The Tempest Winds returned swiftly to the city after completing their quest. This was after Saang and Zeke recovered what little resources they could. After what happened, Saang relayed that she received a status affliction that she never received before.
You are afflicted with Energy Parasite.
Your channels have been stifled by the Energy Parasite. Your energy will be drained as long as the parasite resides within you.
Once all of your remaining energies are drained, the parasite will create a nest inside your core. Upon your death, the nest shall be released in droves according to the energy it drained from you.
It was a specific sort of affliction that Zeke hadn’t seen either, but it was enough to show just how serious that parasite was.
The way the parasite practically drunk the mana out of Saang proved that if it kept going longer, her kinetic and life energy would’ve been next. What was worse was that apparently once all your energy has been drained, you’ll still be alive like those Scythasaurs. Would Saang even be herself once her energy has been drained, or would she have been mindless like a monster when the parasite fully enters into your core, the soul? That was enough to make even a veteran like Saang shiver from the thought.
Once they recovered easily enough, they also reported the strange death and the spiders that came out. However, the receptionist’s tone made Zeke dread a bit.
“You’re saying this has been happening often?” Hamil said, his face neutral and professional, but Zeke can already tell his eyes told a lot more going on in his mind.
“Thankfully not to the point of becoming a pandemic, but we have several adventurers that have been caught with the same affliction. Some are mild enough so that having a constant dosage of potions was enough to heal them, but some have been so severe that they unfortunately passed away before the guild can do anything to save them. The spiders, though… that’s a new one.”
Despite her tone, the receptionist clearly wasn’t happy with the way her face twisted a smidge before putting itself back into an appropriate expression of her stature.
“Have anyone found a way to cure this?” Hamil asked.
“Unfortunately, no. Our alchemists are working on the clock to find a way to heal this affliction, but so far the only thing they can do is provide more restoration potions without ruining their channels. But if what you said is true, how did Miss Saang survive?”
“Cuz of this guy right here.”
Saang slapped Zeke’s back with enough force to get him startled, but it was something he could handle. Still, it proved her Journeyman Strength was no joke. He narrowed his eyes at her which got him a silly grin in return.
“This young man healed you?” The receptionist’s eyes widened, more expressive than her usual visage. “How?”
“Umm…”
“He has an incredibly powerful healing skill, and an attunement that helps with the process. Plus, he’s a Runist–Give him a sturdy room to work with, and he’ll use his magic with ease.”
Hamil held onto Zeke’s shoulder with a grin of his own, getting Zeke to pause. Hamil didn’t strike him as a saint of sorts, more like a professional adventurer. And what kind of an adventurer would willingly do such a taxing event for free?
“We would be glad to be of service if you can help us,” The receptionist in question revealed a bright smile that could beat a supermodel with ease.
“Of course doing so would drain quite a bit of his power. If possible, a form of payment would be appropriate for him. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes, naturally. The adventurer’s guild would gladly offer payment according to his efforts. I believe we can discuss in further detail once he gets started.”
He spiritually rolled his eyes. It made sense to offer help in exchange for gold, though that sounded precisely what they needed. Zeke and Mikella definitely need some extra cash since they spent quite a bit on Mikella’s equipment being made. That and at some point, the otherworlders want to have some insurance in case adventuring doesn’t hold out well.
In other words, it was something that Zeke would be glad to help for free, but decided to leave it to Hamil who had years of experience discussing payments. Mikella, the usually shrewd woman with a vice grip on her wallet, nodded in satisfaction at the idea of being paid.
After getting a room to work with, Zeke asked if he would be the only Runist working on this. He didn’t mind the labor, but since there were more Runists around, having more would bring in assurance for the safety of the adventurers.
Unfortunately, the adventurer’s guild is keeping this a secret from the runist’s guild. Apparently having a ‘rogue’ Runist around would make them ask a lot of questions Zeke was sure he didn’t want to answer. So to ensure nobody gets a headache from them, only Zeke would be the one working on the runes. Not to mention asking for help from the Runist Guild would be such a major blow to their finances that it wasn’t enough for the guild to fork over so much gold just for a few of their adventurers’ lives.
True, the adventurer’s guild seemed rather cruel to their adventurers, but Zeke found that the Runist’s Guild were even crueler to demand such high payments for the lives of their adventurers. Especially when drawing runes wasn’t even that hard for him. So despite the heavy work, Zeke did so gladly for the paltry sum he would get for the adventurer’s lives. Even Mikella agreed that the Runists asking for such a price deserved a sword straight up their asses.
Once Zeke took a few hours designing the room with his runes to keep a better stable foundation, the guild staff helped bring along the adventurers that were afflicted. For each one, Zeke saw how bad they looked from their faces alone, and he actually hesitated before using his eyes to check their bodily state.
It was awful. Almost like seeing an uncomfortable hospital documentary. Each adventurer that was brought in showed signs of damage beyond belief. The afflictions that took hold of them were practically drinking away their life force, their bodies appearing as though they were entering into a dried, mummified state. And the idea that his array could either fail and diminish their hope or outright kill them entirely gnawed at him. But he continued on regardless.
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He closed his eyes, the vast amount of adventurers’ prone bodies forming rows on top of his Ethereal Manifest skill shaped to cover the surface of the entire floor. Their groans of agony and despair reached his ears, furthering his need to help them with his mana.
Using his attunement was draining to his mind and body, but somehow, despite doing this just earlier in the day, he felt ready to use it again once he saw this mess. Opening his eyes, he stayed resolute.
He placed his hand on top of the concentric circle made by his floating pens. Each section within the circle was riddled to the brim with complex runework, expanding further and further upon the dozens of concentric circles that surrounded all the adventurers in front of him.
His poured his mana into the circle, causing it to glow a bright blue as it filled the entire hall, big enough to fit in several trucks with room to spare, followed along by the sick residents laying on top of the large healing array.
Energy poured straight into every person within the confines of the array, and slowly drifted inwards through their open mouths and nostrils. It was the sort of invasive energy that seeped into their bodies, filling them to the brim with foreign concentrated mana based on the workings of his Restoration. That, along with the aid of Mana Manipulation, filled every person in the sickbed with potent Mana in a way that was more precise, careful, and more thorough than his earlier attempt with Saang.
But he knew that wasn’t enough. With a heavy hand of his will, his eyes glowed bright blue as his attunement took over. Power swelled from his chest and throughout his body, and he felt–no, he became–the giant Zeke that everyone pointed out before.
It was surreal. He felt disconnected to his real body, somehow seeing his own giant energy self from behind. Looking over at the adventurers, he brought his giant hands, his body made entirely out of mana, together to form a conjoined fist. With an effort of will, he sent the image of pouring in as much mana into the channels as possible to each of the adventurers, the rune array aiding his efforts even further.
All at once, like a cacophony of disgust, each and every resident suddenly had the energy to stand and hurl all the contents out of their bodies. Each one was the very same red, blue, and greenish blobs of mass that, once entering the array’s patterns, sizzled and burned as the foreign energy was all around them.
The blobs hissed and screeched in their death throes before finally dissipating into hot air that slowly covered the entire room. It was a horrid stench, enough to feel like they were burning corpses, but to Zeke it was a welcome feeling as it meant that his array worked on all of these people.
Figuring that all the people here have hurled literally everything in their stomachs, he stopped the array. His attunement ceased, and the giant Zeke eventually disappeared, returning his consciousness back into his real body. As before, he felt so drained, his body entering into a state of cold proving that he was deathly close to reaching zero mana.
He turned around, facing the receptionist as well as his own party members and the healers that were charged with keeping the adventurers healthy. They all stood there gawking at the man, his party members outside of the gaping Saang being the only ones who saw this before.
Zeke shrugged sheepishly.
“I, uhh… I think they’re gonna be okay now.”
…..
It was a resounding success according to the receptionist who gladly went up to Zeke to award him with his payment. The clearly joyful receptionist handed out what looked like a large brown bag that could easily fill over an entire hand. It was proof that the thing was massive when the woman handed the bag to Zeke, surprising him from its sheer heft. Looking inside, expecting a lot of silver coins, he nearly choked when he saw nothing but gold inside.
“H-How much is in here?” Zeke had to ask as he was honestly anticipating the number along with Mikella.
“As I said, we have paid you according to your efforts. Thanks to you, all of the adventurers that have been afflicted over the past weeks were cured. So it’s only natural that you would be paid at least 80 gold coins.”
After a solid moment of mathematics in his head, Zeke realized that he just got paid over eight grand’s worth in just a few short hours.
Thankfully, in his daze, Mikella took the heavy pouch and smiled instead for him to the young woman waiting for his response.
“Thank you very much, this will be very helpful in the future,” Mikella spoke with candid glee and proper manner that it befuddled Zeke’s still-addled mind.
The receptionist giggled before responding. “It’s only natural to feel overwhelmed, but you certainly pulled your weight. But please don’t haphazardly spend it all at once. It’s proper for a young adventurer to consider having savings for a rainy day.”
The group headed off to leave the guild, waving back at the young woman looking quite pleased, like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders.
It was already deep into the night, nearly reaching the morning hours. There were plenty of recovered adventurers finally returning back home, finally going back to their family and friends that were possibly worried like mad.
Of course, when they realized who healed them, they went up to Zeke and thanked him profusely. Once they found out he was a Runist, they were even more thankful, then a little weary after telling that they don’t have to pay anything. After being told by the Tempest Winds, the top rank party of the guild of his exploits and character, everyone suddenly wanted him to join their party to which Mikella came in clutch and refused them all for him. Thankfully, they went away not really expecting such a lucky and capable find, but they were more than happy to have him on a fantasy version of speed dial in case something like this happens again.
Zeke managed to ignore the potential amount of money he made, looking at each of the adventurers that looked so close to death. Even without being paid with that much money, his heart swelled to see so many people recovering well thanks to him. Their families would be happy, and their sons and daughters won’t have to say goodbye to their parents.
“Good work Zeke,” Hamil planted a heavy hand on his shoulder, a wide grin on his face. “And don’t worry about all that gold. Even if it was my idea, you deserve all this for saving Saang.”
“Not that I’d let you have any of that in the first place,” Saang smiled with a sharp grin. “I see how you’re eyeing that pouch with all your soul.”
“Hey, that’s a lot of gold, even for us,” Hamil raised his hands, as though it might seem like he was planning on taking the pouch for himself.
“Like she said, you should plan on carefully spending your money,” Kote said, turning to the two otherworlders. “Not just in equipment, tools, and supplies–but also in the chance of attaining natural treasures for your attunements.”
“Natural treasures, huh,” Mikella said, looking back at the heavy pouch. She put it back into her storage pack, Zeke already giving her permission. They never bothered splitting it up between themselves because they always shared finances anyways. “I tried to find one for my attunement, but I wanted to get the sort of lightning attunement that really fits well with me. Apparently there’s no such thing as ‘angry lightning’ for me.”
“Welcome to being a specialized Journeyman,” Saang chuckled, pointing at her. “And those things can be pretty expensive. If anything, that pouch of yours might not be enough.”
“And for Zeke… mmh, that’s hard to measure,” Kote said, crossing his steel-plated arms together. “For a power like that, what kind of treasure does he need? Would just any type of treasure increase it?”
“Yeah, I gave up on that idea a while ago,” Zeke mentioned, rubbing the back of his head in thought.
Now that they have reached Journeymen, it was natural to try and advance to Master-tier, or at least that’s one of their very far-off goals. Reaching Master tier isn’t just increasing the level to 100, which is already incredibly hard as just increasing their last two levels were difficult. He was also certain that those spiders were incredibly rare as they are strange, giving off more experience points than normal.
They also need to reach at least tier five on their attunement.
Just as Myra and Piker proved when they took their own natural treasure from the tower’s reward, it can be increased in more potency and control than ever before. On top of that, one needed to have several of their skills reach Epic-rarity. Having to meet all three requirements is considered an undertaking of massive proportions.
It was enough to fill Zeke’s mind as they returned home for the night. Once the new day arrived, their search for the nearby towers will begin in earnest.