Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 4B2 - Versatility

Melach appeared unhappy at the thought of calling his family. David found it confusing, especially since Melach often talked about wanting to make his family proud. Was that the issue? He recalled how Melach always seemed on edge whenever he provoked him by mentioning his family. Could it be that Melach wasn’t satisfied with his achievements? Or was he afraid of disappointing them?

He shrugged, deciding it wasn’t his business anyway.

“We need more power-ups,” Zachariah murmured, his voice reaching David.

“Can you show me the description of your Champion Mission, Torb?” Zachariah turned to the dwarf. “Will you be rewarded with a portion of Fortress’ power when you create the Sanctuary, or do you have to do more?”

Torb looked up from the corpses. “He told me to establish a Sanctuary. But if you want to see the mission description…here you go.”

He waved his hand, and Zachariah stared into the air, his eyes flicking across something unseen, as though reading.

“The mission isn’t as bad as expected if you know what to do,” the regressor said, flashing a rare smile. “It means we don’t have to care about the Sanctuary once the connection is established.”

He retrieved one of the live-updating maps and walked to the table. Sliding the wooden chair back, Zachariah sat down, ignoring the others’ stares. David was curious, but he shook his head and walked over to Torb instead.

“I think Zachariah will be busy for a while,” he said, gesturing toward the regressor. He started storing the Orc bodies in his storage. “How about we start looking for merchants willing to buy Orcs? Zachariah might be done by the time we’re back.”

Torb glanced at the regressor, hesitating, before nodding slowly. “I…have contacts with some merchants willing to buy all kinds of corpses. They should give us a fair price for the Orcs.”

David finished storing the bodies and followed Torb outside.

“I will stay,” Melach said curtly, sitting on the edge of the bed like disaster was about to strike.

Either his family places impossible demands on him, or he’s burdening himself with unrealistic expectations… David thought, glancing at the elf before closing the door to the room. One way or another, Melach didn’t look well. Hopefully, that wouldn’t cause any trouble.

David and Torb roamed the System Sanctuary for an hour, eventually selling all the bodies for a good price. The earnings left David with enough currency slates to check out the merchants’ wares.

“Are you sure you want to buy all of this?” Torb asked, sounding unconvinced. David shrugged as he picked one Skill Slate after another.

He placed four Skill Slates on the small counter and waved the merchant over. The merchant’s eyes narrowed as he studied them. His lips tightened slightly when the two Silver Slates clinked onto the counter.

“Two Silver Slates for everything seems fair to me.”

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but two Silver is nowhere near enough to purchase four Skill Slates. [Healing Light] is already an uncommon Skill Slate, valued at two Silver!”

“[Mana Bullet] and [Slash] are Basic Skill Slates. They’re not worth the 70 Bronze Slates listed on the tags anymore. Not since the World Awakening started. They’ll be worthless in the next few days. As for the other two Skill Slates, they’re both Tier-0 Skills. [Eagle Eyes] and [Healing Light] may not be as common as other Tier-0 Skill Slates, but they’re not worth more than one Silver each,” David said, shaking his head. “Three Silver is all I’m willing to give you for all four Skill Slates.”

Torb shifted uncomfortably beside him but stayed silent, which David considered the best outcome. David fixed the merchant with an unyielding gaze as the man’s expression shifted. Muttering something in another language, the merchant finally agreed.

“Fine! Three Silver Slates it is!”

David smiled, placing the third Silver Slate on the counter. He had expected [Healing Light] to cost more, given its rarity as a healing Skill. Cleric and Healing Class Skills were already uncommon, and [Healing Light] stood out for its ranged capabilities. Zachariah had emphasized its importance, explaining that it was one of the few Tier-0 healing Skills worth investing in.

David took the Skill Slates and wasted no time, immediately trying to bind them.

[You have discovered four Skill Slates.]

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[Mana Bullet: Tier-0]

[Slash: Tier-0]

[Healing Light: Tier-0]

[Eagle Eyes: Tier-0]

[Do you wish to use the Skill Slates to acquire the Skill Runes?]

The corners of David’s lips tugged upward as he willed the System to proceed. A sharp sensation flooded his mind, like streams of information surging into every corner of his consciousness, engraving themselves deep within.

He broke into a cold sweat, his breath hitching as he closed his eyes. He watched three Skill Runes form and begin to revolve around his Source. Within seconds, they connected, granting him full access to their Tier-0 capabilities.

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However, the fourth Skill Rune faltered. It burst into azure particles, threatening to disperse when his Source stirred. Blood surged from within, transforming into crimson tentacles that lashed out, consuming the scattered particles.

The tentacles coalesced into a sphere, and David could feel something shifting inside it. Straining his mind, he unraveled the mysterious phenomenon as the crimson sphere absorbed the Skill Rune, stabilizing it through the process.

David wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he opened his eyes to find surprised faces and several notifications.

[[Slash], [Eagle Eyes], and [Healing Light] have been successfully bound to your Source.]

[Error! [Mana Bullet] was bound to the User without meeting the requirements. Lack of Mana has been detected in the Host’s body. Blood has been secured as a subsidiary energy source.]

[[Mana Bullet] has mutated into [Blood Bullet].]

“Crazy,” David muttered in exasperation. “Can I bind Skills of all Basic Classes?”

He fetched a Silver slate and lobbed it at the frozen merchant. “One Silver is enough for the Fireball Skill Slate, right?”

The merchant remained silent, but David didn’t care. He grabbed the Skill Slate and tried fusing it with his Source.

[You have discovered a Skill Slate.]

[Fireball: Tier-0.]

[The Host is incapable of binding the Skill Slate.]

“Oh…” David’s excitement took a sudden hit. He put the Skill Slate back on the counter and retrieved the Silver slate from the merchant, who didn’t seem to notice. The man stood frozen, staring at David with a blank expression.

“What did you just do?” Torb asked, his voice breaking the silence. The dwarf’s question seemed to jolt the merchant awake, who now stared between them in disbelief.

“What did it look like to you? I bound a few Skill Runes to my Source!”

“But—” Torb groaned, cutting himself off. “You know what? Forget it. You’re a crazy bastard with a damn annoying Class!”

David chuckled and patted the dwarf’s back. “Do you want to buy something? Zachariah’s going to secure a Sanctuary for us. Don’t you think we should grow stronger to help out?”

“Saving…”

“Of course, you can keep saving. I wouldn’t, though,” David shrugged.

Torb looked conflicted, his gaze darting to some displayed Skill Slates. He hesitated, then shook his head and turned away. “Let’s leave.”

Whatever. They returned to the room with hurried strides.

“Great timing,” Zachariah said, pointing at a spot on the live-updating map. “I’ve figured out where we need to go.”

“Oh?” David stepped up beside the regressor as Torb asked from behind, “Just like that?”

“Right now?” David added.

“Right now would be best. We won’t be able to do much with the Sanctuary, but establishing it should be feasible.”

“How?” Melach’s doubtful voice resounded from the side.

“We conquer a natural Rift and alter it here and there. The details aren’t important. All you need to know is that we’ll have to conquer the Rift—properly, that is!”

“Conquer…” Melach muttered. “You mean we need to infiltrate the Rift and destroy its Core?”

Zachariah smiled. “Yes and no. We do have to invade the Rift’s inner dimension, but the Rift Core must remain unscathed. We’ll need it to establish the Sanctuary.”

David wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work, but he was interested—especially in fighting more Mini Bosses and Rift Bosses. The thought of using his newly acquired Skill Runes and leveling them up excited him. It was exactly what he needed. A good hunt rather than more torture.

“Let’s eat something before we depart. We should stock up on provisions too. You never know what awaits you on the other side of a natural Rift,” Zachariah explained.

“We can store a lot in my storage, but let’s not fill it to the brim. You wouldn’t want the Healer to be out of energy, would you?” David snickered.

Zachariah snorted. “If you’re going to heal us, that is.”

“True that. I obtained a few new Skills and want to test them out. Maybe I’ll just cast [Blessing] on everyone and focus on testing [Slash] and the others.”

The regressor raised an eyebrow, prompting David to explain what had happened earlier.

“That’s interesting,” Zachariah said, licking his lips. “Did you try binding any other elemental-based Skills besides [Fireball]? You should in the future. Maybe Lifeweaver is compatible with more than one non-elemental magical Skill. As for your other Skills... I hate you.”

Zachariah joked, but David caught something in his eyes—jealousy? Hope? He couldn’t tell.

“Whatever,” Melach said, getting up and clutching his Mage Wand tightly. “Let’s conquer a Rift and establish a Sanctuary!”

Are you motivated for Torb’s sake, or is this just a chance to add achievements to your name? David wondered but remained silent. The group left the room smiling.

***

They wasted no time preparing for departure. Torb received currency slates from everyone to procure enough provisions for weeks in the wilderness. According to Zachariah, nobody could predict how long conquering the Rift would take. It might only take hours, but the inside of a natural Rift could be nearly endless.

While unlikely for a lower-ranked Rift to be massive, nothing was certain. Ample provisions and other necessities had to be prepared.

The regressor excused himself, saying he would check out the stalls, leaving David with Melach, who searched for new Skill Slates to bind to his Mana Core.

“Is your Wand an Artifact now that the elemental gemstone has been embedded into it?” David asked, his eyes trailing the Mage Wand. It resembled a standard Mage Wand, but the elemental gemstone at its tip gave it a unique touch. Fine blue lines were engraved around the gemstone, but it didn’t look particularly extraordinary to David. Better than before, but nothing remarkable.

“Not yet. The Artificer told me I could upgrade it further, transforming it into an Artifact, but it’s too expensive,” Melach muttered. He picked up a Skill Slate, haggled with the merchant for a few minutes, and returned smiling. “Everything’s so expensive. I don’t even want to know how Torb’s feeling.”

“Hopefully pretty good when we’re done with this,” David said with a grin.

He turned to the weaponry display, briefly considering buying more equipment to match his diversifying abilities. But after listening to Melach, he decided against it.

He had a small fortune, but if the Artificer’s pricing was as bad as Melach claimed, he’d be better off saving. That was assuming the Artificer was making progress on his Blood storage. He needed it more than ever with his growing energy consumption. Still, with the Earthen Union awakening, he worried the project might be too big for her to handle.