Chapter 27: Reflections and Revelations

After the lecture, Samuel headed to get his food, reflecting on his life in Konoha and the arrogance of the bigger clans. He couldn't help but compare the noble system in the Griffon Kingdom to the hierarchy he had experienced before. In Konoha, the Hokage had control over the entire village, but managing civilian tasks fell to the Daimyo or the lords.

Most of the Akatsuki missions had involved killing nobles, so Samuel, as Itachi, was well aware of the corrupt nature of people in power when there was a lack of supervision.

He enjoyed a decent meal, appreciating that the orphanage shared its food with others, though it was never sufficient. Despite the nuns' efforts, hunting and gathering were necessary to supplement their needs. Meat was often sold for profit, along with furs and fangs. Bringing out talent helped with funding from the count, but resources were always stretched thin.

Although Samuel had new options available to him, he chose food he was already familiar with. He discovered the existence of dimensional artifacts, similar to ninja scrolls, which piqued his interest. Despite being ignored due to his commoner status, he enjoyed the silence and observed his surroundings.

He noticed Lith eating alone, possibly shunned by others because of the Guilty Ballot incident. This made Samuel ponder about the various ways power and influence could isolate individuals.

As the lecture was about to begin, Samuel left for the classroom, knowing the distance was quite large. His thoughts wandered back to his past life, the missions, and the lessons he had learned. He was determined to navigate this new world with the wisdom he had gained, hoping to avoid the pitfalls of power and corruption.

He enjoyed a decent meal, appreciating that the orphanage shared its food with others, though it was never sufficient. Despite the nuns' efforts, hunting and gathering were necessary to supplement their needs. Meat was often sold for profit, along with furs and fangs. Bringing out talent helped with funding from the count, but resources were always stretched thin.

Although Samuel had new options available to him, he chose food he was already familiar with. He discovered the existence of dimensional artifacts, similar to ninja scrolls, which piqued his interest. Despite being ignored due to his commoner status, he enjoyed the silence and observed his surroundings. He noticed Lith eating alone, possibly shunned by others because of the Guilty Ballot incident. Samuel considered approaching him but decided against it as the next lecture was about to begin.

The next lecture was for his healer specialization. The man who walked into the room was outstanding in his own way. He was quite short, barely over 1.55 meters (5'1") tall, and at least sixty years old. The top of his head was completely bald, with snow-white hair on the sides and waxed handlebar mustaches. His belly was so large it made it hard to guess if he was wider than he was tall.

"Hello, dear students. I'm Professor Vastor, and I'll guide you through your first steps in the light magic Master Healer course. I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but as you should have predicted, Professor Marth can't waste his precious time with the likes of you. The whole light magic research department rests on his shoulders, so you'll have to settle for me."

Vastor's eyes scanned the room, lingering on each student. He wasn't just referring to Lith but to all the students who, thanks to their poor backgrounds, had failed to recognize him. He continued, "Words cannot express how it saddens me to notice that even country bumpkins have more manners than the high and mighty nobles."

Samuel looked at him and found that the lecturer had a large gloom behind his face, making him seem like a man with many stories to tell.

"I have good news and bad news for all of you. The good news is that we won't spend two hours in this class. I'll just explain to you the differences between tier three and four of healing magic, and after that, we will move to the academy's hospital. First of all, who can tell me what are the greatest limitations of tiers one to three of light magic?"

Professor Vastor's gaze fell on Samuel, perhaps because he was taller than Vastor despite not having hit puberty. As the center of attention, Samuel replied, "I don't even know any tier one healing magic, so I can't answer this question."

This caused quite a commotion among the students, as everyone there had learned at least tier three healing magic. Vastor ignored the uproar and moved on, finding a girl next. She was about to give her name and family history, but the professor stopped her. She could only swallow her pride and answer, "The lower tiers of light magic have two insurmountable limits. The first being that light magic can only enhance the recovery of the patient. If he/she suffered from excessive blood loss or is already on the verge of death, healing magic is useless. The second limit..."

"Okay, enough. Your turn, edgy face," he cut her short, pointing his finger at Lith.

"The second limit is that it cannot regrow lost body parts, be it organs or limbs. Clean cut fingers or extremities can be reattached, but only if well preserved and within an hour from the amputation."

Professor Vastor found the commoner students more to his liking since they still looked at him with respect. Next, he asked for a solution for the first issue. He called on a petite girl with long brown hair, sitting a few desks away from Lith. Because of her small and scrawny build, it was hard to imagine her being twelve years old; she looked barely a day past eight.

Clearly, she had suffered from malnutrition for a long time. The girl stuttered, and the professor was about to grill her but stopped due to the ballot in Lith's hand. This item, working on situations of teacher bullying, made teachers fall under the purview of bullies.

"I'm so sorry, young miss. I didn't mean to offend you. There, there. Take your time before answering," his voice suddenly all milk and honey, offering her a handkerchief from his chest pocket.

Despite her frail looks, she needed but a second to compose herself. "The only way to do it..." she replied, sniffling from time to time, "...would be to somehow infuse the patient with an external source of life force. But that's impossible. I worked as a healer since I was six years old, I've tried countless spells and always failed. Light magic cannot create or pass energy, only nourish what is already there."

The whole class nodded in agreement.

"The little one is right, light magic cannot do it. No matter how talented the mage or how complex the spell, it's impossible. Yet tier four light magic can. Anyone wants to take an educated guess?" Professor Vastor asked.

The classroom fell silent; no hand was raised. Professor Vastor sneered at their ignorance, puffing his chest. "Oh, oh, oh! Seems you still have much to learn. But you have come to the right place. The answer is: it's only possible by mixing it with darkness magic."

"What?!" "How?!" "The f*ck?!"

Professor Vastor ignored their shocked expressions and the exclamations filling the air, while waving his hands in the air, generating with first magic a black and white circle identical to Earth's representation of Yin and Yang.

"The greatest legacy left us from Magus Silverwing, is the knowledge that light and darkness magic are but one. They perpetually dance together in all things. When one pushes, the other pulls. When light steps forward, darkness steps backward and vice versa. When they are in harmony, life thrives; otherwise, only death awaits. The key to tier four light magic is weaving them together. Dark magic takes the energy from the donor, while light magic allows it to enter the patient's body without backlashes. Balancing them is the key to success."

Itachi thought about how ninja focused more on changing shape and chakra nature rather than discovering things as people did with magic. But in their defense, most of the ninja world, except for a few decades, had been involved in wars one after another, which stopped progress.

AN please give at least one powerstone

creation is difficult