Healing System

Before the white-haired cultist could react, Michael enveloped him with mana clothing and restricted his movement. This was possible only because he had reinforced the clothing with extra mana.

Michael looked around, just in case there were more people he hadn't noticed. However, it was clear. The same went for the map—the closest person to the two of them was a few floors down and most definitely not heading to the roof.

The white-haired, white-eyed evangelist squirmed on the ground, trying to escape. But alas, it was impossible. He was weak, and Michael had reinforced the clothing with 5% of his total mana, meaning that unless the cultist had a mana core or was about to form one, he wouldn't be able to escape.

'Hmm...' Michael could feel a bit of energy coming from the man, quickly dispersing. It reminded him of the mana-dispelling energy he had encountered back on the mountain. Experience new stories on empire

But it raised a question: they knew they were being watched, so why were a few of them stupid enough to come to the roof?

'No wonder Rowan found their location. They're not the best at hiding, it seems. He chuckled to himself and brought the cultist closer, close enough to hear his mumbling.

"Sup, mind telling me how long this base has been operating?" Michael asked, slightly loosening the grip of his mana clothing to let the cultist speak.

However, as expected, there were no answers—no more mumbling, either. Instead, all he received was a dead-eyed stare.

'Those white eyes do seem a bit unnerving when you're up close, huh...'

Well, of course. That's because he's trying to charm you.

'...' Michael stared blankly at the cultist. After focusing for a bit, he could indeed feel some mana concentrated in the cultist's eyes.

Don't do what I think you are about to do...

'I'll just try once. If it doesn't work out, no problem.' He shrugged with a smirk and infused mana into his eyes, much like he did with

Eyes of The Healer,

but this time he tried mimicking the pattern of the man before him.

To his surprise, he suddenly heard a familiar noise in his ears.

-Ding

[New Skill Generated]

Charm [Beginner] [Active]

# Charm the target into doing your bidding. Extremely effective against weak targets. Ineffective against the strong.

*Cost: <1% MP/S

...You got lucky.

'Oh shit... of course this gets recognized as a skill, but my mana clothing doesn't' He sighed and ignored the system. He glanced at the evangelist in front of him and without even waiting for a moment, Michael used his new skill, Charm.

He felt the threads of his mana core connect with his eyes, and suddenly, the world before him shifted to a different shade. What was more surprising was that he could see the evangelist's heart, with a number floating above it.

'40? 44, 47, 43... oh... it's the heart rate.' Michael immediately understood what was happening. The new skill was for charming, so it made sense he could see the target's heart and heart rate.

But despite this, he didn't need to do much. All Michael had to do was stare into the cultist's eyes and wait for the charm to kick in. Finally, it did.

The cultist's heart rate rapidly increased, nearly reaching 100 BPM before settling around 90 BPM. Nonetheless, Michael could now feel a connection between them—one he could sever at any moment.

I guess your

CHA

stat is finally going to see some improvement; congratulations.

'...Fuck off.' A shiver crept up his spine as he stared at the fixated cultist. Now, it was time to get some answers.

"How long has the base been operating in this city?"

"17 Days 6 Hours 49 Minutes 17 Seconds... 18 Seconds... 19 Seco-" As the cultist began counting upwards, Michael interjected.

"Okay, okay, shut up." At his words, silence ensued once more. After a brief pause, Michael asked another question.

"Why have you set up a base here anyway. What is your goal?"

Once again, the answer came instantly. "I am just cannon fodder. I was tasked with protecting the emergence of a new Bishop. I don't know anything else... sir."

'A Bishop? Doesn't that mean a Tier 3 being is on the way? System, didn't you say reaching Tier 3 was impossible in this world?'

Conventionally, no. But have you seen these people? They're probably harnessing outside energy to propel themselves into a new tier altogether. I can sense a room at the very bottom of the building that is blocking my senses. My guess is that's where the Bishop is located.

'I see.' Michael glanced at the cultist, who stared at him with lewd eyes, and snapped his neck. It was a convenient skill, but it also felt strange controlling someone like that.

'Should probably only use it when I am trying to get some information...' He decided and began making his way toward the lower floors. Disposing of the body wasn't necessary; he planned to bring the whole building down afterward anyway.

Along the way, he encountered a few of the Evangelist cultists, most of whom did not pose a threat to him. From what he gathered, all the people in this building, aside from the supposed Bishop at the very bottom, were cannon fodder—the weakest of the weak.

But he found it a bit comedic. After all, the amount of strength they had was enough to overthrow most, if not all, villages—maybe even a city if they got the timing just right.

As he got closer and closer to the room, likely located in the basement, he finally encountered a few stronger enemies. They were most likely heretics or priests, much like the people he had faced on the mountain. Their techniques were not anything special, mainly relying on speed.

But speed against him was futile. Even if he was at the same tier as them, he could easily deal with them. Now that he was a tier higher, they were practically moving in slow motion. A simple cast of

Sword of Light

was enough to deal with them.

It seemed like they came from that room—that's what his map was telling him, anyway. A new dot appeared on the map every few minutes, and as he twisted and zoomed in on the map, he could see a whole cubic area that was a completely black shade, not letting him peer into it any further.

As he got closer and closer, the number of cultists that came at him increased. It was to the point where he wondered how large that room actually was.

But just like with the rest, he mowed them down, controlling several

Swords of Light

at once and decapitating each and every one of them. There were mages; however, due to his much higher strength, his swords were able to easily pierce through their spells and land fatal attacks.

It was a wonder how none of them used that mana-dispelling ability, but he would not question it. His life was much easier if he could kill them without any kind of resistance. After all, these Evangelists were pure evil, even going as far as sacrificing other humans for their own gain.

Michael was no righteous hero. However, when he was right in front of the root of the problem, it did not hurt to fix it.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

He finally killed the remaining cultists and could not feel any more approaching, but as he gazed at the map, he noticed there were still four remaining. All of them were standing right by the room he was heading for.

And their strength? Nearly identical to his. All four of them were Tier 2.

Just deal with them without using up all your cards. There's still a Bishop waiting for you.

He nodded and walked forward until finally, he reached an ominous-looking open room with a massive box in the very middle and four people standing right in front of it, staring daggers at him.

Before he could take a look around, one of them fired a spell right at him, to which he simply used his shield to reflect it to the side.

The three others immediately went ahead and closed the distance between them, pulling out all sorts of weapons and slashing directly at him.

Michael scoffed at them and readied himself, summoning a bunch of shields to protect himself, as well as an immense amount of

Swords of Light

, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Damn, they didn't even say hello. They sure are devoted.

'...'