I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 13

13

“Cough, cough…”

The man clutched at the stump of his arm with a frantically trembling hand.

Or rather, he clutched at the place where his arm *used* to be.

‘To think… it would end here…’

Just a little deeper inside the gate, there were magical beasts far beyond his ability to handle.

If there was any consolation, it was that the beasts seemed hungry, devouring the man’s severed arm as a meal and ceasing their pursuit. That was the most optimistic outcome.

‘…Or is it not?’

Magical beasts have an instinctive sense for the scent of blood.

And right now, he wasn’t just bleeding, but gushing blood.

To make matters worse, his Achilles tendon on one foot had been severed, preventing him from escaping far.

The man had always lived as the weak.

But becoming prey, rather than just being weak, brought a whole new level of misery.

“Haa… haa…”

Emotions he had never felt before.

From the moment he entered the gate, today was a day full of unfamiliar things.

And those unfamiliar things included death.

“My… daughter…”

Even in this situation, the only thing that flooded his mind was his daughter’s face.

Even though she was a bit prickly as a high schooler, she took care of him more than anyone else.

“Krrk…”

But the magical beast had no intention of letting him even think in peace, slowly approaching the spot where the man lay.

“Ha, haha…”

The man chuckled weakly.

He had always thought that money was the scariest thing.

But now, with death staring him in the face, things like money didn’t even cross his mind.

Could there be anything more terrifying than a predetermined tragedy?

Moreover, since this tragedy meant the end of his future, the man squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed by a fear greater than pain.

“There aren’t many people around.”

There were fewer hunters than usual.

It wasn’t even close to the 15th of the month when the mana surged [a periodic event that increases the power of magical beasts], yet there were unusually few people today.

He saw a few hunters around the gate, but none of them were injured, which was the most important condition [for Seonghyun’s quest], so it was meaningless.

“Should I go deeper?”

Seonghyun pondered for a moment.

Could he handle the magical beasts that resided deeper inside with his current abilities?

And was there any guarantee that he would find another hunter, especially one who was injured, if he went deeper?

“There’s nowhere else to go.”

Since it was a bit of a distance to the other open gates, Seonghyun went deeper inside.

After walking for about five minutes, he heard a faint groan from within.

“A person?”

Occasionally, there were magical beasts that mimicked human voices to ask for help before attacking, so Seonghyun cautiously approached the source of the sound.

“Huff, huff.”

As he got closer, he saw a middle-aged man gasping for breath, his voice filled with pain.

“Hey, are you okay!”

Seonghyun rushed towards the man, who was clutching one arm.

“Wh-who…”

There was no life left in the man’s voice.

The man was dying, so much so that even a stranger like Seonghyun could tell at a glance.

“Are you alright?”

“…”

The man, who had been looking at Seonghyun with desperate eyes, grabbed Seonghyun’s sleeve and lost consciousness.

“…The wound is deep.”

It wasn’t just deep.

After removing the blood-soaked hand that was clutching his sleeve, he saw that the arm that should have been on the other side was missing.

“He must have come in too deep and got attacked.”

Seonghyun carefully brought his hand near the man’s nose.

Fortunately, his breathing was still regular, and Seonghyun looked around before checking the man’s condition.

“Ha… of course, it wouldn’t be that easy.”

As expected, several magical beasts were approaching Seonghyun and the man, drawn by the scent of blood.

“Can I take them on?”

Seonghyun had two choices.

One was to fight those magical beasts here and try to heal the man as much as possible.

The second was to leave the man behind right now and return, accepting the penalty for the day.

Of course, even if he stayed here, there was no guarantee that he could handle the magical beasts that were coming.

“Well, there’s no need to hesitate.”

Seonghyun forced a painkiller he always carried into the man’s mouth and drew his sword from his inventory.

“Let’s get ready.”

The magical beasts that were getting closer were not the common, dog-like magical beasts that roamed near the gate’s exit.

They were bigger than wolves, and their long, protruding fangs made it clear that they were not easy opponents.

Then, a strange voice came from behind.

“What are these, wolf-type magical beasts?”

A man with an eyepatch over one eye appeared in front of Seonghyun, ostentatiously wiping blood on his long sword and approaching with it resting on his shoulder.

“Who…”

“You don’t need to know who I am. Is this man dead?”

Despite being quite a distance away, the man quickly approached Seonghyun and briefly examined the fallen man.

“Is he a comrade?”

“Yeah.”

The man chuckled with an amused expression at Seonghyun’s blunt reply and then gestured.

“Take him away quickly. I have no business with you guys.”

“…Thanks.”

“You’re on your own getting back.”

After speaking, the man kicked off the ground and ran forward, instantly beheading two huge magical beasts.

‘…An incredible expert.’

With that, the man disappeared deeper into the forest, and Seonghyun turned his head towards the fallen man.

Just in case, he checked his condition again and heard that his breathing was a little unstable.

“I need to give him first aid.”

Moreover, after taking another look with a bit of leeway, the man’s Achilles tendon area was already tattered.

“So… that’s why he couldn’t escape properly.”

The severed arm was something Seonghyun couldn’t do anything about with his abilities.

But the Achilles tendon he was seeing now seemed possible.

“I need to deal with the blood smell first.”

If he foolishly treated him in this spot, there was no guarantee that someone would help him this time if a magical beast reappeared, like that man did.

“Materialize.”

Having made up his mind, Seonghyun immediately created several potions.

The potions he created this time were for topical use.

“Just hold on a little longer.”

Seonghyun put the man on his back, tied him securely with his clothes, and started running quickly towards the gate.

He continued to spray the potions he created on the Achilles tendon as he made his way to the gate.

‘…It wasn’t a light wound.’

One bottle wasn’t enough.

He repeated the process of creating and spraying, and pain began to surge.

He poured all the remaining potions on his arm, but it didn’t have much effect.

The only thing it did was completely stop the bleeding.

‘This is enough.’

As he got closer to the gate, weaker magical beasts appeared, but the path itself was clear, as if the man he had met earlier had taken care of them all on his way.

“Kuhuk…”

The man groaned every time Seonghyun took a step, the vibrations rising up.

He seemed to be feeling the pain acutely, even though he was unconscious.

“Haa…”

Seonghyun hurriedly laid the man he had been carrying on his back on the ground.

Even though the smell of blood was strong, the magical beasts in the vicinity had all been taken care of by the man from before, so it would take quite a while for them to come this far.

“What should I do? No, where should I start…”

The large wound he was seeing for the first time continued to create pressure and anxiety.

“First, the Achilles tendon…”

The bleeding had already stopped, and he looked at the Achilles tendon again, hoping that some of the wound remained, but the wound had already completely healed.

“There’s still something left.”

The remaining wound on the man’s body was now the arm. The arm, which had a rough cut as if it had been bitten off by something, seemed impossible to fix.

He wondered if he could even save him if he took him to the hospital right now.

“No time to hesitate. Let’s focus.”

The time remaining for the quest was no longer important.

A person was dying in front of him, and Seonghyun had the ability to save this man.

Seonghyun closed his eyes and focused only on the man’s wound.

‘Please…’

But, no pain was felt at all.

“…Why is pain so welcome at times like this.”

Just as he was about to give up, a sudden thought flashed through his mind.

“Healing, what was the description of my ability?”

[Healing: Heals the target. Small wounds can be restored to their original state without a trace.]

“Small wounds… small wounds?”

What was the standard for small wounds?

Even a small wound could look big from the perspective of a doctor, and even a big wound could look like just a small tear.

It wasn’t a stretch at all.

What if Seonghyun recognized this wound as a small wound?

No one had ever used this ability before, and no one had ever had a similar ability.

In other words, no one knew the standard for this ability yet.

And that wasn’t all.

The title given to Seonghyun was Pioneer.

“Let’s do it.”

There was no time to hesitate.

If there was anything he could do, he had to do it.

Seonghyun focused his mind again.

This time, he kept repeating the thought that the man’s wound was not big.

“Please…!”

But was he thinking too easily?

The pain that should have been felt was not felt this time either.

Seonghyun didn’t think this assumption was wrong.

The title of Pioneer couldn’t have been given for nothing.

‘Then…’

Was it impossible because he had already recognized it as a big wound?

Seonghyun approached it with a slightly different thought.

If you look at the entire severed wound, it is definitely a big wound that no one can deny.

But what if you narrow your gaze a little?

From the entire arm being cut off to the bone being broken, from the bone being broken to the skin being torn, and if you look even smaller from here, you can think of each individual blood vessel.

As soon as Seonghyun finished thinking, he focused his mind in a different direction.

Seonghyun thought he would attach the torn skin.

He completely abandoned the thought of the severed arm and tried to cover the severed surface with skin.

“Ugh…!”

The arm was healing little by little.

And as it healed little by little, terrible pain was making Seonghyun’s arm tremble.

[Physical abilities are increased by the spirit of sacrifice.]

[Completed the daily quest for the Sage.]

[Would you like to receive the reward?]

“Hoo… okay.”

[Proficiency in the healing ability has increased.]

Seonghyun, who let out a sigh of relief, was about to take care of the man, who was now breathing relatively comfortably.

[Time remaining for the daily quest for the Sage: 24 hours]

[Daily quest for the Sage: Use healing once a day]

[Healing 0/1]

“This is too much.”

Since he had already been told that it was a daily quest, he had no complaints about it.

But Seonghyun had a big complaint about the reward.

“Even in games, they get criticized for just writing it like that…”

It couldn’t be more unfriendly.

Even if they had just said something like, ‘Proficiency has increased by 1,’ it wouldn’t have been this much of a complaint.

“Well… what can I do? I have to adapt.”

Seonghyun quickly accepted reality.

“Will it take a while for him to come to his senses?”

It took a while for Hayeon to wake up when he first healed her, so the man, who had a bigger wound, would probably take a little longer to wake up.

Just in case, he looked at the man’s arm to see if he could clear today’s quest, but unfortunately, he couldn’t use his healing ability any further.

“…This is the best I can do.”

He seemed to be a hunter who used a two-handed sword, judging by the long sword that had fallen nearby when he saw it earlier, but he suddenly had to use a one-handed sword.

Seonghyun put the man back on his back and headed for the exit of the gate.

Fortunately, the gate was not far from the place he had healed, so he was able to get out without any problems.