Black Healer

*You have successfully crafted a 'concentrated fire-resistant potion (low)'*

*Congratulations! Potion craft is now level 2! *

Looking at the messages, as well as the potions around her, Evelyn felt content as she started to put them in her inventory.

She had used one of the methods Matthew explained to her while they traveled together. By crushing the flowers between two stones before collecting the liquid in the bottles he had given her. As for the other method, it was currently not an option, as she had no water to boil the flowers in, or even a bowl to hold the brew.

He had warned her that the effect might not be as good with crushing as with boiling, as he had only been told about the method of crushing the flowers, but had only tried the boiling himself.

As it turned out, not diluting the liquid from the flowers with water had given them the 'concentrated' property, which gave an additional +2 to the effect of the potions. The downside was that it required quite a few more flowers than if she had boiled them with water.

It had been a much more comfortable process than she first imagined. Since she was still on the outskirts of the forest, finding the required rocks had been easy. She found a large slab a bit away from the slimes, and a smaller rock that fit into her hand to use for grinding.

The potions made from the yellow flowers ended up giving a resistance to wind, and the purple to fire.

Looking at the potions in her inventory, she grimaced at the first ten she had made. They were in a bulk of their own and had the extra word 'dirty' before their name, as the stones she had used weren't cleaned before she started.

 "Well, I don't have any water, so nothing I can do about it," she had commented to herself when she first saw the name. "At the very least it's something to do, and my skill level will still go up even if the quality of the potions is low".

But by the time she finished with the tenth, the stones seemed to have 'cleaned' themselves enough from the flowers she was grinding, and the potions no longer had the word 'dirty' at the beginning.

So, over the last five days, this was what she had done. She had now even found a rhythm in it. A comfortable pace between killing slimes, stealing their remaining life force, transferring the life force to the egg and making potions out of the remaining flowers in her inventory.

Whenever a slime would wander off in her direction, she would pause crushing the flowers, sneak up to the unfortunate slime that came close away from the others, and quickly kill it with three stabs from her dagger.

As she was cleaning up and putting the potions in her inventory, she saw another slime wander towards her. She hurriedly put the last of the potions in her inventory, before she quickly snuck up to and dealt with the slime.

Stealing the last of its life force, she once again saw the slimy liquid dry up, leaving only dust behind.

She had originally planned to collect the liquid from the slimes, as Matthew had recommended, but gave up on it as she saw the liquid disappear after using steal life.

Looking at her stats, she smiled seeing how much they had increased since she first entered the tower.

Name: Evelyn

Race: Human

Title: Returned (L)

Age: 19

Level: 5

Class: Black Healer (Healer)

Stats: STR: 6 DEX: 4 CON: 7 INT: 15 (+2) WIS: 15 CHA: 2 Health: 47 (+10) Mana: 113 Luck: 2 (+2)

Abilities: Basic heal (lvl.1), Wound care (lvl.1), Steal life(lvl.5), Give life (lvl.1)

"Seems it's time to feed the egg again," she smiled looking at the bonus to her health stat. As she took the egg out of her inventory, she walked back to her 'workstation', looking at the egg in her hands.

The egg's color had changed from beige/white with soft purple spots, to now being almost entirely black with the spots being a prominent purple.

"I wonder if it will hatch soon…" Evelyn thought for the hundredth time, as she gave her excess life force to the egg in her hands.

A short while later the egg almost seemed to vibrate in her hands. Having used up all her excess life force, she tried to put the egg back in her inventory.

*The egg is close to hatching and thus can not be put in a temporary space. *

Looking at the notification in front of her, Evelyn jumped to her feet so fast she lost her grip on the egg. Fumbling for a few panicked seconds, she once again grasped the egg tightly in her grasp, having avoided dropping it to the ground.

While tucking the egg securely inside her clothes, Evelyn decided to inspect it closer.

*A slightly large egg reinforced by an abundant amount of life force, almost ready to hatch. *

Seeing how the description had changed from when she first got the egg, Evelyn felt that her diligent work had paid off. 'The multiple hours I used to transfer life force to the egg weren't in vain, after all'.

"I hope you hatch soon," she whispered, as she gave the egg a hug. "Then we can hunt together, and I won't ever be alone again…"

Gently shaking her head, Evelyn prepared to once again start making potions, when a terrified scream reverberated through the clearing.

Hearing the scream, Evelyn's first reaction was to run towards it. 'Someone might need help!'. But after running a few steps, she slowed.

'But what can I help? What can I do? I might die as well…' Feeling the familiar sense of fear wash over her, her steps came to a halt.

She looked in the direction the scream had come from, conflicted over whether to help and risk the danger, when another scream resounded and decided for her.

"I should at the very least take a look," she muttered to herself, as she sprinted across the clearing, making sure to avoid the groups of slime as she did.

As she reached the end of the clearing, another scream rang out, this time much quieter. As if the person screaming was losing all strength.

Evelyn slowed her sprint as she neared, breathing heavily, as her heart beat in her ears. She could still not see the source of the screams, hidden behind the trees and shrubberies.

Trying to muffle her own breathing, she took careful steps as she entered the forest. 'Running straight in won't do anyone any good. I should get a look at the situation before I step in. If it's a monster, I don't want it to attack me before I make some sort of plan...'

But as she cautiously walked forward, what greeted her was not a monster, but rather a group of people.

Two men and a woman were standing with their backs towards Evelyn, while a young girl was lying on the ground, bleeding out. Her brown hair was drenched in blood and her brown eyes looked right at Evelyn, devoid of hope.

'It's like she can't even see me…'

Evelyn felt a shiver run down her spine, as she registered the situation before her. There might not be any monsters here, but there was something worse, humans.