Chapter 3: I Can Help!

Jessie, a little confused as to where this burst of courage came from, headed into the trees after Tally, chasing a cockatrice. “I have no idea what I can do to help, maybe it's small like a chicken and not a big threat. I am sure Tally has it under control,’ he said to himself. The hope of it being a small chicken like creature was squashed when Jessie came into the clearing and saw Tally jump into the air to smack what only could be described as a fire breathing t-rex with feathers. It was at least 20 feet tall and absolutely terrifying. Jessie was very confused as to how they didn’t notice a 20 foot tall creature stalking them through the jungle, but he shrugged it off and watched as Tally connected her hammer to the cockatrice’s head. Jessie was not afraid in any sense, he was full of thrill, wonder and excitement.

When Tally connected her massive hammer to the cockatrice’s face, she smiled ear to ear. The cockatrice’s head was knocked back and it looked as though she got away with the hard hit; however, it lowered its head back and counter attacked with its beak with terrifying speed and pecked Tally in the stomach before she landed on the ground. This caused Tally to fly across the clearing where she smacked back first into a tree.

Jessie, who at this point is panicking, screamed, “please don’t be dead!” as he watched Tally hit the tree with a great force. Tally, with a grunt, stands back up and laughs.

“Is that all you got!” Tally laughed loudly. Tally grabs her hammer once more and with inhuman speed runs right at the cockatrice. She swings her hammer back and hits it with all she’s got right in the leg. The cockatrice squeals in pain as you hear the leg make a “CRACK!” noise. As Tally went for a follow up swing, the cockatrice swirls to hit her with its feathered tail sending Tally once more across the clearing, “clunk”, right into a tree. Tally once again gets to her feet as the cockatrice roared a jet of fire right at her.

Jessie was frozen in place, watching in awe at the battle that is taking place in front of him. He watched Tally get set aflame only to shrug it off like it was nothing.

Tally charged through the fire breath to hit the jaw of the cockatrice with her hammer. The flames curve upwards as the cockatrices’ head swings toward the sky from the blow. Tally lands on the ground and starts to spin; her hammer now has a burst of purple mana surrounding it and with great force her hammer once again smacks into the creature's leg. The crunching sound from the blow of the hammer hitting the leg echoed throughout the jungle. In a roar of pain, the cockatrice swipes down with its claws, raking Tally in the face. Blood is now dripping down her face and looks to be the only damage she has taken thus far.

When Jessie sees the massive amount of blood coming from Tally’s face, he gasps so loud that it catches the cockatrice’s attention. The cockatrice has now focused on Jessie who is standing on the sideline just watching.

Tally, taking advantage of the situation, leaps up to hit the cockatrice in the face once more, but the cockatrice was ready for this and spun around just in time to hit Tally with its tail again, this time she hit a tree right next to Jessie in a hard ‘thud!’” Jessie screamed, “are you okay?”

“Why are you standing there, run!” yelled Tally, as she gets her bearings and once again prepares to attack with everything in her being.

Jessie, currently frozen in fear, turned his head just in time to see the cockatrice clawing right at his face. Everything went dark and Jessie heard a screaming painful cry. Jessie opens his eyes to see that Tally had jumped in front of him just in time to save his life, but the cockatrice had raked her back with its beastly claws. Tally then pulled her hammer back and hit the ankle of the beast as hard as she could with a bone crunching snap, it shattered. The cockatrice leaped back with a cry of pain.

Tally slumped over next to Jessie and with a ragged breath said, “run, it might not be able to get us both. I can hold it back even in this state.”

Jessie finally unfroze seeing the horror happening in front of him. He glanced over at the now limping and clearly hurt cockatrice and then back at Tally who was dying a slow painful death due to his stupidity. Tally was fading fast, she lost a ton of blood and her eyes were barely open. Tally, determined to slay the beast and save Jessie from her own fate, used her hammer as a crutch to stand up, ready to fight til her last breath. Jessie says, “Tally wait! I have something that I can do, I can help!” He put his hands on Tally, hoping the connection would help and he closed his eyes and focused on the ocean of mana inside his chest. “Come on healing magic, please keep her alive,” he thought. Jessie imagined a dark blue light surrounding Tally, stitching her wounds and making her body heal to its former glory.

Jessie opened his eyes to see the blue hue of mana swirling around Tally with a mind of its own, closing every wound and mending every bone; even past scars and minor wounds seemed to have disappeared. In absolute surprise, Jessie yelled, “it worked! You are healed!” There was no time to celebrate because the cockatrice took this time to adjust itself and prepare to attack again. It leaped back into the fight and tried to peck once again at them.

Tally, coming back to consciousness, jumped up from the blood soaked ground and yelled back at Jessie, “it is time to kill this beast.” Tally let out a loud shout as mana erupted in a purple swirl around her whole body. She looked as if she had grown in size as all of her muscles bulged. With a massive leap, she heaved her hammer up and smashed down on to the cockatrice’s head. The cockatrice fell to the ground with a hard, loud thud. The cockatrice was no longer moving and they cheated death by slaying the beast! Tally let out a roar of triumph and raised her hammer in the air, “Haha! We killed it! I would not have been able to kill it without you Jessie! That healing magic of yours is impressive, for a level 1 you performed it with such mastery. The team is going to be so jealous we killed the cockatrice without them, HAHAHA.”

“I am just glad that you killed it. I have no idea how I managed to heal you, but you’re alive and that is all that matters to me! I was sure you were dead for a second there. Is it always this exciting and dangerous?” Jessie asked.

With a little bit of a laugh in her voice she answered, “oh yes, this is what makes you feel the most alive. Narrowly escaping the clutches of death as you snag a victory is absolutely exhilarating.”

“To be honest, I am surprised someone left you out here in the Fire Woods for dead. A healing mage is extremely rare and usually kept safe from harm. There are not many who would let you wander far from the guild because you are at such a low level. You healed me to full which means you used a high heal, I was almost dead there. How are you so powerful, yet so weak? I know it is rude to ask, but what is your class?” Tally asked with curiosity.

Overwhelmed with information, Jessie answered, “It’s fine, I have no more information than you do. I just know that my character slate says that I have healing magic, barrier magic and hand to hand fighting. That is the first time I have ever used any type of magic, I just did what you said to do; I focused on the mana inside me and made it do what I wanted it to. It felt very easy to use my magic for the first time.”

“Wait! This was your first time using healing magic? Dew is going to be so shocked and the fact that you have other magic will make him lose his mind!” Tally exclaimed.

“Yeah, it felt amazing and was super easy to do. I feel really good after using it. We should fight another monster! It was almost intoxicating and now we know I can keep you alive! I have no idea about the other magic, honestly I was barely able to make the healing magic work. You said Dew would be shocked? Is he good with magic?” Jessie said with excitement. Maybe I can learn something about what's going on with me.

“Yes he is amazing with magic, he will love you. Oh! You are level 5 now! You must have gotten a lot of soul power for helping defeat the cockatrice,” Tally said.

“Really? All I did was heal you though, why would I get soul power for that?” Jessie asked. “Also what is soul power?” he thought to himself.

“Well, I would have died without you there, so this ranks you higher in contribution than me. Check your slate and notifications while I take our prizes from this beast! Also, I did a huge spell that did some damage to me, do you mind healing me back up again?” Tally asked.

“Yeah, I can try it again.” Jessie said a bit worried that magic could hurt the user.. He focused on the ocean of mana in his body and even faster than before his mana responded. Mana shot forward and engulfed Tally in a dark blue light and then it was gone. “Did it work?” Jessie asked.

“Absolutely! Oh that's the stuff, I could get used to having a personal healer around. Now to harvest our treasures!” Tally said with a sigh of relief. Then turned to the cockatrice, took out a hunting knife and started slicing the cockatrice into pieces spurting blood and gore everywhere..

The adrenaline had finally faded and the sight of Tally hacking into the cockatrice caused Jessie to turn around and vomit all over the ground. It was officially too much for his body to handle. He stumbled over to a nearby tree and leaned against it, trying to settle the uneasy feeling in his stomach. He decided to get his mind off of the butchery that Tally was engaging in, he would take a look at his character slate and check his notifications for the first time since he arrived.

Notifications:

Acquired: Mana sight

Acquired: Mana radar

Acquired: Healing manipulation (upgraded healing)

Adored Slate Screen

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Name: Jessie Anders

Level: 5

Race: Adored (unchangeable)

Class: Adored (Unchangeable)

Health: 100/100 (x)

Mana: 98/100 (x)

Stats:

Str: 10 (x) Int 10(x)

Char: 10 (x) Dex 10 (x)

Spir: 10 (x) Vit: 10 (x)

Spells/Skills

1) Barrier Magic

2) Healing manipulation

3) Hand to hand combat

4) Mana sight

5) Mana Radar

Traits:

Adored, Loved by mana, From another realm, geek

“I wonder why my stats didn’t increase. They are the same stats, but my healing magic changed to healing manipulation. Does the healing manipulation allow for better healing? Ugh, I have so many questions,” Jessie sighed.

“Don’t worry, I am sure we will find some answers for you from Dew or in the city,” Tally prompted.

“I also gained mana radar and mana sight which seems useful,” Jessie stated. He started to think about mana radar and if it was what he used to locate the cockatrice and then with only a thought the whole world lit up in front of his eyes. There were different shades of blue, reds, yellows and it pinged all around him. He could tell the differences in mana somehow and he knew instinctively where everything was located. Thinking again, Jessie pulsed the radar and focused in on three bigger mana blobs that were heading in their direction. All three were heading in a hurried speed in their direction. All three lit up differently. One was a light green, one was dark brown and the last was orange. Worried that it might be more monsters, Jessie called over to Tally, “Hey! I am sensing three mana blobs, I mean signatures heading towards us really fast. They have decent mana like yours, but nothing like the creature we just killed. Should I be worried?” Jessie hurried over to Tally and before she could answer his question, three figures stepped out of the forest and headed toward them.

“Tally! There you are!” one of them yelled. “You have been gone for three days, it took forever for us to follow your coin.”

“Did you really kill it without us! We were supposed to take it down together!” another voice said in disappointment. “I know you're strong, but how did you manage to kill it without a scratch on you?”

Obviously these were Tally’s team that she was going on about the whole way to the cockatrice. Tally had a big smile on her face and started to catch up with her friends. Excited to tell the story of the cockatrice, she said, “Of course I killed it, but I did have some help from my new friend Jessie. When I found him, he was lost in the woods as a level 1. The craziest part about it is he can perform powerful healing magic. I was almost dead and this kid brought me back to full health. His healing is the only reason we were able to kill it. I almost died.”

Jessie, a little annoyed, said, “Hey, I’m not a kid! I am 18 years old.”

Jessie decided to let it go and check out the new members of their adventure party. Jessie noticed a very large man, at least 6’5” tall covered in plate armor. He didn’t wear a helmet, but he had a massive shield almost as big as himself and a large mace that he carried in his opposite hand. He had dark black hair and a long knotted beard. He scowled at Jessie as if he didn’t trust what Tally said about him. To his right was a blonde haired woman with a bow. She had a giant smile on her face and her hair was kept in a neat ponytail. She had a wild look in her eyes that made Jessie a little uneasy. Along her face was a giant scar that went from the top to the bottom of her entire face. She wore light green and brown leathers that had seen better days. On the left was a smaller timid man with dark brown scruffy hair. He held a staff with a bright red gem on top. He wore dark blue and black robes and seemed to be injured. He was holding his arm and drops of blood were dripping onto the ground under him.

“Let me introduce you to my friends and teammates. The big grumpy guy is Red, but don't let him fool you, he is a big softy,” Tally said with a giggle.

“Am not!” Red grumbled.

“To the right is Britnah and to the left is Dew. Wait! Dew why are you bleeding?” Tally asked.

Dew blushed and said, “I may have stumbled into a fire snake breeding ground and was attacked.”

“Oh! We need to get you to a healer fast! Fire snakes venom can be lethal in multiple doses,” Tally stated.

“I am aware,” Dew winced. Dew already did not look very well and it seemed to be getting worse with every minute that passed.

Jessie started to say something and was silenced by Red’s voice, “we need to get Dew to the city as soon as possible. I refuse to drag a level 5 through the jungle, he will just slow us down and I do not want to be responsible for keeping him alive if we get into another tussle with any other creatures.

“We can’t just leave him out here in the jungle to fend for himself! Plus he is useful and not at all a burden,” Tally said, a bit annoyed.

“How much do you owe this healer? How much is he charging you for the heals he gave you?” Red said, getting angrier.

Tally was now extremely annoyed and yelled at Red, “He didn’t charge anything! He is different from other healers. He helped me without a second thought.”

Red snorted and snapped back, “Sure he is, wait until later when he brings up the debt that you owe him for the heals he gave you. You’ll see how generous he actually is then.”

Meanwhile, Jessie is annoyed with the whole situation and realizes that Dew is getting worse the longer they stand around arguing. He walks over to Dew and once again focuses on the mana inside his chest, it seems like second nature to him at this point. He pushed the mana into Dew’s body and tried to heal his wounds, but it’s not working like it did before. Jessie focuses more on Dew’s body and begins to search for what is preventing the healing. He senses the venom coursing through Dew’s veins and the word ‘purify’ comes to his mind. Jessie focuses on the word purify and draws more mana to wash away the venom and the injuries that Dew’s body had endured. Jessie noticed that the swaying had finally stopped and he opened his eyes to see Dew staring at him in disbelief.

Jessie asked Dew, “do you feel better? Does anything else hurt?”

“Not at all!” Dew replied, feeling refreshed from the healing. “How much do I owe you? It’s incredible that a level 5 is so good at healing, you were even able to purify, which is a very high bit of magic. You didn’t even use a chant, I am guessing you don’t need to chant for your class. I need to know more about you!” Dew Exclaimed in excitement.

Tally and Red stopped bickering after they heard the healthy voice of Dew. “It’s free, any friend of Tally’s is a friend of mine,” Jessie said, answering Dew’s question.

“Told you so!” Tally said to Red in a still annoyed voice.

“Yay! Everything is right in the world!” chimed Britnah.

Jessie’s stomach rumbled and he realized that he felt like he was starving. He asked, “does anyone have any type of food, apparently I am starving.” This caused a roar of laughter from the group.

“Of course you are probably starving, you used a huge amount of mana I’m sure in such a short amount of time too,” Britnah said. “Here, have some jerky.”

“But my character slate says I am almost full of mana though,” Jessie said.

“Fascinating! I must know what your class is! I know it is rude to ask, but at level 5 and being able to cast high levels of magic with little mana use is absolutely unheard of!” Dew exclaimed as he pulled out his notebook to take down some notes.

“I was wondering about your class as well,” piped in Tally.

Jessie replied, “It says ‘Adored’.”

“I have never heard of an Adored. That is such a weird class name,” Dew stated.

Tears begin to well up in Tally’s eyes as she starts thinking about how Jessie was abandoned in the Fire Woods with no way to care for himself and was clearly left there to die. Tally, tears now rolling down her face, says, “I can’t believe someone would just leave you alone to die in the Fire Woods. What kind of monster does that to a level 1!”

“It’s not all bad though Tally, I found you! You kept me alive and I can never repay you for that,” Jessie said.

Red looked over at Jessie with a little hint of sadness in his eyes and said, “We will make sure you make it to the city safe, but now we need to make camp. It is getting late and tomorrow we have a long trek home.”

As they set up camp, Tally finished harvesting the cockatrice and Britnah cooked some meat over the open fire for dinner. Jessie used this time to ask the mage, Dew, some questions about stat points. “When you level up, do you get stat points to increase your base stats?”

Dew replied, “of course you do, every level is 5 stat points. I use my stat points for my intellect and wisdom so that my mana is higher and my spells hit harder. Why do you ask?”

“When I leveled up, I didn’t get any stat points. Mine still says 10,” Jessie replied.

“That’s different, maybe your class stats level up differently then mine,” Dew stated.

Before Jessie could ask more questions, Red piped up and said, “tomorrow we will leave bright and early. We want to make it to the city before dark. Barlow is not far, about a 15 hours walk. Jessie we will take you to the seekers guild and they can help you get situated in town. You seem to be a decent kid so I want to warn you about the healers guild.” Jessie looked at Red with a confused look on his face. Red continued, “healers are ruthless and only are after money. They tend to exploit others because being a healer is so rare. Healing for free or to help someone out as you did is unheard of. It also is very pricey for the healer and tends to drain their mana; however, you do not seem to have that issue. At level 5, you could be kidnapped and be forced into the healers guild. The seekers guild can protect you, but the healers guild will not be happy about it. No matter what you do, you will have their attention because you are special.”

At this point everyone was staring at Jessie, who was sitting down with his mouth wide open in awe. Jessie was worried about being forced into the healers guild and would do anything to prevent it from happening. He spent his whole life in situations where he couldn't make his own choices and he was not going to let that happen to him again. His family was very controlling and judgemental. They would use money and fear to keep him in line. He had escaped that life by going to college. Jessie looked at Red and said, “The seekers guild will keep me safe? I would be willing to work for the seekers guild and even offer my healing to those in need.”

“Yes, the master of the guild will keep you safe. He has a fearsome reputation and even the healers guild would think twice before crossing him. Though he does not like healers, so might have to be convincing to get his help,” stated Red.

“Where did you learn to use your magic anyway?” Dew asked Jessie.

“Tally told me how she uses her magic and I just adapted it to work for me. I never had used magic before I met Tally,” Jessie answered.

“Wait, you learned to use your magic from Tally and it didn’t kill you? Tally doesn’t even use magic! She uses skills which are not the same as magic!” Dew said, while getting a little frustrated.

“I don’t know, Tally must be a really good teacher,” Jessie shrugged.

“I am the best magic teacher and it's basically the same thing!” Tally exclaimed much to the frustration and disdain Dew was exuding.

After eating, they settled down for the night. Everyone was given a shift where they would stay awake and keep watch in case of any danger except for Jessie who Red felt did not know well enough to have a shift. Jessie turned in first. He crawled into the sleeping sack that his new friends provided him. It was warm and cozy even if it was roughly made.. As much as Jessie wanted to look at his character slate some more and try to figure out his stat points, learn about soul power, along with a whole other host of new information, the exhaustion of the day caught up with him and he passed out, falling into a dreamless sleep as if he had no cares in the world.