The Sixth School Ch. 012

“H… how?” Greg asked in a shaking voice when the spell linking their sight was dispelled. “How can you look at me like that?” Greg asked when he noted the confusion on the healer’s face.

His second question only further deepened the confusion on the healer’s face. “Like what?” She asked.

“Like there’s nothing wrong with me?” He asked. In the ten days that the healer had been interacting with him, never once had Greg seen even the slightest sign of horror or disgust on her face. If Greg had no way of seeing his face and only interacted with the healer, he’d never know that there was something wrong with his face. “How can you look at me so calmly? Like I don’t look like some monster?” Greg asked, his voice full of self-loathing.

Unexpectedly, a smile crossed the healer’s face. “I’ve been a healer for a very long time,” she stated. “I’ve had the chance to heal some of the most gruesome diseases and injuries you can imagine,” She continued. “I’ve healed people after magical fights. I’ve healed people after they took the wrong potion. I’ve healed people that had accidents in the practice of their magic. I’ve even healed people that were the victims of particularly nasty curses,” The healer listed. Greg couldn’t help but note the slight shiver that went through the healer at the mention of the curse victims. “Trust me when I tell you this, you may think that you have it bad, but things are nowhere near as bad as they could be,” She stated.

Greg hadn’t expected this answer from the healer. It, however, allowed him to direct the first part of his plan in the right direction. “Those people… did you manage to heal them?” Greg asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

The only reason Greg had been willing to act out this small deception was because it was logical. In truth, Greg didn’t at all care about his disfigured face. He had already talked to Olivia about it and indeed there was a tier three potion that he could buy for a hundred and thirty magic points. This potion could completely restore him to how he was before the hunting incident. But while he didn’t care, it wouldn’t raise any red flags with the healer if he acted like he was desperate to regain his former looks. Of course, someone who’d had their face disfigured to the degree that his had would want to be healed. He wouldn’t be trying to test the limits of the healer’s intelligence by trying to get her to believe this.

A look of understanding crossed the healer’s face as she understood why the boy had asked her to stay behind. “In some cases, I did succeed, in others, I didn’t,” she answered honestly. The look of understanding morphed into one of pity as she regarded him. “However, circumstances have changed,” She said. “I am not the same person I was back then,” She stated cryptically. “What I could do back then, I can’t do now,” She stated. Greg almost fell out of character as he heard the pain in the healer’s voice. Her words were cryptic but Greg couldn’t help the suspicion that they hinted at the secret that Olivia had been unwilling to divulge.

Greg was tempted to try and ask her about it. He, however, doubted that she would tell him anything. Just because she had given him a handjob didn’t mean that he’d earned enough of her trust to pry into her secrets. Suppressing his desire to know more, Greg remained focused on his current goal. “You are a powerful mage,” Greg spoke up. “I… isn’t there something you can do?” He posed.

The healer’s gaze suddenly went from a pained one to a sharp one trained on Greg. “Who told you that I’m a powerful mage?” She asked. The healer’s tone was calm. Greg, however, couldn’t help but feel like a blade was being held to his neck as she keenly watched his face looking for the slightest hint that he was hiding something.

Greg had noted the fact that the healer had been on guard since she walked into the room. His last words had caused her guard to ratchet up several notches higher. Greg, however, wasn’t rattled by the question. He already had an answer. “I was hanging in the balance between life and death for ten days,” He said. “I don’t think just any mage could have saved my life,” He continued without missing a beat. “Am… am I wrong,” He went on to pose almost as if he was suddenly not sure of his conclusion.

The healer wordlessly looked at him for a while longer. But from the slight look of disappointment that he could see in her eyes, Greg knew that she had bought it. It might not have been the answer that she expected or even wanted, but it made sense to her, and so she believed it. “No, you’re not wrong,” She conceded.

“So… can’t you heal me?” Greg pressed.

“I’ve been healing you for the past ten days,” She answered. “It hasn’t done anything to restore your face and it won’t now,” She stated. “Scars are not wounds. No amount of healing can undo them,” She explained. “There are special potions that can help you, but none of those potions nor their ingredients are available in this town or anywhere near it,” She informed him apologetically.

“You said it yourself,” Greg spoke up in a desperate tone of voice. “The beyond was calling to me and interfering with your healing,” He argued. “Besides, you were trying to heal my whole body and not just focused on my face,” He stated. The healer looked like she was about to raise another objection, Greg, however, cut in before she could. “Please! C… can’t you just try,” He implored.

A sigh left the healer as her hands rose and she began to weave together the all-too-familiar healing rune. “Don’t get your hopes up,” The healer warned even as she came to a stop beside his bed.

Greg had to suppress his excitement even as he opened the system interface and readjusted the distribution of incoming magic between healing and conversion into magic points. The previous night, Greg had made it so that it was fifty-fifty between the two. Now, however, Greg moved the pointer to one end of the bar such that none of the magic the healer would be pouring into him would go to healing. Everything that the healer poured out would be going towards magical points.

After his soul stabilized, just a minute and a half of healing from the healer had netted Greg a whopping two hundred thousand magic points. And that was with fifty percent of her magic going towards healing. With a hundred percent now going to magic points, that would be four hundred thousand magic points in one and a half minutes! The healer could usually maintain her healing for about three minutes before she began to falter. That would translate to eight hundred thousand magic points, even without considering the two minutes she usually continued to force herself to maintain the healing. With the three hundred thousand magic points he already had, Greg would easily cross the million magic points amount that he would need for the awakening potion.

The first part of his plan, obtaining the awakening potion, was done. Now, all that remained was for him to build on this. If things went the way he was hoping they would, Greg would end up as the healer’s student…

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