Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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"So, you're going to use me to practice the Wood Refinement Chapter?"

The patient wore a strange expression. He certainly wasn't expecting to be treated as a test subject today. Normally, he would've immediately refused to become. After all, who in the right mind would want to be a test subject, especially for a beginner?

That said...

"Well, I'm sure you've heard about the Cosmic Furnace Spell. The Wood Refinement Chapter isn't harmful at all. Moreover, even if it fails, it will only benefit your health. So yeah, if you're okay with it, I'd like to practice on you. No matter what though, the Medical Hall already has you covered." Cedric amicably responded, not forcing the idea at all, just making an offer.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The Wood Refinement Chapter of the Cosmic Furnace Spell is a healing medium. It uses the vibrant bounty of nature to refine one's existence to elevate its status. In the five fundamental refinement chapters, the Wood Chapter acts as a binder and the healing aid. It is not used to harm or hurt, only to facilitate the healing process. One might even say that this is the key to surviving the five elemental refinements during the transitional realm.

Cedric wasn't the first one to have the idea of practicing with a live target. Though one must say that he's definitely audacious enough to ask someone to be his tool for practice.

The patient in front of him was at the 3rd Stage of the Transitional Realm himself and had a clear grasp of the Five Elemental Refinements. He even used it to transition to this level. That's the only reason why he's not that offended at the idea of being used as a practice tool by this cadet and junior healer, because he himself knew that the Wood Chapter wouldn't pose any threat to his health.

"Well, I've got nothing to lose anyway. So yeah, go ahead. Start slowly though." The patient agreed.

Cedric smiled happily and assured him, "Don't worry. I'll be careful, I promise."

As soon as he finished saying this, a verdent plume of flame appeared at his fingertips. With a calm and unhurried expression on his face, he controlled this plume of flame to cover both his hands before pressing it to the back of the patient.

Unknown to this patient, he wasn't the first one to agree with Cedric's proposal. In fact, there had been five people ahead of him that had been treated in the same way by Cedric, so he definitely had some practice already.

It's rather fortunate that this camp doesn't prevent him from doing this. Well, they're probably not expecting someone to make such an audacious suggestion anyway. Maybe it's because it's harmless that they didn't see the point of stopping him.

One thing to note is that Cedric's target patients had one thing in common. And that is that they've all suffered from the effects of the Void Air. Meaning that all of his patients have done the so-called void walking.

Void walking is one of the many tasks in this camp. Its purpose is to patrol the void to see if there is a possibility of the camp being under attack. Void Walkers are designated to patrol the 10,000-mile distance away from the Scarlet Division Wall near the camp.

Those who go deeper than that are called Abyss Divers—people that Cedric hadn't seen nor interacted with just yet.

Void infection is the term used to describe those who had been exposed to the air of the void for an extended period of time. Yes, the Void Suits were created to keep people safe from this infection, but it's not a perfect prevention. The Void Suit themselves have limited durability, and if they're damaged in the middle of a fight against the void creatures while the walkers are outside, they'd be unable to repair it right away. That's why void infections are pretty common.

The infection itself isn't very lethal. It wouldn't kill a person right away, and the stronger the infected was, the slower its effects were. However, it does feel uncomfortable and will always make the infected weak and extremely lethargic. If not treated, the infected will wither away to nothingness.

Although the infection isn't very lethal, it is troublesome to get rid of. The infection clings persistently to the infected, making it exceedingly irritating to flush out even with modern ways of curing it.

With the history of the Border Patrol Guardians, many ways have been discovered to cure someone of the infection. One of such treatments, though, is the Wood Refinement Chapter of the Cosmic Furnace Spell, but it's usually not within the options of the healers. Hell, Cedric might be the only person within the camp that would offer this treatment method above all else.

As Cedric's palms covered with a verdent flame pressed on the back of the patient, the vibrant flush of life flooded to the body of the patient, causing him to gasp loudly.

And as he expected, it wasn't painful at all. In fact, it's too comfortable. Even more so than the previous treatments he experienced before.

The Wood Energy enhanced his natural recovery and resistance against harmful substances, and that includes the Void Infection.

As the one controlling the method, Cedric was able to discover where the densest clump of virus was on the patient's body. This method also allowed him to understand the physiology of his patient, which gave him the advantage and knowledge to make the treatment more effective.

More importantly, though, this gave Cedric more familiarity with the Wood Refinement Chapter. This practice elevated his control and understanding of the refinement to a whole new level. It's still far from his desired level of mastery, but with more patients like this one, he'd eventually make his way there.

"You might feel the need to cough or vomit shortly." Cedric warned the patient, "If you do, don't push it down. Let it happen. We'll flush the virus out of your body that way. There's a bucket in front of you; you can use it."

He felt the patient nodding in response to his suggestions. Cedric didn't say more and focused on continuing with his practice.

Using the rich wood vitality, he warmed the body of his patient and stimulated its natural recovery and resistance. This vitality also stood at the stark opposite of the viral infection of the void. It's like mortal enemies meeting each other on a narrow road.

Before, the patient's body could only suffer from the persistent cling of the virus, but with Cedric's help and his expertise with the wood refinement, the patient's body became stronger, and its natural antibodies seemed to have grown fangs and wings.

Under Cedric's strict observation, the virus was being constantly eliminated and pushed back. Under his coaxing, they were forced out of the patient's body through the mouth.

The patient then had a rough coughing fit. He spat out a glob of black phlegm on the bucket, which Cedric immediately sealed and contained.

Following this, the patient felt nothing but relief. It's as if every cell on his body was cheering because they finally eliminated the foreign and harmful substance that's causing them to suffer.

Though he was puzzled as to why Cedric was still pumping him with vitality. He didn't question it too much, though. As far as he knows, this junior cadet healer was his savior. Moreover, the treatment provided him with nothing but comfort, so he wasn't too concerned.

What he didn't know is that Cedric's target isn't just to get rid of the infection.

In his initial scan, he discovered many hidden injuries within the patient's body. Ones that haven't been treated since and have been causing stagnation to this patient's overall health and progress. These injuries are hard to locate even with modern healing methods, but with the Wood Refinement Chapter, he could easily sense them.

And since Cedric was striving for more practice and experience, he will obviously do his best to treat these hidden injuries too. He had done this on all of his patients, and this one is no different.

That said, discovering the hidden injuries and curing them are two completely different things. The wood refinement chapter might be good, but it's far from the best. Cedric knew that even if he mastered this chapter, it would still be difficult for him to get rid of all the hidden injuries he came across. So, he decided that he would only cure the ones he could. As for the rest, he could only apologize.

Well, it's not like they need to know about it anyway. They could just think that he's just extending the practice just to get more experience; for all he cares, that's the most important part of it anyway.

The patient has been cured within the first ten minutes, but Cedric extended the healing session for an hour before concluding it. After advising the patient to eat more and get some rest, he moved on to his next patient.

Cedric wasn't aware that someone had been watching him work from start to finish and had been making notes about his performance.