Chapter 26

I was going to miss adventuring with Samantah and Antoine. Samantah was a true leader. I felt like I learned so much from her. I would never forget her, and perhaps someday we would meet again. Perhaps we might even crawl through a legendary dungeon someday. Wouldn't that be something?

I was quite a long way from crawling through legendary dungeons. I’d only defeated my first level 3 dungeon after all. I’d fought three bosses and won. If it hadn’t been for the other healers, I don’t think I’d be here right now. I wonder if other adventurers from the beginner’s guild might not be returning for the new year.

I hoped to see Pelle again. Arris too. Oh, the tales I’d have for them! I was looking forward to finding a nice hearth to sit by and share stories over tankards of creamed ale. I was also looking forward to what the coming months would bring as far as training. Would others have leveled up as much as I have? Would I be returning to Magic & Lance with the lowest gain of experience?

There was only one way to find out, and I traveled that way now. Well sort of. My first destination was stopping by home for a week. My plan was to spend some time with Winnie and my folks before leaving for Magic & Lance. I had an amethyst for Winnie.

Turns out she loved it. In her words, it was the “Best present ever!” I was delighted that she loved it. Mom had put together a little tie string satchel for it. In no time she’d filled the whole satchel with other pebbles from creeks, from earth, buried among roots, and from the rubble of old houses.

“I’m going to be a stone master!” she said one day when we’d taken a walk through freshly fallen snow near the house.

“Not a gem master?” I said.

“Both,” she said, as if that were the only truth.

“What are you going to do with your stones—Stone Master, Gem Master?”

“You can just call me Treasure Master,” she said.

“Treasure Master?”

“Yup, I’ll have all the treasures in the world!”

“What about other people who want treasures?”

“It’s called sharing, Toto. Duh.”

The rest of our walk was filled with nonsense. After discussing it for a bit, we both came to the conclusion that this was the most snow we’d ever seen. It snowed so much that we had to carve tunnels through the snow just to leave the house.

Between outrageous country meals, and spending time with the folks and Winnie, I hardly had time to myself. Even when I did have a few moments of privacy, Winniw would come asking if I was busy.

It was strange. We seemed closer now then we did before I’d left to become an adventurer. I suppose where you're cooped up with a sibling, there’s a certain madness to it. Time apart made us really miss each other. Winnie was growing up too. Her interests were maturing, she was thinking more about the future, and doing well with her studies.

Dad began working with mana again. He wanted to be a steward of the land—as he put it. He was hoping to level up some basic gardening tools which would make things a lot easier for him, come spring. So I helped teach him how to flow mana into a ring. He said he wouldn’t dungeon dive for crystals, just work with what he had.

Given that I was absorbing a tremendous amount of mana on a daily basis, perhaps I could send the family some crystals I received from dungeons. Maybe mom would get back into using mana. She used to work with textiles and it made her happy to repair and touch up my tunic and boots. Seeing my dad flow mana made her a bit envious I think. She took it out by trying to out compete how fast he was learning to flow mana.

“Well you’ve done it before,” dad said. “This is my first time.”

“I’m just showing you that it’s easy,” mom said.

“That’s because you’ve done it before!”

“I used to use mana all the time for weaving. That’s why I’ve done it before. Of course.”

So that’s how my mom was coping with her envy. It was cool to see my dad get into wielding mana, and my mom get back into it. I don’t know if anything would become of it. I’m guessing since dad had to take it easy as an herb farmer, since he almost died, he had a lot more time on his hands.

Winnie was trying to flow mana as well, but she was having a tough time with it, and my efforts didn’t help her. She ultimately got frustrated and went into a tantrum that it wasn’t fair she was the only one who couldn’t do it. Which meant I didn’t see her for an entire day because she locked herself in her room. Either she was practicing, she was embarrassed, or sad. I didn’t want to encroach on her privacy, but I knocked on her door once to tell her I love her.

The day came when I had to leave. Winnie was angry with me for leaving, but I saw through it, and I think she was just sad I was leaving. Mom was sad. Dad too, but he was doing his best not to bother me with his feelings. I’d told him it was never a bother, and parted ways with tearful embraces.

Between travel and the stay at home, I’d absorbed a total of 53 crystals from my spellbook, equalling 181 mana points. My new mana pool was 520.

Shocking, I know. I had to keep my spellbook secret and safe. If I ever wanted to get anywhere close to a million points and create a legendary healing item, this book would go a long way in helping.

520 mana points meant that I could spend an absurd amount into leveling up gear and weapons. Maybe I could sell leveled up items and earn some extra money that way. Would it be profitable? Would I be able to buy a permanent book of afflictions that way?

I needed to keep in mind that no matter how much my items would level up, I wasn’t ready for more than a level 3 dungeon at the moment, even with a solid party. It was a good thing winter break was coming to an end, and I’d be spending another season at Magic & Lance. There was still a whole lot I think I needed to learn.

Magic & Lance was just around the corner. Well, a few days away, and then around the corner, but still. I traveled by carriage, courtesy of Magic & Lance. I’d be alone from Rimesteppe until Klayvale. Then we’d probably pick up a few more people and travel the rest of the way.

At Klayvale, we picked up two other adventurers. Two mages. They slept a whole lot. I couldn’t get more than a few hours at a time. I was too excited to return to the beginner’s guild.

I preoccupied myself with reading the book I’d looted on one of my dungeon runs. It was titled “Beyond the Blood.”

In essence, it talked about the importance of blood magic, focusing on warrior’s spells. There wasn’t a lot of discussion about power techniques, only about how the warrior’s health bar was the foundation for giving temporary power to those techniques.

“While effective for the beginning warrior,” the author explained in the introduction, “The more a warrior levels up their health bar, their weapons, their armor, and begin to delve to deeper and higher level dungeons, the more warriors fail. There comes a boundary that the warrior meets when training and using health as a mechanic for power. This is often abused, leading to fatal mistakes. Thus, the rest of this work has been developed in order to save the lives of warriors as they progress towards legendary status.

“The first part of this book deals with the relationship between health and power. The second part deals with the importance of leveling health and spending time cultivating strength in power techniques. The third part of this book discusses the pros and cons of pain management, a cultivators technique that makes the warrior oblivious to damage. The fourth part of this book has recommendations for warrior paths, detailing specific branches in power technique levels, as well as how and when to match cultivating strength in those techniques when health bars reach specific milestones.”

“The fifth and final part in this book, discusses the importance of a healer when adventuring. The best, most proficient warriors study the healer class in order to essentially “Equip the healer.””

“What?” I whispered.

I skipped ahead to the fifth part, and the smell of the bold book wafted up in waves as I flipped through most of the pages. I caught sight of the fifth part and began reading. I’d go back and read the whole thing of course, but I had to settle such burning curiosity.

The author goes on to talk about the healer as if they were nothing more than an item or an artifact. They used the word “it” as a pronoun for the healer. I was amused by this.

“...it should have a keen sense of your health bar, and be able to instantly recover whatever health you use for your power techniques. Of course there are challenges to this. How does a warrior find a suitable healer? How does a warrior give unwavering trust in a healer? If the healer doesn’t work as it's supposed to, what does a warrior do? How many healers should a warrior equip? These are only a few topics that you can expect will be covered in this part. Before you move on, there is only one answer: A warrior must be diligent about the healer they pick up. Choosing one healer could mean life. Choosing another healer could mean death. Experience, practice, and getting to know your healer are just as important as growing more powerful in your own warrior class. Lastly, I will conclude with what to do if your healer is broken.”

This made me think of Nicodomus, who’d mesmerized us all with the tale of his legendary dungeon crawl. He’d had some healers with him. One of the healer’s had cast a spell which was crucial to the party’s success. That spell was Gelmitheon’s Orb.

I would need something like that when I explored a legendary dungeon. There were so many options. I didn’t know where to start. Zekaidean’s Anvil was a legendary healer's spell. Should I level that up as high as I can? Should I invest in something that if both supportive to allies, and offensive to enemies? Something like Gelmitheon’s Orb, or the Gourd of Axthose?

How do I choose which spell to use as my main healing tool?

These were the questions that preoccupied me for the rest of my trip. It was a long trip, taking three days more than usual, forcing us to camp more nights than we were prepared for.

Every night, I’d wander far from the carriage and the mages I traveled with. I’d curl up in my cloak at the base of a tree, and absorb the day's crystals that had grown on my spellbook.

Another five days earned me 91 more mana points, bringing my new total to 611. I wasn’t far off from 1000! In just a few weeks, I’ll be breaking that number and hopefully mastering more level 3 dungeons. Then from there on, I’ll be crawling through level 5, level 6, level 7 dungeons, and on my way to becoming a more powerful healer. All I had to do was stay alive.