“Sir,” I said quietly, “permission to review my skill upgrade options?”
Cicero did not look up from the patient as he examined the man’s nerves. “Do it.”
Only then did I check my skill upgrade.
[Healing Touch (UC)]
Type: Healing Technique
Associated Attributes: Wisdom, Intelligence
Description:
An outward evolution of [Minor Restoration] that allows the user to channel restorative mana through direct physical contact. The healer may mend injuries on both themselves and others by guiding controlled mana into the affected area and following existing mana pathways.
Effects:
? Enables touch-based healing of both the user and allied targets.
? Heals external wounds, internal bruising, muscle strain, fractures, and localized tissue damage.
? Healing precision increases with the user’s understanding of mana channel structures and cultivation tiers.
[Vital Restoration (UC)]
Type: Healing & Mana Support Technique
Associated Attributes: Wisdom, Intelligence
Description:
A dual-function refinement of [Minor Restoration] that allows the user to transmit both healing energy and raw mana into another living being through direct contact or at a distance. Due to this dual function, overall efficiency is lower than that of specialized healing techniques.
Effects:
? Enables healing and limited mana restoration to both the user and allied targets.
? Provides a low healing effect while simultaneously restoring a small amount of mana.
? Mana restoration is inefficient; the user expends more mana than the target receives.
? Range of effect scales with the user’s Intelligence attribute.
[Healing Touch (UC)] offered stronger healing, but only through direct contact. Its efficiency increased with precise mana shaping and my understanding of internal mana pathways.
[Vital Restoration (UC)] was weaker as a healing technique, but it could restore a small amount of mana and did not require full contact. Its range was short, but it still worked at a slight distance. It functioned almost like a low-grade neutral mana crystal, though at the cost of my own mana.
Both skills had value. [Healing Touch (UC)] felt like the safer choice. Its healing output was stronger and more direct. In the coming tide, soldiers would be torn open by horns, claws, and teeth. Being able to mend flesh quickly and reliably could save lives. A part of me believed it was the skill a proper healer would choose.
But [Vital Restoration (UC)] offered something different. Even though its healing effect was weaker, it provided mana. And mana decided everything on the battlefield. Even a small amount of restored mana could let a spearman reinforce his stance, or allow someone in my squad to activate a skill at a critical moment. The problem was that the mana came from me. Even with my larger pool, exhausting myself mid-fight could put me in danger.
I was leaning toward [Healing Touch]. Both options were mana-based skills, but I still did not fully understand how complete mana-based skills worked. Previously, [Mana Manipulation] had been my only option, so the choice had been simple.
But this time I had questions. I had [Mana Manipulation]; could I combine it with [Healing Touch]? Would that give me range? I did not even know the true range of [Vital Restoration]. And did healing from a distance even matter, or was I just assuming it did?
Unable to reach a proper conclusion, I decided to ask the Lieutenant.
So I looked up and asked the Lieutenant.
“Sir… I have two upgrade options. [Healing Touch] requires physical contact and provides stronger healing. [Vital Restoration] offers weaker healing, but allows me to restore mana to others and can be used from a short distance. Do you have any suggestion for how I should proceed?”
Cicero slowly gave me the same look someone gives a child who does not know how to behave in a quiet room.
“Private Edward,” he said, “you are standing in the infirmary, and for the second time you are speaking openly about your skills where anyone might listen. Revealing the details of your abilities in public invites envy and unnecessary attention. It creates risk, not only for you but for those around you. There are individuals who would harm a man simply to claim what he possesses. Skills are a private matter and should be guarded with discretion. I did not expect to remind you of something so basic.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
I froze, looking around at where I was standing. I had completely forgotten that others could hear us. I did not believe my skills were so extraordinary that they would attract envy, but openly discussing skills was something people avoided. It was almost a cultural rule. I was usually careful about what I shared. I kept [Memory Recall] and [Applied Military Theory] to myself, never mentioning them even to my friends back at Stonegate. But lately, ever since training with Walter, I had started talking more openly about combat skills. I had mistaken this for the same situation and blurted everything out without thinking.
“Sorry, sir,” I said quietly. “I only thought you would know the best path when it comes to healing skills.”
He shook his head.
"Your choice depends on the future you see for yourself. [Healing Touch] can eventually be trained to work at greater range, but its core strength is precise, focused healing. If you want to evolve into a proper healer later, improving raw healing power is the correct path. Meanwhile, [Vital Restoration] is better if you want a support role. It allows healing and mana transfer, and its real benefits appear when you develop it toward affecting multiple targets at once."
He continued.
“Both skills can be combined with mana manipulation. If you learn to use herbs and antidotes through mana-transfer methods, you can enhance their effects, and that applies to either skill. Choose the one that fits your long-term purpose. And Private… do not announce your choice in the open hall.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” I said.
His instructions shifted my thinking. I had not considered how herbs or mana stones could change the equation. If I prepared in advance and carried potent herbs, antidotes, and mana stones, even the weaker healing of [Vital Restoration] could become far more useful and versatile than [Healing Touch]. With proper preparation, [Vital Restoration] could support both healing and mana transfer. I could imagine myself reinforcing the squad during battle, supplying mana while others held the front line.
That made my choice clear, and I selected [Vital Restoration (UC)].
Another factor in my decision was the direction each skill evolved toward. According to the Lieutenant, [Healing Touch] pushed a user toward pure healing, improving raw healing output but locking you deeper into a dedicated healer’s path. But I was not a full healer, nor was I interested in becoming one. I enjoyed learning about runes and healing, but combat and survivability would always be my main focus. [Vital Restoration] offered the flexibility I needed.
After making my selection, I followed the Lieutenant as he moved from patient to patient. Sometimes he asked me to perform a quick assessment, but most of his attention shifted to introducing me to the herbs stored in the infirmary and explaining how they were used. These were the herbs most commonly available at the fort, the ones every field medic needed to understand. Bit by bit, we worked through them until our session came to an end.
After leaving the infirmary, I found a bench, sat down to rest, and decided to check my status.
Status
Class Progression:
[Junior Officer (Cadet)] – Level 18 (50 / 1800 EXP)
+775 XP — Fortification of Fort (Rune)
+225 XP — Patrol outside Fort
+150 XP — Healing fellow soldier
Level 17 → 18
Skills
- [Memory Recall (UC)] – Level 23 → 35
- [Applied Military Theory (UC)] – Level 26 → 30
- [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] – Level 7 → 10
- [Mana Manipulation (UC)] – Level 2 → 6
- [Mana Reinforcement (UC)] – Level 10 → 20
- [Flowing Spear Style (UC)] – Level 1 → 10
- [Rune Analysis (UC)] – Level 1 → 7
- [Field Medicine (C)] – Level 22 → 25
Physical Attributes
Constitution: 27.5 → 31.3
Strength: 26.4 → 28.9
Agility: 19.8 → 21.1
Spiritual Attributes
Intelligence: 28.9 → 32.1
Wisdom: 22.4 → 25.1
Willpower: 18.9 → 23.2
Name: Edward
Class: Junior Officer (Cadet)
Rank: Novice (T1)
Level: 18 / 20
EXP: 50 / 1800
Elemental Affinity: 0.1% Wind
Mana Cultivation: Tier 2 (0 / 100)
Mana Nodes: 0 / 7
HP: 313 / 313
HP Regen: 81.3 per day
MP: 1427
MP Regen: 140.4 per hour
Class Skills
- [Applied Military Theory (UC)] – Level 30
- [Soldier’s March (C)] – Level 25*
- [Flowing Spear Style (UC)] – Level 10
- [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] – Level 10
- [Vital Restoration (UC)] – Level 1
General Skills
- [Memory Recall (UC)] – Level 35
- [Field Medicine (C)] – Level 25*
- [Rune Analysis (UC)] – Level 7
- [Siege Rigging (C)] – Level 25*
- [Map Reading (C)] – Level 25*
- [Mana Manipulation (UC)] – Level 6
- [Mana Reinforcement (UC)] – Level 20
I had made considerable progress during the month of rune work. Both new skills, [Rune Analysis] and [Flowing Spear Style], received constant practice. [Rune Analysis] improved through daily rune repairs and the theory lectures given by the Rune Master, while [Flowing Spear Style] had become part of our everyday drills. [Mana Reinforcement] paired naturally with it, and I used both together during personal training. I suspected [Mana Manipulation] and [Vital Restoration] might become the next pair.
The skill I used the most over the past month was [Memory Recall]. During lectures on runes, while memorizing rune diagrams, or when reading medical texts, I made a habit of gathering as much information as possible and relying on [Memory Recall] whenever I needed it. In my free moments, I used the skill to delve deeper into understanding the material I had collected. I trained the skill to shorten the delay before activation. As long as I focused on the specific passage, concept, or memory I wanted to recall, I could reduce the retrieval time to almost nothing. To an observer, it barely looked like I was using a skill at all, more like I was simply thinking. This refinement allowed me to increase the skill by twelve levels.
The only class skill left behind was [Soldier’s March]. Even after harder agility training, it had not evolved, but I felt closer to the right breakthrough.
One major achievement from training all these skills was that I was finally able to defeat someone in Tier 2 from my squad. I was still nowhere near Walter or even Colin, but during one sparring match I managed to beat Jack while using all of my combat skills. It was a close fight, but a win nonetheless. Those sparring sessions also showed that [Perceptive Instinct] progressed best during real combat situations or whenever I genuinely felt in danger. My last patrol improved the skill more than an entire week of drills.
As for my other general skills, I decided not to push any of them to uncommon tier until after the beast tide. I had already spent too much time on non-combat activities. Now it was time to focus solely on my combat abilities and on upgrading [Soldier’s March].