[Suitable host body found.]

[Beginning transfer.]

[Warning.]

[The world has detected foreign interference.]

[Initiating safety protocols.]

[Wiping user's memory...]

Richard woke up screaming. The voice that came out of his mouth sounded bizarre and alien in his ears, heightening the terror gripping his heart. 

He was surrounded by complete darkness. He tried to struggle, to break free from this nightmare, but he couldn’t move or even feel his body. There was only the immaculate blackness and the reverberating shrill shriek, its pitch and intensity constantly rising, the fear and desperation it carried piercing his soul.

“Young Master!”

Suddenly, a door opened and a figure carrying a candlestick came in. The warm, flickering light of the candle broke through the dark prison, but the horror that took hold of him wouldn’t be banished that easily.

Richard continued screaming like a man possessed. The feeling of wrongness, of encountering some unspeakable, incomprehensible horror, something that shouldn’t ever exist continued to wreak havoc in his mind, every second pushing him a step closer to a complete mental breakdown.

“What’s going on! What’s happened to the Young Master!”

“I don’t know! I came in as soon as I heard him shouting!”

More people barged into the room, aghast and stupefied by the inhuman howling that was coming from Richard’s mouth. 

Abruptly, the sound came to an end. But before anyone could grow used to the sudden arrival of silence, a new sound emerged from Richard’s throat. This one was fainter, bubbling, akin to the noise one makes when they’re drinking a soda through a straw and the liquid is about to run out.

“Lord! There’s blood coming from his mouth!”

“He’s going to suffocate!”

The servants in the room broke into a panic. Some of the handmaidens were unable to cope with the horrific situation any longer and started screaming themselves, whereas the butler together with one of the guards rushed to Richard's side in a frantic attempt to help. Still, they were so panicked themselves that their actions lacked any rhyme or reason and were of no help whatsoever.

“Move aside!”

A commanding voice broke through the pandemonium. A tall, middle aged man walked into the chambers and without hesitation pushed aside the two men ineffectively trying to stop the blood coming from Richard's mouth.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The man quickly positioned Richard on his side, but soon his brows furrowed. 

Though the risk that the youth would suffocate was lessened, a single glance revealed to him that whatever had caused his student’s howling didn’t go away. The boy has ruptured his vocal cords, was choking on blood, and yet his body continued in its compulsion to force even more screams out.

This couldn’t continue. 

The man hesitated, his hands instinctively reaching for a pouch hanging from his belt and stopping. There was a vial of healing potion there, a life saving treasure he had acquired by luck a few years back. 

He hasn’t had any need for it ever since he came to the barony to tutor the young heir, but judging by the circumstances, his life of leisure was coming to an end. He could only hope that if it was what it looked like, the attack was perpetrated by one of Richard’s siblings and not the baron himself. 

That it was an attack, the man had little doubt. No nightmare or natural illness could have an effect like that. 

In the end his hesitation lasted only a few seconds and went unnoticed by anyone else present in the room. The man couldn’t quite force himself to just stand there and do nothing while the boy he spent the past three years tutoring was dying in front of his eyes.

Still, he wasn’t about to reveal something that even the baron would grow envious of in front of the servants. The women might be on the verge of fainting from fright right now, but the second this whole ruckus was over, they’d be running over themselves to sell the news for a favor. As for the butler, he might even prioritise this information over the heir’s condition when he reported to the baron and whoever else he was supplying with information.

“Move aside! I need space!” the man roared once again, faking outrage to violently toss the two men away from the bed. Then he deliberately made a large motion as he took out an amulet from his pouch. The small vial containing the healing potion was hidden beneath his palm.

He grabbed Richard's body, putting the youth in an upright position so that the potion would go down his throat. Simultaneously, he sat down on the bed in such a way as to conceal his actions from the surrounding people with his back.

He placed the talisman on youth’s forehead and activated his skill [Power Infusion]. Normally, it was supposed to be used on weapons, and weapons of the second grade at least. Anything else wouldn’t be able to handle the surging energies and instead of having its power strengthened, it would crumble into dust.

The talisman wasn’t anything close to the intended target of the skill. In fact, it was a simple charming talisman that animal trainers used to soothe newly captured beasts. Still, it looked mysterious enough and the man doubted any of these commoners could see through what it was.

As the skill activated, waves of energy began to enter the amulet. It quickly became suffused with mysterious light and as the man poured even more power into the amulet, the light’s intensity rapidly grew, transforming into a brilliant radiance. 

He could hear some new shouts coming from behind him, the servants’ voices this time filled with awe and amazement. 

He waited until the talisman was on the verge of breaking and in one quick motion poured half of the vial down the youth’s throat. Less than a second later the talisman reached its breaking point and with a last blinding flash of light, it crumbled into fine dust. 

This time even the butler let out a scream, assuaging the man’s last fears of someone having seen through the subterfuge.

He focused on his student’s face. He had seen other people using the healing potion before and knew what to expect. Supposedly, even his own life was once saved by its miraculous powers, though in his own case he was unconscious at the time and always harbored suspicions that his savor made up the story about the potion to increase the debt of gratitude.

It was gradual, but as the minutes slowly passed by, the boy’s face that was previously stretched by pain, relaxed. The body that was trembling, grew calm. 

The man sighed in relief.

As for Richard, though he was still unconscious, if he were to open his eyes, he’d see a small notification in the corner of his vision.

[System successfully initialized.]