Free Web NovelChapter 98: Chapter 97 - Restoration
Point-of-View: Neo Cronje
———————————————————————————
"Well, we’re finally done, but, uh...I’d be hard-pressed to call this mission a success," I sighed, sitting down wearily.
"Indeed, I am completely and utterly exhausted...look, the sun’s starting to come up," Added Elise with a tired groan.
"The Monsters are finally gone, but look at all the collateral damage and casualties...," Remarked Aurora with a grimace.
"The structural damage to the streets and buildings is quite severe, but can always be repaired. However, the same cannot be said of the people...far too many died tonight," Frowned Elise, her eyes trembling with frustration.
Ambulance and police sirens were blaring in the distance from every direction, the Monsters having caused several casualties by the time we finally exterminated them all.
I can only imagine what the footage on social media looks like...people seeming to get crushed and stomped to death by invisible forces, and the three of us, plus the Category 1s under Elise’s command, running around using our powers.
After we finished killing all the Monsters that showed up, I used my portals to rendezvous with the other two, and we were currently on a rooftop of a random apartment building, completely exhausted.
Well, Aurora didn’t look too tired physically, but based on her expression, it’s clear that she’s had enough too.
"Hey, shall we leave now? We probably should before we’re spotted, right?" She spoke up as she stretched her arms up with a stifled yawn.
"Yeah, there’s no reason to stick around anymore. Let’s go back," I sighed in response, as I opened a portal.
"Wait, could you please drop me off at my hideout first?" Requested Elise sheepishly.
"Oh...I forgot that you were here for a moment," I responded in surprise.
"Excusè moi? That’s so rude," She huffed with a glare.
"Alright, fine, I’ll drop you off. What are the coordinates? I haven’t been there in a while, so I don’t remember."
"How should I know something like that!? Wait, I’ll ask someone who’s there right now to send the coordinates," She replied, as she took out her phone and texted someone.
A few seconds later, her phone dinged as she got a reply, before opening the message and pointing the screen at my face.
"Okay, got it," I nodded after a brief pause, before opening a portal and gesturing to it, "Here, go on."
"Merci beaucoup...," She responded dryly, before giving Aurora a wave, "Nice meeting you, Aurora, see you later!"
"Oh, uh...sure, bye," She waved back.
As Elise left, I shut the portal, before opening another one, linked to the hideout in Antarctica...
"Ready to go?"
"You bet I am, I’m beat," She sighed in response, dragging her feet and walking through the portal, before I followed in after her and shut the portal behind me as I walked out into the base. frёewebnoѵēl.com
She then headed straight for her room with a sleepy yawn, rubbing the corner of her left eye and she walked away.
I’d like nothing more to head to my place and get some much-needed sleep myself, but first, I have to go report what happened to the higher ups. Yay.
I’m sure they could get the gist of it just by going on social media and scrolling a bit, but no, they’re all about the formalities. Stupid old farts. Wish I could just tell them off like Inoka did, but they’ll only make my life harder if I piss them off.
Also, in addition to my current exhaustion, the hole in my right forearm still hurts like crazy and I can’t move my fingers or hand either, so I’m really not in the best of moods right now. I should probably get it healed before I go report how the mission went...
———————————————————————————
Point-of-View: Inoka Fonseka
———————————————————————————
Hm? I just heard one of the other doors open and then shut...is Aurora back?
The others and I had been glued to various social media sites a couple of hours ago, and while there were hundreds of clips uploaded from all over the world, it was footage from Paris that was going the most viral.
Zoraiz was kinda disappointed that the Eiffel tower remained intact, except for a few dents by the base. Not gonna lie, I kinda thought that it would have been pretty cool to see Aurora use it as a weapon too.
I then sat up as I heard a knock on my door, before going over and unlocking it, and then opening it. Huh? Is this a dream...?
"Again? How is this real? Who are you and what have you done with the real Neo? Because you’re definitely the better version," I greeted him in surprise.
He knocked on the door again...is he okay?
"Ha ha. I need some help. Healing, to be specific," He replied wearily, as he held up his right arm.
"Woah, holy-...! There’s a hole in your arm!" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"Huh, that might be pretty useful for masterba-...I mean, I guess you wanted me to heal it?" I quickly corrected myself.
"If you don’t mind, yes. And I’ll ignore what you almost said."
"Sure, I don’t mind healing you...but, uh, aren’t there people more proficient with the Light Skill than I am?" I pointed out.
"Oh, actually, you’re pretty high level when it comes to the healing techniques," He informed me.
"Nice, way to go, me. I was half-decent at biology in school, and I studied back up on the basics in trying to figure out Dispel, thought it might help...it didn’t with that technique, but refreshing my memory with basic biology really helped with the healing techniques," I remarked, as I gestured to him to sit down.
Actually, there’s one I’ve been working on that isn’t in the book of Light Skill techniques that I was given. In the book, none of the listed Light Skill healing techniques can do stuff like regrow limbs or heal seriously fatal injuries, at best they can heal deep cuts or wounds that haven’t hit any vital spots.
However, while I was training with her, Liling mentioned that a couple of Light Skill users in the past were able to heal deadly injuries and regrow severed body parts, some even able to heal completely unknown illnesses, which is incredible.
I’m not good at medicinal or chemistry stuff, so that’s probably beyond me. But I’m pretty good at human biology...actually, that was one of the only biology Chapters that I was actually good at. That, and reproduction. Plant biology was easily the Chapter I was worst at. It was just so boring.
"Just heal this as best you can, I’m probably stuck with this hole in my arm for good, though," Sighed Neo in resignation.
I’m really not sure if this’ll actually work since I’ve never tried it on an actual living target before, so I won’t give him hope until I’m sure... fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Okay, here goes...," I remarked, as I activated the technique, my palm over the injury.
Yeah, it’s a lot different when operating on an actual target instead of just visualizing and getting a feel for it by guessing...hm, okay, looks like I didn’t get the technique perfectly right. But I was close...and I can adjust.
This is kinda tricky...in that case, I’ll use Synchronicity, a technique that lets me feel what someone else is feeling physically. Woah, that hurts...! Holy hell, that hurts like crazy!
It hurts...but this is working, I’m starting to figure it out! I really want to use a technique called Alleviate on him, which is basically a pain-killer technique, but if I use that, then I won’t be able to tell how much I need to tweak my technique anymore. It’s almost ready, just need to adjust it a little bit more...
"Hey, the Healing technique shouldn’t take this long, what are you-...huh? Wait, what is this technique? It feels different...," Remarked Neo is surprise, as I finally finished adjusting the technique and began.
"Quiet, I’m trying to focus...it’s a new technique I came up with, and this is my first time using it, so it’s not perfect yet," I replied, feeling a sense of triumph as the hole began to slowly close.
"Uh, hold on, are you seriously experimenting on me right n-...w-woah, that feels so disconcerting! No way, is this...? Is...is my bone and flesh actually growing back!?" He exclaimed in disbelief.
"Hey, be quiet, you’re upsetting my concentration!" I hissed indignantly.
"O-oh, uh, right."
It’s a bit slow, but it’s working...I can probably do this faster once I get more used to it. I really need to concentrate and focus like crazy though, the level of visualization required to pull this is off is insane.
Okay, it’s almost fully closed up now...a little bit more and I can switch to the much easier Healing technique, which doesn’t require even close to as complex a visualization process.
Man, this is so methodical and tedious, I feel like I might go legitimately crazy if I keep it up for too long. Almost there...aaand, it’s done! I’ve fully closed up the wound, though his skin is still a bit raw...Healing is more than enough to fix that though.
"Okay, I’m done," I grinned triumphantly, as I slapped the now-healed wound and stood up.
"Wha-...how did you...? This is...this is incredible, it feels as good as new, as if the injury never even happened...," He muttered, barely able to get the words out properly.
"Pretty cool, huh? I call it Restoration, but only because Regeneration is already taken, as in the healing ability of Vampires. Honestly, the technique’s kind of a pain to pull off since I have to concentrate like a madman, but I managed-," I began smugly.
"Do you have any idea what you’ve just done!? This is potentially historic...how did you do this!?" He suddenly exclaimed, as he grabbed my shoulders with a wide-eyed look on his face.
"Well, honestly, it was a lot of trial and error. You know how, when you master a new technique, you can kinda tell what it does when you activate it? It was something like that...though there were several small issues that I had to tweak and adjust, healing your injury really helped me figure it out. You know, I think I can make some real progress if I had some, like, test subjects. Not people, obviously, maybe some small lizards or something? Definitely not any rodents, no way am I touching a rat or whatever! Frogs are a huge nope from me too, and so are-."
"Inoka...I don’t think you’re comprehending how incredible this is. This is absolutely revolutionary!" He cut me off, his eyes practically sparkling.
Huh...when given such straightforward and gushing praise like this, I really don’t know how to respond...
"Anyway, uh, do you feel tired? If I’m right about how this works, then the target’s stamina should take a hit. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t that big an injury?" I wondered with a frown.
"Huh, now that you mention it, I do feel more sleepy than I did before...but that’s a very minor, neglible side effect. I can properly move my hand and fingers again too, this is amazing! Well, I have to go report to the higher ups, but seriously, thank you. I mean it."
And with that, he opened up a portal and left.
As for me, I felt really good...over the years, I’ve lost my self-confidence and pride, I may stand up for myself and all that, but the truth is, for years now, I’ve had a really negative opinion of myself.
I wouldn’t say I hate myself, that’s not quite it...in fact, I’d say that I like myself. But just because I like myself doesn’t mean that I can’t also think of myself poorly.
But now, for the first time in a long time, I feel...proud of myself. I did something amazing, and all by myself too...
I’ve grown pretty accustomed to self-deprecating myself, even when I say stuff like ’I’m pretty awesome’ or whatever over things like beating someone at a game or something, in my head, that’s nothing more than sarcastic self-deprecation.
So, yeah, this feeling I’m experiencing right now, genuine, unironic pride in myself over something I’ve accomplished...it feels really good, like something I’d lost has been restored. Aw, crap, I think I’m gonna cry...
_____________________________________________
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!
Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.
Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming Chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:
https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP
