The Lone Healer-Chapter 221: The Aftermath, Part Five

That night, Elena fell asleep on a park bench.

The questions that the written test had asked remained on her mind long after she’d left that basketball court.

They were all so simple that Elena couldn’t see how anyone else could take a long time answering them, and yet, she’d been the only one to walk out of the school for a while.

She had no idea what would happen.

She could never have imagined that, as the sun rose over the horizon at 6 am, she would receive a very, very important call that she nearly ignored.

"Huh? Hello?"

"Good morning," a firm voice spoke on the other end. "Elena Harris?"

The scout sat up straight.

"Y-Yeah?" She asked as she picked some fallen branches out of her hair. "Who...?"

"It’s Neve. Neve Stephens," the healer clarified. "Just wanted to deliver the news personally. You passed the first test." She left a pause in there, letting the words sink in. "Congratulations."

For a moment, Elena wondered if she was still asleep.

"Thank you! I, ehm..."

[What do I even say!?]

"Come by the school later. We want to do the second assessment as soon as possible. Oh, and there are some papers for you and your parents to sign."

"I-I will!"

"Good."

Somewhat curtly, the woman hung up. Elena didn’t blame her for it, though, as she probably had other important calls to make at this time.

Elena stared down at her screen for a while.

[I.. I got to the next stage! I might not gonna starve to death!] 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She clutched her phone tightly, holding it against her chest.

"Yes, yes, ye- oh, I smell awful... I should find someplace to shower first."

---

Standing before the school’s doors again, this time, Elena walked in without as many worries as before.

She was still concerned, however.

Mainly, because she did not know what this assessment would entail.

[Am I going to have to fight someone?] She wondered as she walked through the halls. [I’m literally level 1. How’s that going to work?]

It was usually during unsure moments like these when Elena would look over at her brother and rely on him for some emotional support. Just having him around was enough to make her want to try harder.

That, however, wasn’t the case anymore.

Before Elena could worsen that fresh, mental wound further, though, a voice called out to her.

"Ah, the new girl!"

The scout had been about to walk down a set of stairs but stopped at the top when she heard that.

Standing a short distance away, which was gradually getting shorter and shorter as the woman approached, was the pink-haired lady from yesterday.

She looked down at Elena with a casual smile as she went to shake her hand.

"Uh, hi!" Elena tried to inject some energy into her system. "My name’s Elena."

"Charlotte," the lady countered. "You’re here for the assessment?"

"Yeah."

"I see... And where...?"

"They aren’t around anymore," Elena answered with a grim tone, but also the slight annoyance of someone who’d had to deliver that statement many, many times already.

"Ah. Well, right this way, then."

There weren’t nearly as many people in the school today as there had been yesterday. Elena wondered how many of those who applied got rejected.

She was led to an empty classroom where the guild’s founder was sitting next to a pair of employees.

"... arrangements might fall out of the threshold, but well..." One of them said.

"Just tell me," Neve Stephens commanded.

"It would be more sustainable if you were to clear more dungeons yourself. As, uhm, you have access to higher-level rewards."

Neve sighed.

"Yeah... I figured," she muttered before she finally turned her eyes toward Elena. "Ah, you’re here."

"G-Good morning!" Elena greeted them.

"Morning," Neve replied curtly.

As she noticed that there was no one with her, Neve exchanged a look with the pink-haired woman and the latter just shook her head.

"Okay... May as well get right into it."

She got up from her chair and walked out to the door, where Elena stood. The scout had to step to the side, fearing that Neve might run her over if she didn’t.

"Follow me."

Elena nodded and, tailed by Neve’s employees, the two of them went to a different part of the school.

Their destination was a library, it seemed. One that had all of its shelves and tomes extracted, leaving nothing but an empty space with two tables. Sitting atop one table was a laptop. Atop the other, was...

"Is that a VR headset?" Elena wasn’t able to keep herself from asking. The headset in question was connected to the laptop.

"Yep," Neve replied. "It’s not man-made. Comes from the World Shop."

"Huh?"

"It’s from the System," Neve elaborated. "You’ll see what I mean when you put it on."

With those words, Neve gestured at the headset. Elena walked forward and picked it up. A little bit hesitantly, she put it on, over her head. She had no way to turn it on herself, though.

"Alright. Hold on..." Neve said.

Elena waited. Then, finally, the device was activated.

"Agh," Elena flinched as she felt a subtle electric shock go down the back of her head, to her neck, and then her spine.

A moment later, Elena felt like she’d been taken to a different world entirely.

"Can you hear me?" Neve asked.

"Uh, yeah," Elena replied, looking around. She found herself in a black void, where the floor she stood on was marked by blue lines, interconnected like she was on top of a sapphire web. Looking down at herself, Elena was struck by how real this felt.

[I’m cold...] She touched her hands together. [I can feel my hands. This is really advanced.]

"Kinda crazy, isn’t it?" Neve asked.

"Do all the guilds have stuff like this?"

"Probably not," Neve replied. "Just this one VR headset cost me 25000 tokens." Elena’s heart nearly stopped when she heard that. She was half certain that if she were to add up every token she’d made since the Unity Trials began, it would either just barely clear that mark or not reach it at all. "I doubt any of them are shelling out that much money for their members. But, for what we’re going to be doing, I need you guys to be as prepared as possible, so, yeah."

[I hope I don’t break this thing somehow...]

"What’s your level again?" Neve asked.

"Level 1," Elena answered. "I, uhm, switched classes."

"To what?"

"Scout," Elena replied. "Is that alright?"

"Yeah," Neve replied. "This is a guild for Support classes. Any Support classes, not just healers," she added, and Elena breathed a sigh of relief. "I’m going to throw you in a dungeon. Close your eyes."

[What?]

Elena felt quite nervous, but she did as the healer asked.

A second passed and, suddenly, Elena felt a lot warmer.

"Open them."

She did as Neve asked and found that now, she was in an old castle of some sort.

There were shackles around her and a couple of dust-covered skeletons.

[Am I in an actual dungeon?]

"So, here’s what we’re gonna do," Neve said. "This place has a bunch of level 1 monsters in it. You’re gonna fight them. That’s all. Simple, right? Be careful, though. This VR tech simulates the five senses perfectly, so, if you get hurt it’s gonna suck."

Admittedly, Elena had barely heard that last part. She was stuck on one particular part of that.

She was going to be fighting.

"Good luck."

And that was it. Elena was left alone with nothing but her own thoughts as she sat in that dark, old dungeon.

If she closed her eyes, she could almost see that snarling monster from the alley right in front of her.

She could barely move.

"Elena?" Neve suddenly asked. "Are you good?"

"Y-Yeah," the girl replied. "Um... Hold on..."

[Come on, get up,] she told herself. [You’re still being tested. You can’t let this opportunity go to waste.]

Her body’s movements didn’t quite match what her mind was thinking, however, as she stumbled over her own feet as soon as she took her first step.

With her heart beating hard against her chest, Elena walked out of the old cell.

In the hallway outside, so dusty Elena could feel dirt entering her lungs with every breath, she found a zombie.

Level 1

MP: 10/10

She froze.

The zombie looked strangely human as it stood naked and rotten. One of its eyes hung out from its socket while the other was fixed on Elena, piercing her very soul with its stare. The monster raised its hands in her direction.

Elena couldn’t move.

In her mind, she was right back in that alley. She could feel her brother’s cold body in her arms. She could feel the impending sense of dread as her inevitable fate drew closer.

The zombie stumbled toward her, limping and dragging a broken ankle behind it.

Elena did not back away.

Finally, the zombie reached her and opened its mouth wide.

Elena did nothing to stop it from tearing her throat out.

The simulation cut off.

Elena could tell that the headset had been deactivated, so she reached up and took it off her head.

She felt so frustrated then that if this thing wasn’t someone else’s property and wasn’t worth so many tokens, she likely would have thrown it across the room.

Her head remained low as she heard Neve walk toward her.

She must have told the others to get out, as her employees left the room, leaving only the two of them there.

"... So," Neve said, hands on her hips as she looked down at her, "what was that about?"

Elena didn’t have an answer to offer.