Chapter 17

  Theo got up, noticed the music was gone, and headed towards the downed skeletons. As he got close, all the gear the skeletons wore started to dissipate into a magic mist and coalesce into a sphere of multicolored mana. At the same time, a wooden chest began to rise out of the ground in front of the gate to the castle district. As the chest entirely arose, the mana ball shot into the chest.

  “What the hell was that about?” Theo thought

  Opening the chest, there are manna potions and health potions to refill his bandolier. There was also a ring that he picked up. Theo used the skill Inspect on the ring,

  This ring is a minor storage ring. It has 10 slots and can store items. Similar items can be stacked up to 10 times in a slot.

  “That will be useful,” Theo thought.

  Theo directed mana towards it. Being connected to it was weird because the other connections, like the sword cane or the tablet, gave him a sense of where they were. The storage ring felt muted.

  “I guess this is the difference between a bound item and a soul-bound item,” Theo thought. Theo finally decided to open up his notifications.

  Battle Healer Lv. 20 to 22

  Human F-Grade Lv. 22 to 23

  Healing Touch, Common, master 0 to 1

  Cleanse, Common, master 1 to 2

  Target Healing, Common, Journeyman 5 to 6

  Sword Mastery, Common, master 0 to 1

  Spectral Guard, Journeyman 5 to 6

  Physical Resistance, Common, master 6 to 7

  Theo put the three free points into perception.

  Theodore Thompson

  Race: Human F-Grade Lv. 23

  Class: Battle Healer Lv. 22

  Profession: Warden Lv. 25

  Health: 690/690

  Mana: 860/860

  Stamina: 680/680

  Stats:

  Vitality: 70

  Strength: 65

  Endurance: 71

  Agility: 67

  Intelligence: 89

  Wisdom: 79

  Willpower: 104

  Perception: 52

  Free Points: 0

  Class Skills:

  Healing Touch, Common, master 1

  Cleanse, Common, Master 1

  Target Healing, Common, Journeyman 6

  Healers Intuition, Common, Novice 0

  Clean Common, novice 1

  Sword Mastery, Common, master 1

  Club Mastery, Common, Journeyman 2

  profession skills

  Warden’s Knowledge, N/A: Warden Site, Common, Novice 0: Universal translator, N/A: Spectral Guard, Journeyman 6: Warden’s suggestion, Journeyman 4, Novice 9: Warden's Command, Common, Novice 4: Warden’s Key, Common, Novice 0: Summon Handcuffs, Common, Novice 7

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  General Skills:

  Inspect, Common, Novice 1

  Bonded Skills:

  Respond and Chains of Gehenna

  Titles: Warden of Gehenna

  Bloodline Skills:

  Mental Resistance, Common, Journeyman 0

  Physical Resistance, Common, Master 7

  Soul Resistance, Common, Journeyman 0

  Bloodline: Fortitude

  Bonds:

  Galaxy Trade Store tablet, Chains of Gehenna, the Prison Gehenna, Sword Cane Rare

  Theo decided to go into the church, walking past the pews and the statue of the system, and then he entered the living quarters of the clergy. He grabbed a table and a couple of chairs, then decided to go back to the gate to the castle district. The gate itself was an ornate engraved metal with runes or random markings on it. It was large enough for two horse-drawn carriages to enter without any problem. Theo grabbed one of the doors to try to open it, and as he touched the gate, a system notification popped up in his mind.

  Ding

  Would you like the last district to be uniquely suited to help you grow? The difficulty will increase if you do, and the new challenge will help you with your bloodline, giving you more points at the end of the tutorial. Yes or no?

  “If I do this, it will be a pain in the ass. My bloodline deals with fortitude, both mental and physical, which means raising it is going to hurt. But if I suffer now, then I won’t suffer or get caught off guard in future fights that will have actual consequences if I lose or get sent off to Gehenna. All right, let’s do this,” Theo thought.

  Theo mentally hit yes.

  Theo got another notification.

  Ding

  It will take 24 hours to change the monsters in the scenario.

  With that, Theo headed back to the inn in the second district. After the 20-minute-long walk that felt like hours because of how mentally drained Theo was, he entered the inn, mumbled a greeting and a good night to the Host, and went straight to bed. Waking up, Theo finished his morning routine and spent the morning relaxing and chatting with the host. Later that day, Theo went back to the gate that separates the second district from the third district. Theo opened up one of the rune-engraved gate doors, and it slid easily, like it had just been oiled yesterday. An even thicker wave of miasma, which felt like it had the consistency of molasses, hit Theo. He felt uncomfortable but was able to walk through it. As he walked through, he could see nothing, for the miasma was thick and concentrated.

  Theo used the storage ring, pulled out a chair, and sat in the middle of the entrance to the castle district, focusing on his body by using Healing Touch and Cleanse. At the same time, the miasma flowed from the castle district to the noble/merchant quarter district. At this point, his physical resistance was high enough that he did not feel any discomfort as the concentrated miasma flowed over him. Theo dived into himself and looked and felt what the miasma, corruption, and rot were doing to his body. Using his healing skills to counteract it, time flew by as he worked on understanding the necromantic energies and how to counteract them as the flood of miasma became a trickle, then returned to equilibrium in the other districts. Putting the chair back into the storage ring, Theo looked at his notifications.

  Healing Touch, Common, Master 1 to 3

  Cleanse, Common, Master 1 to 3

  Physical Resistance, Common, Master 7 to 8

  Theo was able to see, and before him lay a giant castle. In the center of the castle, there was a tower from which miasma fell like a waterfall, draping the rest of the castle in haze.

  “I bet that is where the guardian is,” Theo thought.

  As usual, the inn was on his right after the gate. Past that, open grounds extended in both directions from the entrance. Theo walked into the inn and sat at the bar.

  “So, can you tell me what enemies I’ll be facing?” Theo asked.

  “Banshees and lesser vampires,” the host said.

  “Why those particular types of undead?” Theo asked.

  “They will help you with raising your resistances. The Banshees will attack your soul directly, rather than your physical body, which will help raise your soul's resistance. As for the vampires, they'll try to beguile you or manipulate your emotions and help raise your mental resistance,” the host said.

  “What I’m hearing is that I fucked up and shouldn’t have asked for enemies tailored to strengthen my bloodline,” Theo moaned.

  “Right now, I can see why you feel that way, but going through this ordeal, you’ll gain a greater understanding of how to protect yourself in the wider multiverse,” the host said with a smile.

  “True,” Theo said with a sigh, “but it does not sound like I’m going to have a fun time in the castle district. Speaking of which, what can you tell me about the district?” Theo asked.

  “In the courtyard around the castle and the buildings surrounding it, the Banshees. Inside will be the lesser vampires. The wizard tower is where the last Guardian is. I recommend eking out all the experience you can from the specters and the lesser vampires before you challenge the Guardian of the castle,” the host said.

  “Out of curiosity, is there any reason for me to try to scour the castle for loot or anything else? Because in the other two districts, there was barely any loot to find,” Theo inquired.

  “Well, I can’t give you a straight answer because that would be telling,” the host said with a mischievous smile.

  “Great, so I could be searching for something or nothing at all,” Theo said with mock anger in his voice. He smiled, showing that his words were not heated.

  “Well, I’m going to see how bad this is gonna suck,” Theo said.

  “Have a good day,” the host chirped.

  As Theo was walking out, he gave the host the bird. As the door was shutting, he could hear laughter. Walking towards the right, Theo summoned his cane sword and the Spectral Guard, and saw a creature similar to the Host. It was transparent; it was black instead of a blue hue around its body. It was a female; her face was pale, a contrast to the black hue that came off her, and her eyes, which were solid white, and she had jagged, elongated set of teeth that caused her jaw to be unhinged, and her hair flowed like it was underwater. She wore a cloak over her body. The cloak itself was ratty, dark brown, and looked like oily black veins were crawling all over the ratty cloak. It turned towards Theo; the Banshee had long serrated claws for hands. Theo used the skill Identify on it.

  Banshee Level 22

  As the Banshee fully locked on Theo, it wailed, and the sound wave hit him. His whole body felt like it was on fire; every cell felt like it was burning, and his soul felt like someone dipped it into acid. This was the first time that he could actually feel his soul. His connection to the Spectral Guard unraveled, and the Spectral Guard disappeared. Theo was stunned, and the Banshee began to approach him slowly.