* 'Normal' Baston's Monologue *

Nightmares. Revelations. Visions.

Whatever the name may be, whatever you call them, it is an undeniable reality.

Completely replicating an apocalypse down to the finest details, not to mention twice, is definitely not a coincidence.

‘Of course, it is still up to you to uncover it yourself, but recreation on this scale is still mind-blowing.’

Obviously, this is not the first time I have entered the third apocalypse. In fact, this attempt might be my 121st nightmare of “The Capitol Fall”.

In all my previous nightmares of every single apocalypse, I never once succeeded in using my knowledge to stop the event from occurring.

Even with all my extra experiences and strategic preparations, I could never stop them.

Not even once…

‘Well, it’s not like I’m going to stop trying. As long as I still have these dreams, I might as well try my hardest. And if I truly succeed in stopping it in my dream, I’ll also be able to thwart them in real life.’

I never lived to see the true end. I always died at the hands of the enemies. 

‘Maybe my actions did prevent complete annihilation. But if I could not do it consistently, can I really do that when the catastrophe happens?’

If anything, this attempt should be the one I am most prepared for since I know the general timeline of the attack.

'9:30 PM is the time of the first explosion. Until then I am free to gather information as usual.'

'I still never discovered the perpetrators before the time of execution.'

'I need to find them first so I can devise a proper plan to stop the crisis.'

While my mind is drafting a strategy to counter the threat, fate seems to have other plans for me.

Suddenly, I am jolted awake from my inner thoughts by the shock to the face. The pain stung so hard it’s a miracle I wasn’t knocked out cold. I almost blacked out. 

‘What just happened?’

“Owww…”

It felt like my skull was split open. I sense blood all over my hands.

‘If I recall correctly, I just entered the banquet hall. Did the attack happen earlier than planned?’

I open my eyes, expecting to see an enemy or a collapsed building, only to see a man holding out his hand, gesturing for me to stay put. 

‘Everyone seems… fine? No one is panicking at all. Is this an illusion?’

“Are there any priests? Medic! Saint! Anyone?” He shouted.

“It’s Okay… Can you tell me what is going on?” I replied while casting [Basic Recovery] on my wound.

My mother, who just noticed the commotion, hurriedly rushes over from a conversation with her fellow friends.

“Oh my goodness! Baston! What happened to you? [Blood Recovery]-[Wound Cleansing]-[Pain Reduction]-[Tissue Growth]”

‘My [Basic Recovery] can do that too.’ I inwardly grumbled.

Magic

Also known as “Sorcery”, magic is an act of manipulating subatomic particles using one’s spirit influence.

Mana Sorcery, magic which focus on controlling mana to carry out one’s will.

Spirit Sorcery, a branch of magic dealing with Spirit, a subatomic element only discovered in living creatures and unique to an individual.

For the purpose of the past recollection by future me, I will now delve into knowledge of Healing Magic, which I am trained in as an apprentice at the local church. 

Healing-type spells work by, at the expense of the caster’s mana, influence the body to reconstruct the uninjured version of that body remembered by one’s own spirit.

Theoretically speaking, these spells are categorized as “mana-based spirit-type spells”, a spell that consumes mana to channel the spirit’s inner power.

Not everyone can cast these spells. Only the one whose spirit has a knack for healing can perform this.

‘They called it “Spiritual Attunement”, which determined one’s basic capability and bodily constitution, which is based on one’s own spirit meaning that, in normal cases, spirit attunement is innate, hereditary, and unmodifiable.’

Elemental manipulation proficiency required for wounds is also different based on the type of injury.

For example,

A healer who only knows how to manipulate fire won’t be able to heal those who have burning injuries.

Similar cases can also be seen in spiritual attunement. 

A mage, even with all their knowledge, spells, mana elements, and ‘healing’ spiritual attunement, cannot destroy a curse, a miasma-type injury.

The reason is that miasma, also known as miasmic power, can only be neutralized with divine power. Though divine-influenced mana exists, they cannot be found naturally, but instead they are created through divine-attuned spirit.

‘That’s why all the famous priests, priestesses, saints, and cardinals are all divine-attuned spirits with high proficiency in manipulating all major types of mana.’

Even then, the level and proficiency of one’s casting and how much one’s spirit is attuned for healing are also factors contributing to the success and effectiveness of restoration spells.

Compared to a normal single-layered spell [Basic Recovery], her four-layer spell utilizing basic components of an advanced restoration spell [Grand Recovery] is bound to work faster and better.

And normally, [Basic Recovery] won’t be able to fix this grave of an injury either, and that should also be the case for everyone.

But I, who does not have any healing attunement and cannot cure a single normal illness, can use [Basic Recovery], a basic spell, to regenerate even a freshly cut limb. Not ‘Rejoin’… ‘Regenerate’

‘They don’t even believe the examining machine when the results came out that I have no spiritual attunement for healing or restoration. The bishops at the temple either said “The machine is broken” or “Retake the exams” and every time the machine reported it as ???, which basically means ‘undefined by the system’, AKA ‘undocumented’.’

‘In the end, they settled in their own delusions that either that mysterious attunement is ‘Great Healing’ or my restoration ability comes from my bodily constitution inherited from my mother.’

Complete regeneration of lost limbs is a feat only done by those with high healing attunement and high proficiency in both spirits and mana. Those like the famous saints and saintesses only achieved it by using a complete version of [Grand Recovery] and emptying their own mana pool for a while.

And I, an 8-year-old with no aptitude for healing, replicated it with [Basic Recovery], spending not even a quarter of my mana. 

‘Who’d believe it if they hadn’t seen it themselves? Even rumors about my ability are deemed as fake.’

At that point, my spell’s name should not even be called [Basic Recovery]. It might as well be named [Injury Reversal] instead.

In fact, for very fresh injuries, my [Basic Recovery] sometimes outperformed my mother’s four-layer [Grand Recovery].

My [Basic Recovery] healed the wound so perfectly that those who lost consciousness by an accident sometimes wonder why they are suddenly in the patient ward.

I might even be exploited to death if not for the fact that the patient got to re-experience the whole torturous feeling over again while I healed them. 

‘That’s why, even though I was an apprentice healer at York Temple, I was tasked with only dealing the most serious and severe cases where no other options were reasonably viable.’

 And so concluded the story about my unique unknown constitution that allows me to use a restricted magic.

Enough backstory; it is time to focus on the present.

 ‘Stop reminiscing about the past. The apocalypse is right in front of you!’

My mother looks at me with beaming eyes, telling me to stay still and do nothing. So, I release my healing spell and let my mother take full control of the situation.

‘Okay, maybe not literally in front of me…’ I joked with myself to relieve the pain.

“So, what happened?” She asks. 

“To simply put it, that child walked into my axe.” The giant warrior responds.

“There is no way I hit the axe that fast for it to cause me that much breeding… Oh.. oh…” I try to refute, but the man just lightly brushes his finger against his two-sided axe, and it still stains the weapon red.

“I’m sorry…” I politely bowed to apologize for my rudeness. 

“Hehe, your kid has his clumsy side, Serafina.” Calling out my mother’s name.

“Cedric thinks so too?” She replied.

Feigning interest, I asked. “You two know each other?”

‘Obviously, I know the answer, but my lack of curiosity would make her realize that something was up.’ 

“Of course! After all, Cedric and I attend the same academy.”

As the small talk continues into the night, Baston wanders around the palace alone, searching for clues like he did every time he entered the nightmare.

Baston, who got the gist of the terrorists’ attack plan from previous attempts, keeps his schedule aligned with the time of the initial strike. 

‘8:45 PM… 45 minutes. There is still some time left before it begins.’

Unbeknownst to Baston, however, is that his accident raised the palace guard’s vigilance, and now, the secret service is on the move.

The counterterrorist agents hidden around the festival, with their focus now on him, suspect that he might be a troublemaker because of his “strategy”.

To them, not only did he traverse the complex area masterfully despite it being his “first time” here, but, by repeatedly looking at his pocket watch, he also established himself as a troublemaker waiting for the right time to strike.

In response to Baston’s actions, the guards are now in search of accomplices or suspicious items that may cause a problem.

The sudden increase in guards patrolling made the operation planned by the terrorists at risk of being discovered, thus forcing the terrorists to speed up their plans.

“We can’t wait any longer… Initiate ‘Operation Götterfall’. ”