The screams of the three remaining clerks tore through the courtyard as they writhed helplessly on the ground. Blood rapidly began to seep through their pores, pooling onto the ground beneath them as their veins visibly bulged against their skin.

Hajin watched the men claw desperately at their own throats as they choked on their blood, "nasty thing, isn’t it?"

He held his chain casually in his right hand, using the links to actively pump demonic mana directly into their bodies. The corrosive energy ate away at their insides, rapidly burning through their organs and muscle tissue.

The surrounding crowd watched the execution in silence, none of them daring to look away as the three men gurgled and thrashed on the ground.

Hajin glanced down at the sick girl standing beside him, "if you have anything you want to say to them, now is the time."

Without a second of hesitation, the girl walked right up to the dying clerks, staring down at them with pure hatred.

"You stole my mother," she told them, her raspy voice cutting sharply through their screams, "you starved my father, and you left me to die in an alleyway."

She leaned closer, spitting a thick glob of blood right into the face of the closest clerk as his eyes rolled back into his skull, "I hope you burn forever."

The clerks finally stopped twitching, their bodies going limp on the ground as the demonic mana finished burning through their organs.

Before he could recall his chain, a sharp chime rang in his head as a cascade of panels stacked up in his vision, calculating the total experience gained from the massacre.

[ Target Eliminated: Imperial Guards (x42) — 126,000 EXP ]

[ Target Eliminated: Regional Lord (Lv. 26) — 12,000 EXP ]

[ Target Eliminated: Corrupt Administrators (x3) — 15,000 EXP ]

[ Total Cumulative EXP Gained: 153,000 ]

He dismissed the experience panels with a quick thought, his eyes shifting upward to check the small counter hovering near the top of his vision.

[ Current Soul Energy: 64,000 ]

"Sixty-four thousand," he muttered under his breath, letting out a quiet whistle as he stared at the new number, "that is a massive jump from the twenty thousand."

He turned his attention away from the system, walking back toward Vella, "I am going to borrow your skill for a bit."

"What?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion as she looked at him.

"I always thought I could only use the skills of my summons," he explained, stopping right in front of her, "but ever since I learned you changed through assimilation, I started experimenting."

He raised his right hand, his eyes dropping to the ring resting on his pinky finger, "I figured out that our connection is actually a two-way gate, in other words, I can also use your power."

He dropped his hand back to his side, offering her a slight shrug, "it is hard to explain."

He turned back to the terrified residents hovering near the edges of the courtyard, raising his voice so they could all hear him, "everyone, gather around!"

Surprisingly, the townspeople did not run away, instead choosing to slowly creep out from the alleyways and buildings to form a wide circle around him.

"The first order of business is to heal this illness," he told them, offering a reassuring smile, "after that, we are going to have a big welcome party. Every single person here is going to bed with a full stomach today. Who is excited?"

They all shouted in surprising unison, their voices ringing out across the courtyard, "yes, My Lord!"

Hajin let out an awkward chuckle, actually feeling a little embarrassed by their enthusiastic response as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"However, since there are far too many of you to heal individually, we are going to do this another way," he explained, dropping his hand back down, "an experiment of sorts."

He casually reached his hand into thin air and pulled a canteen of water directly out of his inventory, causing several people in the crowd to gasp in shock.

He unstoppered the canteen and channeled Vella’s mana directly into the opening, blessing the water with her healing properties. He held the container out toward the coughing girl standing beside him, "drink this."

The girl hesitated for a second before taking the canteen with both hands. She lifted it to her chapped lips and took a long, desperate gulp of the glowing liquid.

Almost instantly, the constant rattling in her chest stopped as the magic took hold. The feverish flush vanished from her cheeks, and her cloudy eyes cleared while the healing properties flooded through her system.

"I can actually breathe," she whispered, staring down at her own hands in shock.

A collective gasp rippled through the surrounding crowd as the townspeople realized she was standing tall without coughing for the first time in weeks.

"Good," he noted, gesturing toward the rest of the sick residents, "now pass it around. One sip per person should be enough."

The girl eagerly nodded, rushing over to an older man leaning against a nearby wall. She held the canteen up to his mouth, helping him swallow a mouthful of the blessed water.

A moment later, his shivering stopped entirely, and color rapidly returned to his pale face.

"It is a miracle," a woman muttered from the crowd, dropping to her knees in awe as the canteen was passed to the next person.

Vella stepped closer to Hajin, leaning in so the townspeople could not hear her.

"Did you actually know that was going to work?" She whispered, her eyes tracking the canteen as it moved through the crowd.

Hajin let out a quiet snort, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched his people celebrate. "Well," he muttered, keeping his small smirk carefully hidden from the celebrating crowd, "I did tell them it was an experiment."

Vella stared at him for a second before a genuine laugh slipped out of her, highly amused by the fact that he honestly had no idea if it was going to work.

An hour later, the courtyard had transformed from a grim execution block into a lively festival. Every single resident in the town was healed, celebrating and crying as they hugged their family members.

Many of them kept rushing over to Hajin dropping to their knees to thank him with all their hearts.

He suddenly clapped his hands together, the sharp sound easily cutting through the noise of the celebration. "Alright, everyone," he called out, drawing their attention, "you all must be incredibly hungry."

He opened his inventory, casually dropping the large carcasses of several wild boars they had hunted on their way here right into the center of the courtyard.

"Who among you knows how to cook?" He asked, watching the crowd erupt into a frenzy of excited cheers at the sight of actual meat.

Standing near the registry building, Marrick watched the townspeople swarm the fresh food with tears of joy streaming down their faces.

The young clerk let out a shaky breath, a small, genuine smile finally breaking through his usual nervous expression as he watched them celebrate, ’is this the beginning of a new change?’