Chapter 37

Clean pain.

That was the way to describe what I was now feeling. This wasn’t the typical electrically induced pain that one would feel and get used to from a machine. One where pockets of muscles would be shocked to life in order to mimic true pain.

Rather this was real pain, deep and able to be radiated from within your bones. The type of pain that seemed to cause sympathetic pulses of pain throughout the body, as your body and mind tried to comprehend the full extent of pain.

My back was broken, not just pulled. There were no electrodes on my back telling me that I couldn’t move. No, this time it was just the fact that I couldn’t move, and that deep unsettling pain prevented me from being able to move.

That is what I first felt, or rather what was left of what I could feel. If I tried to move I could do minor things, twitch my fingers. Clench and unclench my fists, but anything further down, anything lower, that was different.

It was clear that anything lower was not responsive, even from my eyes shut position, as trying to open my eyes would be too painful given how violently the world was spinning around me currently.

This of course was how the world felt at first.

Then a warm tingling sensation that started with my forehead began to radiate outwards, providing warmth and causing the spinning parts of my mind to slow down. Until finally, I no longer felt like I wanted to vomit from how crazy fast the rollercoaster I was on was going.

Yet, the stream of warmth wasn’t done just there, as I feel the energy roll through my mind, then down my neck and out into the rest of my body.

Fortunately, after that initial impulse of energy, the rest is fairly quick, though still painful.

Now that my mind is cleared from the concussion that had been overtaking my mind due to a skull fracture at the back of my skull. I can feel and realize this energy coursing through me as healing energy. Yet, unlike mine that feels somewhat tainted with green nature energy, this healing energy is pure. Streams of gold course through me, healing my body and all but forcing my spine that had up to this point been severed to come to life.

Pain.

There is a minor burst of pain as bones and muscles are forcefully pushed back into place and then sealed up with deep coats of energy. I’m reminded of the vase I broke and how despite using nearly limitless applications of cement glue and applicators, there were still cracks. Yet, despite that comparison, I know that this healing will be perfect.

Tingle.

Only now, that my spine is once again back in place do I realize that I was this close to being paralyzed from the waist down. That my body had been close to being permanently crippled, had healing not been applied immediately.

That or, I might have been able to heal my own damages once my concussion alleviated, but I could still have suffered a permanent lingering penalty to my attributes or movement factors had the healing not been instantaneous.

I sit back and relax, letting the waves of healing overtake my mind and body. Then finally after a long second, I feel the moment the waves of healing stop and the slight pressure on my forehead release.

Opening my eyes, I see an angel.

Or what the closest version to an angel is on this world.

“Saint Marie De’Claire,” I state, realizing the importance of this moment. For this is the time when Marie becomes her most valuable to the team, able to use her full array of healing powers. Even with time she can learn to revive others from death, or near permanent injury with her Kiss of Life.

The thought fills me for a moment, but then I realize Marie used her first ever Kiss of Life on me.

Normally, this is something that is saved for Claudia, an act so grand and powerful that it forever links the two. Now, looking into her eyes, I see flecks of golden light still waiting there, still waiting to be used. There is a look of longing there, and maybe something more.

On reflex, I cast Disruption Field, the same spell that I remember got me into this mess. Also, if this is a sign of Marie using the void to heal me, then I want to make sure her corruption is gone.

Yet, the moment I cast the spell on her, on all of us, I see the glow of golden light grow within her eyes. Mentally, I equate this to being able to reset Marie’s Saint power timer, a feat that would be so overpowered, as it would effectively mean Marie could cast infinite heals constantly at full force.

It also means that the path of the Saint is as the story noted, the most perfect form of energy use.

“Thank you,” is all I can say.

Marie for her part just stares intensely at me, her eyes quickly scanning my face, before I see her hands go up to my face. For a moment I am at a loss as to what she is doing, until finally she pulls off my mask and lets a wave of cool air hit my face that was coated with sweat.

“There, much better,” Marie says as she holds my mask to the side and then before I can realize what she is doing, she snaps it in two.

“Wait,” I protest, but it is already too late as I see the shards of a well beaten and used mask crumble and flake to the ground.

“Oops,” Marie says in that sorry not-sorry way, before turning her full gaze back at me.

Seeing her intense stare at me, I do the only thing I can.

I laugh.

The entire event seems both so odd for Marie, and yet so right at the same time. Marie who never even thought of breaking her master Claudia’s things, took my mask, my symbol of anonymity and shattered it in front of everyone.

Honestly the mask was a bit old, and could have used bit of TLC.

“That wasn’t very nice.” I quip.

“Consider it payment for healing you back to full health,” Marie said, her tone more playful than I remember her ever being.

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“Well, do I get anything for darting out and saving you?” I ask with my own brand of joking, trying to make Marie see the error in her logic. As we are a team, and should constantly think about teamwork and make sure that we don’t hold favors for fulfilling our roles in said team.

Of course, all of that went out the window when Marie just shrugged her shoulders, and agreed with me.

“Why yes, I do believe you are right. I guess that means you should get whatever you want.” Marie stated.

Hearing her, I could only pause with shock, a fact that was proven when a moment later Marie both giggled and pushed my mouth shut.

Chomp.

Now with her hand on the bottom of my jaw she didn’t let go and instead just tilted my head up to lock gazes with her.

“With your mask gone, you might have to be careful, lest you start catching flies.” Marie said, as she spoke, I felt odd tingles from where her Saint power infused body still pulsed healing energies directly into my body.

Shiver.

There was a moment where the two of us just locked gazes.

And then the next moment our brief moment together was all but ended.

“Make way,” the voice of a familiar teacher shouted.

Glancing around Marie, I could see that we had made quite the crowd of onlookers as everyone was gathered in an oddly shaped semi-circle.

Oddly shaped, until you realized that some of the students were looking at us, while others were looking at the giant beast-teacher-hybrid that we took down.

The teacher apparently went to first investigate the downed teacher-beast and now broke through the line of students who all kept their distance from Marie and me.

“Move back,” the voice cried out.

Only once I saw the quick hands and the movement did I realize that this was Lady Von’Graysing, my instructor. With deft movements she got over here quickly.

Then after a moment I realized why she was here, as apparently someone must have gone to get her.

The guess as to who went to get her was demonstrated a moment later, when Darren quickly followed behind her and then went right to get a view around Lady Von’Graysing who was quickly prodding and poking at me.

Tickle.

As she poked, I felt an infuriating need to giggle like the Pillsbury dough boy, I of course stopped myself from doing so. But for a moment, I felt that deep embedded command take place, and then instantly disabled it, I did not want random people poking me to make me giggle like that, ever.

Still, I did jerk up slightly at the probing.

“Sorry about that,” Lady Von’Graysing said.

Nova-Flash!

Just as Lady Von’Graysing is pressing on my ribs and making sure everything is in place, a flash of light followed by a bubble of force appears next to the still shriveling husk of what used to be High Priestess Palmyra.

Seeing the darks wisps of smoke rising, let me realize that even now my Disruption Field is having a cleansing effect on the old crone’s body.

From the image, I instantly recognize the person that just appeared out of nowhere, but for whatever reason it still takes my mind a moment to process who just appeared.

They are tall, with a thin wiry frame and a long red robe that shows off densely corded muscles for arms.

Though I can only see him for a few seconds, before he goes over to the rotting and seemingly melting corpse, where he reaches down to grab something. Unfortunately, the gaggle of people that are around us block me from seeing what it is that he is actually doing at this time.

I also apparently pass Lady Von’Graysing’s tests as she is done prodding me, though I can tell she is staring into my eyes. Likely trying to see if I still have a concussion, fortunately I am pretty sure that Marie took care of that problem.

After a few minutes, or maybe just seconds, the old man sticks up. Then finally the older male turns to face both Marie and me, and the instant our eyes lock, I see two smoky white spheres of light shining brightly.

Chills.

There is a slight shiver that runs down my spine as our eyes connect and I see the true power of the third circle master on full display for all. That’s when I realize who it is that just randomly appeared out of nowhere, as if drawn to the very corruption of the void that was slowly being dispersed into a helpful form of energy for the world to use. The figure before us is none other than the Grand Master Sage himself.

“Apprentice!” GMS Rikt demands, as he begins walking with a purpose towards me.

Hearing his commands, I instantly try to rise to my feet, though my muscles are still shaky as my mind still can’t comprehend that my spine is fully in place. I move almost as if expecting phantom pains to flare up from my movements, only to rest assured that everything is okay.

At least, everything is okay with my body. As Rikt approaches, I feel the surge of energy rolling off of him, as he too is getting near the void as even he seems to be exuding trails of void fumes as he walks.

Fortunately for all of us, he sees the wisps of acrid smoke rising from him and pauses. Then taking in a deep calming breath, he waits, centers himself, then continues forward.

This is perfect as it gives me enough time to rise, with the assistance of Lady Von’Graysing on my left and Marie holding my right.

As he approaches, he stares intently at me, but then pauses as he looks up to something up higher.

Seeing his gaze, I can’t help but look behind me to where he is glancing. That is when I see a giant round indent on the wall from where my butt landed in the somewhat softer and slightly more forgiving wood paneling on the wall.

There is an odd sense of wonder on his face, before he turns back to me. Then turns his head slightly to the side as if seeing something new.

“Did it break?” Rikt asks.

I pause for a moment, trying to understand exactly what he is asking. Fortunately, Marie was right there, seeing the confusion.

“It was chipped, so I removed it.” Marie stated, then pointed down towards the broken fragments of my mask.

Mentally, I make a plan on how long it would take to get another one made from one of the Ancient laboratories.

I’m so lost in my own thoughts, that I almost miss the look of sadness that fills Rikt’s eyes.

“Everything okay?” Lady Von’Graysing asks.

The minute she asks, is the moment I see the faint tear rolling down master’s right cheek. Which should have been easy to notice as even the tear has a faint smokey white color to it, until it gets far enough away from Rikt’s eyes that it just shows his naturally tan skin color.

“Yes, though I think I will need to leave my two pupils to your guidance and protection, while I take care of a few discoveries.” GMS Rikt states, before holding out a series of three glowing bobbles.

Seeing the bobbles, I instantly feel a sharp intake of air into my lungs as I know I am smiling with greed. The reason being is that I know what those bobbles are, power crystals. Basically, cheat crystals that can allow you to try to advance or learn a full grade on a random Attribute, Magic, or Skill. Or you can force a half grade growth to one of your choosing.

For a minute, I wonder where Rikt got them, but then I remember his prodding the dead corpse, before coming over.

In fact, looking at it, I see that one was clearly a shattered part of the clear orbs I targeted.

Seeing the components displayed in such a way was odd. For it was clear that whatever Rikt did to harvest the stones preserved them from the damage I inflicted to either prevent the systemic attacks it unleashed, or to cause damage to the void touched creature.

The fact that not one, but all three maximum shards proved Rikt’s skills at harvesting.

I wondered if he would teach me the harvesting skill, as that would be an invaluable way to gain power. If I could ensure that the crystals that I target survived, even after being attacked relentlessly by my attacks, I could easily max out not just my abilities but those of my team as well.

Then, before my thoughts of world domination through power leveling can happen, Lady Von’Graysing shatters my bubble.

“Sure thing, for how long would you need?” Lady Von’Graysing asks.

“Sadly, I will need time to process quite a few things. Maybe in the Spring time.” Rikt replies.

Hearing that, I realize this is likely the game’s way of saying new special content will be available after the first year of classes are over.

“What will you be doing?” Lady Von’Graysing asks.

With that GMS Rikt just stares back at the now depleted husk of a body that is more or less in the shape of a really stretched out ballon version of the High Priestess.

“I will burry her on her family lands, as I think I know what happened to my wife candidate.” Rikt says, a faint note of sadness in his face.

As for me, I have no clue what this is, maybe some obscure lore about the old guru that was never found or discussed.

While I am interested in this plot development, I have a few more important tasks at hand. Namely, what Lady Von’Graysing will do with those crystals, also, what exactly is Rikt going to do with the body of the High Priestess now that it is no longer sizzling out wisps of black smoke.

“Okay,” is all Lady Von’Graysing states, which apparently is enough for the old guru to go over and grab the desiccated meat sac that was the high priestess.

Rikt for his part, picks up the dead body princess style, with folds of skin and dried up tentacles hanging loosely from the body. With the priestess in tow, Rikt turns to us and states, “train hard, for what comes next will not be easy.”

I just nod at that, which was enough for Rikt who nodded back and then disappeared in a cloud of void smoke.

Poof.

From the trail of energy that appeared in my Disruption Field, Rikt had called upon a higher tier void power.

I think this new aspect of the void was added to try to explain some of the newer visual effects and powers that were being presented. But honestly, they all seemed to be amazing.

With Rikt gone, Lady Von’Graysing turned to Marie and me, then stated, “come on let’s get you two back to your dorm room for a bit. I’m sure you both could use the rest for now.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but nod.

While most of my injuries had been healed, I still felt drained from pushing my magical abilities to their maximum.

Also, I knew that if I checked, I would likely feel a few of my maximums having been stretched from the battle. Which was something I could check on my own, through use of my unique spells of the Ancients.

Silence.

As we go, Marie is still on my right side, not quite holding me, but hovering nearby just in case. Lady Von’Graysing is doing much the same, though she is moving forward to make a path through the gaggle of onlookers who are peeling away to make a path for us to pass through.

“Wait!” A male voice calls out, just as we are about to leave.

Before we are fully removed from the scene, I realize that Darren Drakerton is there calling out to us. Seeing his action, I realize I likely missed half heart from this act, as it would have meant more for me to reach out to him before leaving. Now that he had to come to us, it meant we would lose up to a third of the relationship bonus for this interaction.

At least that was the thought I had, before I realized that I was not Claudia, and this was not my love arc.

“Wait, I wanted to say thank you.” Darren said.

As he spoke, I could see the bright gleam in his eyes. It is odd seeing those same eyes now, knowing that these are just the eyes of someone who could only be a friend.

“If there is anything I can do for you, all you need to do is ask, and it will be yours.” Darren states.

In the game, this is where you could force him into a polygamist relationship. Though this is neither the setting, nor the year for that. Also, again, I am not a love interest in this playthrough.

That’s when I remember some of the other functions of this statement. As you could also use such a declaration to gain rare goods, materials, or even relic class items. Hearing his comments, a smile crests my lips as I realize that there is something I want from him.

“Anything?” I ask.

“Anything, just name it, and if it is within my control, it will be yours.” Darren says.

In the game Claudia could use this to demand his heart, but I have something else in mind for my request.