Chapter 14: New Ally

Meeting with the healers was rather uneventful other than the strange one with a massive amount of death energy. They all went over my body, and one of them a brute like man that was built like a garilla that had seen too many Arnold movies gave me a document for training my body back to its prime. Looking over it, it just mentioned a lot of cardio and calisthenics that would improve his body's flexibility and stamina. It warned heavily against strength training for the next two to three months.

Even though it was all with well intentions I didn't plan on following through with those plans. Those are things that normal people should follow for recovery, with my knowledge of pills, and supplements I hoped to recover a lot faster. The ruining of my body could actually provide me with many advantages as my unstable foundations have been completely destroyed through lack of use. Creating a solid foundation was now possible that my body was in such a state and would help me a lot in the days to come.

As both of us had been poisoned, I could only assume that who ever did it in this world is still free to roam around. Which means another attempt on my life could come at any moment, and if I'm not careful it could be a game over for me. Searching through Nikolai's memories didn't come up with anything meaning that the person who did this was smarter than my original killer.

The herbs slowly came in over the next hour, I probably have at least another three or four hours before my father showed up. With the time constraints I slowly started preparing the pills, getting four of them to successfully form over the next two hours. Slowly I swallowed one of them, sitting down to use my mana to maximize the effects and reduce the negatives on my body.

I knew from experience I needed water, salt and food available to me for my recovery as the process of expelling my inner poisons.

"Ah, that's right." I looked over my body several times and frowned. "What are the benefits from dying from poison twice. I thought that my poisons would make me stronger?"

'Pioson Effects:

Corruption: Slowly corrupt a person slowly to become like you. Any traits you personally have can be slowly duplicated in another person's body.

Poison Resistances: Resistant to a large variety of poisons.'

The first could be highly useful later when I gain more traits, though right now it has its uses. If I gave someone the hive mind trait, would they become part of the network, or would they create their own space.

I started to use the poison effects on the strangler through the tattoo, a progress bar appeared as I started to give it increased intellect, a human trait. Over an hour the bar progressed a sliver, probably less than one percent of the bar but it was still progress. The poison reserves in my body slowly dwindled before I stopped, and I watched the poison accumulate once more.

The trait had obvious effects of making a creature much smarter than those without it, which humans and other sentient races are born with. It isn't a sudden increase in knowledge but the ability to learn, and understand the universe at a much higher level. This made it easier to learn things like language, crafting, and other things that needed complex thinking.

Monsters usually gain this trait around their fifth evolution or so, allowing them to gain human levels of intellect. With their increased lifespans many of them surpass most humans gaining knowledge in their respective interests. Like the orc tribes when they gain an Orc Commander, they become gods of tactics, and leadership if they survive that long. Orcs usually have the intellect of a five year old child before that, though they lacked curiousity instead were filled with bloodlust.

"Nikolai?" One of the healers, going by the name William came by again. His eyes were filled with curiousity like a little child, though his face stayed serious.

"Speak William, what is on your mind?"

"The poison in your body, it was too vicious for us to cure with our magic. None of us specialized in curing poison, and none of us are highly powerful mages like the ones who have been here before..." I held up my hand, cutting off William.

"You're going to rewarded for curing me, why bother with the details?" A smile slowly surfaced on my lips.

"Because I'll be be annoyed by the fact I don't know what's going on, or why you woke up. Getting paid for something I didn't have a hand in doesn't settle well with me." A shake of his head, and he stepped forward. "We has nothing to do with you waking, did we?"

Looking at him for a moment, I shook my head slowly, "I don't know, I wasn't conscious until I attacked one of your friends. If you were the ones who woke me or not, only the gods know."

He stood there rubbing the stubble on his chin, eyes thoughtful as he shook his head. "The gods huh? Some are saying that you were raised by one, they heard a voice saying that he'd raise you like a Phoenix."

"Well we'll have to see if I can meet that god's ambitions I guess." Noticing the marks on the man's hands, my eyes widened. He noticed my look, and put his hands into his pockets, but this man was exactly what I was looking for. Someone who was unaffiliated with any noble household or kingdom, since many feared their reputations would suffer.

Grabbing his shirt and pullling him to me, I looked into his eyes, "Become mine, and you will never have to suffer again."

"S-sir.. I am flatter but, a union such as this is.. inappropriate!" William started panicking at the young boy's determined look.

"Pervert.." I let go of the man's shirt, "My servant, my right hand man, the other face going to be on the wanted posters should I burn the world."

"You don't plan on doing that do you?"

"No, but the path I plan to travel will gain many enemies. I already have at least one, the person who poisoned me." I watched his face while I mentioned that, and he didn't seem surprised. "Whoever did this to me is probably someone influential, so angering their group is a must."

"So me who has been branded a traitor, and a coward is the perfect person to have at your side because no one would ally with me that had influence." William finished my thoughts.

"And in turn if we survive you'll be famous." I finally gave him the carrot at the end. "Maybe enough that we'll be able to get rid of your brand."

He didn't hide his hesitation, or doubt very well but he sighed heavily in the end. "How do I know you'll keep your promise?"

"You don't. I don't need someone around me that doesn't trust me, so do so or live your life in disgrace like you have been." My eyes narrowed at him, taking out a pill, "If you agree then suffer with me, words are not enough."

Considering his position, if no one took him in he would forever be known as a coward, making his family line suffer for generations. The only way he could redeem himself was through becoming someone that was respected and admired for their bravery. Doing that by himself was impossible, as he didn't have the heart for it, and he was a healer.

There had been quite a few in the past to make a name for themselves after being branded, their names written down in history for years to come. These things were obviously rare, but they weren't unheard of. A healer though had many disadvantages though, as instead of his own bravery they would mention that they supported a brave and valiant person. Very little of their ally's recognition would be given to them, if any at all, so the brand would be harder to remove.

He took the pill without saying anything else, swallowing it with determination before finally asking the most obvious question, "What was that pill?"

"A muscle enhancer, a healing pill, and a major laxative. You better get food and water for the both of us." My stomach made the sound of a hundred horses dying as my stomach rumbled with their fall. "I will be taking my leave now."

Using my wind magic to the maximum I rushed into the toilet room with no more explanation. My body seemed to just vanish in front of William leaving him with a very concerned look upon his face as he ran to get food and water, not knowing when fate would make him explode as well.

Within ten minutes there were large trays of food prepared for the two disabled men, both of them in a world of their own pain and suffering. Like no man had ever felt before, the pain of a thousand solar flares was felt for the eons that those hours lasted.

From my room the sounds of hounds, and cries of a young boy could be heard. When guards came in to investigate they were attacked by horrible smells and raging winds. Three of the four guards seemed to be heavily injured when they left the room their faces pale with fright and nausea. A few of them swore the shadows in the room were in pain as well as they kept cooling around themselves.