I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 217

217

The time left to use Materialization was five days.

This period of five days was a bit short to accomplish anything significant, so with the spare time he had, Seonghyun focused more on the slums.

The first thing Seonghyun did was to properly heal the residents of the slums again.

He didn’t just treat external wounds, but also diseases they had been suffering from for a long time.

Thanks to that, the Pilgrim’s reputation in the slums was increasing day by day.

On the first day, it was those who had been treated by Seonghyun for the first time who sought him out.

The same was true on the second day, but the biggest change started to appear from the third day.

People who hadn’t seen Seonghyun before began to arrive.

Those who had been away for work, or those who were lying on the streets intoxicated, heard about the Pilgrim’s existence from their families, and eventually, they all began to gather.

“…There are more and more people.”

Even at this moment, people were gathering, and they all looked as if they were holding something back. They seemed to be experiencing withdrawal symptoms from not injecting drugs on time.

“Please wait patiently.”

Anatoly, who accompanied Seonghyun, began to control them.

It was originally his day off, but he couldn’t just stand by and watch Seonghyun head to the slums.

And more than anything, the fact that he had manipulated the Pilgrim at his own discretion continued to prick his conscience.

“Anatoly, if those who take drugs return to normal, won’t they just take drugs again?”

“That won’t be the case. The reason why they started taking drugs is a bit different from other common cases.”

“What makes you so sure about the difference?”

“That’s…”

Anatoly hesitated to answer.

Not just for a moment, but continuously.

“Is it difficult to say?”

“Haha… It’s hard to say no.”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“No. I will tell you. You are the only one who saves the slums, Pilgrim, so it’s my duty to give you confidence in your actions.”

There was no need to go that far, but Seonghyun didn’t refuse because he could work with a much lighter heart if he had confidence that there would be better results.

However, Anatoly’s next words were quite shocking than he had imagined.

“It was… Russia who gave them the drugs.”

“Russia… gave drugs to its own people?”

What on earth was he talking about?

He thought the reasons would all be due to unavoidable circumstances or other special events.

“If I only tell you the result, that’s right. Originally, this place mainly produced crops. Most of the residents here were doing that work. One day, the association brought a specially grown crop, and that crop was the problem.”

The situation was simple.

Fortunately, it wasn’t as shocking as he had felt from Anatoly’s first words.

Russia had obtained a crop that helped increase magic power, and this slum area was chosen as the place to grow the crop.

“At first, the residents liked it too. After all, it was an unknown crop to the world, so it was almost like a monopoly.”

The tragedy started then.

It wasn’t that the residents were greedy, nor was it that Russia was greedy.

It was just that this land and the crop were not compatible.

“The only difference between this place and other places is that the concentration of magic power is so low that gates are not created. That crop was affected by the concentration of magic power. The crops grown in this area have been transformed into crops that emit very strong hallucinogenic effects.”

It was an understandable situation.

Russia was planning to develop this area with that crop, and they were just diligently growing the crop.

“Can I check that crop?”

“I’ll try to get it. As you can see, it’s being used in a bad way, so it’s being grown secretly.”

“Thank you.”

There was a separate reason why Seonghyun wanted this crop.

He didn’t have any intention of doing anything special to make the crop grow in a good condition.

He didn’t have the ability to do that either.

‘A crop that is affected by the concentration of magic power.’

It was a crop that he remembered from before his regression.

The name of this crop was Avaritia [Latin for “greed”].

This crop, which means greed in Latin, was a crop that those who knew, knew.

‘I didn’t know there was such a background…’

The most important thing when growing this crop was the amount of magic power.

He knew that it took quite a long time to reveal this fact before his regression.

Usually, when growing something, people don’t try to adjust the amount of what is needed; they just pour a lot of it in.

The best environment for this crystal to grow was only one.

Good soil, suitable climate, and the delicacy of experts were not needed at all.

Even if these three conditions were met, if magic power was not injected, it would end up like this slum.

To grow Avaritia, the method was very simple.

Putting the seed inside the crystal.

That was all.

Avaritia, which grew with the magic power contained in the crystal as nourishment, creates the purest magic crystal at the moment it blooms.

The person who consumed the petals could gain strong magic power, but there was one fatal flaw.

Avaritia is a crop that ends its life by creating its life into a single crystal along with magic power.

At the same time as gaining strong magic power, they were changed to a constitution that could use magic power beyond the limit.

However, the price was their life force.

When grown in a place with such a low concentration of magic power, Avaritia emits a special substance around it, which was a substance that caused hallucinations.

‘Among them, only one.’

The only petal that was created much later.

That Avaritia was a petal that appeared after eating as many as 100 crystals of a 1st class gate monster.

Originally, he was going to give it to Lich or Padron, but the amount of magic power they had was so unimaginable that side effects could occur if used incorrectly, so it was used for other purposes.

The level of magic power that could handle the electricity used in several cities alone.

What if Seonghyun injects magic power directly into this Avaritia?

A result that others cannot handle, only Seonghyun can control, would appear.

‘If I can make it so that it doesn’t emit hallucinogens in this process, and doesn’t use life force instead, it would be the best result.’

Sometimes unexpected results are achieved in unexpected places.

The most common case was Sammy, and Seonghyun had no guarantee that this would not happen.

While Seonghyun was healing the residents of the slums, Anatoly, who had disappeared, reappeared.

Holding a fairly sturdy box in his hand.

Anatoly did not approach Seonghyun right away but controlled the residents of the slums around him until Seonghyun’s healing was all over.

When Seonghyun’s healing was all over, Anatoly handed Seonghyun the box he had brought and said.

“Fortunately, I was able to get the seeds. If you inject magic power, Pilgrim, it will emit hallucinogens, so please be careful of that.”

“Okay.”

Seonghyun opened the box while blocking all the small flows of magic power that were emanating around him.

Inside, there was an ordinary seed that was not very special.

“The name of this crop is…”

“At first, it was called Spes [Latin for “hope”], but now they call it differently.”

Spes.

A word meaning hope in Latin.

Seonghyun lightly laughed at the completely different meaning from Avaritia and closed the box lid again.

“I see. The healing is all over.”

“Are you coming tomorrow too?”

“Are there more people who need healing left?”

“Ah, no. The question just came out unconsciously. Haha.”

“Unconsciously. I guess you did it unconsciously last time too?”

At Seonghyun’s words, Anatoly froze for a moment.

Does he know that he was the one who made him take his first step here?

If so, what choice should he make?

Should he make an excuse that he received the wrong order?

‘…No. Pilgrim wasn’t that kind of person.’

He was a person who knew all these facts and still took the time to heal him without saying anything.

Even if something happened to him, this was not the etiquette to have for someone who saved his family and hometown from pain.

“The previous thing… was purely my will. I’m sorry.”

Seonghyun lightly patted Anatoly’s shoulder as if he knew it, and replied to the answer without any lies.

“It’s okay. It’s already in the past. I’ll go back to the hotel. Anatoly, please check if there’s anything else to do.”

“…Yes. I understand.”

Anatoly bowed deeply towards Seonghyun’s back as he returned to the hotel, until that figure disappeared.

————————–

Seonghyun, who returned to the hotel, took the Avaritia seed out of the box and held it in his hand.

“You ate 100 crystals of a 1st class gate monster and were still fine?”

How could this small seed have absorbed so much magic power from the crystal?

Seonghyun decided to test the limit and held the seed in his hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Eat until you’re full.”

Seonghyun used all the limits of magic power he could operate.

There was no need to test the waters little by little.

Anyway, he knew more about this Avaritia plant than anyone else based on this time.

Avaritia began to devour all the magic power that Seonghyun was operating.

‘It’s sucking it in like crazy.’

As if this was not enough, the seed began to suck in Seonghyun’s magic power as if it was going to pull out the roots.

Even what Seonghyun was operating was not enough.

Since the amount of magic power that was infinite and the amount that could be operated at once were different, Seonghyun could not operate beyond that limit.

‘I need to change the method.’

After confirming Avaritia’s appetite, Seonghyun changed the direction from operating magic power to emitting it.

But even this did not satisfy Avaritia.

Rather, Avaritia was even trying to dig into Seonghyun’s body as if to give him more.

“Ha, I don’t think this will work in one day.”

But it was meaningless to cut off the magic power injection in the middle.

That’s why Seonghyun spread out the hand he was holding and brought his other finger over the seed.

Then he pressed down on his palm with all his might.

Then the Avaritia seed on his palm was embedded inside Seonghyun’s palm.

Originally, the seed would not have been able to penetrate Seonghyun’s skin and would have crumbled, but Seonghyun injected magic power into the seed and protected it with his own magic power so that it would not break.

“Let’s see how long you can eat.”

Seonghyun emits, and the seed sucks.

If these two methods create a synergy effect, the speed will be much faster than now.

The time it took to absorb 100 crystals was a month.

He didn’t know how much magic power he would absorb, but it was clear that it would be similar or shorter than that.