The Lone Healer-Chapter 62: The Hall of the Luminous, Part Twenty-Seven

Once again, Neve remained on that dirty, old, dust-covered stone floor for a while. She even managed the EXP she gained while lying down, as the exhaustion in her muscles made her body feel too heavy to move.

Level 61

MP: 600/600 (+300)

EXP: 160/610

AP: 1690

WS Tokens: 14510

---

Endurance: 30

Speed: 40

Precision: 30

Strength: 31

Arcane: 60

With her Precision having reached 30, Neve made a decision as she stared up at the ceiling.

From this point on, every attribute point she gained would go toward her Arcane.

The reasoning was simple. Even though assuming that she could not level her Arcane past 100, she could at best get one more summoning cast out of it, she could really use it. All of her previous fights had slowly worked to hammer this point home, but the last fight was what really drove the nail through Neve’s thick head.

Erin was the sole reason success was even possible. Every moment when Neve did not have her out on the field meant potential death.

So, in order to get this fourth cast she needed, she had to reach 90 Arcane.

30 points, 10 levels’ worth of attributes.

Thanks to the Hall of the Luminous’s EXP buff, though, it was possible.

[I’ve been gaining roughly 3 levels per fight,] Neve thought. [If that continues, it means I should reach 90 Arcane right before the last wave.]

Additionally, having 90 Arcane would mean that even her beginner-level spells would pack more of a punch, as Arcane also affected the power of spells in addition to her mana.

A sharp, sudden pain ran through her legs and Neve’s whole body twitched. Another instance of ghost pain from having broken her legs earlier.

It was almost enough to make her tear up.

[... Let’s just get the hell out of here already.]

Exiting the temple, Neve came out to find the streets packed with curious citizens, all with gleaming, awed eyes casting speculative gazes at the healer.

Among them was the ministress, who walked up with her arms crossed.

She looked up and down Neve’s body, scanning every bit of dirt and blood staining her garbs.

"Is it done?" She asked, and Neve felt the way the citizens held their breaths.

"One more trip," Neve stated. "I go in one more time and, if I don’t die, it’ll all be over."

The reaction from the crowd was instant. A great, buzzing excitement filled the air, with so much chatter and joy that things went from being silent to deafening in an instant.

On Neve’s end, though, she couldn’t find it in her to display even a fraction of their excitement.

[... If none of you are real, is this even going to mean anything? What’s going to happen once I beat it? If I don’t beat it and I just end up getting my head taken off somehow, will there be anyone here to feel sad about it?]

So, Neve just kept her head low and walked through the crowd, making her way back to Ahlakan’s house.

She didn’t plan on staying for long.

Sure, she planned on visiting Kelvon one more time and seeing if Ahlakan could make some more potions for them, but the main reason she had taken such a long break before the previous five waves was to get Erin’s level as high as possible.

It had taken a week just to get her to level 50. Neve didn’t even want to imagine how long it would take to get her to level 60, or 70.

If she took that long, there was a real chance that Thomas and his group would either finish the Final Challenge in that time or die trying, and not die by her hands, which was what Neve cared about.

Due to this fact, she only planned to rest for a day or so. That said, there was a very real chance she’d remain asleep for a lot longer than that after everything she’d been through.

As she walked in, she almost felt like she was back at her apartment. She’d been here for only around two weeks and already this house had produced that level of familiarity in her.

Ahlakan was in the living room, painting as Neve entered. Before, Ahlakan had spent a lot of her time painting buildings she’d never seen before. Now, as Neve noticed with a brief glance at the canvas, she was painting a girl with dark blue hair and priestess clothes.

The outfit Ahlakan had on instantly caught Neve’s eyes. Silky, soft-looking white cloth wrapped around only her hips and chest, inviting Neve’s eyes to roam freely. The usual golden accessories she wore glimmered just a little more brightly today, but maybe Neve’s eyes were playing tricks on her.

As soon as Ahlakan saw her, the girl smiled and quickly put her brush down.

"You’re alive!"

"Somehow, I’ve returned," she muttered, though she couldn’t resist returning a smile of her own.

"Is it done, then?" Ahlakan asked, walking over to her, a hopeful tone laced every word. Neve, however, shook her head.

"One more trip," she stated. "And... then, it’s over."

She still had no clue what that would entail, though.

Would Ahlakan and the other citizens of Rorvan all fade away when Neve finished the dungeon? Or, would they all get to see their salvation and experience the freedom that had eluded them for so many years? Would Ahlakan become a summon, like Erin?

These potential outcomes brought Neve’s mind back to one fundamental question. What was the point of all of this?

The first question would be answered soon enough. The second, well, maybe Tamira would tell her later. She didn’t expect much, though.

Ahlakan placed her hands on Neve’s face, holding her cheeks, sending chills down Neve’s spine. The eyes that Neve had found so strange when she first met the nulin now felt magnetic, taking hold of Neve’s gaze and refusing to let go of it.

The optimistic expression on the other woman’s face was almost enough to make Neve feel guilty for even contemplating the possibility of failure. If these people weren’t all set to disappear when Neve finished, then there was quite a lot of responsibility on the healer’s shoulders.

"One more..." Ahlakan muttered. "Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself, but I’ve already started to wonder what I might do once you complete your duty. Among some of the things that came to mind, seeing my mother’s home, meeting nulin from the outside, and so on, I decided that I would also like to see the world with you," Ahlakan declared. "Perhaps, if you succeed, maybe you could show me your own home. And, those ’trees’ you spoke of."

"Maybe," Neve replied quietly. "I’ll do my best."

She hoped her voice did not betray the concerns she had tucked away in her thoughts.

Ahlakan leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against Neve’s lips that took her by surprise. Suddenly, a lot of those concerns vanished.

And, all Neve hoped for, then and there, was that once this was over, she would be able to spend just a bit more time with this woman.

"That is all we could ask for," the girl told her.

---

"I only have one more spell to give you," Kelvon told Neve, as she sat down in his shop that night.

At the same time, Erin was training with Rorvan’s warriors. Neve hoped she’d be able to gain a useful Technique before they walked into the Hall of the Luminous tomorrow.

"Okay, what is it?" Neve asked.

"Before I tell you, let me say this," Kelvon said, pacing around the room and Neve prepared herself to be waterboarded with lore she had not asked for. "The concept of being a healer shares part of its identity with another sorcerer path. Do you know which one?"

"Uh, no."

"Necromancers," Kelvon replied. Neve raised a brow at this notion. "Both of these schools of magic revolve around the same fundamental idea, that being the concept of giving life to something. It was as I realized this fact that I began to look at what healers could do in a different way."

Kelvon grabbed his staff, along with a knife he had tucked away in his pants.

"One trick that necromancers often use is that of blood sacrifice. To take the life of another to empower the life they want to create. It is a nefarious thing, but, because healing is so similar to necromancy, I wondered if, perhaps, a healer could do something similar. And, what I found was this."

The man then raised his staff and cast a spell of some sort. The spell covered him in a red aura, highlighted with hints of white and gold.

Then, he aimed his staff at Neve.

The healer flinched but didn’t move away as she guessed Kelvon wasn’t about to kill her for no reason. So, she waited to see what he’d do, greatly intrigued by the strange showcase.

The same aura covered her body, and the man took the knife and cut a small part of his opposite arm.

With his staff still aimed at Neve, he activated the spell he’d been setting up and Neve’s eyes widened as the wound on his arm began to fade away, but was replicated on Neve’s right arm.

[A lifesteal spell!?]

Equivalent Exchange - 25MP per second

{Select two targets. Activating the ability afterward will heal the first target selected, dealing the same damage healed to the second target. This ability can be canceled prematurely. It is automatically stopped when the transferred damage reaches 100%. The user can choose themselves as the damaged target, should they choose to do so.}

"Magic that takes away life so that you may give it to yourself or to an ally. That is my final gift, young healer."

---

The next day, Neve found that every single citizen in Rorvan was out of their homes, standing in the streets, watching the healer as she made her way to the temple.

Neve found Ahlakan and her mother standing in the middle of the crowd. Ahlakan was holding a few potions.

"The rest that you asked for," she told Neve. "I hope you’ll make it out alive."

"Thanks to you, the chances of that are a little higher than ’none’," Neve replied quietly as she placed the potions into her inventory. "I’ll see you later... If I don’t fuck up, and all."

Once again, she was going into this with 5 Potions of Bloodlust, 5 Minor Healing Potions, and 5 Potions of Medium Agility.

Ministress Jia stood at the foot of the set of stairs that led to the temple.

"Don’t get yourself killed," she said. "For all our sakes, please."

"I’ll try not to."

Neve walked up and stopped.

Erin, who stood next to her, kept her eyes low, just as quiet as Neve was as they reached the Hall of the Luminous.

Unfortunately, Erin hadn’t been given another Technique, but Neve couldn’t be too mad at that. {Rorvan’s Flurry} was proving to be OP enough on its own.

As they reached the doors to the temple, Neve looked back.

With her eyes on the hopeful citizens ahead, she muttered:

"... It’s only been a couple of weeks, but it feels like we’ve been here for longer."

"I’ve enjoyed showing off a bit to the warriors here. The only thing missing from making it an infinitely more enjoyable experience would be to be under the cover of the sun as I utterly humiliate them. Speaking of enjoyable experiences, I do hope you’ve been putting some thought into how exactly you plan to reward me for all my efforts."

"I will," Neve promised, turning to look at her. "Without you, none of this would have been possible. So, thank you."

Erin narrowed her eyes at the healer for a moment.

"... Can we get on with this?" She asked, turning toward the doors.

"Sure."

Figuring that there was no point in stalling, she pushed the doors open, and could almost feel all of the citizens behind her holding their breaths as she disappeared from their view.

[This is it,] Neve thought. [It would definitely suck if I got this far only to get my fucking head chopped off somehow. But, oh well. I’ve made it farther than I probably had any business getting to on my own. I just..] Ahlakan’s face flashed before her eyes. Neve’s heart ached a little. [I just hope I don’t disappoint anyone.]