The warm glow of heat buffeting against Mark's face had begun to fade, along with the blinding flames of the guardian. It was only when Jonathan opened his message and confirmed his kill, that Mark could unclench his clawed fingers. Strands of wire relaxed as he pulled in the cords of force.
Sam had gotten the same message, and it was at this point that Mark felt their minds relaxing. Their thoughts scattered in opposite directions, sending waves of vertigo through the connection.
Jonathan wanted the link gone and Mark could not agree more, Sam was interested in exploring the limits of the spell but let it drop. Their combined hesitation colored her thoughts.
Shaking themselves, they shrank the connection and built up the walls between their minds once more, letting the link fade.
Back then, Mark had not had time to worry about the mental blocks and just directly connected their minds. In doing so he had gotten unfettered access to their thoughts and memories, at the same time, they had been privy to his. It was simultaneously a very enlightening experience and yet bordered on intrusive. As powerful as it was, Mark would not be doing that again anytime soon, if he could help it.
It did however allow him to see their system prompts for a moment.
Warning! You have landed the killing blow on one of the seven Guardians of the First Rite.
All future Guardians shall receive an increase in difficulty.
You have been marked for 24 hours
No guardian may be slain during this time.
Rite progression: 5 - Error000 /7
Warning! You have landed the killing blow on one of the seven Guardians of the First Rite.
All future Guardians shall receive an increase in difficulty.
You have been marked for 24 hours
No guardian may be slain during this time.
Rite progression: 5 - Error000 /7
Correcting…
Rite progression: 6/7
The system was trying to account for the fact they had abused its mechanics. Mark could see both of their messages, which was interesting, but it was what came next that really got his attention.
Congratulations on delivering the killing blow to [Crossbearer of Miasma]
Rewards: Crest of Mind(Mana)
Absorb: Yes/No
Congratulations on delivering the killing blow to [Progenitor of Chaos]
Rewards: Crest of Body(Aura)
Absorb: Yes/No
Instead of reward chests, they were getting something else. It was possible that these were the items they were here for, but usually, the item they got was in some way made from the guardian's body.
All of this had happened in mere moments. Mark looked from Sam and Jonathan to see Daphne's approach. He could tell she was bruised and battered but she was alive and that was enough for him. Turning away from the three, he glanced around the space, they were running out of time.
“Cara! Where are you!?”
There was a silver flash in Mark's field of vision, and Cara along with Chloe appeared to his right. Cara gently lowered her to the ground, as Mark moved closer.
He could feel the massive draw on his Prana had subsided, but she was far from safe. An inspection revealed that the crystal had grown inert. While it did not dissolve or turn back into Chloe's flesh, it had halted its march through her body.
Glancing up at the Crossbearer's corpse, he could only see chunks of rock and the husk of the Progenitor.
Setting his jaw, Mark began to work out a plan to save Chloe. The crystal had gotten into her vital organs, as well as encrusting her entire right leg and arm.
The silver lining was that while the fight had been harsh Mark still had over half of his reserves, plus it seemed that the [Animated Mind] Mark had set on Jonathan still had about 10% of its energy left. Which was disturbing in and of itself, that little thing had over 350 Prana and 150 Mana when they had started. The excess energy meant that he could finish this as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Chole’s eyes had long since lost focus and a series of convulsions ripped through her working limbs.
Mark applied a [Regenerate] to stabilize her, along with [Invogorate].
From there Mark tackled the next problem.
When the crystal had grown from Chloe's flesh, it had bonded to her frame. Building from her body’s map would be the best method to regrow what she had lost, but he wasn't sure it was possible in this case. Things like [Benediction] could rapidly rebuild wounds, but Mark had to remove the obstruction before he could allow it to take effect, or it would be a disaster of mutilated flesh.
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The problem was similar to being pinned to a tree by a car. The vehicle was what caused the blunt-force trauma to occur, vital crushing organs and bones, but it was also the thing keeping the person together, and more importantly alive. In this case, the crystals were acting as the stabilizing force. They spanned over half her body, if he removed them, she would bleed out in seconds.
Everyone had begun to encircle Mark, and so did their unwelcome guests. Swarms of Corrupted were slowly filtering into the space, replacing the ones killed by Sam’s hailstorm.
“Guys, keep the area secure, we can’t move her just yet. I need to time figure this out!”
Turning back to his patient, Mark dropped a large dome over them all and focused entirely on Chloe.
Several treatments came to mind but Mark discarded them all. Even the idea of having Jonathan cut away the crystal was quickly thrown out. The gems had burrowed deeply into Chloe's body. They encompassed her organs like the roots of a tree, there was more than just the surface problems here.
Destroying the crystal little by little was out of the question as [Earth control] found no purchase. That only really left him one option, [Nature control].
If rebuilding Chloe's body with just Prana and her body’s map was like having an exact design plan, then using [Nature control] was like shaping clay. There was no way he could control the level of detail needed to exactly recreate her limbs and organs, however, it would allow Mark to remove the crystal by reshaping her whole body. He would be able to leave behind the obstructions and repair the rest.
Without much choice Mark steeled himself and triggered [Nature control], he wished he’d had the chance to practice this more before actually using it in this manner, but there was no other option at this moment.
The spell took hold right away, rooting Mark to the spot as the connection to Chloe opened. Unlike the [Telepathic link] seconds ago, this was not as deep, and yet it felt just as personal. When her mind brushed up against his, he could sense Chloe’s subconscious rise from the depths of her psyche and when it felt his desire to help, it let him pass. Mark was interested in how she knew, but he was quickly distracted by the tapestry full of vibrant strands that grew to fill his vision.
There was no other way to describe what he was seeing other than imposingly vast yet infinitely small. It spanned for miles in all directions, multicolored strands crisscrossing to form temporary images, only for it to change and resize. Mark could have stared at it for hours and never once lost interest in its beauty, but he soon saw something at the edges that offended his vision. Reminding him why he was here.
Near the outer area, fraying strands were unraveling entire sections, causing instability. It felt like a personal attack on life itself and Mark was pissed.
Splitting his attention, Mark kept an eye on the tapestry but turned an eye to look outwards. Sounds of conflict happening nearby filled his ears, as weapons and fists sunk into flesh. Ignoring that, Mark took in Chloe's damaged body.
With that, his mind brushed up against the tapestry and sheered off an entire portion. The moment he did Chloe’s shoulder ballooned with growths, as though riddles with tumors. Making sure not to lose his cool, Mark began plucking at the edges of the damaged tapestry. Flesh bubbled and scared near the still-living portions, but all too quickly her body began separating from the crystal of its own volition. Skin closed, and resealed afterward, and all at once. Entire sections of crystal were dislodged, its form perfectly preserved. It was then he ran into his next problem, in reshaping Chloe's body he had inadvertently removed portions of her body's map. So taking it in stride he continued to opperate. Years of study and examination came to the foreground now as he filled in the blanks, while still mimicking the tapestry.
Near the now cleanly cut edges, Mark began to pull in more Prana, using Mana to direct the growth. Flesh squirmed and rapidly condensed into stubs of bone, muscle, ligaments, and tendons. When Mark was halfway done, Chloe’s eyes snapped open and a pained shout escaped her lungs. Mana glowed behind her eyes as her magic kicked in. Unfortunately, he couldn't help her much, so he just tried to finish his work. Sculpting muscles and clothing them in skin anew was exhausting, yet he continued on his chosen path. He made sure to match the density of her new bone structure to the old. Time became irrelevant as he recreated every detail he could, but finally, Mark was content with his work and released the spell. Pulsing [Invigourate] once more to wake her fully. Mark's reserves had taken a significant hit and the complexity of the tapestry had made for a tough battle, however, she was alive. Everything else was secondary.
Chloe bolted upright as though hit with a shot of adrenaline, searching her surroundings blindly. Blinking she looked down at her body and then flexed her new fingers and toes, the sizes a perfect match to her old ones. A belt of scar tissue ran down the middle of her body where Mark had attached the new sections. Her new skin was a few shades lighter as Mark had not been able to match it perfectly, but it was the best he could manage. As mad scientist as it sounded, Mark had not just healed Chloe, he had rebuilt her, or at least portions of her from the ground up.
Taking a blanket from his inventory he handed it to the still shellshocked Chole.
Glancing around, Mark saw everyone staring at the two of them. By the looks of things, they had all been sitting nearby, observing.
Beyond that was carnage, slain Corrupted lay in piles nearby. They were all exhausted from the fight with the guardians, but still, they had kept the hoards from bothering Mark.
Nodding his thanks to all of them, he began to look at their wounds, repairing what he could with what he had left.
The silence was deafening, they had won but everyone was waiting for the next disaster to drop.
Compared to down in the dungeons, this had been downright manageable. If one excluded the fact they had spent days clearing out the campus, separated the guardians, and mortality wounding one before the fight even started, they still had to match the timing of their kills to near perfection to pull this off. For so long things had always just gone wrong, that it was a genuine surprise when they went off without a hitch.
Deciding everyone was thinking the same Mark spoke.
“Well, that went a hell of a lot better than I expected.”
Cara glanced up eyes wide.
“Why would you say that?! You could have just jinxed us!”
Sam was the first to start laughing, and with that, the tension in the air melted, no match for her jubilant carfree giggles. Everyone relaxed and Mark went over to see how Daphne was doing, she had taken quite a beating and he had healed what he could but he still wanted to know that she was alright.
Chloe was still inspecting her new hand as though it were a foreign object, but her purpose here must have woken her.
“Did we retrieve the item from the Crossbearer?”
Jonathan nodded.
“I took a look at the guardian's corpse, but there's not much left other than rubble. However, when I got the kill I received a notification. I declined it, and this appeared. It won't let me store it in my inventory so I believe this is what you are looking for.”
At the same time, he held out a circular disk of crystal with markings and runes etched within it. The system registered it as an item right away.
Crest of Mind(Mana)
Item lvl: –
Mana + 100
Description: Once imprinted on the user their Mana regeneration rate is increased by 250%
(Warning: condition [Module] will be applied to the user. Once bound, this item can not be unbound)
Absorb: Yes/No
Mark’s eyebrows drew together. It was a powerful item, one he wouldn't mind himself, but he couldn’t shake the warning. What was the [Module] condition? It didn’t seem to give any more information on it, but soon enough the prompt disappeared as Chloe took the disk from Jonathan and pocketed it.
With that done their debt was repaid, but Chloe’s head suddenly snapped to look back in the direction they had come from. Her face had contorted with lines of anguish, disturbing her features.
Mark followed her gaze to look at the plume of smoke just beginning to rise above the surrounding building. If Mark was correct, that was near Perry’s base of operations.
Cara’s shoulders sagged and she looked at Mark as though it were his fault.
“You were saying?”