**Chapter 27: Hard Work Pays Off**

The Healing Palm Technique is incredibly effective, but it also uses a lot of MP, costing 25 points each time. 

After reaching level 25, Hattori's MP is only at 245. 

In other words, even if his MP is full, he can only use the Healing Palm Technique nine times before his MP is completely drained. 

When his MP hits zero, it takes a full day's rest to recover fully—a painfully slow process. 

Military ration pills can restore a lot of MP, but they're very filling. Just one keeps Hattori full for a long time, though he has no idea what's in them. 

Remembering how Chiyo advised him not to eat the pills recklessly, Hattori scratched his head. 

"There's no way I can avoid eating them altogether. I need MP to grind experience right now, but I can't overdo it either. I'll stick to one a day and work on leveling my Puppet Technique to 30 first." 

After deciding, Hattori took out the military ration pills given to him by Suisha and saw that he had only three left, sighing helplessly. 

"Man, I'm burning through these quickly. Only a few left, so I'll have to ration them. Better stick to sleep recovery for now!" 

With that, he lay down on his bed and closed his eyes. 

He quickly drifted off, exhausted from all the MP depletion. 

Not long after he fell asleep, someone Chiyo sent to bring food arrived. 

"Lord Hattori, Lady Chiyo sent me with some food. May I come in?" 

"Mm…" Hattori mumbled sleepily and rolled over, continuing his nap. 

The person entered quietly, seeing him asleep, and paused with a look of respect. 

"I heard that yesterday, Lord Shi healed over ten comrades. He's so young, yet he's exhausted. I shouldn't disturb him!" 

The messenger gently placed the food on the nearby table and slipped out, carefully closing the tent flap behind him. 

Time flew by, and by the time Hattori woke up, it was already evening. 

Seeing the cold food by his side, he guessed that Chiyo had sent it. He quickly scarfed it down, then headed to the nearby medical tent. 

While the Eastern Front wasn't the fiercest battlefield, dozens of injured still arrived daily. 

Due to the shortage of medical ninja, lightly injured soldiers were disinfected and bandaged, while only the more seriously injured rested in the medical tent. 

Entering, Hattori found about a dozen heavily bandaged soldiers who looked like mummies, all with serious injuries. 

Seeing this, Hattori was thrilled. 

"These are free experience points!" 

With that, he approached the most severely injured soldier and began casting his skill. 

**[Healing Palm Technique]** 

As Hattori cast the skill, a green glow brighter than his regular healing enveloped the injured soldier under his hand. 

Bathed in the green light, the soldier who had been groaning in pain soon fell into a peaceful sleep, with his wounds healing rapidly. 

After about two to three minutes, the green glow faded from Hattori's hands, and purple letters indicating experience points floated up. 

**[EXP +100]** 

Triple digits? 

Seeing the experience value, Hattori was overjoyed. 

"The Healing Palm Technique might cost a lot of MP, but the experience gain makes it worthwhile!" 

Grinning, he moved on to the next injured soldier and cast Healing Palm again. 

Each time the skill was cast, the wounded stopped groaning and began breathing evenly as their wounds healed. 

Hattori's experience notifications and level-up prompts came in rapid succession. 

**[EXP +100]** 

**[EXP +100]** 

**[Level +1]** 

... 

Before long, Hattori leveled up twice, but the entire day's MP recovery was once again drained. 

Seeing the remaining half of the wounded, he was tempted to eat another military ration pill but held back since he was already full from his meal. With a sigh, he left the medical tent. 

As he reached the tent flap, he heard a soft, trembling voice behind him. 

"T-thank you…" 

Hattori stopped, turned, and smiled. 

"No need to thank me; it's my duty. Rest well. I'll come back tomorrow. As long as I'm here, you won't die!" 

With that, he stepped out of the tent. 

Unbeknownst to him, upon hearing his words, the injured soldiers who were still conscious were moved to tears. 

In weak voices, they whispered in unison. 

"Thank… you…" 

Hattori knew none of this, already back in his tent and fast asleep. 

Sleep was the best way to recover MP and energy, with no side effects, and the amount restored increased as his MP limit rose. 

Hattori had realized this, so instead of using his recent experience to level up his Puppet Technique, he focused on raising his MP limit first. 

He planned to use the "experience cap" strategy popular in MMORPGs! 

He'd level up to 29, save all his experience to max out his Puppet Technique, and then hit level 30! 

This way, when he reached level 30, he'd unlock a new medical skill, and since Healing Palm wouldn't grant experience then, he'd have maxed out Puppet Technique already. 

Hattori didn't want to take chances, so he decided to "cap experience." 

The next day, he returned to the medical tent, healing the remaining heavily injured soldiers with Healing Palm, and reached level 29. 

After leveling up, he spent his experience to upgrade his Puppet Control Technique— 

**[Puppet Control Level +1]** 

**[Level 3 Puppet Control: Can use chakra threads to control one level-3 puppet or two level-1 puppets, costing 30 experience points per level up!]** 

**[Puppet Control Level +1]** 

**[Level 4 Puppet Control: Can use chakra threads to control one level-4 puppet or two level-2 puppets, costing 40 experience points per level up!]** 

... 

Before long, Hattori's MP was drained again, but he managed to raise his Puppet Control Technique to level 10! 

**[Level 10 Puppet Control: Can use chakra threads to control two level-10 puppets or four level-5 puppets, costing 100 experience points per level up!]** 

(End of Chapter)