Chapter 12: Rolly

Insig took a deep breath to settle down his nervous heart.

'This.... The impulse isn't that strong because I'm rather newly exposed to the death aura yet. But I'm sure long-term exposure would cause changes in my attitude and temper. Luckily, I have the life element to neutralize it.'

Insig felt lucky as he doesn't want to lose his sense of self and go on a killing spree.

'Should I continue the test?'

Insig was rather indecisive but he lightly shook his head and looked serious.

'No, I NEED to continue the test! Whether I will survive the war will heavily depend on this!'

Insig directed his line of sight at the dead mouse. He picked up a scalpel and cut the mouse's abdomen. He inserted 2 fingers in and rummaged inside like he was searching for something.

Suddenly, Insig stopped as he touched something hard. Like a chopstick, Insig used his 2 fingers and pinched the hard object inside.

After pulling his fingers out, what was between his fingers was a spherical violet colored glass-like object, it was a mana crystal. It contains rays of lights flowing inside it like a circuit. You can faintly see the shape of a rat in the form of a constellation. It was radiating a poisonous aura but it was weak.

A mana crystal was the manifestation of energy in the form of a crystal. They can be naturally made in energy-rich areas under the earth like diamonds. They can also be harvested from the mana heart of organisms.

In a corpse, if the mana heart was untouched, the energy would have nothing binding it, so it would crystallize as a last resort so it won't diffuse in the air. Life elements are exceptions though as they can be easily contaminated.

Insig inspected the coin-sized spherical mama crystal. He decided to give it to another mouse as a coin sized mana heart was almost useless. (AN: Coin-sized = Level 1)

With that, Insig continued testing his powers all night.

*****

It was a hot and sunny afternoon. The heat waves were spreading in the air, making the people under the sun sweat and dizzy.

On the road, a bunch of soldiers were passing by. They can't help but give attention to a building with an enticing aroma wafting from it, it was the cafeteria.

A blonde guy entered the cafeteria, he went and picked up a tray for his food. He can't help but rub his tummy while eagerly looking at the dishes. There were all kinds of meat oozing out with an enticing aroma.

He followed the line for a while and got his food. He looked around for a seat when he saw a person with a healer suit and his eyes lit up.

"Yo, Insig! Good to see you here!"

'Hmm? Who's that?'

Insig looked like a hamster as he was heavily devouring food when he heard a loud voice behind him. He felt someone pat his shoulders. He painstakingly swallowed the food in his mouth as he looked back.

He saw a blonde guy smirking at him. He was wearing a leather suit that was easy to move into while giving a good amount of protection. He has brown brown pupils, slightly large nose, short hair, and thick eyebrows. He looked energetic, youthful, funny, and handsome.

The guy rudely sat down opposite of Insig's table and smirked at him as if he was familiar with him.

'He seems oddly familiar...'

Insig dived in his memories and recalled who this guy was. Insig smiled lightly and greeted him.

"Big brother Rolly! I didn't expect to see you here."

"Hahaha, you're always holed up in the hospital, I hardly even see you in the cafeteria. So of course you won't see me. You should go out more often, the other guys wanted to see you. Their hearts nearly went out of their chest after you almost got killed, you know!"

Rolly was talking about his friends from the orphanage. Rolly was from the orphanage too, he was 3 years older than him. They were rather close, like brothers.

He had an easy going and naughty personality but was dependable in times of need. Like a playful puppy that will always annoy you but will push you away from an approaching truck.

"Sure! I'll hang out more often. Since there's something I need anyways."

"Oh? What is it? It's rare for you to ask for something. Don't worry, just shoot. You can always depend on this big brother here."

Rolly lifts his head up and smirks.

Seiki looked embarrassed and there was a hesitant expression on his face.

"Well... I wanna learn Smithing and Alchemy from big bro Philip. I also wanna get a beast to help me.... So I was thinking of getting your opinion on which companion I should pick. Most importantly, I wanna learn how to fight to protect myself!"

Rolly frowned and seriously thought about it.

"This... It's getting rather dangerous lately, there are more enemy scouts getting caught. It's good to see you think for yourself. You've really grown up huh.... I'm not really good with animals. We'll discuss what companion you should pick in-depth with others later. But I'll teach you how to fight. But remember, I'm rather strict, okay?

"Thanks, big bro!"

Insig smiled and thanked Rolly. He doesn't have much fighting experience so he desperately needed a teacher and sparring partner, which fits Rolly the criteria well. Rolly was previously a mercenary before he got recruited by the military, so he surely would have experienced many battles.

Insig and Rolly took their time eating and catching up with each other. When suddenly, they heard a soft feminine voice behind them.

"Ummh... Insig, can I sit with you?"

Insig looked at the source of the sound. He saw a girl with wavy blue hair looking at him with watery eyes. She was wearing a healer suit too but has a blue cross instead.

'Oh, here's another one.'

"Oh, it's you, Jane! Sure, sit down."

Seeing that it was his coworker, Insig immediately smiled and didn't make it awkward for her. Jane and Insig slightly know each other because they always see each other in the hospital.

"Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. There weren't any seat left so I had to share with someone"

Jane looked apologetic as she explained herself.

"Hahaha, it's okay. We're acquaintances anyway."

Insig chuckles and reassures her.

"Hello there, pretty lady"

Seeing that it was a beautiful girl, Rolly immediately got chummy.

"Oh— Ummh, hi."

Hearing Rolly call her pretty made Jade slightly blush as she moved her hair behind her ears. She smiled shyly and replied.

"Man, Insig, why didn't you tell me you have a beautiful friend? You should introduce me to her!"

"No way, she's just an innocent little girl. She'll be heartbroken if I introduce her to a player like you."

Insig was speechless at how horny Rolly was. He still remembered back then how they got punished from peeking at the girl's bathroom back in the orphanage because Rolly forced him.

"Jane, don't believe every good thing he says. Be careful of him. He's Rolly by the way."

Jane watched angrily as they were treating her like a little girl. They were even talking about her in front of her. She slightly pouted and looked cute.

"What innocent little girl? I'm already 15 you know! I'm not a child anymore!"

Hearing this, Rolly looked at her and laughed as he found her cute. Insig looked at her pitifully like an old man seeing a child inexperienced at love.

"Hahahahaha"

Hearing him laugh, Jane got even more angry and Rolly laughed even more.

"What are you laughing at?!"

'Looks like they are getting along quite well. Poor Jane, I hope that she won't fall in love like those in the romantic novels in my past life.'

Insig looked at her pitifully. Just like that, they spent their time laughing, eating and talking.

After calming down, Jane looked at Seiki and was surprised as she noticed something.

"Hmm? Is it me or is your mana core going to advance? Your aura is slightly becoming more pronounced from the last time I saw you."

Insig smiles humbly, but you can see that he's excited from the squint in his eyes.

"Hahaha good eyes. I'm about to reach level 5 you see."

"Really? That's good for you! Many healers passed out this morning, you know."

Jane congratulates her with a hint of envy in her voice. But she was sincerely glad that he had become stronger.

"Huh? What happened?"

Insig looks at her, puzzled.

"You weren't at the hospital this morning?"

Jane guessed, as she was shocked that he hadn't heard of this news lately.

"Well... I was busy last night. So I just woke up at noon."

"How lucky. Well, you see, the commander announced for the working time to be increased from 8 hours to 12 hours! Do they think we are slaves? Fortunately, the contribution points awarded has increased by 10 points too."

Jane reassures him. She then adapts a grim face, like something serious was about to go down.

"Well, back to the topic. Have you heard that many enemy scouts were caught recently?"

Insig looks at her serious face. He got a bad premonition.

"Don't tell me..."

"That's right.! There were enemy scouts caught but they retaliated fiercely! So many knights and mages were injured. Some were lucky to survive but some were killed or crippled. The enemy has been active lately so the fatality has increased, and so are the patients."

"Some of the healers collapsed from too much workload on their shoulders. Of course, those are only for the lower leveled. Sigh, I wanna sleep so bad.

Insig was deep in thought as he heard this.

'Looks like I have to hurry up my plans.'

"Thank you very much for the news."

Insig smiled at her and gave her a steak as a sign of gratification.

"It's nothing, almost everyone knows it, you know."

Insig stands up and bids them farewell.

"Well, bye guys, enjoy your time together. I have to go to work."

"Bye!"²

Insig went to the hospital and worked. He didn't collapse even though the workload has increased because there weren't any incidents that caused mass injuries this time.

After that, he still had some energy so he went to the library to study for a bit and went back to his room.

He sat down with legs crossed on the bed. He breathed in deeply while his eyes closed and focused his mind.

'I have to hurry and get stronger! Even though 'this' might destroy my soul foundation, it's better than dying.'

He reaches out for his pocket and takes out a metal box. He opened it and took out a spherical crystal and caressed it in his hands. It was a mana crystal that had a green circuit inside that was pulsating with life energy. It was green colored and formed a faint image of a tulip.

Insig got serious as his face turned stoic and you can see his eyes were flashing with determination.