Healing System

Michael strode through the snowy streets, the people meeting his gaze briefly before minding their own business.

It was unreal how no one reacted to his get-up; it was a bit ridiculous, after all.

Nonetheless, since it worked out, he wouldn't question it.

He passed by a few bars and stores, some of which stocked all sorts of ammunition. It seemed this city—Driftmoor—was quite fond of machine-made weapons.

Michael could only let out a sigh. He had tried using a sniper back then, but it proved futile. He was just glad that an alternative came along soon enough.

Besides that, the people looked pretty relaxed, a stark contrast to the tales he had heard of this place—a continent riddled with monsters.

That did not mean there weren't any elements indicating monster activity, however. Most of the clothing the people wore was made out of some kind of monster's hide.

As he was observing the surroundings, he noticed a certain location—an inn—where he could sense, at the very least, four people with mana cores.

Four more than he was usually used to seeing in one place; that's why he headed straight toward them.

Upon arriving, he noticed they were some kind of party, drinking and laughing together: two women and two men, all of whom had weapons stashed at their waists.

It was a bit surprising to see one of the men, who, despite his burly size, had a pair of daggers placed on the table right next to his food.

Despite their fierce outward appearance, they seemed like an approachable bunch; therefore, he sat down beside them and spoke.

"Hey, do you know where the portals are?"

As soon as those words escaped his mouth, the man beside him spat out his food and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Kid, what are you talking about?" The man tried feigning ignorance, but his shaky voice betrayed him.

"Is there a problem? I'm new here; I don't know how this place works yet," Michael said before looking straight into the man's eyes. "You'll tell me, right?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Despite him not using his Charm skill, the man's mind was affected. It almost seemed like the demonic tendencies the system had mentioned earlier were now passively working on him.

Maybe he could even transfer Charm into the passive skill category.

The man stared at him for a moment before looking away. Immediately, Michael could feel the skill break, followed by the man standing up and glaring at him.

"What did you do?" the man asked, menacingly looking down at Michael.

Pfft... That's what you get, demon.

'...It was unintentional.' Michael got up with a sigh and apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

He tried making it sound as genuine as possible. However, the man did not seem convinced as he reached for the daggers on the table and drew them, aiming them straight at him.

The next words the man spoke made Michael turn speechless.

"You're one of those mind-controlling bastards, aren't you?" the man snarled. Against his party's wishes, he swung the daggers straight at him.

But to Michael, the man was moving in practically slow motion. His stats had increased significantly, but he felt that wasn't the sole reason for the difference.

Their strength was fairly decent—middle of Tier 1. Even if he could have squashed them like bugs before, now, it was especially apparent.

He stared as the daggers approached him. Without using any of his skills, he raised his hand and shattered the daggers upon contact.

Before the man could process what had just happened, Michael kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying to the other side of the inn, where he landed on top of someone's table.

Michael, quite amused by the development, turned toward the rest of the man's party. He asked, "Where are the portals?"

This time, he restricted his good looks with mana, ensuring no one could get charmed, which seemed to work.

One of the women, her eyes tinged with fear, looked down before stepping forward.

"We apologize for his discourtesy... It's just that the portals you speak of are a sensitive topic among the people of this continent," she explained before continuing, this time in a whisper.

"There are six in total, each scattered around the continent. You want their locations, right?"

Michael nodded, and immediately, she pulled out some sort of map and placed it on the table in front of him.

He looked on with raised brows. The so-called map was nothing but a bunch of glyphs he couldn't understand.

However, just as he thought it strange, the system updated his own map, including six marked areas scattered far from each other.

Before he could study them in detail, the woman spoke again. "We don't have actual coordinates of these places; all we know is roughly where they are on the map. The mana is way too unstable there, so it's a bit dangerous."

"It's fine. Do any of these portals lead to Aldion?" Michael asked, but upon noticing the confused look on the woman's face, he let out a disappointed sigh.

If the Evangelists haven't flooded that world yet, what makes you so sure the people of this world would even know of it?

'Just thought it would be convenient, is all. Doesn't matter, though; I'll find it myself.'

Yeah, yeah, genius. Take a look at the map once you're done discussing stuff with them.

'Sure'. Michael agreed and returned his gaze to the woman.

For a few minutes, they discussed the portals, mostly in whispers to avoid angering the others.

Their sensitivity sounded like an interesting mystery, but he couldn't care enough to ask.

"And that's about it. Just go there and look where the mana is most unstable; you should find them pretty easily," the woman finished and packed up the map, putting it back into her bag.

Experience tales with empire

Michael thanked her before turning toward the man, who was still passed out on someone's table. Walking up to him, he cast a heal.

To his surprise, the heal felt more potent. Despite the skill indicating it only healed 30%, it seemed to have healed at least 60%.

The man quickly woke up with a groan and stared at Michael before turning to his party and meeting the woman's fierce glare.

"Sorry..." The man apologized. With a hesitant expression, he headed back to his party, while Michael went outside.

In the end, it worked out. He had managed to get a few leads. The fact that there were this many Tier 1s in a single place was comforting too.

It meant the city would be mostly fine, no matter what happened. That was unless a demon somehow managed to descend or a high-ranking Priest came along.

But that seemed highly unlikely. Besides the portals and slightly strong monsters, this continent had nothing else to offer.

After walking around for a bit and enjoying the scenery, he decided it was finally time to do what he came here to do: find Aldion.

Heading into an empty alleyway, he propelled himself into the air at a speed no one around him could match or see.

Above the clouds, he glanced at his map. Upon seeing its contents, his eyes widened.

'This is...'