Orrin analyzed the situation in front of him. He was invisible with an endless amount of mana. He knew that he’d pay for it after, but what were a few days passed out in his own sick compared with helping these people. He was going to heal these people no matter the consequence.

New Quest!

Heal 200 people of Dey

Time Limit: 2 hours

Reward: Variable

Failure: Loss of [Heal Small Wounds]

Orrin waved the screen away. I don’t need an incentive to do the right thing, he thought angrily at the system.

He approached a body lying near the edge of the green. [Identify] told him she was already dead. The girl next to her was bleeding from multiple cuts on her arms and scalp. As if someone taller had slashed down at her with a knife. She wasn’t in immediate danger but Orrin pumped [Heal Small Wounds] into her until the cuts scabbed over. He moved to the next.

He worked tirelessly. Body after body. One in ten were dead when he reached them. After finding a mother crying over a boy no older than eight with a torn open stomach, Orrin spent three pools of mana knitting together the boy’s wound. Orrin smiled for the first time when the boy hugged his mother, tears of joy streaming down her face.

That smile was wiped away when he saw a group of men yelling at Madi just a few dozen yards away.

“...telling you in the name of the Catanzano House to only focus on healing the Fetid poison. A member of my House will heal everybody.”

“Young Madeleine,” a pious sounded man with an attractive face and small circle glasses said to her, talking down to the child as he saw it. “We do not take our orders from you. The people here will be seen at our discretion based on what is best for everyone.”

Orrin growled but left it to Madi. He would do what he could. He moved to another crying man, holding a limp body in his arms. The body was male and nearly gone, the Fetid poison keeping his wounds seeping.

Orrin cast [Heal Small Wounds] several times until the man’s health was better.

“Take him to the group over there. Ask them to rid him of the poison and he’ll be fine.”

The man looked around frantically at the voice that had spoken to him. He focused his eyes near Orrin’s shoulder.

“They said he’s too weak to move. Please,” the man held out a bag with silver spilling out. “Please, I have more at home. Just help him.”

Orrin felt disgust well up in him, even over [Mind Bastion]’s calming presence. The man had the same knife cuts on his arms. They healed up with only two quick heals.

“Save the money. Ask for Madi. Go before he bleeds out again.”

The man looked at his arms and scrabbled to pick the man up. He struggled for a minute before Orrin cast the smallest [Increase Strength] he could on the man.

Orrin worked on the next person while watching the scene unfold.

Madi waved her hands around yelling. The group of healers moved as a group to different people at random. Small bags exchanged hands and people who were nearly dead seemed only half dead.

Orrin cursed.

“I’m sorry, sir. No need to waste your time with me. Please help my granddaughter.” The woman under him had white hair and wrinkles so deep he struggled to tell where the cuts were. Luckily, he didn’t need to.

“I just did. She’ll be fine. You will be too. Talk to me. What’s your name,” Orrin turned on the same voice he’d heard his mom use when he was younger and she’d brought him to visit the terminally ill and elderly.

Most times people just want to have someone to listen to them, his mom’s voice echoed in his ears.

“I’m Marene, young lord. Blessing upon you.”

The man carrying the one he’d healed had reached the group of healers. Orrin could hear Madi yelling at them.

“I’m not a lord,” Orrin responded.

“I may not be able to see you through that spell, but you are a lord to be helping us,” She responded. “It is odd, though. I know you are there, but my eyes slide off you like hot oil on a pan.”

Orrin finished healing the old woman. “You should be fine now. Just move easily for a bit. Here’s your granddaughter.”

The tiny girl he’d healed a moment before leapt at her grandma. Orrin caught her and set her down. Her eyes were wide.

“Gran. A ghost just grabbed me.”

“He’s no ghost. Hush and sit.”

Orrin moved on. Person after person. Madi convinced the healers to look at the man at their feet and after a moment, he stood. The two men embraced and pointed in Orrin’s direction. They’d probably been asked who healed them.

“Shit.”

Orrin finished healing a man who had been bitten so many times up his legs that they looked like a sieve. He walked to the edge of the grass and then ran all the way around to the other side. He might miss somebody, but the crowds of people were already starting to thin around him. As they were healed, they wandered about to find family and friends. Some started crying louder than they had while cut to pieces when they found the unmoving bodies of their loved ones.

At the corner furthest from the hospital steps, Orrin paused for only a moment when he spotted a stout man sitting on a bench, his legs dangling from the low seat.

A dwarf! Orrin shook his head and continued. The man’s arm was mangled. Blood dripped slowly down to his fist, pooling under the bench. The meat of his arm had been sliced to the bone in multiple places and Orrin could see where entire chunks had been ripped out.

“Quite the injury,” Orrin whispered as he started pushing healing magic into the dwarf.

“Who’s there? What’s going on?” The diminutive man’s eyes moved around before settling in Orrin’s direction. “What’s an elven [Windwalker] doing this far out from the forests? And how are you healing me?”

The man’s questions were rapid-fire and brash. Orrin smiled behind his [Camouflage]. The man’s certainty that Orrin would answer his questions reminded him of Daniel.

“Not an elf and I’m healing you because you’re bleeding out here.” Orrin checked his [Identify] again. The dwarf’s health was climbing slowly...much slower than anyone else.

“You best stop wasting your mana. Your elders are going to have your hide for trying to use magic on a dwarf. Just give me some clean cloth and I’ll bandage myself up.”

Orrin didn’t stop. Health points didn’t equate exactly to full health. One boy had only eighty points, a small enough amount that only two or three casts of [Heal Small Wounds] should have been enough to heal him. Orrin had spent nearly a hundred mana to ‘heal’ about five hundred actual health. Each injury had an underlying amount of health that needed to be healed before the person’s HP would stabilize. He’d been averaging two pools of healing magic per person.

He was on his fifth pool and only now was seeing the cuts on the dwarf’s arm start to close up.

“Stone and veins! What kind of monster are you?” The dwarf stared at his arm in awe as the skin grew slowly back over itself.

All in all, it had taken Orrin more mana to heal the dwarf than the last four people combined. He started to move on but felt a hand on his arm.

“How did you see me?” Orrin quickly checked to make sure [Camouflage] was still working. It was.

“Just listened to the ground,” the man said, brushing off the question. “Thank you. My name is Broddag Ironspine. If you ever need anything, I’m in your debt. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“It was just some healing. No debt needed. Just don’t make a scene when you leave the square.” Orrin tried to pull away again but Broddag’s grip was a vice on his elbow.

“Just some healing? Child, you just healed a dwarf. My constitution is over fifty and you overhealed me. I won’t even have scars from those Kniferunners.”

His constitution is over fifty? He must be a high level, Orrin thought to himself. He looked around but nobody was paying attention to the two of them. Broddag couldn’t make out his face, of that Orrin was sure. He’d heard Daniel complain enough about it.

“I’m new to healing. Is it normally that hard to heal such a high level person?” Orrin tried to keep his voice quiet. There still were a lot of people moaning all around.

“High level? No, I’m level twenty-two, but I am pretty young still. Just had my eighty-second birthday. It was hard for you to heal me because I’m a dwarf. My constitution is higher than a human’s, so you would have had a lot of resistance to your spells. Do they not teach that at the Hospital?”

That makes sense. Constitution helps resists magic, not just increases your hit points. I must have only been getting a few points of healing through each [Heal Small Wounds] on him.

“Um...I’m still new. Maybe I skipped that class. Please don’t tell anyone we talked though. I’ve got to go...more people to heal.”

Broddag raised an eyebrow. “You’re healing against their wishes?”

Orrin didn’t answer. He tried to pull his arm again and Broddag noticed he was still holding fast. He looked up and saw the group of healers looking around for the invisible healer that was creating a stir.

Broddag released Orrin’s arm. “I’ll go point them in the opposite direction. Don’t spend all that mana now. You must be part elf to have that much mana. Good luck, friend to the dwarves.”

Broddag hopped off the bench and began to make his way in the opposite direction of the healers. Orrin hoped he wouldn’t regret talking with the man.

But I learned a few more things. I really need to spend another week just holed up in Silas’ library.

Orrin continued on his way, healing everyone he could. The dead started to be the only ones not moving about, as the gasps of feeling healing magic flowing through them alerted others of a nearby healer. People began to push close and beg.

“Help me, please. I can pay.”

“Heal my girl, she’s nearly gone.”

“Do you know who I am? I demand-“

Orrin finished healing a pregnant woman with cuts on her back and slipped between the yells to search for people who couldn’t move. He doubled checked the new quest. Not because he cared about the reward but because now he had a time limit before he would lose his spell.

Quest

Heal 200 people of Dey (179/200)

Time Limit: 32 minutes

Reward: Variable

Failure: Loss of [Heal Small Wounds]

Orrin’s Regen potion had worn off. All that meant to him was more cycling. The cold logical part of [Mind Bastion] told him that he’d spent more mana already than he had in those first few days before meeting Tony and going through hell. He knew he couldn’t push himself too much more. He’d been spending more time dodging the group of healers, who had recently split into two lines. They slowly moved along the field, healing a few small wounds here and there.

They have to act like this is their doing. He realized. Orrin didn’t care about the credit. He just wanted to save as many lives as possible.

He heard the soft ding of the blue box telling him the Quest was complete a few minutes before the time was to run out. Orrin kept moving along. There were only a handful of people he hadn’t gotten to, but the Hospital was out in force now. Orrin saw a few Healers pass out from mana overuse and be taken back inside on stretchers.

He knelt down by a boy about his age, maybe a year or two older, and used [Identify]. He was surprised to see his health was nearly full but his mana was at zero.

Orrin almost moved on but turned back at the last moment. He knew how much that feeling sucked and without [Mind Bastion] and [Blood Mana] he’d have probably ended up passed out in pain a lot more too. He cast a quick [Increase Will], level one. The boy’s eyes flickered open.

“Uggg,” he moaned.

“Just relax a minute and you’ll be fine. It’s probably best to get a mana potion or go get some sleep. You only have about five minutes before that wears off. I have one here, if you can drink another today,” Orrin explained gently. He looked around and spotted the next person to heal. He put the small vial in the boy's hand, but before he moved, another healer hurried up and squatted by the woman he'd targeted.

“What? What’s going on? Did we heal them all sir?” The boy tried to sit up but Orrin held him down by the shoulder.

Heal? Orrin pulled his [Identify] box back up. Shit.

Amir Fallah

Healer Acolyte Level 8

HP: 98/100

MP: 30/140

Strength: 12

Constitution: 10

Dexterity: 13

Will: 11

Intelligence: 11

He’d just accidentally ‘healed’ one of the Hospital workers. The other healer nearby looked up and began walking toward Orrin and Amir.

“Shit,” Orrin whispered and looked around for a quick escape. The grassy plaza was thinning out. Madi was still following along behind a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge.

He almost teleported away when the nearby healer spoke in a voice of disgust. “Amir, you idiot. Did you try healing without permission? You look like you overdrew.”

Amir’s eyes focused into clarity and he looked around. He ducked his head when he saw the other healer. “Teacher Dou, I tried to save a life but passed out due to my inexperience. I must have regained some mana while sleeping.”

“Well, I knew it couldn’t have been you healing everyone. Principal Mangin noticed you were absent from the count. Lucky for you, I found you sleeping so you won’t be punished...too severely.” Orrin didn’t miss the glimmer of joy at the prospect of punishment in Dou’s eyes.

Amir’s eyes passed over the shimmer of Orrin’s [Camouflage]. “Someone has been healing against Principal Mangin’s orders? Everyone, you say?”

“Enough people that we will have to come out in force. We can’t have some other healer showing up the Hospital, can we? I suggest you stick close to me. I’ll teach you the proper protocols as we work.”

Amir mouthed ‘Go’ as Dou turned his back. He downed the mana potion and left the empty vial on the ground behind him. Orrin grabbed it and crept slowly backward.

Once he was out of range, he looked around and saw that what Dou said was true. More healers were flowing out of the Hospital and even the few targets that Orrin had set for himself now had a healer or two around them.

He snuck up behind Madi and tucked on her sleeve. She jumped but excused herself from the man Amir had called Principal Mangin.

“I will see myself back to my house now, Principal,” Madi said with the slightest tilt of her head.

“I will send someone to your home later for your report,” the man said without looking at her. “You will tell me who this healer is that destroyed so much work today.”

“If you mean the person who obviously saved lives that the Hospital was willing to sacrifice, then I’m sure I have no idea who that healer is,” Madi responded with the same slick attitude that Orrin had seen her father use. “Good luck with your teachings.”

The man grunted and left. Madi hurried away, with Orrin on her heels. They rounded the corner and Orrin, not wanting to wait any longer to get away from the increasing eyes of the Hospital healers, teleported them across town to the Catanzano house.