Chương 61: Nathan Knew That I Knew

I had originally intended to find a suitable moment to hint to Lealia about her Healing Voice skill. But even half an hour ago, I wasn't entirely certain it would function the way I thought it would. It was just that the previous situation was so sudden that I had no choice but to gamble on Lealia testing a skill she didn't even know she possessed. Fortunately, it was a success. Lealia's voice truly produced an effect similar to Edgar's flute and Iris's healing skills.

Now, I had to find a way to lie about how I discovered her skill without mentioning the Halunar's Eye. Actually, that part wasn't too difficult. Lealia was, at her core, quite an innocent and easily fooled girl.

"Actually, I started thinking about it when you visited me at the dormitory. I've had bouts of anemia like that before, and usually, it takes days to recover. But since your visit, I got better remarkably fast."

"Couldn't that have just been the herbs?"

"Maybe, but I felt incredibly comfortable while talking to you, just like being treated with mana."

"You've been treated with mana before?"

"... Yes, once, when I was a child." Lealia didn't push further, though she looked a bit dazed. Her reaction left me somewhat puzzled. Did she need time to accept that she had a new skill? This was a good thing, wasn't it? Or was the scene earlier simply too traumatic for her? That didn't seem right either. During her first mission in Marbour, she must have faced much bloodier cases. While earlier was tense and unexpected, it shouldn't have left her this stunned.

Lealia turned back to me and asked, "So, if I sing for the couple, it'll be faster than using herbs, right?"

"Your new skill likely consumes more mana. You saw what happened to Iris and Edgar; once their mana is drained, they have to rest to recover. I think you should only use it in very severe cases."

"Should I sing for the girl a bit more then? I mean... if we leave her like this, will she get worse and go into a frenzy again?" I used my left eye to check the daughter's stats. Her health was abysmal, only 2/50. Then I checked Lealia's stats; her mana was at 19/94.

"Yes, I think you should sing one more song just to be safe." As Lealia sang a lullaby for the girl, I stepped outside and found everyone in the manor gathered nearby, eavesdropping on the situation. Hamlett quickly wiped away tears of anxiety and asked me:"Is the young mistress alright, sir?" I didn't dare give a definitive answer.

"Lealia is doing her best. Don't worry too much." Hamlett sighed.

"Mistress Emily is such a good girl. The masters are all good people. Why did this have to happen to them...?" I took the opportunity to gather more information.

"Do the masters or the young mistress drink beer or spirits?"

"The master and mistress occasionally sip some wine, but it's always high-end wine imported from the capital. They say the local wine doesn't suit their palate. As for the young mistress, she isn't of age yet." So, this household had no connection to the local alcohol either. Thinking of Lealia's meager mana reserves, I asked the butler, "I think Lealia will need a light snack to keep her strength up. May I use the kitchen and borrow some ingredients?"

"Of course, certainly. But we have our own chef, you don't need to…"

"No, I'll prepare it myself. Thank you." The butler then arranged for me to cook in the manor's kitchen alone without any interference. Since time was limited, I planned to make a light snack to replenish a bit of Lealia's mana. An upper-class kitchen was fully stocked with expensive spices and ingredients, more than enough for me to whip up some Bruschetta. Since heating the oven would take too long, I toasted the olive-oil-brushed bread directly in a pan.

Once the slices were crisp and hot, I took them out, rubbed them with garlic butter, and topped them with a slice of cheese. Finally, I piled on tomatoes tossed with vinegar, salt, and pepper, completing a delicious-looking snack. I had been monitoring my own mana while cooking; it had only dipped by about 2 points. When I tried a piece of the bread, those 2 points were replenished almost instantly. This meant the mana provided to the consumer came from both the ingredients and my Cooking skill.

A small investment for a significant return, this skill is proving to be quite versatile.

"You know what my skills are, don't you?" This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Nathan's voice ringing out from the doorway made me jump, nearly dropping the half-eaten piece of bread. I turned around, feigning confusion.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Nathan's face remained an emotionless mask.

"You know I'll realize when you're lying, right?" So, he was aware that I knew about his abilities. In truth, when I decided to approach him, I had already prepared for this eventuality. I probed cautiously, "Are you reading my thoughts?" Nathan's brow furrowed slightly.

"Exactly how much do you know?" I weighed whether I should finish eating or talk first, then decided to take another bite of the bread in my hand. Nathan appeared to grow impatient as I brushed the crumbs off my trousers.

"Well, you've already guessed it. I know what your skills are."

"All of them?"

"Even things you might not even realize you have yet."

"Do you also have a mind-reading skill?"

"No. And I won't be disclosing my own skills. I meant no harm in accidentally discovering yours, so don't take it personally." Nathan fell silent, clearly unsettled by the fact that his secrets had been laid bare. After a moment, he spoke:"Listen. I have no intention of becoming a Hero, nor do I plan to compete with the others. I know what you're after by staying by that girl's side, and I have no intention of getting in your way. So, leave me alone. And don't drag me into things like this afternoon ever again."

Nathan turned and left immediately after finishing his sentence, giving me no chance to negotiate. However, I had at least confirmed my suspicion: he truly had no intention of competing for the title of Hero. This was a far better outcome than having an enemy capable of manipulating the thoughts and emotions of others. When I brought the snacks into the room, Emily's health stats had risen to 7/50, while Lealia's mana had dipped to 8/94.

It seemed that at a low level, the conversion rate of this skill was still quite inferior compared to Iris's direct healing. I could only hope that at higher levels, it might evolve into an AoE (Area of Effect) form - capable of healing multiple people at once.

"I've prepared a light snack; you should eat to regain your strength before the next patient," I said.

"Oh, thank you." Lealia took the plate but hesitated. Thinking she was simply exhausted from near-total mana depletion, I urged her: "Eat a little; you'll feel better."

"Ah, okay." She finished every piece of the Bruschetta I had made. Upon re-checking, her mana had climbed back up to 32/94. Each slice I prepared provided as much as 4 mana points. After one last check on the couple to ensure they were stable, we left the manor for the remaining houses. Nathan did not join us; he claimed he was tired and headed back early. Fortunately, none of the remaining patients were as critical as the wealthy family we had just left.

After receiving Lealia's acupuncture, several regained consciousness long enough to eat and drink. I tried to converse with the patients' families to find a common thread, but any connections I found were too tenuous to be certain. One thing was hard to ignore: 8 out of the 19 patients were in the brewing trade. That was a ratio far too high to be a mere coincidence. Still, I couldn't find a distinct difference between the brewers who fell ill and those who remained healthy.

They followed similar processes and used ingredients grown right there in town. For every subsequent patient, Lealia sang a short nursery rhyme, consuming only a small amount of mana. Her voice was beautiful: high, clear, and soft, like an autumn breeze. Even if it had no curative properties, her singing was enough to soothe the troubled souls of the sick. It wasn't until sunset that we returned to the inn. Seeing us arrive, the chef began serving dinner.

It was a basic meal of meat and potato stew with bread, but I noticed he had finally managed to neutralize the gamey odor of the meat. Nathan didn't come down to join us; he even refused when food was brought to his room. Was he really that determined to avoid me? Iris peppered me with questions about the patients' conditions from the afternoon, acting as innocently as if she hadn't intentionally left the most difficult cases for last. Once again, I had to admire the thickness of her skin.

This morning, I had bluntly pointed out her delusions, yet here she was, acting as if we were still the closest of friends. Or perhaps she thought my behavior this morning was just a fit of pique? If so, she truly is a lost cause. Once everyone had finished eating and returned to their rooms, I took some time for physical training. I had spent the entire day wandering around town without exerting much energy; if I didn't train, the little muscle I had managed to build would soon wither away.

I did some push-ups to warm up, then found a wooden training sword to practice my forms, moving through various techniques from basic to advanced. Now that I've discovered skills can be used without consciously activating a mana flow, my hope of generating a combat-oriented flow has been rekindled. If a flow isn't a prerequisite for a skill, it implies that the flow might manifest naturally after a skill reaches a certain proficiency level.

My previous conclusion remains sound: everyone's mana manifests and operates differently. Some people have mana predisposed toward combat, while others lean toward support or healing. Being inclined toward one side doesn't mean they are entirely incapable of using the other. Proof of this lies in the fact that support-type candidates still have a few combat skills in their repertoires. A mana flow is essentially an indicator that a skill has reached a level of mastery.

Therefore, someone with a natural talent for combat-oriented mana will find it much easier to trigger a flow during battle. As for determining where a person's talent lies, the simplest way is to look at their earliest manifested skills. The problem is, I'm not sure which direction my mana leans. I don't know if mana control is dictated by the body or the soul. Or if it's a combination of both, which one holds more sway. Looking at my current status window, it's quite a jumble: Halunar's Eye (Lv.???) Night Vision (Lv. Max) Farsight (Lv. 28) X-Ray Vision (Lv. 10) Mana Siphon (Lv. 30) Swordsmanship (Lv. 12) Martial Arts (Lv. 10) First Aid (Lv. 8) Cooking (Lv. 17) Strategy (Lv. 40) Currently, my support skills are dominant, yet when I first isekai'd into this body, the swordsmanship and martial arts levels were higher. Being a jack-of-all-trades is fine, but being a master of none is a major problem.

This doesn't mean I'll stop practicing swordsmanship if I find I'm a natural support type, or vice versa, but I need to understand my potential to guide my development properly. My train of thought was cut short when I saw someone exiting the leftmost house. It was Nathan. I stopped swinging my sword, wiped the sweat from my forehead, and asked, "What are you doing down here at this hour? If you're hungry, we left some food in the kitchen..."

Thanks to the keen sight of my left eye, I quickly realized something was wrong. Nathan looked exhausted and paler than usual - which shouldn't be the case, considering he had been resting since mid-afternoon. Nathan asked me, "Do you feel anything unusual with your body?"

"Me? No, I'm fine." I had just finished fifty consecutive push-ups without a hitch. Nathan recoiled slightly, as if shivering from a sudden chill.

"Since returning from that manor, I haven't felt right. My body temperature is dropping, and my pulse is racing... I think I've been poisoned too."