The Two Week Curse

by Michael Chatfield

  Erik started to work, repeating the procedure. His eyes were lit up with the glow of healing spells. He wasn’t simply trying to heal Rugrat; he was trying to learn the components of the spell. He had been looking for ways to improve his healing abilities. Just using Focused Heal would waste his energy. But if he could fuse bones, heal them, have spells to knit muscle back together and have skin adhere perfectly, he wouldn’t waste his energy on the Focused Heal trying to heal everything in an area.

  Chapter: Two Different Sides

  Wren Silaz was in his office, looking over the different reports. He made a notation in a workbook as there was a knock at the door.

  He didn’t look up until he finished the note. He activated an array that would make it impossible for someone to see the work on his desk as he sat up in his chair and arranged his clothes and rubbed his face a bit.

  He looked outside. It was already dark. He let out a short snort, shaking his head before he recovered his regal disposition.

  “Enter!” he yelled, his face serious as he looked at the man who entered.

  “Young Master Wren, those two that Domonos talked about have returned.” The man’s words were simple, his tone calm and subservient as he took a knee and looked at the floor.

  Wren’s carefully prepared appearance changed as his head swung to the side. He looked over to a certain area within his family’s home. The most perfect house and gardens lay there and was the home of his little sister Qin’er.

  “Tell me everything,” Wren demanded. He wanted to rush out and demand their help, but remembering his actions before, he could only wince and try to gain more information on these two men to know whether they might be able to help his sister.

  Nothing else mattered if he was able to save his sister from her fate.

  “They entered the city at some point, then ambushed the Healing Moon House. They entered the healing house, killing Grandmaster Eri and his direct apprentice, Xui Deng—the two people who planned out poisoning one of the men. Afterward, Lord Chonglu’s mount Ronhou confronted them but it was sent flying with a kick. The two men were escorted to Lord Chonglu’s palace.”

  The man fell silent as Wren’s mind started to turn over. A chill fell over him as he thought of what he had asked his older brother. Thankfully he wasn’t as rash as I was and gathered more information.

  Wren was a proud son of the Silaz family, but he had not been interested in fighting. Instead, his strengths lay in the business; he wasn’t the strongest nor did he have the strongest will, but he was a great administrator.

  Domonos would lead the family to greater heights and Wren would support him from behind. Yui was focused on training and he, too, would have a bright future fighting and even as he did call out, his brother Wren would still support him. The display outside the walls of their family home made them look fractious but it was a ploy.

  That way they could draw out the sly ones, thinking that they could back a person in the family, only to find themselves being played.

  “Were any others killed?”

  “Those on guard and those who didn’t surrender. The two men didn’t care for their lives, only those who had attacked them and removing any alarms so they wouldn’t get away.”

  They only kill who they have to—their revenge isn’t blind. For trying to kill one of my family, wouldn’t I do the same? Would I be able to be as calm?

  “Prepare my carriage and people. Get two Greater Mortal grade monster cores and come with me to Lord Chonglu’s palace,” Wren said. Once he had decided something, he wouldn’t step back down.

  “Yes, Young Master.” The servant seemed shocked, not having seen this dominating side of the young master in a long time.

  Wren did away with his mask. This matter was much more serious than keeping up appearances—this was about his sister’s life.

  Seeing the servant bowing and being respectful, Wren grew frustrated. “Move! We don’t have time to waste and let them go!” Wren stood from his table. He might not have any fighting prowess, but that protective and determined light in his eyes, his presence was that of a lord.

  The servant rushed out to attend to their duties.

  Wren’s face darkened in thought. “I hope that they are agreeable to helping me.” A flash of worry appeared on Wren’s face—not worry for himself, but letting this opportunity slip through his fingers and Qin’er continuing her suffering.

  Wren flicked the sleeves on his robe and strode forward. Even at this time, he could hear the distant sounds of Yui training. He nodded to himself, proud at his brother’s accomplishments and his drive.

  Yui had hidden his abilities so that he wasn’t accepted by the Willful Institute. The sect was filled with snakes and Yui was too straightforward. Domonos could deal with these problems but not Yui.

  I will have to find him another sect or group that he can join and increase his strength.

  Wren dismissed such thoughts and focused on the task at hand. Those under his command were moving, rushing to prepare a carriage and the goods he had requested.

  ***

  “Enter.” Lord Chonglu opened his eyes as he looked up at the door.

  It opened to show a servant.

  “Young Master Wren has appeared at the gate to the palace.” The servant bowed deeply as they reported.

  “I am not taking guests,” Lord Chonglu said in a deep voice.

  “Lord, he is not trying to gain entry but waiting there in the rain.” The servant had a hint of anxiousness in their voice as they were scared of overreaching their limits.

  Lord Chonglu frowned. “Why is he waiting?”

  “He says that he wishes to apologize to the two guests staying here.”

  “Oh?” Lord Chonglu’s eyes moved over to Quinn.

  “There was a commotion with Young Master Wren in the Silaz trading house and two strangers a few weeks back. Maybe those two strangers are our guests?” Quinn said.

  “He must have learned like we did that they are healers.” Lord Chonglu’s face softened. He knew Mister Silaz well and of his daughter’s ailment. He didn’t know the true details and had only seen her a few times. Although others might not be able to tell and think he was sheltering her from the outside world, Chonglu’s senses were not simple and he could tell that she was suffering from some kind of health issue.

  “Let him wait. I do not want to distract them. It will be up to them how they want to resolve their issues.” Chonglu pushed it to the side.

  “I’ll go and see how things are progressing,” Captain Quinn said.

  ***

  Erik put his tools down. He had been working on Rugrat for some time, the latter having fallen asleep and snoring in his chair as Erik worked.

  “When using healing spells, it looks like I’m just converting Mana into energy that makes the body regrow, a combination of their current state and when someone is born and their cells change into different systems and parts. I’ve been trying to focus on the physical differences between the parts of a body, but what if I was to alter the kind of energy? Like how dogs can hear higher frequencies, or a radio has different channels—I just need to tap into the right channel.” Erik called up the spell formation of the Focused Heal in his mind. He had taken some time to study spells and the way that they functioned.

  “There are three things primarily: one, the power; second, the function; and the direction. Right now, with the Focused Heal, I give it power, and it creates a healing energy that I direct with my thoughts, altering the direction. Changing the function can turn it from Focused Heal to a fireball. So I’m the human battery; the function is like plugging in a flashlight, or plugging in a railgun. If I, the battery, have enough power, I can do both. Right now I’m spending a lot of Mana on just directing the spell. If I was to fix the direction, so just bones, or just veins, then I could heal system by system, reduce the energy cost. Changing the function, that’ll be harder. The function is the body of the system�
��the coding, the brains. The direction just says where it has to work.”

  Erik wanted to alter the function to improve the spell, but it would take time and effort. Time that he didn’t want to waste. So he focused on changing the direction.

  Erik focused on the spell formation. He altered the direction of the Focused Heal. He could do it easy now, but he focused on the alterations that he saw in the directional ring of the magic circle.

  He let out a small trickle of power so he could focus on the changes. Meticulously he altered the parameters, changing them and testing them out.

  He didn’t know how long went past before a notification rang out in his ears.

  ==========

  You have learned the spell: Heal Bone. Your spell book has been updated.

  ==========

  ==========

  Heal Bone

  ==========

  Novice

  ==========

  Fuse bone together as if it was never broken.

  ==========

  Consumption of Mana based on area and effect.

  ==========

  ==========

  For teaching yourself a Novice ranked spell, you gain: 5,000 EXP

  ==========

  ==========

  61,534/195,000 EXP till you reach Level 16

  ==========

  ==========

  Skill: Healer

  ==========

  Level: 48 (Apprentice)

  ==========

  You have become familiar with the body and the arts of repairing it. Healing spells now cost 5% less Mana.

  ==========

  “Learning a spell increases Experience and it increases the correlating skill—me likey,” Erik said.

  Excited by his new find, Erik focused on what he had learned, and once again started to alter the direction component of the spell.

  As he’d done it once before, it was much easier for him to repeat the process. It wasn’t long until he had two new screens in front of him.

  ==========

  Heal Scars

  ==========

  Novice

  ==========

  Remove scar tissue and replace with healthy tissue.

  ==========

  Consumption of Mana based on area and effect.

  ==========

  ==========

  Heal Muscle

  ==========

  Novice

  ==========

  Repair muscle with ease.

  ==========

  Consumption of Mana based on area and effect.

  ==========

  ==========

  For teaching yourself 2 Novice ranked spells, you gain: 10,000 EXP

  ==========

  ==========

  71,534/195,000 EXP till you reach Level 16

  ==========

  There was a knock at the door. Not wanting to wake Rugrat, Erik moved to the door and opened it. “Come on in. I think we’re almost ready.” Erik moved into the room.

  Quinn opened his mouth to talk and then looked at the bloody cloth, Rugrat’s still open arm, and the tools that were beside him.

  And the fact that he was snoring loudly.

  Erik followed his gaze. “Rugrat!”

  “I’m awake! What’s happening!” Rugrat started to get up.

  “Sit down, you idiot. Your arm’s open still.” Erik called up his Heal Bone spell. The bone formed tens of times faster than before as he altered the spells. Now that each of them were fully concentrated, they were much faster and cost less Mana.

  Rugrat blinked as his arm sealed up. “Damn, I was dreaming about Baywatch,” Rugrat complained.

  “Mhmm.” Erik doused the different tools in alcohol and started to clean them.

  “I need to find a woman, you know, like one who’ll be there in the good times and bad,” Rugrat started.

  “Not this again. And we’ve got work to do,” Erik said.

  “Huh?” Rugrat looked over and saw Quinn. He turned to Erik again. “We good?”

  “Yeah. I even got a few spells, gained some Experience for learning them,” Erik said.

  “Oh come on, how did you do that?” Rugrat asked in a low voice.

  “Practice,” Erik said. “We good to head over now? Has everything been collected?” Erik asked.

  “Yeah,” Quinn said, recovering slightly.

  “Good.” Erik moved for the door. He glanced out of the window. The morning was starting to be revealed.

  Chapter: Four Coppers

  The room had been changed, with two tables being set out.

  Rugrat pulled out tools and the IV stand. As he checked over the different potions and solutions on the side, a man came forward, discussing what they were.

  Lord Chonglu brought his son Feng first. The boy was pale and weak-looking, not much left but the bones on his body. Lord Chonglu placed the boy down on the table.

  “I’m going to have to remove the infected bone. It won’t be pretty, so it might be best if you leave the room.” Erik held Lord Chonglu’s gaze.

  “Do what needs to be done.” Chonglu bit out his words.

  Erik nodded and pulled out a marker. Using his Simple Organic Scan, he was able to find the infected marrow. He circled these areas, checking them a few more times before he turned to Rugrat.

  “We’ve got a mix of powders, healing and Stamina recovery. I’ve found two that can be mixed together in water to create a solution—run an IV bag filled with it?” Rugrat asked.

  “Sounds good to me,” Erik said. With the assistance of the solution, it should help to reduce the strain on the two twin’s bodies, allowing him to violently cut away the infection.

  Rugrat moved to Feng’s arm. He put gloves on and cleaned himself up, even pulling on a frock before he put the IV into the boy’s arm.

  Erik finished marking the boy’s body and looked over the tools. Finally, he moved to the boy’s feet. He quickly checked the marked location before applying tourniquets above the marks, tightening them to cut off circulation.

  With quick and precise movements, Rugrat inserted the IV needle into the boy’s upper arm. It was hard to find a good vein on the boy’s withered skin.

  With gloves on, Erik put Wraith’s Touch around the line on the boy’s leg.

  Rugrat helped him put on a clean frock and his sanitized ballistic eyewear.

  Erik and Rugrat held their hands up, ready. They looked at the boy on the table. He was skinny and emancipated; even unconscious, his features seemed to be in pain.

  “Let’s begin. Saw.” Erik held out his hand to Rugrat.

  “Saw.” Rugrat gave him the saw Lord Chonglu had acquired and had been disinfected.

  The infection was so bad in the foot it would be hard to just remove the infected sections of bones. Erik started sawing through the boy’s lower leg, just above the ankle.

  It didn’t take long for him to remove the foot. He passed the saw back and Rugrat started to clean it as Erik was already using Focused Heal on the boy’s foot while releasing the tourniquet.

  The boy’s foot grew back, small and disproportionate, as if a babe’s as it was rebuilding it all at the same time. Erik used Focused Heal instead of the smaller spells; healing with the smaller spells, he would have to build layer by layer. Without the other layers then the bones would grow, but then fall apart as they didn’t have tendons, muscle, or skin holding them in place.

  The foot grew bigger, until it was the same size as the foot that had been removed.

  “Stable. All good.” Rugrat monitored everything with his Simple Organic Scan.

  “Good.” Erik took a few breaths and moved to the other foot that was also badly infected and repeated the procedure.

  Then he moved to Feng’s ribs. Applying Wraith’s Touch, he opened up the boy’s side and cut out the infected ribs. He repaired them with Heal Bone and the subsequent layers with different spells. The
skin didn’t show any signs of being cut open at all.

  ***

  Chonglu watched everything, ready to destroy Erik and Rugrat in a moment. After Erik removed Feng’s first foot, he relaxed, his anxiousness replaced with shock.

  This healing ability—it’s not something that I have seen in the first two realms. Mira didn’t talk about anything like this either! Just how powerful are they to do all of this? Normal healers would fight the poisons and cleanse the body, but they’re simply removing the infection by lopping it off and then replacing the damaged areas.

  Even though his fingers were digging into his palms and drawing blood as he saw Feng being cut up, he wasn’t rash or stupid enough to stop them.

  Everyone in the room held their breath as the two men bent to their work, wholly absorbed in helping Feng.

  They worked together without any flaws or disruptions.

  Hope bloomed in Chonglu’s chest.

  “Switch to the Stamina-only drip,” Erik said.

  “Understood. Looks stable. Take a look.” Rugrat switched over the feed for the IV needle, allowing the pure, stronger Stamina solution flow into Feng’s veins instead of the mixed IV.

  Erik placed his hands on the boy’s body. He used a healing spell on him again. Erik had been holding back, only pouring in a small amount of Mana, but now the Mana in the room seemed to charge toward him and into Feng.

  Chonglu could even faintly feel that his control over Mana was reduced.

  “You save up your energy. I can do that,” Rugrat said.

  “Yeah—king.” Erik shook his head.

  Rugrat grinned and shrugged before he used the same healing spell.

  A chill passed through Chonglu as he felt the Mana in his body being pulled toward Rugrat slightly.

  “All right, let’s have a look at Felicity, shall we?” Erik looked to Chonglu as he washed his gloves with a bottle of powerful alcohol.

  Chonglu’s fears and anxiousness had been pushed away. He didn’t dare to waste time and quickly moved to bring Felicity over.