The pressure of several Skills and Sparks was greater than anticipated. Surely, the Skills and Sparks would rank up soon, just like his Classes.

I am growing stronger.

Clearly, fighting the Fragment, surviving the Void’s voices, and calling upon the power within the Maelstrom had pushed him to new heights. [Mind Palace] and [Soul Domain] had further improved, stabilizing his foundation without his intervention. Even [Origin Lightning] advanced to Intermediate, pushing his prowess. But as much as David had improved, he still had a hard time imagining the Voidre’s power.

How much more did he have to improve to catch up with such a monstrosity?

David clapped his hands and moved onward. Ready to rank up more. The thought of fighting a Voidre head-on without Zachariah’s help was unpleasant, to say the least, but he had to grow stronger regardless. He was not exactly afraid of dying—as it was a normal occurrence in the Earthen Union after the Integration struck them. However, it felt like dying to Voidlings would do something else to him. Something much worse than dying to monsters or other creatures.

The thought of fighting Voidlings was both exhilarating and terrifying, and that… that confused him.

Since when am I like this? Is that fear? David grimaced, having a hard time understanding his emotions. Thus, he didn’t bother with them until he reached the main infirmary.

He ignored the onlookers and tuned out the men and women talking to him, eyes locked onto the Regressor. Zachariah looked bad, to put it lightly. His skin was a mixture of deadly pale and sickly grey, and his muscles appeared deflated. David didn’t need to touch Zachariah’s skin to know how brittle it was, but he did anyway. Upon coming in contact with the Regressor’s skin, touching it ever so slightly, it burst apart, revealing flesh that seemed to have been contaminated by the same sickly greyish touch as his skin.

His Energy Pathways were no more than a molten mess, and it was a surprise that his organs were still working. Well, some of them. Most organs either ruptured or ceased to exist, making it increasingly difficult to fathom how the Regressor had survived.

David recast [Healing Link], boosted with Origin Essence for a more detailed report of his condition, but it only showed more reasons as to why he should be dead already. However, there were also healing abilities at work. And more.

“Who has been working on him?” He looked up to meet the gaze of an elderly woman.

She frowned deeply at him, probably angry at him for ignoring her the whole time, but the elderly woman did not strike him as a petty person. Frowning for a few seconds at him was all she managed before a resigned sigh escaped her lips.

“Several Healers have been tending to him since Maja brought him to the infirmary two days ago. We managed to preserve his life with [Stasis], [Healing Coma], and constant supervision of [Preservation Spirit], but there is no way to restore his life. It feels like his body is refusing to be healed. Not even [Restorative Grace] and [Prime Healing Touch] cast by our strongest Healer improve his condition,” she explained curtly.

David nodded, drawing his own conclusions from her commentary and the information he had gathered. The situation was complex, yet it was not as hopeless as the elderly woman made it out to be. First of all, the Healers may have cast [Examine] and other similar Skills to determine Zachariah’s issues, but they didn’t know the specifics of his injuries. Clearly, they were unaware of what had happened to injure him so badly and why he wasn’t recovering.

While David couldn’t be certain about some specifics either, he was confident he could heal Zachariah. He modified some pure Blood, improving its healing properties by circulating it through his Deryadus’ Arm, and channeled it into the Regressor’s body. Then he waited, watching the highly potent energy as it dispersed within Zachariah without healing him. His condition did not improve in the slightest. Or so it appeared.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

And while it was true that his physical condition did not improve, the Healers of the Dwarven Sanctuary didn’t seem to factor his Mind, Soul, and lifeforce into account. The latter confused David a little, as it should have been obvious to watch the dying ember of lifeforce within Zachariah to analyze his well-being in-depth. But it appeared most Healers couldn’t sense every change in their patients’ conditions.

[Healing Link] forwarded detailed information about the target’s health, which made it much easier to tell distinct differences. After all, the forwarded information was updated every few minutes—more often if David demanded it—for a prolonged period. Until the link to the patient had worn off, to be precise.

That, along with Bloodthrone Dominion—and presumably also [Heightened Vision]—made the task of precise supervision much easier, as it showed him the exact effects of every healing ability and energy used on Zachariah.

“His entire being is a wreck—from the Essence to the Body, Mind, and Soul,” David clarified, not bothering to go into detail as he turned back to Zachariah. “I will take him with me to the prehistoric Rift. I’d appreciate it if one of you could meet us at the Rift Core every now and then to recast [Preservation Spirit], [Stasis], or [Healing Coma]. If you don’t want to, that’s fine too.”

He shrugged, omitting the fact that he didn’t want to waste his precious energy casting [Weave of Life] on Zachariah. If they could preserve his life with lesser abilities, why shouldn’t he make use of them?

David cast [Bloodbound Bastion], creating a shield beneath Zachariah. Words of Power filled the air, and the shield rose, carrying the Regressor through the infirmary.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the elderly woman snapped, her cheeks reddening.

“I think I told you already,” David rolled his eyes. “I will bring him to the prehistoric Rift. The Aether density is much better, and I can access more Origin Essence over there. That makes training much easier while I tend to this busybody.”

The elderly woman had more to say, but her parted lips pressed into a thin line when she met David’s cold eyes. He didn’t allow a rebuttal and would continue to do anything he wanted. An old hag, albeit at the Silver Rank, couldn’t stop him even if she wanted to.

David left the infirmary behind, a few Words of Power escaping his lips as the crimson shield threatened to collapse. He traveled through the familiar, bustling streets until they arrived at the Rift. David redoubled his efforts with a few more Words of Power and stepped through the Rift to return to the prehistoric valley. [Bloodbound Bastion] nearly collapsed as it passed through, carrying the Regressor, but it prevailed with some effort.

They could travel straight to the valley’s center to establish a small camp in the dwarven fortress protecting the Rift Core, but David first retrieved the Maelstrom. The call of the Void tingled in his mind. It stirred his heart and pulled him closer, trying to convince him to use it more often, but he ignored the sensation as well as humanly possible. The desire to bind the Maelstrom to the Ancient Relic, making it part of his being, was strong—especially after the fight with several Saplings and Fragments.

Thinking back to Zachariah’s fight with the Voidre, David wanted nothing more than to gain more strength. However, binding the Maelstrom when his preparations weren’t complete was foolish. It was not something he should do. Not if he wanted to survive the process.

But while he did not bind the Maelstrom right away, David could still use it—more or less.

He moved the Maelstrom across Zachariah’s broken body, and a faint smile sprang to life as traces of concealed Void and nothingness poured out of the Regressor. There was no need to do anything special to absorb the Void. The Maelstrom consumed the Void concealed by nothingness eagerly.

It strengthened the Maelstrom, albeit to a minuscule degree, but that was enough to change his plans once more. His plans were pushed back, presumably by a few more weeks to be on the safe side. As annoying as that was, David wanted to be certain everything would be fine—as fine as binding something as destructive as the Void, the nemesis of the cosmos, could be.

Zachariah needs to survive this, David reminded himself, justifying the sacrifice.

The Regressor may have barely survived the fight with the Voidre, but he had forced it into retreat.

David desired to gain enough strength to do the same as Zachariah—and more—but he needed someone else to stand in until he was strong enough to do it himself. He had to grow stronger, and fixing the mess Zachariah had inflicted on his own body was one of the best ways to do so.

After all, he was still a Healer.