Chương 20: Heal Tame

Pop With a gentle sound, the mana firecracker explodes against my left pec. Chime The mystical feeling returns alongside a heavy dose of pain, but it doesn't pass by, forcing me to grab at it. It explodes. Starting at my chest, the feeling shoots like lightning down through my limbs and up into my head. My body convulses and collapses backward. Pain ravages through my body alongside the new feeling. This pain doesn't care about the command.

My gauntlets scrape against the stone floor back and forth as my body spasms uncontrollably. The lightning travels through my body several times before coalescing near my stomach. The lightning compresses further and further, turning from jolting to searing hot. Eventually, it collects completely into a single spot right below my heart. Slowly, it cools down into something bearable. My eyes shoot open, and I gasp for breath as control of my body is returned to me. The first thing I see is the mage hobgoblin.

It stands over me with one of the shieldman's axes raised high above its head. My gauntlet moves weakly to block, but without the command, every movement is delayed. The axe glances off my gauntlet and bites into my left shoulder. I grunt in pain and struggle to bend upwards. The mage looks surprised that its free kill is coherent and moving again. It tries to rip the axe out, but I slip my right hand out of the gauntlet and grab it by the wrist.

It panics and yanks, but even my weakened grip is like iron compared to its stats. I yank its arm, and the hobgoblin stumbles onto my lap. Straining, I pull my gauntleted arm up and let gravity do the work. The ten-pound weapon knocks against the back of its skull and causes it to go limp for a brief second. It struggles to get its hands under itself and begins lifting. My gauntlet falls again. It doesn't get back up this time. I lift my weapon up regardless and bring it down. And again. And again.

Chime The telltale feeling of reinforcement and life wells up within me. All I can do is collapse, catching giant mouthfuls of air. My muscles, bones, and skin wriggle as they tighten and solidify themselves. My gaze turns to my wounds. The axe in my shoulder is shallow, only a single line of blood trailing from it. My breathing picks up, and I know I can't afford it.

"Kevin, don't feel traumatized." My breathing quickly returns to normal, and my nerves evaporate into thin air. Looking at my body, it doesn't feel like mine anymore. Like I'm watching someone get rushed into an ambulance on a stretcher. The axe in my chest is deeper, likely somewhat in the bone judging by the depth. Blood runs down my chest from when I sat up. Now, it's a growing pool. The worst wound is on the other side of my chest. There lies a small crater of scooped-out flesh.

Similar to the wound on the other side of the chest, the blood ran down when I sat up and now grows in a pool. The blood is different from what I usually see. Instead of slightly thicker than water, it's incredibly thick, like honey. Bleed resistance. The crater in my chest is also bleeding less than I would assume. Must be cauterisation or something. Health. [Health: 295(62)] How am I still conscious?

"Kevin, stop feeling pain", I say weakly. Nothing changes. The command is working at full power. There's just so much pain that it bleeds through. With as little effort as possible, I reach for the dead hobgoblin on my legs. I pull the bottom of its robe up and stuff as much as I can into the crater on my chest. As I grab more, I shift the heart protection plate and use it to hold the robe down. The axes in my body can stay there for now. I chuckle.

If I had a dollar for every axe that got stuck in my body, I'd have two dollars, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. The chuckle turns into a laugh, then from a laugh into a cough, which aggravates the pain in my chest. Chime I'd bet my entire life savings that was bleed resistance leveling up. I should probably go back to the water in the tutorial area right now. Staying hydrated during blood loss is important, but the nine-minute walk sounds like 100 miles right now. First things first.

Status. [Vitality: 19 > 21] [Strength: 18] [Agility: 17 > 18] [Endurance: 14] [Fortitude: 17 > 19] [Intelligence: 12] [Wisdom: 19 > 20] [Perception: 25 > 26] [Unassigned: 1] I don't even bother trying to find out what increased and just put my free point in vitality. No longer worried about dying, I give myself rest.

"Kevin, fall asleep." My last thought is a morbid one. Damn, my favorite jacket is ruined. I don't fight my body or the command as my eyes slowly close. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! The world comes back to me sluggishly. Breathing aches. My torso bends as I try to stand up, causing my wounds to inject fresh pain into me. A hiss forces itself through my teeth as I lie back down.

"Kevin, don't feel pain." As usual, the pain recedes like a tide, lowering to a dull, pulsing ache. I feel like shit. Health and stamina. [Health: 305(56)] [Stamina: 230(36)]"Dude, I just finished sleeping," I cough out. The numbers probably explain why my arms feel like lead. Hunger and thirst alike dig into my body. I need water to power blood production. Even with the point of vitality, I still have less current health than I did before I was asleep. I groan at all of the things I have to do to survive. Time.

[7. 06 cycles until next phase] My mind is too delirious to remember what it was last, but it feels like a lot. Regardless, I'm done for the rest of the phase unless I can get my saving grace.

"Show me, system," I wheeze. The familiar blue holographic screen expands in front of my eyes. An onslaught of words appears alongside a growing scroll bar. [You have slain Hobgoblin lv. 10 x3] [Partial experience granted x6] [Enhanced Skeleton(lv. 3) > (lv. 4)] [Empowered Control Tamed Being(lv. 0) > (lv. 1)] [Enhanced Skeleton(lv. 4) > (lv. 5)] [Tamer(lv. 9) > (lv. 10)] [Class skill selection available] [Human(lv. 9) > (lv. 10)] [Bleed Resistance(lv. 7) > (lv. 8)] [Bleed Resistance(lv. 8) > (lv. 9)] [Congratulations!] [You have awakened your mana and have formed your mana current] [You have unlocked the ability to manipulate mana within your body to use select skills along with the power to create formations] [Bleed Resistance(lv. 9) > (lv. MAX)] [Bleed Resistance > Bleed Immunity] My eyes widen, and a smile grows as I see my gains in real time. I've fought three hobgoblins in the tutorial, but it was nothing compared to this. Skills and equipment quality made a massive difference.

I dearly want to go through and look at everything, but the circumstances require focus. So my finger presses down on class selection. The options expand on the screen. My joy rises as I see the four unchosen options from last time, along with four new ones. I'm certainly going to get heal tame, but I check the others, just in case [Transfer Health] [Through the tamer's bond, transfer health from the tamer to be received by a tamed being. Distance and speed scale with vitality. Efficiency scales with intelligence. Distance, speed and efficiency scale with skill level and bond level.] Useless. [Transfer Mana] [Through the tamer's bond, transfer mana from the tamer to be received by a tamed being. Distance and speed scale with wisdom. Efficiency scales with intelligence. Distance, speed and efficiency scale with skill level and bond level.] Double useless. [Transfer Stamina] [Through the tamer's bond, transfer stamina from the tamer to be received by a tamed being. Distance and speed scale with endurance. Efficiency scales with intelligence. Distance, speed and efficiency scale with skill level and bond level.] Triple useless. What's the point of sending resources to myself? Moreso, why do it at reduced efficiency? [+1 Tamed Being Slot] This one's not even creative. Also, not meant for me. [Tamer's Experience Distribution] [Tighten or expand the tamer's bond, controlling how experience is distributed between tames. Grants the ability to track level-up progress. Bond manipulation scales with wisdom, bond level, and skill level.] That's… actually interesting. Changing how much experience is split is ultimately useless with only one tame. Judging by the description, I probably wouldn't be able to split the experience between my class and species. But the ability to see how my species is leveling up could be useful, even if it wouldn't change my decisions too much. Plus, the bond manipulation could lead to unlocking a wider variety of other bond skills.

Some of which may be quite useful. My head shakes, and I sigh. I can compare as much as I like, but the impact between this and heal tame is incomparable. My finger pushes on the magnetic scroll bar and reveals what I've been yearning for all this time. [Heal Tame] [Through the tamer's bond, transform the tamer's mana into health to be received by a tamed being. Distance and speed scale with wisdom. Efficiency scales with intelligence. Efficiency, distance, and speed scale with skill level and bond level.] Beautiful. It's so beautiful. My finger presses down instinctually on top of it. [Class skill acquired: Heal Tame] I lay still for a moment, waiting for some kind of reaction, but there's nothing.

'Status' Moving the screen, my skills appear. [General skills: Intelligent Universal Translator, One-Shot Protection] [Class skills: Empowered Control Tamed Being(lv. 1), Identify Living Being(lv. 4), Heal Tame(lv. 0)] [Tamed Being Skills: Bleed Immunity(lv. 0), Enhanced Skeleton(lv. 5)] Yup, it's there. Now, how do I use it? …

"Heal tame, Kevin." … A few seconds go by, but nothing happens. Dang, gotta make me work for everything. I scroll back up the messages and read the description again. Through the tamer's bond, it says. That's a bit of a problem. If I had an actual tame, I could probably begin by searching for some invisible tether between us. But how the hell am I going to find a connection between myself and myself? My eyes close as I search within myself.

The mystical energy that I meditated so many hours to find is now crystal clear. It flows similarly to blood, travelling in thin lines in one continuous motion throughout my entire body. The mana veins are similar to blood vessels, but their routes are completely different. They spread like roots from a single point directly below my heart and are incredibly fine. Oh yeah, I have a mana core now. If I die, does that mean people can dig the core out of my body and sell it?'

My body shudders at the thought of my core being used to power a lamp on someone's nightstand. I shake my head and focus. Never used the bond for anything before, so I have no clue where it is. Taking a look through my body, no particular place seems to have more mana than another besides my core. Curiously, I try to speed up the mana flow. A small smile forms on my face as the mana quickens and churns a little more violently in my body. The sensation is uncomfortable, but it pleases me to have something new.

The system is a gift that just keeps on giving. Having fun, I try to do the opposite and stop the flow in its tracks. It doesn't completely stop, but it does move a few times slower. Slowly, a slightly different kind of uncomfortable feeling appears where I try to slow the mana. The only thing comparable is like trying to breathe through a straw underwater. I become surprised when the sensation grows exponentially, making my mana veins feel like they're suffocating.

Panicking slightly, I release my hold and the mana shoots down my leg like a cannon. The static-y shock from my mana awakening returns, far weaker. My leg feels like it just woke up after laying on it for hours and turns red. Mana is forced into my foot. Similar to water being compressed, the mana is not happy. My foot mushrooms into a deeper red from high blood pressure, which releases. Several blood vessels in my foot and ankle burst, spraying a mist of crimson.

I wince, not in pain, but at the foolish mistake I just made. Not my wisest plan. After the impact, the mana quickly spreads out and returns to a normal flow in my body. Staring at my foot for a few seconds, I'm surprised when the tiny openings from the burst blood vessels don't bleed further. Remembering one of my gains from almost dying, I open my status and press on a new skill. [Bleed Immunity: Reduces internal and external blood loss. Speeds up the process of hemostasis. Grants slight resistance to compounds, chemicals, spells, and enchantments that invoke bleeding. Affliction resistance scales with fortitude. Hemostasis, affliction resistance, and bleed resistance scale with skill level.] Wow! That's a big upgrade! Hemo means blood, and stasis means stop, so I guess that means blood clotting and scabs will grow faster now? I stare longingly. One step closer to immortality. Health. [Health: 305(49)] I should probably save being stupid for when I'm not almost dead.

It's easy to forget how hard focusing is without any commands. I'm wary of commanding myself to focus on something other than fighting, after the short coma that resulted from the last time I did. My eyes close as I bring myself back into my body. The mana veins in my foot feel a weakness that I don't understand or can put into words. Brushing it off as probably fine, I poke and prod at different parts of my mana veins. Several minutes go by with no progress. A truly genius idea pops into my mind.

If there's an opening for the mana to go through the bond, all I have to do is find it, and I'll be golden. With a smile, I enact my foolproof plan. And push all the mana in my body in every direction.