Damned Healer-Chapter 87: Very Close

Harper, being the oldest, took charge in Leander's absence.

"The mental artifact is classic training, used by all the strongest clans," she explained to Darian. "It puts us in a world inside our own minds, where we can use our imagination to think and come up with new ways to use our blessings. Inside that world, you can still manipulate your ring power and blessing to run tests."

"There's a time limit, though, because staying in your mind too long leaves you totally drained. That's why we only go for two hours and then do some group training after. So really, Leander being gone doesn't change anything."

Darian nodded, understanding.

Everyone sat down in the center of a training platform. Harper brought out a small, round, purple object. When she activated it, a strong violet light covered everyone there.

Immediately, Darian found himself in a dark world.

It felt like his soul had entered a completely different space. But since everyone's power was tied to their soul, he could still use everything easily.

The difference was, back in the Divine Protection Universe, as a Spiritual Guardian bound to a summoner, he could only use one-third of his power. Now, in his real body, he could use everything at full capacity.

'I managed to do some weird stuff with my power in that universe. It was all instinct—I didn't even know I could do that. Maybe now, with my full strength...'

Darian remembered the moment Niara absorbed his white and black power.

That mental world reacted like he wanted to see her. Right away, a subtle distortion occurred, and a figure appeared in front of him.

It was an exact copy of Niara.

They stood face to face...

'Will I ever be able to talk to her in my real body?' Strangely, that was the first thing that crossed his mind.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he focused...

Then, his rings vibrated, releasing a bit of power.

First, he activated the white power, trying to recreate the feeling from before. When Niara absorbed his power, he had just poured out everything he had and felt it gathering inside her, in a mark on her forehead.

Inside that world, his power started to condense in front of him, fusing and becoming denser.

This time, Darian could clearly feel the flow of his power. Before, when he could only use a third of his strength, it had been much harder.

Totally focused, he tried to recreate what he'd done with his partner. Seconds later, all the white power disappeared.

Only a small, pulsing white rune was left floating in front of him.

He watched it, deep in thought, then nodded. The rune moved toward the 'Niara' and disappeared into her.

Then, her scales changed, and she completely transformed.

It was just an illusion based on his memories, but Darian felt like he understood a bit more about his true abilities now. Soon, a new idea lit up his eyes.

Darian focused again, now with his black power. A little while later, a pulsing black rune appeared. He felt the whole process and repeated it again and again until he was sure he could replicate it in the real world.

The two hours passed before he even noticed.

Suddenly, the dark world vanished and he opened his eyes, waking up in his body.

Everyone else was unfazed. They did this training almost every day, and most of the time their ideas didn't lead to anything new. But it was like climbing a mountain step by step. Eventually, when they least expected it, they'd manage to use something they imagined during the training.

Normally, everyone who was at an advanced level and added new layers to their blessings had created those changes in this training first. That's why it was so important. The strongest High Humans always did it regularly.

Back in the real world, Darian was the only one who moved. He raised his hand and activated his white power in a controlled way.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Slowly, a white light gathered in one spot, then a pulsing white rune appeared.

'Niara fused with this, even though I didn't know how to do it... probably because our souls were linked by the contract. I think she really wanted to fight, her will passed through to me, and my power moved into her on instinct. But... what are its real capabilities?'

Darian thought through different possibilities in his mind. Then, he looked at the others in his group.

His red eyes glowed as he activated his curse. Their karma auras became visible.

Veyle and Leander had a more grayish tone to their auras, just like Lucy and Lucius. The others, though, had a regular dark aura—not as thick or intense.

Maybe if he put the white rune on allies, he could heal them from a distance? That seemed plausible. Darian just pictured the white rune landing on them, but right away, he got a bad feeling.

'That's not it.' He was sure. 'What if it connects to their karma? Maybe Rhea, since she has pure white karma, could handle it? But Niara... maybe she's special because she's my Summoner, and her powerful bloodline helped out.'

There were more questions than answers... as usual.

But if that was really the case, there was a safe way to confirm it. He just needed to create a black rune and use it on a truly hateful enemy—maybe the results would help clarify what the white one was really meant to do.

Darian gave a small nod, and the white rune quickly returned to his body, disappearing.

"You made a breakthrough in your blessing?" Harper asked casually.

Darian nodded. "Not sure yet, but I think I'm close."

Everyone sighed. This support never stopped surprising them.

"Alright, let's move to battle training then. But first, you need to know everyone's blessings." Harper said, then started explaining hers.

She was a close-combat type, and her blessing was called *Sonic Blade*. Since she only had two rings, she was still considered a beginner, with limited capabilities. From three rings on, blessings really started to become powerful.

Basically, her blade vibrated at ultra-high frequencies, letting her send out attacks that spread through the air the same way sound waves do.

Her slashes were insanely fast and deadly, able to cut through regular physical defenses like they were nothing. The catch was that using this ability demanded extreme control—and it ate up a crazy amount of energy.

That's why she only used the technique when face-to-face with an enemy—she couldn't keep it up for more than three seconds without completely draining herself.

Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to use it in their last fight. The moment she tried to get close enough to activate it, she was captured by the enemy—who already knew what she was capable of. If she had tried earlier, the guy probably would've just burned through some defensive artifacts, making it pointless and draining her for nothing.

Matteo spoke next.

His blessing was *Vampiric Fangs*. A simple and straight-up power: every time he landed a hit in close combat, his blessing kicked in and healed his wounds proportionally.

As a tank, he could stay on the frontlines pretty much indefinitely. As long as he wasn't taken out instantly and could keep dealing damage, he was almost unkillable.

Still, to really make it work, Matteo needed the right gear and a lot of skill. He had to constantly train to maximize his damage and avoid fatal blows.

In the hands of someone dedicated—and with a solid team backing him up—he could turn into a terrifying force on the battlefield.

Veyle went last. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Her blessing was called *Magic Mist*. Basically, she could create a mass of fog, and its size depended on her will—the bigger the range, the more energy it drained.

If she focused all her fog on a single target and managed to trap them inside, they couldn't get out on their own. That stuff would invade their body in seconds. As long as Veyle was protected and could maintain her focus, she could use the mist to take someone out fast.

But if outside forces could mess with the trapped target—like that artifact that shares power—then her blessing's effectiveness dropped a lot. That's why Veyle really relied on allies to make sure her technique wouldn't get shut down.

Even so, in a one-on-one, if she managed to trap the enemy, the win was practically guaranteed.

Besides using it offensively, she could also just flood a large area with mist. She was a mage, and her blessing was made for attacking, but it still had tactical value. Inside that fog, for example, Raon could activate his blessing and become even scarier.

Right after Veyle finished, Leander came back.

Everyone turned to him as he gave a quick nod, looking fired up.

"That bastard really wanted to stir up trouble. Luckily, a bunch of allies from other clans showed up to help us. That Roan guy has no self-control. He caused so much chaos, everyone was practically cheering when things went wrong for him. We were within the rules, so all they could do was pay up."

The three of them clenched their fists, excited.

"I wish I had a camera to record Freon's face when he had to hand over all five of those cards. Then he paid another hundred million on top of that. And when he gave the egg back, his face turned purple," Leander said, laughing a little.

Everyone let out a breath of relief. Freon wasn't dumb enough to destroy or damage the egg. He knew the Empire was ruthless with people who tried shady moves or broke the rules.

If he had done something that dirty, everyone who hated Roan—and even people who hated his clan—would've united to demand justice from the Empire. He'd be made an example of, just to prove no one was above the law, and to stop any future rebellions before they even started.

Sure, he had a lot of connections that might lessen the blow a bit. But the losses and headaches would be massive—and all that for just one egg that would hatch into a slightly above-average beast?

Still, you can't measure a lunatic with common sense... which was why everyone was itching to get the egg back quickly.

"My mom took the egg to get it examined by the Empire's top support specialist. That way, we'll be sure everything's fine," Leander added, trying to ease their worries.

He walked over to the group. Then his expression shifted a bit...

"There's something else... something weird is going on," he murmured, and everyone got serious. "There's a big movement happening in the Imperial Capital. I saw tons of important people from all the clans gathering there. My mom and brother are digging for info... but... it looks like something really big is coming."