Healing System

Chapter 229 Child of Shadows (9)

"What's this?" Kevin attempted to tap on the interface before him, but it proved unsuccessful as it slowly began fading away.

And soon enough, the monsters he had previously not been worrying about emerged, shattering the ice on impact and heading in their direction.

"Move!" Kevin urged as he picked up the worried-looking Elizabeth and ran at full speed off the frozen lake.

The monsters were right behind them, closing in ever so steadily.

It felt as though they would be devoured at any moment. Therefore, Kevin did the second most logical thing—he decided to fight back.

He felt a bit strange, though. For someone who was not supposed to have mana, he felt full of it.

Almost like he could do anything he wanted.

That also included using mana. Therefore, with a wave of his arm, he attempted it.

Surprisingly, an entire shadow materialized behind him, covering a quarter of the lake in an instant.

As that happened, he could feel a certain connection to the shadows themselves, as though he was actually a part of them this time.

With another gesture, he used one of his signature abilities—one that would overwhelm the monsters and claim their corpses as his shadows.

There was no resistance as their corpses immediately turned cold and were soon enveloped by his shadows, making them his.

Kevin stared at the sight, amusement clear on his face, as he continued dealing with the rest of the monsters until, finally, there was nothing left.

A massive frozen lake with holes all over it, and around it, shadow serpents that began sinking deeper into the lake before finally disappearing.

"How did you do that?" Elizabeth asked, a puzzled look on her face.

It was clear she could not use mana, so for him to be able to was strange, to say the least.

Without elaborating, he merely gestured at his chest—where the obsidian shard had traveled into.

That seemed to do the trick as she rolled her eyes at him. Finally, the two reached the end of the frozen lake.

"I guess that's that, then," Kevin said as he stepped onto the non-icy ground and let out a slightly exhausted breath.

The events that had transpired in the last half hour were brutal, to say the least. If they hadn't had each other, retrieving the shard would have been nearly impossible.

Alas, whether by luck or something else, they managed it—and the boons he had obtained in the end were massive.

'Hmm... Status?'

+---+

Name: Kevin Veltro

Age: 15 years old

Race: Human

Affinity: Shadow [Superior] -> [Elite]

Mana Purity: 160% -> 432%

Mana Core (1): Mind Core

Mana Core Rank (1): Tier 1

-:- 3% -> 30% Progress to next Tier -:-

Mana Core (2): Mage Core

Mana Core Rank (2): Tier 1

-:- 9% -> 49% Progress to next Tier -:-

Mana Core (3): Flow Core

Mana Core Rank (3): Tier 1

-:- 7% -> 51% Progress to next Tier -:-

Mana Core (4): Dantian Core

Mana Core Rank (4): Tier 1

-:- 2% -> 21% Progress to next Tier -:-

Titles:

Child of Shadows: Increases the effectiveness of all spells related to the Shadow affinity by 250%.

???

Stats:

HP: 100/100% / Regen 5% HP Per Hour

MP (1): 99/100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour

MP (2): 81/100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour

MP (3): 95/100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour

MP (4): 100/100% / Regen 10% MP Per Hour

STR: Tier 1 [E] (132) {Total = 132}

END: Tier 1 [E+] (188) {Total = 188}

AGI: Tier 1 [D-] (221) {Total = 221}

INT: Tier 1 [B-] (539) {Total = 539}

CHA: Tier 1 [S-] (848) {Total = 848}

Skills:

Passive Skills: Calibrating... 71%

Active Skills: Calibrating... 49%

+---+

'Affinity... Elite?' Kevin's eyes widened at the sight, and he did a few double takes to make sure he was seeing it right.

After a few moments, he was left completely speechless.

Raising one's affinity rank was nearly impossible—some affinities had no more upper levels.

One such affinity was Shadow, and yet he had increased it to Elite rank, something no one had managed to do before in history.

Not even he, in the past, had achieved such a feat in such a short time.

As for his stats, he wasn't sure how they worked yet, but it didn't seem like they had risen.

Mana Purity, however, was a different case entirely—it had risen by leaps and bounds, practically putting him on the level of a Tier 2 already.

And yet, he'd just formed a core not too long ago.

'Not on the level of Michael... but this is a drastic improvement.' He chuckled to himself before fixing his posture and looking around.

The strange hologram didn't indicate they'd completed the mission, which meant other things were amiss. It was their task to find out what.

But as he turned to look at Elizabeth, his eyes widened.

Her usual short red hair, present just moments ago, was now streaked with black and white.

Even stranger, her hair had begun growing out more, making the change all the more surreal.

Before long, she seemed to regain control of her body. She glanced back at him.

"Seems like I got a power-up too, huh?" Elizabeth said with a snicker.

Kevin, however, was not amused. "What happened? It's just like last time, where you randomly enter some weird state. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"You like to nag a lot, you know that?" she retorted, crossing her arms. "I'll have you know I have no clue what's going on either."

Noticing his confused look, she elaborated.

"Ever since we entered, there was this weird connection I felt—visions I saw—but I couldn't quite make them out."

'...But?'

"But now, they're starting to come together—memories that are both mine and not mine."

"So what kind of memories are they? Of the past, or what?" Kevin questioned, receiving a shake of her head in response.

"Nope... It's a bit difficult to explain." She fidgeted for a moment before continuing. "In those memories, I can see a bunch of people... and I think I can see you, too."

"Me?" He narrowed his eyes. "Where?"

Some things weren't adding up the more she spoke.

Unless...

'Is she a regressor like me?'