Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 37B2 .2

She kept staring at him, repeatedly asking what he was doing and if he was okay, even though he had already healed his broken hand with a single use of [Greater Restoration].

After using [Greater Restoration] a few times, David had gained greater control over the Skill Rune. He didn’t require as much Blood to heal himself and others. The Skill Rune was stronger than [Restore], after all. However, he struggled to tone down the Skill Rune to use only as much Blood as required to heal his body. Where [Restore] had to be overclocked until the Skill Rune couldn’t absorb more Blood, [Greater Restoration] required neither.

The sudden shift from overclocking most of his Skills to infusing just the right amount of Blood was a challenge, albeit not an unwelcome one.

Afraid? He chuckled inwardly. It hadn’t been his intention to scare them, but he wasn’t sorry about it either.

He smiled at the dwarves, wiped the blood from his mended hand, and paid them in full. They shuddered, their life signals telling David everything he needed to know as he stored the ores away.

He smiled at Maja and focused on his spatial storage as the new weight pressed down on the defective Artifact. The drastic increase in his necklace’s weight altered the Blood consumption more than expected, but that was hardly an issue. He created a droplet of Blood assimilated with his Source-produced Origin Essence and filled the necklace’s reservoir to the brim.

They left the Sanctuary with empty wallets. Maja materialized a portal and brought them back to her house.

“These dwarves really don’t like you,” she muttered. “They took advantage of you, didn’t they?”

David shrugged, and Maja scoffed at him. “So, what are these ores good for? Are they secretly some sort of super valuable materials needed for something grand?”

“Your imagination is running wild.” He chuckled.

“Unfortunately, the ores are nothing like that. Not that I know of, at least.”

He caught Maja staring at him and smiled. “How about you teleport us outside Ashville? I’ll show you what the ores are good for.”

She grabbed his shoulder and teleported them outside town. Once they arrived in the open plains, David watched her take a few deep breaths.

As expected, she struggled to teleport him now that his necklace was weighed down with heavy stones.

“There you go. Now, use them.”

Maja didn’t move at first. She stared at him, probably processing what she’d just heard.

“Huh? What am I supposed to do with these stones?” She tapped one of the car-sized rocks and tried pushing it with little success.

“I want you to make full use of your abilities.” David pointed at the stones. “I want you to learn how to fight using portals.”

Portals ignored the weight and number of objects sent through them. He took that information into consideration while thinking of ways Maja could use Portaligist offensively. Squashing enemies with heavy rocks was one way to do it.

He walked across the flourishing grass field and used Rend, carving large crosses and numbers into the ground.

“I want you to attack the ‘enemy’ with your portals. If you want to test your new skills, you can use them as well, but I won’t make it easy for you,” David said, casting [Blood Blast]. He whispered a few Words of Power and willed the bloody projectile to fly through the surroundings. The projectile swept over the marked sections, following a beautiful route. However, it slowed at times and accelerated at others. Suddenly, its trajectory shifted.

Following the projectile was fairly simple for David. But the random movements would make it hard to squash or destroy.

“I will call out the marks. If I say ‘cross,’ you have to squash the projectile with one of the heavy stones. On the other hand, when I mention one of the numbers, you can either squash the projectile or hit it with [Spatial Fissure] or one of your other abilities. Regardless, I don’t want you to hit the projectiles at random times. When I say ‘cross,’ you can only destroy the projectile when it hovers above one of the crosses. The same applies to the numbers. Do you understand?” David asked, frowning when he saw Maja’s pale face.

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“It’s simple. Use your portals to squash the projectiles in time. I want to help you improve your timing, spatial awareness, and so forth. I think your Mind and Soul stats are not bad. You can do it.”

He gave it a try without a second thought. The bloody projectiles moved accordingly, changing speed and trajectory at times. He heard Maja breathing in the utter silence that filled the surroundings as several silent seconds passed until he shouted, “Cross!”

Maja responded faster than expected. She materialized a portal beneath one of the rocks in time, but the exit portal appeared too late—and too high—above the nearest cross mark. The rock disappeared into one portal and emerged from the other, crashing to the ground. It missed the projectile by a heartbeat.

“Nice try. Again!”

He studied her intently as he ushered “cross” again. She created both sides of the portal simultaneously but struggled to throw the massive stone through it. She failed again. This time, the distance to the enemy was further than before.

“Keep going,” David said calmly as the projectile passed the next cross mark. It neared the number three mark as he exclaimed, “Three.”

Maja tried and failed again.

“Cross.”

And again.

“Two.”

…

“One.”

“Cross.”

“Cross.”

After several attempts, Maja created the portals early. She was drenched in sweat but smiled, seemingly confident she’d squash the projectile. But the “enemy” saw the portal and changed its trajectory.

Maja cursed quietly, but David ignored her. Any enemy would respond to imminent death in a certain way. Most would try to evade a life-threatening attack if possible. Others wouldn’t even know what was happening. Ordinary undead were the best example. Maja shouldn’t have any issues killing undead en masse—except for Death Knights and Liches with a bit of intelligence. However, her current “enemy” was better than the average undead.

“You failed to hit the enemy in time,” David remarked calmly as the projectile accelerated. It appeared before her face and came to a sudden halt before bursting apart.

Maja screamed and retreated quickly, only to trip over her own feet. She fell to the ground, gasping for air.

“The enemy has killed you. You’re dead,” he added coldly, looking at the unscathed woman.

Maja’s head jerked up, and she looked at him with wide eyes. “You…”

“I?” David smirked.

“I’m not done yet!” Maja exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “Again!”

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The corner of his lips curled into a wide smile. It appeared his plan worked out even better than expected. She stared at him in defiance.

David moved the blood projectile again and issued commands, forcing Maja to respond in a timely manner. Simultaneously, he filled the Blood Storages. Before he obtained them, he’d been certain the Blood Storage wouldn’t be able to hold more than ten droplets. However, even as each of the three storages contained ten droplets, they weren’t full. They were not even close to full.

Giving her the Bloodstones was a good call. She compressed them neatly and improved them too, David thought, making a mental note of the artifacts’ power and potency.

Training with Maja continued for a while, but it ended suddenly when she lost consciousness. She hit her enemy only once—with [Spatial Fissure], at that. But while David expected Maja to be frustrated and unwilling to keep going, she surprised him with the opposite. Maja was fuming, but her anger seemed to fuel her.

Her reaction speed had improved drastically since training began. And while she had yet to squash the bloody projectiles, David was certain that would change in the following days. Within a few weeks, she would be a terrifying sight to behold, he thought.

Imagining Maja throwing massive stones at enemies of all sizes was pleasant, as long as he wasn’t the target. After all, he wouldn’t want to get squashed by a car-sized rock that weighed several tons—let alone the truck-sized versions that shook the ground, scarring it upon impact.

He snickered, walked up to Maja, and picked her up. David carried her home, casting [Greater Restoration] on her head, hoping it would soothe the strain on her mind. Maja stirred awake, but he didn’t stop carrying her.

“You should wash up and rest. Training will continue tomorrow,” he told her, putting Maja down before turning around.

“Where are you going?” Her voice rang in his ears as he stepped onto the street.

He was not in a rush, but the Blood Storages were taking too long. Growing impatient with their slow progress, David decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I’m going to hunt.”