"Finally!

" Jirni exclaimed. Ebert Cailon had managed to impress her. Hurting or threatening him had been useless until that moment. It was the first time he made a real sound.

"Aside from cracking their own nails, nobles are not supposed to have a notion of pain. It's what makes you so easy to interrogate. Now we have something to work on.

" She removed the ten centimeters (4 inches) enchanted needle imbued with her light magic.

The pain disappeared, leaving only a small trickle of blood.

"What was that?

" Duke Cailon asked while gasping for air.

"A nerve bundle in your deltoid muscle.

"

"Do your worst, witch.

" He replied while gritting his teeth.

"If I'm already dead, I have nothing to lose. You can make me scream, but I will not betray my comrades!

"

"Comrades? This means they are your buddies from the army.

" She giggled.

Eberst bit his tongue in despair. Then, everything went off the rails.

"As for having nothing to lose, I beg to differ.

" She showed him her communication amulet while pressing a too familiar contact rune.

"That's my son's rune! How did you get it?

" Duke Cailon went pale.

"Dad?

" A childish voice came out of the amulet.

"Is that you? Is everything all right, daddy?

"

Jirni pressed the rune a second time, ending the call.

"You can talk now, or I can make your son spectate to our next session. It's all up to you.

" She smiled softly, aware that her prey was mortally wounded

"You are a monster!

" Ebert jumped from the chair trying to tackle her. He held his only arm high to protect his vitals, as the army had taught him.

Jirni executed a low kick in response. The steel toe of her booth hit the side of his left kneecap, shattering Ebert's balance and knee joint at once. Before he could fall on the ground, she headbutted Duke Cailon on the nose and back on the armchair.

Her right hand moved like a snake, striking at a nerve on the back of the neck with her index and middle finger. The pain hit like a shockwave, making Ebert forget for a second about his broken joint.

"Ebert, start telling me something I don't know. Otherwise I'll show you what a real monster is.

"

***

White Griffon Academy, in the same moment.

A second sealed fish tank appeared on each desk. At first glance there was no difference between them, nor between their inmates.

"The first slime is a 'healthy' one. The second one is your patient. We Professors have altered their life forces and created anomalies in their bodies. You'll use the first slime as a baseline to find what's wrong in the second one and understand how you are going to fix it.

" Vastor explained.

'It's the same method I used to cure mom.' Lith was amazed by how much tier five magic resembled true magic.

Several hands were raised at once. Vastor pointed at Friya, allowing her to talk.

"Professor, before you effortlessly killed a slime. Does this spell have any combat application?

"

"No.

" Vastor shook his head.

"I managed to do that because all slimes are identical. I don't even need to look at their life force anymore to know how to manipulate them. To use it against an opponent, I'd need them to be still long enough for me to understand their life force.

"During all that time, I could kill them hundreds of times by using more ordinary spells.

"

Now it was Quylla's turn to speak.

"Professor, are we really sure they are mindless creatures? This exercise seems cruel.

"

"Mindless, yes. I can assure you about that. They have no mind nor memory, just instincts. It has been proved by countless experiments. I won't lie to you, though. They are still living beings, so they feel pain. Remember this while you play with their lives.

"

Some students shuddered. They unconsciously took a step back from the tanks.

"No one forces you to be here. No one forces you to become a Healer.

" Vastor sighed.

"Tier five healing magic is extremely delicate. It can only be learned through a trial and error process. We start with slimes because they are easy to deal with, but also because they are the perfect starting point to steel yourself.

"They have no eyes, no mouth, no fur. Nothing that can make you empathize with them. Then we will move to small animals, bigger animals and lastly on humans. If you hesitate now, how will you be able to heal anyone?

"

"Humans? We'll have patients?

" Many students asked in unison.

"No. You'll have convicts, not patients. People whose actions are so terrible that even the death penalty has been deemed not to be punishment enough. People that no one cares about and would be better off dead, but still people.

"

Several of those present gulped a lump of saliva. They looked at each other, wondering what to do. Some even eyed the door, uncertain for the first time about their career.

"Would you prefer to practice on innocents? To kill anyone dumb enough to ask for your help until you learn how to properly perform Body Sculpting? If it can ease your conscience, those convicts would die anyway after several hours of torture.

"They volunteered for this. You are their only hope for a clean death. If you are so worried about hurting someone, you shouldn't have picked any specialization. A Healer is also a torturer.

"Battle and War Mage are fancy names for killers. Alchemists and Forgemasters are nothing more than weapon dealers. Now, for those still interested in becoming Healers, I'll explain the Chisel spell. The rest of you feel free to leave.

"

No one left the room, but it was clear from the mood that many had doubts.

The spell was complex and required a lot of focus. It generated a single blue tendril of mana that allowed the student to interact with the patient's life force with surgical precision.

The task was made even harder by the necessity of employing two spells at once: Scanner and Chisel. Vastor explained that a full fledged healer required at least triple casting. The ideal procedure required to use Scanner twice. One for the patient and the other for the healthy subject, usually the Healer themselves. Chisel was employed only on the patient.

A few slimes were colored, some had odd shapes, others had small tendrils. Lith's slime was one of the latter. After carefully studying both slimes, he came up with two possible solutions.

'From what I can see with Scanner, while normal bricks are all linked between themselves, those that make up the tendrils are disconnected from the main body, with the only exception of those at the base of the tendrils.

'So, I can either severe the life force connecting the bricks that serve as junction or make them be reabsorbed. I have no idea how to perform the second procedure, though.' Lith pondered about the problem, before following Occam's Razor.

The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

The first method was similar to amputation, something that Vastor had harshly criticized during the first lesson. It was bound to be painful for the patient as well as wasteful. Hence Lith deduced it was also the wrong solution.