Second Realm

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Second Realm Page 40

by Michael Chatfield


  It was becoming harder and harder for Fairy Luo to leave and then try to gain access to her grandfather.

  According to the third elder, it seemed as if the clan had already decided that she would marry Young Master Hong, who was to become the next clan leader.

  She had done a lot to go up against the third elder and his son.

  If this person that Hiao Xen treated as an elder wasn’t able to heal her grandfather, it would be a big blow to her reputation. Making it harder for her to do anything within Taeman or the Luo family estate.

  “So, this is someone who wants to attempt to heal Father?” her mother asked as she walked over to them before the final door.

  “Yes.” Fairy Luo bit her lips.

  “I’m Erik. I don’t know what he’s got but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

  Fairy Luo closed her eyes for a few moments.

  “Oh, Erik, I haven’t heard of you before.” Her mother looked at Erik with a curious expression.

  “Oh, I just came to Taeman city today,” Erik said.

  A spell fell over Erik.

  His expression darkened as the Mana fluctuated around him. “Don’t fucking test me, lady. I’ve been fucked around with enough today.”

  “Master West is someone Hiao Xen recommended,” Fairy Luo said.

  Her mother seemed to weigh her words before she bowed to Erik. “I am sorry for being so rude,” she said. “I will take you to see my father.”

  He nodded, seemingly unaffected by their actions.

  He might look ridiculous and he was crass, but there was a hidden darkness to him, a depth that, if touched upon, changed him. He was like those warriors who had seen constant battles, numb to the world.

  For his carefree attitude to melt away to reveal this, Fairy Luo felt more and more that this was the true Erik when pushed too far.

  “You will have five minutes. You do anything that I don’t agree with and I’ll kill you,” she said as they reached the door.

  Erik shook his head and pushed the doors open. “You can try.” Erik marched into the room as the Experts protecting the forefather looked at him with expressions that could kill.

  “Once I’ve healed him, don’t forget your promise, Fairy Luo.” Erik’s voice made it clear that he had washed his hands of the Luo clan. The only thing that held him was their deal.

  Fairy Luo’s emotions were complicated. She hated this man for the words he said to her mother but appreciated the way he had talked back to the third elder and Hong.

  She didn’t know whether he would be able to heal her grandfather. If he did, she didn’t know her fate.

  On one side, her grandfather would be saved. On the other, she would have to serve this man.

  ***

  Erik spat out the ingredients into a cup before rinsing out his mouth with water.

  Once done, he continued forward toward the old man lying on the bed as guards hiding in the room moved closer.

  Erik took the man’s wrist and cast Simple Organic Scan to check his body. “Hmm, his organs all look okay. His breathing isn’t too easy.” Erik looked at the man, ignoring the others in the room.

  Mistress Luo still held her finger on her storage ring, ready to attack at any moment.

  Erik could find all of the symptoms: he was short of breath, he was in a coma, his Mana didn’t even seem to be moving—in fact, it seemed to be draining away.

  Erik’s forehead creased as he started to look through the old man’s Mana system. There’s the damage. Poison, by the looks of it.

  ***

  Master West stood there in thought for a number of minutes.

  Chiang Luo looked to her mother and then back to Master West. She wondered whether he was an Expert at all and she was prepared for his failure.

  Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked to her mother.

  “Mistress Luo, I have one question,” Erik asked. “When did it start smelling like rotten eggs?”

  Chiang Luo watched her mother’s expression stiffen and then crack.

  “How did you know it smells of eggs?” she asked.

  “You did well hiding the smell over with the incense, otherwise people would think that he has already died,” Erik said.

  “He has been poisoned, a poison that blocks acupoints across his body. The poison has now disappeared since it has done its work. He is older, over one hundred at least. His body relies on Mana and the Ten Realms to sustain itself. With the acupoints blocked, the Mana can’t flow through the channels easily and it’s circulating in a way that is harmful to his health.

  “His body has started to shut down because of the restrained Mana, causing him to slip into a coma. He is relying on his internal Mana right now, but at some point his Mana will run out and he will eventually die.”

  The others in the room had heard of these different things before, but all of them were looking at Mistress Luo, whose face had become paler and paler.

  “How did you know that he was drinking hot drinks?” she asked.

  “His body was feeling cold as the Mana in his body was no longer circulating or going in reverse, pulling the heat of his body away,” Erik said. “Without his Mana channels as a Mana Gathering cultivator, then the strength he had accrued in his body will be cut off from him.”

  He pulled out a box of needles and moved to the bed. “Don’t worry. You’ll be awake soon enough. You better get your daughter to apologize, old man! Your house doesn’t seem to have any manners.” Erik berated the unconscious man as he pulled out the needles from the box.

  Don’t you know that he isn’t able to wake up? Fairy Luo thought but didn’t say. This man didn’t bear any normal reasoning. Unconsciously, her icy demeanor had fallen away. This man was too eccentric for her to remain aloof.

  Erik pulled out a potion. Studying the old man, he jabbed the needles into the old man, one after another.

  ***

  When Erik had examined the forefather, he had been able to build an entire understanding of the man’s body and the acupoints.

  The Mana channels in one’s body were essentially a second cardiovascular system that moved Mana through the body and used the Mana gates as a mouth or nose to pull in more oxygen and expel impurities.

  It seems that the long life people hold is maintained by having Mana. If one screws up their acupoints, then it is as if they have lost years off their life. One has an increased life expectancy of a hundred and fifty years. This is if they are in perfect health. It is closer to a hundred years if someone doesn’t go into battle and looks after themselves. If one opens their Mana gates, or tempers their body and Mana channels, they can increase the time that they will live for. If their Mana system or body is already wounded, unless they heal these injuries then it will be impossible for them to reach the extra one hundred and fifty years.

  If nothing else, Erik saw this as a gain.

  The needles jabbed into the man’s skin and a pungent aroma was released.

  Erik merely wrinkled his nose. He’d smelled a lot worse before. His training as a medic stopped him from flinching as he continued to plant needles into the man’s acupoints.

  “Sorry about this,” Erik said to the unconscious man. He used his Medical Sight to see through the man’s body.

  There was so little Mana in the man’s body and most of the Mana gates that had been opened were stagnated. He had created weaknesses in the acupoints but he needed to flush them out with Mana, much like how one would clear out a gutter with a water hose.

  Mana flowed through Erik’s body and into a pin he had pulled out from his storage ring.

  He drove the pin into the man’s left kneecap.

  He traced out more of the Mana channels, finding the blocked acupoints and placing pin after pin into the blocked points.

  With the pure Mana inserted into the center of the blockages, it was starting to dissolve them from the inside.

  Erik moved to the old man’s he
ad. Holding the back of his head, he used Focused Heal, repairing the damage to the man’s Mana gate.

  He turned to the old injury in the man’s shoulder where bone shards were still located in his muscle. The wound had healed and with the Ten Realms supporting him, he had been fine. But now without that support to hold him up, the old wound was coming back to affect him.

  Erik used Wraith’s Touch. “I’m going to remove some bone parts that are inside of his shoulder.”

  The guards all tightened their grip on their weapons as Erik pulled on gloves and then set out a clean cloth with tools he would need on the old man’s chest.

  He took out a scalpel and cut the skin. He used tweezers to pull out the remaining fragments, putting them into a waiting cup.

  Once they were all removed, Erik used healing spells to close up the wounds.

  He checked on the pins that were across the man’s body.

  He took a breath before his hands darted forward and pulled out the pins rapidly. Suction noises came from the old man’s body as the blockages were cleared.

  The Mana rushed through the man’s body, clearing out the filth in his acupoints. The nasty smell only increased as black impurities came out of the old man’s skin. The clock seemed to be turned back and he grew younger at a visible rate.

  Those in the room looked at him in alarm. Great changes were happening to the forefather’s body but Erik paid them little attention, pulling out the pins from his body.

  This was a Master of healing!

  He was so composed when dealing with the injury that even the phenomena that stirred up Mana was simply uninteresting.

  If they knew that Erik was expecting something like this as he had gone through similar experiences when he opened a Mana gate, they would be jealous.

  To Erik, this wasn’t a rare event but rather a normal occurrence.

  The old man on the bed lurched upward, taking a deep breath.

  “Oi!” Erik pulled out a needle from the man’s neck. He shook his head, putting the pin away and sealing the box.

  He turned to Fairy Luo. “All done.”

  ***

  “Father!” Mistress Luo yelled out, moving to her father-in-law’s side as fast as possible. She made to hug him but pulled back at the smell.

  “Someone want to open the doors?” Erik said to the guards. “A bath might be needed as well.”

  Someone coughed as they opened the door as if they were nothing more than a doorman.

  Another used an attack technique to fan the pungent air out of the room and house.

  “Smells worse than Rossy on taco night,” Erik muttered under his breath but Fairy Luo had no time to think about that as she, too, was beside her grandfather.

  Her grandfather’s power surged back into him. The pale skin from before turned red with vitality. He seemed as if he had just woken up from a nap.

  Fairy Luo’s mind reeled. She held back tears as her grandfather looked at her with a doting expression.

  How is this possible? Fairy Luo’s mind was in chaos as she looked at the state of her grandfather.

  “To have a granddaughter like you, I am truly blessed,” he said.

  Hearing the voice she thought she might not ever hear again, she could only bow her head as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  He looked to his daughter-in-law, a look of reproach on his face. “Nina, I’m not so pleased with you. I believe you owe this young man an apology.”

  Fairy Luo looked up at her grandfather in confusion.

  “He could hear everything. He wasn’t unconscious; it was just he didn’t have the energy to do anything but lie there.” Erik yawned. “Been a long day…”

  “I must personally thank you.” Fairy Luo’s grandfather stood from his bed and, dropping to his knee in front of Erik, bowed his head. “You saved my life, the life of my daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. And I can feel one of my Mana gates that I thought I would never be able to open has loosened.” Her grandfather’s words were laced with powerful emotions.

  Each of them rocked Fairy Luo to the core. Is he someone who can open Mana gates?

  “That’s interesting. I was just trying to clear the blockages in your body.” Erik looked at her kneeling grandfather.

  “Of course. Get down here and greet the grandmaster!” Her grandfather’s voice was filled with an undeniable command as the guards in the room and all of those who had witnessed Erik’s actions swore an oath on the Ten Realms to not reveal anything about Erik and his actions. The light of the Ten Realms descended to confirm their oaths before disappearing.

  “Nina, apologize!” Her grandfather used her mother’s name.

  Mistress Luo’s face screwed up before she bowed down from where she was kneeling. “I am sorry for my actions. I have brought embarrassment upon myself for my quick judgments. I was wrong,” she said, as if every word hurt her.

  “Apologies cost nothing, but if they are sincere they are possible to stop greater conflicts from arising. Holding onto your pride makes you more of an idiot than accepting the truth,” Erik said.

  Her grandfather made a noise of agreement. “Well spoken.”

  To get this kind of praise, even seeing everything, Fairy Luo was finding it hard to connect the man who had entered the room with the one who stood before her.

  “Very well. Now, there was an agreement between Fairy Luo and me before all of this. If I can get the different items, then I will be on my way,” Erik said.

  Fairy Luo’s stomach had dropped with these words. Still, she was a woman of her word.

  She stood and moved toward Erik before once again sinking to her knees and bowing her head. “I am a woman of my word. As my grandfather is now healed, you may use me as you desire.” Her voice slightly trembled at the end of it.

  “Huh?” Erik said, clearly confused.

  “What?” her grandfather said, stunned as he stood.

  “Are you some kind of furniture? I’m talking about the concoctions. What are you talking about?” Erik asked.

  “I thought—” Fairy Luo started, staring up at Erik with a lost expression.

  “Your want to help your grandfather brought me, not the promise of your body. Though I will take those concoctions you were talking about. They sound like they could be some fun!” Erik said.

  Fairy lowered her head, her face turning bright red. “I will go and gather them!” She rushed off.

  ***

  “So, what’s your name? All I’ve been hearing is grandfather, forefather, clan leader, and all that,” Erik asked.

  “I am Kun Luo,” the old man said.

  “Nice to meet you. You should deal with your family affairs.”

  Kun Luo frowned. His power circulated in the air. “While I was unable to move, I wasn’t unable to listen. The more I heard, the more I think that the Luo family is not a family but rather a pack of wolves fighting one another.”

  With his expression and words, Erik didn’t think that things would be all that safe or peaceful in Taeman for much longer.

  “Guards, send the word to your trusted brethren who were not controlled by the other elders. They are to start gathering their families and the wealth of the family.” With a wave of his hand, a table appeared from his storage ring, with paper and a pen on it.

  Erik opened up his notifications.

  ==========

  Skill: Healer

  ==========

  Level: 43 (Apprentice)

  ==========

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

  ==========

  ==========

  274,540/355,000 EXP till you reach Level 20

  ==========

  Damn, that’s pretty high. I wonder how much Experience I would have gained if I was able to get Experience for healing myself and opening my Mana gates. Erik complained inside his head but there was nothing that he could
do. Based on his self-healing, he had come to understand his body in a great variety of ways.

  With this base knowledge, he was able to formulate ways to help others.

  Kun Luo quickly drafted a letter before pulling a guard to the side. “Take this to the Gu family head. Make sure that no one sees you leaving the estate and change into normal garb. If you are stopped, tell them...” The rest of the words were hidden from the others so not even Erik could listen in on it.

  He took out an apothecary mixture from his storage ring and drank some of the contents. He half closed one eye as he worked his jaw. His tongue stuck out as he tried to scrape the taste on his tongue off. “Ugh, God.” He spat in the cup even as he started to catalogue the different ingredients. “Like drinking hot sauce mouthwash with a charged car battery.”

  “Are you okay?” Mistress Luo said.

  “I’ll get back to you on that,” Erik said, getting control of his taste buds again. He pulled out some Wraith’s Touch salve and put it on his tongue directly.

  “Hah! That should work!” Erik continued to drink the different mixtures, swigging them down with a smile on his face.

  To others he looked crazy, smiling as he consumed everything from rubs to ease one’s muscles after a hard day’s work to poultices that sped up healing.

  The guards all moved out as Kun Luo turned to Erik, bowing once again.

  “I am sorry that my hospitality is lacking. Is there anything that I can do to make your wait easier? It shouldn’t be long until Chiang’er returns,” he said, using a term of endearment for his granddaughter.

  “I phould be gud.” Erik frowned and looked down at his traitorous tongue. “My ounges num! Phuuck!”

  Just my luck—get rid of the taste and my tongue is now useless. Come on! Erik shrugged. He could heal it but then he wouldn’t be able to get through the mixtures as fast.

 

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