Progress and Healing

Well, let's see if that teaching hint will work, Lucian thought as he watched Carrie leave to fetch water. The hint from the system had been, oddly enough, to ask her to get a glass of water. Now, with her offering to help, he'd see firsthand if there was any actual effect.

Unaware of Lucian's experiment, Carrie only felt gratitude for her mentor's patient guidance. Despite her slow comprehension, Lucian had carefully broken down each detail, teaching with remarkable patience. She'd even noticed the tension on his face as he spoke, though he'd managed to keep his frustration in check.

Lost in her thoughts, Carrie hurried to the water jug. She tilted it to pour, and a stream of water swirled into the cup, creating a small vortex. Tiny bubbles spiralled along with the flow, getting trapped and then escaping the whirlpool.

Wait… that's it! She murmured, realizing that the Gilles Vortex—an advanced concept that had been eluding her—was much simpler than she'd assumed. Most of the complex variables could be disregarded, she realized, watching the water whirl.

The cup overflowed, scalding her hand slightly and breaking her concentration. Startled, she jerked her hand back and winced, quickly blowing on it to cool the sting. Despite the minor burn, her heart was alight with excitement. She'd just conquered a stumbling block that had seemed insurmountable!

With a smile on her face, Carrie picked up the cup—getting another small burn in the process but hardly caring.

Meanwhile, Lucian had been watching her progress bar on his system interface. To his surprise, Carrie's progress on the meditation technique had jumped from 2.41% to 3.28%—a significant leap compared to her usual painstaking pace of 0.01% at a time.

So… it really was the system's teaching hint that did it? Lucian frowned thoughtfully. All this improvement, just from fetching a cup of water?

Carrie returned with the water, trying to hide her reddened hand behind her back as Lucian examined her curiously.

"Let me see your hand," Lucian said.

Carrie hesitated, then reluctantly held out her hand, expecting a reprimand. She even closed her eyes, bracing herself. But instead of scolding, Lucian gently held her hand as a soft, warm glow enveloped his own.

To her amazement, the burn on her hand faded, the pain subsiding under the healing light of Lucian's spell.

Zero-Tier Spell: Hawk's Healing Hand.

As her hand healed, Lucian moved his focus to the scratch on her arm, left from a mishap on the airship. "Stand up and stretch your arms out," he instructed calmly, intending to heal her fully.

Carrie's face flushed in embarrassment, but she complied, extending her arms with a shy expression. Her worst injury was a lingering bruise on her hip, the result of an old blow from a stick-wielding overseer back at the earl's estate. The surface wound had healed, but the internal bruise had left a painful, purple mark.

Lucian's glowing hand touched the area above the bruise through her clothing, and Carrie felt a deep, soothing warmth as the pain melted away. In less than ten seconds, the bruise had vanished entirely.

Carrie felt a slight twinge as the spell took effect, followed by a comforting lightness that she hadn't felt in years.

"Alright, all done," Lucian said, pulling back his hand.

Carrie looked down, touching her waist where the bruise had been. "Thank… thank you, Mentor," she murmured, cheeks red as she lowered her gaze.

"If you're feeling better, let's continue with the lesson," he said.

"Yes! I'm ready." Carrie sat down, her eyes gleaming with new excitement and confidence.

[Your student Carrie feels gratitude toward you. Reverence Points +5]

Lucian raised his eyebrows. For something the system had called "extremely precious," Reverence Points seemed to be accumulating fairly easily from Carrie's reactions alone.