It was still early in the morning when Lee got teleported back into his room. A weight had been lifted off his shoulders from meeting his Uncle, but it didn’t change the fact that he was still having problems. He began to think.
Things have not been good recently. First, his arrival was filled with confusion, fear, and depression. He was glad he was alive, but not having his family know was the hardest thing for him. His parents had a funeral for him, and that was already hard to think about.
Secondly, right as he thought he was fitting into his place in the new world, a monster siege began. He was finally about to do some good by teaching the Dark Elves with his lecture but was instead thrown into conflict on a much larger scale. The amount of blood, death, and misery he witnessed that day would live with him for the rest of his life. He didn’t want to be the person who culled monsters and grew stronger and stronger only for the sake of destruction. He was a healer, a Miracle Worker, and he wanted it to stay that way.
But, even after all of the bad, there was some good. Healing the cancer patients of Neldam was one of his prouder achievements, and he would be lying to himself if he said that having Nymie glorify his existence as a hero didn’t give him a warm sense of satisfaction.
Healing those affected by war or monster attacks was fine. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he was much more comfortable doing that than being the one committing a massacre.
He flinched while thinking about all the blood on his hands.
He could do good. He wanted to do good. So, when Uncle Shane told him to make more spells for pleasure and not for combat, that resonated greatly with him. He was sure that he wouldn’t reach godhood or whatever his uncle made it to. At least, not in any reasonable time frame. If he gained a level per year from now on, it would take nearly a millennium.
He would kill in defense of himself or those around him, but he didn’t want to seek out threats just to eliminate them. He just wasn’t that kind of person. It wasn’t meant for him.
Resolved and with a very basic plan for his future, Lee ate breakfast. He grabbed a strudel filled with a mysterious filling, some foreign fruit, and a slice of fluffy bread from his Hidden Cache. He used the fluffy bread slice as a plate, hoping to catch the gooey filling as it fell, creating another tasty treat.
He took sips of water using his spell, Conjure Water, then paused.
This is the type of magic I want to learn.
Utility spells. Spells that increase his or other people's quality of life.
He smiled, then began to work on a new spell—a spell for music. Firstly, he needed a song to play. Having been bedridden in the hospital, he had lots of time to listen to music. He enjoyed most musical genres but gravitated toward those early 2000s alternative rock groups.
He didn’t think that the lyrics to those songs would translate well and probably wouldn’t be fitting for a funeral. In the end, he decided on a completely different genre.
He felt at the air mana and attempted to vibrate the air into frequencies for sounds. All he got from the attempt was a faint rustling of the air in his home.
Trying again, he tried to create a small isolated breeze about a meter long. That was simple enough. By using his Mana Manipulation skill, he noted that down for later in case he ever wanted a fan.
He chuckled slightly, still wearing a small smile as he attempted to isolate the vibrating air inside the small breeze. It took a few minutes to create the sound he wanted, and it wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for starting. Every time he plucked a string of vibrating air, a single tone rang out in his room. Slowly, he plucked on the strings of air mana to create a song.
It took well over half an hour to finish the single song, but once he completed it, everything seemed to click into place. The breeze in the room picked up, and he began to feel emotions hanging on the very air he had created. It was surreal, but he got a notification.
Spell Created!
Spell Name: Musical Melodious Memory.
Spell Description: Create a musical melody from your memory by using the vibration frequency of air. Depending on the song played, you may invoke specific emotions. You may determine the volume by increasing or decreasing the mana flowing through the very air. Unable to produce humanoid vocal sounds.
Cost: 0+Variable.
The song played through his small home as Lee read through the description. He raised an eyebrow.
I guess I’ll have to sing if I make a song that has vocals. I’m sure I could make a communication spell or something as well.
Right as he finished reading the description, he got another notification.
Quest completed! 800 XP gained!
Path of the spellcaster. 5/5
Cast spells on one hundred different targets.
Reward: 1000 XP + Class Skill.
He had forgotten that class quest, a pleasant surprise. He read the requirements and had a thought.
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Would one spell on a hundred targets work? Or is it a hundred spells on one target each?
He hoped it was the first. If there were a hundred people at the funeral, he would easily complete it with this new spell alone. He doubted that it was the case, as that seemed much too easy, but he could hope.
He looked at his full status screen, seeing that he still had thousands of XP until his next level.
Name: Lee Barnes
HP: 250/250
MP 475/475
Level: 21
XP 3258/10000
Titles:
Genesis of Healing*
Miracle Worker*
Class: Miracle Worker.
Profession: Otherworldly Academic
In Magic's Favor.
STATS:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 20
Wisdom: 30
Intelligence: 35
Luck: 10
Unused Points: 0
Skills:
Spells:
Abilities:
Skills:
Identify, Mana Sense, Stealth, Mana Manipulation, Speed Reading, Mana Dispersion, Medical Attention, Miraculous Return, Healer’s Beacon, Hidden Miracle, Alter Status, Dauntless Will, Antithesis of Healing.
Spells:
Basic: Earthen Strike, Gale burst, Wall of Winds, Orb of Light, Darken, Conjure Water, Blind, Swiftness, Water Wave Wall, Wall of Earth*, Musical Melodious Memory.
Advanced: Mend Wounds, Icicle Spear, Touch of Remission, Purifying Light, Void Sphere, Bulwark of Ice.
Expert: Glacial Cascade.
Master:
Synthesized:
Abilities:
Language Comprehension, Healer’s Touch, Hidden Cache, Arcane Synthesis.
Not much had changed, but he enjoyed seeing his higher health and mana values. That would help keep him alive.
He wasn’t sure about what time the funeral was, so he figured he could go out and ask someone. Leaving his home, he walked towards the clinic. He was sure Anya would attend, being a healer just like him. It seemed like something she would do.
Eventually, he arrived at the clinic. He entered and made his way toward Anya’s office. He knocked on the door, and there was no reply. He frowned, but she wouldn’t always be in her office. He walked back down the connection and instead asked the receptionist for the clinic. It felt weird asking a stranger about a funeral, but she indeed knew the answer.
She explained that it was at noon. Lee checked his watch and saw that he had two hours until it began. He thanked the receptionist and decided to head there early. He hoped he could find Neia there and speak about his departure.
He was leaving. He had already decided. It might not be immediately after the funeral, but it would be the day after if he could help it.
The trek through the Shadowgrove would take two weeks, two weeks alone in the forest. He was nervous, but since the siege had just happened, there wouldn’t be as many monsters out and about. He didn’t want to prolong his stay in case that changed.
The funeral was going to be held up above Neldam, nearby where the Elders had their meeting. As he made his way there, he noticed he was following others dressed in colorful clothing. Their oranges, purples, reds, and yellows stood out sharply in contrast to the typical everyday attire of the Dark Elves.
They were solemn and quiet, only saying a few words on their way up.
Walking across the long-hanging bridges that dangled above Neldam wasn’t common for Lee. He only used them once before. He followed the group in front of him and soon arrived at a spot that took his breath away.
The bridge they walked along ended in a small tunnel. Unlike the tunnels for housing, which were carved out of stone, this tunnel was carved out of the Garbola itself. It was small, only fitting two people side by side at a time, and long and winding.
He traversed the tunnel, and near the end, he began to see sunlight.
The tunnel took him outside of Neldam and onto the large Garbola’s thick, knotted branches. The branch was wide, easily fitting the few hundred people in attendance. It appeared that Lee wasn’t the only person with the idea to show up early. Whether that was because of their customs or else, he didn’t know.
The branch acted as a platform, and the edges were dangerous. There was no railing, causing people to stand away from where the branch started to curl.
There were tables and chairs, and those same bright lantern lights danced overhead, dangling from enormous leaves or thinner offshoots from the branch above. It was a wondrous sight, causing Lee to give a faint smile.
This is surely better than my funeral.
He chuckled.
He spotted Neia standing with her father, talking to a group of grieving individuals near the end of the branch, where it began to taper off. Next to her was a raised dais and podium. It was probably there for people to make a speech or say their goodbyes.
He didn’t want to interrupt them during this hard time, so he strolled through the venue. He saw a few of his acquaintances and was going to start saying his goodbyes as well.
First, he spotted Sarum. The tailor who had first clothed him, made him his new robe, and was one of the first people he met since arriving on this new world. Or should he say, dimension?
She was greedy, but more so in a good-natured way. They didn’t know each other well, but he figured he would speak to her anyway. She was standing alone, drinking an orange-colored beverage from a glass flute. He walked up to her and smiled.
“Hello, Sarum. How have you been?”
Sarum smiled back, much more downtrodden than he had expected.
“I’ve been doing my best. Thank you for coming.”
Lee stood next to her, and they both gazed upon the venue. Lee cautiously asked.
“Did you lose anybody close to you…?”
Sarum side-eyed Lee, then nodded.
Lee closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Without a second of thought, Sarum spoke.
“You do not need to be sorry. You helped when you didn’t need to. My cousin made it out alive, thanks to you. She didn’t—just thank you.”
Lee didn’t know who her cousin was, so he asked.
Sarum saw that he truly didn’t know who her cousin was and let out a small chuckle.
“Maika Strollium is my cousin. She didn’t have much good to say about you. You apparently left her to do some of the dirty work.”
Lee’s shocked face turned crimson with embarrassment. He coughed.
“Well, I uh… Humans need more sleep than Dark Elves. That’s why I left. Yeah… Let’s go with that.”
That caused Sarum to laugh, and her mood slightly brightened.
Lee laughed along, glad he could make her mourning a little less depressing.
“I’m going to leave Neldam, probably tomorrow. I just wanted to thank you for what you’ve done for me. We may not see each other again. And while we didn’t know each other that well, I’m better to have known you. Take care.”
Sarum looked into his eyes and smiled.
“Thank you, stay safe.”
Lee left her side and then walked forward out into the small crowds—Looking for the next person he needed to say his goodbyes to.