Chapter 272: Been A Long Time Jin!
"Standard classes resume on Monday," Professor Aldwin announced, his voice cutting through the lingering tension in the courtyard. "Until then, you are relieved of all academic duties. Seek medical attention if necessary, then return to your dormitories. Dismissed."
The heavy, organized formation of the first-year class instantly shattered. Students began limping toward the medical halls or dragging their exhausted bodies toward the dining halls.
I let out a quiet breath, feeling the deep, underlying ache in my muscles finally begin to surface now that the adrenaline was entirely gone.
"Let’s head to the infirmary," I said, glancing at the minor scrapes on Sira’s arms and the dirt caked into Tobias’s usually immaculate uniform.
"We need to get those bruises patched up, and we should probably go collect Kyle before he breaks something in the medical ward out of sheer boredom."
"Ugh, I hope they have a healing salve for my pride," Sira groaned, stretching her arms above her head. "That wind-mage squad we ran into on day two was absolutely vicious."
We moved as a group across the courtyard. The cool evening air was a welcome relief from the suffocating humidity of the Obsidian Woods.
We didn’t even have to make it all the way to the medical hall. As we approached the wide stone pathway leading to the double doors, a familiar figure was already walking out.
Kyle was uninjured, but he looked like a kicked puppy. His shoulders were slumped, and he was kicking a stray pebble across the cobblestones with a deep, frustrated scowl on his face.
Then, he looked up.
His green eyes immediately locked onto our group. The scowl vanished, instantly replaced by his usual, boisterous energy. He broke into a jog, his boots thudding against the stone path.
"Hey! You guys are done!" Kyle grinned, clapping his heavy hand down onto Tobias’s shoulder, which Tobias stepped away from. Kyle didn’t even notice, turning his wide grin to me and Emma.
"How did the rest of the exam go?"
"We survived," Sira smirked, crossing her arms. "And we did a little more than just that. We all broke into the top ten."
Kyle’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Wait, seriously?! All of you? Man, that’s incredible!"
He pumped his fist in the air, genuinely thrilled for us.
But a second later, his arm dropped. His face fell, the boisterous energy draining away as he let out a heavy, self-deprecating sigh.
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the cobblestones.
"Man... I really messed up," his voice dropping into a rare, solemn tone.
"I got too excited when I saw that giant rock bear. I rushed it without thinking, popped my own flare, and completely abandoned you guys in the high-tier zone. I totally blew it."
Tobias calmly pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"I wouldn’t be so quick to wallow in self-pity, Stoneheart. While your tactical execution was undeniably primitive, your initial token acquisition rate and your decision to physically engage a territorial boss monster granted you a severe point multiplier."
Kyle blinked, staring blankly at the bespectacled noble. "Uh... what does that mean in normal words?"
"It means," Sira laughed, practically vibrating with amusement, "you’re in the top ten too, you idiot."
Kyle froze.
He looked at Sira. Then he looked at Tobias. Finally, he looked at me.
"Rank ten, specifically," I confirmed, offering a faint, validating nod.
"WHAT?!" Kyle roared, jumping in the air.
Kyle stood frozen on the cobblestones, his jaw slack and his eyes blinking in absolute disbelief.
"Wait, I’m tenth?" he stammered, pointing a finger at his own chest. "Me? But I spent half the exam sitting on a stool in the medical ward. You’re telling me I beat out eighty percent of the first-year class by getting swatted by a bear?"
"It appears your unique brand of reckless stupidity has finally paid a dividend," Tobias remarked drily, adjusting his coat. "Though, as endlessly amusing as your existential shock is, some of us actually require professional medical attention before our bruises permanently set."
"Right, sorry," Kyle quickly shook his head, finally snapping out of his daze. He clapped his hands together, his boisterous energy returning in full force. "Let’s get you guys patched up. I know exactly where the good healing salves are kept."
We resumed our walk, pushing through the heavy double doors of the medical hall.
The air inside was thick with the sterile scent of antiseptic herbs and the faint, humming ozone of active holy magic. The triage circles were mostly clear now, but several rows of cots were still occupied by battered students from the lower-ranked squads.
We found a cluster of empty beds near the back. Sira immediately collapsed onto one with a heavy groan, while Tobias sat on the edge of another, rolling up his sleeve to expose a nasty, jagged scrape along his forearm. Emma stayed right by my side, sitting on the cot adjacent to mine.
Almost immediately, the medical staff descended on us.
A young assistant hurried over to my cot. She set her clipboard down and reached out, her hands already glowing with a faint, green restoration light. "Let’s take a look at your mana pathways and any underlying tissue damage—"
"Elara."
A calm, perfectly measured voice cut through the background noise of the medical hall.
The assistant instantly stopped, pulling her glowing hands back.
"Please attend to the severe frost-burn patient on circle two," the voice continued, smooth and carrying an undeniable, serene authority. "I will handle this one."
"Yes, Lady Aria," the assistant bowed her head respectfully and quickly scurried away toward the front of the ward.
I looked up.
Stepping into the space between the cots was a girl in an immaculate, tailored dark-blue and silver medical uniform. Her striking, pale blonde hair was pinned back elegantly, and her bright blue eyes were locked directly onto mine, carrying a strange, heavy weight behind them.
I recognized her immediately.
"Aria?"
She stopped right in front of me, resting her polished wooden catalyst staff lightly against the stone floor. A small, polite smile touched her lips, though her crystalline eyes remained intensely focused on my face.
"It’s been a long time, Jin," Aria said softly.
Before I could say anything, a loud voice cut through the space between us.
"Oh, hey Aria! Tough work, huh?"
Kyle waved enthusiastically from the cot behind me.
Aria pulled her gaze away from my face, turning to look over her shoulder at him.
"Yeah, it’s not really easy working as a healer, you know," Aria replied smoothly, a hint of playful exasperation in her serene voice. "People like you always put us under so much stress."
Kyle rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking very embarrassed as he let out an awkward, sheepish laugh.
From the next bed over, Sira let out a highly amused giggle, clearly enjoying seeing him getting scolded by the ward’s healer.
But as the rest of the group laughed, I noticed the sudden drop in the temperature to my immediate right.
I glanced over. Emma hadn’t laughed. She hadn’t even blinked. She was sitting perfectly still on the edge of her cot, her bright blue eyes locked onto Aria with a heavy, unblinking intensity. She had that same sweet, innocent smile resting on her face, but the sheer, silent pressure radiating from her was suffocating.
Aria clearly felt it too. She shifted her weight slightly, her smile faltering. Feeling visibly uncomfortable under Emma’s piercing stare, Aria quickly cleared her throat and turned her attention back to my injuries.
Without a word, she reached her bare hands toward the torn fabric of my sleeve, aiming for the jagged, shallow cut across my upper arm.
Her fingertips were cool, and as they slowly made contact with my skin, her palms began to pulse with a warm, comforting golden light.
The healing mana had barely even begun to flow into my cut when Emma suddenly leaned forward.
"Aren’t you gonna use your staff for this?"
Aria flinched.
The soft, golden light hovering over my arm flickered violently for a fraction of a second. She pulled back slightly, looking at Emma with an awkward expression.
"Um... for minor surface abrasions, direct connection simply allows for more precise mana regulation," Aria stammered.
She quickly refocused on my arm, rushing the last few seconds of the healing weave. As the cut fully sealed over, her brows furrowed deeply.
Her eyes darted to my face, as if she had just sensed something incredibly strange or entirely missing beneath my skin, before she forcibly relaxed her features.
Then she exhaled, pulling her bare hands away, reached over and picked up her polished wooden staff.
She turned toward Emma, the tip of the catalyst beginning to glow.
"Alright, let me check you for any latent internal damage—"
"Why don’t you heal me without it, too?" Emma asked, tilting her head.
Aria paused, gripping her staff a little tighter.
"I... I really can’t. The staff acts as a necessary filter to stabilize the flow of magic. It’s standard medical protocol."
"Oh."
Emma’s bright blue eyes immediately welled up with tears. Her lower lip began to tremble. She shrank back on the cot, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were suddenly freezing.
"I... I just..." Emma stammered, her voice cracking with manufactured trauma. "Where I grew up... the village elder... he had a wooden staff just like that. Whenever we couldn’t pay our taxes, he would use it to... to..." She let out a small, choked sob, burying her face in her hands. "I’m sorry. I just can’t look at it without remembering. But it’s okay, I’ll just suffer through the pain..."
From the other cots, Kyle and Sira immediately shot Aria looks of absolute, horrified judgment.
Aria stood there, completely backed into a corner. Her inherent, overwhelming compassion as a healer violently warred with her instincts. She looked at the crying girl, her face pale.
"N-no, please, don’t cry," Aria said quickly, and immediately lowered the staff, leaning it far out of sight against the wall. "I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I can... I can do it without the catalyst."
Taking a deep, unsteady breath, Aria reached out and gently placed her bare hands over Emma’s wrist.
The golden light flared.
For a split second, absolutely nothing happened. And then...
Aria gasped.
A stark line of crimson blood suddenly dripped from her nose.
She violently tore her hands away from Emma, stumbling backward and letting out a harsh, wet cough into her sleeve.
"Aria?!" Kyle yelled, immediately trying to stand up.
"I’m fine!" Aria gasped out, her voice raspy and panicked. "I just... I severely overextended my reserves today. I’m completely exhausted. Your vitals are all stable. You’re healed. You can all go now."
Without waiting for a single word of confirmation, Aria snatched her staff off the wall and practically sprinted out of the ward, disappearing behind the heavy curtains of the private triage rooms.
Silence hung over our section of the pavilion.
"Whoa," Kyle muttered, sitting back down. "I guess they really are overworked."
I didn’t say a word. I slowly turned my head to look at the girl sitting on the cot next to me.
The tears were completely gone. The tragic, traumatized victim had vanished into thin air. Emma was casually brushing an imaginary speck of dust off her uniform, looking at the exact spot where Aria had just been standing.
And resting perfectly on Emma’s lips was a satisfied smile.