Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce felt a tremendous pain shoot up his right arm, causing him to lose his concentration briefly. The mana within his hands was decaying, having the opposite effect of what he had wanted.

The decaying mana seemed to be eating away at his flesh, causing a sharp and stinging pain to assault him. ’What the hell is this?’ he thought, staring at the odd phenomenon within his palm.

However, he did not have time to think about such things. It was clear that he was not going to be able to grasp the technique just by watching her heal.

"Lianna, I need you to manipulate some mana in your hand. Try to turn it into the mana you use to heal, without casting your healing spell." He tightened his grip on her shoulder and asked, showing a sense of urgency.

Lianna nodded, keeping her left hand on Leah, she manipulated her mana in her right hand, eventually causing it to give off a warm green glow. Jayce’s eyes narrowed, moving closer to the ball of mana, inspecting it closely.

The mana seemed to take on a life of its own, emulating the restorative nature of life itself. Jayce watched in wonder as the energy danced around, as if it were composed of thousands of tiny sprites who were jovially congregating together for a fun occasion.

He closed his eyes once more, visualizing the process of breathing life into his mana. He tried to think of each particle like it had a life of its own, with its own goals and aspirations. At first, the mana relinquished itself from his hand, fading into nothingness.

Yet he did not despair, what he was doing was unprecedented for another class. After all, if any mage could create spells from any element, there would not have been such a need for clerics in his last life.

When Jayce had used up almost a third of his mana, he finally began to feel a slight tingle on his palm. He opened his eyes, and was delighted to see that he had successfully managed to create the Life mana. While it was not as vibrant as Lianna’s, it was certainly usable.

The next part was the most crucial of all, wielding it effectively. He had formulated a general theory about healing magic from witnessing Lianna heal Leah firsthand through his empath skill.

What she was doing was essentially sending the Life mana into the effected parts of the patients body and letting it bolster the natural healing effect of the body. Like they were red blood cells delivering oxygen to where it was needed most.

However, this would not be enough to rid Leah of the brand and save her life. Jayce needed to create a spell which was able to remove the brand and any other negative effects that came with it.

He had played many RPG games in the past, and often seen skills like Dispel and Cleanse. This was what he was aiming to create, within such a small time frame. While it sounded great in theory, he had never used Life mana before and Leah did not have much time left.

Even if Lianna could extend her life by pumping healing spells into her, her mind could very well break by enduring such a torture for an extended period of time. Therefore, he could no longer procrastinate. It was time to act.

He placed his hand on Leah’s chest, sending his newly created Life mana into her body, keeping his mind locked onto it as he guided it through her body. Much like the red blood cell analogy, he was aiming to use his Life mana to act as a white blood cell and destroy the brand.

Jayce remembered the pain that he had felt while using his Empath skill on Lianna in the cavern. The pain started from his chest and moved outward, as if someone had placed a miniature sun within him and was trying to burn him to death.

Therefore he sent the mana through her body, attempting to locate anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately it was almost impossible to see or feel where the brand could be, especially with Leah thrashing around.

’Ah f*ck.’ Jayce swore inwardly, second guessing his decision. "Lianna, hold her down and don’t let her go under any circumstances." His voice was grave, not allowing any discussion.

"O-Okay." Lianna did as she was told, sitting on Leah’s thighs and pressing her arms against her body. She then turned to Jayce, awaiting his next move.

Jayce let out a long breath, before placing his left hand on Leah’s arm. A darkness seemed to creep up from her arm, wanting to latch itself onto his own. The moment it touched, he felt an agonizing pain wrack his body.

"ARGHH! Damn it!" He cried out, trying not to lose himself to the pain. He bit down on his lip hard in an attempt to keep himself conscious.

"Ah, Jayce what are you doing?" Lianna called out in surprise.

However he ignored her. He needed to use his Empath skill in order to find the location of the brand, otherwise he wouldn’t even have a chance to try and dispel it.

He could feel the hurt and confusion within Leah’s mind, the sadness for everything that had happened while she was possessed. But thankfully she had not given up, this was especially so when she had heard Lianna’s voice.

After hearing those words he felt a tremendous will to fight and survive from her mind, like it was an unmoving tree within a cyclone. Her body began to thrash less, but it could still be seen that she was in great pain.

Jayce continued to hold onto his consciousness, guiding the Life mana with sheer willpower. He eventually arrived at the heart and his eyes widened. There was a black tar-like substance that was plastered all over the heart. It was currently on fire, sending black smoke throughout her chest cavity.

"Bingo." Jayce muttered through gritted teeth.