Healing System

"Honey... this avocado jam is delicious!" Marie exclaimed, eating her fill.

Michael understood why she was doing so.

After all, after you obtain a mana core, your metabolism speeds up, and you can choose whether to rid yourself of food completely or indulge as much as you want.

She obviously chose the latter.

As for his father?

"Hahaha... Right, sweetie, eat up."

He was feeding Michael's mother.

This is a disaster... who knew that after gaining so much power, I can't even set up a proper reunion. He sighed to himself.

His parents were sitting near the counter, whereas Michael was in the very corner, sipping on some grape juice.

In all honesty, he felt way too out of place to even talk to them. It just didn't feel natural anymore.

But just as he thought that, his mother turned toward him. "Say, if you claim to be Michael, then you wouldn't mind answering some questions, would you?"

"Go ahead." Michael nodded.

"What is Michael's favorite animal?"

"Dogs. Cats are a close second, though," he replied instantly.

Marie narrowed her eyes. "What breed?"

"Husky, obviously," Michael replied, tilting his head. "You know I could be guessing half of these, right? Ask me some harder questions."

"Fine!" Marie slammed her hands on the bar counter and aggressively stood up. "Who was Michael's first crush?"

He grumbled. "Janice."

"W-Why did he stop liking her?" Marie asked, her voice slightly trembling.

"She hung around with the basketball team too often, and when I asked her about it, she said I was being paranoid," he trailed off. "I didn't want to have feelings for someone like that, so I backed off for good."

"Hmm..." Ron suddenly hummed as if in thought before turning toward Michael as well. "You are saying some interesting things. I remember Janice, but I just don't exactly know why I remember her."

"That's good." Michael nodded. "Maybe we can still scramble your memory back somehow."

"I think a bottle of vodka might do the trick—"

Before Ron could finish his words, Marie slapped him over the head.

Just this time, it was a bit more gentle.

"Mom, I think you might give him a concussion if you keep doing that," Michael stated playfully before approaching and casting a heal.

"Well, then you can heal him." Marie shrugged before turning serious. "Final question. How did you die?"

"You wouldn't know how I died, though," Michael replied.

"I wouldn't. But satisfy my curiosity," she urged.

"I fell from a window, landed in an alleyway, broke my legs," Michael explained nonchalantly. "It didn't take long to bleed out, and yeah, after I think nearly 25 years now, I'm back."

"..." Marie stared at him speechlessly.

However, Michael turned to Ron now.

"I call you my father because you are. I was a mercenary, and I saved up all the money I earned. After I died, most, if not all, of that money went to you."

Obviously, since his father was now living in a massive penthouse, the sum was pretty modest.

"I won the lottery, though," Ron grumbled. "Are you trying to downplay my luck?"

"When did you win?" Michael asked plainly.

"25 years ago," Ron replied instantly.

"Right, right. Give me a moment," Michael said before suddenly vanishing, reappearing in the very middle of New York.

However, his objective was pretty simple, and that was to get information.

For that, he needed Simon.

Stretching out his mana, Michael was soon able to find him, and he was currently driving deep under New York City.

Nonetheless, that did not stop Michael from locking onto his mana and teleporting into the armored truck Simon was in.

However, as he suddenly appeared, the people stationed beside Simon flinched and aimed their weapons right at Michael.

But before they could pull the trigger, Simon stopped them.

"At ease, he's a Universal-Class variant. If you shoot him, he'll probably wipe out this entire galaxy in the blink of an eye."

The nearby soldiers audibly gulped before lowering their weapons.

As for Simon, he put his attention back onto Michael.

"How can I help you?"

"First of all..." Michael trailed off, reaching for his own back and pulling out an ant-sized tracker before crushing it between his fingers. "You owe me compensation."

"What do you want?" Simon grumbled, seemingly flustered.

"I want a laptop like yours, something that has all the data I would ever want to access," Michael requested, making everyone in the armored van flinch.

"...That won't be a problem... But..." Simon said, hesitating. "Do you promise to destroy the device right after you don't need it anymore? If the information that is on there gets out, then we are all screwed."

"Sure." Michael replied, stretching out his hand. "Give it to me already."

"You're too bold, but I understand." Simon gently passed over his own laptop. "Take good care of it until then."

"Yep, see you later, or not. We'll see." Michael chuckled before vanishing.

Not even a moment later, he appeared back in the restaurant, to the shock of his parents—especially his father.

"...Did they put drugs in my alcohol?"

"What are you spouting?" Marie shot back.

"I mean... He just vanished... then came back... I think it's fair to assume I'm drugged out of this world," Ron said.

"You aren't. Now look." Michael got their attention before opening up the laptop.

For such a military-grade item, he was expecting there to be some kind of password, but there was nothing—only a single browser and a couple of classified files on the desktop.

However, he did not need much, as the only thing he wanted to do was check his father's file.

And just as he thought, there were some irregularities.

The file mentioned his father winning the lottery. However, once Michael attempted to trace the lottery's number, he came up empty.

It was almost like it did not exist—which it didn't.

"See? It's a dead end." Michael showed them everything he found.

His mother seemed to believe it. As for his father, not so much.

"I believe I'm too drunk to—"

Michael cut him off when all of a sudden, a bright light enveloped Ron, and in the next instant, he was purified.

Purify was still one of his most favorite skills, and now, his father could not give any excuses.

"Huh? My headache is gone..." Ron exclaimed with surprise.

"It did, yes," Michael added. "I cured your headache, and I can't really do much more for now. I know you still won't believe me, but I am your son. You went with me to kindergarten while Mom was sick, and then you did the same when it was my graduation, as Mom just so happened to be sick again," he finished with a chuckle.

Ron had a conflicted look on his face as he glanced at Marie. "Do you believe him?"

"I don't know..." She shrugged. "But what I do know is that he's very aware of Michael, and whether he's our son or not, I'll be the judge of that."

"That's enough for me." Michael let out a relieved sigh. "You two get along now, as I still have a few business trips to attend to."

"You work? You didn't say anything about that." Marie narrowed her eyes. "Unless you are hiding something?"

"Of course I'm hiding something, but it's not related to either of you, so relax." Michael put on a warm smile. "This is a bit personal."

"I see..." Marie nodded. "You can leave us here. We can find our way back."

"You sure? This place is pretty far away from the city," Michael said.

"It's fine," she replied with an equally charming smile before glancing at Ron. "We still have a lot of catching up to do."

"Honey..." Ron's eyes widened as he went over and hugged her.

"I see. I'll keep an eye on you two in case you're in danger," Michael stated, but just as he was about to leave, his mother stopped him.

"Don't keep an eye on us for the next hour. We'll be doing some personal yoga," she said with a grin, making a shiver go down his spine.

"...Have fun, you two," Michael added and finally vanished.

Immediately, he reappeared in a particular alleyway—the same one where he had died.

Funnily enough, there was still a massive bloodstain in the very middle, which seemed to drag on for a while.

They didn't even bother to clean it up... Michael narrowed his eyes.

He was unsure why he came to this place—perhaps he thought of getting back at the mob boss.

However, since he was here, a better idea came to mind.

What if, instead of lashing out at someone who threw him out of a window, he lashed out at the person who put him in this miserable state in the first place?

An ominous grin appeared on his face as Michael expanded his mana outward, encompassing the entirety of Earth.

He scanned for that particular person—the mercenary leader, the one behind the order to have Michael's tongue cut off.

Soon, he found something.

It was a faint pulse, almost as if it would die at any moment.

And the location was a hospital in China—quite literally on the opposite side of the world.

Nonetheless, Michael was satisfied, as after all...

"I found you..." Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire