Healing System

'How long have I been doing this?' Michael sighed in annoyance.

Frog monsters piled upon each other, their corpses littering the ground, yet they showed no signs of stopping.

He cast a shield, parrying the incoming tongue before striking back, cleaving tens of frog monsters in two.

It seemed like an endless cycle. Kill one, two appear; kill two, three appear.

And by now, there were over 300 of these frog monsters coming straight at him, and being killed all the same.

His previous amusement had long vanished, replaced by sheer disappointment at the unfolding chaos.

However, just as he thought this would continue for God knows how long, the last batch he killed—consisting of a grand total of 300 frog monsters—did not spawn any more after them.

'Is it finally over?' Michael looked around, making sure his assumption was correct.

And it was. The corpses that had been strewn around mere moments ago started dissipating, replaced by a thick mist that enveloped his entire surroundings.

He didn't think much of it at first, but the mist soon began exuding some sort of mana.

Surprisingly, whatever that mana was, it disturbed his senses, causing him to slightly lose his balance for a moment.

'Some kind of hallucinogen...? System, why does it work on me?' Michael took a few weary steps back to where there was the least amount of mist.

It acts as both a hallucinogen and a mental magic attack. Who knew the Discipline skill could negate it, though?

'I see...' He glanced around, spotting an opening a couple of hundred meters away.

Michael wasted no time making his way there. But the moment he thought he was finally safe, his vision darkened.

For a moment, he thought he'd been teleported, but the mist still loomed behind him. Turning around, he could see the area he'd just left.

Glancing around, he noticed the area was a void devoid of light.

Even after casting his light, the darkness persisted.

However, as he observed his surroundings, he saw the mist slowly engulf the area until barely anything was left; even the weird sky was completely dark now.

Michael understood that aside from the void-like room, there wasn't any other way to go. Therefore, he stayed.

Moments later, he watched as the area he'd just been in began to shatter, the fragments seemingly flying all around and even past him.

As that happened, the previously void-like room grew more colorful, eventually resembling an ocean.

His confusion was short-lived, as in the next moment, he was dropped into the ocean.

But just before he hit the water, he caught himself by summoning his wings and, with a flap, made some distance between him and whatever lurked in the depths.

His senses told him someone—or something—was there, radiating an immense amount of power.

Hm? Oh. Give me a moment, the system's voice rang out, confusing him further.

'What?' Michael called out. However, in the very next moment, a system notification appeared.

[Trials of the Golden Dragon Detected: Initializing...]

-Ding

[Trials of the Golden Dragon | Scenario 2: Find the source of the disruption]

As the system notifications appeared, a golden line shot out of his body, pointing straight down into the ocean.

'I have to go down, huh...' Michael mused before floating down and asking the system, 'So these trials—do they have any correlation to you?'

Not that I am aware of. I've met dragons before; can't say I got along with them.

'Sounds accurate.' He snickered and hovered just above the water.

Before long, Michael used a miniature shield to cover his head, acting like some sort of diving helmet.

Air wasn't a concern as long as his mana sustained him.

Without hesitation, he dipped his foot in the water, followed by the rest of his body.

'Fucking cold,' Michael exclaimed, feeling the cold despite his high tolerance against it. He began sinking deeper, using his wings to navigate and keep steady.

The water felt unusual—perhaps because he hadn't been in the ocean for so long, but likely because of other factors.

No, it's 50% mana, 50% water, the system clarified.

'Yeah, that makes sense.' He chuckled, spreading out a few swords of light to illuminate his surroundings.

But as the swords flew farther, they revealed only darkness, followed by a dim light fading into the distance.

Feeling uneasy, Michael halted. 'Can you open up the map?'

I could, but the sheer size of this place wouldn't help much. Even if there was a monster or some sort of being down there, I wouldn't be able to pick them up.

'Huh? Is it that big?' Michael tilted his head and tried scanning the ocean, expanding his mana in all directions. But no limit was seen.

Yeah, but I think I know what you're supposed to be looking for.

'And that is?'

A secret. Find it yourself. The only hint I'll give you is that you've seen it before.

'Seen it? Way to give me a hint.' Michael scoffed, but the clue wasn't exactly bad.

The only other time he'd seen something as ominous as this ocean and its atmosphere was when he first went to meet Amanda.

That was where he saw the massive octopus. If the system wanted him to meet it, then it didn't spell good news.

After all, it had tried to kill him.

Nonetheless, Michael dove deeper until finally, movement caught his eye not too far away. Your next read is at empire

It seemed like a massive fish at first glance, though its true form was unclear.

The only way to find out was to dive even deeper.

But the moment he reached a certain depth, a fierce pressure began assaulting him, as though he were at the bottom of the ocean.

And before he knew it, a pair of monsters arrived, looking like some sort of humanoid fish. Their strength, however, was merely Tier 1.

Michael stood by, ensuring they were indeed hostile, and before long, one of them sent out a water ball directly at him—which he simply blocked.

Immediately, both their heads were pierced, their bodies slowly floating downward instead of upward.

Was it a good idea to kill the residents of the place you were visiting? the system remarked, and he simply shrugged in response.

"They attacked first."

Not long after, another batch arrived, followed by yet another... and another. It seemed like the same cycle from before would continue; however, after roughly the tenth batch, they stopped coming.

Killing them all barely sucked up any of his mana—it was regenerating even faster than he was using it.

Just as it seemed all the annoyances were gone, small cracks began to appear on his shield—the same one that let him breathe underwater.

Michael attempted to infuse it with much more mana to keep it from breaking apart, but it seemed inevitable.

Even as he added multiple layers to the shield, the cracks spread faster.

And in the very next moment, a dull sound resounded, followed by a high-pitched ringing in his ears—the source of what broke his shield.

Slowly, his hearing faded, but the ringing noise persisted, growing louder.

This continued until the system's urgent voice resounded: Try communicating with it; if it doesn't work, use Heavenly Judgment. That screaming lunch bastard is a bit angry.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om