I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 258

“Hey. What are you talking about? A Rank 2 gate? You know better than anyone that Rank 2 gates these days aren’t what they used to be. One little mistake and you could die. Well, you probably won’t.”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but I gained a new ability this time.”

“Again? You crazy bastard. You gained another ability?”

A look of jealousy mixed with joy—a truly Inhwan-like expression. Seonghyun smiled lightly and replied.

“Yeah. It’s a bit complicated… Hey, want to spar with Sangyeon?”

“Ha, he can’t even breathe against me.”

“I can’t breathe?”

Sangyeon’s voice, full of dissatisfaction, chimed in, as if he had been outside.

“It’s not wrong, is it? Honestly.”

“No, it’s different. You’re the one who can’t breathe.”

“…You need more training.”

“Training? Follow me to the training room.”

Sangyeon turned and headed to the training room, with Inhwan following close behind, as if he had been waiting for this.

The training room was empty.

Guild members of the company commander level were taking a break today, and the rest of the guild members had gone out to raid a gate.

“You little punk, this won’t do. Let’s bet.”

“What kind of bet? Why would I put myself at a disadvantage?”

“What, so you’re saying no? Why? Afraid you’ll lose?”

Inhwan smirked, and Sangyeon scoffed before replying.

“Deal.”

“Speak respectfully to me.”

“Fine by me.”

Both took their stances simultaneously, but just as they were about to start sparring, Seonghyun stepped between them.

“Before you start, remember the equipment I gave to the company commanders?”

“The equipment that boosts stats within a certain range?”

“Yeah, that. Do you have it with you now?”

The equipment with the Holy Ground ability that Seonghyun had given to the company commanders had been returned to the guild by the commanders themselves.

It was a bit too much equipment for them to carry around, and since they had to coordinate with the guild to go on raids anyway.

Besides, there was no reason not to entrust it to the guild, since the guild leader had made it himself.

“Yeah, I have it. Want me to get it?”

“Bring it here.”

Inhwan disappeared briefly into the equipment storage room and soon returned with the equipment Seonghyun had made.

“Here.”

Seonghyun took the equipment and immediately put it on.

At the same time, he began to feel his magic power slowly draining.

“How is it? How different does it feel?”

Its ability might have weakened a bit as it was made into equipment, but since Seonghyun had made it himself and was wearing it, the Holy Ground effect wasn’t significantly diminished.

“It definitely feels stronger.”

“I agree.”

The reason they weren’t too surprised was that they had felt it before, and the increase wasn’t that significant.

“Remember this difference.”

Seonghyun took off the equipment and handed it back to Inhwan, then used Holy Domain.

There was no need to ask what had changed, where it had changed, or by how much.

The moment Seonghyun used Holy Domain, Inhwan and Sangyeon both looked at Seonghyun with bewildered expressions.

“W-What is this…?”

“What is this sensation…?”

Watching their puzzled faces, Seonghyun realized once again that Holy Domain was no ordinary ability.

“What I mentioned earlier.”

“The new ability?”

“What? You gained another ability?”

“That’s right. How is it?”

It was hard to explain in words.

Inhwan and Sangyeon were already sharing Seonghyun’s magic power, allowing them to wield an inexhaustible supply, but this was a different dimension of sensation.

“Honestly, I thought sharing your magic power was already amazing, but this is on another level.”

“I agree. Hunters rely mostly on magic power, but it’s not everything.”

Sharing magic power had definitely made Inhwan and Sangyeon stronger.

Enough to reach the ranks of the top hunters.

But everything else remained the same.

The ability to wield magic power, physical limitations, and so on.

All of these had to reach a certain level to join the ranks of the top hunters.

And now.

The moment Seonghyun used Holy Domain, these other aspects increased unbelievably.

“Try sparring in this state.”

“…”

“…”

Both were silent in response to Seonghyun’s words, perhaps unable to adapt to the sudden increase in power.

“Hey, can you handle it?”

“Why would I need to handle your weakness?”

“…Never mind.”

They looked like they wanted to start right away.

Inhwan’s relatively lacking physical abilities were compensated.

And since all attacks started based on the manipulation of magic power, he could unleash more attacks, faster, during the same amount of time now that his manipulation ability had greatly increased.

Sangyeon, on the other hand, mainly relied on attacks based on overwhelming physical abilities.

Now, with added physical abilities and compensation for his relatively lacking magic power manipulation.

They knew each other too well, so they naturally knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

With their strengths further enhanced and their weaknesses gone.

They were confident that they could defeat anyone, except for Seonghyun in front of them.

Both simultaneously wielded their magic power.

Massive fireballs filled with magic power began to rise around Inhwan, while Sangyeon’s berserk state progressed.

Seonghyun stepped back and watched their sparring with interest.

Who won wasn’t important.

And judging from the energy he felt now, it didn’t seem like a victory would come easily.

His main interest was in how much they had changed and how much stronger they had become compared to how he remembered them.

“Tell me if it gets too hot.”

“It’s just warm.”

The war of nerves through words was a bonus.

The fierce back-and-forth seemed unlikely to end in anyone’s victory, as Seonghyun had expected.

The fireballs Inhwan was using had their power increased to an absurd degree inside the Holy Domain.

Enough to crack the floor and walls of the training room.

With that much power, even a Rank 1 gate monster wouldn’t be able to withstand it more than a few times before turning to ash.

But Sangyeon was no pushover either.

He wouldn’t have been able to withstand those incredibly powerful fireballs in his pre-Holy Domain state.

Sangyeon was also inside the Holy Domain.

As if he didn’t care about the fireballs, Sangyeon was tearing through the fireballs flying at him and approaching Inhwan.

Above his head, behind his back, on the floor, in front, to the side.

Fireballs flew in from all directions, leaving no blind spots.

“Just a little tingle?”

He couldn’t tear through all of them with his hands, so he allowed a few fireballs to hit him, but it only resulted in his skin being slightly scorched.

“Is your skin made of fireproof material or something?”

However, Sangyeon was having trouble approaching easily.

The attacks were becoming more intense the closer he got, due to the fireballs’ immense power.

‘The damage isn’t accumulating.’

Not being able to approach easily.

This meant he was approaching with some difficulty.

Either way, Sangyeon was slowly but surely getting closer to Inhwan, and Inhwan’s attacks weren’t doing much significant damage to Sangyeon.

‘Even if I get close, it’s a problem.’

On the other hand, Sangyeon had another problem.

The barrier that Inhwan possessed.

In the current situation, even if he tried to attack after getting close, he wouldn’t be able to generate enough power to break through the barrier.

“Hey, punching bag. How long are you going to keep inching closer like that?”

“Aren’t punching bags supposed to move backward when you hit them? I’m moving forward, aren’t I?”

“Power control, you little punk, don’t you know power control?”

Contrary to his words, Inhwan was pouring out all his power, and contrary to his words, Inhwan was now unable to move forward and was just taking the attacks in place.

‘This is the end here.’

Watching this, Seonghyun got up and approached between the two.

“Shall we stop here?”

“…Well, consider yourself lucky.”

“Not really.”

Both of them needed someone to stop them anyway.

They knew best that there would be no progress in this situation.

“How is it?”

He had already seen it with his own eyes, but he wanted to hear their honest impressions.

“It’s even better than what I felt. It’s close to perfect.”

“I didn’t expect that one person’s ability could change me this much.”

A look of joy mixed with a bit of disappointment.

“But it’s a bit sad that I get stronger by being around you rather than training myself, isn’t it?”

“Same here… but the fact that we can always get stronger is welcome news.”

“Focus on the fact that you’ve gotten stronger. There are no side effects, you just get stronger by being next to me.”

Nevertheless, the expressions of disappointment didn’t fade from their faces.

It must have felt like all their efforts up to now were going to waste.

“Think about why we need to get stronger.”

“The reason we need to get stronger…”

“That’s right. The primal reason.”

Defeating monsters and making a name for themselves among the top hunters weren’t the goals.

“We need to survive.”

Just surviving.

As Seonghyun’s closest aides, they knew best what changes had occurred.

To the extent that they could even speculate on some of the things that Seonghyun hadn’t said and couldn’t say.

“Are there any guild members who are at a similar level to you right now?”

“Excluding magic power, there are a few.”

“They’re the ones who are active on the front lines of raids, and they have more experience than us, after all.”

Inhwan and Sangyeon were, to put it coldly, at the upper level of the upper hunters.

If they were evaluating them like this, it meant that they were about average among the upper hunters, excluding the amount of magic power.

“Then clear their schedules separately.”

“What for? Going to a Rank 2 gate?”

“Going to a Rank 2 gate?”

Since the changes to the gates, the current Rank 2 gates were, to put it simply, about 1.2 or 1.3 times the level of the old Rank 1 gates.

“Ha…”

Inhwan’s deep sigh could be heard, but he didn’t refuse Seonghyun’s words.

“Honestly, I thought it would be a bit too much.”

“But?”

“After experiencing the ability you showed us today, I think it’s definitely possible.”

Inhwan usually had a somewhat lighthearted image, but when it came to work-related matters, he was more thorough than anyone else.

“But I don’t think it will be easy. Well, you’ll be there if any variables arise.”

He would have the most reliable insurance with him.

“Oh, you probably didn’t notice, but if you’re within a certain range while using this ability, you get healed.”

“Wasn’t that the ability of the equipment that DeMarge made?”

“It’s the ability I gained after that equipment disappeared.”

“W-What, the equipment disappeared?”

“I’ll tell you the details when we go up. It’s more effective than what DeMarge made.”

The existing DeMarge equipment was only capable of healing minor wounds.

Since it was better than that, it wouldn’t be able to restore severed limbs, but it was clear that even major wounds would be healed.

“Set up a schedule when you’ve had enough rest.”

“Okay. First, let’s go back and talk about it quickly. How did the equipment disappear and the ability appear?”

Sangyeon scoffed at Inhwan’s excited appearance.

“Why? Do you think it’s possible for you too?”

“Well, I have to try. To gain an ability.”

That’s what Sangyeon said, but he couldn’t hide the fact that he was curious himself, as his footsteps followed behind Sangyeon.