The storm had passed, but the sky remained grey—the kind of grey that settled like ash over the world. Lucien stood in the family's inner sanctum, a sealed garden veined with silver-rooted trees and enchanted blossoms.
In the center sat his grandmother, Maralyn Arkanveil.
The matron of the family. The quiet soul behind decades of triumphs and sacrifices.
Her magic had never been showy—never the fire or the blade. It was healing, pure and true. The kind of magic that pulled soldiers back from death, that soothed the minds of children too young to fight but too old to run.
Lucien stepped forward and laid the book at her feet.
It was bound in leather, but not normal leather. It pulsed like skin warmed by a heartbeat. Ancient runes sealed the spine, and each corner shimmered with old enchantments.
> "The Forbidden Book of Healing," he said simply.
Maralyn looked at it—not in surprise, but recognition. Her eyes, clouded with time, gleamed for a moment like starlight.
> "They said it was lost… burned with the fall of the Sylph Sanctum."
> "They were wrong."
She nodded once. Then, she opened it.
The garden held its breath.
With the first page turned, the silver trees shimmered. With the second, the air thrummed with warmth. By the third, Lucien saw her eyes ignite—not with greed, but with understanding.
The book did not teach spells. It revealed truths.
It told her how to mend mana pathways ruptured by forbidden curses. How to regrow limbs with light and nature fusion. How to cleanse the mind of traumatic backlash after high-tier awakenings.
More than that—it showed her a road.
And she walked it.
---
By nightfall, her aura had shifted. It was still gentle, but there was a firmness beneath the softness now—like a shield of silk wrapped around a golden core.
Lucien watched the system materialize beside her.
> [SYSTEM UPDATE: STATUS PANEL – ARKANVEIL, MARALYN]
Name: Maralyn Arkanveil
Age: 76
Rank: Level 91
Class: Grand Healer
Bloodline: Arkanveil (High Human – Tier 3)
[TRAITS]
– Spirit of Restoration (S) → Evolved: Saint's Grace (SS+)
– Life Sense (A+)
– Memory Weave (S)
[TITLES]
– Matron of the Arkanveil
– White Lily of War
– Saint of the Quiet Field
[MANA CORE]
– State: Blessed Core
– Quality: High-Diamond Tier
– Affinity: 80% Light / 15% Nature / 5% Water
– Efficiency: Grandmaster Grade
[EVOLVED TRAIT: Saint's Grace (SS+)]
– Passive: Automatically stabilizes nearby wounded allies (within 10m)
– Active: Full restoration of physical and mana injuries within target limit (3 per day)
– Field of Peace: Lowers hostility and berserk effects within a 20m radius.
– Eternal Pulse: Healing spells cast during emergencies cost 50% less mana and have 30% enhanced effect.
[SPECIAL SKILLS]
– Lightweave Restoration
– Purge Wounds
– Mana Thread Rebinding
– Blessing of the Saint (Unsealed)
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: Trait evolution successful. Rare-class healing techniques unlocked. Title progress: Ascendant Saint – 24%]
---
Lucien looked at her—not the stats, but the woman.
She sat straighter. Not younger. Not stronger in the way others saw—but fuller.
She turned to him and smiled. "This path… is not for glory. It's for them."
Lucien nodded. "I know. That's why I gave it to you."
She reached forward and touched his cheek.
> "You carry too much. I'll carry this—for all of us."
---
Word spread, as it always did in noble halls.
Maralyn healed ten soldiers before the week's end—each bearing wounds the family's doctors had long called uncurable. She silenced a plague in the southern district with a single visit. She calmed a berserk beastling child just by stepping into the room.
And all the while, she studied.
The book never closed.
Because she wasn't finished yet.
Not until every Arkanveil knew that their sanctuary had a heartbeat—and that it beat through her.