"Just like the previous year, we are going to spend the first two trimesters on a single but wide subject, while during the third one you'll get real practice in the field. This time as lead healers in the most important hospitals of the Kingdom.

"What I am about to introduce to you today, is the last branch of healing magic you need to master before achieving the privilege and the honor of being considered full fledged healers.

"Tier one to three have taught you to mend broken bones and to heal injuries. Tier four how to replace lost limbs and organs. Yet there is still a case we haven't explored.

"What if our patient never had a limb to start with? What if they were born with a deformity or a defective organ?" He asked while walking around the class.

"Are we helpless in front of such eventuality? The answer is no. There is nothing that a true healer cannot fix. Only death is beyond our reach, at least for now." Vastor declared with a proud look in his eyes.

"The first four tiers of magic are completely useless against natural deformities simply because there is nothing wrong in the first place. You can't heal a man born blind because it's his natural status.

"Even if his eyes were to be gouged and regrown, they would still be blind. Tier four magic simply gives the body the means to revert to its original status. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Tier five Light magic brings in something that we have often mentioned but never worked on. The study of the life force. During the first trimester I'll teach you how to sense your own life force and how to use it to manipulate other people's life force to give them a normal life."

The class murmured, for all of them life force was a vague concept. They had learned how to share it with the patients, allowing them to survive critical wounds and major procedures, but nothing more.

"That's only the first step, though. Once you learn how to control the life force comes the real deal. Let's suppose our patient is born with a deformed arm. It's the easiest case you'll ever face.

"Two-bit healers will approach the problem by amputating the arm, to regenerate it in the correct shape. It works, yes. The arm will be perfectly functional, but that's a butcher execution that will teach you nothing and endangers the patient's life.

"A real Healer uses a complex mix of light and darkness magic to perform what is called 'Body Sculpting'. Mastering the life force means you can find the dissonances in its flow and correct them accordingly.

"Darkness magic is used to remove the excess parts or to clear the way, so that light magic can start the healing process while the mage teaches the body its new form, permanently altering its natural state.

"That way, if the arm gets damaged or maimed, healing magic will restore it without the need of using Body Sculpting. I want you to understand the deep implications of altering someone forever.

"Our physical appearance is something that defines us, or at least affects how others perceive us. Body sculpting is still a highly controversial ethical matter. Some worry it can be used to turn a human being into something else.

"That through human experimentation it could breed all sorts of hybrids. Such concerns I can understand, but it's something for the Crown to regulate not for us mages to care about.

"Some radical fools say that it breaches the boundaries the gods have set for humans. I say that's bogus.

"When the Crown passed a bill that forces those who oppose to Body Sculpting because it's 'unnatural' to give up all magical tools and commodities since they are unnatural too, no one dared to say a word anymore.

They are just a bunch of hypocrites." Vastor snarled.

"Another thing that you must know, before learning Body Sculpting, is that like all magic it's not omnipotent. Along with the hypocrites that would like to outlaw Body Sculpting, there are also the quacks that try to abuse it exploiting the insecurities of the rich.

"In theory, it can be used to change the shape of a nose, to make someone taller, slimmer, or to increase bust size. Quacks demand insane sums, but the results are underwhelming, if not fatal."

'Seems plastic surgery still has a long way to go here.' Lith was fascinated by Vastor's explanation. Body Sculpting sounded a lot like the procedure he had performed on Tista years before.

"Why fatal?" He asked. "A nose is external and relatively small. Compared to reshaping a whole arm, it should be much easier."

Lith unconsciously touched his own nose, while the rest of the class wondered what they would change about their bodies if given the chance.

"Excellent question." Vastor scratched his short button nose, wishing he could make it more manly.

"Once you learn to perceive the life force, you'll notice that everything has a purpose. Our bodies have something I call a voice, for a lack of a better term, and you must learn to listen to it before applying the smallest modification.

"A hand wants to grab, to touch." He said while flexing the fingers of his left hand.

"A leg wants to walk, a nose wants to breathe, a heart to beat. What about a perfectly functional nose, albeit not easy on the eyes, like mine? If you could listen to my life force, you'd find out that aside from the problems related to age there's nothing wrong with me.

"It means that altering my life force, even just on the nose, would have unpredictable consequences. Make it longer could cause me problems breathing, affecting my ability to cast spells. Becoming taller is alluring, sure, but what about the ramifications?

"Even a few centimeters more imply that all my bones, my organs, everything must be reshaped. There is a reason why powerful mages aren't all muscular studs or world class beauties. It's because the benefits are not worth the risks.

Healthy organs have a healthy life force, their voice can't help you. Changing them means you are acting blindly, relying more on luck and wishful thinking than on scientific basis." Vastor took a brief pause, to make sure that his students had a clear understanding of his words.

"Internal organs are even more tricky. Like all magic above tier three, the procedure requires a full medical team. Unlike regenerating an organ or a limb, the process can't be performed in one go. Cutting and reshaping take a huge toll on both the healer and the patient, especially if we are working on a vital organ.

It's never wise to subject them to too much stress, because if complications arise, the body may not have the strength to make it through. Even if that's not the case, it may be necessary to switch the lead healer to allow them to rest.

Body Sculpting is probably the hardest thing you'll ever do and also the way you'll lose most of your patients." Vastor looked down on the ground, his mind couldn't forget all those he had failed.

Each death had changed him, making him more cynical and detached. They also had made him a better healer and a better man.