Spiteful Healer

Chapter 96: Database

Aegis took a deep breath and hit the accept button. A boat load of notifications popped up in front of him, and not just him, but every player within the Shattered World Online’s game world.

[WORLD NOTIFICATION]

The player [Aegis - Level 30] has become the first player in the world to unlock the Intermediate Class [Shattered Healer]

[WORLD NOTIFICATION]

The player [Aegis - Level 30] has revealed the long standing bond between the people of the Shattered World and the Silver Dragons. The [Silverscale]’s have now become a playable race for all players through the Character Creation and Character Re-customization menus.

Congratulations! You have advanced from [Priest] to [Shattered Healer]. You may now level up to a maximum of 150. The following skills have changed:

[Minor Heal(Beginner)] -> [Heal(Intermediate)]

[Smite(Beginner)] -> [Smite(Intermediate)]

[Cleanse(Beginner)] -> [Cleanse(Intermediate)]

[Bless(Beginner)] -> [Bless(Intermediate)]

[Healing Wind(Beginner)] -> [Healing Wind(Intermediate)]

[Pacifism] -> [Light of Eirene]

Congratulations! You have obtained the following new skills with your class [Shattered Healer]: [Aura of Light], [Path of the Stars], [Avatar of Eirene].

Aura of Light - Level 1 (Intermediate)

Required Deity: Eirene

An aura emanating out of the Shattered Healer, inspiring courage in those around them, and protecting them from darkness. Radius, effectiveness and mana cost increases with level.

Effect: Attempts to removes darkness, fear, suffering, and anger in a radius around the caster.

Cast Time: Instant

Cost: 1 mana/3s (+0.2mp per level)

Range: 1m (+0.1m per level)

Path of the Stars - Passive

Required Deity: Eirene

You may learn one deity specific class skill from another Deity of Light whose favor is greater than 2500, up to a maximum of three skills. The skills must be from one of the following classes: Paladin, Cleric, Crusader. Speak with a High Priest of the deity you wish to learn the skill from once you’ve obtained the required favor to receive further instructions. Losing favor with this deity will cause skills learned in this way to be unusable until the favor requirement is met once more.

Skills Learned: 0/3

Avatar of Eirene - Level 1 (Intermediate)

Required Deity: Eirene

Take on the form of the Avatar of Eirene, greatly bolstering armor and skill effectiveness for a short duration, while giving off a bright glowing light around yourself. The duration increases with level. The bolstering effect increases based on your Favor with Eirene. This skill gains experience through the use of Eirene-specific class skills in addition to its own usage.

Current Favor with Eirene: 29 270

Duration: 2.5m (+5s per level)

Armor Increase: 29.2%

Healing Effectiveness Increase: 29.2%

Aura of Light Radius Increase: 14.6%

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Aegis took the time to read over his skills, ignoring the excited chatter and cheers of everyone around him as he got all of the notifications. There was one notification in particular that didn’t pop up in his face and he had to manually check it himself - the new version of Pacifism.

Light of Eirene - Passive

Required Deity: Eirene

A blessing granted to one who understands the darkness that is brought forth by those who use violence needlessly.

Effect: Increases Experience Gained by 150% for all non-offensive skills.

Restriction: Using unnecessary violence against living creatures will cause you to lose favor with Eirene dramatically, based on the severity of the violence and circumstances. It is possible to regain lost favor through penance, should a High Priest or Prophet of Eirene forgive your actions.

Aegis' eyes went wide, tears swelling up inside of them as he looked at everyone around him with joy.

“I can…” Aegis mumbled with disbelief as Lina looked at his teary eyes worriedly.

“What’s wrong?” Lina asked.

“You okay?” Chax asked him. Lina quickly wiggled up through her interface to use their marriage to look through Aegis’ skills, and as she did, Aegis lifted his hand up with an open palm looking around at everyone.

“I can slap people now.” Aegis said with joy.

“That’s a really weird thing to be happy about.” Amlie looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Couldn’t you do that before? Woof!” Ruffily asked him, confused.

“You guys, you wouldn’t understand.” Aegis shook his head at them, wiping the tears away.

“Of all those notifications, you’re excited about something weird.” Yuki giggled.

“Can I?!” Josephine shouted to Erikson suddenly, with a pleading look.

“It’s so expensive though…” Erikson complained.

“Who cares, I’m doing it!” She shouted as she suddenly logged out from the gameworld.

“What’s she doing?” Elric asked Erikson, confused.

“Your mom wants to be a dragon, so she's spending all our money on a character re-customization.” Erikson sighed.

“Oh, cool! Mom’s gonna have scales!” Elric cheered excitedly. As they said this, an image flashed in Aegis’ mind of the female dragon’s humanoid form that he’d seen during his Hrath’mir quest.

“So that answers the question on what that quest was, huh?” Erikson turned to Aegis. “Cat’s out of the bag now.”

“What do you mean?” Aegis asked.

“Once a new class is discovered, the requirements for the class get added to the games database automatically. So everyone will be able to look up how to become a Shattered Healer.” Lina answered him. “They’ll see the required skills, but they won’t know how to get them.” She continued, as he watched Chax and Ruffily fidgeting in their interface for a moment, eventually turning back to Aegis with looks of surprise.

“What the hell is Pacifism? Where’d you get that?” Chax asked.

“Wow! Woof! No wonder you leveled everything so fast! That’s so cool, woof!” Ruffily said excitedly.

“Is that what you meant about slapping? You mean all this time, the reason you weren’t attacking anything, is because of this skill?” Amlie asked, impressed. “And I thought you were just a wimp.” She added with a shrug.

“Heh, you must have a lot of pent up energy. Do you still have the skill?” Erikson asked him as he too was looking through his interface, reading the information on Shattered Healer that’d been added to the database.

“Nope, I’m free. I can hit things. Finally!” Aegis said as he wiped away another tear.

“Allow me to do the honors.” Erikson said as he stepped forward in front of Aegis. “Let it all out. I can take it.” Erikson said with a grin.

“Really? Can I?” Aegis asked, excitedly.

“Give it your best shot.” Erikson nodded, Everyone stood and watched as Aegis pulled his arm back, and whipped it forward at Erikson's face as hard as he could. Erikson didn’t even budge from the impact, and Aegis dealt a total of 15 damage only.

You lose 100 favor with Eirene

“Clara, please forgive me, for I have sinned.” Aegis looked at Clara who just shook her head in disbelief at him.

“No.” Clara replied.

“Still worth it. Thank you.” Aegis said with tears of joy while everyone laughed at him. He noticed now that his viewership had shot up dramatically again, sitting at 250 000.

“This is pretty game changing stuff here.” Chax said as he continued to look at his interface. “It’s the first deity specific divine class we’ve seen, and you have an Avatar skill.” Chax commented as he looked to the others, Lina was also looking through her interface now.

“That must mean there are deity specific classes for all of the gods, each with its own Avatar skill.” Lina said.

“I imagine many of the top guilds will now be racing to discover how to unlock more deity specific divine classes, but by the looks of it, the requirements are steep. How’d you find out about yours?” Erikson asked Aegis.

“Eh, I kinda just took a chance on it. Used common sense, read the lore and got lucky.” Aegis shrugged.

“Are you going to share with everyone how you obtained the Pacifism skill?” Erikson asked curiously.

“Nah.” Aegis grinned. “If someone is a true follower of Eirene, they’ll figure it out themselves.” He said towards his audience, and it sounded almost as if he was challenging them.

“I’m very happy to be the one to gift you with this light,” Clara said as she stepped forward once more. “But there is one more task I was to set upon you, by Eirene herself.” She added, and this caused everyone to go quiet with excitement, all eyes on Clara. “The Darkness of this world has not gone away, we have simply avoided it for the time being. If the world is to ever truly be saved, it must be defeated. And to do that, we will need to gather allies, and strengthen the light. This is the task beset upon you as a Shattered Healer.” Clara smiled, and as she did, a quest appeared in front of Aegis.

Quest[1/14]: Gain experience as a Shattered Healer, and locate the hidden allies of Eirene spread across the Shattered World.

Objective: Shattered Healer Level 30/150

0/1 Silver Dragons Located

Quest Giver: Great Prophet of Eirene, Clara

Reward: Advanced Class: (Unknown)

Difficulty: Extreme(IV)

Restrictions: Limited to classes: Shattered Healer,

“Whoa.” Aegis said as he double checked the objectives. “That’s gonna be going into the long-term goals pile.” Aegis said as everyone looked at him curiously.

“What’s it asking?” Chax asked excitedly.

“It’s…” Aegis paused, then smiled mischievously. “A secret.” He shrugged.

“Awww.” Chax, Amlie and Ruffily all sighed while Erikson, Yuki and Lina all chuckled.

“I did it.” Clara whispered excitedly to Celestian as the two went off to the side.

“I’m so proud of you, I knew you could.” Celestian hugged her tight.

“You’ll still be a member of the council of Rene, but I imagine Eirene gave you duties to train future Eirene priests, right?” Aegis asked her.

“Yes, all Priests and Priestesses from across the lands will be sent here for training from now on.” She smiled.

“Alright, we’ll make sure to welcome them all.” Aegis looked around at the others.

“You could make lots of Eirene themed clothing for them.” Savika suggested to Yuki.

“That’s a good idea.” Yuki nodded. “But, I’m sorry, I hope it’s okay, I will need to leave Rene for now.” Yuki spoke up to the group. “Yumily’s Airship has arrived in Kordas and she would like me to help her prepare for her concert.” Yuki said urgently.

“Oh, right, of course. Don’t worry about it, we’ll handle things here.” Aegis said, whilst everyone looked at Aegis disappointedly.

“You mean, we’re not going to go too?” Amlie asked him, and Aegis glanced around and got a sense that Amlie was speaking for the group.

“There’s still a lot of…” Aegis started saying, but he could feel the glares of Savika and Amlie burning through his armor. “Of course, you’re right, we should all take a break and go to Yumily’s concert.” Aegis relented.

“Oh really? That’s great! She will be really happy to meet you all.” Yuki said excitedly.

“I guess so.” Aegis shrugged. “Let’s pack up our things and get ready to go. Hopefully Farlion will be able to handle things while we’re gone.” Aegis said.

“Eh, I’ll stay behind as well, Not much of a music guy.” Erikson shrugged.

“That’d be good, much safer with you around.” Aegis nodded. The group gathered up and made their way down the mountain road back towards Rene, with Aegis and Lina walking in the back.

“Hehe, look.” Lina said suddenly as she started pointing around at where she’d imagined Aegis’ party interface would be in his peripheral vision, though she couldn’t see it. He looked and saw that he and Lina were in a party together, but wasn’t sure what Lina wanted him to look at.

“What's there?” Aegis asked curiously.

“Look at our class names.” Lina smiled. Aegis checked again - underneath Lina’s name in the interface it displayed her class as S. Dancer, and under Aegis’ name it said S. Healer. “They both have an S!” She cheered excitedly.

“Oh yeah, they kind of match.” Aegis smiled. As they reached the town square in Rene, Aegis’ viewership was holding steady around 225 000, and he imagined Hae-won would be busy managing all of the viewers, so he was surprised when he saw her waiting for them beside the fountain.

“Hey there, Aegis!” She smiled. “Since it’s a concert, I thought it would be better to do some live broadcasting. You know, in person, on the ground, first person coverage.” Hae-won said confidently.

“You just want to go to the concert, don’t you?” Aegis replied. She simply glared back at him demandingly. “Okay, okay, jeez. You can come.” Aegis pulled back from her.

“Do you hear that everyone? Live coverage, woo!” Hae-won said in a friendly and excited tone as she cheered towards Aegis’ camera icon.

“I get the feeling I’m going to regret that.” Aegis sighed. Princess Savika and Yuki took the time to invite anyone who’d want to go to Yumily’s concert, and a great number of Arallian NPCs joined them on their journey back to Kordas. Included in the group were Amlie, Ruffily, Chax, Lina, Aegis, Savika, Hae-won, and Yuki.

When they’d arrived back at Kordas after the day's long journey, they found that the city was packed full of visitors. The first thing Aegis noticed was that there were three Airships docked at the Skyport. One was the Sky Darling, and the other two were twice the Sky Darling’s size - one looking luxurious with banners hanging off of it displaying Yumily, the other looked to be used for public transport from one of the other islands.

Once they had walked through the gates, the players and NPCs who’d traveled with them from Rene began to spread out into the city and Yuki began fidgeting with her interface, pulling the others off to the side. And at that time, as they moved off to the side of the main road, they were intercepted by Sapphire, walking towards them with determination.

“SUNLIGHT!” Sapphire shouted suddenly, with an aggressive look towards Lina. A blast of bright golden light shot forth from Sapphire’s scepter as she held it out in front of herself. “Don’t try to run, I’m faster than you, little gerbil.” Sapphire said to Lina.

“Whoa whoa, what’s happening?” Chax asked, confused as he shielded his eyes from the bright light, Amlie, Ruffily and Savika doing the same.

“Sapphire, c’mon, seriously?” Aegis said annoyed as he moved to stand in front of Lina.

“A crime is a crime! Even if they deserved it.” Sapphire insisted while Lina stood staring back at her, not looking afraid but rather defeated.

“She is right, I don’t want to ruin everyone’s concert.” Lina relented to Aegis, moving to stand in front of him. “It wouldn’t be fair to expect everyone to punish the bandits, when they don’t punish me.” She shrugged.

“Oh, this is about the Network interviewers on the tower?” Yuki stepped in. “That was my fault too, wasn’t it? Aegis tried to help me with them, and you wanted to help Aegis…” Yuki commented as she thought about it.

“Doesn’t matter what happened, gotta do my job. Sorry.” Sapphire said apologetically as she pulled a pair of manacles out of her inventory and stepped to Lina, causing a scene now as several players around them were staring at the bright golden light blasting out of Sapphire’s scepter.

“She can pay a fine, too, right? How much is it?” Yuki asked.

“10 000 gold per person, since it’s only her first major crime. That we’ve caught her doing.” Sapphire said, squinting at Lina as she said the last words.

“It’s okay if I pay the fine?” Yuki smiled as she rummaged through her inventory, and within a few seconds, pulled out 50 000 gold. Aegis could see Chax’s eyes glistening, and it wasn’t from the Sunlight spell. Sapphire looked at it, then at Yuki, and snapped her finger to cancel the spell.

“You really want to pay that much of a fine for her?” Sapphire confirmed, looking between the two girls. Lina looked at Yuki, and she back at her, and Yuki smiled.

“Yup.” Yuki pushed the bag of coins into Sapphire’s hand and Sapphire took it. A second later Sapphire added the bag and manacles back into her inventory.

“Okay.” Sapphire shrugged, taking a carrot out of her inventory instead and munching it.

“Thank you very much.” Lina smiled with a bow to Yuki.

“No problem, you’re Aegis’ wife and he saved all my friends, it’s the least I could do.” Yuki smiled back.

“So.” Sapphire clapped her hands together. “The Night Hunters set up a very large arena for Yumily. It’s over that way.” Sapphire pointed deeper into the city.

“She says it is the best one she has seen.” Yuki smiled at the group. “The concert will be tonight at sunset, but I need to go help her get ready. You will all be welcome inside for free, so I hope to see you all there.” Yuki assured them with nods.

“Okay, great. Thanks Yuki.” Aegis said on behalf of the giddy expressions he’d seen on Amlie, Ruffily, Chax, Hae-won, and even Lina’s face. “Good luck.” Aegis said as Yuki turned to walk from the group.

“We should go quickly and make sure we get good seats!” Hae-won squealed with excitement.

“Yes, it’s already filling up, let’s go!” Sapphire motioned them forward.

“What, you’re coming too?” Aegis looked at her, annoyed.

“Yeah. What kind of attitude is that? I’m on Princess Bodyguard duty. Unless you think you can handle it by yourself?” Sapphire motioned to Savika. “Mr. tough guy thinks he’s all that now that he has his intermediate class.” She said in a teasing voice.

“Have there been any Arallian bandit players here?” Aegis asked her as they started walking through the busy, noisy streets of Kordas.

“Nope, most of them went to Savringard thinking it’d be safe there. Makaroth made a big ol’ show about arresting and punishing all of them, thanks to the Arallian bounties you kept active by saving everyone. It was pretty fun to watch, and got a lot of views.” Sapphire replied.

“Yeah, of course he did something like that.” Aegis grumbled.

“I heard from a friend that the Vindicators did the same thing in Lanusk, so basically the bandits are all having a pretty bad time no matter where they went. It’s justice. Woof!” Ruffily said proudly.

“Vindicators?” Aegis asked curiously.

“You know, Feng’s guild.” Sapphire said, as if this was someone that Aegis should know, but Hae-won was painfully aware that Aegis had no clue what they were talking about.

“Feng is the 2nd most popular streamer in the world, often switching places with Makaroth depending on what they are doing. Vindicators is an all Chinese guild that Feng is the leader of, they rule over the island of Lanusk. It’s the second most popular island after Savringard.” Hae-won replied in a reporter-like fashion.

“Pretty much all the top guilds were inspired by your stream and blacklisted all the members of the bandit guilds, so any of them that didn’t start over in Puagas had a bad time.” Sapphire added.

“Good.” Aegis replied.

“I am happy to hear that the traitors are getting what they deserve.” Princess Savika nodded.

“So have you met Yumily yet?” Hae-won asked Sapphire excitedly.

“Hm, nope, I saw her but that’s it. She’s so pretty though.” Sapphire said with a dreamy look in her eyes.

“I know, right?” Hae-won joined in.

“I think so too.” Savika nodded excitedly.

“I wish I had made my character look like hers.” Amlie said dreamily.

“Me too.” Lina joined in. Aegis looked at them apprehensively to see their starry-eyed faces while Chax gave him an awkward nod.

“Here we are.” Sapphire stopped in front of the entrance of a large stadium with several doors leading inside. It was a building that Aegis had seen a few times during his previous visits to Kordas, but it had clearly been touched up and improved recently to accommodate the large crowd. There were already hundreds of players moving into the building, several ticket booths with NPCs selling tickets, and many Kordas guards around keeping the peace.

“C’mon, let’s go while there’s still spots in the front row!” Sapphire motioned them forward, and everyone followed her inside.