Apocalypse Healer - Path of Death-Chapter 3B - Enlightened

The prehistoric Rift hadn’t changed much. Nature was still as abundant as the first time David and his friends had entered, but it was no longer untainted. Several paths leading away from the Rift had been created, making travel across the region easier.

While the paths were cobbled, they could not completely resist nature’s persistence. Moss, flowers, and various weeds worked their way through the stone, though the flourishing life around David suggested it would take years—likely decades—before the paths suffered any real harm.

“Did you coat the paths in something?” he asked Torb as they strode across the cobbled street, which seemed to subtly repel and kill the surrounding plant life. The effect wasn’t particularly strong, nor was its range extensive, but it was efficient enough.

“We’re using the excrement and corpses of Deatheater Worms to create a thick mass—the darkish-grey layer you see between the Aether-infused stones. The stones absorb ambient aether and contain it, which is then drained by Pestimoar—the thick mass—to keep the streets clean and intact,” Torb answered, avoiding eye contact.

That was interesting enough, but what surprised David more was that the prehistoric monsters didn’t bother them. Their roars and skirmishes rang in his ears, yet none of them approached as they walked through the dense forest.

But maybe that made sense. While the prehistoric Rift hadn’t changed much, David certainly had. He was stronger—more—than he used to be. Silver Rank monsters, prehistoric or not, were likely intelligent enough to sense that he was not to be trifled with. And even if they lacked such intelligence, a monster’s instincts ought to tell them the same.

David smiled at the thought. The monsters that had once been far too powerful to confront were now weaker than him. Much weaker.

He watched them clash in the distance, their life force revealing everything he needed to know: there was no monster stronger than him in the prehistoric Rift. At least, none he could currently detect.

Before long, the path split. David knew where to go, but he followed Torb in silence, his attention drifting toward the other trail—and what he had seen through Bloodthrone Dominion: the Rifts leading to the Giant Tribes.

“What are you doing with the Rifts? Will you keep using them to grow stronger, or are you planning to seal them again?”

Torb slowed and glanced back. David met the Prime Champion’s eyes, but their eye contact lasted only a moment. Torb looked... conflicted.

“We’re still unsure what to do about the Giants. Too many good Defenders died last time. The situation forced us to act quickly... to sacrifice good people in order to gain enough strength to deal with the Great Horde. But was it really worth it?” the dwarf sighed deeply. He turned away, and his short legs carried him faster along the path—away from the Rifts.

It was far from a satisfactory answer, but David decided not to push Torb with more questions.

Is he feeling guilty?

David shrugged and followed his friend, wondering whether he should do something about the Rifts leading to the Giant Tribes.

They finished the rest of the journey in silence and reached the structure guarding the Rift Core. Torb shouted something in the dwarven tongue, and the guards in the quaint fortress departed after a quick but loud exchange of words.

“Nobody will bother you for the next two days. After that, you’ll still be able to access the Rift Core, but you’ll have to share its Origin Essence with the Dwarven Sanctuary and the Rift’s inhabitants. Our Dweller Tamers won’t like the lack of Origin Essence for two days, but they’ll survive. As for the corpse situation, I hope you understand,” Torb explained upon returning—yet he still couldn’t meet David’s eyes.

“I don’t, but I was paid, so there’s that,” David shrugged. He might not need more currency slates now, but who knew when he would? Taking his spoils of war—especially the loot drops—was disrespectful. In fact, considering all he had done to protect the Dwarven Sanctuary, “disrespectful” felt like too mild a word.

But so be it. Fortress had compensated him with silver and gold slates. While that didn’t make up for what his kin had done, it made the offense more tolerable.

Torb winced, and his lips parted. He hesitated, several seconds of silence stretching between them.

“Thanks for… saving the Sanctuary,” Torb muttered after what felt like an eternity.

David nodded, but he was certain the Prime Champion wanted to say something else. It felt more like he wanted to say, “Thanks for doing what I was supposed to do,” judging by his body language and attitude.

He could have said something to Torb to console him, but there was no need. As Fortress’ Prime Champion, it had been his sacred mission to protect the Dwarven Sanctuary—yet he would have failed.

What would they have done if I hadn’t been there? David wondered.

Then again, I doubt Zachariah would have led the Sacred Beast to the Sanctuary if I hadn’t been there.

He doubted Zachariah would have sacrificed the dwarves, but there was no way to be certain. The Regressor was still a blank slate to him—impossible to read.

“No problem,” David responded, ignoring the look on Torb’s face. The dwarf wanted more, and his face distorted when it became clear that there wouldn’t be any encouraging words.

Torb’s shoulders slumped and his head drooped a little as he turned away to leave. “I… will be back in two days.”

David nodded and entered the quaint fortress. He approached the stone structure surrounding the Rift Core and passed through, settling right beside it.

Taking a deep breath, David focused on [Meditation]. He couldn’t see the particles of Origin Essence in the air, but it was easy to perceive them now that he was a generator of Origin Essence himself. They were everywhere, though smaller and less potent than he remembered.

“Am I that spoiled already?” he snickered, his smile cracking as he recalled his life before the integration.

I am spoiled. I’ve always been.

Stolen novel; please report.

Shaking his head, David dispersed the thoughts interrupting [Meditation]. He redoubled his efforts and absorbed the surrounding Origin Essence effortlessly. Once absorbed and annexed, David chose not to integrate it into his Source. He channeled the Origin Essence traces straight toward [Reinforce], aimed at strengthening his Energy Pathways rapidly with all the boons at his disposal.

Since his Energy Pathways had not been refined a lot, they could not provide the required service. Now that his Soul was at the Apex grade, he required a tremendous amount of natural Aether to produce Blood, and it would only worsen as his Source expanded. Every new Blood droplet would wreak havoc on his current system—more than the Blood Storages and Source already did.

While channeling Blood through his system using his Skills may have refined his Energy Pathways gradually, the effect was lackluster compared to what he needed.

Thus, while two days were not a lot, David hoped they would solve the problem. Being Enlightened might help him refine his Energy Pathways faster than usual after all—even more so when used with a potent energy like Origin Essence to boost the refinement process.

David started right away, using [Meditation] and [Reinforce] simultaneously, absorbing Origin Essence and the most potent traces of ambient Aether from the surroundings to supply [Reinforce] and strengthen the Energy Pathways.

His eyes shut tightly, he focused on the weave of energy as it passed through the network of Energy Pathways. He adjusted the stream of Origin Essence and split it once it became clear that the traces of energy were randomly meshed together. That didn’t seem right, urging David to separate them carefully without damaging the Essence.

Once all traces had been separated, David followed his gut feeling and intertwined two larger traces of Origin Essence, forming a helix as the traces pulled and pushed on each other naturally. Minuscule tendrils of Origin Essence tried to connect and form a stronger bond, strengthening one another, whereas other parts attempted to pull apart, remaining separate.

But while the natural reaction of Origin Essence was curious, David did not waste much time analyzing the traces’ antics. He studied them for a few minutes before continuing to reinforce his Energy Pathways.

The process accelerated considerably throughout the following hours, pushing his Energy Pathways to new heights, yet something did not seem right. While David could feel his understanding of [Reinforce] and his control of Origin Essence steadily increase under the influence of the Enlightened state, the Energy Pathways’ progress stagnated.

It did not come to a screeching halt, but the Energy Pathways’ development slowed, making it seem like he was using ambient Aether to reinforce them rather than Origin Essence. As if the Enlightened state and the superior energy were useless.

The enlightenment helped, but I’m missing something. I can only augment the process so much, David thought, trying to find the fault.

He had to make full use of Enlightened and could hardly afford to waste his time theorizing what was wrong with his Energy Pathways. To make matters worse, his grumbling stomach tormented him as well.

How long had it been since I last ate something? he wondered, surprised to realize that he couldn’t quite tell.

Maybe he had eaten something in the past few days but couldn’t remember. It was probably before the Great Horde attacked—before news of his parents’ death reached him.

Shaking his head, David discarded the thoughts threatening to plague his mind all day and followed his gut feeling. He put the thoughts of reinforcing his Energy Pathways aside for the moment and shifted to the next-lowest Class Skill that required time, focus, and a tremendous amount of energy.

[Soul Domain.]

David considered it crucial to focus on [Mind Palace] as well, ensuring his Mind could keep up with the changes in his Body and Soul, but both Body and Soul were his greatest assets. Plus, [Soul Domain] was at a much lower rank than [Mind Palace].

Two days of Enlightened were unlikely to be enough to catch up, but David was sure to give it a try.

He resumed work, using [Meditation] and supplying all energy—Essence and Blood—to cast [Soul Domain].

***

Two days passed in a whirlwind, and the dwarves guarding the Rift Core returned with Torb.

The Prime Champion said little, but he looked better than before. Though his expression still carried traces of sadness, David could see a flicker of determination in his eyes. David was sure Torb would be fine.

They didn’t exchange many words, but his dwarven friend said a little about the changes in the Dwarven Sanctuary. Survivors from fallen Sanctuaries had come to seek asylum with the dwarves, just like Ashville’s residents, who’d decided to stay in the Dwarven Sanctuary.

It was surprising that Lukas accepted the integration into the Dwarven Sanctuary without a fight, but it was not like David had been close to him. Maybe Lukas was less ambitious than his impression had let David believe.

The trip back to the Rift was brief, and they separated with Torb saying that he was busy.

“You can visit me if you need something—anything really. Just say the word and I will help you. I owe you,” the Prime Champion said curtly, his eyes gaining a bit of an edge.

“I will,” David said, meeting the dwarf’s eyes.

They split up a moment later, Torb striding away as fast as his short legs could carry him. Meanwhile, David glanced at the messages in the corner of his eyes.

[Proficiency of Meditation reached 100%.]

[Tier-1 XVIII] → [Tier-1 XIX]

[While Enlightened, you have detected a Spark.

However, due to insufficient comprehension, Spark couldn’t be formed]

[Progress with Soul Domain increased drastically.]

[Lowest: Basic] → [Middle: Basic]

It hadn’t been enough to push [Soul Domain] to [High: Basic], but David was certain he was not too far from breaking through once more. Enlightened had helped him a lot, improving his understanding of Origin Essence, Blood, and various Skills drastically. Even better, the residual effects of Enlightened and the mastery he’d attained lingered even after the effect wore off.

Two weeks should be more than enough. He considered, tilting his head at the messages.

The notifications were pleasant, to say the least. Pushing [Meditation] to Tier-2 sooner rather than later would drastically accelerate his progress with various Skills. Yet, what attracted his attention was the ‘Spark’—whatever that was supposed to mean.

Never heard of that. Another thing to research, David grumbled, while also considering asking Zachariah. That would save him lots of time and effort researching everything.

“More questions to bother him,” he snickered, striding through the bustling streets with a lithe gait.

The streets were more crowded than expected, but that was probably for the better. Maintaining a sense of normalcy after what had happened was likely the best—for the residents, at least.

He shrugged and patted his roaring stomach as he passed by a street vendor. Grimacing, David came to a screeching halt and purchased a bag of unidentifiable goods. Some sort of buns with fillings—vegetable and meat alike—but that was all he could tell. The buns were crimson red, and the insides were… something. But while they looked weird, even vile to a certain degree, David devoured them greedily.

“Edible and somewhat tasty. Delicious even, though that may be my starving stomach’s delusion,” David smiled to himself, continuing on his way to the next destination.

As to where that was, he would soon find out. All he cared about was finding somewhat familiar life signals, allowing luck to determine where he would land next.