Chapter 291

The Skinwalker armor had more holes than swiss cheese, but it was perfectly functional . The problem was repairing it required time or mana . Alas, Lith had a shortage of both .

Luckily, the Warp Gate (*) brought him straight from Xenatos to Linjos’s office, where Manohar, Vastor, and Marth were waiting for him .

Marth was there to heal his wounds while Vastor replenished his life force . Manohar was attending out of curiosity . He seemed to find the story of the wyvern and his mysterious array quite fascinating .

Lith reported to them the events, replying to all their questions about the nature of the Life Draining spell being careful to not blow his cover .

“Fascinating!” Manohar listened to every detail like they were sweet words from his beloved one .

“Wyverns are also known as pseudo dragons or lesser dragons . Never use those terms in front of them . They consider it a racial slur, just like the word ‘lizard’ . “

“Bah!” Vastor scoffed at Manohar’s childish enthusiasm . “I have yet to meet a single dragon and even if they exist, they would still be lizards . A wyvern is even worse, it’s just a lizzie . “

“A what?” Lith asked .

“It means a lizard with an inferiority complex . ” Marth explained .

“It’s how we members of the Queen’s corps refer to wyverns when they are not within earshot . “

“Wait, you are members of the Queen’s corps?” Lith was flabbergasted . Vastor looked more like a chef than a fighter . Marth closely resembled one of his high school teachers . As for Manohar, he was Manohar .

It was an inhuman task just to imagine someone willing to fight beside him without being given the opportunity to strangle him on a regular basis .

“We are . Don’t underestimate me because of my well-fed exterior . ” Vastor patted his large belly to emphasize the point .

“Every element is deadly . It all depends on the user . Also, there is no one mad enough to walk into a fight without a true healer . After you experience enough battles, even if you start as a total rookie, you are bound to pick up a few tricks along the way . “

“Indeed . Until wars and illnesses exist, healers are like breathing . Something annoying that you can’t live without . ” Manohar nodded in agreement with Vastor .

“Back to the lizzie’s topic, I wonder what the array did for him . Beasts use a kind of magic completely different from ours . Maybe we could have learned something by comparing a human and a beast array . “

“Unlikely . ” Vastor scoffed again while checking Lith’s vitals .

“Surely it was something idiotic . It cost him his life . “

“Today I find myself agreeing with you often, my mildly esteemed colleague . ” Manohar nodded again .

Vastor took the unintended insult gracefully, barely dilating his nostrils in annoyance .

“How do you feel?” Marth had just finished regrowing his hair .

“Tired . ” Lith replied .

“You don’t say, Lith . ” Vastor gave him a hospital gown to wear over his tattered clothes .

“The first lesson of Body Sculpting will be a simple one, but you still need mana . Let’s go to the hospital and find you a bed . You can rest until your companions get back from their chores . “

A Warp Steps brought them to destination .

“I’m really proud of you . It’s amazing how much you have grown as a mage in a single year . ” Vastor said while Lith was tucking himself inside one of the beds in the VIP wing .

“Yet I feel forced giving you an unsolicited piece of advice . Being under the spotlight feels good, I know it very well . Sometimes it’s better to keep a low profile, though . Otherwise the wrong kind of people will take interest in you .

“At that point, being a healer will become a hobby, a cover story at best . Small or big, there is no country that isn’t constantly looking out for a Highmaster . ” Vastor sighed deeply .

His eyes went out of focus, Lith’s enhanced instinct could sense that the Professor was being overwhelmed by bad memories .

“That’s how the Griffon Kingdom calls them . ” Vastor mistook Lith’s curiosity about his past for confusion about the unknown term .

“The Gorgon Empire prefers the term Ravager while the Blood Desert calls them Starkiller . No matter the name, they are all the same . Mass murderers with a badge . “

“I thought War Mages and Wardens are the real backbones of an army . “

“They are . ” Vastor nodded . “Highmasters rarely take part in a war . It’s too risky . They either start or end it . “

A long silence befell between the two men, while Lith mulled over the Professor’s words .

“This time you had no choice, but the next time you attend a party, do not show off that much . Otherwise when you get to my age, you’ll have a lot of regrets . ” Vastor closed the curtains around the bed, giving Lith shade and privacy .

‘He’s a man full of surprises . ‘ Solus said .

‘Indeed . The real question is: is he worried about my future or rather that someone recruits me before he does? There is no such thing as a free meal . ‘

‘Your paranoia it’s disheartening . ‘ Solus pouted . ‘Can’t you just accept someone’s kindness at face value for once?’

‘My paranoia is one of the reasons I’m still alive . ‘ After all that had happened that day, Solus had no argument to refute his logic .

***

When the first gong woke Lith up, most of the damage sustained by the Skinwalker armor was repaired . It took him a bit of mana for the finishing touch while using Invigoration to recover his strength .

His body was in perfect condition, but his mind was still sluggish .

‘The Skinwalker amor’s self repair speed is much greater than the uniform’s, yet it’s still not enough . I better recover at least half of my mana . No matter how simple the lesson can be, I don’t want to suffer a headache the whole time . ‘

Professor Vastor was waiting at the hospital’s entrance for the students to arrive . He led them inside a small laboratory that had been rearranged to be used as a classroom . It contained sixteen desks, each one with a sealed fish tank on it .

After the students took their places, Vastor snapped his fingers . Inside the tanks now there was what appeared to be a cake shaped gelatine . They were all identical, each one was a translucent, colorless mass with no distinguishing feature .

Only when the ‘cakes’ started to move around, looking for a way out of the fish tanks, some of the youths realized what was in front of them .

“Is this a slime?” Yurial asked pointing at the thing that was slowly climbing the glass, until it was hanging upside down from the top of the tank .

“Yes . Ten points to Yurial for his expertise . ” Those that had recognized the creature too but hesitated to express their mind, silently cursed at Yurial .

“The first part of today’s exercise is to learn the Scanner spell which detects the subject’s life force, and then use it on the slime in front of you . These creatures have the simplest life force pattern known to man, so I expect it shouldn’t take much for talented students like you to get accustomed to it . “

“What’s a slime?” Lith asked . He had never found a trace of them in any bestiary he had purchased, nor met any during his hunts .

“Excellent question . ” Vastor nodded while throwing a mean look at those that were sniggering behind Lith’s back .