Bai Xuan was startled himself, but he suppressed the urge to retreat. He forced himself to maintain his casting posture while stealing a quick glance at Jasper’s wound.
Under the golden light, the flesh was writhing and knitting together at a visible rate; the bleeding had long since stopped.
“Don’t panic! Look at his wound!”
Bai Xuan raised his voice, trying to keep it steady despite his own racing heart. “The healing process... involves intense pain! It’s a side effect of the magic taking effect! But it’s harmless!”
“Look! The bleeding has stopped! The wound is closing!” Bai Xuan reminded them again.
The crowd was skeptical, their gazes shifting back and forth between Jasper’s contorted, agonizing expression and the wound that was indeed rapidly sealing shut.
A few seconds later, Jasper’s blood-curdling screams gradually faded into pained whimpers and tremors. His arched body slowly went limp.
【Pleasure +3】
A layer of pale pink new flesh had already formed over the wound. Although it still looked gruesome, the danger had passed.
【Jasper Quinlan】
【Status: Minor Injury (Wound healing, weak)】
【Health: 68/170】→【Health: 168/170】
“He’s... he’s actually okay?”
A guard sheathed his blade and squatted down to inspect the man closely. “But this... this was way too...”
“The only side effect is pain; there’s no other harm,” Bai Xuan emphasized again, as much to himself as to them.
Bai Xuan withdrew his hand, feeling his palm go slightly damp with sweat.
When Jasper had that agonizing reaction to the treatment, the first thing Bai Xuan thought of was the Rock Core Guardian.
Then he remembered how Colin and his daughter had trembled in their unconscious state when he healed them.
He had held onto a sliver of hope before, but now it was confirmed—his 【Holy Light Catalyst】 had the side effect of causing excruciating pain.
He looked at the skill description again:
【Holy Light Catalyst Lv.1 (11%): Tap a wound to quickly stop bleeding and stimulate muscle healing through mana vibrations.】
“It certainly is stimulating!” Bai Xuan thought to himself.
Silence fell over the lobby.
The crowd looked at Bai Xuan with a mix of conflicting emotions.
This kind of healing magic, which they had never heard of and felt more like torture, had truly opened their eyes.
Bai Xuan looked toward the next person who needed treatment, his intention clear.
Next was the guard with the broken arm.
But having just witnessed Jasper’s experience—looking as if he had just taken a stroll through hell—the man instinctively took two steps back.
He raised his uninjured arm, waving it frantically. “No, no need! I... I’ll just splint it myself!”
Bai Xuan immediately felt that things were going south. This was a bad start! His reputation was being ruined before he could even establish it.
He looked at the other hesitant wounded, then at his potentially vanishing “first pot of gold.”
Unwilling to give up, he gritted his teeth and said, “Fifteen silver coins.”
No one moved.
“Twelve silver coins.”
Silence remained.
“...Ten silver coins. That’s the lowest I’ll go.”
Bai Xuan felt extremely awkward. The process of constantly lowering his price put him under a lot of pressure, and the stares from those around him were even harder to bear.
The guard with the broken arm had a look of struggle on his face. He looked at his deformed arm, then at his companions.
The thought of the long-term inconvenience a broken arm would cause eventually outweighed his fear of pain.
He stepped forward, nodding with a miserable expression. “...Fine, alright. Just... just be gentle?”
Bai Xuan looked away awkwardly. “I’ll try. It should be better.” He walked over and used the same technique.
“Aaaaargh—!!!”
The same heart-wrenching scream echoed through the lobby again, making everyone’s skin crawl.
【Pleasure +2】
By the time the treatment ended, the guard was nearly collapsed from exhaustion, but his broken arm had indeed been reset and had begun to heal.
With two successful cases, the remaining wounded—excluding those with minor injuries—finally yielded. Lured by the ten silver coin price, three more people gritted their teeth and accepted the treatment.
Every cast was accompanied by agonizing screams that were hard to listen to and the post-treatment tremors of the patients.
The atmosphere in the lobby shifted from the initial relief of survival to something incredibly eerie and heavy.
Bai Xuan collected a total of fifty silver coins. The coins felt cool in his hand, but his mood was complicated.
The joy of making money was dampened by the immense pressure of casting the spells, the strange looks from the crowd, and his helplessness regarding the terrible side effect.
“Young man...” The bald owner beckoned him from a corner.
When Bai Xuan approached, the owner lowered his voice. “Your skill is... cough, quite unique. If you heal people in the future, it’s best... to give them a heads-up first.”
Bai Xuan nodded silently and pocketed the silver coins.
He didn't linger. Under a barrage of complicated gazes, he turned and quickly walked up the stairs back to his room.
He closed the door and leaned his back against the wood.
He opened his palm to look at the fifty silver coins—a “fortune.”
“Sigh!” He let out a long breath.
It felt like finding a winning lottery ticket on the side of the road, excitedly running to redeem it, and then being told it had expired.
Wealth that was right at his fingertips had slipped away because of this side effect.
Bai Xuan walked listlessly to his bed, took off his robe, and lay down to go back to sleep, his mind still on his skills.
“Acting as a Healer probably won’t work out in the future...”
Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, Bai Xuan sat bolt upright. He looked at his panel:
【Name: Bai Xuan】
【Level: Lv.3 (0%)】
【Class: None】
【Health: 310/310】
【Mana: 90/155】
【Potential: ￥%…*&】
【Active Skills: Holy Light Catalyst Lv.1 (16%), Redemption Strike Lv.1 (13%)】
【Passive Skills: Strength Enhancement Lv.0 (2%)】
【Current Pleasure: 90, Draw Attempts Available: 4】
【Wealth: 12 gold coins, 144 silver coins, 40 copper coins】
【Items: (Omitted)】
His gaze locked onto the Class entry, where a large “None” was displayed.
“I don’t have a Class!”
Bai Xuan ruffled his hair and leaned back.
He recalled that the girl Nora and her father Colin both had the Squire and Mage classes.
While healing, he had also briefly seen the panel information of several people. The guards and adventurers downstairs were mostly 【Swordsman】, 【Mercenary】, 【Axe Warrior】, and so on.
He shifted his gaze down to the level entry.
【Lv.3 (0%)】
“So...” A thought occurred to Bai Xuan. “Without a Class, is Level 3 the cap?”
It was like not having a bank account; there was nowhere to store the money. If that were the case, it would explain why he had been stuck at Level 3.
“Tch.” He rubbed his temples, feeling that things were getting a bit tricky.
He was pretending to be a Healer to save people, yet he didn't even have a proper Class himself. It was honestly a bit ridiculous.
Outside the window, the faint footsteps of the night watch on patrol could be heard.
Bai Xuan stared at the panel for a while longer before finally waving his hand to make it vanish.
“No point in guessing blindly now.” He muttered as he blew out the oil lamp and pulled up the covers. “I’ll check the situation once I get to Blackcreek Town.”
...
Early morning.
After the battle last night, almost everyone at the post house was groggy.
The post house, which should have been bustling early in the morning, now only had a few scattered people cleaning up the aftermath of the battle.
The adventurers, the injured guards, and Bai Xuan were all still resting.
On the gravel road outside the post house, a caravan was slowly passing by.
Rate on N.U.
