章節 40: Reunited

Michael didn't follow a religion because he'd been raised that way. His parents were both descendants of Russian intelligentsia, a class of people that formed in the second half of the XIX century. Their closest comparison being that of gentlemen or intellectuals, they were critical thinkers and usually were well-educated. Michael's grandparents were teachers, engineers and government workers, highly regarded Socialist Party members.

Among intelligentsia, religion was unpopular. They scoffed at the lower class which was orthodox Christian all the way, nitpicked the Bible and preferred to believe in what they could see, touch and deduce. Michael's grandparents passed the same values to their children who in turn raised him in a non-religious environment.

At the same time, Michael believed in miracles. He had to, after traveling to another world, finding Splendid Glory and cultivating. He now knew that other worlds existed, as probably did spaceships, monsters and magic. Michael not only believed in but was aware of a higher power – the infofield and the World Tree's energy. However, these revelations didn't make him reconsider his belief system.

Perhaps Christian God existed in some form. Perhaps other deities did as well. But the cultivator was so used to rejecting such ideas, that he didn't think twice about declaring himself an atheist.

"What?" the female reporter looked to her cameraman for guidance, "Did he just ruin my story? They told me he was praying. Shit!"

She stormed out of the hospital ward, leaving her companion behind. The man sneered at her misfortune, the woman's character too unpalatable for his tastes, and took several shots of the boy. The channel could show interviews with the nurses and some videos of the father-son couple. The mother refused to take part and asked them to stop, but they were journalists. It was their job to tell people stories.

…

Two days later, Michael exploded a tiny wisp of energy. A bunch of tumor cells died off and dissipated into nothing. And then there were none left.

"Huh?"

After performing the same actions over and over again, Michael's brain was long on autopilot. When there was nothing for the subsequent glory point sphere to destroy, he got confused. Soon, recognition emerged in his eyes.

"I did it. I did it! Ha-ha! Dad!" this time, tears came easier to Michael. Once LZD1's resurfacing broke the dam, his emotions became more stable too. Like most people, he laughed when he was joyous and cried when down. His father taught him that crying was an uncommon thing for men. While it isn't shameful, he shouldn't cheapen it by tearing up on small occasions. However, this was a moment worthy of tears.

"Ding! Quest completed. Host has healed his father. Reward: 10,000 glory points, Flawed Healing technique."

"Good! Bloody good! Glory, spend 4000 points on easing LZD1. Hurry up, I want to stretch my limbs!"

Michael refrained from waking his dad up there and then. His mother needed to be in the room when it happened, to see both men in her life escape from the predicament brought about by the disease.

For now, the cultivator sat in his chair, enjoying the sensation of his muscles filling up with power. After a few minutes, he got bored.

"Glory, status."

[Name: Michael North (Mikhail Severniy)]

[Age: 34 (14)]

[Cultivation: 1-stage, 8-star]

[Mental Power: 252]

[Life Force: 43]

[Energy Field (locked)]

[True Soul (locked)]

"When did I level up my cultivation? I don't even remember." But after concentrating on the energy rushing through his veins, Michael confirmed that it was far stronger than before.

He compared his characteristics to the ones before and found an increase of 40 points in Mental Power and 8 points in Life Force. After trying to determine what system Glory used in giving out enhancements for a while, he hit a wall.

His first thought was that an 8-point increase after advancing to 8-star was no coincidence. Following that logic, he should have gotten 35 and 7 after breaking through to 7-star, 30 and 6 after 6-star and so on. But that left him with measly 7 points in Life Force and a whopping 72 in Mental Power in the very beginning!

Glory cleared things up beautifully, "Host's initial 1-stage, 0-star cultivation corresponded with Mental Power of 27 and Life Force of 7 with a basis of 10 in host's world. Under stimulation of host's genetic potential, his Mental Power increased by 45 points."

"So, my body was weak but my brain was almost thrice as developed as most people's? Fair enough, that's what you get when you put an intellectual in a child's body."

Now, with 43 points in Life Force, Michael could contend with many strong men. As for his mind, it had long surpassed common human norms.

The time it took him to figure out his own strength was enough for LZD1 to subside significantly. He stood up and exited into the hall. The nurses gawked at their most unusual visitor, hurrying to alert their supervisor. But the exhausted young man visited the bathroom, washed his face and smiled in the mirror.

"Hello? Mom?"

"Misha! Have you finally woken up from your delusions? Have you decided to let me stop worrying, huh? You are so grounded! You can forget about your game and everything…"

"Dad's better now," Michael closed the floodgates.

"W-what did you say?"

"You should come to the hospital in the evening. He's not awake yet, but he might be in a few hours. Bring some food for me, would you? I'm starving."

"And what do the doctors say? Did you talk to them?"

"Ugh… Sure. Come to the center later, mom. Let's meet at 9 in the evening," Michael avoided the question. Surely, he couldn't run to the doctors and ask them to run all the tests again for no reason. Just like his own previous recovery, he let this one be a miracle.

His restless mother arrived at ten to nine, anxiously looking around. She approached her husband's doctor but got no good news from him. Confused, she found her son in the hospital ward. He adopted the same pose as before, but this time he greeted her with a smile and invited her to sit next to him.

"They told me his condition hasn't changed. Why did you think otherwise?" she asked.

"They won't run tests without proof, so I didn't tell them. Look, I sat here for a month, right? I felt dad's pulse, I breathed with him, my heart beat together with his. I know he will wake up soon, mom." Michael regarded his father's face. Those deathly pale cheeks now had a healthier pink color.

The cultivator put his hands on the man's arm and used the Flawed Healing technique. Its name betrayed its quality – the useless thing was even worse than Basic skills Glory promised to provide later.

[Flawed Healing technique. Defective Skill. Targets weak points and damaged organs. Increases efficiency of healing practices.]

There were no requirements for Mental Power or other characteristics. Instead, it was a way of controlling and guiding energy contained in glory points in a more effective manner. When it was in use, the balls of light headed for problematic places in the body without prompting.

Michael sent a sliver of energy to jumpstart his father's brain and stimulate his heart. Under his mom's stupefied gaze, the man squirmed, convulsed and coughed. Michael immediately sent a thousand glory points into his throat to ease the pain.

A shadow of a man just a month ago, he opened his eyes and saw his beloved wife and child. Misha had a confident smile as if he had proved a point. His still beautiful wife was covering her mouth, tearing up as usual.

"Nadya," he croaked hoarsely.

"Volodya. My dear," tears fell from the woman's eyes.

Vladimir and Nadezhda Severniy reunited for the first time in weeks. What seemed like the end to their story was, in fact, only the beginning. They had their differences, their arguments and disagreements. But when it mattered, the couple's love and care for each other were apparent.