Chapter 52

  Seal Master Breaker

  Listen to your body. I guess that sounds like normal wisdom, but it apparently even applies to a world filled with magic and Skills.

  Earlier I had listened to my own body, when I felt that I was putting too much strain on my core by using multiple Healing attuned Skills and my one Earth Attuned Skill simultaneously. At the time, I just felt a slight cracking of my mana shell, but ultimately I stopped and while I did manage to evolve my Healing Skill to an enhanced version called Streamline Healing*, a Skill adaptation that I am still trying to fully understand, I know two things.

  First, the Skill is amazing at healing my body that had seemingly been set on fire by this liquid magma type Skill the Royal Seal Master was using on me. Magma that seemed to burn its way deep into me and forcefully opening up a new line of something. What the something was, I wasn’t entirely certain, other than I now had an extra line that was part of my status screen.

  Yes, somehow I had gotten up to six of these Seal Slots, with more coming. What exactly these Seal slots were for, I wasn’t entirely certain. I assumed they were some hybrid of enchanted tattoo, and system marker that gave both buffs and somehow your personal status and location to the government in some way. While I would be worried about this, normally, the fact that I was going to have a Seal placed upon me that I really didn’t want, unfortunately right now my mind was being pushed to its absolute limit by my Skill usage. Skills that I was now also using on the Royal Seal Master, the instrument of this whole disaster, and ultimately the person that is basically confirming the second major finding I have about my new Skill.

  The Second major finding being that this Skill has a numbing effect while it destroys older, but healthy cells, while reusing the components and replacing them with newer cells. Logically, this should hurt a lot. But there is no pain.

  A fact that I can almost see playing out on the face of the Royal Seal Master, for earlier he had been nearly exhausted and had even been slowing down. But now that he was aided by my superior version of my recently enhanced Streamline Healing* Skill, he was like a man possessed. Well, more possessed, as his bloodline ability forces his sclera to go pitch black, which is then further highlighted by the ice blue of his eyes.

  I can tell that his eyes are representing his two primary magical attributes, of what has to be metal for the shade of black being used, and water for the ice blue being used. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some form of demonic metal, the way his eyes look and the overall eerie vibe I am getting from him.

  “A perfect form,” the Royal Seal Master gasped out, as sweat pooled on his head. Seeing it, I almost tried to use Trash to remove it, but I decided against it, particularly with the strain using two different types of attuned Skills on him almost caused severe injuries. I assume this might be a process to get stronger later on, as there is no doubt that this Seal Master has shattered himself multiple times before to be this proficient while wielding two distinct magical affinities. But I am not there, and right now I need as much of my attention on him, to make sure he doesn’t pass out. For even with my assistance he is already pushing his old body to its limits. He too is using not one, but two different Mana Circulation Skills, I assume for both Metal and Water mana regeneration. On top of his other Skills and Bloodline abilities.

  His body is on fumes, or rather it would be on fumes, if I was not in the process of healing him and replacing his older cells with newer and healthier versions.

  “You should stop,” Madame Bloom shouted, her voice nearly panicking as she stared at the two of us. Hearing her, I paused. Only to see that she was staring intently at the Seal Master.

  “Don’t worry, she is perfectly healthy, which is why I am able to push her to this perfected form,” the Seal Master bellows, his voice now taking on the same mad professor look that he has been exuding throughout this process.

  “It’s not her, it is you. You are pushing yourself too far,” Madame Bloom cried out.

  “Nonsense, I have never felt better, in all my life,” the Seal Master cried out, “I just need to push a bit more.”

  Hearing the mad scientist spout his nonsense I look on in horror, momentarily forgetting to heal him, which realistically shouldn’t matter too much as he has a lot of my healing Mana still active inside him. But it is at this point that I realize that the numbing effect might be very short lived, and only applicable while the Skill is active for the next second he twitched.

  Pop.

  Like an old man who sneezed wrong and threw out his back, he began crumpling in on himself. I go to him, but I swear I can almost hear the faintest sound of fine crystal shattering in the darkness. No, hear isn’t the right word, but feel. That’s it, I can feel a faint layer of crystal shattering within the Seal Master.

  Then almost immediately afterwards, the Seal Master collapses clutching at his back, and crying out in pain. “Gah, ah, ahhh!”

  Reaching out, I grab him and instantly start healing him again, but there is nothing really wrong with him. Yes, he is tired, but that isn’t enough to cause the damage and excruciating pain he is now in. I look around frantically, as I can’t understand what is happening.

  Worse, he appears to be leaking, as blue and black plumes of mana seem to be escaping from his body.

  “He’s shattered his core!” Madame Bloom cries out, instantly everyone panics, but rather than coming forward, there seems to be a complete breakdown of decorum.

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  “Everyone get out!” Sal cried out, seeing the crumpled form of the Seal Master on the ground. Then turning to a few others that had been standing behind me, he gives out more orders, “open the curtains, and the windows, get as much air in here as possible.”

  “Should I—” I begin to ask, as I try to get up.

  “No!” Everyone shouted at me, their voices clearly filled with panic.

  “Stabilize the patient, and don’t move,” Madame Bloom’s words called out. At that, I just looked down and began focusing on the Seal Master.

  Wheeze!

  The Seal Master’s face had gone completely red, as he was clearly having a harder time breathing for whatever reason. I kept pumping Mana into him, but it wasn’t enough as all it seemed to do was heal him up slowly, only to have my progress removed each time I had to breathe and restart the Healing process.

  Scuffle, squeak.

  All around me the sound of dozens of feet all moving around me in what could only be described as panicked chaos.

  Finally, after a few moments of everything going quiet, I looked around, only to see Sal, Madame Bloom, Markan, Mr. Yi, the useless Seal Master who was now clutching at his chest, everyone else had been evacuated or were busy opening windows, and curtains.

  On the bright side the creepy princeling had apparently been among the first to leave, along with his bodyguards.

  There is of course one thing, the fact that everyone not possessing the title of Royal Seal Master is a good ten or more feet away from me.

  “Okay, so you are likely a little confused right now,” Madame Bloom begins, her voice trying to be calm, but there is a clear undertone of concern in her voice.

  “Really, you don’t say, seems like a typical Friday night from where I’m sitting,” I hiss out, trying to remain calm, but I can’t get over the current fact that everyone is seemingly afraid of something. Which only concerns me twice as much, as I don’t know why everyone is so frightened.

  “Okay, that’s valid,” Madame Bloom began. “What we have is a possible powder keg situation on our hands.”

  “A powder keg?” I hiss back, still focusing on healing but suddenly a lot more concerned about what is going to happen.

  “Yes, it is a barrel filled with a black substance that is highly flammable and prone to—”

  “I know what a powder keg is!” I state, keeping my voice low but still terse enough to make it clear this is not the time to explain idioms.

  “Oh, right, well. In this case, Master Carthwright here has fully shattered his core,” Madame Bloom begins, “you can tell by the highly potent and condensed streams of combustible Mana now rising in the air.”

  “Yess,” I hiss out, making it clear that I am aware of these parts so far.

  “Okay, well again. The emphasis is on the highly flammable part of that statement. Which normally isn’t a problem, except for the fact that Master Carthwright has a number of synergizing seals that will attempt to reach out and connect to the hub.”

  I almost say the hub, but quickly stop myself figuring I’d get a lecture about spokes coming together to form wheels. As such I just nod, realizing that these seals likely connect outwards.

  Only after I think about it, do I realize that this connection event is likely what allows the government to track everyone who gets a seal from this person. For a moment, for a brief moment, I momentarily wonder if our getting rid of this guy would solve all future tracking issues. Then I instantly dismiss that thought, as that would be ethically unsound.

  My mind goes over this, as I see the two thick fields of mana constantly rising into the air, as this Mr. Carthwright guy breathes generating the mana and then releases the mana. I can tell that there is some tie here, some deeper connection that I as a healer should note, that mana is directly tied to life. That the inability to retain mana is almost as dangerous as a fatal wound, good to know. Sucks that I have to learn that fact this way, but it is important for my overall survivability in this world. Then I find my own questions.

  “Why can’t I leave?” I ask, possibly the most important question, in my humble opinion.

  “If you leave Mr. Carthwright dies, and then—” Madame Bloom began, but soon had her words cut off. Which is when Sal cut in.

  “Then when he dies, he will have a death rattle, where his body will release a spark of life, or as many call it the flame of revenge, which will ignite all the loose floating mana in here and cause all non-life Mana to burn into a fireball,” Sal continued.

  Hearing that last part, my ears perk up and I ask, “Life mana is fine?”

  “Yes, don’t worry, your excess Life and in particular Healing Mana is non-flammable, but you will still have to worry about all of the mana you were just exposed to,” Sal presses.

  Again, my mind goes wild, with thoughts of survival. “What if I just coat us with Life Mana?”

  “Then you will just insulate the flammable mana next to your skin making an even more violent explosion when and if it catches,” Markan added.

  On that pleasant note about causing myself to burn like a pig in a blanket, I decide to leave it up to the pros.

  “Okay, so what can we do?” I ask.

  “You can stay with him, and wait until his core heals enough to seal away his mana, at which time we will just need to wait for the mana to dissipate,” Markan offers.

  “Okay, how long will that take?” I press.

  “About an hour or so for the healing, and likely another two hours for the last of the combustible mana to dissipate,” Markan stated.

  Hearing that, I then pause to make sure I didn’t miss one important note, “all while his Seals could reach out with an electrical impulse that would ignite all the mana as well?”

  “Yes, watch out for the Seals too,” Markan noted.

  “The rest of you can go,” Madame Bloom noted.

  “You sure?” Mousey asked, his voice suddenly composed and filled with as much concern as I was trying to hold back.

  “Yes,” Sal agreed.

  “Actually, you can all go, better to get to safety. I’ll stay here with the patient,” I added, trying to remain as calm as possible.

  “No, you can’t, the rest of you can go, but I will stay with my Apprentice,” Madame Bloom began. Hearing her voice, one of the few honestly good people in this world willing to sacrifice herself with me, my heart slightly melted. That was why I couldn’t let her stay behind and perish due to my own negligence, this world would be slightly darker without her in it.

  “No, trust me, I’ve got this, the rest of you can go. Air out a bit, but I’ve got this,” I reply.

  Pulse-wheeze!

  As I speak, I am doing mental calculations on Fibonacci sequences, having started and stopped multiple times because I can’t keep the conversion ratios correct in my mind.

  “No, we couldn’t possibly,” Luna calls out from beside Mousey. Looking up, I see that all three of them, Mousey, Lucia, and Luna are all back. Apparently, they were part of the detail that had gone around opening the windows and curtains getting us as much open air as possible.

  Realizing they are not going to leave unless I get mean, I push. Making sure to use my nurse voice.

  “Yes you all are, you are distracting me, and I can’t care for my patient properly with you all throwing off my sequences,” I hiss.

  At that, Mr. Yi is the first to relent, “very well, but you better come back to finish your training.”

  Markan paused, but then just nodded and added, “what he said.”

  Sal looked at me, at the Seal Master who was undoubtedly under what this world’s version of liability would entail. Then at the three kids who all looked lost.

  “Come on,” Sal stated and then began leaving, only turning around after a few steps to see that the others were following.

  “Do you need anything?” Luna asked, a note of concern in her voice. Seeing her standing in front of the long table that had somehow managed to remain unmolested even after the sudden dispersal of royalty, guards, and fighters I get an idea.

  “Actually, can you throw me a sandwich before you go?” I ask.

  They look confused, before I pull up my free right hand to point at the table.

  “Oh,” Mousey begins and goes over to grab a sandwich. Not wanting to get too close to the apparent field of combustible and highly saturated mana, he just looks at me with confusion for a moment.

  I just hold my hand out in an I’ll catch it motion. He instantly realizes the context and throws the sandwich underhanded at me.

  It is at this moment that I realize Mousey never played catch in the back yard as his toss sails past me and ends up landing near the gently fleeing Markan.

  I just glower at him, clearly unimpressed. To his credit he goes to get another sandwich, but fortunately Luna has a bit more intelligence to her as she pushes Mousey out of the way. Then taking a nice plate from the table, she places two sandwich halves on the plate, and proceeds to slide the plate towards me.

  Scr-wobble.

  It slides and gives a slight echoing screech before landing right next to me.

  “Thank you,” I let out, reaching down with my right hand and easily able to get the first half of the sandwich. With that the trio all leave, being beckoned again by an increasingly agitated Sal.

  With that it is just my Master that is in what I would assume to be the immediate blast area.

  “You sure you will be okay?” Madame Bloom asks, a note of concern in her voice.

  “Mmf-hmm,” I reply already scarfing down the first sandwich. I can tell that there is likely a string of either meat or lettuce on my face, but I don’t care, it is food and I am starving.

  “Right, I’ll be just outside,” Madame Bloom offered, and then going to a side tunnel she had Markan and Mr. Yi move a large metal stand in the way, apparently preparing to brace for impact.

  “Gosh, stop, your belief in my abilities is too much,” I muse out.

  Wheezing chuckle.

  At my words, the Seal Master, this Carthwright guy, starts laughing a pain filled gurgle. This brings me back to my past life where I had several personal rules for myself, particularly while working in the ICU. Always talk to the patients, even when they are on death’s door.

  “Stop that, but seriously you can’t die,” I begin talking to the man, “at least not until I finish my second sandwich.”

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