Combat Healer Ch. 01

Honestly, the only main limitation for a healer's advancement in society was their limit on the amount of essence they could store, and a test of their Essence Regeneration Rate, something that could be determined with an Essence Crystal. Typically, most Mages maxed out around 150 Essence, while most healers maxed out at 120 Essence.

In my case, I could currently store 230 Essence and had a high enough regeneration rate that I could recover all of it within half a day, though my regeneration rate hadn't always been that impressive.

When I was a teenager, my regeneration rate was much lower, as was my overall storage capacity.

However, being above average wasn't necessarily that important to most, with some of the larger, stronger teams just having two healers in their party to fulfill their needs - which also meant, an extra woman to play with.

Granted, team strength didn't always come in numbers.

The very top team in our guild Remnant only had three people, two strong men and a very powerful woman who focused on defense magic. She was a Mage like Shel, a Blue Oni too, but her Focus was 'Specialist' instead of 'Magician.'

More accurately, a specialist in defense.

Their team didn't need a healer, though they'd never want me even if they did need one, for the same reason I mentioned before. Being a better healer wasn't really a necessity, and every team would prefer an extra woman.

Because, in the top team, of course the three of them slept together, so if they added someone else to the group, it would definitely be a woman. Who didn't want an extra pussy to play with? It was definitely preferable, even to the women, when there were overall too many cocks and not enough cunts in our midst.

Needless to say, as frustrating as it was to not have a sex life, I was pretty focused on my studies. I had reasons for wanting to get better at my Focus, including my own personal aspirations...as well as some pretty heavy guilt...

I was eating breakfast in the corner of the canteen within the Remnant Guild Hall, a hearty potato soup with a rock-hard hunk of bread, when I saw Turg coming down the stairs to join me.

Being that our guild was the top in the kingdom, we had dedicated land on the edge of the capital that was surrounded by high stone walls. And included was everything one would need to live and train, from lodging on the massive second floor, to archery ranges, sparring arenas, and even a special building for magic use.

Focusing up at the large Green Oni once he reached my table, I watched him plop his heavy ass down onto the bench across from me, his face half a foot above mine even while sitting, before groaning and massaging his temples with his massive green hands. His short black hair was sort of all over the place, but it did nothing to hide the black two-inch horns protruding from his hairline.

"Too much ale?" I assumed, dipping the hard bread into the hearty soup to let it soften. "Or too much sex, and not enough sleep?" I added.

He groaned again, his voice deep. "Such things do not exist," he scoffed, only to take a deep breath, pressing his palms to his temples now. "But I guess even I have a limit." He paused, peeking at me with his dark amber eyes. "For ale," he clarified in a grumble, in case I was confused about the fact that 'too much sex' wasn't a thing.

I shrugged, taking a bite of my bread. "We made a killing in that Dungeon. It was definitely a celebration night. How was the Holstaur?" I wondered, knowing that Shel had rented the female cowgirl's services for the evening. Again, because an extra pussy was always preferable.

Unfortunately, while there were plenty of Minotaur who lived in the kingdom, few had any Essence Affinity, so the bull-men were stuck with manual labor and other such jobs, while the Holstaur women without a man in their life had to be especially creative in finding work.

Hence, if I ever did visit the red district, there was a high probability of being serviced by a Holstaur.

Oddly enough, the females of their race had very humanoid faces, whereas the males frequently had faces more closely resembling a bull. The men were also much more inclined to seek out only Holstaurs or female Oni, never giving a second glance to a human or elf, while the women were open to bedding almost anyone, especially if they were paying for the service.

Turg barked out a laugh, seemingly in recollection of the orgy involving the cowgirl, only to groan from his pounding head. "Amazing. I can suck on her tits all I want!" He laughed again. "They have that in common with humans. Her milk was tasty too."

I nodded, grimacing as I tried to stifle my jealousy. Unlike humans and Holstaurs, who usually wouldn't be capable of having children if their nipples were stimulated enough to produce milk, female Oni were the exact opposite. On the positive side, they could have as much sex as they wanted without a risk of pregnancy, but if they had their nipples sucked on too much, then they'd become as fertile as a rabbit.

Not that Turg and Dagru didn't suck on Shel's nipples. I was sure of that, since she exposed enough blue cleavage to reveal the occasional purple hickey peeking out of her white leather outfit. The problem was mainly that the sucking wasn't unlimited.

Because if Shel started leaking milk, then it was all over for a while. She'd have to avoid sexual encounters for almost a month, or else risk carrying some stranger's child. Or even one of the brother's kids, which was probably just as undesirable.

Shel seemed to think they were great as fuck buddies, but no way in hell did she want to be the mother to anyone's kid.

Turg sighed when I didn't respond to his comment about the Holstaur's milk, with me instead just focusing on my food now.

"You know," he continued in a deep suggestive tone. "Shel isn't much into having people around who aren't participating, but maybe we could work out something so that you could watch in secret sometime."

I looked at him in shock, wondering if he was serious about that, before grimacing again. In theory, the idea of watching Shel getting spit-roasted was hot, and with enough ale in me, I suspected I might not mind. But the idea of watching the brothers enjoy her was not so much, especially since I worked with them. I didn't really want to see them without clothes in that kind of circumstance, and wasn't sure all the ale in the world would help me get over my disgust to enjoy watching Shel.

And I definitely would never actually participate if another guy was involved.

Unlike most Oni, who didn't seem to care, I'd much prefer to be the only cock in the midst of a bunch of cunts. Though I knew that was never going to happen when there were three or four dudes around for every female. The idea of having my own harem of women was basically just a fantasy.

Turg barked out a laugh in response to my reaction to his comment. "I'm only jesting. Shel would kill you if she found out. Only you," he clarified with a grin.

I loved the guy, but he could sure be an ass sometimes.

It was Oni culture though.

Teasing, harassing, and bullying, were all the norm. And his playful teasing was nothing compared to real teasing, and if anything it was a sign that he sincerely viewed me as a buddy, as ironic as that sounded. But it was a sign of inclusion.

I tried to remind myself of that as I forced a smile. "Of course," I agreed. "I knew you were kidding."

He roared with laughter, not at all fooled, before changing the subject entirely. "I guess I better order some breakfast myself and then see if any new quests have posted. We've got to be ready for the Big Dive coming up. Don't want one of the weaker teams to show us up, just because we kicked our feet up too long."

I nodded as he got up without waiting for a response, not at all surprised. We rarely slept in a nice bed for longer than two or three nights. And it wasn't uncommon for us to return to the guild, get our reward, party all night, and then head right back out the next day.

As was the life of a 'Scourge Suppressor.'

Quests came from the Elf Queen herself, who had an organization of scouts reporting directly to her, constantly searching for new infestations of the Scourge, along with the monsters that came with it. She approved every request herself, due to her mysterious power to determine the difficulty level of a task, only to have runners send off notices to the various guilds.

There were some Quests that only our guild Remnant received, in the event that the level of difficulty was too high for the second-best guild to accept it.

Of course, those types of quests usually required one of two things - either the Queen wanted multiple powerful teams to defeat the monsters, or else it was a Quest specifically assigned to one of the top two teams. Often, the top team, of three very powerful people.

Interestingly enough, those higher threat Quests always came with specific instructions from the Queen.

'Save anyone found in the Dungeon at all costs.'

Which was odd, since we were supposed to do that anyway, but she always put emphasis on it when she assigned those more special Quests. Maybe she thought the top teams would focus more on conquering the Dungeon than saving innocents found within? Hard to say, but it was included without fail, even though it was rare to find a normal person in a Dungeon.

Most weren't stupid enough to enter the massive stone doors, or whatever form the entrance took, that didn't connect to a building despite having visible depths within.

But otherwise, for normal Quests, they were sent out to every guild hall, with teams competing to get the largest number of kills under their belt. The Healer, Mage, or Ranger of most teams carried an 'Essence Gathering Crystal,' which could absorb the Monster Essence after the creature was slaughtered.

Technically, most Scourge Beasts had an Essence Core inside their bodies, which could be turned into a Crystal, but it was ineffective to have the Assault Teams harvest them. Thus, the essence alone was collected, being far more valuable since the crystals already circulating within society were reusable, whereas the essence was decisively not.

It was also the method used to track productivity in the Dungeons, as well as the method used to divvy out coin for each team's part. Monster Essence was truly an invaluable resource, allowing for nonmagical commoners to enjoy the magical items used to function in everyday life, such as Light Crystals.

Thus, the economical value was significant, with it being just as much a fuel to run the city as oil was for a traditional lamp.

Either way, the point was, the early bird got the worm.

Or 'the early cock got the pussy,' as both Turg and Dagru liked to put it.

Their version of that phrase was both literal and metaphorical, since they came from a place where they raised Goliath Chickens, huge cocks, which were fond of snacking on mountain cats, big pussies, among other critters. Needless to say, they very much meant that sexually too.

I sighed as I focused on my book again, reading and rereading certain parts to make sure I understood the content, since this particular tome was only on loan from a reputable Mage who had long since retired. The old woman looked to be in her mid-thirties, but was easily over a century in age. She'd once been a Scourge Suppressor herself, many decades ago, but now had grown into the habit of collecting books, documents, and magical artifacts from all over the world.

She also provided services to the Queen, which was where the money came to acquire those items from Scourge Suppressors who were lucky enough to come across something valuable. And by services, I meant that in both a professional sense, as well as a sexual one. Supposedly, the gorgeous, blonde, deceptively young-looking, old hag was amazing at giving oral, or so the rumor went.

No way in hell I'd ever bring that up though.

The sexy blonde elf, who stood a couple of inches taller than me, would probably freeze me to death in half a second, after castrating me.

After all, she was an Ice Specialist, and apparently not very fond of men.

So I did my best to stay on her good side, considering she held all the power and resources for me to access very valuable information related to my field of study.

Granted, just because I had this tome on loan wasn't to say that I didn't have to pay for it.

She was charging me a whopping ten silver a day, or basically a gold coin every two days, and I wasn't allowed to take it out of the capital. Though, once I was done, I'd just pay her in gold, since there was no way in hell I was lugging around that much coin.

Like most of my guild members, who frequently roughed it in the wilderness, I had on record with the guild treasury the amount owed to my name, and only withdrew small amounts, since there was no point in carrying around much more than some bronze and a few silver.

After all, a silver was worth fifty bronze, and a gold was worth twenty silver, making a gold overall worth a thousand times a bronze. And considering that a night at an inn was only one silver, and a meal could usually be purchased for under twenty bronze, carrying around more than a few silver was overkill, especially when the price of my lodgings was directly deducted from the treasury's record.

That also meant the price to rent this tome was ridiculously steep when considering the average traveler could survive for three to four weeks on a gold coin, having all their basic necessities taken care of.

Yet, in two days, I'd be spending more than a month's worth of living expenses.

But it was worth the money. This volume, titled 'Advanced Solutions to Advanced Curses' in elvish, was very insightful. It had information in it I'd never come across before, and I was absorbing it like a sponge - or as Turg and Dagru would say, a woman's asshole sucking up cum.

Because I would never fail again.

If I ever came across another curse I didn't know how to deal with, I'd be ready this time. Ready to use my knowledge to figure it out, and to hopefully already have the necessary Skills to handle it.

Or so I hoped.

Sighing, I glanced up when I saw a flash of red, only to ignore the Red Oni woman walking over to the bar when I saw Shel coming down the stairs, with Dagru close on her heels like a lost puppy. No doubt our prized elf, Jackel, was still sound asleep after his escapades the previous night. He'd left earlier in the evening and came back with a young human, who looked like she was barely of age.

They were up very late.

I knew because I'd woken up several times to her screaming in ecstasy and passion.

It wouldn't be the first time the broad chested, broad shouldered elf made a woman scream, and I knew they liked the pleasure he gave them, because it wouldn't have been the first time a woman came back for more, assuming we were planning on staying the night again.

Doubtful we'd stay another evening though.

When I checked the Quest board earlier, I didn't see anything that Turg would be interested in, but he didn't like to stay in town long, especially not with the Big Dive coming up, the yearly reappearance of the massive Scourge in the north, that almost wiped out the entire kingdom nearly half a millennium ago. That was actually where our guild name came from, going back hundreds of years as the last remnants of civilization, a coalition of all races, that banded together to fight against the invasion as one.

As one people.

As one army.

And it was a yearly fight everyone took seriously, which was why Turg liked to keep his skills sharp, in preparation for the big event.

Then again, I could be wrong.

Maybe we would end up staying another night. After all, we'd spent almost the entirety of the last two months in the wilderness, only stopping by the guild for a day or two to report our progress and collect our rewards.

I glanced back at the bar, realizing that the Red Oni I'd noticed earlier was now sitting on a high stool, looking over her right shoulder at me, her brow furrowed, while the barkeep pointed in my direction. Her chin-length white hair and white eyebrows were a sharp contrast to her otherwise rosy skin and black leather clothing.

For half a second, my heart fluttered at the sight of her face, my cheeks growing hot.

Automatically, I knew by Oni standards that she'd probably be perceived as being of 'average' beauty, because her face was so feminine whereas Oni men preferred a more masculine look to their women. Not that this woman wasn't masculine. Her red skin was a shade lighter than a rose in full bloom, doing little to conceal her chiseled muscles in her arms and shoulders, as well as her lower back where her black leather top didn't reach, revealing a pair of dimples just above the lip to her leather pants. She also had black straps to a leather thong peeking out on her wide bony hips, creating a small gap of red skin between the two articles of clothing.

Leather underwear was a little unusual in my opinion, but definitely hot.

Her body was very toned and muscular, as were all Oni, male or female.

But the face was absolutely gorgeous by human standards. Her jawline looked delicate, her nose small and thin, her gold eyes soft, even as she leered at me, her full lips pulled slightly to the side, the color an interesting pale lavender, causing me to wonder if she wore some kind of cosmetic on them or if the hue was natural.

Given her rosy skin, I would have assumed her lips might be maroon, or some other shade of red, rather than the color of a pale lilac or aster.

To an Oni, her lips would actually be perceived as thin, but to a human, they were the perfect thickness and could only be described as full and plump. Of course she had thin horns too, that were about one inch tall, rising from her forehead - all Oni had horns, unless they'd been maimed. And then, she also had objectively huge tits, secured firmly in place by her leather top, but that wasn't too unusual given her race.

But objectively, she was gorgeous...and obviously disappointed that I was the person who our elf barkeep was pointing toward.

I sighed while I stood up, leaving my tome in my chair, as I decided to see what she needed.

I had little doubt anyone here would see the value in such a book, even if there were more people up at this early hour, so I had no qualms with leaving it unattended. I'd never be so comfortable or careless at an inn, but here in the guild hall, I knew few would even so much as glance at it.

It wasn't too surprising to have someone asking for me, considering it wouldn't have been the first time my services as a unique 'Essence Diviner' were requested, even if it was uncommon. After all, there were certain things only I could do, though it was rare that someone needed a curse or disease identified and healed. Usually, the effect of the curse inflicted by a Scourge Beast was very obvious, and while I could technically provide a cure, often a simple healing spell would be sufficient.

It was why most Healers didn't make an attempt to advance in their practice. Rare was it for a healer to not be competent with their basic spells.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I had once failed so miserably, in trying to remove a curse that killed an entire village of Oni, then I might not be as diligent as I was now. To be fair, they would have died anyway, but I certainly sped up the process in my attempt to undo the dark magic inflicted on them by the very presence of a nearby Scourge Dungeon.

However, now that I was more adept in my skillset, I actually was glad I had pursued getting stronger, because there had been a number of cases where I'd saved someone who would have died otherwise. Like just last year, when I saved a human man's Holstaur wife, who had fallen ill just prior to going into labor with their eleventh child.