Is this really a Game?!

The flames blaze as a shockwave erupts from Laura. The memories around her shatter into millions of pieces as she clenches her hand into a fist. With a determined look, she walks ahead. The purple flame surrounds her as it slowly dies down, turning into a purple haze that covers her body.

[ Congratulations player, you have successfully survived and managed to unleash your new ability. ]

"Survive, you mean I could have died here?" Laura asks the system without even flinching.

[ Correct, most people would either be completely taken over by their own ability that has been corrupted by a demonic influence or simply lose their mind after spending so much time here. ]

"I see, how, how long have I been here?" Laura asks the system once again.

[ The player has spent 12 years, 5 months, and 21 days in the dimension ]

"So long, how much time had passed outside?"

Ding!

[ The time passed in the outside world is the following: 12.57 seconds ]

"What?" Laura widens her eyes after learning about the time. She had spent over a decade alone here but only a bit more than 12 seconds passed outside? She touches her face in disbelief.

[ The player doesn't need to worry about aging, the time passed in the dimension does not change the player's body. ]

"I see, that's good." Laura breathes out a sigh of relief as she suddenly finds herself in a small white room.

[ Congratulations player, you have awakened the Rank B+ ability, Demonic Rejuvenation ]

Description: A corrupted form of healing power the player had. The demonic influence managed to completely fuse with it and awaken a stronger version of the ability. With the ability, the player can heal targets of her own choice, but with a drawback, the healing will only work if the player has enough mana for it. The player can choose to sacrifice a portion of her life force to heal faster and more efficiently, sacrifice another player's life force, either by force or with the other player's agreement. Warning, however, life force recovers extremely slowly and it is not recommended to use much of it.

The player will be able to absorb the life force of defeated enemies and store them in herself. The life force can be used for attacking other than healing. More options will be unlocked after the player manages to increase the rank of her ability.

Laura looked at the description of her ability with interest. In its base form the ability was healing, but thanks to the demoness's influence it evolved to be much more. She won't need to be a healer that cannot defend herself and will be able to fight as well, that is if she was enough life force of course. Looking satisfied with her ability she steps into the portal that was suddenly created in front of her.

Before she could step in however she stops as an object shinning with a purple light was suddenly in front of her.

[ Rank A Defiled Touch of Shattered Misery ] – gloves

Def: 30

Agility + 2

Spirit + 6

Willpower + 6

Demonic powers + 30%

Description: gloves made by a demon out after sacrificing hundreds of souls to use for its making. The gloves were lost and found by a priest that tried to purify them. The priest was partly successful and managed to drive the souls out, but the demonic influence from the gloves was enough to make him go mad. Any person that wears these gloves will have a demonic influence acting upon them, if the person wearing the gloves has a demonic type of ability it will however strengthen it. By using mana the player can tap into the depths of the gloves and use the remains of the souls for a strong, soul-based attack.

Laura looked at the gloves in front of her with interest. It was no coincidence that such gloves appeared here, it was simply impossible since they were perfect for her. As she puts on the gloves she steps inside the portal.

[Player has entered the trial hall. ]

[ The player's task is to keep the squad of soldiers alive as they destroy the monster nest. ]

Laura looks at the new space she was in. It was a big cave, the cave was simple, there were only rocks and soil around her. The ceiling of the cave however was quite high. Looking around she was able to see the soldiers. One of them was slowly making his way towards her.

"Hey, you alright?" The man asks her as he looks all over her body, trying to check if there were any injuries on her.

"Yeah."

"Thank god, who would have thought that the entrance of the cave would suddenly collapse like that, well miss healer it seems we will have to count on your help here, looking forward to our cooperation." The man smiles at Laura before going back to the other soldiers. Laura smiles as she looks at his name.

[ Lvl 20 Elite Captain ]

The man was 1.8 meters tall and had a good build. His muscles bulged underneath the soft parts of his red armor as he walked back. His hair was of a medium length and was slicked back as to not create any problems for his vision during a fight. He had a sword and shield on him, a typical soldier's weapon.

Slowly they made their way inside the cave. Laura was a bit worried, she never used her ability before, and Lea had already explained to her how abilities and mana work. They were weak in the beginning and would only become stronger after you use them often. Mana however was different and needed the practice to be even felt. Laura brings up her status screen and starts allocating points. She put most into willpower and spirit, with agility being the third-highest stat. She didn't want to be a simple healer but, she had no choice so far, she didn't know how to fight that well and would rely on her ability a lot right now.

Spirit and willpower allowed her to have more mana and to use it more efficiently amongst other things. Agility was important because she needed to be able to create space between herself and a monster if she got attacked. Looking down she was able to see her ability, and she was surprised.

[ Demonic Rejuvenation B+ ( lvl 24 exp: 43% )]

Her ability was at level 24 for some reason. That should be impossible, she had never used it before, it should be like Lea said, and the ability should start at lvl 1. Suddenly Laura thinks of something as her eyes flash for a second. She clenches her hands as she thinks of how to test her theory.

Before she could think of anything the soldiers in front of her shout and get ready.

"Enemy attack!"

Laura looks in front of her and sees tens of hobgoblins attacking the 30+ soldiers. The soldiers were already in a formation, protecting her and a couple of archers. They were very cohesive and managed to fight against the higher number of enemies with no large problems. Suddenly one soldier got cut on his arm before he managed to kill the hobgoblin. Laura immediately brings her arm forward and focuses on him.

Purple light starts shinning from her arm and the wound of the soldier. Slowly his wound stops bleeding and slowly closes. It was done in a matter of seconds. The soldier glanced at Laura and nodded gratefully at her before continuing with the fight.

Looking at her hand Laura was ecstatic as her theory was correct. She never used her ability or mana, that was correct, but her body did. To be more exact the demoness used mana while controlling her body. The basic reflexes were there not to mention the fact that Laura's soul was at the same place the demoness was. She was able to see how she used mana and her powers before, and even though she didn't really understand how it works, she still knew how to do it. Her way of controlling mana and using her ability was low of course and was much worse compared to Reign and the others but it was still better than nothing.

With this, she would be able to try and complete the trials. Any time a soldier got attacked she made sure to heal them and slowly she was becoming more used to it. After the battle was over some of the soldiers went over to her and thanked her before leaving. Finding a healer that would heal people right after they got injured was not something common after all. Healers were rare and most of them would only act when people were injured more seriously as they believed other wounds didn't warrant their help.

The captain came over to Laura and looked at her with a weird expression.

"Hey, I do feel grateful that you are so helpful but are you sure that you can heal so much. Will your mana run out?"

"Don't worry, my mana is fine, I'll be alright." Laura smiles at him as she reassures the captain that everything was fine. She was different compared to other humans as she was possessed. Her body was the same from the outside but from the inside, it was a different story. Two hearts could be found inside her chest, a normal one and a mana heart that supplied her with more mana than she could ever spend right now. The demoness spent a lot of time and effort to create it and now, it was completely hers.

Laura looks at the numerous hobgoblin corpses around her and feels weird energy coming from them. It was life force and she was slowly absorbing it, even without trying to. Laura closes her eyes as she sits down on her knees. She focuses on the energy and tries to pull it towards her, slowly the life forces of the fallen foes start converging towards her faster.

Laura had a warm smile on her face, with this life force she would be able to help the soldiers out in a fight as well.