╔═══════════════════════╗
> Ace | LC: 17 | EXP: 123/133 | LVL 2
╠═══════════════════════╣
> HP ▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 35/100
> MP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 70/70
> STA ▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱ 360/80
────────────────────────
> Class: MAGE
> Known Abilities:
• Fireball
• Heal
────────────────────────
> PERKS
• 10% More magic damage
╠═══════════════════════╣
> [ BAG ] [ MAP ] [ SHOP ] [QUESTS]
╚═══════════════════════╝
I groaned as I opened my eyes, rain hitting my face in steady drops. For a mont I could not see anything clearly, and all I caught were blurred shapes and shifting light. I blinked a few tis and tried to focus, but my vision refused to settle.
The sky looked wrong.
Even through the blur, I could tell it was not how I rembered it. It had a sickly green tint, dull and lifeless, like sothing had drained the color out of it.
Then the pain hit.
I clenched my teeth as everything rushed back at once, and I forced myself to focus on where I was. I was lying on the ground, soaked, mud pressing against my side while rain continued to fall over . When I shifted slightly, I saw dark patches spreading in the dirt nearby.
My blood.
I let out a shaky breath.
I was not dead.
"Agh... co on, co on..."
I pushed myself into a sitting position, but the mont I tried to stand, I made the mistake of putting weight on my injured shoulder. A sharp surge of pain shot through , and fresh blood ran from the wound where the entity had pierced straight through.
I sucked in a breath and imdiately pulled away from the pressure, my body giving out as I rolled to my side and dropped onto both knees instead. I lowered my head until my forehead pressed against the wet ground, breathing hard as I tried to steady myself.
I was exhausted.
Every part of felt heavy, and my thoughts moved slower than they should have. For a mont, I just stayed there, letting the rain hit my back while I tried to gather enough strength to move again.
Then Mio crossed my mind.
I lifted my head slightly, forcing myself to stay conscious. She had saved back there. I could not just lie here.
"Second ti’s the charm..."
I tried to push myself up again, but my arms gave out halfway, and I dropped back down with a frustrated groan. I did not stop this ti. I reached out with my good arm and grabbed onto the trunk of a nearby tree, using it to pull myself up inch by inch.
It took more effort than it should have, but eventually I managed to stand.
I leaned heavily against the tree, leaving sared, bloody fingerprints across the bark as I tried to steady my breathing.
"Okay... okay... okay... I’m alive..."
The light around dimd slightly.
A shadow fell over where I stood.
I frowned and tilted my head up.
A massive damn chateau floated above , close enough now to feel oppressive. Its walls shifted in slow, uneven pulses, like sothing inside was breathing through the structure itself, and its windows reflected scenes that didn’t match the world below, flickers of movent and shapes that twisted the longer I looked at them.
"A... building?"
I did not stay in the open.
I pushed myself off the trunk and moved into the deeper shadow of the tree, pressing closer to it as I kept my eyes on the thing above. It floated slowly across the sky, silent and steady, and there was no sign that it had noticed .
I stayed still just in case.
Up close, its size made it worse. It was massive in a way that did not feel natural, and I had no idea what it was supposed to be or how sothing like that could even exist.
After a few seconds, I noticed its direction.
It was drifting left, away from where I had last seen Mio.
I let out a slow breath and waited until it had moved farther before shifting my attention back to myself. My shoulder throbbed. Right. I had sothing for that.
"Okay... let’s try it."
I raised my hand toward the wound and focused, trying to rember the feeling from before. It took a second, but then I felt it again, sothing moving inside , gathering and flowing toward my palm.
A faint green light ford there.
When it touched my shoulder, the effect was imdiate.
The pain dulled, replaced by a spreading warmth that sank into the wound and eased the strain in my body. I let out a breath I had not realized I was holding, my muscles relaxing slightly as the sensation took over.
"Oh, yeah... that’s good..."
╔═══════════════╗
> Heal Cast: -30MP
────────────────
Duration: 2 seconds
Healing: 6 HP per second
╚═══════════════╝
That was a lot of mana.
I could feel the drain almost as clearly as the relief, but right now it did not matter. For the first ti since the fight started, the pain was fading, and my body was starting to recover.
And that was enough.
╔═══════════════════════╗
> Ace | LC: 17 | EXP: 123/133 | LVL 2
╠═══════════════════════╣
> HP ▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱ 47/100
> MP ▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱ 40/70
> STA ▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 31/80
────────────────────────
> Class: MAGE
> Known Abilities:
• Fireball
• Heal
────────────────────────
> PERKS
• 10% More magic damage
╠═══════════════════════╣
> [ BAG ] [ MAP ] [ SHOP ] [QUESTS]
╚═══════════════════════╝
Feeling a little better, I pushed myself off the tree trunk and looked up at the sky. The giant structure had drifted far enough away that it no longer felt like it was hanging over , and there was no way it could see from that distance.
Still, the image stuck with . A building floating in the sky. Dierthen had been right. This place was a deathtrap.
I let out a breath and turned toward the slope I had fallen down earlier. Under normal circumstances, climbing it would have taken less than a minute, but my body was still in bad shape. My shoulder burned every ti I reached up, and my legs felt heavy with every step.
By the ti I reached the top, nearly five minutes had passed.
I leaned forward slightly, catching my breath as rain continued to fall over . I wiped my brow with the back of my hand, saring water and dirt across my skin, then lifted my head and looked ahead.
I could see the hut from here. Mio was nowhere outside. The last ti I saw her, she had been crawling inside. She had to be in there.
"Mio!" I called out as I started moving. "Mio! You hear ?"
My footing slipped once, and I nearly lost my balance, but I managed to steady myself and kept going. By the ti I reached the broken side of the hut, my breathing had turned uneven again. I paused for a second, then stepped inside.
Mio was on the ground near the table I had crashed into earlier, lying on her side.
I moved toward her quickly and crouched down, focusing on her condition.
Blood had soaked through the fabric around her waist, but it was no longer flowing as heavily. Her eyes were closed, and she did not respond when I got closer.
But she was breathing. That was enough.
"Co on," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a light shake. "Mio. Wake up... co on."
There was no response.
I raised my hand and focused, drawing on that sa sensation as before. I felt the energy gather and move through before reaching my palm, where a faint green light ford.
I moved my palm closer to her wound.
The effect was imdiate.
The bleeding slowed even more, and the tension in her body eased slightly as the magic took hold. I kept my hand steady until the light faded, but even after the spell ended, she did not wake up.
Her condition was worse than I had thought.
╔═══════════════╗
> Heal Cast: -30MP
────────────────
> Duration: 2 seconds
> Healing: 6 HP per second
╚═══════════════╝
I carefully lifted the torn fabric near her waist to examine the wound more closely. It was no longer bleeding, and the edges had started to close, but it was not fully healed yet. She needed more.
I checked my status.
═══════════════════════╗
> Ace | LC: 17 | EXP: 123/133 | LVL 2
╠═══════════════════════╣
> HP ▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱ 48/100
> MP ▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 10/70
> STA ▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 32/80
────────────────────────
> Class: MAGE
> Known Abilities:
• Fireball
• Heal
────────────────────────
> PERKS
• 10% More magic damage
╠═══════════════════════╣
> [ BAG ] [ MAP ] [ SHOP ] [QUESTS]
╚═══════════════════════╝
I stared at the numbers for a second. Ten MP. Not enough.
"Shit..."
I leaned back slightly, running through my options. The western entrance was close but I could not just walk out like that. The device around my neck made sure of it. If I left without eting the requirent, it would explode and kill instantly.
I exhaled slowly, forcing myself to think.
Bane’s words ca back to .
Monster cores.
If killing them gave sothing useful, then maybe that was my only option.
I had not checked the area after the fight. Between the chaos and that thing in the sky, I had just run. If anything was left behind, it would still be out there. And it was in the direction I needed to go anyway. That still left one problem.
Mio.
I could not leave her here.
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