365 The Desired Place
What was that?!
Skullius frowned.
An intense sensation had suddenly coursed through him, making him feel uncomfortable. This was a perk of his new cosmetic body that heightened his sensitivity to his surroundings and right now, it was warning him of hidden eyes paying attention to the shed.
Skullius’ [Elevated Mana Manipulation] caught nothing as by the time he had activated it, the sensation had already disappeared.
‘What was that? Have I already attracted attention?’
Skullius wasn’t oblivious to the fact that his actions would undoubtedly cause suspicion.
This was a lesson he had learnt the hard way from the incident he caused at the College of the Esteemed. City authorities paid attention to stuff like this.
“Is something the matter?” the man before Skullius asked with a concerned look.
Skullius reforged his fake smile and reassured the man.
“Not at all. Let’s begin,” he said as he activated [Luminous Healing].
‘I just need to tend to a few more of these people and then I’ll stop. Two or three should be enough,’ he thought.
In the spirit of taking more risks, Skullius was willing to entertain this for a little longer. He had means of escape if it got too hairy after all.
And yes. Flesh Sila’s request if need be.
The healing skill washed over the man who felt the invigorating energy swamp his being, almost immediately after, his leg which he hadn’t felt in what seemed like ages, regaining sensation!
“Ah…” the man stammered as he hurriedly stood up, seeing as the effect had done its magic.
Sob.
Finally!
It was back!
The sense of feeling in his leg!
“You really did it! Thank you so much sir! Thank you very much! I can’t believe I can move without any problems again!”
“You’re welcome, haha,” Skullius said in classic human fashion, while the real him wanted this man gone for another customer hurriedly, even though he wouldn’t be able to heal them immediately.
The man leapt a few times before shaking Skullius’ hand vigorously and once again, before he could say he wanted to help the Discount Human he was stopped in his tracks.
The fake human wanted nothing else from him after all.
After a happy round, the man surprisingly sat back down again.
‘Bro, leave!’ Skullius thought begrudgingly while even his face was showing confusion.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
The middle aged man looked nervous as he scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish look.
“No-nothing. Actually there’s something. You see… I was wondering if you could help me…us… with another issue,” the man said with a small voice that showed how embarrassed he was to be asking another favour from the man who had just healed him for free.
“What’s that?” Skullius asked with a tone that slightly leaked his impatience.
“You see… there’s been a lot of incidents lately. Incidents of concern. People like me who haven’t been in the city for long… migrants from their hometowns…. we are being hunted. Many of us are just vanishing little by little, in particular those with illness or injuries. We’ve had to bunch up to protect ourselves but even then… I’m sure you have heard this sir and… I wanted to ask if you could help us.”
‘This again?’ Skullius thought.
Yesterday at the Hot Swan he had heard something about this.
Was this something to do with internal affairs or something else entirely?
Depending on what it was, he wasn’t willing to have any part in it.
“Yes. I have heard of this. Hmm…” Skullius said while deliberating on what to tell this man. “I’ll have to think about it. Now please, there are other people waiting in line.”
“Alright sir! I’ll be here waiting for your answer. Thank you again!” the man said with vigour before he rushed out the shed.
Skullius sighed.
He did not think he wanted to get tangled in this.
‘Could that someone who was watching me be one of the people taking away these guys? Well, I just arrived into the town so I may be a target. Hmm. Which is it, I wonder?’
After the man left, Skullius invited another person and waited for the cooldown of the skill while asking and pretending to care about their backstory.
When the cooldown timed out, Skullius healed this person and then the next… along with an additional one.
Only then did he see the notification that he was yearning for.
[‘Luminous Healing’ has reached LV10. Would you like to evolve it into its next form?]
“Flesh yeah!” Skullius responded.
[‘Luminous Healing’ has evolved into ‘Great Saint’s Invigoration’]
~~~
[Great Saint’s Invigoration | Lv.1]
<Passive>
All limbs will instantly regenerate, the rate of regeneration depending on the length of the limb lost.
<Active>
The user can fuse mana and other forms of energy to heal ALL kinds of ailments and minor curses. Even critical injuries can be healed with an appropriate amount of mana or other forms of energy.
Mana Requirements: —
Duration: —
Cooldown: —
~~~
“Wow… this one is ridiculous. It doesn’t qualify to be a Special skill?” Skullius remarked, clearly shocked by its effects. Furthermore, its name had changed in a direction he wasn’t expecting.
The individual that he healed had left which gave him the freedom to speak his mind.
“This will be handy still. Now, I have to get out of here.”
The Discount Human rose from his seat. He looked outside at the people who were eagerly waiting for him to call out another person in.
Their faces carried hope and respect, both genuine and otherwise.
Unfortunately for them however, Skullius couldn’t care less.
He summoned his staff and immediately activated [Jump], his face showing nothing but a blank expression that was unaffected by the pitiful look on everyone’s faces.
All these people saw was the figure inside the shed vanishing as if he didn’t exist in the first place, their hopes bashed against a stone instantly.
Skullius appeared right where he had been standing yesterday before he teleported into the shed and sped away.
Using [Jump] to appear within the crowded streets of the town would be a bad idea after all.
The Discount Human walked randomly within the town for a while in order to determine if he was being followed but after a few minutes, it didn’t appear that this was the case.
“Maybe I’m safe for now but I can’t count on it. I should find what I was here for in the first place and leave,” Skullius said before thinking about something for a short while. “He gave me directions, there’s probably no need to let him loose, right?”
The Discount Human clearly did not enjoy Sila’s company.
Skullius’ agenda right now was to fulfill Sila’s request.
According to the piece of soul, the place he was supposed to look for was pretty easy to find, or so Sila thought.
The man was not sure himself if the place still existed but he proudly claimed that at the very least, it would be preserved as a treasure.
The directions unfortunately did not detail where this place was in the city, but possible means to find it.
“A tall building that should be covered in dreadfully cold ice, is it?” Skullius mumbled to himself as he looked up and started walking around the town.
Frankly, he doubted that he could have missed something like this but perhaps there was more to it.
He walked for some time, treading through the cold streets that were crowded with esteemed figures passing with luxurious carriages along with the locals who went about their business.
The Knights who walked within the streets keeping the order in this tourist attraction of a city seemed different to those Skullius had seen.
The reason was that they were not free Knights of the Capital Service but hired Knights whose specific duties were keeping the many people from different places that congested in the town in line.
The large amounts of coin that Harifrast made allowed for such a feat.
Skullius’ every didn’t lead him anywhere close to what he wanted but soon, after discarding Sila’s instructions and simply following the stuck up, fancily dressed individuals to the various spots they wanted to visit, Skullius finally found.
Near the edge, on the other side of town was a large field cleared of any residential or commercial structures.
A short, wooden fence was erected around the entire place in the snow, as if to give the feeling of both claimed territory and sacred ground.
A crowd of wealthy people stood behind the fence while listening to a finely dressed man who described the remnants of the magnificent, yet scattered structure behind him.
Skullius who stood a distance away from this group finally let Sila loose from his lonely place in his soul.
Surprisingly, the man didn’t say or better yet shout anything foul as he normally would which surprised the Discount Human who had prepared for it.
“Sila?” Skullius questioned, almost beginning to doubt that he ever had a voice screaming in his head to begin with.
“…Quiet, tomato flinger…” Sila responded with a chillingly calm voice, his attention being on the objects ahead.
Before the two, a grand introduction was underway as the man who led the tour announced, “…With that said, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to this town’s greatest relic from tens of thousands of years ago. The Grim Tower!”
—
[Author’s Note]
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