"I am not asking you," Pink fired back.
Red looked at Kian. He expected Kian to say the Swordsman Job Class was cooler. The majority of young boys dreamed of becoming a swordsman over the other job classes, and Red was one of those young boys.
Why ask me an obvious question? Kian thought to himself. Of course Swordsman Job Class is way cooler than Healer Job Class. I will say Swordsman to get this over with. I want to sleep as soon as possible.
"Of course, the answer is obvious," Kian said aloud. "The—"
The color-coded kids already expected Kian to say Swordsman, but they still waited for him to say the word. He stopped in the middle of his sentence.
Wait! Kian thought. These kids believe everything I say. In that case, I will mess with them.
Kian smirked in his mind.
"The Healer Job Class is much cooler than the Swordsman Job Class," Kian announced.
Everyone's jaw dropped. Red stumbled backward and tripped over a wooden bucket. He crashed onto the floor, and his legs kicked up in the air.
Pink froze completely stiff like a statue. Her mouth hung so wide a bird could fly inside.
Black remained mentally bothered by her failure to float Kian for an entire eight hours. But even at that sad mental state, the revelation made her jaw drop open in absolute disbelief.
Red scrambled up from the floor and argued. "But Healers are weaker than Swordsmen."
"I'm not saying that Healers are stronger than Swordsmen," Kian said proudly. "What I'm saying is that Healers are way cooler, not just than Swordsmen, but than all other Job Classes."
All their eyes widened in surprise and shock.
Of course that's a lie, Kian thought. You kids always believe what I say without complaint. Then I dare you to believe this nonsense.
Yellow stood up. She felt the most confused among them. She could not believe her ears. Rookie Adventurers labeled the Healer Class as lame, yet Kian called it the coolest. She faced Kian.
"Ki, I don't understand," Celia said. "Please explain."
What's this old hag talking about? Kian panicked internally. Explain? I don't know it either.
Kian turned to his left and saw Pink. She stood tall. She looked fine from the outside, but everybody except Kian knew her body felt pain all over. Kian looked at Yellow again.
"Pink will explain it to you," Kian deflected.
I cannot actually see a single reason why Healers are cooler, Kian thought. I made it up.
Pink's eyes darted back and forth. "Because... because... Ah! I know. Healers are the coolest among other Job Classes because Healers can manipulate their anatomy."
Huh? Kian thought. What is she saying? I never heard about anatomy manipulation. Healers can only heal. That's all they can do.
Yellow and Pink looked at Kian. They waited for his confirmation. Kian's throat went dry.
"AHEM!"
He cleared his throat. "Correct."
Pink jumped high into the air. She entirely forgot her pain because she felt so happy to be right.
"I knew it!" Pink cheered as she landed. "I'm right!"
Celia stared at her own hands and realized something.
"Kian, I want to spar with her in full strength," Red said. He pointed his index finger at Yellow. "Can Healers use Aura to coat a sword?"
What is Red talking about? Kian thought. Of course, even if Yellow mastered the footwork of a Light Swordsman, she can never be a real Swordsman because she was born a Healer. A Healer cannot coat their body and weapon with Aura. They cannot fight a Disaster-class monster. That's why they are lame. Healers are the weakest.
Then Kian saw Red's bright eyes. The young boy hoped Kian would say: Yes, Healers can use Aura to coat a sword.
Kian looked at everyone inside the room. They waited for his revelation.
You always believe what I say? Kian thought. Fine. I dare you to believe this prank.
"AHEM!"
Kian cleared his throat again. "Red is right. Healers can use Aura to coat a sword and their body."
Red pumped both of his fists high into the air.
"Yes!" A huge, toothy grin split his young face as he jumped excitedly in place, thrilled by the sudden confirmation of his wild theory. He looked at Yellow. "I knew it! Now we can finally fight in full strength!"
From the corner of the room, Lumina dropped her wooden staff. The wood clattered loudly against the floor. She stared at Kian with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging completely open, entirely unable to process the ridiculous claim.
"No way!" She gasped.
With his hands gripping his hair, Brown stumbled a step backward.
Lexi simply shrugged her shoulders. She crossed her arms and threw a sharp, disappointed glare at the shocked kids. "Everyone says doing that is pure suicide, but if Kian says it works, then it works. You are just too dumb to understand his high-level thinking."
Hearing her blindly defend his blatant lie made his chest tighten with suppressed amusement. It was completely ridiculous. They were actually buying his nonsense without a single doubt, so he needed to push the joke to the limit before his composure shattered.
Kian looked at Yellow with a poker face. He laughed inside his head. He thought of some cool words he could say.
"Healers are special," Kian said to Yellow.
Celia's eyes widened. The dull, defeated look in her pupils shattered. A bright, sudden spark of intense inspiration flooded her gaze, transforming her entire expression as Kian's words echoed deeply in her soul.
---
Present Day in Voragale.
Nia's left eye locked onto a sight her brain simply refused to accept. The dust settled over the ruined cobblestones. Right in front of her stood the blonde elf. Celia looked like a fragile fourteen-year-old human girl. She wore the white robe of a Healer, and her bare feet rested casually against the sharp, broken stones of the street without a single flinch. She looked completely ordinary but she held a weapon in her hands. It was the sword with the orange hilt.
Nia stared at the steel blade, so her breath hitched painfully in her dry throat. She blinked hard, hoping to clear her blurry vision, but the image remained permanently fixed in the dark. Celia's small body did not glow at all, but the sword itself radiated a strange, intense light.
A brilliant yellow-green glow coated the entire length of the metal to push back the shadows. At first, Nia desperately tried to convince herself it was just a cheap trick. She thought it might be a simple illumination spell or maybe a weird reflection from the distant streetlamps still burning in the evacuated city.
She looked down at the ground to find a logical excuse to calm her racing heart. But upon looking down, she saw the thick, thorny vines from the Calamity-class monster scattered across the ground. They were sliced clean through, so the edges looked perfectly smooth.
Normal steel always bounced right off those hardened vines. A standard blade would shatter into pieces before it could even scratch that kind of thick armor.
There was only one logical way to cut a Calamity.
A cold chill ran straight down Nia's spine, and her hands started to shake violently against the cold stones. The logical conclusion hit her hard. That yellow-green light coating the blonde elf Healer's sword was indeed Aura.
That can't be, Nia thought, her mind completely breaking apart under the heavy weight of the impossible truth. What is going on here? Wait. Huh?!
Healers cannot use Aura on weapons. The strict laws of the Mana Core dictate that a Healer's anatomy is incapable of coating their body or weapon in Aura. It was a universal fact taught to every single Adventurer on their very first day. But Celia was standing right there on the ruined street. She was perfectly fine, and she casually held an Aura-coated sword like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Nia's jaw dropped entirely open. Her thoughts spun in chaotic, panicked circles. She tried to find a valid reason, but her brain completely failed to take in the impossible scene unfolding in the street.
Beside her, Korinn lay bleeding on the ground. The Thief gritted his teeth against the sharp pain in his side and propped himself up on his good elbow. He squinted through the dark and saw the glowing sword illuminating the white fabric of the elf's robe.
"Nia, what's that?" Korinn asked, his voice rough and full of deep confusion.
Nia kept her left eye wide open, entirely shocked by the impossibility standing just a few meters away. She pressed her bare hands flat against the cold, broken cobblestones, desperately hoping the sharp edges would anchor her back to reality.
"I don't know!" Nia frantically replied. Her voice cracked loudly in the cold air, betraying the raw panic bubbling deep in her chest.
Korinn blinked and looked closely at her face. He saw the pure terror shining in her single good eye. "Huh?"
"That's... I... I can't..." Nia stammered, shaking her head aggressively to deny what she saw. "I don't understand."
Korinn heard the broken panic in her voice. He slowly turned his head to look at the rest of the raid team, desperately hoping for some clarity from the older fighters. He expected the veterans to shout orders or explain the bizarre magic trick immediately. But he saw something that scared him even more than the towering monster.
Everyone else was completely paralyzed.