SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will

The door to the medical room opened again as Stacey stepped inside.

Her eyes landed on Moon the moment she entered.

Stacey moved to Moon’s side and cast an appraising skill. A soft green light passed over his body from head to toe, lingering across his chest and along the mana channels she was specifically evaluating. Her eyes tracked the readings she received and for a moment, her eyes widened by a small fraction.

Tom caught that immediately. His grin faded slightly.

"What’s wrong?"

Stacey’s brow furrowed. She continued the assessment for another few seconds before lowering her hand and turning to Tom.

"His channels are surprisingly better than they were yesterday. The improvement is notable. His body is responding to the healing far more efficiently than I initially projected."

Tom’s tension retracted upon hearing her words.

Unfortunately, Stacey didn’t let him fully relax.

"But not by an amount that changes his overall condition, he’s still heavily injured. His baseline recovery rate is impressive, likely due to whatever underlying constitution he’s built up, but the damage itself is not minor. He’ll heal faster than most patients I’ve seen with similar injuries, but he won’t heal fast enough to skip the recovery period entirely."

She turned back to Moon, "Here’s the plan for the upcoming week. For the first two days, you’re not allowed to use a single skill. Passive skills could be an issue, so you need to check that out yourself. You will also not exert your body through training or fighting. And, most importantly, sleep as much as your body wants."

She held his gaze to make sure he was listening.

"After forty-eight hours, you’ll come back for another full assessment. Based on that reading, I’ll determine whether you can begin using weaker skills again, occasionally, or whether we need to extend the full rest period. If your recovery continues at the current pace, you might be cleared for limited casting within four to five days. If it slows down, we’ll adjust accordingly."

Moon’s face darkened as she spoke.

He kept his expression controlled, but the internal reaction was significant.

’This is much worse than I expected.’

The consequences of Life Burn had been in a completely different category from the first time he had used it. The first activation, back on the floating island during the pavilion clearing, had left him with acupoints that burned in pain for a few hours afterward, but no real damage. He had seemingly recovered fully within a day.

This time, he had been unconscious for four days and was looking at multiple weeks of restricted recovery.

’This didn’t happen last time.’

Stacey’s voice cut back into his thoughts.

"Also, whatever skill you used that put you in this condition. Do not use it again, not without a massive time gap between attempts. If you activate that skill while your channels are still in this state, you won’t just extend your recovery. You’ll cripple yourself. Permanently. There is a very real ceiling on how many times a body can absorb this kind of damage before the channels stop being able to reform properly."

She let that sink in before continuing.

"If you must use it in the future, and I understand that a fighter of your caliber might not have that choice available, at minimum wait until your channels have fully healed before the next use. Anything less will accumulate scarring that will compound with every activation."

Moon nodded slowly.

He kept his face composed.

’Could the damage be from the interval between uses?’

The gap between the two uses of Life Burn was very little, less than a month.

Perhaps, whatever hidden residual damage the first activation had left had not yet fully resolved, and the second activation had layered new damage on top of the incomplete healing.

’That would explain it.’

The first use hadn’t been consequence-free at all but had left minor damage that his body had been quietly repairing in the background. The pain he had felt after the first activation hadn’t been the full extent of the injury. It had been the visible portion. The rest had been slowly healing while he went about his normal life.

’A hidden cooldown...’

Life Burn had a hidden cooldown. One that wouldn’t be visible in the skill’s description. Using it before the cooldown expired stacked damage in a way that eventually became crippling.

If he was going to use it again in the future, he needed to ensure his body was safe and ready for it.

His eyes drifted to Stacey.

"How long will full recovery take? Can it be sped up using natural healing treasures?"

Stacey didn’t answer immediately.

She considered the question carefully.

"Assuming your current recovery pace holds and no complications arise, four to six months for full recovery. That said, the timeline can be shortened significantly with natural treasures that strengthen your constitution. Depending on how efficiently your body absorbs them and how rare the materials are, we might be able to compress the process down to a month. Possibly less, in extreme cases. But those materials aren’t cheap or easy to source."

Moon nodded slowly.

He turned toward Tom.

"You heard that, old man? You need to get to work. I can’t stay in bed for four to six months. You know there’s a place I need to enter during that window. Not to mention I need to get stronger before that happens."

The Chamber Secret Realm sat at the back of his mind. It was approximately six months away from now.

That was the next cycle. If he spent the entire recovery window like this, he’d not be able to enter.

Wasting such a chance was not acceptable. Every advantage he could stack before that entry would matter.

Tom chuckled.

His grin returned in full force.

"You got it."

He clapped a hand against the arm of his chair.

"I’ll make sure the Association pukes out every treasure they have in their safes. You saved Sierra’s life. You exposed Klein. You figured out the master’s operation. You killed two Surpasser assassins with one arm. If they don’t hand over their entire reserve to get you back on your feet, I’ll personally sit in the Grand Council chamber until they do. And believe me, they don’t want me sitting in the Grand Council chamber for long periods. My storytelling is legendary."

He winked.

Moon huffed a small laugh, wincing slightly at the strain in his chest.

"Just get the treasures. Skip the storytelling."

"No promises."

Stacey watched the exchange with a small, tired smile.

She didn’t intervene. She had learned long ago that patients recovered better when they had someone to spar with verbally, and Tom’s presence was clearly doing more for Moon’s morale than any of her heals could.

"Alright, old man. I have places to be, I will see him within two weeks. Call me if anything arises, although I doubt anything will."

Tom nodded his head, Stacey was a busy friend of his, and she had used a large portion of her time taking care of his boy. "Thank you, old hag. I will return the favor shortly."

Stacey waved her hands dismissively as she walked out.