Chương 12: Health Scare

"What idiot thought it was a good idea to give him a high-level alchemical product!" I heard shouting. My head felt like it was about to explode.

"That was the decision of his mother, the Supreme Warlady and you were there," I heard Squire Sabin reply nervously.

"And she is an idiot, just as I suspected. Yes, it won't kill him on its own, but you muscle-headed idiots didn't even think about what it actually does. It strengthens physical stats. His brain was shutting down!"

"Is that even possible?"

"It is possible because I say it is! A treasure from the 18 th layer of the dungeon and alchemically treated for ease of consumption and absorption. The human body can improve only so much at once. While his soul is malleable at his age, that makes it worse, since his soul began cutting things off to his brain due to how malleable it is. Idiots! All of you are idiots!"

"Well, is he going to be okay?"

"He is already awake but probably has a massive headache. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," I said, since my brain felt like it was trying to escape my skull.

"By the System, I haven't seen such foolishness in decades. It is always you, powerful fighters, who seem to come up with these outlandish ideas, and us Healers who clean up the mess. And don't think I won't give the Supreme Warlady a piece of my mind. Now, child, keep the wet cloth over your eyes and rest today. You should be better by tomorrow."

"Good, that is good," Squire Sabin said with relief.

"Any other Healer without my skills, and he wouldn't be alive right now. No more Alchemical products or treasures from the dungeon without my approval. Has he had anything else?"

"A soul fruit, um, three months ago. But that is it. Nothing else, unless Squire Jessica did something."

"I was there, and it was foolish. A green soul fruit at his age? Luckily, his soul didn't completely liquefy and drain out of his body!" Squire Sabin countered that they tested it on other low-level individuals.

"Oh, by those idiots at the College of Advancement? In a controlled setting? So, they could publish another paper and sell it to all of you adventurers to fund their idiocy? Is that who tested it?" Healer Castelle was on a complete rampage. It made me wonder who would win in an argument, him or my mother.

"Um, well, it was all peer reviewed," Squire Sabin said hesitantly.

"You people are just reading the summary and don't look at all the details. Then you are like, 'Oh, this is a great idea. Why don't we administer these things to a child without consulting an expert first? Nothing can go wrong.' System save me from idiots who think they know something," Healer Castelle said, and Squire Sabin remained silent after the verbal beating.

"Is there lasting damage?" I asked hesitantly.

"No, thankfully. I arrived in time and stabilized your soul. It was just an imbalance from the natural processes of everything you consumed," he said kindly. Clearly, Healer Castelle had completely different attitudes toward patients.

"As for your training, half a day of that madness starting tomorrow. The rest should focus on mental activities. I will also do daily checkups, just in case. Ideally, he should rest for a full week, but it is fine starting tomorrow."

"Is there some kind of skill I might get?"

"Child, listen to me. Messing with your soul is foolish. While I understand the importance of training, it is also too easy to break something that no one can fix. You are fortunate, I can't say this enough, that I was here to save your life. Otherwise, your brain would have completely shut down as your soul fueled the growth of your physical stats. Pushing your body to the limit can help you get skills for other things, but not your soul." Healer Castelle took a deep breath before continuing.

"I only have one main skill related to the soul that doesn't even heal, Stabilize Soul. That's it. I can't tell how close someone is to the point of no return. While there probably are more soul skills, the people who try to reach them don't meet good ends."

"He is right. You need to practice damage and resistance training carefully, as the risk is high. Soul damage is far more dangerous since it bypasses the natural aversion of one's soul to danger," Squire Sabin said.

"That's the first bit of common sense that has come out of your mouth so far. Now let the child rest. If you need something, call a servant. If you are in pain, have the servant watching you call for me immediately. Don't hesitate at all," the Healer said. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I gave an affirmative and just lay in bed with a cool, damp cloth over my eyes. A servant fed me stew in bed, and I rested all day.

The following morning, my headache was gone, and I felt a lot better. After getting changed into my armor, I made my way out to the training grounds. Squire Sabin and Healer Castelle looked up at me, and Squire Sabin gave me a big smile.

"I see you are feeling better. That is good," he declared loudly.

"Come here, child." I walked over to Healer Castelle, and he placed his hand on my head." Stabilize Soul. That should help things. We will do that at the start and end of your training every day. Only half a day, until lunch," he said, and pointed at Squire Sabin at the last part.

"Of course, of course! That means we need to work harder than ever," Squire Sabin declared loudly. As I made my way onto the training area, I thought I heard Healer Castelle mutter something, but I couldn't make out what he said. Probably something disparaging about Squire Sabin. After half a day of hard physical training, I went back over to Healer Castelle, where he used his skill on me once more.

"You should be fine. If you have a headache or any pain, stop what you are doing and come get me," he said, and I nodded.

"I am still confused by what exactly happened," I said, and he let out a sigh.

"Your soul provides growth and stability. Think of it like the furnishings in a house, which is your body. The Alchemical product you took and the soul fruit from before, combined with your low level, were putting all the furniture on wheels and then rolling it all into a single room. It threatened to break through the floor due to its weight. That is what happened. There was too much focus put on your physical skills, creating a huge stress point on your soul and body.

Thankfully, we corrected the issue in time, and souls are quite durable. But there is still some risk." The metaphor helped me to understand what was happening.

"If the furniture is like my stat growth, then I just need to be careful in the future?"

"Child, Alchemical products are dangerous, even the tested ones. Each person is unique, especially you. The flexibility of your soul because of your age might have saved you, or you could have been moments away from death. It is hard to say for sure. Now you are wondering about boosting stats even more?"

"Um, well, I just wanted to ask."

"Foolishness. I don't dislike Alchemical products since they compete with actual Healers who know what they are doing. I dislike them since anyone can take them without understanding the complicated interactions that might happen. If your mother brings something back, take nothing without approval from a Healer like me or a Healer of similar skill. Your soul is being pushed to the absolute limit and past that.

If I didn't know your mother personally, I would think she was some foolish idiot from the College of Advancement." Healer Castelle let out a long sigh, like all this personally pained him.

"As for training. If there is pain that shouldn't be there, let me know."

"Got it." Squire Sabin was listening in but said nothing since he didn't want another verbal beat-down. Tutor Damian and I spent the afternoon working on more mental skills. I concentrated a lot more this time. Pausing from copying the dictionary, I looked it up. I had a question for which I couldn't think of an answer.

"Tutor Damian, why are certain skills listed as skills in my status?" It had been annoying me for a while.

"Oh, that is an interesting question. The answer is that the word skill we use comes from this label, not the other way around. That is why skills are called skills. In Tier 2, this is referred to as focus and empowerment as a general description. After that, things become more specialized in their naming schema. Some skills have their own names, like Teacher, then Tutor, and then Empowered Tutor."

"Why?"

"People have been asking that forever, ever since the dawn of the System ages ago. People have many guesses, but no one has shared any answers publicly.

"Personally, I think it references how the System works. Skills refer to a collection of actions. Like Sword Skills covers a range of swords: curved ones, two-handed ones, and magical swords. The skill covers them all. Focus implies one has mastered the basics. Empowerment implies that some mana is being used into the skill passively at tier 3, which then transitions into named skills in tier 4, similar to spells."

"What is the highest tier?" I thought it was Tier 6, but I wanted to confirm this.

"The highest known one is tier 6, but people say there is higher, but there has been no proof or official confirmation from any researchers. Many relate the tiers to monster cores, of which there are supposedly seven colors. But who knows what might come next? Unless someone becomes strong enough and shares their accomplishment with the world, it is impossible to know for sure." I went back to copying the Eldarin dictionary and saying words out loud.

After another hour, I was getting bored, so I asked another question.

"Is runic script helpful?"

"For enchantment and exploring the dungeon, yes. Eldarin is the most common runic archetype in the dungeon, well, around here. Can't say anything about the other races with how insular they are. I am not an adventurer and focus on other things. You can even make magic scrolls for one-use spells to preserve mana. So don't underestimate runes."

"Will that help me as a spellblade?"

"It won't leave you ignorant at the very least," he replied, which meant that it wouldn't help me directly as far as he knew. It was hard to train and focus constantly. While I had taken a break and then another one because of the health scare, I felt mentally drained. As dinner approached, I began to experience a slight headache. I excused myself and found Healer Castelle in the guest wing of the mansion.

"A headache?" he asked, and I explained what I had been doing.

"Your soul is fighting the influence of the Alchemical product when it tries to upgrade your mental stats. This is creating a headache." Healer Castelle put his hand on my head and used his skill for a third time today." Stabilize Soul."

"No mental skills training after dinner. Just go to sleep early. Sleep helps your body and soul come together and should lessen the strain."

"Oh, I will let Tutor Damian know."

"Good job reporting to me right away. While it might have built up into a serious issue, you are charting unfamiliar territory with what you are doing."

"You will not tell me to stop?"

"I know better than that. You wouldn't listen, or you could go behind my back. I am also not your mother. I am a Healer. If you want to do foolish things, I will warn you, but I won't stop you."

"Thank you, Healer Castelle."

"With what your mother pays me and the debt I owe her, I don't need thanks," he replied and went back into his apartment.