Healing System

[Michael's POV]

'This is it, right?' Michael asked as he hovered above a mass of land.

He had been flying for days, and only now was he able to see any bits of civilization. Even when he used the map, all he could see was the blue sea around him.

But he still had the lingering fear that he had ended up on some massive deserted island instead of a continent.

Press the zoom-out button...

As the system's words landed, he facepalmed. He had forgotten such a thing even existed, but upon trying to find it, he couldn't.

'...Where is it?' he asked while flying a bit higher. He wouldn't want to be detected by any people present.

It is in the top-right corner. Your perception in these kinds of situations makes me question whether or not you are some old man in disguise.

'I am not that old.' Michael snickered back and pressed the miniature "-" button at the top-right. Immediately, the map before him zoomed out.

It displayed all three of the continents, with him being exactly on the bottom-most half of Neutus. It was a jagged area, and it did not seem to have any other cities around it.

For how technologically advanced the world was, he assumed they would have turned this place into a dock of sorts, but currently, it was nothing but an extremely flat grassy area.

It was a bit ominous how quiet it was; it was not even that quiet while he was flying above the ocean.

Nonetheless, he checked other nearby areas and found out that while this continent was supposed to be similar to Vivum, it barely had any villages, only a couple of major cities.

Amara, the city his orphanage was located in, was quite a distance away. It would roughly take a day or two to get there, even if he flew at full speed.

However, that was not his objective right now. He wanted to head straight towards Meph, but it proved to be a little troublesome.

'Zane Brennan, right? Can you find where the Brennan family lives?' Michael asked the system.

There are 194 Brennan families, 24 of which have a child by the name of Zane. Give me a moment; I will try narrowing it down by his personality.

Just as the system's words finished, it once again turned quiet, leaving Michael to wander in his own thoughts.

'This continent doesn't seem that well maintained,' he observed and flew just below the clouds.

It was practically abandoned. Only grass was in sight; not even animals were anywhere nearby.

Back in the Artios continent, each location he visited was extremely lively, if not by humans, then by animals.

Yet here, it left a lot to be desired.

Nonetheless, Michael wanted to try to get a move on. It might take a little while before the system matches the correct person.

'Can't you check for his mother instead?'

She doesn't exist. Oh, that's actually a good idea. I'll search for those without mothers... narrowed it down to 8.

Michael tilted his brow at the comment; he had seen Zane's mother upfront. She was most certainly not dead.

But if they were so rich as to fake medical records and even their death, then it would make sense.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He slowly began moving until finally, he accelerated to his maximum speed. Over the course of this little journey, his control over mana had gotten even greater, meaning he was much faster now.

After just a couple of minutes of flying, the system's voice once again resounded.

Found him. He's in a city called Ryadro... Weird name. Not too far away, though.

Michael nodded in appreciation and proceeded to zoom out his map once more, trying to find Ryadro until finally, he found it.

He raised a brow upon seeing the architecture—or more like, what was surrounding the city. There were a bunch of walls spanning hundreds of meters, heading all around the entire city. It also had multiple layers, as if it was trying to defend itself from something.

Seems like the city is very prone to monster attacks. However, in the last couple of years, there were hardly any. I wonder why?

Michael scoffed and immediately thought of Meph as the culprit.

However, now that he had the information he needed, he decided to speed up his pace. The city was surprisingly close, only three hours of flying away.

Do you plan on taking him along with you?

He was a bit confused by the system's random question. 'No? Why would I?'

Just wanted to make sure. Being around a demon for too long might reflect its personality onto you. I doubt you would be very affected, though.

Michael rolled his eyes at the system's remark and sarcastically replied, 'You are so funny...'

The two bickered amongst each other while flying without interruptions, and after a few hours, he finally arrived.

Below him was the so-called Ryadro 'city.' However, it looked like some kind of a massive castle surrounded by walls instead. He could not see a single normal building aside from it.

'They have quite a lot of money, I'd say,' Michael whistled to himself and rechecked the map. On it, there were a surprisingly large number of green dots, followed by only three yellow dots and a single red one.

If he were to guess, then the red one was likely Meph. It seemed like while he was nice at first glance, in reality, he was still evil. Stay updated through empire

It also seemed like he was still stronger than Michael. He could not tell by how much, but just gazing at the mana coming from the red dot caused shivers to run down his spine.

As far as he remembered, Meph was someone who most likely had the mind core, meaning his physical strength was not so great.

Even then, the oppressive nature was intense; if the two of them fought, he would lose without putting up much of a fight, the gap was evident.

Michael took a deep breath and began floating downwards. Just as he entered the city's proximity, a voice resounded in his mind, and it was not the system.

Long time no see... Hmm? You got much stronger, didn't you?

As those words resounded, he could see a being forming right beside him. It barely held any mana—likely an illusion—but it portrayed a figure he knew all too well; it was Meph.

'I wonder if he can still read my min-' Michael thought but was immediately interrupted.

No, I can't read your mind.

He tilted his head with a furrowed brow. 'You just did, though?'

I didn't.

'...' Michael was speechless at Meph's attempt at comedy. The system had informed him previously that it would be impossible to read his thoughts.

So that meant that currently, he was just guessing.

Yeah, yeah. I know you missed me.

Michael stared at the illusion in silence as it began monologuing inside his mind, trying to read his thoughts, until finally, Meph decided to take one glance at him and realized he had been caught.

...Whoops?

"Yeah, nice to see you are doing well," Michael snickered.

Hahaha, I am doing well indeed. These people are quite the religious bunch, so when I fulfilled some of their wishes, they built me a castle!

"I see. Can we talk for a moment? I have some questions I'd like to ask you." Michael went straight to the point, and for a moment, the voice inside his mind halted.

However, it quickly resumed once again, the playfulness from earlier gone.

Come, you know where I am.