Tale Of A Berserk Healer

Chapter 18

Ryth kneeled before the open window, soaking in the sunlight.

He'd hurriedly apologized(a lot) to the actual owners of the house.

But now he took advantage of this chance.

Once again he stood in the dawn, and he felt the sunlight breathe into him.

He pulled it in, throughout his body, as it burned and mended, pulling into his heart.

Rather than simply tie a knot, the previous day's acc.u.mulation had created a tiny, tiny nugget of sunlight already there.

So he wove the new sunlight around that tiny core, and tightened it in knots and strings around it.

Every time he took a deep breath in, as a surge of more came through, the ties tightened to the point of melding into that core, each time with a sharp bit of pain.

As the dawn continued, the resonance grew, higher and higher. The higher it grew, the more it burned and hurt.

As it grew to be close to too much, he began to move.

Flowing as he pushed the sunlight faster, to burn through muscle and bone and make its way to his heart, blood vessels carrying sunlight along with the mana channels.

Ruth's c.h.e.s.t began to glow, like how your hand might when holding it over a lightsource. A dull red glow coming through his flesh, outlining blood vessels and muscle.

A light from his heart.

But he couldn't see it, absorbed as he was, he just felt the burning of muscles straining and pulling as the energy poured through them.

It felt like standing under a torrent of water, beating him down and pounding his flesh!

It began to shift, and he felt something new to the energy.

It felt... volatile. Like that dangerous energy he'd felt before in the dream now truly existed when before it hadn't.

Suddenly he dropped into a crouch, took a quick breath-

"Phew!" A quick burst of breath accompanied the punch, and the volatile energy surges through his arm, pushing out.

The less volatile energy now soaked back in, returning to his heart.

Which each beat he executed a move, a flowing dance interrupted by a combat firm of punches and kicks. And it hurt beyond belief.

Pushing his straining body to the limit, his arms shaking after each punch, legs like jelly after each kick.

At first he was just making it up, but memories began to bleed together.

A courtyard, he'd looked down upon from a window.

Rows of knights, training. Throwing fists and feet as he they exclaimed with each hit, shouting. "HOORAH!"

Ryth began to flinch away from the memories. He didn't want to get distracted by thinking about his mother or any of that.

But that sequence stayed with him, and he began to imitate it as a form began to show itself in his movements, even as his body shook from the strain.

Finally the resonance left, and Ryth collapsed, exhausted.

(I feel like I just run over by a carriage... and then the horse came back to finish me off...)

"Urgheeeh..."

Yeah he sounded about right. His muscles twinged and hurt from the pouring of such volatile energy throughout himself.

After awhile he recovered enough to sit up. (Am I... too weak to handle much more? It feels like the more I have, the higher the resonance. But my body can't take a higher amount right now...)

Ryth suddenly wanted to hit himself.

(Well duh, DUMBA.S.S! People usually create their arcane core at Level 10! My body is probably too low level to withstand it! I got to level up in order to gain more...)

He slowly got up. (I gotta find a way to level up... or else I'll be wasting daylight... literally...)

He stretched himself out a bit.

(Plan: get Fion to update card. Check current EXP. Ask Herald or Erakin about any exercises to improve mana control, as that will slowly fill up EXP. Also find a way to magic myself a painkiller. Please.)

Ryth nodded, and looked down at himself and the ground.

(First things first though...)

Yeah. That black shit again.

"Uuuuughhhhh... this is so gross feeling..."

{Don't complain about what comes out of YOUR body!}

~ ~ ~

(It's... easier today?)

Ryth felt a bit confused. You know... thinking about it, his current titled halves the amount of mana for purifying poison. Doesn't that mean cleaning all this should've taken him twice as long yesterday?

(Thank you, Spider, for trying to kill me. This title is truly a godsend.)

After a short prayer(?) to his savior{???}, Ryth continued burning away the impurities, once again aiming inside his pores first, and making sure it didn't absorb into the floorboards.

It felt easier to do, like his mana was better at it suddenly. It felt natural to burn it away, for impurities and poison to be destroyed.

It wasn't something he had to focus on, he just... did.

(Alright... I'm feeling a little scared... what is actually going on? I know practically nothing about an arcane core cause I figured it wouldn't effect me anytime soon!)

Who to ask? Should he ask a healer? But if it's someone random or with no stake, and he is an oddity, then what might happen? There's too much that's uncertain.

"Aaaaaaaaagh..." he lowly muttered a half hearted attempt at a scream, exhaustion tempering his frustration.

What could he do, really? He just had to take it one step at a time, as best he could.

~ ~ ~

"Improved or not, that shit takes FOREVER."

Ryth grumbled, finally finished.

He left the building after a quick check in, letting Branwen know he was just gonna be out for a bit.

On his way to the association, he noticed a few armoured knights with a crest of a sun in gold and amber.

(Isn't that... oh. That noble's son... wouldn't have happened to be looking for me?)

Yeah...

(Better to avoid them in any case.)

Ryth didn't really get what was going anymore. Maybe the noble was ticked about yesterday, maybe it was a coincidence(cause that is a LOT of effort to put in over insignificant ol' me), but whatever.

Running up the stairs after he arrived, Ryth opened the door.

"-and I told you I DO NOT CARE! Get out!"

"Do you want to set yourself against me old man?"

"You say it like you don't got a few whiskers yourself!"

"How dare you!"

"No! How dare YOU! I did my part, and that was the deal! Take it or suck it, those are your choices!"

Fion was awake... somehow. And a man in a dark robe appeared to be in a rather big argument with him.

"...ahem?"

They spun around, seeing Ryth in the open doorway.

"I'm not gonna ask if I'm interrupting something, cause clearly I am... judging by the voices though, I'd say this wasn't going to end anytime soon."

Fion sighed, leaning back. "True enough." He shot the robed man a dark look.

"Can you update my card?"

The robed man laughed. "What, going for a job interview?"

(Ahahaha... go f.u.c.k yourself...)

Fion filled his eyes with annoyance. "Unlike some, Ryth can't afford the blessing of Ketair, so his ID is the only way he has to know his current stats."

The robed man paused. "I thought it was free?"

Fion laughed. "Like the church is honest for shit. 'Free with a considerate donation to prove sincerity' more like it. Not that people like you need to care."

He grabbed the card, energy flowing to update it as the blue light once again shone.

"Here." He passed it to Ryth before the stats appeared, keeping it private from the mysterious man.

"Thanks! I found that shop by the way, and am just figuring out some other stuff first. I'll do my best!"

Fion let a genuine smile fall on his face as Ryth left. (Honestly... despite everything, he can be one of the most cheerful people at random times...)

The smile turned into a frown of eternal annoyance as the other man spoke.

(Goddamnit... let me feel satisfied at my junior's conduct for one second!)

~ ~ ~

"...uh..."

Ryth looked at words floating in orange light{Sun energy creating it rather than Fion's Ocean energy}.

***

Ryth-Human Healer

First-Stage Level 2

Power 10 Agility 13

Intelligence 11Wisdom 18

Durability 7 Charisma 9

Title: Healer of Venom