Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 695: Guinea Pig

Williams sat still, well, not like he could move, his mind ran through everything that had just happened within the past one hour. He looked at his own battered body, his mind shifting to the lesson that had just ended. He wouldn’t deny it; he had learned a lot and was also made aware of many things, but at the same time, he also saw that the gap between him and Asher had increased once again.

’How can one expect something if it is unexpected,’ he thought to himself, as Asher’s last words didn’t seem to make sense to him. He couldn’t help but sigh; if Asher had said it, then it was definitely true, even if he couldn’t comprehend it yet.

His black eyes rose as he met Asher’s purple ones as he spoke, "Thank you for the lesson, Asher," his words sincere, as he had many things to focus on when he went back to training. He had seen a lot of errors in his swordsmanship, flaws he could no longer ignore.

"No need to thank me, I only accepted because I had nothing to do," Asher replied. It had taken nothing from him to help a friend, his tone casual and unconcerned.

’It seems he is unaware of the Zone state he entered,’ Asher mused to himself, ’or people of Crymora simply don’t know what the Zone is,’ he thought to himself, but threw the thought out of his mind. After all, the Zone wasn’t something anyone could consciously control or even easily recognize, a fleeting state that came and went without warning.

"Sigh... it seems I might have to borrow points from you to visit the Healing Department," Williams spoke weakly, his voice low and tired, his body finally beginning to fully register the accumulated fatigue and lingering pain.

"I thought you were a social butterfly; by now you should have a friend with healing abilities, shouldn’t you?" Asher asked as he tilted his head to the side in mild confusion. After all, in that way, Williams could always receive free healing without needing to spend points.

"No time, everyone is focused on missions and other things," Williams replied as he groaned in pain, as though he was finally receiving the full intensity of the pain signals his brain had been sending all along.

"I guess I can help then," Asher spoke calmly, his tone remaining even and flat.

As Williams was about to ask how, Asher raised his hand and touched Williams’ shoulder. Star Energy hummed immediately, filling the air as Asher manipulated the light element and used it to begin the regeneration process for Williams, the energy flowing steadily and evenly.

During his training in the past few weeks, Asher had, of course, created a healing skill through the light element. Since Malrik had healed him during his confrontation against Cindralis, Asher had simply replicated it. But his mastery wasn’t all that perfect; after all, healing wasn’t just about pouring Astra energy and activating the ability, one had to understand the body as well, down to a deeper and more intricate level.

But although his healing skill wasn’t mastered yet, as that wasn’t his primary focus during training, he used the Star Energy to increase the potency of the healing ability, thereby healing Williams with relative ease despite the inherent limitations of his current proficiency.

Williams’ mouth hung open as he watched his injuries seal shut slowly. He couldn’t understand how Asher was doing it; yes, he knew Asher possessed the light element, but he hadn’t known Asher had developed it this far already, reaching such a level in such a short span of time.

’Truly a monster,’ he thought to himself as he reminded himself not to be shocked, after all, this was Asher.

But suddenly, he noticed something. The closure of his injuries was slow at the beginning, but it was getting faster and faster, the injuries sealing shut more swiftly as time passed, as though the process itself was accelerating.

’Is he... using me as a live guinea pig?’ Williams’ lips twitched as he came to understand that Asher was using him to increase his skill proficiency. But did he complain? Definitely not. After all, he had no points to pay the Healing Department, and this was far more beneficial than anything he could have afforded.

And yes, Asher was using Williams as a live guinea pig, but Asher wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t confident in himself not to injure Williams further in the process or cause unnecessary medical complications. After all, previously, the only way to train his light healing skill was on himself, and that was by injuring himself like a masochist, pushing his own limits repeatedly.

Since a free training subject was here, why waste the opportunity.

Asher smiled as he felt his control and proficiency over the skill rise in real time. He nodded slightly in satisfaction, acknowledging his own progress. After a few minutes, the injuries on Williams’ body vanished, leaving him only tired and covered in soup and sweat, but no longer wounded or in pain.

"Sigh... although I shouldn’t be surprised, I am indeed shocked. Can’t you at least sleep in your room for a while and allow the rest of us to catch up?" Williams spoke as he shook his head with a sigh, his tone laced with both admiration and mild frustration at the overwhelming disparity.

Asher simply smiled as he replied, "Unless you can catch up to me in a few days, you are welcome to try."

"I will give it a try then," Williams replied jokingly.

Asher shook his head at the remark, then raised his hand as he switched to Astra energy this time. With that, Astra energy flowed through his Astra veins and cloaked Williams’ body, immediately cleansing him of blood, soup and sweat.

"I don’t want people misunderstanding, thinking I bullied you or something when you leave," Asher stated plainly.

’It seems I have to increase my proficiency to the point where I can restore stamina,’ Asher thought to himself, as he knew that was certainly possible, as various people who had mastered their healing abilities were already capable of performing such feats with effortless ease.

"Thanks again," Williams spoke as he tried to rise to his feet, his body still weak despite the healing, his muscles protesting with every movement.

"How many points will you be charged if you miss the class today?" Asher asked, his gaze steady as he observed Williams carefully.

"About twenty points," Williams replied, as he knew how many points each Instructor charged him for missing their class.

With that, Asher transferred a hundred academy points to Williams’ Point Card without hesitation.

"Since you are tired, you should rest. After all, it’s not like you can attend class today with such a tired body, and also, I was the one who pushed you to such limits knowing you had classes to attend today," Asher explained as he finally stood upright from his squatting position, his tone matter-of-fact.

"Well, I won’t reject such a gesture. Besides, all my body aches and is sore; I might need to sleep for a few hours," Williams replied as he rose slowly to his feet.

At his words, Asher simply nodded and said nothing else.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Sighs, since this author didn’t receive any gift, he decided to release the Chapters for free, since he loved his readers.