Damned Healer-Chapter 142: Too Weak To Dream

Niara felt Darian’s reaction, then confirmed what he’d guessed: "Yeah, the Children of the Academy, the ones I asked the Elders about before, are Mannaz created with the Academy’s help."

"If they helped the Dragon King, then his planet must be one of the four members of the inscription, right?" Darian asked calmly.

She nodded. "The ones with Dragon blood live in the north of the galaxy. In the south, there’s the King of the Bird Tribe; to the east, the felines; to the west, the canines." She took a deep breath and added, her voice pained:

"After I escaped and spent a few years hiding, I visited those places to understand everything. In some... I had to kill certain bastards. That’s why I became pretty well known among the Mannaz. In the end, I confirmed that on the four main Mannaz planets, the Academy helps the Kings create some anomalies..."

"In my case, while I was there, they focused completely on me. But in the other places..." She paused, her fists clenching tightly. "They kidnap everyone with mutations, use the Academy’s Stellar Ore to keep them alive, and run tons of experiments on them. Obviously, they all die in the end... so they figured out that if they created a couple and subtly altered them, then had them produce a child and altered it while it was being conceived... there was a slightly better chance the kid would survive."

"The ones born this way are the ’Children of the Academy.’ I’ve seen a few before... they’re miserable, with twisted minds and bodies. They usually die before reaching adulthood. And they still have to be lucky enough to be born with talent and become Summoners. But in rare cases, they succeed... some powerful Summoners and Spiritual Guardians came from this."

Darian listened, feeling deep pain as he pictured and understood what had really been done.

Because the Mannaz Bloodline had weakened, the Academy started testing all kinds of methods to create powerful Summoners. They had those Stellar Ores, which had affinity with life energies. If used roughly, they could try to keep someone alive even after terrible procedures.

The Dragons got lucky with Niara’s birth. But in the tribes... the obvious move was to try to reunite the Enfield Bloodline, which had been split into three branches.

"About your younger brother’s and sister’s Summoners... every Child of the Academy I met was like a puppet. To keep them stable, the Academy literally took over their minds and made them act according to orders," Niara added.

Darian snorted. "The Leader of the Academy is the one controlling those twisted puppets. He’s a traitor. Lucy and Lucius noticed something wrong and refused to complete the contract with the two. Those kids caused trouble on purpose to get arrested... so I would notice what was going on."

Niara nodded. She didn’t know those two, but she’d already figured out they were a lot like Darian.

Normally, when a regular Spiritual Guardian is brought to their fated Summoner, they have to complete the contract to receive the Mannaz Bloodline, complete their spiritual root, and form their first ring.

But those two weren’t regular Spiritual Guardians. They’d gone through the ancestral awakening and already had a complete spiritual root. They didn’t really need a Summoner, so they were able to refuse the contract.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the Academy, seeing the potential of those two, had been thrilled that his puppets would become their Summoners. But when they were rejected, he got furious and imprisoned them, trying to force them to accept.

"Well... doesn’t matter. Honestly, I wasn’t gonna let this keep going the way it is... or it’ll be impossible to save this universe..." Darian muttered, then noticed Niara’s eyes fixed on him. She stayed quiet but was full of expectations.

The slug nodded. Before, he’d still been unsure about revealing his goals to her. He’d wanted to observe her a bit longer... it wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, it’s just that he’d only known her for less than a month.

Now though, he was sure.

She would go all the way — no matter what situation they got into.

Darian started telling her briefly everything that had happened on Earth. Then he explained about the mission and how he met Meru.

Niara listened, fascinated. During the Earth part, she asked curiously about that place full of pure humans with no natural power. In the end, she was shocked to learn that Darian had been given such a huge mission directly by the heavenly laws.

In fact...

Now that she knew the Divine Dragon had left those words for his people...

Darian really fit that role. He was a messenger sent by the world to save them. And she, as his partner... was she really the second coming of the Divine Dragon?

Cutting through her thoughts, Darian murmured:

"Those idiots think they’re gonna survive doing this kind of thing? The heavenly laws are cold and strict. The karma they’ve created with the world will make everything they try fail eventually. There’s no point trying to beat the Risen at any cost..." Darian said, explaining something he’d understood better with Meru and the book.

"The Leader of the Academy probably knows a bit of this, and wasn’t even really trying to win this war. He just convinced everyone it was the right thing so he could profit from it."

Darian focused on Niara: "Luckily, the Academy and the galaxy are out of Summoners now, except for the newbies. This is the perfect chance to act. Let’s settle your score with those idiots and end it all in one go."

She nodded, heart racing. Even though she’d wanted to do this before, any Summoner sent by the Academy could’ve stopped her. Not to mention the Dragon King had plenty of ways to save himself — like the last time he escaped. freewebnoveℓ.com

"He’s not gonna run," Darian said calmly. "That’s because those four planets are the only gates to the Academy, after the Leader sealed the planet. They can’t abandon the place now."

Niara’s eyes lit up.

Darian nodded. "We’ll destroy everything, then hit the other three places. Once the four gates are broken, I’ll be able to use the power I left inside the runes of the inscription. That way, we’ll get into the Academy again."

Right at the start of that fight, when Niara used the Black Dragon Armor, Darian had invaded the golden runes of the central inscription with his dark power.

The whole place should be flooded with Risen power by now. But he could still feel his dark power sitting right in the middle of it all. If they destroyed the members of the inscription out in the galaxy, then used that power at the core of everything, that barrier wouldn’t be able to stop them from getting in.

"Now, get some sleep. You need to assimilate that pure Bloodline you just got... I’ll ask the beasts to bring you some food," he added, and she nodded.

Then she closed her eyes, leaning against the stone wall. Her wings wrapped around her body as she relaxed and allowed the new Bloodline to merge with her own.

In her blood, everything was pulsing with new power. What she’d gained were runes coming straight from the Divine Dragon — not something passed down through countless generations.

Darian took a deep breath. Once she was asleep, he started thinking about the future.

He was pretty worried. There was no turning back anymore — he’d been completely exposed as someone the traitors now had to kill no matter what.

After he cleaned out the Elders of the Academy... he’d have to run with Niara, and now with Lucy and Lucius too. After all, those Elders weren’t even close to being the real problem — the real danger was the powerful Summoners and Spiritual Guardians.

There were plenty of traitors among them, and Darian couldn’t stay around no matter what.

But the whole universe was filled with the Risen... how were they supposed to survive and grow stronger like this?

’There’s only one way... but how the hell can I pull off something that big?’

He thought about it seriously. He’d need to do exactly what the Summoners were trying now: take back an Academy. That way, he’d have a home and a base to live in this universe. But... he was still way, way too weak to even dream of pulling that off.

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