Singer Sailor Merchant Mage

Chapter 237: Cost of conflict

Chapter 237: Cost of conflict

“Battles are never the end of war; for the dead must be buried and the cost of the conflict must be paid.”

James A Garfield

Lying exhausted on my spatial vault floor, I laughed as I had finally lived up to my former name. I was now Jack, the Ice Giant Killer. I couldn’t help but grin at the idea despite the devastation the beast had caused. Undoubtedly, the system would reward me for my success. I could not wait anymore to look.

Letting my health, stamina and mana recover, I looked at my status. Felling the Ice Giant had given me a giant jump to my status despite the short time since I had last looked. It had been the mother of all hunts, enough experience for five whole levels in Hunter alone. But it was not the only metier to increase since my last check. All the others had if only by one, which put me up to level 78 and gave me 90 free points to assign.

I had been lucky in that the iron had not had too far to fall from my spatial vault through the aura and freezing touch of the ice giant before landing; otherwise, he would have only been spiked with a rapidly cooling pillar of iron rather than been exploded from within. Whether that was luck or good planning, I would not argue with the results.

I had been constantly healing myself throughout the flight to fight off the chill of the Ice Giant’s aura, which whittled away at my health despite my resistance to cold and ice, which had both doubled during the duration of the conflict. I even had a bonus level to my pain resistance from experiencing my extremities slowly freezing off.

Then there were the skills and their increases. I delved deeper into the increases, slowly working my way through the system's new recognition of my growth.

Status

Level: 70 ->78

Name: Callen Kai Caelus Kasai Silversea

Age: 10 Years 0 months 25 days

Métier: Hunter (Lv2 ->7)

Métier: Healer (Lv2 ->3)

Métier: Psion (Lv1 ->2)

Métier: Sage (Lv2 ->3)

General Experience: 2,345,678 /3,276,800

Health: 1415/2000 Stamina: 1265/2000 Mana: 141/2000 Psi: 1568/2000

Trait: Long-lived, Fast Learner, Super Senses, Source of Mana, Quick Witted, Celerity, Durability, Supreme Strength, Charming, Lucky

Vitality: 200

Endurance: 200

Strength: 200

Dexterity: 200

Senses: 200

Mind: 200

Clarity: 200

Magic: 200

Charisma: 200

Luck: 202

Free Points: 10 ->90

Resistances: Cold (Lv10->20) Ice (Lv8->16) Pain (Lv39->40) Poison (Lv11)

Skills Tier 1:

Dance (Lv100) Sailing (Lv100) Singing (Lv84) Trading (Lv84->87) Meditation (Lv85) Time Sense (Lv84->87) Balance (Lv75) Fishing (Lv60)Sneak (Lv57)Acting (Lv56)Drumming (Lv55) Whistling (Lv50) Farming (Lv59) Knots (Lv55)Draw (Lv59) Listening (Lv50) Stitching (Lv50) Humming (Lv50) Insight (Lv52->53) Glide (Lv45)Poise (Lv43) Grace (Lv43) Charm (Lv43)Composure (Lv41) Ambidextrous (Lv40->42) Silent Step (Lv32) Inspect (LV43->44) Sketching (Lv35)Drafting (Lv34)Lie (Lv26)Deft touch (Lv24) Posture (Lv22) Riding (Lv20) Cook (Lv26) Etiquette (Lv20) Appeal (Lv20) Sight (Lv20) Scent (Lv20) Detect (Lv20) Taste (Lv20) Measurement (Lv28->30) Hunting (Lv14->23) Carpentry (Lv20) Blacksmithing (Lv11->19) Mining (Lv10) Teaching (Lv19) Skiing (Lv10->19) Tracking (Lv4->8) Precision shot (Lv2->8) Underwater breathing (Lv6) Brewing (Lv2->3) Glassmithing (Lv2->3) Alchemy (Lv2->3) Tailoring (Lv2->3) Pottery(Lv2->3)Masonry (Lv1->3) Engineering (Lv1->3)

Tier 2:

Quick reflexes (Lv81->88) Sense Mana (Lv79->82) Spellcraft (Lv66->69) Spellsong (Lv66->69) Eavesdrop (Lv63)Cruising (Lv49->50) Order (Lv50) Linguistics (Lv42->43)Memorisation (Lv41->42) Recall (Lv41->42)Composition (Lv40) Stealth (Lv40) Mind Sense (Lv39->40) Observe (Lv33->35) Knife Arts (Lv33) Haggling (Lv26->31) Dart (Lv27->30) Heal (Lv28->30) Misdirection (Lv26) Martial Arts (Lv25) Transplant (LV20) Treasure Sense (Lv18->20)Intimidation (Lv12->20)Stone Carving (Lv5->11)Piercing Shot (Lv1->4) Perfect Timing (Lv1)

Tier 3:

Echolocation(Lv75->76) Expel Mana (Lv72->75) Mana Manipulation (Lv71->74)Gale (LV71->74)Boil (Lv60->69) Melt (Lv44->55) Ignite (Lv44) Absorb Mana (Lv42)Command (Lv40) Deception (Lv26) Bargain (Lv23->25) Freeze (LV20)Racing (Lv34) Analyse (Lv20->24)Flash Step (Lv17->20) Seismic Sense (Lv17->19) Danger Sense (Lv14->19)Telepathy (Lv10->14) Smuggling (LV7->13)Rapid Fire (Lv1->2)

Tier 4:

Block Status (Lv100) Iron Man (Lv71->73) Parallel Processing (Lv51 ->54)Material Manipulation (Lv40->44)Stone shaping (Lv37->42) Mana Drain (Lv30) Sonar (Lv26 ->29)Flight (Lv23->29) Seafaring (Lv22) Air stepping (Lv10 ->16) Contract(Lv5) Magic Carving (Lv6 ->8) Rune Carving (Lv5 ->7)

Tier 5:

Music Prodigy (Lv31) Omniglot (Lv27 ->28) Mind fortress (Lv26 ->27)Weapon Prodigy (Lv24 ->25)Polymath (Lv15->16)Spatial Vault (Lv10->14) Astral Projection (Lv9 ->11) Multiple minds (Lv5) Enigma (Lv2)

Tier 6:

Sense Soul (Lv3 ->4)

A lot of skill had increased over the last week and today’s battle. I even had a new Tier 2 skill, Perfect Timing (Lv1), perhaps a reward for the lucky shot that had ended the battle and the Ice Giant’s life. It was time to depart my little oasis of peace and exit the spatial fault to witness the beasts fall.

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. . . and fall it had. I stepped out into an Arctic apocalypse. The short time it had taken me to recover enough mana from calming my overworked mana channels meant that the giants were only emerging from their hiding places to contemplate the near-utter destruction of their Thorpe. We had won the battle, but not without cost.

. . .

Stepping out of the sky using Psi rather than mana, which would rub my mana meridians raw, I closed the spatial vault and leapt down to where a stunned Eryk was slowly approaching parts of the corpse.

“Why’d you stay so close?” I asked pointedly, looking at a solid giant statue that was frozen in the act of fleeing the Thorpe. His Ice and Cold resistance clearly failed to cope with the close proximity to the Ice Giant, or perhaps he had been caught with a kick or touch before the monster fell.

“If you want to kill ice giants, hang around an ice giant killer. It rubs off.” He shrugged disarmingly.

“You didn’t know I’d succeed.” I pointed out. Wait a minute . . . “You got experience for that?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, I helped too, didn’t I?” Eryk started. I raised an eyebrow; that was an incredibly optimistic point of view. “Or at least I survived the battle.” He, too, looked at the frozen giant.

“Did you know him?” I asked.

“Gervir, he is . . . was a tinker, not a warrior or hunter.” He answered sadly, and I noticed Eryk’s fingers, too, looked a little frozen.

“I can help with that.” I pointed to his hands.

“Thanks, Kai.” He said as he offered his hands out for healing. A burst of heat melted the frozen fingers alongside a touch of healing the damaged vessels as they thawed, and his fingers were as good as new.

“Is there anything you can do for Gervir?” He cautiously asked optimistically, hopeful beyond belief.

I studied the frozen corpse and wondered. The giant gave no sign of life, his face frozen in a rictus of pain as he fled. But this was a world with a system, a world with magic. Could there possibly be a way?

Inspect

Gervir

Frozen Giant

Observe

Level 89

Tinker Gervir

Frozen Giant

Walking up to the frozen giant, I touched him to see if I could do anything for him. Or if it really was over. Magic could do a lot, but I’d never heard of it healing death.

Analyse

Level 89

Tinker Gervir

Frozen Giant

Health: 240/3140 Stamina: 330/3260

Trait: Supreme Strength

He was not dead! He was still frozen but still had a sliver of health left. Could he be revived? The problem with cryogenics was the damage ice caused to cells as their crystals formed, but if, with magic, you could heal the damage, could the process be reversed?

Even as I pondered the problem, his health and stamina continued to tick downward.

Health: 239/3140 Stamina: 329/3260

If he were not dead yet, he would be soon.

“Yes, no, maybe?” I finally answered Eryk.

“What do you mean?” he asked, as confused by my answer as I was.

“He’s not dead yet.” I finally explained. “In theory, it might be possible to revive him. But I’m not even sure where to start.”

Health: 237/3140 Stamina: 327/3260

“What do you need to do?” Volur had approached Eryk, Gervir and I, and overhead as we contemplated the possibility.

“He needs to be thawed without damaging his body.” I started to explain.

“And then?” He gestured for a stone wizard student to join him.

Health: 235/3140 Stamina: 325/3260

“His brain needs to be unfrozen and healed as it happens. His blood needs to be melted and pumped. His heart needs to be started, and he needs to have us breathe for him until his own breathing starts again.” I completed my complicated list in front of them all.

Health: 233/3140 Stamina: 323/3260

“Tell us what to do,” Volur demanded, solely focused on the possibility of saving one of his villagers.

“A cool bath that is gradually heated to body temperature.” I started with the simplest task they could complete for me.

Health: 231/3140 Stamina: 321/3260

His stone staff quickly accomplished it, and magic quickly shaped stone to form a stone bath deep enough for Gervir, who was carefully laid into it by two of his students. Ice quickly melted and formed a warming water bath to defrost him.

Health: 229/3140 Stamina: 318/3260

“Then I will need you to supply me with mana.” I placed myself at the head of the bath and Giant, then placed hands on either side of his partially submerged head in an attempt to heal the damage as his head slowly thawed from without and within. As I focused inward, I was aware of his health continuing to tick downward even as I started to heal the damage to the brain.

Health: 217/3140 Stamina: 313/3260

“Mana, I need mana,” I said aloud as I focused all my senses on the brain matter and how to heal it.

Health: 215/3140 Stamina: 311/3260

A brain was infinitely complex, and I could not guarantee that the Gervir who hopefully woke up would be the same as the one that froze, but I had a couple of advantages over Bishop Bailie, who had taught me how to heal.

Health: 214/3140 Stamina: 311/3260

Firstly, my former world knowledge was painstakingly recreated from sights I had seen alongside courses I had taken in biology of what exactly made up the lateral surfaces and ventricles of the brain. I knew what it was supposed to look like.

Health: 212/3140 Stamina: 310/3260

Secondly, my senses, I had both sonar and mana sense. They allowed me to see into the brain as I was healing it without cutting it open. They ensured I could see that all the ice mana was pushed out, healing the tissues as they warmed.

Health: 210/3140 Stamina: 309/3260

Thirdly, I was not alone. Volur, alongside two of his apprentices, stood behind me, hands placed on my shoulders, funnelling the mana I needed into me even as my resources continued to dip lower and lower.

Health: 208/3140 Stamina: 307/3260

Slowly, carefully, we thawed out Gervir, healing the damage as we forced the ice to retreat and melt his frozen flesh, gradually heating his cold blood to room temperature and then higher as the bath raised his temperature to reach what it should have been finally.

Health: 206/3140 Stamina: 305/3260

It was a race against time, but eventually, Gervir’s healed comatose body lay resting in a warm bath of water. Still, he was not awake yet, and any damage that might have been avoided from him being frozen returned without him able to supply oxygen to his brain as his heart had yet to start beating and no one was yet breathing for him.

Health: 204/3140 Stamina: 303/3260

“Why isn’t he awakening?” Eryk asked the question. He had witnessed the whole process, and apart from the lack of breathing or heart beating, the body now looked hale and healthy as if it was only sleeping.

Health: 201/3140 Stamina: 301/3260

“We need to start his heart beating and get him breathing.” I motioned for them to lift the body out of the water, and he was laid flat on the top of a slab of warm stone.

“I cannot do this part,” I said, “I’m too small,” I explained.

“What do we need to do?” Volur jumped in.

“You need to gently tip his head back to open his airway.” They did. “Next chest compressions, place your hands here and push twice a second.” I showed them where to place their hands. “After thirty chest compressions, you need to pinch his nose and blow your breath into his mouth twice before resuming chest compressions.”

It was not a perfect explanation or demonstration, but it was enough for them to get the blood flowing again within Gervir and hopefully enough to get the oxygen to his brain. I watched anxiously with my senses to see if it was working.

. . .

Health: 200/3140 Stamina: 300/3260

. . .

Health: 200/3140 Stamina: 300/3260

. . .

Health: 200/3140 Stamina: 300/3260

. . .

It was enough to stop his health from decreasing. But it was not yet enough to get his heart to start or for him to wake up.

“He’s not dying anymore.” Volur encouraged his students, who continued the compressions and breathes.

“But he isn’t living yet either,” I muttered to myself. There was one last thing I could try, but I was not sure if this would help or harm. There was only one way to find out.

“Step back.” I cautioned before stepping forward and placing my hand on his chest. This might hurt a little bit. “Keravno,” I said as a tiny bolt of lightning enthused Gervir’s chest, his body convulsing with the electricity contracting his flesh.

There was a shocked silence from my onlookers, then a sudden massive gasp of breath from Gervir as he began to breathe independently. His eyes flashed open, and sitting up unexpectedly as he grasped his chest.

“What happened?” he gulped.

I sat down, exhausted once more.

The others could explain.