My romp through the mall of the dead lasted most of the day. By the end the mall itself was a smouldering pile of rubble with a lot of giant footprints in it, and I was a lot richer. I'd found a highly ironic book on European holy magic, a similarly ironic book about death magic, and a spell book entitled Freedom of Movement. My Dungeons and Dragons senses tingling, I immediately opened the book and was given a prompt to learn the spell. I approved, the book dissolved motes of light and soaked into my skin, whereupon I knew the spell Freedom of Movement [1].
[You learned the spell: Freedom of Movement!]
[Freedom of Movement has been folded into Modular Spellcasting and Wards!]
Now I knew a spell to prevent myself from being restrained or escape restraint. It had some other handy bonuses like allowing me to swim faster and get away from people trying to wrestle me or put me in handcuffs (or a straightjacket), all going along with the name of the spell. It was on my walk back from playtime that I ran into trouble. A man in a black suit and tie wearing sunglasses appeared from a collapsing Instant Dungeon almost right in front of me, and I jumped back in alarm.
The man glanced at me and paused for a moment, then approached. Not being sure what to do, I did nothing as he got closer.
"Can I help you?" I asked, trying to sound casual.
"I believe you can. Your name is Wren Black, and I've been waiting for you."
"Really?" I asked nervously, not my panic warring with Gamer's Mind. "Whatever for?"
"My name is Hwan Sung-Gon. I'm here to offer you a job," he said reluctantly. I think my eyes must have nearly fallen out of my head at that. He quirked an eyebrow at me and said nothing for a few moments, before raising a hand with a strange ring-and-chain assembly to remove his sunglasses. His irises were completely black, leaving no distinction between them and the pupil. It was eerie, especially in the waning light of dusk.
"I want to know what your ability is," he said softly. "And if I can hire you to use it." I felt an Instant Dungeon rise around us.
"My ability?" I asked, mind racing. Revealing the Gamer ability would probably be the worst thing I could do, but I also couldn't risk an outright lie. If I lied to this man he would probably eat me or something equally horrible, and he obviously knew a little or he wouldn't have offered to hire me. I remember him disintegrating zombies and absorbing what was left in the comic, and I wanted no part of anything that might do the same to me. Even late-game Han Jee-Han didn't want to mess with the so-called "Black Devil."
"I'm adaptable, but mostly I do magic wards and anti-divination. Also healing. I'm surprised you found me," I said a little evasively. That really did cover everything I did but understated things quite a bit.
"Healing, you say? That means you're even more valuable, and the prize for whoever brings you in for the Abyss Auction is already substantial." I silently used [Observe] on the man when he paused, unsure whether I was supposed to say anything to that or not. The results terrified me. His level and stats were all question marks and there was a bright red skull next to his name. He took my silence as a cue to continue, "I was originally going to hire you to help hide someone. Your bounty has only gone up for almost six months, and I wanted the peace of mind that kind of stealth brings. Now I think we may need to come to another arrangement." He looked at me seriously, put his sunglasses back on, then turned toward the sunset.
"If you can completely heal the young woman I have in mind I will help to hide and protect you in addition to paying a large sum of money. If you cannot heal her completely, I will still pay you a large sum of money in exchange for wards similar to those around your residence. If you hadn't left those wards I never would have found you."
[Quest Alert! Heal Hwan Sung-Ah!]
[Quest Alert! Ward the Hideout!]
Help from the most badass of badasses that I knew about in exchange for a few days of spamming heal on his daughter Hwan Sung-Ah? I could live with that. Even if I failed he'd pay me to ward a hideout or two and send me on my way.
"If you'll give me a few minutes to pack, I can leave right away," I told him, and beckoned him toward my apartment. "Since you found me I'll need to find another place to hide anyway."
He gave me a slight nod of the head, then turned and walked behind me back to my home. The Instant Dungeon hadn't been very big, so we just walked out of it. I grabbed my backpack from the apartment, hurriedly packed what I thought I might need, locked the door, and nodded to the most intimidating man I'd ever met. "Lead the way."
He put his hand on my shoulder, sending a wave of cold through my body, then the shadows rose up and swallowed us. When they receded we were somewhere else. It looked like the entryway to a very large home for an elderly person, with an elevator chair on the stairs and everything. Sung-Gon led me to a what might have been a dining room at one point, but now contained a medical bed with a teen girl in it. I could sense the same kind of energy in her as my guide.
"Death magic. And a curse, at that," I said softly. The Sung-Gon whipped around in surprise, but and I stood still. "It's not something I see very often," I continued. It was true, I didn't see death curses very often. In fact, I'd never seen one. I really hoped he was buying this. "Do you want me to ward the house first, or try to heal her first?"
"Heal her. If you're capable, do it now," he demanded a bit impatiently. I simply used [Observe] on the girl to confirm my "diagnosis."
"This may take a while. I think I can reduce her symptoms quickly, but magic like this is deeply rooted. It take days or even weeks to completely purge it."
"How long would the wards take? And could you begin healing immediately after?"
"Not long. Depending on the size of the house I can have something rough set up in less than an hour, then start healing after a short break. I'd need access to each corner of the area to be warded at the ground level, the highest level accessible, and the lowest level accessible if there's anything below ground."
"And if you just warded the room?"
"Ten minutes or so, then a short break and I could start healing."
"Do that," he replied curtly, and pointedly didn't move. I shrugged my shoulders, closed my eyes, and called on [Modular Spellcasting and Wars] to cover the area with some hand-motions for flavor. Imprinting my intent to gather ambient energies from outside the home for power took a few minutes, and adding the familiar anti-[Scry] warding. Since I was presumably being paid a lot of money for this I also added an aura of [Pearl/Holy] but made sure to leave it deactivated. I made sure the entire thing was as strong as I could make it, using nearly all of my mana in the process.
When I lowered my arms and opened my eyes I saw Sung-Gon's eyes were wide behind his sunglasses. They were also gray instead of black, which made him look a little bit less like a demon came to take my soul and more like a secret service agent. I nodded to him, then sank to my knees on the spot to wait for my mana to refill. "What do you think? I added a little extra single your offer was so generous," I asked. "It might also help with the healing process."
He didn't reply, just looked around then left the room. Outside the door he looked back in, then stepped over the threshold of the wards several times looking concerned.
"This is a much more powerful ward than you used at your home," he said wearily. "I can't actually see inside it from the doorway unless I de-activate some of my own spells."
I simply nodded and stood up. My mana regeneration truly was ridiculous, as evidenced by the fact I was already full after only a couple of minutes.
"I'm ready to begin healing."
He nodded and stepped very close to the bed, presumably so he could murder me horribly if I did anything suspicious. I took a few extra deep breaths for effect, calling on [Pearl/Holy] each time to make my hands glow brighter. When it reached a point the strange guy might have actually needed the sunglasses, I laid one hand on the girl's brow and the other on her arm. I immediately felt resistance, but a faint screaming in the back of my mind. I was eternally grateful the sound wasn't coming from the girl, or the man next to me would have ended my existence.
The was definitely a curse here, and my spell was chipping away at it already. The problem was that the damn thing seemed to be actively fighting back. It was acting more like a possession or concentration spell than a set-and-forget. I mentally flicked on the [Pearl/Holy] portion of the ward and heard a gasp and a thump beside me. I didn't look, since I really didn't want to know if I'd just irked my benefactor and signed my death warrant. The curse itself was weaker under the ward effect but it was still pulling power from somewhere to fight me, so I decided to take another chance.
I carefully divided my concentration and prepared to use another ability in conjunction with [Pearl/Holy]. I took another deep breath, this time to steady my nerves more than for theatrical effect, and started [Gather Mystical Energy] targeted specifically at the curse.
The aura in my hands turned smoky for a moment and ice rushed through my veins. I didn't know exactly what the energy was, but I knew it was bad. It was deeply associated with death, shadow, the demonic, the void, or some other fancy shit that I couldn't be bothered with. All of those things were directly opposed to [Pearl/Holy]. The energy had to go somewhere, and there was way too much of it for me to hold and let my Gamer ability convert it to pure MP. If I tried to shove it into the wards it might corrupt them like it had tried to do my active spell, and the same could happen if I shunted the energy outside where the wards would collect it themselves.
I started channeling it into a single point between and above my hands, using my raw will to keep it there until I could figure out what to do with it. I'd driven a freezing cold from the girl's body in the first few seconds of my technique, and the curse itself was steadily weakening. The atmosphere in the room was also growing cold and oppressive the more of that horrible energy I diverted away from the curse. My focus narrowed, and the room itself disappeared from my senses. It was just me, the girl, the curse, and the energy it was pulling of nowhere. With supreme effort, I guided the darkness I'd torn away back toward the source. Wherever this energy was coming from, it was going to go back or I was going to die. Well, I hoped I wouldn't die if I failed. The building would probably explode or something, but I might survive. With herculean effort I forced the disgusting rotten energy back where it came from, and the world went silver-white.
I blinked stars from my eyes, and the screaming in my mind went from a whisper to a banshee-like wail before finally dying. I felt the curse crumble, and the light of [Pearl/Holy] began to wash away the fatigue and small injuries that remained. A minute later it was done, and I allowed the light to fade from my hands. The young woman on the bed had gained a bit of color already, and her breathing looked steady. Her forehead and arm felt damp under my hands, and when I pulled away wisps of silver-white light continued to dance across her body. To my senses she looked and felt completely different. Where before there a been a yawning void sucking away at her lifeforce and trying to fill it in with something foul, now there was only magic and ki with the light light of [Pearl/Holy] surrounding it in a protective barrier.
[Quest Complete! Heal Hwan Sung-Ah!]
[By figuring out a solution to a difficult problem, you raised your INT!]
[By making wise choices in a dire situation, you raised your WIS!]
[By doing something very risky and pulling through, you raised your LUK!]
[You gained a level!]
[You gained a level!]
[You gained a level!]
[You've obtained the title "Associate Light-Bringer!"]
"I can't decide if that was brilliant, stupid, or both. Your strategy was sound if the dispel worked, but you'd have utterly failed if it didn't," Washu's voice echoed. "Since it worked I'm going to go with brilliant and assume you planned the spell itself to be exactly what she needed." I nodded my head ever so slightly in acknowledgement of both points. I had indeed planned to use the spell to heal Sung-Ah in particular in addition to using it as a general positive-energy spell.
"You...you did it. You actually did it," Sung-Gon breathed. His eyes were wide with shock behind his glasses, and as the girl started to wake I stepped out of the room to give them a little privacy. I idly scrolled through and distributed my new ability points, noting with slightly wide eyes that my luck has gone up by five from the last message. I knew trying that with a newly-created healing spell (even one basically tailor-made for the problem) was risky, but five points? Really?
I also equipped my new title, since I'd forgotten to equip any of the others. If that escalated to full-on Light-Bringer I might be able to get some laughs out of messing with seers and prophets in the Buffy-verse. I wondered briefly if there was a way to acquire the Morning Star title, and a quest window popped up for it while Washu kind of laugh-snorted in my brain [2]. The description was actually helpful too, but it would be something I'd have to try and time near the end of my jump. Smiting a demon or some such at dawn in such a way that everyone could see it for several kilometers would be challenging enough, but doing so without being killed by the Disproportionate Retribution drawback? There was the alternative possibility of becoming an object of worship without being an actual god, which I thought was equally unlikely. That was going to be near-impossible. Then again the quest didn't say it had to be done in this jump, and that drawback would go away when I left.
Were they still in there? Yeah. I did my best to distract myself by repeatedly burning one hand with [Pyrokinesis] then healing it with [Pearl/Holy]. Evidently it took a lot of convincing on both their parts to determine that the girl really was fully healthy now, since I actually gained a few levels in both skills and [Fire Affinity] before Sung-Gon came out to get me. He didn't even blink at what I was doing, just beckoned for me to follow. He led me up to an office and indicated I should sit while he did the same. After occupying himself shuffling papers for a minute or so, he finally addressed me.
"What you did down there was a miracle for me. I had a healthy sum set aside to pay you, and I'd been working on healing Sung-Ah almost since the day she was born. I expected you to alleviate her symptoms at best, then get on with warding my home and leaving with the money and a warning you were being hunted. Whatever it was you did made my skin crawl, but my daughter is healthier than anyone in my family has been for generations. I don't know if you're secretly a priest, a demon in disguise, or a god and I don't care." He looked at me very seriously, his sunglasses on the desk and his hands folded in front of him. "You saved my daughter's life and might have ended a curse inflicted on my family hundreds of years ago. I will protect you with my life, as will those loyal to me. I will have a room prepared for you and your money gathered or transferred as you prefer. If you betray the trust you have earned, I will not only kill you but I will consume your very soul. Do you understand me?"
As the stoic man spoke I went from blushing and preening a little inside my head to slightly indignant, then back to preening, then settled on terrified for the briefest of moments before Gamer's Mind kicked the emotion back down to a level where it wouldn't impair my judgement. I'd been just a little afraid that he'd kill me or turn me in despite what I'd done, but even if he wasn't about to stab me in the back the praise had been unexpected. I nodded mutely and muttered my thanks for the hospitality, and he actually smiled back at me. It was a little creepy, like he wasn't used to doing it. That was understandable given that he'd had such a bleak task for so long.
"I also still want you to ward the rest of the house, but please leave out whatever it was you activated to help with the healing. Having that in one room is enough."
I blinked, remembering the part where that was actually supposed to be getting paid for in the first place.
"Yes sir. I can start as soon as someone is available to give me to tour," I replied. An indecipherable look passed over his face so briefly I almost missed it. Surprise, maybe? Suspicious? I really couldn't tell.
"I'll show you around after we discuss payment details, then. Give me a moment." He pulled out a cell phone and instructed someone to prepare a room on the second floor, then passed me one of the pieces of paper he'd been looking at earlier. My eyes bugged out at the number, and I started counting zeroes. Five hundred million won. That was...something like five hundred thousand dollars? For an afternoon's work warding? Holy fuck. When I looked back up at him he simply asked me how I'd like to be paid. It took me a moment to form a reply, and that turned into me verbally dumping what remained of my plans on the man instead of giving him a simple reply.
"I don't actually have a regular account since I closed everything when I found out I might be targeted by people from the Abyss. The only thing I do have is a heavily enchanted debit card I got for a job, and I've never touched the funds on it. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be able to purchase things from the auction without actually giving them my information, since I'll be staying here. Would that be doable? I just need food, water, and a place to sleep and work. Ideally I'd be able to get some training and access to a more stable time-dilated... illusion barrier, I think they're called. Mine work but they start to get funny after a while. The last one I made ended up looking like an American mall on the inside."
His reply was a little delayed, but he addressed everything I'd said. "Your daily needs will be provided for here at my expense, and I can order things for you so long as you don't mind my knowing what they are. As for training and a more reliable illusion barrier, I know someone who would allow you to use their facilities and instruct you. They would need to be paid in money or services, but they're very good and could keep you safe while you're with them. Transport will be an issue though." He seemed to be talking to himself at the end there, and gave me a thoughtful look. "You will need to learn teleportation."
My eyes gleamed. I missed teleportation so much. Realizing he was waiting for a reply I told him I could buy a book or something, but he waved me off.
"No. I will teach you. What you've done for me is worth far more than you're asking for, and I do not want to be in anyone's debt."
"I'll try not to take advantage, but anything you'd be willing to teach me would be welcome."
We talked for a bit more, hashing out details of what I had and what I needed as far as personal items then going over the rules of the house. Another man in the same style of black suit, tie, and sunglasses showed me to my room. This one had a pistol and an earpiece, though.