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Chapter 7

With me leveling up, my mana also was replenished. I had really hoped this would be the case. I didn’t really know if my mana and health went back to full. I think it was more like my total mana increased and that increase was pre-filled. From level 1 to 2, that was probably close to doubling my total mana, so it was substantial, but as I leveled up it’d be less meaningful. Furthermore, I hoped with each level that the strength of my healing spells would also increase. I had gained a new ability to heal poison, but no one was getting poisoned on these low-level mobs. 

As I considered my recent achievement, two men were brought up, but with more levels, I was more confident in my healing. First, I tried to cast weak heal on both of them together. I wanted to see if I could do a group heal. Regrettably, that didn’t work. In the end, I could only target one person at a time. If there was a group heal, it’d be something I’d need to unlock later on. I healed both of the men; it took about 5 spells between the two of them.

Usually, the fighting would get more extreme as more people were dropped out of the fighting, but since I kept healing everyone who got injured, the fight kept going strong, and eventually, the zombie population was defeated. It took so long because the zombies didn’t come as one single horde. Instead, there was a continuous trickle of zombies that came in by a handful at a time.

This was fortunate, as, by the end of the fight, there were about ten zombies for every man. Had they all come at once, the town would have certainly become overrun with zombies, and we would have had to flee for our lives. Luckily, they only came in a trickle, and because I healed every man, the force never weakened. I felt pretty proud of myself. I wasn’t the only one.

“Weak Heal…” I saw the familiar white light, having been cast enough times I was pretty familiar with it now.

I swayed slightly, and the men nearby grabbed my arms and held me up.

“Woah there… you’ve done quite well for yourself. I have to say… I’m delighted to meet my first… what did you call it, a White Mage?” The guy who spoke was the one who was leading this militia.

He was a muscular guy who didn’t wear a shirt and had an impractically large sword. I wanted to hate the guy instantly, especially since he drew the eyes of all the female adventurers, but he was actually pretty alright.

“Yes, I focus on combat healing,” I explained, too tired to show modesty.

The man nodded thoughtfully. “Most of the men here would have been down or possibly even dead. The guild would be responsible for resurrecting them at that point. It isn’t cheap. As the guild master, I must say, you really saved me a lot.”

I gave a smile, but I didn’t know how to respond. Besides finding out this guy was actually the Adventuring Guild’s master, I also learned that death didn’t faze them too much. He told me earlier that had they been overrun and all perished, all that would have happened was that a neighboring village would be called, a force would be sent to clear out the zombies, and then the men would be resurrected to life. You had an entire month upon death to be brought back, so these men would then set out to resurrect their lost families.

People in this world didn’t die by accident. Only old age or some particularly nasty curses could mean permanent death. The only other reason someone would die is that no one would resurrect them. For example, if I died, since I hadn’t done any official paperwork with the guild, there would be no one to pay the resurrection fee for me. The lonely, the poor, and the friendless in this world are the ones who died. It was kind of sad.

“Since you’re not part of the guild yet, I, unfortunately, can’t pay you based on your contributions.” The guild master suddenly announced.

Seriously?

Chapter 8

“Seriously?” I couldn’t stop my thoughts from being voiced out loud.

The big man made an awkward chuckle. “That is to say, you will receive a special reward.”

“Ah…” Well, say that stuff sooner!

I wasn’t really a greedy person, but I didn’t spend all day only a few dozen meters from a horde of zombies and cast spells until I nearly passed out for nothing!

The guy seemed to think my expression was funny, as he laughed again, slapping my back. “We’ll be tallying up the battle tonight, and the rewards will be distributed tomorrow during a town meeting. We need to discuss this attack and what to do next. Since you contributed greatly to this fight, please come.”

“Tomorrow, huh?”

I couldn’t help but make a bad face. After all, I just came to this world, and I was really penniless. I’d be spending a rough night on the street of an unfamiliar town in an unfamiliar world. The thought could hardly leave me satisfied.

“No place to stay, huh?” The guy said.

“A mind reader!” I cried out, shooting him a surprised look.

“No, it’s just that I had you looked into, and according to my sources you just arrived today and haven’t booked a spot at the inn.”

I gave an ugly look. For a guy who looked like a muscle head, he was very informed. In fact, it came off as a little intimidating that he already had me looked into. Well, he didn’t have all the facts straight. I appeared in the middle of the town square. Of course, no one wanted to look crazy, saying I appeared from nowhere, so I was a town stranger, not a world stranger.

“Here, kid, take this. It’ll get you a night at the inn and some food. We’ll just take it off your tab.” A coin flashed in the air, and I missed it, causing it to land somewhere nearby.

The guy laughed again as I went on my hands and knees, looking for it. It was starting to get dark out here, so it was really difficult to see.

“Arggg!” A zombie suddenly lunged from a pile of corpses right at me.

“Kid! Dodge!” The guild master’s serious face replaced his playful one as he grabbed for the sword on his back.

However, there was no time to dodge. The monster was in a position where a single swipe would split me open. At that moment, I couldn’t think of anything else to do but cast the spell I had cast all day. I had a theory that if these were undead, then…

“Weak Heal!”

White magic flooded out and touched the monster. As soon as the white light touched it, there was a sizzling sound. The creature stiffened for a moment and then collapsed as if his string had just been cut. The body continued to sizzle and melt until it was just a puddle on the floor. By that point, the guild master had reached my side and was staring at the puddle with surprise on his face.

“It looks like your abilities do more than just heal,” he said with an impressed look on his face.

I nodded, but I was more excited by the announcement on my screen.

{White Mage has increased to level 4.}

{You have unlocked the White Mage skill: Refresh.}

Chapter 9

Feeling tired and sore, I ended up heading to the inn that the Adventuring Guild indicated to me. The place had a lively atmosphere and another beautiful woman behind the counter. I sensed there were a lot of beautiful women who tended to work the counters and shops. I didn’t know if that was deliberate or not.

I showed the girl my coin, and she gave me a smile. “Ah… you’re with the guild. In that case, I’ll give you the biggest room!”

“Actually, he said it’s coming out of my pay tomorrow, so a simple room is fine.”

The woman blinked, and then she let out a laugh. “Well, that’s fine too, but at least let me feed you something tasty. I heard about your actions on the front lines. My uncle got some of your healing. The priests charge a lot, and it works half as well. It’s on the house.”

“In that case, thank you for your kindness.” I nodded and sat down at one of the tables.

A few minutes later, she brought out a beautiful plate full of baked chicken breast and mash potatoes and gravy. I had worried this world would offer only gross-tasting food, but this was actually really good. I was also starving, having not eaten anything but ramen all day. The fact that this was cooked by that beautiful woman also made my heart sing. Was she single? Would she like a husband? No, no, I was moving too fast again. I tended to do that with any woman who smiled at me. I had to remember my brutal rejection.

However, this was another world, maybe they didn’t hold men and women to the same standards. Maybe fat people were attractive here. I heard in the past that fat was a sign of having wealth and power. In that way, marrying a fat man meant you were set for life. Maybe women in this world thought that way, and I could have a date.

Of course, I didn’t have that kind of confidence, so I just finished my meal quietly. A few men nearby stopped over and slapped me on the back, offering appreciation for my work on the front lines. A few offered to buy me a drink, but I had never had alcohol before, and I didn’t want to lose my thoughts during my first day in another world. Thus, I decided to keep myself sober and only gave all of the guys some lip service and polite declines.

As the inn got livelier later in the evening as more men got drunk, I took it as an excellent time to retire to my room. Once in my room, I sighed in relief. Crowds really were too much. It made me feel very uncomfortable. I also didn’t like getting patted on the back like that. Well, I mean, it was nice to be appreciated, but physical contact was a little too much for me. It made me feel anxious. I was glad that my healing spells could be done at a distance. In the future, I’d have to determine how far of a range the spell works.

“I can destroy undead, after all.”

It seems like the game was balanced. I was a healing class, but I was put in the one area where healing spells could damage the enemy. However, the enemy was still scary. I had seen a dozen wounds dealt by the enemy, and some of them looked quite serious. This was on armored, tough guys. I had none of that, so fighting the enemy up close frightened me. However, the game would want me to fight monsters in the future. I felt like I’d need to do that eventually, no matter how I felt about the matter.

I may be a coward, but I was also a gamer. Games were meant to be played. I’ve played scary games before. In my mind, this was just something like that.

I went to sleep on a lumpy bed. Maybe I should have paid for a nicer room. Well, I didn’t know how far money would stretch in the near future, and I didn’t want to take any chances.

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