ALL NOVEL 174 – Healer Mage
Chapter 174 - Healer Mage
In the end, I failed. I could barely hold my mana for 5 seconds within me. I couldn’t surpass the limit of using magic inside frozen time. I tried for 1 minute, and it was pure hell.
After that excruciating minute of pain and agony, Cylla’s voice echoed in my mind, scolding me. And she was right. Forcing the Aspect of Time was painful, but I was concerned. There are forces in this world that lurk in the shadows, and they are dangerous. To many, the deities of the other continent are merely beliefs in something nonexistent, upheld by the faith of their followers. But I’ve seen them. I know they are real.
I saw beings with red eyes in the darkness. In that place, there were shadowy servants around a dinner table, and one of them sensed my presence—a woman with eyes glowing pink. These dark figures are not mere myths; they are real.
“Don’t ever do that again, Nathan!” Cylla reprimanded me again, her voice heavy with concern.
I sighed and tried to shift my focus. "Time to get back to class…" I muttered, concentrating on feeling the flow of mana in my eyes while the world around me remained frozen.
The class before me was completely still, paralyzed in time, like statues. The answer to the power of my eyes was so close, yet so far from me. Over the past years, I’d managed to extend the time I could stay in this state, from mere seconds to five minutes. Then, it evolved into something that allowed me to bring others with me. However, I still hadn’t fully grasped the potential of my eyes.
In addition to learning to use the powers of the Celestial Aspects, I discovered that they possess their own levels of mastery, capable of expanding their power. There are more mysteries hidden within these eyes than I can currently comprehend.
Now was the final test of this little training session. I placed my hand near the floating pencil, and I could feel the trajectory of its infiniteness, an invisible energy pulsing around me.
“I can’t alter the temporal rhythm of something,” I muttered to myself. “I can’t place my hand beneath the pencil if, originally, it wasn’t there. I can’t interfere with the object’s ‘time.’”
My hand stayed motionless in the air, unable to interact. I pulled it back slowly, feeling the slight tingling that always accompanied these attempts.
“Things must follow their original time, even when I reestablish the flow of reality,” I continued thinking aloud. “So, my theory of using an object to push someone in frozen time is as futile as trying to commit an assassination in this state. I can’t. I’m merely an observer in this space.”
This was something I needed to fully understand. I could walk through this space, move as if the world were frozen, but I couldn’t alter anything significant. When time resumed, everything proceeded as normal. For others, it would be as if I had ‘teleported.’
I shifted in my chair, already knowing the pain would come when time resumed.
Does the pain come from the excessive mana drain? My body feels as if a large amount is being siphoned all at once when time resumes, and that’s likely what causes the discomfort: my mana gem suffering from an instant drain. At least I’m here for about two minutes...
“Come on, stay in place,” I murmured to Cylla, who had already jumped into my lap, lazily stretching.
I began counting silently, preparing for the impact. “3… 2… 1…” I whispered.
DEACTIVATE!
I felt the connection to the Aspect of Time snap abruptly, like a rope being cut. The blue dimension dissolved around me, and reality started to readjust. Colors returned to normal, sounds slowly came back, and the world continued on its course, as if nothing had happened.
The professor was explaining the lesson, pointing at an image on the board that depicted an elven mage holding a plant.
“Let’s begin with the requirements to become a Healer Mage. The first mandatory requirement is elemental affinity. I mentioned earlier that healing mana can only manifest in three elements, and that’s a universal rule. The second requirement is that the mage must possess only one natural element. For us humans, healing mana can only manifest within the water element, which is why the elven kingdom has the highest number of Healer Mages in the world. Elves, besides having water element mages, can also have plant element mages, which are the most powerful for healing. Furthermore, some superior elves possess the light element. In the elven kingdom, Plant Healer Mages are more advanced and efficient than the Water Healer Mages of the human kingdom.”
I wanted to think of new scenarios and experiments for the Aspect of Time, but I decided to let it go for now. Messing with it too much affected my mana channels. The more I used the Celestial Eyes, the worse my control over my Special Eyes became. It was a temporary effect, but it still disrupted me.
I need to give the Aspect of Time a break. I can’t keep training with it nonstop…
The professor switched to another image, showing a demi-human and a human.
“To reiterate for those who missed it, the human and demi-human kingdoms can only have Water Healer Mages, and they must be fortunate enough for the water mage to possess a healing property in their mana to specialize as a Healer Mage. Meanwhile, in the elven kingdom, there can be Healer Mages with the water, plant, and light elements. That’s why the elven kingdom has a far greater number of Healer Mages, making them a magical powerhouse. Even healing potions originate from their kingdom.”
So, the elven kingdom is vital. In the event of a war, they would control the primary supply of healing potions and possess a large number of Healer Mages.
Professor Harrison flipped the page again, showing an injured person.
“Healing properties also exist in other types of magic, such as the monstrous trees found in the elven kingdom that create the crystals used to make healing potions. These trees are said to have healing mana because they grow in soils where elven mages with healing properties used their plant and water elements for millennia. The trees absorb mana from the ground and develop their own, stronger healing mana, which we harvest in the form of crystals. However, that’s just a theory. It could be that these trees naturally have healing mana, similar to some mages. No kingdom tries to remove them from their natural habitat for testing because we could lose an important resource for potions. Since these trees are rare and few in number, they remain in their habitat, and in elven culture, they are considered part of their natural world, so they cannot be relocated.”
I followed along in my book, paying close attention to the lesson.
I doubt Cylla’s Aspect of Life is related to this.
“Now, let’s see how powerful healing magic truly is,” the professor said, flipping the page once more.
The board now displayed an image of a wounded boy, followed by one of him completely healed.
“Our healing magic uses our mana to accelerate the body’s natural healing process. This is effective for healing cuts, blade wounds, and even arrow injuries. However, healing magic cannot regenerate a severed organ or a missing finger. If you're unfortunate enough to lose a finger in battle or training, a Healer Mage can reattach it and stimulate the healing process to reconnect it. But there are limits. If you're cut in half, nothing can be done. Some injuries are too severe to heal, or the treatment would take a prolonged time.”
He flipped to the next page, which displayed a blue potion and a red potion.
The professor was continuing his lecture.
“It’s not possible for a Healer Mage to create healing water and sell it as a potion. As soon as the mage stops channeling their elemental mana, it loses its healing properties. This is why healing potions are so valuable—you can carry them with you wherever you go.”
It’s unfortunate about that limitation. Otherwise, any Healer Mage could be a walking factory of healing potions. This is what makes those monstrous trees so special; their crystals contain a pearl used to create healing potions.
That pearl contains a liquid that likely stores part of the tree’s healing mana. Only the cat tribe can extract the pearl from the crystal, as it forms in random locations, and if the crystal is broken incorrectly, the pearl becomes useless for potion production.
“If you’re in this academy, you likely already know whether or not you possess healing mana. But we’ll conduct the test regardless. Those of you who have only the water or plant element, come forward and pour your mana into this sunflower. If it reacts and turns toward you, it means your mana has healing properties.”
A line formed as students began walking toward the table where the professor conducted the test. Even those who already knew the results went ahead to participate. Of course, he didn’t call on those with the light element, as only high elves possess it, and at the academy, the only high elf students were Saint Tiffania Brawen... and myself. However, I didn’t have healing properties due to having more than one element.
“I can’t wait for lunch…” Thyra grumbled.
Syvis had just completed her test. She had mentioned being torn between becoming a Shooter Mage or a Healer Mage. I discovered she had an affinity with the plant element and was an emitter. This piqued my curiosity since, until then, the only person I knew who used that element was my mother—and she was a summoner. As for me, I could only use the plant element because of my Special Eyes. Another interesting fact was that there were no other summoners with the plant element besides my mother and me. This anomaly was due to us bypassing the elemental restrictions, which made our combat style different from elves who possessed that element through other mana categories.
I was eager to see how Syvis would fight as an emitter. Summoners and emitters share the same casting pattern, but a pure plant emitter must have a greater affinity for direct attacks, something neither my mother nor I specialized in. Additionally, each mana category has exclusive spells, and Syvis, being an emitter, likely had a unique combat repertoire. I also learned that, over the years, there had been a greater variation in species and techniques within the plant element, which made everything even more fascinating.
Like my mother, I possessed the plant element of the high elves, granting me the unique ability to create plants, like flowers, from nothing. Ordinary elves, in rare cases, might have the luck of generating living plants, but most could only manipulate vines or wood, limiting their combat and magical tasks. Since we descended from high elves, both my mother and I could create plants of all kinds, from delicate flowers to large trees.
However, this ability wasn’t limitless. There were restrictions on what we could create. If we had a seed, we could accelerate the growth of the plant contained within, expanding our range of attacks and defenses. It was a well-known technique among elves, so much so that many carried specific seeds to use as weapons, inducing their growth in battle and rapidly creating powerful and versatile plants.
The major difference between my mother and me, compared to other elves, was our skill as summoners of the plant element. While ordinary elves could only accelerate the growth of a seed, we possessed the unique ability to create a wider variety of plants from nothing and modify seeds in ways they could never achieve. As summoners, we had the power to completely alter a seed’s structure and generate something entirely new from it. I was still learning and didn’t yet have full mastery over this ability, but my mother... she was a true prodigy.
From the time I was a baby, I was surrounded by the carnivorous plants she created, and I can say with certainty—those things are terrifyingly alive. My mother had been feeding each of them with her living summoner mana for years, and what was most impressive was that she even talked to them, calling them her 'daughters.' In a way, these plants were an extension of her magic, reflecting her incredible ability to manipulate the plant element in ways that even the most experienced high elves couldn’t replicate.