Second World

”I want to make sure, this passive recovery buff will also be in effect during combat, wonʼt it?” Jack asked.

”Yes,” Peniel answered.

”Cool,” Jack commented. Penielʼs passive healing effect was stackable with his existing body recovery skills, allowing him even better continuous regeneration during battle. Her Fast Heal skill was also better than Healerʼs Heal spell since she heal a fixed percentage. So the higher Jackʼs HP was, the more the amount she was healing.

”Alright! Letʼs upgrade this spell!” Jack announced.

He had 8 free skill points stocked from his Mage class. Now that he had gained Elite spell, he didnʼt feel the need to stock anymore. He didnʼt yet spend them before because he was unsure which spell to spend them on. He had three elite spells: Call Familiar, Mana Beam, and Myriad Ensnaring Chains. He wanted to check on the result after binding with a familiar before making the decision.

The Myriad Ensnaring Chains spell had evolved into an elite spell once Jack became an Archmage. This spell now produced ten crimson chains instead of three. The chains were also bigger and sturdier. The length of the chains had also increased from fifteen meters to twenty-five meters. Overall, the power of this spell had been greatly boosted, but its spell formation now required five runes instead of four, which Jack had suspected before.

Jack was very much tempted to level up the Myriad Ensnaring Chains, but after seeing the Call Familiar spell, he opted for it. Both were very useful spells, just different applications, but Jackʼs decision could be said to be largely affected by his sentimental feeling for Peniel. If he had gone with another familiar, he might have leveled up the chains spell instead.

Jack poured all 8 free skill points into Call Familiar spell. Aside from that, he also had 182,456 souls inside his Container of Souls. Courtesy of all the coalition players and undead decimated during the Guild Headquarters battle. Jack had come close enough to the High Lich to capture its souls when it was killed, hence the high souls reap. The other high-level undead killed by the soldiers had also gone into his container. That was one of the reasons Jack had been running around the battlefield even if he could just sit back and let Themisphere soldiers clean up the undead horde.

Although it was a lot of souls, it could only upgrade an Elite spell by a single level. Jack used 100,000 souls to level up Call Familiar. Janus had informed him that each five-level increase on the spell granted the Familiar with additional skills.

Call Familiar: Peniel - High Fairy, level 10/20 (Special spell)

Summon a High Fairy with 72.5% HP of bound partnerʼs max HP. Cooldown if killed: 1 hour.

Passive skill to Familiar: Reduce all damage by 50%, Regenerate 10HP every second, become invulnerable for 5 seconds when HP falls below 30%

Passive skill to Partner: Regenerate 5 HP every second.

Active skill 1: Fast Heal = Recover 50% HP and remove negative status effects to bound partner. cooldown: 3 minutes.

Active skill 2: Group Fast Heal = Recover 50% HP and remove negative status effects to bound partner and allies within a radius of 30 meters. cooldown: 10 minutes.

Active skill 3: Healing Field = Mark an area with 15 meters radius. All allies within the area are healed 300 HP /second and are immune to negative status effects. Duration: 1 minute. cooldown: 30 minutes.

The level increase boosted Penielʼs HP and her cooldown if killed. Her additional skills were also very good. ”Your first skill stays the same,” Jack said.

Peniel explained, ”All my skills will only increase if the spell proficiency increases. When your spell reaches the first star, my skills will receive improvement.”

”How do I increase this spellʼs proficiency?” Jack asked.

”Whenever I use my skills,” Peniel answered.

”All right. From now on, use your Fast Heal skill every three minutes. Use it even when my health is full!”

”Dream on! Do you think Iʼm as maniac as you in training battle skills?”

”Urgh… Do I have the ability to trigger your skills?”

”No, they fully depend on my decision.”

Jack sighed. He said, ”never mind then. Letʼs head over to Corporate Unitedʼs headquarters.”

”Why not the Death Associatesʼ one?” Peniel asked.

”Because it was the Corporate United that unleashed that Undead Horde on us. An eye for an eye, as people said.”

Jack opened his Map interface and checked at the coordinates Silverwing had given him. ”Which city should I start from that is closer? Themetus or Thereath? They both looked similar distance from the map.”

”If considering the terrains and the monsters on the way, Themetus should provide an easier traveling path.”

”Good, I still have that parcel to deliver in Themetus. We will depart from there then. How long do you reckon I will need to reach our destination?”

”With Pandoraʼs speed, three days should be enough.”

”Great, letʼs depart then. Oh, yeah, Peniel. There is something good now that you are my familiar.”

”What?” Peniel asked.

”People wonʼt keep on calling you my pet anymore,” Jack said with a grin.

”And you think I prefer being called a familiar?” Peniel rolled her eyes.

Jack went to Hunters Association next, to pick up ten monster hunting quests that he most likely encountered along the way. He also sold all the trophy loots and handed over the Hideout core in his bag, netting him an additional amount of coins. The hideout core also supplied him with 4000 hunter points.

This hideout core provided him with much more hunter points compared to the previous settlement core. Considering the settlement core was obtained from a settlement guarded by a level 15 boss while this hideout core was guarded by a level 31 boss, Jack didnʼt find the difference to be surprising.

Jack was thinking if he should also pay Duke Alfredo and Prince Alonzo a visit before leaving, see how they were doing. They should be long back by now. But decided against it. What if they gave him an emergency quest? He would go see them once he was done dealing with the coalition and gave his guild a breathing room.

As promised, Jack spent the night with Amy and Samantha, chatting about various things.

The next morning, Jack teleported and appeared at Themetusʼ Zone Portal. He asked the guards for the direction to the infirmary. After getting a direction, he went immediately. He half expected to be stopped again by those people from Six Rings of Prosperity, but they were nowhere in sight.

He checked his Friend list and saw that Paytowin was still in Themetus. He didnʼt send his friend any message, Paytowin might misunderstand him for being pushy about joining his guild. So he left him alone, now that Paytowin had his contact, he could send him a message if he needed anything.

The infirmary in Themetus was much larger compared to the one in Thesewal. The building was even behind the Healer Academy. Probably allowing many of the native healers produced by that academy to help at the infirmary.

When Jack went in, many people were going about their duties. It felt almost like a real-world hospital. Jack looked for something that looked like a receptionist and went to ask. ”Iʼm looking for the Grand Healer,” He said to a woman behind the desk, who wore clothes that looked like a nurse outfit.

”Whatʼs your business with him, sir?” The nurse look-alike asked.

”Iʼm asked to deliver a parcel for him.”

”From whom?”

”Um, from Albert, a healer in Thesewal town,” Jack answered.

”Whatʼs inside the parcel?”

”Uh… Iʼm told not to look inside.”

”Let me check it first.”

Jack was hesitant at first because the quest asked him to give the parcel to the Grand Healer, but he thought a respectable nurse in what looked like a respectable infirmary wouldnʼt have sabotaged his quest, right? So he handed the parcel.

The nurse put it on some kind of a device. It lighted up as runes appeared along the parcel surface.

”It was protected by a seal unique to our faction. The parcel is genuine and had not been tampered with. Good.” The nurse gave the parcel back to Jack. ”Take those stairs and go to the second floor. The third door on the left. The Grand Healer is waiting for you.”

Jack took back the parcel and started going in the direction given. All the while wondering about the parcel. ʼIt has seal?ʼ Itʼs a good thing he stuck to his reliable postmanʼs code. Otherwise, he would have been found out.

”Hey, Peniel. Whatʼs the faction that runs this infirmary?” Jack asked.

”It should be the Healer Society, they are the one that runs infirmaries in main cities,” Peniel answered. ”They are another favorite league faction for Healer class and its branches, aside from the Church of Creation. In fact, the two factions used to be one. They separated due to differences in ideology. One focused on faith and religion while the other focused on healing the mass.”

Jack just gave a non-committal mumble. He was not that interested in studying this worldʼs history. He just cared about its current state. ”So which is better? The Church of Creation or Healer Society?”

”They both has its strength and weakness. You are not joining anyway, whatʼs good for you to know? If you want to know so you can advise your friends. Donʼt worry. I have already given that John fellow the overviews when he developed the guide for your guild members.”

”Oh, okay.”

They arrived in front of the door that was mentioned. Jack knocked on it. The door was soon opened and he saw an old man in a white robe. ”You are the one that has the parcel from Albert?” He asked.

”Yes. Are you the Grand Healer?” Jack asked at the same time he used Inspect. The old man was really a Grand Healer and his name was Girolamo. He was a level 65 Special Elite Human.

”I am. Give me the parcel.”

”Uh, okay,” Jack said as he handed it. He didnʼt mind the old manʼs direct-to-business attitude. He wanted to complete this quest and then just continue on his way.

As Jack was about to say goodbye, the old man said, ”Wait here!”

😉