Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

"But didn't we feel the aura of the dark elements dissipating when we first came in?" I offered my observation, which showed that the situation was improving. Even if we couldn't find the source yet, it didn't seem to be a big issue.

"That would be best," Selene agreed, but she still looked worried.

I also felt it was too much of a coincidence that things started improving right after we arrived.

"Hila, do you know when the dark elements...when people first started falling ill?" Selene had wanted to ask when the dark elements first became so prevalent in the air, but realizing the other person was just an ordinary villager without the ability to sense elements, she rephrased her question. After all, among human mages, only light mages could accurately sense dark elements, and those skilled in light magic were rare and precious to begin with.

"About four days ago, I think," Hila looked up as she recalled.

"Gavin was the first one. He collapsed after coming back from gathering herbs up the mountain. Then that night, a few more people also fell ill one after another and wouldn't wake up."

"Did anything special happen that day?" I wondered.

"Special?" She sounded puzzled, but still tried to remember before answering, "Nothing special really...Oh right, except for Kane! He ran into a monster in the woods near town and killed it. He even brought it back to show off to everyone."

"Kane?" The name sounded familiar. I immediately remembered he was the person Pastor Simon had mentioned who was sent to the capital with a letter.

"That Kane could kill a monster?" Selene also seemed surprised. To have someone so capable in a remote mountain town?

"Yes," Hila sounded like it was very normal. "Kane is the strongest person here. He was a hunter all along and often bragged about being a 3rd rank adventurer. Almost everyone in town knew."

"Is 3rd rank really that impressive?" Hearing that, Hila couldn't help asking us for confirmation.

"Haha...it's pretty good, truly impressive," I awkwardly glanced away, just in time to see Selene giving me a weird look. I quickly changed the subject, "What about the monster's corpse?"

"Since more people fell ill the next day, some suspected there was something wrong with the monster. So they disposed of the corpse far away early on." She sighed as she explained, seeing we were so curious about the monster. "So you also think it was caused by that monster? Kane thought so too at first and felt very guilty, so he volunteered to be sent to the capital."

"That's not possible," Selene shook her head, now certain it was not some infectious disease. She immediately rejected the idea, "One monster could not have caused such extensive dark pollution, even if it was ten...no, a hundred, it wouldn't be possible."

After asking Hila a few more questions, we still couldn't find any clues about the source.

"In the end, we still haven't found the cause," I looked at Selene helplessly.

"Then let me get another patient for you to save," Sister Hila offered carefully when she saw we were getting nowhere. Now her last hope rested solely on Selene since backup would likely not arrive soon.

"Alright, go quickly," Selene nodded and told Simon to rest while I accompanied her out of the room.

Hila also hurriedly left the church to find someone.

"How are you holding up?" Seeing a hint of fatigue on Selene's face, I asked with some concern, "Can you keep going?"

"Should be okay," she leaned against a long bench in the hall with her eyes closed to rest herself. The back-to-back spells had drained not just her mana but stamina too.

Yet she stubbornly claimed to be fine.

But when the townspeople carried in the patient Hila had found, we were both shocked.

"Please save him, Priestess!" A woman who seemed to be the patient's mother desperately clutched at Selene's clothes as she cried and pleaded.

I looked at the man on the stretcher who seemed to be in his twenties. But his condition was far worse than the elderly Pastor Simon. His whole body was blackened and much of his skin was rotting with black pus oozing out. He was gasping for air unconsciously with his mouth. The sight was truly disgusting. I quickly turned my head away after a glance, trying to shake off the nausea from the visual.

"He is...truly at death's door," even the stubborn Selene showed a difficult expression.

But with the woman begging and refusing to let go, she had no choice but to promise to at least try.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" I could sense the level of dark corruption in this patient was countless times higher than Pastor Simon's. He must be one of the first few to fall ill like Hila mentioned.

"No choice even if I can't. I have to try, or it'd be even harder if he turned undead," said Selene as she looked at me. She picked up her staff, signaling she was going to start casting.

But this time after the ring of light enveloped the patient, instead of dissipating, it merely flickered weakly several times before disappearing completely.

Selene staggered back with a gasp and collapsed to the ground, breathless with white lips. I panicked at the sight and rushed over without Hila's prompting to help her up.

"This is...at least 3, 4 days worth of accumulation. My remaining mana was nowhere near...enough," she heaved between gasps.

"Alright, don't talk," I helped her onto a chair to sit down before turning to look at the patient again.

Although her dispel magic earlier did have some effect, it was merely a token effort at best - delaying his death for a few hours.

The patient's family stared at each other, at a loss over what to do next. Their last glimmer of hope was now down too. What options remained?

To my surprise, they turned to me as the lifeline instead.

"Me?" I pointed to myself in shock.

"You're also from the capital right? You must know magic too. I beg you, please save my boy!" The patient's mother grabbed my shirt instead. I felt like my clothes were almost getting deformed from her pulling. Despite that, I showed a wry bitter smile. How the tables have turned, the desperate family was now clutching at straws huh.

"I might not succeed..." I scratched my head. I had wanted to say I didn't know magic at all, but then I remembered I hadn't used Purification in a long time. Maybe I could do it after advancing?

Besides, I couldn't bear to just watch him die like this without at least trying. Failure didn't cost much anyway.

"It's fine as long as you try, a drowning person will clutch at a straw," it seemed the family was determined. Hearing such words, I could only go along with it and try Purification again.

Following the memories in my mind, I stretched my palm out towards the still ghastly patient on the stretcher. I felt the light elements within me slowly gather under the direction of my will into the center of my palm...

"Huh?"

"Wha-?!?!?!"

I stared with wide eyes as the ball of light elements in my palm, as if attracted by the dark elements in the patient, slowly seeped out to form a glowing sphere of white light...

It worked! It actually worked! This was my first time seeing my own light magic. Does Purification need to be guided by dark elements to be cast?

I was so excited I couldn't help yelling.

"What happened? Did something go wrong?" The patient's family were already anxious. Seeing my reaction made them even more frantic as they thought some major problem had occurred.

"No no, nothing's wrong!"

I quickly comforted them verbally while trying to calm myself, then focused and directed the white glowing sphere in my palm towards the patient like Selene did.

Unfortunately, the light sphere disappeared instantly upon contact with his body. At the same time, I felt my whole body emptied of strength as I plopped heavily onto the ground too, in nearly the same situation Selene was in earlier.

"Hah...hah...hah..." I gasped for breath heavily. The sudden exhaustion made it momentarily impossible for me to even move a finger. My whole body felt depleted. Even lifting an arm was difficult.

"That's clearly mana exhaustion," said Selene mockingly after seeing my state. "Also how could your mana reserves be so low? How weak!"

"Eh..."

Suddenly, as if a realization hit her, her expression changed to show she understood.

"Oh right!"

The patient's family were deathly pale by now, barely clinging to their last shred of hope. "Lady...it can't be you've failed too?" they asked shakily.

"That's right, I almost forgot!" I slapped myself on the head as the key issue came to me too.

I forcibly pushed myself up with all the remaining strength in my body and released my wings. Instantly, the small church was filled halfway by the white feathers.

Indeed, once I spread my wings, I immediately felt my magic supply being continuously replenished. My stamina also recovered very quickly.

"You exposed yourself, you know," said Selene meaningfully, as if to wash her hands of it.

"I tried my best to hide your identity."

"It's fine, saving lives is most important," I smiled at her. If I could save someone dying, exposing myself seemed worth it, especially in a remote rural town. Not many would know.

The others present were already stunned speechless. Sister Hila even knelt down with hands clasped before her chest.

The patient's family who didn't seem to be believers gaped in disbelief. They seemed to be witnessing angels for the first time as they hugged each other dumbly, no longer daring to do anything like tugging my clothes.

"Let's try again."

This time I was very confident. I stretched my palm out towards the patient lying on the stretcher.

Light blossomed from my palm again. Without me needing to direct it intentionally, the glowing sphere floated by itself towards the patient where it exploded into flickering sparks that fell over him.

With just this one spell, I felt the unpleasant aura around the patient completely disappear. His condition was now completely normal as he quickly regained consciousness.

"Gavin!" His family wanted to rush up.

"Don't touch him yet, his wounds aren't healed," Selene immediately stopped them. After some rest, she had recovered a fair bit too.

The black blood on the patient's body was also purified. Although still bleeding now, it was red blood instead.

Even Sister Hila who was kneeling finally calmed down to bring gauze and other medical supplies from the back room to bandage the patient.

"See, no need to chant at all," I grinned proudly at Selene. The effect of Purification was unexpectedly good. I seemed to see a lucrative business opportunity in magical healing services.

"Mediocre at best," Selene didn't seem very willing, but still spat out what sounded vaguely like words of praise.

Yet her next sentence still did not forget to mock me.

"An angel should know Purification. Yet you act so smug about it."

"Hmph..."

I should have expected her proud nature would not give in so easily. I was already used to it and could only sulkily turn my face away, unwilling to bother with her.

"Angel, can you please save the others too?"

Seeing how relaxed I was after casting magic, Sister Hila cautiously asked if I could continue fighting.

"Of course! I can save ten people," I boldly claimed.

I was in an extremely good mood now. Having finally learned a spell with difficulty, I naturally wanted to use it a few more times. It was perfect that more patients were coming to let me get in some practice.

Soon, Hila and the others brought almost all the severely ill from town over and the church was filled with people.

"Looks like we can leave after you heal all these," said Selene as she looked around at the people, giving me a skeptical look that questioned if I was really up to it.

"Should be fine I guess..." My confidence instantly deflated as I smiled awkwardly. There were at least 15 or 16 stretchers here, a good half more than what I boasted I could handle.