Chương 188: Chapter 185 - Adaptive Vital Restoration

I had thought dealing with four critically injured civilians would be the toughest part of healing. Only then did I realize how wrong I was. The number of injured in the school was so high that the moment I walked inside, I understood one terrible truth. Saving everyone would not be possible. Not even with the help of Healer Antony, one of his disciples, Hugh, and Will. Forget saving everyone. In the first hour alone, we lost more than half of the injured people brought to us. There were only four of us.

Among those four, one did not know how to heal at all, and another had only a little training. Healer Antony and I focused on the red zone, but because of mana limitations and the shortage of herbs, we lost more people than we saved. Whenever we found even a little time, we guided Will and Hugh, making sure they could give first aid to severely injured patients and at least slow the bleeding.

They also brought people into the red zone whenever they felt someone's vitals were collapsing or that they would not survive without immediate care. To preserve my mana and make my healing more effective, I kept making my mana threads thinner and thinner. At the same time, I tried to make every strand of mana do more with less. Over time, something inside my skills shifted. [Vital Restoration] and [Triage Ward] were no longer working as two separate skills.

They were beginning to overlap, support each other, and move as one. When I finally found a few seconds to breathe, I checked the notification. Skill Evolution Available. [Vital Restoration (UC)] and [Triage Ward (UC)] can be combined. I stared at it for only a moment before accepting.

[Adaptive Vital Restoration (A)] Type: Adaptive Healing & Mana Support Technique Associated Attributes: Wisdom, Intelligence, Willpower Description: An evolved healing technique created through the fusion of [Vital Restoration] and [Triage Ward]. When activated, the user's mana enters the target's body and automatically identifies the most vulnerable and life-critical areas before beginning treatment.

Rather than healing wounds evenly, [Adaptive Vital Restoration] prioritizes injuries that would lead to rapid death or permanent collapse. Damaged organs, torn blood vessels, unstable mana channels, severe blood loss, shock, punctured lungs, and spinal damage are stabilized according to the severity of the injury before lesser wounds are treated. The skill can be used on the user, on another person, or expanded outward depending on the user's needs.

When focused on a single target, the mana deeply analyzes the body and concentrates healing on the most dangerous injuries first. This makes the skill more efficient, precise, and suitable for severe wounds. When expanded into an area, the skill forms a faint restorative field around the user. Within this field, it scans multiple wounded allies and automatically directs minor healing and stabilization toward the most critical cases.

This mode is less efficient for each individual, but it can keep several wounded people alive until proper treatment becomes possible. As soon as the skill upgraded, I formed threads connecting all the severely injured people in front of me. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. At first, adaptive healing sounded fantastic. Then I realized the problem with it.

Because the skill healed without needing constant input from me, it also decided how much mana was needed. For serious injuries like these, whenever the healing effect had to increase, the skill automatically thickened the mana flow through the threads. Which meant my mana consumption increased as well. I had 1700 units of mana left before I connected to the ten people lying in front of me. As soon as I did, my mana dropped to 700. Hundred mana per person.

Thankfully, it stabilized some of the most severe injuries, closing internal wounds without needing stitches. I knew that with time, I would figure out how to regulate the mana output and healing effect properly. But right now, I had neither the time nor the mana to experiment. So I stopped using individual threads and activated the area effect instead. The mana cost decreased significantly.

Then, instead of relying on mana, I took out my physical equipment and began cleaning wounds, making necessary incisions, and stitching them manually. Three hours after my arrival at the school, the situation finally began to improve. More volunteers turned up. Even another healer joined us. More importantly, the people who survived those first three hours either had no severe wounds or were high-tier enough that their strength and constitution gave them a better chance of holding on.

I had hoped to find some time to check on my squad, but I could not. Even though things had become manageable, it still felt like I was needed here. Healer Antony was already sitting in a corner, trying to recover his mana. If I left as well, the situation could turn bad again. Finally, after spending one more hour treating the injured, and with only fifty units of mana left, I found the corner where Healer Antony was sitting and took my place beside him, pulling out a mana crystal.

For some time, we both sat quietly, neither of us speaking. Then, suddenly, Healer Antony extended his hand toward me. His approach did not feel threatening. It felt affectionate. So I allowed him to come closer. In a grandfatherly way, he rubbed his hand over my head. Then, with tears visible in his eyes, he said, "Thank you." I froze, not sure what to say or why I was receiving this gesture. He was a healer as well. He had started treating people even before I arrived at his house.

If anything, he had been fighting this disaster longer than I had. While I struggled to find a response, Antony fought to say his next words.

"Thank you," he said again.

"I have spent my whole life in this town. These people are like children to me. Without your dedication, many more people would have died today." He blinked quickly, holding back his tears, then closed his eyes and returned to meditation. I was left staring blankly at the wounded people lying in front of us. After a few seconds, I shook my head, clutched the mana crystal more tightly, and started meditating as well.

"Well, you really are foolish," Lela's voice came from in front of me. Fifteen minutes into my meditation, without enough mana, my [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] was far less effective. I was almost like a normal person now. I gave her a questioning look while Healer Antony glared at her.

"Judging by your failure to sense me and the expression on your face, you are almost out of mana," Lela said.

"In this condition, you are useless. What would you do if we were attacked by mercenaries? Or worse, what would you do if you were attacked by mercenaries? This is my first time seeing such an incompetent leader." Lela continued berating me, and with every word that left her mouth, Antony's anger increased. But before he could speak, I stopped him with a small shake of my head. Then I sighed.

"Sorry," I whispered. Every time I used extra mana to heal someone's lethal injuries, a part of my mind told me I was making the wrong choice. That my decision was emotional, not practical. That by doing this, I could put myself and my squad in danger. But every patient looked so vulnerable that I could not simply step away and leave them to die. Their faces reminded me of the family I had lost—the people I would never be able to see again, much less save.

So even when my fingers bruised, and even when I was almost out of mana, I kept pushing myself, hoping to heal as many people as I could. Slowly standing, I asked, "Do we have to fight?" Lela scoffed.

"No. You are lucky you had me, and your squad is competent at killing. Congratulations. The commoner district is completely under our control." I let out a sigh of relief. At least I would not have to pay for my mistake with my life or my squad's lives. But the good news did not end there.

"Moreover, the Royal Army has taken control of the whole town of Velkar," Lela continued.

"But the merchant district suffered the most. Looks like the Captain miscalculated. The Tier-5 maintaining the domain was able to create a gap in it, allowing the mercenaries to escape. They looted the merchant district completely, along with several guilds, and escaped outside." I listened to Lela's report, not too sure how to feel about it. The scope of the current event was too wide for me to fully understand, but one thing was clear. In the first battle, Frosthallow had won.

They had killed and injured many fighters inside the town, successfully looted Velkar, and delivered a huge blow to the confidence of the defenders.

"How do you know all this?" I asked.

"The Captain sent one of his men with the information," Lela replied.

"Also, get ready. He has asked almost all officers, sergeants and above, to assemble."