Morphus: “Next please!”

Apparently, healers were a rather hard to find even among adventurers, especially among Lower Ranks. While it was possible to find healers among higher rankers, they charged sky-high fees for their services. Considering the yearly wages of commoners, it was safe to say, only the nobles could afford such ridiculous prices.

Without enough money, unable to find anyone who would treat them, many would end up passing away prematurely.

There were temples that could provide healing, but they either cost a lot depending on the severity of the condition or were difficult to reach.

For a few weeks now, Morphus started running a service where he would admit patients and cure them of their ailments, charging patients very strange fees, ranging from a pint of blood to locks of hair. One thing was consistent, he would always have them sign a contract that was clearly in another language, but if they did so, he would guarantee to cure them.

Everyone thought it was a scam until an adventurer who was paralyzed from neck down got up and sprinted as soon as Morphus was done.

He never charged them any money, which is why people started to gradually seek his aid.

Soon, more people started showing up at Morphus’s desk (technically the receptionist’s desk at the guild, during after-hours), each time, Morphus would heal a certain number of people and after a while, he would tell them to come back the next day.

Because of the perception blocking curse he cast on himself, none aside from those he approved (Ranga) would be able to see or remember his face, which is why he wore a ridiculous-looking mask that had no expression at all, just a white surface with only one visible eye hole.

With the mask on, people could see him and remember that he is in Ranga’s healer teammate.

This time, right before closing, the receptionist asked him to wait before bringing in what was likely the last customer for the day. It was a young teenage girl of ordinary looks, but what stood out were her broken eyes. Her name was Annet. If one were to look closely, it would be apparent that she was missing both of her hands, in place of which were bandaged stumps.

From what the receptionist told him, this girl was someone who was like a little sister to her. Her circumstances were dire, to say the least.

Apparently, her parents made a deal with a devil, in exchange for her hands, they would be granted enormous wealth and status.

The devil granted them a dagger which her parents used to chop off her hands.

Devils were infamous deal-makers, for a price, they were guaranteed to fulfill even your wildest wishes.

Annet’s parents had considered her a burden for most of their lives and when they found a spell to summon a devil and make a deal with it to gain wealth and power, they were willing to pay any price. They were quite elated that all they had to sacrifice were their daughter’s arms.

Receptionist: “By the time I found her, it was too late. I tried to take her to all the healers I could find, but all of them failed to give her back her hands. I don’t think you will have much luck, but …. please tell me if you can do anything…. please. I will pay any price…”

Compared to Annet who was barely expressing any emotions, Receptionist (Runa), was clearly heartbroken and was reduced to sobbing.

Morphus tilted his head a little before nodding: “I will see what I can do”

* * *

Another day, another mission, and yet another adventure.

When Ranga was alone, his efficiency at clearing the missions was mediocre at best and abysmal at worst. More often than not, he would barely survive each one of his missions.

Since he had reached his level cap, he knew he could not get any stronger, so he tried to learn skills to compensate, but with a low-level body, there was only so much he could do.

But after he gained a teammate, everything changed.

After they managed to complete one of the Impossible Quests, Ranga and Morphus were promoted to Silver rank, just a step away from gold rank.

It is said that gold rank is the highest tier normal human beings could reach, those who reached beyond that were geniuses and talent holders, in other words, abnormal folk that defied common sense.

For someone who considered himself a talentless loser, Ranga found himself rapidly approaching the ranks of the strongest normal human beings. Even if he was silver ranked now, Ranga was sure that he was still one of the weakest adventurers in the entire guild.

After pulling off the extermination of werewolves and singlehandedly completing the Impossible Quest, Morphus chose to not interfere at all during the upcoming missions, leaving Ranga to handle most of the fighting.

The only times Morphus personally stepped in was when Ranga was gravely injured. One monster managed to chop off his leg and leave a large gaping hole on his body, and yet, Morphus somehow simply restored him back to normal.

Morphus: “As long as you are alive, I will put you back together, though, if you are missing a few pieces, it might take a little longer”

How Morphus operated and what kind of magic he used were beyond Ranga’s comprehension, but with him around, Ranga’s likelihood of surviving battles against monsters skyrocketed.

Just today, he managed to fight and defeat a three headed Ursus, a bear-like monster known for causing mass devastation. This monster is said to have hide strong enough to break common blades and only stronger warriors could defeat it.

All his wounds were healed, but the stamina and energy he used up could not be restored by a spell, requiring him to rest after the mission was completed.

With the Ursus’s body part serving as proof, they would be handsomely rewarded by the guild and they could feast to their hearts’ content.

One strange thing Ranga noticed was that when people were talking about their party, they always mentioned him but never Loid. The guild receptionist even admitted that she keeps forgetting that Ranga now has a teammate, only remembering that Ranga is always accompanied by a masked man.

Ranga: “Come to think of it, last few times Loid did something, for some reason, everyone gave me the credit for his deeds. I thought they made a mistake, but that does not seem to be the case.”

As soon as Morphus was out of sight, for some reason everyone would forget what he looked or sounded like, heck, most people could not even tell what he looked like even after spending days next to him.

Ranga could see Morphus’s face clearly, yet for some reason, not everyone had the same luxury.

Ranga: Perhaps it’s an anti-detection spell

Morphus: “Not a spell, a curse, a passive type, a pretty useful one too”

Ranga: “How do you keep doing that? Answering my questions before I ask them? Am I truly that predictable?”

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He had yet to figure out that Morphus was a telepathic type. Telepath types, depending how on how high their level is, could easily hear the thoughts of those near them, especially after spending long time familiarizing themselves with the voice of their companion’s mind. By now, Morphus could tell Ranga’s though-signature like the back of his hand.

Morphus: “I have my ways”

For some reason, Morphus referred to some of his magic as curses rather than spells, Ranga was not sure if it was because there is a distinct difference or Morphus just wanted to sound cool.

Ranga: Even if he is delusional, with his talents, he could probably get away with it.

Morphus: You are right, I can.

Of course, Morphus was not about to tell Ranga that he could hear every single one of his thoughts. There are some trump cards that must be kept secret, no matter what.

While most magicians used magic, Morphus’s personal preference was to use curses, for practical reasons.

Curses, by their origin, could only by utilized by denizens of Hell, devils and Lords of Hell, and those contracted to them. Explaining that much would raise even more questions. Worst case scenario, Ranga would think Morphus is some evil Devil planning on tormenting him and try to kill him. Until he found a better vessel, it is best that he kept some things about himself under wraps.

Ranga was not sure, but with each quest, he had easier and easier time fighting monsters, even killing a werewolf, this time without Morphus’s help. But as far as he knew, his level was capped, so the reason he was getting better was perhaps his skills getting sharper rather becoming more powerful.

Morphus: I wonder how long it will take him to figure out that his level is no longer capped.

Level caps could be removed and Morphus just happened to be a being that was capable of doing so. All the experience that Ranga accumulated over the years allowed him to quickly level up, now he was level 10, rather than level 5. Technically, he could raise his level up to level 100, but it was highly unlikely. Most warriors were lucky to reach level 30, which is considered hero level.

Today was supposed to be just another day after a mission, but what stood in their way was a party of gold rank adventurers.

Gold Ranker Leader: “Well, well, well, where are you heading?”

Ranga: “We have no intention of fighting you”

Gold Ranker Leader: “A fight? A weakling like you thinks he can take us on? As your seniors, how about we give you a lesson on manners? You unworthy weakling!”

Morphus: a gang of thugs that are trying to get rid of us because of our sudden rise in ranks. How typical.

Their leader was a big guy, lots of muscles, from the shape of his body, it was clear he was a warrior type.

Ranga tried his best to defuse the situation, but his efforts were in vain, and the leader of the thugs brandished his swords and attacked him.

Gold Ranker Leader: “Once I am done with you, your adventuring days are over!”

The others focused on Morphus, likely thinking he would be an easy opponent because he was, as far as they knew, an ordinary healer.

Morphus: “More idiots, more cleanup”

* * *

30 seconds later.

Victorious Morphus sat on a pile of mentally and physically broken adventurers.

Morphus: “I let loose a little, but I might have gone too far.”

Their bodies were bruised up and some had broken bones, but the psychological damage they received was much worse.

Skill: Abyss Gaze.

Anyone who managed to survive Hell would be able to use this skill. It inflicted trauma and visions that are meant to break the person from the inside, forcing them to relive their worst moments in their lives, and if that was not bad enough, spice it up with torture that lasted for seemingly days, while only few seconds have passed in real life.

All that was required to make use of the skill was an eye contact, even the briefest contact was enough to activate it.

Physically, it did no damage whatsoever. But mentally, it was most devastating.

Those who survived Hell are immune to this skill, and those with stronger wills can resist it, but one would need to be a hero level to be able to shrug it off.

For opponents of such low caliber, it was more than enough for them to end up convulsing and motionless, like puppets that had their strings cut.

Taking this skill head on without immunity or resistance pretty much guaranteed that their minds were broken. Those with stronger psyches would repair themselves in time, but even they will be traumatized for life, that much was for sure. Weaker ones would basically become barely more than vegetables.

Morphus: “Serves them right. Considering they were trying to kill me and Ranga, I believe a lifetime of trauma is a low price to pay. I could have made them immortal and destroyed their body and left only their head, to exist and scream forever”

Now that was taken care of, it was about time to check up on Ranga.

Hopefully he was still alive, and even if he was not, Morphus was confident that he could resurrect Ranga, considering his current level, there should be no issues, as long as the corpse was still intact.

He could only hope Ranga did not explode into countless pieces, reconstructing him like that would require enormous amount of time and energy, he would have much easier time finding another companion. Using that much mana, especially in such a weak vessel, was not a bright idea.

The sounds of battle echoed across the plaza. Ranga faced off against the gold ranker leader.

Despite being at a heavy disadvantage, Ranga managed to keep fighting.

At one point, the gold ranker brought down his sword on Ranga, who instinctively caught it with his right hand, but instead of having his hand chopped off, he somehow managed to grab hold of the blade and keep it in place.

Morphus: “I did curse his right hand to be near indestructible”

If Solaris himself were to unleash his ultimate attack on Ranga, even if the rest of his body was vaporized, the right hand will still remain intact. Sadly, that specific curse could only be applied to a small area, so making one hand indestructible the best that could be done.

Unfortunately, the gold ranker was not just a swordsman.

Mana Impact.

The gold ranker unleashed his martial arts skill.

Ranga’s limp body was sent flying, from what Morphus observed, he likely fractured a few bones even if he did manage to block it.

Ranga’s opponent was likely a martial artist with some skill in swordsmanship and magic, but his primary abilities were centered around using his body to its utmost. Pure martial artists use chi, but those with mixed abilities could use mana in conjunction with their move, creating an even more powerful skill.

A skill that was normally just a straight punch was now upgraded into something that could easily explode heads upon impact. It was done by unleashing mana at the moment of the impact.

Gold Ranker: “A weakling like you does not deserve to be Silver Ranker. I will show you just how inferior you are!”

The gold ranker leader was relentless with his attacks, Ranga barely managed to dodge as the fists collided with walls and pavements, leaving sizable indents. Just one clear shot could be fatal.

Even if he managed to avoid the full force of the Mana Impact by dodging and rolling with the punches, Ranga was clearly wobbling and not moving as fast as he usually did.

He was clearly worn out and injured, and it was only a matter of time before he would go down. The fact that he was already tired from the mission beforehand did not help the matters whatsoever.

At last, the gold ranker grabbed Ranga by the throat, and pinned him to a wall, intending to finish him off with the final Mana Impact.

Gold Ranker: “You are dead, boy”

His fingers clutched Ranga’s throat tighter.

Gold Ranker: “Any last words?”

Ranga: “Finally”

Gold Ranker: “?”

Chi Impact.

It was clearly different from the move the gold ranker used on Ranga, since Ranga had no mana, using chi instead, but the principle was clearly the same.

But unlike the gold ranker who used it with a reckless abandon, Ranga was clearly timed and aimed it to maximize the overall impact of the martial art skill.

The strike landed directly on the heart of the gold ranker, causing him to fall limply on the ground.

Clearly, Ranga did not use enough force to kill him outright but it was enough to make him stagger and struggle to get up. He was slightly convulsing.

Ranga: “Took long enough to let your guard down, but…just as planned”

Not wasting time, Ranga used another Chi Impact on the side of the Gold Ranker’s head, knocking him out.

The fight was over and Ranga stood there, completely exhausted, drenched in blood and sweat, barely conscious, but victorious.

After a moment, once the adrenaline had worn off, Ranga too, passed out from exhaustion.

Morphus was the only one to witness the scene.

He was suitably impressed.

After observing Ranga fight during their missions, Morphus knew that Ranga had no move like Chi Impact in his arsenal. If anything, his moves were mostly centered around basic swordsmanship.

So seeing him demonstrate such talent in martial arts was surprising.

By carefully observing and studying his opponent’s martial art, Ranga copied its basic principles and made his own version of it, one that utilized user’s chi instead of mana, and even used it far more efficiently than the original. Though, rather than use up mana, the move used up his stamina, just two strikes were enough to make him fall down from exhaustion.

Morphus: “It seems like the kid was not talentless after all…his talent simply had no opportunity to bloom.”

Ranga may have lacked any talent as far as magic was concerned, but he had genuine talent for pure martial arts.

Talents were an innate ability that a person was born with. They ranged from completely useless such as being able to accurately tell the exact temperature of water to some absurdly useful like the ability to float for a few seconds without using any mana or casting a spell.

In Ranga’s case, Morphus suspected it to be a form Replication, and it only applied to martial arts skills. He obviously has not mastered it and he could only make his own version of a skill rather than copy it outright. And to activate it, there seem to be some unknown conditions, and worst of all, Ranga himself seemed completely unaware of even having such talent.

During the last few minutes of the fight, he pretty much acted on instinct, allowing him to use his Talent, but it might be a long while before he can use it at will.

Morphus: “I wonder, if pushed far enough, could he apply the same talent to other martial arts skills? That certainly seems worth investigating.”