Rescue

For the first time, Claire is happy from the bottom of her heart that she has flash skill on her hand. If it was any one but her who came here, they would not be able to save these children at all. 

Owing to mirror eyes, and her own little healing skill, she could give them just enough healing to let them last till she gets them to Brie, who can inject vitality. 

More importantly, what these children needed is not healing, but energy to survive. Most children here are on the verge of death due to hypothermia and hunger. 

She picked them up, then ran like there's no tomorrow to the station. 

Forty nine children, of which, none died, despite a few being as young as toddlers. Their survival is due to sheer talent they held as the ice mages. Most of the children in this facility have the elements of ice and rock. Given that she was a prominent Ice mage in her previous life, Claire felt very close to these children. Their cold resistance ability is greater than most other people, otherwise they would have died before she could ever get there. 

Claire took an hour break, given she has run more than a few thousand miles in a single day, exhausting her energy. 

Her hands and legs felt like lead, if not for adrenaline, she would not be capable of bringing the last child out. 

She just fell flat on her back, and drank water like a thirsty horse. She can't even eat rice. Not even rice porridge, with the way her stomach is churning. Thus, she drank the super thin rice water that they were feeding the sick children because anything more would be a drag on her digestive system. 

Like that, she drank a sip of water every five seconds for an entire hour when the muscle pain hit. In the end, she was so sore, for a time, she just gave up on looking like a human being. She fell flat on her back to take a nap. 

She woke up to gentle warmth flowing along her limbs, reducing the pain just tad. Her brain was wide awake, but her body was bloody fuzzy. 

" What time is it ? " She asked Brie. 

" ten in the morning. Sister. You should sleep more. Your muscles are in hyper fatigue mode. They would have gone to necrosis if the burden was just ten percent more, I think " Brie said, her hand hovering above Claire's thighs. 

" you .. You can see that much ? " she asked Brie in shock. She did not expect Brie to make progress this fast. 

" I think I got the hang of it, now. You always said that my healing was not real healing, so I should not get carried away. I did not understand at all what you were trying to convey. Now I understand why you were so angry that I let children go that far. You were absolutely correct. The healing of the medical system, and my vitality transfer work in entirely different manner. I never had the ability to heal their cuts and bruises. Had they lost a limb, I would have been totally lost. I shudder in fear thinking of the feats we did ! We were too reckless ! " Brie shook her head, but her focus was unwavering. 

" I am glad you understand, Brie. If you only had medical knowledge, you could be the best healer in the world. " Claire consoled her, thankful that her nagging was finally understood. 

There is a subtle difference between her own healing system, and Brie's life system. 

Life system is a primal element. Given life, every being will become strong. However, the healing system is a secondary magic system. It has knowledge and spirit of its own. Thus, it can perform complex operations by it self magically despite it's owner not knowing s**t about human anatomy. 

Thus, a philosophy was developed in the future. Healing for open wounds, life blessing for internal injuries. 

" You are awake ? " Caspian arrived, and greeted them from the door. 

" She needs more rest. " Brie snapped, her voice contrite. 

" It's alright, Brie. " Claire soothed Brie and hoped Caspian would not take offense to the behavior. 

" I need some privacy. " Caspian spoke, irritating Brie even more. 

She left only after Claire gestured once more, assuring that she would be fine. 

" Quite a clingy little one, this ! " Caspian snarked, frowning at Brie's back. 

" If a mercenary behaved like that, they would be punished immediately. " he commented, his face full of disapproval, as he sat in the seat vacated by Brie. 

" She was not a subordinate, but a family. " , Claire defended. 

" Whatever you say. " he gave in.

" I need your help. My brother was sent to an abyssal dungeon. He had acquired a demonic skill. I want to remove the skill. " Caspian explained. 

" Alright. Let's take a look. " Claire acquiesced. 

They went to the room Deeepsi was at. 

Claire activated the mirror eyes, and took a look at Deeepsi's innerworld. Then she took a step back in horror. 

What the ?! 

The entire core had turned bloody red, and the creature looked like a gigantic blood red slime, devouring anything and everything in its path. 

Bloody red jackals filled the space, flying freely around this sticky blood red core. 

" Caspian ! I can not help him. He is too far gone. " she gasped out. 

" How could that be ? He only got the skill yesterday, and he only used it once. " Caspian said, unbelievingly. 

Then a thought occurred to him, horror spreading on his face slowly. 

" The pruning ! Those fucking bastards sent him to the abyss dungeon so he would die in it. Abyssal creatures each have an environment they are used to. If these environment conditions are not fulfilled when using them, load on the mana core will increase, making the corruption spread faster. The creature he has acquired was the desert jackal, so they sent him to the land of mountains of ice. He would die of the magical overload, then they would watch over and collect the abyssal beast after enough time has passed. " Caspian had been trying to close this missing link in the modus operandi since yesterday, now he has an answer. 

The pruning is when the Wulin family designates a certain clan as too powerful to grow any more, and wants all the further children from that bloodline to die. They send these hapless children who are deemed by Wulin as high-infidelity-risk to the extreme dungeon they want. They call it skill, but what these children return to have instead was a mana parasite. 

As the parasite prays on the mana core of the child, the child will die in magical imbalance, either in overload when parasite dies, or in exhaustion when mana core is devoured. The mana parasite then starts eating into itself like ouroboros. As it gets smaller and smaller, the keepers return to acquire it when time is ripe. Caspian bet his foot that these bloody bastards probably even have a list of parasites and the mana cores they like, as well as how long it takes for this mana parasite to reach the size they could collect. 

These bastards ! 

" We can not stay here. Soon, either the mana parasite will kill him and explode, or he will become its slave and kill us all. The children ! We need to evacuate ! " she said, turning her back to him. 

Caspian grabbed her immediately. 

" You can not go. You are my only hope to cure my brother, you have to stay here. " he said, holding her hand tightly. 

Claire was pissed. She had agreed to help him, but she was a stranger to himself. Everyone has a right to survive, but no one has the right to demand sacrifice of others for their own survival. 

" Let go. '' Claire commanded him, using the enslavement seal. 

The fingers snapped off her wrist one by one, leaving a red mark on her wrists as Caspian tried to hold her tighter and tighter. 

" Please ! This is the deal we have. " he screamed, as the last finger snapped off her wrist. 

Claire stopped at that. She hated being coerced into action, but this was the deal between them from the beginning. Caspian will help them visiting all the dungeons he knows for saving and freeing his brother. 

" I may not be able to save him, for I have no idea how to kill a mana parasite. However, I can remove the enslavement contract, so, I will do that much. I hope you can get back to your senses and do not repeat what you just did. " she snapped at Caspian icily. 

" Before that though, the people need to evacuate this area. You can start moving them. They can stay at the house we found in the mountains. Brie will stay with me till the end. If you so much as move a finger in the wrong direction, you can kiss goodbye to any chance of your brother's recovery . " Claire threatened him.