Dungeon Raider System
Chapter 722 - 722: Mother Part 2

"Uhm... hi." She said, then turned to Uriel who was placed carefully on a medical bed. It took her but a second to understand what was wrong with him, though she still attempted to open his shirt for science's sake.

"You should at least buy me a beer first." Uriel said. Grasping her hand, winking at Luna and sitting straight on the bed was a single movement, then he grabbed an energy drink from his trait and chugged it empty in a second. The entire scene caused a great impression on Luna's mother who, despite knowing he was awake, didn't expect him to be able to move so casually.

All hunters knew that spending too much flux energy put a strain on their bodies and the pain alone would be enough to make them faint. It was a kind of pain only hunters could experience and it acted as a defense mechanism to protect the hunters from passing away due to flux deprivation.

"You... uhm... shouldn't have come. I have patients to see." Luna shooed at them, though no one moved from their spots.

Luna looked mostly the same as she always did, though she was noticeably more chubby and also looked happier, though most people would have failed to notice and only those who truly knew her were able to tell. She wore her usual hoodie, a coat on top and the wolf tooth necklace given to her by Atsa rested on her bosom.

Uriel and Nika needed have to wait until Luna took care of the patients that were in line, Bella and also while she healed the two guards Nika defeated before. It was going to be a long time, made even longer by the awkward presence of Luna's mother who after inviting them to her house remained silent with a smile on her face. Her behavior was odd, but nothing close to Luna.

It felt as though she really wanted to speak, but there was so much she wanted to talk about she couldn't decide how to start a conversation. Uriel and Nika communicated by exchanging looks from time to time trying to decide who was going to be the one to break the ice until Uriel lost his patience and full on glared at Nika.

"So, you're Luna's mother. Huh!" She courtly said and finished with a scoff.

"Yes." The woman replied briefly.

"And you knew about us?" Uriel asked.

"Yes, Luna has told me so much about you, guys," The woman chuckled, then added. "My hunter name is Moonblaze, but since it sounds so similar to Luna's hunter name you can just call me by my pile name, Elara."

In the meantime, Luna was pinning long thin needles on Bella's body while studying her vitals, something that left Uriel curious since it wasn't something he had ever seen before.

"Is that acupuncture?" Uriel asked.

"It is." Luna nodded without losing focus on her task.

"You do realize it doesn't work, right?" Uriel tilted his head, then Nika butted in with a question.

"So we're ignoring the fact that Bella is butt naked?"

"There is extensive of documentation that showed many benefits in the practice of acupuncture to relieve pain and to boost the immune system." Luna replied with a straight face.

"Yeah, just like the placebo effect." Uriel scoffed.

"Kids, don't quarrel in the clinic, please. What will the other patients think?" Elara said in a sweet tone of voice a mother would use to scold her children.

"Yes, mother." Luna nodded and continued pinning more needles on Bella.

"We really are going to ignore her being naked then." Nika insisted.

"Put on your glasses and tell me what do you see." Luna said as she was aware that they gave Uriel the ability to see flux energy.

He did as she said without much hopes of finding out anything of interest to him, though he soon shifted his mind as he saw how each of the needles became a convergence point for flux energy. Bella's body looked cold under the lenses, but it started improving in the areas where Luna had pinned the needles.

"She's slowly drawing in flux energy from our surroundings and filling her in like a circulatory system. It seems as though the needles act line an antenna."

"That's precisely what I've figured. Orichalcum has the ability to absorb flux energy, but so do hunters. This likely wouldn't work so well with an ascended, but with a heavenly rank things are different. Would you like to try this treatment?" Luna stopped what she was doing to gauge Uriel's interest, but he swiftly replied by shaking his head.

"Absolutely not, I don't like needles..."

"You've been stabbed, stomped, burnt to a crisp and you're afraid of needles?" Luna tilted her head, her face the usual stony emotionless mask.

"Yes." Uriel replied with a shrug.

"Okay, but since you're still low on flux energy you need to rest." Luna said.

"I know the perfect place, why don't you come stay at our home? You're welcome to stay for as long as you want" Elara's idea was greeted with dubious expressions from both Nika and Uriel, but Luna didn't seem bothered or anxious which meant it was probably safe, though they could never be too sure with Luna.

The moment they reached Elara's house they were a bit disappointed to see there was nothing out of the ordinary about it, except that it was bigger that most houses. It was a half timbered house with a wooden fence. The garden was well taken care of and though it was mostly crops, there were also some flowers decorating the entrance.

The inside of the house was cozy and well decorated. It showed the time and effort it took to turn a house into a proper home. There were several pictures of Elara holding a baby who had to be Cassandra since Luna told them she was born in her wolf form. Right by Elara, there was always a man who looked as a giant in comparison despite her being taller than average.

The man had broad shoulders and a wide honest smile decorating his handsome features.

The picture perfect family photographs then shifted into more somber versions as Cassandra grew up and the smiles were missing. The house behind the family portraits also seemed to be falling apart and Luna was nowhere to be seen in any of the pictures. This didn't come as a surprise to Uriel, but Nika was inwardly seething.

She hated the woman in front of them even before meeting her for all the pain she caused her cute Luna and those pictures didn't help in the slightest. It would have been one thing if she at least appeared in some of the photographs, but the fact that she didn't meant they just pretended Luna didn't even exist.