The sun had set and the healing tent Nate had been assigned to was in utter chaos. In the few spare moments he’d had to look over the tent and its occupants, he had thought it looked more like a slaughterhouse. Only with more screaming. The initial assault on the empowering enchantments had gone about as well as had been expected, and in his heart, Nate felt a small amount of guilt. The barrier bracers he had created for Asmuisil had been on clear display and while they may not have been the only factor at play, they had definitely been a factor. The conscripts had thrown themselves against the forces of Asmuisil and had come away bloodied. The worst of those who had survived were decorating the hundred or so beds of the tent while those with less dire injuries waited outside, or in some cases, returned to the conscripts camp to pour alcohol and apply other simple remedies to their wounds.

  Out of a feeling of guilt, he intended to cloak himself in illusion later and stroll through the conscripts’ camp. He could conceal his mana usage and perform some small amount of healing with his mana stockpile without revealing just how much mana he had to work with. That was for later. For now, he was a healer for the Bright Army, and he had a job to do. That job was mostly using his Feathers of Renewal to stabilize victims long enough for a real healer to get to them.

  That didn’t mean he was doing nothing, however. Between Conceptual Insight and Farsight of the Runic Artist he was observing the healers as they cast their healing spells. The spells on display were by far the most complex shapes he had yet seen formed from mana. He surmised that Magic Control was the core Stat required for any healing Class that utilised spells rather than Skills. Getting to observe them meant getting to see the spell structures they made use of and the Sigils within. Perhaps others would attempt to hide such things, but the healers had their hands full. Besides, who would expect anyone to be learning spells in this absolute mess. He had already quietly filed away two such spells. One seemed to be focused on mending bone, so, in his usual naming style, he had called it Bone Mending. The second seemed to stimulate the body to produce more blood, ergo, he was calling it Produce Blood. Both seemed to be Uncommon tier, but he was purely basing that on the amount of mana used and the spell structure complexity.

  Unfortunately, the healers seemed to have orders to focus on stabilising those they could and letting anyone too wounded succumb to their wounds. The threshold seemed based on the amount of mana required to save the individual, and every few minutes another conscript died and was carried from the tent. Nate tried to tune out the crying and lamentations, but it was almost impossible unless he wanted to pull back his sphere of awareness. His paranoia said no, even as his heart demanded a reprieve.

  “Will I live?” asked the man lying on the cot he stood next to, distracting him.

  Nate glanced from the Feather of Renewal on the man's chest, down to the remains of the man's mangled left arm. His runecrafted item was keeping the arm from bleeding, but it could do nothing to fully restore the limb. Nate suspected he could, though. The man would live, regardless of any further intervention by Nate, but he would likely never use the arm again. Such a restoration was possible, but, how much would he be charged for it? The injured conscript would be forced to use the mana and coin he was paid to join the army just to see himself restored. That was if he still had the mana, and hadn’t absorbed it to try and slowly advance himself.

  Nate considered his options for a moment. Healing the man was a risk. But not healing the man was a crime against himself. His moral compass told him he could help, so he should help. He closed his eyes, knowing that what he was about to do was foolish, yet doing it anyway. He couldn’t do something for everyone, but he could help a few. Reaching into his Runic Gallery, he tapped into one of the mana gems within. Spinning up a runic array within himself, he combined the Sigils for Mana and Obfuscation to hide his use of mana. The second runic array he created utilised Illusion, Soul, Sound, and Obfuscation to visibly conceal the conscript’s arm and the scream that Nate knew was coming. The third and final runic array combined his Master-tier Life and Soul Sigils.

  The man immediately started screaming and thrashing as Nate’s mana flowed into the final runic array and took hold within the conscript’s arm. With the soul energy as a template, the life portion of the runic array, guided by Nate’s intent, rebuilt the arm. Bones slid back into place, flesh pulled itself back together and within the arm itself Nate could feel blood beginning to flow more evenly once more. It took less than ten excruciating seconds, but the healing was done. No new notifications appeared, but then, he hadn’t done anything new. Just more of the same.

  The conscript looked up at him, fear and wonder in the man’s eyes. The fear was quickly replaced by gratitude and the conscript made to speak, stopping as Nate gave a quick but firm shake of his head, his blond hair flicking about with the motion. He didn’t need more attention drawn to him. The conscript nodded in understanding and Nate released the runic arrays within himself, reaching down to collect the Feather of Renewal before nodding his head toward the tent's entrance. The man understood his intent, bobbing his head again in thanks before quickly leaving the tent. Before ten seconds had passed, a new body filled the cot and Nate moved on to find someone else who could use a Feather of Renewal to stabilize them.

  That was when everything went to shit. The ground shook as an explosion went off somewhere within the camp. Nate dashed for the tent entrance, stepping outside to try and see what was going on, even as he threw his farsight sphere of awareness ahead of him in the direction of the explosion. His farsight sphere got their first, and he spotted two individuals that he presumed were Platinums doing battle in a small crater. That would have been the end of it for him, except that he sensed Kiri nearby. His sister was standing over the unconscious form of some man, facing down five individuals in a smattering of armour and other accoutrement. With a thought, he activated Conceptual Spatial Manipulation, forcing the space between him and his sister to become one, as he moved without taking a step. The next moment he was standing next to his sister, already forming a runic array as he increased the flow of mana to his Legendary Barrier Bracer.

  “Just hand over the badge. It’s five against one. You’re already beaten,” muttered one of the women.

  Now that he was present he could see everything more clearly. There were three dead Etruans on the ground nearby. Opposite Kiri stood three women and two men, all slightly paler than the Etruans Nate had met. Asmuisillans was his guess. He noted the weapons to try and get a sense of their Classes. Sword and shield, two swords, spear, bow and enchanted bracers — four warriors and a mage. The only Guild badges present were the ones he and Kiri wore, which meant that these five wouldn’t hold back if truly pressed. Nate wasn’t interested in taking it slowly and he wanted to know exactly what they were getting themselves into. Reaching for his mana, he flooded it into Conceptual Insight, shattering the Rare-tier wards their enemies were using to veil themselves.

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  “All Epics, in their seventies, Partial Embodiments,” he whispered to Kiri.

  “Set it up beneath the mage,” he sent mentally to Frick.

  Frick’s answering cackle was proof the little goblin knew what he wanted.

  Kiri nodded her understanding, her eyes going hard and a twitch on her face the sign of a smile suppressed. He’d just told her that this was a fight they could take.

  “We don’t have time for this!” yelled a woman’s voice from behind their opponents.

  A pale woman with black hair that floated in the air as though she was swimming through water flew across the area. Nate sensed the Concept of Wind strongly and prepared to improve his barrier when the woman was forced back by a stream of green liquid. The wind barrier protecting the Platinum, as Nate assessed the mage to be, scattered the liquid attack across the area. Nate expanded his barrier to protect Kiri and the man she was guarding, the acid rain falling across the entire battle zone. He frowned as he felt far more mana drained from his barrier than expected and was reminded just how much he disliked acid-based attacks. The smell of burning grass and fabric filled the area as Nate and Kiri’s opponents scattered, avoiding the worst of it. Their mage blasted their entire team with water before turning back towards them. Without another word, the five Asmuisillans attacked.

  Nate slid to the left, covering the fallen officer as Kiri dashed forward to meet them and he settled in to support his sister. Ten faint blue and white arms grew from Kiri’s back and shoulders in an instant. The next moment her Soul Tethered arms were holding nine identical daggers with one exception. Nate knew that technically there were two exceptions, but his sister was clearly concealing the Legendary dagger he had made for her. Then she started to dance.

  It was easy to forget that his sister, for all her joy in battle and full frontal approach to most fights, was in fact capable of a far more controlled approach to fighting. Her tutelage under Deverell and the Royal University showed as she held off three of the five combatants. He knew she could handle more, but the bow-wielder and mage had peeled off and clearly wanted to get at the logistics officer behind Nate. They might have succeeded then and there if not for Nate’s Sphere of Awareness. The mana usage was subtle and could’ve been easily lost in the battle, but the small amount of water slowly pulling the spatial storage ring off the unconscious officer's finger was not. With a flicker of Conceptual Spatial Manipulation, Nate teleported the spatial storage artifact to his hand and showed it to his opponents, before casually tucking it inside his robe.

  During that time, he sensed Kiri score cuts on two of her opponents, only the shield wielder managing to avoid bleeding. Nate could already feel the soul energy being drained from them as his sister sped up. She was still holding back, but not by much.

  As his two opponents began their attack, Nate began improving his defences. He could kill his opponents, given enough time, but he really didn’t want to. Killing people was something he would do if forced, but so long as they weren’t forcing the issue, neither would he.

  His opinion was immediately reversed as the first arrow nearly took him in the head. He’d strengthened the barrier surrounding him at the last second, tapping into the Sigil of Reinforcement on his Legendary bracer. He added the Water Sigil a moment later, but used Conceptual Runic Mastery to add Intents to both strengthen the effect as well as keep the Sigils separated. He wanted a Reinforced Barrier with added protections against Water — not a Reinforced Water Barrier.

  Cutting whips of water assaulted him as a second arrow took flight and he started to take his opponents seriously. They had gone for the kill, despite his badge. Some might say he couldn’t fault them, but he did. He faulted them a great deal. Wielding his Skills as he started forming two runic arrays, he redirected an arrow through teleportation to try and shoot the Water Mage. A barrier of water swept it aside but it bought him the second he needed.

  Without the need to actually protect the logistics officer, he was free to move, and move he did. Teleporting behind his opponents, he wasn’t fast enough to catch the archer unprepared, another arrow crashing into his barrier with a ridiculous amount of force and reducing the legendary item’s mana reserves to below half. But the archer wasn’t his target. His runic array drew on Sigils within his robe, making it both faster and easier to control, since he didn’t need to create the Sigils with mana and could simply copy them into the rune. Liquid, Flow and Control combined together, grabbing the still smoking acid throughout the area and drawing it like a flying river towards Nate before he launched it at the Water Mage. A water barrier flickered up to protect the woman, but Frick didn’t need to be told now was the moment. The Mana Exclusion runic array in the ground beneath the mage burst forth for a single second — long enough to disrupt the water barrier spell.

  Nate consciously shut out the woman's screams as the mage fell to the ground, tearing at her chest. He started forming his Gravity Control rune when a blast of wind came from behind him. It had been so quick he hadn’t even sensed it before he was bodily lifted off the ground and thrown through a nearby tent. Unharmed, he used Conceptual Spatial Manipulation to return himself to his feet by shifting the vectors as he used his Skill. Kiri was nearby and had managed to catch herself with her tethered arms, looking somewhat like a spider as she hung in the air. Bereft of a barrier like himself, she was covered in lacerations that were closing at a visible rate. In the spot she had vacated, her three opponents remained, the dual-sword wielder covered in blood while the other two looked only mildly better.

  The Platinum Wind Mage landed amongst the team of Golds, and with a glare for Nate and Kiri, launched herself into the sky with a gale of wind that carried the Golds behind her. Nate kept an eye on them till he was sure the Asmuissilians were making their way back to their own army.

  Looking at Kiri, now fully healed, he smiled at his sister who flashed a grin back at him, letting herself drop back to the ground as her Tethered Arms vanished, along with her small armoury of daggers.

  Before they could start talking, a number of the Swords rushed into the area, escorting Princess Morgane who was dressed for battle. Conceptual Insight didn’t react and he wondered what was going on. Why did the Royal sometimes hum with mana, and others not?

  Nate followed Morgane's gaze, seeing how she focused on the unconscious logistics officer, as a stately older woman waltzed onto the scene, dressed in finery.

  “So, they have managed to steal two out of our three logistic officer stockpiles,” lamented the Princess with a sigh.

  “I drove off their Platinum, your Highness, but it seems their team of Golds were too much for the Guild members,” replied the Noble, divesting herself of any responsibility.

  That suited Nate just fine. If she wanted no part of their losses then she could do without a share of their victories. Reaching into his robe, he pulled out the spatial storage ring.

  “Just one, your Highness. Kiri and I managed to prevent them from stealing this storage device.”

  Perhaps it would have been better if he had maintained a straight-face, but when Kiri grinned he couldn’t help but join in. The banked fury on the Noble’s face was beautiful to behold, especially contrasted with the relief showing on Morgane’s.

  “Dine with me tonight, Nathaniel?” she asked politely. He didn’t know why she wasn’t asking Kiri as well, but he couldn’t really say no. Nodding his head, he acquiesced to the Royal’s request, digging the hole he found himself in just a little deeper.

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