Vesuvia's heart was pounding as she waited for Rufian and Palinus to get into position. Leaving for the army hadn't been something she had considered in her wildest fantasies, but it was all so exciting. Tonight's adventure was just another example.

Something about the risk of getting in trouble had always thrilled her as she railed against the standards of high society as the 'perfect' Magisters daughter. She spat on the ground beside her hiding spot to clear the distaste from her mouth, but she dribbled a bit and wiped her face frantically, regretting her momentary rebellion.

Finally she spotted the boys ducking out of the line of the tents and down to the river. She held her breath as they ran out of cover and into the sight line of the sentries she was watching.

It was time to move.

Pushing herself not to rush and to try to walk with a sensual gait she made her way towards the two boys who stood watch towards the city gates, they were mostly looking towards Tremona and up the hill to the north, so they didn't spot her approaching yet, and more importantly they didn't look towards the boys as they moved along the river bank below.

Suddenly her vision was clouded with a thick cloud of smoke as Palinus's ars took effect, covering the area. The two legionnaires who stood watch suddenly began to look around wildly, shining their torchstones into the smoke.

"Someone's there!" one yelled, "It's an ars, not natural smoke…!"

"Are we under attack?" the other legionnaire said in a panic.

From where she was it looked like the first voice had sensed the direction the smoke had come from and was looking towards the two boys hiding on the riverbank. She realised she recognised the legionnaire as Aurelius, the arrogant swordsman from one of the other rift teams. The boy would instantly know who had created the smoke, so she made a quick decision to adjust the narrative.

"Thanks, Palinus!" she yelled out, waving her hand behind her.

She felt the torchstones from the watchmen turning onto her as they spotted her approaching. The light in her eyes and the obvious hostility in Aurelius's face made her hesitate for a moment as she made another adjustment to the plan and used her ars straight away rather than trying to distract them without it.

"Hi big guy!" The effect of the ars was instant as it covered up her awful line and Aurelius stood slack jawed at her sudden appearance, his sword losing its glowing effect. She noticed that the other boy was resisting the effect and she turned her attention quickly to him with a stroke on his arm. It had the effect she was looking for as his guard dropped instantly.

"You look so serious! I wouldn't want to be caught sneaking around with you two standing lookout…" she awkwardly tried to flirt with the two. Aurelius was a bit older, and with his golden hair and good skin he was definitely handsome.

"Hey there sweetie!" Aurelius preened and swiped his hand through his hair in such a way to draw attention to his flexed bicep. "What are you doing out in the cold?"

"Um," she nearly laughed, it was a warm summer evening, "Oh, I'm just looking for some company… we are so far from home and I just need someone to look after me!"

"Don't worry, little dove." The other boy chose to join in the conversation, "We'll look after-"

"Shut up idiot, she is obviously talking to me." Aurelius cut him off.

"You shut up you arrogant arsehole!"

"Boys, boys!" Vesuvia tried to calm the two down, but she could already sense that the effect of her ars was wearing off.

Looking towards the town she gasped as she could see them with a dim torchstone against the wall of the city. In the darkness of the evening the flickering light was obvious against the smooth stone and the two boys were silhouetted by the reflected light.

"Do you want to see what I've got under my uniform?" she asked the two boys who seemed disoriented and decidedly uninterested in the risque suggestion, to her absolute embarrassment.

"... smoke…" She could see Aurelius's brain working as she watched his face morph from slack to a rictus of rage. "SMOKE! It's that Palinus kid!"

He whirled away from Vesuvia with an almost rabid snarl and started running towards the river, he quickly spotted the light on the wall and adjusted to head that direction.

The other legionnaire gave her a blank stare for a moment and fiddled with the sword he carried.

"We'll come back for you!" He threatened as he ran off after Aurelius.

"That could have gone better." Vesuvia whispered to herself as she turned and walked back to camp, hoping that Rufian and Palinus made it into the city before Aurelius caught up to them.

She felt guilty for how things had gone. When she tested out her new ars she noticed that it was capable of charming even really angry people, but the unfortunate side affect was that once the effect was over they would often be even more upset. It would be quite a while before Aurelius calmed down, and it seemed like he was pretty focused on Palinus.

"Oh well, they can handle themselves… I hope." She muttered.

Uneventfully walking casually back to the tent the team were quartered in Vesuvia was surprised at the person who stood outside.

"WHERE have you been?" Marnus accused.

"None of your business, you puddle of horse diarrhoea" She snapped at her cousin as always his arrogant face and smarmy voice instantly triggered an ugly anger within Vesuvia. She knew it, but couldn't seem to control her reaction as she jumped to attack him at every opportunity.

"We don't have time for your rubbish 'Su. We've been summoned to town for an emergency." he huffed.

"I'm not sure why they needed you to come." Vesuvia replied.

"That's exactly what I said when they told me to get you…"

The two cousins sniped at each other as they jogged along the road to Tremona. When they got to the city gates the Auxilia guarding the gate didn't even question them, which made her chuckle as she considered the effort that Rufian had gone to to get into the city.

They didn't see much in the way of traffic this time of the evening as they jogged along the main street until they came to a massive circular structure that looked like an arena where they needed to dodge past several drunks making a nuisance of themselves as they continued past.

Out of the corner of her eye she thought for a moment that she saw a person who looked like Palinus walking through a backdoor into the arena with a beautiful dark haired woman, but as she turned to look closer they were gone.

"Do you even know where you are going?" She asked Marnus.

"It's supposed to be close to the bridge" he replied with a sigh and slowed as he second guessed himself. "I think it is this way?"

"You are honestly the most useless human being…" Vesuvia couldn't help but tear into Marnus, something about him brought out a savagery that she learned from the way her mother spoke to her father. 'That is OBVIOUSLY the river right in front of us… and see that? It's like a road, but over the water - we call that a bridge."

She kept up her tirade for long enough to feel almost ashamed of herself as they finally walked into a building by the river. It was marked as a military hospital.

Standing at the door of the guest house two auxilia stopped them from walking through the door.

"The medicus isn't here and the building is full." The guardsman stated firmly.

"We are medicus-" Vesuvia started saying.

"I am a medicus," Marnus interjected. " and I am here to help."

Vesuvia hated the feeling she suddenly had from the snub. It was his ultimate trump card, and it hurt all the more because it was true. Her attunement and class was never going to be pure enough to take the title of medicus, despite the fact that her ars were just as capable of healing as his.

"Thank you for coming." An old man welcomed Marnus, before adding. "Both of you…"

"The hospital is overflowing - there are the normal injuries and illness. But we just had a ship come in from the east… They are infected with something terrine! They seem to have spread the infection amongst themselves only so far. They get: diarrhea, these skin sores and sore throats that make them so hoarse they can't speak. The local medicus is away in the capital. But if we don't do something soon, it will probably spread to the whole city!" The old man wrung his hands.

"I'll heal them, no problem-" Marnus started to reassure.

"It would take you all week." Vesuvia said dismissively.

"I doubt you even understand-"

"What is there to understand? It is an infection… we just heal them and get back to camp. I bet I can get this done in the next hour."

"There are 80 men here..." the old man interjected.

"In the next two hours."

"Hrmph, well why don't you let me assess the patients and then I'll see if you might be able to help them." Marnus said as he moved to the closest seaman. The old man gave Vesuvia a sharp look and shook his head as she tried to go and help one of the other men.

She bridled as she stood nearby to watch Marnus work. His ars took even longer to channel in the overworld, and it took multiple casts for the sores visible on the sailor he worked on to completely heal.

"That's one." He bragged to Vesuvia before turning to the old man, "I suppose she won't be able to do too much damage, if she wants to try to help."

Scowling deeply she nearly stormed out, but the chance to beat Marnus was too big an opportunity, she would never let him live it down. Conversely if she ran away, he would gladly do the same.

Instantly she began to regret her decision, the disease wasn't that easy to heal. It took her even more casts of her ars to heal the sailor she treated and despite the speed of her casting and the greater efficiency of the ars she struggled to catch Marnus, let alone pass him.

"23!" She exclaimed as she finished with the side room she had been working in and ran into Marnus resting in the hall over an hour later. The race had turned into a gruelling marathon of casting their ars for as long as they could and then waiting for their essentia reserves to top themselves up to start the cycle again.

"25!" The old man answered for Marnus as he hovered like a fly.

Scowling deeply she walked up the hall to find some more sailors to work on. Walking past the doorway she was surprised when Marius wandered into the guesthouse with the same woman she thought she had seen before with Palinus. In the light Vesuvia instantly recognised her as Domitia Commodus

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Good evening," Vesuvia greeted the woman particularly politely, she knew her to be one of the most dangerous women on the 7th hill - and that sort of thrilled her.

"Hello there! Marius dragged me along to offer my assistance." Domitia said.

Catching the look of disbelief on Vesuvia's face she showed off a calculus on her hand that exactly matched the one on Veuvia's own right hand.

"Oh! Are you an Aesth-?" Vesuvia gushed.

"Shh!" Domita silenced her and leaned in conspiratorially to whisper. "The boys don't need to know our secrets."

With a wink she gestured for Vesuvia to lead her to the patients, and watched with a bored expression as she cast her healing ars multiple times on the sailor.

A slap came out of nowhere and struck Vesuvia in the back of the head.

"Target your ars you silly child, don't just ram the essentia into him…" Domitia scolded venomously. "Now try again and focus on one thing at a time."

Vesuvia tried to cast the ars and target it on one particular sore. As she guided the ars the essentia felt like it was wriggling away from her grasp and she lost control of it with a flash of light. Another slap came and hit her again.

She tried again, and failed again. Another slap struck.

She tried again, another slap.

Finally she managed to keep control of the ars as she held her hand over the sore to focus the essentia on the one spot.

"Better. Now without the hand." The order came from the scary woman.

It took another half dozen attempts and slaps before she was able to focus the healing without using her hand.

"Yes!" Vesuvia cheered as the man finally sat up and thanked her groggily.

This sailor had taken far longer than any other with the impromptu training, but she was surprised to find that her essentia levels were still relatively high and she was ready to move on to the next patient.

"Tell me while you work, child. What other ars do you have and I might be able to give you some pointers?" Domitia asked.

The woman set Vesuvia on edge and she felt instinctively that she shouldn't be revealing her information,

"Worry little, I scarcely care about you… though I am quite 'invested' in your little team. I am mostly curious to meet someone with such a similar attunement." She said flippantly before Vesuvia fully considered saying no.

Something about the honesty and the help she had already provided encouraged Vesuvia to comply and she found herself talking through her classes as she worked.

"33!" Marnus walked into the room triumphantly.

The sudden noise startled Vesuvia who had been completely in the zone. She cast the ars she was planning and stood up. It took her a moment to think.

"I've lost count." She admitted.

"Ha, yet again you prove that it is you that is the useless person…" He trailed off as he looked around the room. "There were 80 men to heal?"

The question was for the old man who still hovered.

"Yes, there were." He replied, "but… it seems they have all been healed."

Marnus's face went instantly red and he let out a loud huff and simply walked out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Ha." Vesuvia said to his departing back.

The old man gaped at the closed door like a fish out of water.

"Thankyou for the opportunity to assist Medicus." Vesuvia said to him as she gave him a respectful bow.

His face turned a shade of pink at being caught out in the ruse as she left the house too and started jogging back to camp.

It was only a short way down the road she was stopped, not by the medicus pretending to be a civilian as some sort of test, but by Marius who laughed as he approached.

"Bahaha, well done girl. You sure tweaked Medicus Cassisus's nose, and you even managed to impress Domitia… not sure I've ever seen that before… " He said, scratching his head. "Oh, she gave me a copy of this for you."

Marius handed Vesuvia a tablet filled with information.

Details

Name

Vesuvia

Attunement

CCXIII. CLXXIX. CLXXIX

Aspect

Flesh

Tier

II

Physical Statistics

Strength

-

Resistance

I

Vitality

II

Essential Statistics

Area

I

Force

V

Power

V

Mastery

Mastery

II

Support Mage

Aesthetician

Priestess

Ars

Distraction Bolt

Injection

Shun

Attunement

213,179, 179

nil

Cooldown

n/a

29 seconds

49 seconds

Compatibility

n/a

Perfect

n/a

Skill Type

Enhancement

Targeted Heal, Targeted Debuff

Targeted Debuff

Slot

[Wrist], [Arm]

"+[Hand],[Arm]"

[Fist, hand, wrist]

Slot Bonus

n/a

Additional 50% to Healing / Damage over time

n/a

Description

Each strike applies a debuff which reduces damage by [27]%

Heal for [260] damage over 2 seconds or deal [130] curse damage and apply [Curse: Anti-Heal].

Deal [102] curse damage over 15 seconds. If the target dies within that time the curse transfers to another target. Applies [Curse].

Ars

Stun Bolt

Bolster

Shame

Attunement

nil

210, 165, 170

nil

Cooldown

2 minutes 26 seconds

1 minute 56 seconds

2 Minutes 26 seconds

Compatibility

n/a

Very High

n/a

Skill Type

Targeted Debuff

Shield, Buff

Targeted Debuff

Slot

[Chest, Shoulder]

[Chest, +Shoulder]

[Shoulder, Arm, Chest]

Slot Bonus

n/a

[+50]% additional damage reduction

n/a

Description

Fire a bolt that seeks the target and deals [51] Physical damage and applies [Stun] for [1.5] Seconds

Prevent target from experiencing pain. Reduce damage taken by [63]% for 5 seconds

The target receives an additional [27]% damage from all sources. Applies Curse.

Ars

-Unknown-

Face of Beauty

-Unknown-

Attunement

nil

222, 191, 187

nil

Cooldown

1 minute 56 seconds

Compatibility

High

Skill Type

Buff Self, Disguise

Slot

[+Head], [Neck]

Slot Bonus

Reduced likelihood of resistance

Description

Make your face perfect. Applies [Charm] to hostile or neutral targets who are looking at you. Damage will break this effect.

As she tried to ask Marius a question about how she was able to get all this information from a conversation and watching her heal a few seamen she found that the man had already left.

"Oh, well I hope Seline isn't too mad that I told the most dangerous woman in Erulea all of my information." She whispered to herself.

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