After going back home, Lith finished preparing breakfast for everyone and used Invigoration to recover the energy spent by using the Warp Steps.
The procedure took place in his parents’ bedroom as soon as they finished eating. Lith had Solus take the form of a small disc that he placed over his mother’s belly.
“What is that thing?” Elina asked.
“It’s a focus. It will help me direct and control the magical energies.” He lied in response. Solus’s core was weak and her mana capacity small, but she was able to use Invigoration as well.
Her role was to check Elina’s condition, using her own mana to fix any mistake Lith could make or at least buy enough time for him to stabilize his mother.
He also needed Tista’s presence, to use her as a blueprint. First, he blocked Elina’s abdomen pain receptors, then he destroyed the scar tissue causing infertility while reshaping the organ to make it resemble Tista’s healthy one.
It was the first time he attempted something like that, so it took Lith several hours to complete the procedure. When he finished, he was exhausted.
‘Damn, ever since I burned part of my life force, I get tired faster than usual and my stamina has yet to completely recover.
‘Using Invigoration on two people at once for imaging was more difficult than I thought, then I had to cut away the scar tissue one layer at the time to not cause too much damage.
‘I also had to prevent her from losing too much blood or going into shock. Unlike when I cured Tista, I couldn’t immediately replace the destroyed tissue with a healthy one, since it was the excess tissue causing mom’s infertility.
I can only hope that everything is fine now.’
“Is it over?” Elina asked with watery eyes. Despite Lith’s precautions, she had experienced a burning sensation in her abdomen the whole time. The blood loss had made her dizzy from time to time, stopping only when Lith infused her with part of his life force.
“Yes.” he used a clean towel to wipe the sweat from his face.
“Can I get up now? I really need to stretch my legs a bit.”
“Not a chance.”
Lith forced Elina to rest while he sat near her, checking her condition from time to time. Regrowing organs inside the human body was something he had practiced at the academy, but altering their shape by switching between darkness and light magic was another thing entirely.
He realized how big was the edge true magic gave him compared to normal healers. Unlike them, Lith was able to split a procedure into different steps instead of being forced to complete it in one go.
It had given him the time to share part of his life force with his mother when necessary and to lessen the strain on her body by taking a break from time to time. He also used those pauses to recover his strength with Invigoration.
The procedure had turned out to be much harder than predicted.
Using Invigoration on two people at the same time while exerting surgical precision magic was taxing for both the mind and the body. There were so many things to check at all times that he was sure he would have failed if not for true magic coupled with Solus’s help.
She had checked Elina’s physical condition at all times, allowing Lith to focus only on the procedure, and as a life force IV replacing most of the blood lost by herself. Only when she couldn’t keep up due to her low mana capacity, Solus had asked for Lith’s help.
Solus remained with Elina all night long, making sure that everything was all right. Only after twenty-four hours had passed without complications Lith could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Only then Lith went to Brina’s house, removing the scar from the whole arm and making the two fingers she had left perfectly functional. The only downside of the treatment was that the new skin was pale as milk, but Brina didn’t care one bit.
“How do you feel?” Lith checked her with Invigoration. Since the procedure was only on the external skin, he had not shared with her any life force, hoping it wouldn’t be necessary.
“I feel good. Can I show it to my mother now?”
“Feeling okay doesn’t mean being okay. Stand up slowly.”
Brina did as asked, but she felt so dizzy she needed to sit again.
“I guess you were right. Gods, suddenly I feel so weak and hungry.”
‘It seems I almost pushed her physique too far. Vastor is right, a single healer can’t restore fingers without endangering the life of the patient.’
He decided to split the treatment in three different days, one for each finger. It made everything easier for both of them and allowed him to better study the regeneration process without witnesses that could notice the anomaly his magic was.
While at the academy he had to use true magic like it was fake, now he could finally use it as he saw fit. After Brina, several other villagers came to him for help and every single patient provided Lith with invaluable knowledge.
After a few days, Tista entered Lith’s room while he was using Accumulation to further refine his mana core.
“Say what you want, lil brother, but after seeing what you did for mom and Brina, I don’t think that being a healer is just a job. It’s something that brings hope and joy to other people. That’s why I want your help. I’d really like enrolling in the academy.”
Lith was sitting on the floor cross legged, her words merely caused him to raise an eyebrow.
“Once again, that’s incredibly naïve of you. I can’t wait for you to meet Professor Manohar. If he can’t change your mind, then no one can.” He sighed.
“Let me be honest, right now you have no chance of getting admitted. You are old for the fourth year, your mastery of the elements is sloppy, and you have no sponsor.” At those words, Tista’s smile disappeared.
“Use next year to practice magic until it becomes second nature to you. Then, if I manage to graduate, I can pull some strings and make everything easier for you.”
Tista rushed to hug him when Lith stopped her by raising his hand. She suddenly had no control over her body anymore. Tista was pinned against the wall with her feet dangling a few centimeters from the floor.
“Tista, you are a pretty girl and the world is a harsh place. This could happen every time you walk alone in a corridor. Show me that you can take care of yourself.”
At first, she thought it was just a bad joke, but when Lith refused to let her go, she discovered she couldn’t even call for help. Whenever she opened her mouth, no voice came out of it.
“It’s just chore magic. You can do it.” Lith’s words helped her to regain her cool, yet it took her a while to break the spell.
“Why did you do that?”
Lith replied by telling her about all that had happened to him from his first day at the academy. About the hazing attempts, the mean words from the students and professors and even how Phloria had almost got r*ped.
