NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1051
<1051 – Weak and Pathetic Mode (9)>
Healing magic is basically not popular.
Battlefield angels?
Rear guard honey jobs?
The students of the Gift Academy know.
It’s all about image-making.
They’ve already experienced the hardships of acquiring healing magic firsthand.
“Acquiring the magic that aids in the body’s regeneration requires mana specialized for regeneration. It’s about taming your own mana to repeat the process of consumption and regeneration. This is essentially the first step of healing magic.”
“Professor, I have a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“How do you keep repeating consumption and regeneration?”
“Give me an empty magical stone. Fill it.”
At best, it’s the lowest grade magical stone.
It’s no big deal to infuse mana into the stone, consume it, and refill the mana with a cultivation technique.
“This.”
“A magical stone box?! Ah… you brought it for half the number of people.”
“What nonsense. One box per person.”
“One box per person?!”
“The deadline is by the next lecture.”
“A week?! We have other classes to attend!”
“Making it somehow is the prerequisite for becoming a healer.”
Those who experienced mana exhaustion from filling the lowest grade magical stone box never dared to approach healing magic again.
Ziang was no exception.
Learning self-heal might increase utility; he wasn’t so sure but at least he followed an enthusiastic lecture from Oknodie, who seemed excited about it.
“I can’t help but worry if a magician who went through such harsh lectures is even sane.”
As he passed through the gate of Jeido, Zhao casually spilled his thoughts out, and Sadi let out a chuckle that slipped through her usual carefree laughter.
“…Why are you laughing like that?”
“No matter how quirky a healer is, they’re not quirkier than an assassin.”
“What’s wrong with that? I’m a normal person!”
Ziang, 100% serious, provoked the senior instructor to interject.
“Honestly, that doesn’t seem right.”
“Senior. Want to get hit?”
“Wanna beat the senior? Where’s the normal in that?”
Wearing a mask on his forehead like a hat and just barely stocked his full body gear with some knowledge puts him in the category of normal at the Gift Academy.
Ziang firmly believed he was normal.
Compared to Oknodie, who stuffs a king’s bed into his backpack, or Titosso, dragging a light stand around that could kill you on touch, he was really quite average.
“Still, with Oknodie’s condition like this, we can’t use the dimensional gate to Jeido. How do we get there?”
“We’ll have to use the ride service. The most expensive and fastest one available.”
The Empire has various modes of transportation.
From peasant carts to merchant carriages, regular transport like covered carts, freight trains, and non-fair flights, there’s a wide range of boats available on the sea, with the more expensive ones going faster and further.
As a hegemonic nation in the world, the Empire has vast territory.
To travel safely over long distances, the best choice is the non-fair flight which can be used for just ten gold coins.
“The non-fair flight to Jeido arrives in two days.”
“That’s too late.”
With the talents and skills of Gift Academy students, they aren’t so poor to be limited to a transportation worth just ten gold coins.
Especially for an assassin like Zhao, it wasn’t unusual to have numerous side income opportunities due to his job.
That’s why he sought better service.
“Academy communication security office? Please connect me to Senior Hitler who works there.”
-I’m Hitler. Who’s looking for me?
“I’m a friend of Oknodie. I have a message to relay in his stead to Empress Masugaki—can you please set up a communication relay?”
-…Isn’t it a bit presumptuous to assume double communication magic is just a casual request?
“I’ll bring you an advanced magical stone once I get back to the academy.”
-That communication magic is a piece of cake. Anyone who can’t manage double communication shouldn’t be preparing for their fourth year.
The connection was quickly established.
“Masugaki.”
-What’s up~? You’re calling in place of Oknodie? I’m in the middle of a state council meeting right now~? Hurry it up♡
“Is it really okay to take calls at a time like this?”
-Cough. If the minister of state figures out your name, he’ll immediately start looking into you for tax audits. You’d better relay your matters quickly if you don’t want to end up in a nasty situation~?
“Oknodie is really sick. I’m trying to search for healers ranked 1 to 10 on the ranking board at the center of Jeido, but Oknodie can’t use teleportation magic because he’s heavily afflicted by a lasting curse. Can you send a faster means of transportation than a non-fair flight?”
From the receiver, Masugaki’s angry shout and the frantic noises of state officials could be heard.
-You fool! How stupid do you think it is to leisurely stroll to Jeido when your friend is in such a hurry? Just give me the ranking and location and I’ll send a healer who can gather them all!
“Has the minister of state calmed down?”
-Thanks to the minister’s threats, my best friend almost ended up in life-or-death danger. Do I care? I’m even angrier. That minister is completely useless~ he’s getting a three-month pay cut♡
Is this the tyranny of an emperor with absolute power?
Ziang honestly felt a twinge of envy.
The ability to cut a minister’s salary for three months just for fun was honestly tempting.
“A messenger has arrived.”
━━━
[2 messages received from Masugaki.]
[Ranking Board: Top Ten Healers]
[List of Healers Available for Summoning]
━━━
In less than three minutes, the information arrived in succession.
━━━
[Ranking Board]
*Updated as of January 1, 982 of the Empire
*Top Ten Healers in the Continent
Rank 1, <Ultimate Healer> Omoshiroi
Rank 2, <Nature Healer> Weird
Rank 3, <Demon Realm Healer> Neomus Masuiseo
Rank 4, <Dark Healer> Masugaki Hiuqmag
Rank 5, <Tree Healer> Elwinaad Royalhaim
Rank 6, <Monster Healer> Cain
Rank 7, <Resurrection Healer> Grim Reaper
Rank 8, <Forced Healer> Haikura Isis
Rank 9, <Divine Healer> Panakeia
Rank 10, <Fastest Healer> Speedmore
━━━
Surprisingly, a familiar name was included in the list.
Masugaki was listed proudly among the healers.
Ziang, who remembered her specializing in combat skills similar to those of an assassin, was astounded to find out that Masugaki also had expertise in healing.
But there were even more surprising names listed above Masugaki.
Weird, the Nature Healer.
Omoshiroi, the Ultimate Healer.
No matter how he looked at it, those names belonged to the professor and the principal.
“Sadi-senpai. Senior Instructor. What’s the criteria for selecting healers on the ranking board…?”
“Isn’t it based on the amount of recovery over the year?”
“Hehe. You’ve got that partly right. Recovery volume is one criterion, but it can also consider what high-level beings were recovered, among other factors.”
With that in mind, it made a bit more sense.
The principal might be the biggest destroyer of worlds, yet he could restore the most ruin if he set his mind to it.
Professor Weird primarily teaches the anger of nature, but as a dryad, she couldn’t possibly be furious for an entire year.
The healing of nature.
The warmth of nature.
She must be revealing the parts that aren’t visible to students somewhere since she’s from a cold city, except when it comes to nature, where she’s warm!
━━━
[List of Healers Available for Summoning]
1: Help Resistance (Rank 1)
4: Contact Impossible (Ranks 3, 5, 6, 8)
2: Summoning Attempts (Ranks 7, 9)
3: Immediate Dispatch (Ranks 2, 4, 10)
I’m on my way now♡
━━━
Rank 2, Nature Healer Weird.
Rank 4, Dark Healer Masugaki Hiuqmag.
Rank 10, Fastest Healer Speedmore.
Aside from Weird and Masugaki, who were honestly not credible, it seemed the only proper healer was Speedmore, the Fastest Healer at rank 10.
His reunion with Masugaki didn’t take long; it’s just that whenever the Empress uses the dimensional gate, all portal movements get controlled and delayed.
“Useless♡”
“Yeah, nice to see you.”
Upon their long-awaited reunion, it was clear that Masugaki had gained a sense of stature since her ascension.
From her outfit, one could feel the overwhelming power of the high-grade legendary gear meant to protect the Emperor, all of which Masugaki had tamed as Dark Mana.
Just observing the phenomenon where her equipment effect with <Emperor's Aura>, which strengthens pressure, fluctuated according to Masugaki’s gaze and emotions showed its precision.
‘With that level of mana control, isn’t she capable of true healing…?’
Contrary to Ziang’s expectations, Masugaki’s response was negative.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I just came to watch♡”
“But you’re the fourth-ranked healer in the continent.”
“That’s because I stabilized people’s livelihoods and indirectly restored their stamina~? Throughout history, capable and benevolent emperors have always made it to the Top Ten Healer candidates~.”
It doesn’t mean that the rank board picks healers purely based on healing talent!
“Well, Speedmore is a proper healer.”
“What did she heal?”
“She’s an ordinary palace healer.”
The fact that rank 10 is essentially the number 1 pure healing talent made Ziang question whether it was okay to be on that ranking board at all.
At the same time, he felt a desperate prayer rising for someone to heal Oknodie quickly.
No matter how much he thought about it, Weird’s healing felt a bit off and somewhat terrifying.