sigh and looked to the ground. “Did you find out anything? Plans? Information? Did they do something to Hera?”
Regina was silent for a second, then she walked over and sat on Lee’s bed. She stared ahead at the wall, emotionless. “Hera is dead.”
Lee shot up in his chair and spun to face her. “What?!” He yelled, furious.
“She was dead this morning in the lobby, at the receptionist's desk. Poisoned.” Regina stated.
He didn’t even know what to say. He had walked past her this morning as they left for the Blight’s manor. Surely he would have noticed that she was dead. She was asleep when he passed…
“I noticed as we passed. I did not think it appropriate to inform you of her undoing until I found her murders. I did not forget any of my papers this morning. I took care of her corpse and cleaned out her room to fool you, and for that, I am sorry.” Regina finished, but never tore her gaze away from the wall.
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Lee felt so many terrible and different emotions flowing through him. Hate, anger, sadness, guilt, betrayed… He wasn’t sure if he could speak without permanently damaging his and Regina’s relationship, but he had to say something. He had to direct these emotions somewhere.
He stared at the side of her head. “Are you sure it was them? One-hundred percent positive?”
“Yes. It’s the same poison. I think they came to spook you today, but you were unaware of Hera’s demise, so they failed.”
Lee looked at his pocket watch and noted that it was just past eleven P.M. “Did the other two know?”
Regina didn’t speak, but she nodded.
Lee stored his spare materials that laid atop his desk into his Hidden Cache and stood from his chair. He walked toward the door, slammed it open in anger, and then turned the glare at Regina. “Show me where their building is.”
----------------------------------------
As he and Regina walked through the cold, dark streets of Felispar, Lee asked about Hera. His voice was flat, held at that pitch by his rage targeted toward the Sanctum. “What did you do with her belongings and her body?”
“They’re in my Bag of Holding.” Regina said, almost robotically.
“When we get back, arrange and pay for her funeral service. Have someone capable of emotion inform her family of her demise—No, I’ll do it.” Lee said, his heavy footfalls betraying his frail appearance. Regina didn’t react to his barb, further proving his suspicions.
Together, they walked through the empty late night streets of Felispar until Regina led him to a sizable temple-esque building. It was not at all similar to his hospital, which had enough room for hundreds of patients. This building could maybe hold thirty, but given the layout, he could be wrong.
“Go inside and tell me if there are people inside.”
Regina gave him a blank, unreadable look before complying without a word. She walked over to a nearby window and cast a spell. With his mana sight, Lee saw the moving air currents slide through the narrow creases, which whipped around, unlocking the window from the inside.
Lee stood, arms crossed as he waited out in front of the Healer’s Sanctum for her to return, basically standing on their front lawn. If there was nobody inside, Lee had steeled himself to level the building. He was sick and tired of being pushed around, but he could handle that. Now, they killed someone just because they worked for him. That was not going unpunished.
If there were people inside, he’d have Regina figure out who. Depending on her answer, he might still level the building anyway. He’d been mentally preparing himself to take a life for months on end, and he was comfortable with his first time being for this cause. Hera didn’t deserve to—She didn’t deserve to be gone. Not an innocent. Not because of him.
When Regina eventually returned, she exited out from the same window from which she entered. She walked up and stood directly in front of him, her hands gently folded across her waist like a proper maid. “Both male healers, one man, and six women.”
“Are the women with them? Are they sleeping around?”
Regina shook her head. “They’re in the basement with the lone man.”
Lee blinked his eyes, incredulous. “What…?”
“They’re all in cages in the basement. I assume for experimental and sexual purposes” Regina relayed all of this information with a completely neutral, blank face. Her tone never wavered. It was unnerving.
“I assume you’re capable of rescuing them?” Lee asked, his heart set for what was to come.
Regina nodded, and he waved her off to do so.
Before Regina had returned, Lee thought he knew what fury was. He was wrong. The six women and one man all came out from the front door, thin, scarred, beaten and bruised. They wore the bare minimum, thin cloth undergarments, and were filthy and coated in blood. They were all praying and saying their blessings to Regina, tears and relief flooding through their bodies.
Lee didn’t feel like he was capable of comforting these troubled souls the way he was, so he gave them each a nod and began his retribution. “Step onto the road. You won’t be safe here.”
They all fled, scurrying to the road as they hugged each other, weeping tears of freedom.
As Lee raised his hands, Regina spoke on her own accord. “Are you sure about this?”
“Oh, yes. I’m sure. It was going to happen sooner or later. I figured it was best when it’s on my own terms. You might want to stand back, because this isn’t going to be pretty.” Lee said.
“We could use the building.” Regina replied, staring directly into Lee’s eyes.
Lee slowly lowered his hands. “I suppose you’re right. Didn’t know if I had enough mana to Spear of Eternity the entire building down anyways. Up close and personal it is.”
With a blast of frigid blue ice and white snow, glacial mana coalesced around his body, solidifying into a thick set of full plate mail armor suited for a knight. He held out a hand, and a long, thin shard of shimmering blue ice appeared to grow from his outstretched frozen gauntlet.
Armaments of Eternity: Create a physical weapon and a set of armor made of Glacial ice that can be wielded and worn comfortably for a single target. Others attempting to wield the conjured weapon will be dealt heavy damage. Those injured by the created weapon will feel eternity. Those in contact with conjured armor will be dealt heavy damage.
Duration: 5 minutes.
Cost: 230 MP + Variable.
Once properly equipped with his Armaments of Eternity, Lee cast both Strengthening and Swiftness on himself and began walking up to the door.
Strengthening: Using Life mana, bolster the muscles of a target to provide them with a percentile buff to their strength stat.
Buff: Target dependant - 5-15%, based on muscle mass.
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cost: 7 MP
Spell Description: This spell eradicates air resistance, allowing the target to move swiftly. Harnessing the very currents around them, this spell transforms air resistance into a backdraft, increasing movement speed. Effectiveness varies depending on the environment.
Duration: 5 Minutes.
Cooldown: 1 Minute.
It was time to get his hands dirty. It was time to show the Healer’s Sanctum that he and his people were not to be fucked with.
It was time to take a life.