Chapter 327 - Recovered

Reivyn groaned as he rolled over, his awareness coming to him suddenly. It was slightly different than when he was asleep, which let him immediately realize something was off. The memories of the previous incident slammed into the forefront of his mind, and he let out another groan as his body ached.

Kefira reached out and steadied him as he rolled to the edge of the bed. Reivyn was thankful for her assistance. He knew he was close to the edge and didn’t actually need her help, but her counterweight took some of the pressure off of his own muscles. He opened a bleary eye and peered at his beautiful fiance.

“How long was I out?” He croaked, his throat dry. He reached over and snagged a glass of water without looking at it, downing the whole thing in one go.

“Just a couple of hours,” Kefira replied. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I had a mountain land on top of me, and not the other way around,” Reivyn replied.

He suddenly started coughing, and the it got worse and worse until he bent over and hacked up some bloody chunks onto the ground. His insides immediately felt better after expelling the blood. Reivyn wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I need a bath,” he said.

“Sure, I can have someone prepare one for you,” Kefira replied. She glanced back where Serilla was silently sitting against the wall. The other girl nodded and headed out of the room to summon someone. Reivyn turned his attention to his father who was sternly staring at him from the foot of the bed, arms crossed across his chest.

“Mind explaining what that was all about?” Refix asked brusquely.

Reivyn cleared his throat, sitting up before answering the question.

“I was exploring my Divine Sense Skill, and I ran into a few accidents,” Reivyn said. “First, I hurt my Vitality by messing with my Health pool core when I didn’t know what I was doing, and then I accidentally connected my Skill to some lingering Divine Mana that’s hidden away in my body. Then my Skill powered up with the Divine Mana, but my body wasn’t able to handle it. Everything that I did after that was from my Perfect Domain Skill.”

“Is that what that golden light was?” Refix asked.

“It was very similar to the time when you were forced to participate in the Epic Difficulty of that one Dungeon,” Kefira remarked.

Reivyn nodded his head.

“Yeah, that was the Divine Mana. The System itself wiped those memories from my mind, but connecting to the Divine Mana gave me a familiar feeling. It was like I had the vaguest recollection of the previous time. The only way I can describe it is like hearing whispers just on the edge of your awareness, but not being able to understand the words. That’s what it kind of felt like.”

“Hmm… And what made you decide to tamper with one of your most powerful Skills in the middle of a mission” Refix quirked an eyebrow at his son.

“Well, I hadn’t actually intendended on messing with the Skill,” Reivyn answered. “I got the idea from not being able to pierce the teleport portals with my Divine Sense, but I felt like I should be able to. That led me to thinking there should be a way for me to actively direct my Divine Sense instead of always allowing it to be passive.

“I wasn’t doing anything, and I felt like I was just sitting around doing nothing, so I decided to go exploring within myself. I knew from Xudrid that combining Health with Stamina and/or Mana was a thing, but I didn’t know the first thing about how to actually do that. I freely admit that messing with my Vitality was reckless, even if it hadn’t been in the middle of a mission, but I wasn’t going to actually do anything with it.

“I plan was to just search within myself for the Skill and try to see if I could feel out the metaphysical muscle to flex it. I didn’t think it was even possible to do anything else in the situation.

“Anyway, long story short, I combined my Health into my Qi, creating a different kind of energy, and it went wild when I moved it across where my Skills should be housed, and it connected my Skill to the Divine Mana sitting in my body, acting like a sort of bridge for the Divine Mana.”

Refix stroked his forehead in frustration.

“This boy…” He focused his attention on his son. “So not only did you mess with your Health directly, you created a novel energy you knew nothing about, and then you used that energy to connect Divine Mana to your soul? Am I getting that right? Don’t look at me like that. Everyone knows Skills are housed in one’s soul.

“You’re lucky to be alive, boy. Promise me you won’t experiment with such things without telling me - us,” he gestured between himself and Kefira when he sensed she was about to protest, “so we can be there to help in case something like this happens again.

“Luckily your little stunt didn’t have any lasting repercussions that we know of,” he gave Reivyn a quizzical look. Reivyn shook his head. “And it allowed you to save one of your mercenaries from getting killed. She told us what happened on the other side, but she said she could barely keep up with what was going on, the two of you were moving so fast.”

“Yeah, looks like we didn’t get all of their powerhouses trapped in the void,” Reivyn said. “That guy was scary strong. Even with my boosted state, I wasn’t able to keep up with him. That being said, my Perfect Domain isn’t at a Level yet where it can use my full arsenal. It was using pure swordplay, no Mana or Skills. That being said, the other guy didn’t use any that I noticed, either.”

“We’ll have to come up with a strategy to neutralize his interference,” Refix nodded. “If what you say is accurate, he’ll probably be stronger than we could face together. My Stats are getting up there, but I’m not yet at the point where I can overwhelm you purely based on my Stats when you’re empowered.”

“I have some ideas,” Reivyn gave a small smile.

“Alright, I’ll let you get some rest,” Refix said, letting his arms finally fall to his side as he relaxed. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

“I’m sorry, father,” Reivyn hung his head for a moment before looking back up, “but I don’t think I need any rest. I’m feeling great, actually.”

Reivyn was surprised to find it was true. After waking with his body aching all over he had expected to be bedridden for some time; however, after coughing up those bloody chunks, his body had quickly recovered. He felt better than he had in months.

“Hold on, let me check these Notifications I have blinking at me real quick,” Reivyn held his hand up to forestall his dad from leaving.

[Divine Ember Activated]
[Divine Mana Accesible]
[Calculating…]
[Status updated]
[ERROR]
[Body is Mortal. Prolonged exposure to Divine Mana will result in death]
[Status updated]
[Skill Divine Sense evolves to Tier 7 - Divine]
[Skill Perfect Domain evolves to Tier 7 - Divine]
[Critical Hit! -4,818 HP]
[Health Critically low]
[Synergy detected: Divine Mana + Regeneration]
[Skill Regeneration evolves to Tier 7 - Divine]
[Health fully restored. Excess Divine Mana in conjunction with Regeneration heals Debilitating Status]
[Debilitating Status Recovered]
[Physical Stats: 100%]
[Divine Mana: 3/10 remaining]
[Connection to Divine Ember severed. Divine Mana no longer available]
[Skill Divine Sense resets to Tier 6.5 - Pseudo-Divine]
[Skill Perfect Domain resets to Tier 6.5 - Pseudo-Divine]
[Skill Regeneration resets to Tier 6 - Mythic]
[Body advances toward Divine marginally (0.02%): 10.07%]
[Gathering impurities for expulsion…]
[Helpful Hint: Divine Mana will slowly recover even in a Realm not connected to the Divine Realm. It will take about six years per point, or you can absorb Providence to quickly recover.]

Reivyn’s eyes widened in surprise at the messages. He knew he had accessed his Divine Mana through his Divine Ember, but he didn’t realize it would be followed with such consequences. It was interesting to see that his Regeneration Skill was evolvable to Divine rank, Tier 7, and that was obviously the source of him feeling better.

He glanced at the bloody chunks on the floor.

Huh. If that represents 0.02% of cleansing my body toward Divine, that would mean multiple times my entire mass is made up of impurities… Well, it makes more sense that there’s very little impurities in whatever that is. A small fraction. Yeah, we’ll go with that until I know more.

“Looks like there were more unintended benefits to my actions,” Reivyn finally said, looking up at his dad and fiance. “My Regeneration Skill was empowered by the Divine Mana, and it cured my injuries fully. I’m back to 100%, well ahead of schedule.”

Refix stared at his son with a blank face for several seconds.

“Remind me what your Luck Stat is again.” He quickly held up a hand to stop Reivyn from answering. “You know what. Actually, some things are better left a mystery.” Refix shook his head in disbelief. “Only Reivyn…” He muttered as he turned to leave.

Kefira reached out and grabbed Reivyn’s hand, holding it between both of hers. Reivyn turned to look at her. She gave him a sweet smile.

“I’m glad you’re Okay,” she said. “I’d give you a kiss, but, you know…”

Reivyn chuckled. At that moment, Serilla returned and nodded her head to the two of them. Reivyn swung his feet over the edge of the bed, happy to see that he was still fully clothed. He gave Kefira a questioning look at that.

“Despite all the blood, we couldn’t find a scratch on you, so we just left you in your clothes for now,” she answered the unspoken question. “If it looked like you were going to be out for longer, your father was going to change you into some proper bed clothes.”

“Ahh, I see. Thanks,” Reivyn said. He stood up and stretched. “I’ll got get cleaned up, and we can revisit that issue about the kiss.” He gave her a wink as he left the room.

He had already seen it with his Divine Sense, but the hall was lined with the entire mercenary Special Unit members. They all had anxious looks on their faces as he emerged from his room. Reivyn scanned all their faces before giving them a bright smile.

“I’m right as rain,” he replied. “I appreciate everyone’s concern, but I’m actually doing better now than I was before. I won’t go into specifics. Anyway, can anyone guess what that means?”

He gave them all a hopeful look. Down toward the end, he spotted Teilon throwing his head back and rolling his eyes. Reivyn pointed to his best friend.

“Yes! Lieutenant Teilon has the right idea!” Everyone turned their heads to look at Teilon. Reivyn clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention back on him. “Say it with me:

“Training!”

—

After getting cleaned up and some personal time with Kefira, Reivyn found himself sitting at a table with a map of the lowlands sprawled out in front of him. All of his Party members were present plus the mercenary officers.

“Okay,” Reivyn said, leaning over the map, “what we learned so far: The enemy can sense the fluctuations in the Space Mana when Kefira casts her Spell, but they can’t react immediately. I’m guessing the person who can sense the Space Mana and the robed man who showed up are two different people.

“They probably have the Space Mage at a central location to keep him or her safe, and they relay the location of the Space Mana fluctuations to the robed man, and then he decides which one to go to.

“I’m also guessing they only have the one powerhouse remaining. If they had more than one, they should have sent someone to both locations we attacked last time. I could be wrong and they just didn’t make it in time, but until we see evidence of their existence, we’re going to operate like it’s an unlikely possibility. We can’t let fear of the unknown hinder our actions.

“So, what does that mean for us?”

Reivyn looked at the mercenary officers. The captain was the main decision maker for this endeavor. Among his Party members, only Kefira and Teilon were really involved, but the others wanted to be there in case there was anything they needed to know or add.

The captain was the first to speak up, as Reivyn expected.

“It means we’re unlikely to quickly disable their ability to detect and react to our teleports,” he said. Reivyn nodded his head with a smile. He gestured for the man to continue. “That means if we want to continue using the Special Unit, we’ll need to divert their attention.” The captain turned to one of the lieutenants. “What would you do in this situation?”

Reivyn was pleased to see the captain involving the other officers. Not only did it show he was willing to listen to their opinion, but it also showed that he was actively nurturing their strategic thinking. Much like what I’m doing with the captain, Reivyn gave himself a mental pat on the back.

“I would Cast several dummy teleport Spells to obfuscate the real ones, sir,” the lieutenant answered.

The captain nodded his head. Reivyn didn’t react, letting the captain run the show, but he was happy to see the officers were already on the right page. The captain turned to the next lieutenant.

“How would you implement that?” He asked.

“I would Cast many different teleports anchored to random locations. I would also randomize how many dummy teleports Cast. I wouldn’t always do the exact same amount. I would also make sure the random targets were to destinations similar to the real one.”

The captain nodded and turned to the final platoon commander.

“What else?”

“I wouldn’t pick them back up,” the man replied, staring at the map. He continued to stare at the map for several seconds before he seemed to realize the entire room had gone silent. He looked up and glanced around at everyone. “It makes sense,” he said, shrinking in on himself a little bit. “It will reduce additional points for the enemy Mage to sense, and it’s what they trained for.”

The captain stole a quick glance at Reivyn. Reivyn could tell the man didn’t want to presume his opinion on the matter. To all outward appearances, the Special Unit was more than just special in their missions. Everyone seemed to think Reivyn had a special opinion of them. Reivyn silently chuckled to himself.

“That’s exactly right,” Reivyn finally spoke into the silence. The nervous lieutenant relaxed at hearing confirmation of his idea. “That’s been the plan from the very beginning. We were just doing things the way we’ve been doing to sus out if they had a Space Mage or not. We’ve done that. It’s time to move on.

“With that being said, Captain Caivel, I hand the reins of the Special Unit back over to you.”

Reivyn smiled at the surprised expression on the man’s face.

“This is your show, captain. The plan has always been for you to run things. While they’re in garrison, I and Lieutenant Teilon will continue to train and hone their Skills, but they’re your mercenaries. You’ll choose their targets with the local commanding general. Incorporate them into the overall strategy. They’re not a separate entity. They’re one of your tools.”

Reivyn left unsaid that he would step in to veto any orders he thought were suicide missions. The men and women of the Special Unit weren’t disposable, after all. They were still people. He had trust in his captains, though, and he knew he didn’t have to spell it out for the man.

“Yes, sir,” Captain Caivel said, sitting straighter in his chair. “We won’t let you down.”

“Oh, one last thing,” Reivyn caught himself as he was standing up. “Just to be on the safe side, Lieutenant Teilon will command the first mission. He won’t routinely go on missions, and he’s usually outside of the normal chain of command, but we don’t know exactly how difficult it will be for the Special Unit to sneak back to safety after carrying out their mission.

“Lieutenant Teilon will go on the first mission to help gauge it as well as increase their chances of making it through undetected.”

Teilon wasn’t surprised by the announcement. He and Reivyn had discussed it ahead of time, and he was fully on board, even eager. The captain took the words in stride.

“Yes, sir.”

“Very good. I’ll leave you to it, then, captain.”

The other officers stood and assumed attention as Reivyn and the others got up to leave. Reivyn would be lying if he wasn’t worried about the robed man appearing again, but he was confident they were doing what they could to throw him off their trail. He felt in his gut that another confrontation with the man was inevitable, but it wasn’t going to be right now, and Reivyn was determined to surprise the other man the next time he faced him on the battlefield.