Bro, I'm not an Undead!

A few hours after the attack on Evic, the city knew a terrifying level of peace and security, one that was so profound that it cheered up the majority despite the tragedy that had nearly reaped a lot of lives just now.

Why was this?

Well, a man had appeared who could heal seemingly heal all forms of sickness and injury, his calibre of skill in healing even outclassing the Purity Healers who had been working tirelessly for the past weeks.

Since four hours ago, he had suddenly appeared where all the injured were being gathered within the city after the forced teleportation which he judged to have been caused by the grey cube he had seen in the hands of Brown and Black. The properties of that tool made it clear that it was a Legendary grade item that allowed the user to teleport anywhere they wished and to take whoever they desired along with them over a vast range – though it had limits of usage and conditions of use.

Of course Skullius had the exact details.

Skullius had been using [Great Saint's Invigoration] which had leapt past its former stats as [Luminous Healing]. Because of Black's little stunt to throw the Contract Knights and Purity Knights into disarray, many had been injured or affected in many other ways because of the spatial shift.

This was what Skullius was tending to.

[Great Saint's Invigoration] levelled up quite well from dealing with variations of injuries and also sickness that the Healers stationed here hadn't been able to cure.

Only a few had been spared to come to Evic with the rest being Priests with great knowledge on healing with potions and herbs. Then again, high grade potions were extremely costly and thus even the Purity couldn't empty their vaults for one city. Economically, it would not bode well for them.

'Hmmm? Already at level 11,' Skullius thought as he gazed at his healing skill's level on the guidance field for a brief moment.

He had been using it quite extensively ever since he got it. Sila had used it when fighting Bek. He had used when fighting Bassbion. 'Using' didn't even capture the abuse this skill had suffered.

From the information packet, the Guidance Code, which he had received, more detail about the mechanism in place for skills and their progression with the guidance field had been revealed.

The guidance field allowed its user to rapidly cultivate skills and greatly enhanced how fast they progressed by taking advantage of the general rule that with repetition, a skill could be forged and it could be refined grandly with the same process.

This was why skills like [Greater Mana Crafter] were born as the guidance field also took into account how far one's knowledge on a subject had grown and added it on when the skill evolved to possibly have the user skip a few levels if what they understood exceeded what the skill currently offered.

Additionally, what constituted as a skill was a complex application that the user was unable to achieve without hardwork. Everything Skullius accomplished, as long it was born from him spending time crafting it with a series of layers of inspiration and complex thinking, it would be classified as a skill.

When Skullius understood this, he felt like he had crossed a certain threshold of knowledge. His advantage in this world was ridiculous.

"You might want to take a break. These people are close to seeing you as a Deity in human flesh," Oliviana who had been with Skullius throughout the entire three to four hour healing session doing her part to assist those who merely needed superficial care, said. "You can't deal with them the same way you did the guys up top."

"You're right," Skullius said as he stood. "I heard there's some victims of some previous attack on the city stuck in strange states, that no amount of healing can help them? What's that all about?"

"Yes. I'll show you to them later."

Skullius nodded.

Since the Luman had conducted some healing in Harifrast Town before, he had a little experience with how to serve people for free while being as amicable as he could be.

The long stretches of people who had been laid on small beds within dozens of tents were dealt with pretty quickly, save for a few whom Skullius could ignore as he took his 'break'.

The two left the tents with Oliviana telling those who were concerned that Skullius needed to rest.

A short distance after the tents, as the duo turned a corner, they saw the tall and stout figure of Anara giving orders to his Purity Knights.

The Paladin Champion turned to meet his gaze with theirs and a complicated expression showed on his face.

He seemed to struggle with himself for a few short breaths before walking to meet Skullius and Oliviana.

"Sir Festos. I have heard from the Healers and Priests how you have an astounding skill in healing. I was beyond shocked and frankly... very happy to hear that you have already dealt with more than two thirds of those in need for comfort," Anara said with a look of appreciation.

Skullius merely nodded to this, awarding the Champion no further route to continue this conversation on the topic.

Anara then glanced at Oliviana who decided to save him the trouble.

"Festos, perhaps YOU could help us with something else that has been happening more frequently as of late," she said while raising her brow to Anara who quickly picked up on what she meant.

The Paladin Champion had already seared Skullius' strength as overwhelming in his mind but to find that he branched into healing as well was too much.

Not only was this man a monster in combat but he was also good at support type skills. If this revelation did not wrestle with his sentiment that Skullius had even more to show then...

"Yes, sir Festos. While the threat of bandits raiding the city certainly is great, there is something else that has been slowly causing more panic. Could you please see if you can help with it?" Anara implored.

'Another threat?' Skullius thought.

*

Anara uncovered a cloth over a small chair within a small storage room.

His face depicted an uncomfortable grimace as he looked at what was revealed.

"We found this a few days ago after putting all our men on patrol. Honestly, we think the enemy deliberately left it out for us to find, but none of us have any clue what it is."

Perhaps Skullius knew about this.

Hope drove him to turn to look at Skullius' face for any reaction.

He found one.

Skullius looked at the object that had been hidden with suspicion.

This again?

He never would have thought he would encounter this again. Or rather, he had forgotten about it.

Oliviana recognised that Skullius must have seen this from the look on his face but she, just like Anara gave Skullius his time.

In the meantime, Anara exposited on the other details concerning this thing.

What was it?

It was a white doll.

This doll with a completely blank face and four, ball joined limbs.

Traces of mana could vaguely be felt by everyone else but Skullius... he picked up on the extremely complicated rune work that was imbedded inside and outside of the doll.

"Tens of the wounded in the camps we had set before suddenly started disappearing. The same happened to those whom we thought were close to death for several reasons. One day, we found this doll in a corner where four civilians registered as having fatal injuries were put to bed. Tsk. We couldn't find any traces of them," Anara said as he turned to Skullius. "If there is anything you know, please feel free to tell us. Anything at all."

Skullius' visage turned from having hints of recognition to becoming stone cold.

After a few moments of silence, he finally spoke with harsh breath leaving his nostrils .

"I'll inform you when I have solid information about it," he said.

At the same time, he opened up a bubble in his soul, his gaze suddenly flaring with darkness.

'Sila. Take a look at this,' he said deep within himself. 'It's about time you tell me who these people are.'