Masa squeezed my hand once and then let go as I went over. I heard him ask the other guild staff about whether they could needed any water or fire, but I had to concentrate on my own job. Raising my shaky hands over the injury, I closed my eyes to block out the gruesome sight and imagined the torn flesh knitting back together. I recalled my first healing experience with the fracox and tried to focus all my energy on the wound. As usual, there was no sense of mana circulating or whatever, but I took deep breaths and let them out slowly. The macli were in the air, right? So the more I breathed in, the stronger my magic should be. Or so I thought, at any rate.

I wasn't sure how long it would take to heal a wound of this size, but I didn't dare to open my eyes, since it might break my concentration and interrupt the process. Nonetheless, I could hear what the people around me were saying.

"We're almost done here, what about that side?"

"It's no good, there's poison in this wound, so it isn't recovering fast enough. Does anyone have Dispel?"

Dispel? Ah, one of the aspects of Light magic that I hadn't unlocked. Hopefully one of the others had it. I had my hands full right now. I could try to unlock it when I had some free time, but certainly not right now.

"If there's poison, maybe I can help," came a familiar female voice.

Despite myself, my ears pricked up at her words. I knew that voice! Had she finished her interview with the guildmaster? I reckoned she planned to use San, but with the patient in such a critical condition, wouldn't her sword simply send him over the edge, even if the damage was minimal?

There was a shocked silence before the other healers started scolding her in unison for falsely raising their hopes. "Look, I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is an enchanted blade," insisted Crystie. "It removes any status effect from the target."

"If you don't believe her, I can poison myself and then have her remove the effect," came Daryl's voice to back his sister up.

I cheered them on in my heart before doubling my efforts on healing. The healers finally decided to take the risk and have Crystie try to remove the poison.

"It should work as long as it cuts, so I'll try it on the poisoned wound first," said Crystie. "Please heal the wound as soon as I cut him."

There was another short silence before cries of excitement erupted from the bystanders.

"It's actually working! I can't believe it!"

"The healing is proceeding much faster now! And for some reason, his leg is glowing especially brightly!"

"Hey, who's that priestess? She's not a guild employee, is she?"

"Ah, she's a new adventurer, only registered recently. Just before the girl with the miracle sword came, I think."

"D'you think either of them might be willing to join my party?"

"Fat chance, you see those two good-looking guys with them? The black-haired one is even glaring at you."

"Aww..."

As I caught snippets of the conversations around me, someone patted me on the shoulder and said, "It's all right now, Rynn, you can stop."

I opened my eyes to see Masa half-kneeling beside me and smiling. Then I looked back at the wound...which was no longer there. All that remained was unblemished skin. Somewhat hairy, but unblemished all the same. I exhaled slowly and took a deep breath. I had done it! I had helped to heal a severe injury without problems!

Feeling relieved, I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't work properly and I would have fallen if Masa hadn't supported me. "Take it easy, you've been stuck in the same position for a while," he said, easing me back on the floor. "Stretch your legs first to let the blood circulate."

"Right, sorry about that," I said, my ears slightly pink at his proximity.

"There's no need to apologise. You did far better than I expected," said Masa with a grin. "The others were amazed that you're only a Class 1. In fact, you just ranked up. Congrats on making it to Class 2."

My jaw dropped and I quickly inspected myself to check.

Rynn Tan

Experience: 78% to next Level

Race: Human | Age: 16

Level: 40 | Condition: Normal

Attack: 555

Endurance: 426

Agility: 900

Speed: 414

Intelligence: 517

Mana: 842

Skills:

Inspect 4, Swordsmanship 2, Map 1, Language 1, Stealth [Evasion]

Magic:

Light, Class 2 - Healing, Shield, Blessings [Dispel] [Immunity]

Conjuration, Class 3 - Storage, Creation, Multiplication, Conjuring, Uncreation

Not only had my Class gone up, I had even unlocked Blessings! Wait, how did that happen? Maybe it had something to do with my sincere wish for the man to recover? I had to find some time to experiment and see. At any rate, I was pleased at my improvement.

The guild staff thanked us for our help and carried the previously injured man away to another room to rest and recover. The rest of his party were also being healed of their wounds, and appeared much relieved that their friend was not in danger of dying anymore. Masa and I went to look for Daryl and Crystie, who had a bunch of adventurers surrounding them for some reason.

We approached the group to listen to what they were talking about, and apparently Crystie had passed her interview. She told the adventurers that part of her job at the guild from now on would be to offer healing from status effects for a small fee. Ah, I knew it. San was not that useful as an offensive weapon, but it was great to have as a healing-type item. I was glad for her. Now she wouldn't have to put herself in danger just to earn a living. But what was Daryl going to do then? He seemed to be happy for his sister, and since he was so sociable, surely he could find another party to join? Or at least I hoped so.