Flames of Ambition

57: Training The Healers

Chapter 57: Training the Healers

"Now that class is finished, how can you make Healers into an offensive type?" Dong Mai San asked. He had a twin—the boy sitting beside him. He was very protective of his classmates. Aside from that, he was the oldest, followed by his twin brother, while their younger sister was the youngest. So, he naturally took on the role of the Big Brother in the Healer group.

"I bet all of you know how to counter poisons, right?" Zexel asked.
Everyone nodded. It was one of the things they were required to know—the components of each poison and how it was made—to be able to counter them properly.

"Then how about this?" Zexel said as an acupuncture needle appeared in her hand.

"Obviously, it's an acupuncture needle," Shen Xiao Fu remarked. She was the bookworm of the group and also the smartest among them. Her older sister was Shen Min Jing.

"So, if you know poison and acupuncture needles, do you recognize this one too?" Another needle appeared in Zexel’s hand.

Shen Min Jing, the older sister of Shen Xiao Fu and the group's unofficial leader, stepped forward to examine it. She had also been the first to approach Zexel when she joined the class.

"It contains mugwort," she said grimly.

Still, none of them could piece together how this all related to making Healers into an offensive-type category.

"If I coat the tip of this needle with poison," Zexel said, aiming toward one of the vital points illustrated on the human anatomy chart hanging in the classroom, "and strike this spot here..."

All of them looked at the model to verify the location. Zexel then pointed to a critical area using the needle.

"Given that the needle is coated with mugwort and aimed at a vital point..." Su Den Shao’s eyes twinkled with realization, "...a move like that can kill someone in under two seconds!"

"So we need to learn this?" Shao Fu Dao asked meekly but with excitement.

Zexel smiled and nodded.
"You only need to learn the art of Senbon—that is, needle-based combat—and you'll be able to fight as offensive types. Healers deal with human anatomy every day. I assume you're all familiar with every part of the body, inside and out. That gives you precise knowledge of where a person’s vital and critical points are. When combined with your understanding of poisons and acupuncture, you can use this to your advantage.”

She continued, “The art of Senbon is designed to exploit exactly that—using needles to attack weak points accurately and lethally.”

"Wow! Why didn’t I think of that?" Shao Fu Dao said, stunned but thrilled.

"So, all we need to do is learn how to aim needles at the human body and use them in battle?" Kang Fu Ling said in amazement, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Exactly. Besides that, we all know that healing requires nearly perfect control over our qi, right?" Zexel asked, and they all nodded.

"If you focus your qi into a single finger like this..." Zexel lifted her hand and pointed her index finger at the wall. With a small push, the finger touched the surface—
and a hole appeared.

Everyone stared, mouths open.

"If just pushing your qi into one finger can make a hole, wow," Mu Zhen Shi joked in a slightly tomboyish tone. "I can’t imagine what would happen if we use our whole fists like that."

"You can create a crater, depending on how much qi you use and how precise your control is," Zexel said with a smile.

"Wow, I’m so excited for training! Those Weapon Wielders and Elementalists will drop their jaws once we master this!" Shao Zhi Zhi said, laughing.

"Well, let’s start our hellish training then," Dong Ming Dai said with a grin. He was Dong Mai San’s twin.

"Even if it turns out to be hellish, I don’t care!" Mu Zhen Shi said firmly. She didn’t care if she got injured—so long as she could get her revenge on those arrogant Elementalists and Weapon Wielders who always bullied them for points. She would make their lives a living hell once they tasted the hardship that they were about to go through.

For as long as they could remember, Healers had been considered the weakest among the nine categories. But now, thanks to Zexel, they would soon become a force to be reckoned with—deadly and essential in combat.

Everyone agreed. They were determined to become stronger.
Zexel looked at them with a soft smile.
Her stay at Scarlett Academy would definitely be entertaining for the next two years.

---

Meanwhile…

As the days passed, things continued to go downhill for Fan Qingyou. She had chosen to major in the Elementalist Category.

Unfortunately, she had not bothered to read the Scarlett Academy Guidelines. Not knowing what to do or how the system worked, she kept encountering one misfortune after another.

Elementalists were known for being extremely arrogant. They were widely regarded as the most powerful and prestigious category in the Academy. Their class was also the most crowded, both in number and ego. Their arrogance was second only to the Weapon Wielders, who also believed themselves to be superior to others.

What Fan Qingyou didn’t realize was that most of the other category students simply chose to keep a low profile. They weren’t interested in the meaningless battles or petty competitions the Elementalists clung to.

In total, there were nine categories in Scarlett Academy:

1. Elementalist

2. Weapon Wielding

3. Arraying

4. Armament Making

5. Alchemy

6. Sealing Art

7. Healers

8. Combat Fighters

9. Psychic

The Elementalist Category had the highest number of students, followed by Weapon Wielders.

On the opposite end, the Healers had the fewest students. Most people considered the Healer Category useless in actual battle, even though Healers played a vital role in survival and support.

Following Healers, Alchemy and Armament Making were also among the least populated. Their difficulty level was too high, and many students who initially chose them would quickly transfer to easier or flashier categories.

Unaware of this deeper structure, Fan Qingyou—used to privilege and attention—was finding her time at Scarlett Academy unbearable.