Ryth felt even more awkward seeing as they all laughed. He knew it wasn't mean or anything, it was just kinda that silly situation.
So he just had to shrug and let it go.
"So uh... hello? Can we... get started?" Ryth felt no small amount of embarrassment as he just focused on doing what he could right now.
"Yeah, sure." The lizard man said in a gravelly voice, beckoning everyone else to get going.
They set out, and Ryth awkwardly aisles up to the healer. "So... got any tips?"
The healer wanted to laugh at this shameless kid. "Uh, yeah, sure."
The elf thought about just giving something casually, but seeing how attentive this kid looked, he swallowed back his empty words and thought about it.
"...well... I dunno what to tell you that will always be true. Healing is a variant art that requires you to adjust accordingly."
"Adaptability and quick thinking are a healers best friends, and learning human biology, or biology in general is good, but if you don't have the money for classes, I'd recommend buying used books."
"Also... here's a tip. You need high mana if you want to be a groups healer who can heal during an adventure. But if you do go down a doctor-type route instead, train your mana regeneration. It's more important to recover quickly in a hospital than to have large amounts you can only use once per hour."
Ryth blinked a bit. So he'd be a good doctor?
'Not exactly what I was looking for...'
The swordsman stopped, sensing something, and the others soon noticed it too, settling down and ready as a wolf leapt off the path, coming towards them.
Ryth began reaching for a knife, but stopped in shock as he saw the lizard man easily sidestep the wolf, swinging his ax with one hand and cutting the damn thing in half! {Well that's scary strong.}
'Holy shit! That's a 2nd stage against a common beast I guess... but damn.'
They kept moving, with Ryth again and again being surprised by the random attacks being so easily handled. In this first-stage area, why would they even need to be stealthy? The group was constantly on guard however, giving off a sense of professionalism and clearly taking it seriously.
As a goblin managed to get a scratch in that the swordsmen couldn't quite dodge, he sighed and went to bandage it.
"Why don't you heal his wound?" Ryth asked the healer, but the Elf laughed.
"Wouldn't that be a huge waste of Mana? It takes awhile to come back you know, so I'm not gonna use it on every round there is."
Ryth blinked. Precious? Mana is as cheap as air!
He walks over and used a bit of healing energy, and the swordsmen looked a bit amused.
"So you're just going to do it cause you won't need it? Is that what you think?" The Mage muttered to himself annoyed. He could see this boy had very little mana already, yet he goes about using it so easily!
Ruth blinked. Why did it matter? Not like it wouldn't come back in 20 seconds.{Wow our boy doesn't even know he's a freak yet, lol.}
They kept walking, but the other healer kept giving Ryth weird looks after noticing something.
'His mana is obviously abysmal by how Erakin acted, but he doesn't look concerned. A kid capable of surviving a mid-first stage spider with venom that's threatening to a second stage shouldn't be dumb, right?'
He sidled up to the Mage, Erakin. "Hey... could you see his mana drop?"
The Mage snorted. "Yeah, he's got so damn little I would be hard-presses not to notice."
"Well what's it like now?"
"What do you mean?" The Mage turned his eyes to Ryth, engaging his skill. "It's obviously barely cha-what the fuck?!"
The healer quickly put his hand over Erakin's mouth to shut it as he began to yell. The only one with senses sharp enough to catch that something had happened was the swordsman, who shot a look back, then kept going.
"Nice reaction time Herald." Erakin said as Herald's hand was removed from his mouth.
"So what happened?"
"Well..." Erakin shot another look to be sure.
"If I'm not mistaken, that kids got all his mana back."
Herald sucked in a breath between his teeth. "Shit seriously? He's got it all?"
It had only been a minute! What kind of monster can regenerate the mana required to heal a shallow wound in less than a minute while still in the first half of the first stage?
Sure a healer at level 1 is able to heal 20 such wounds{Ryth could only heal 3 at once, his mana storage is trash}, but it would take 10 minutes to regenerate even 1 of those 20 times!{Luckily his mana regeneration is freaking ridiculous.}
"That's... not normal." Herald finally breathed out those words, staring at Ryth with a strange light in his eyes.
"Do you think he'd be compatible with a grimoire?"
Erakin shot him a look. "What the fuck? It takes until stage 2 at the LEAST to get a grimoire and survive its hunger, and you want to give one to a level 2? Are you fucking insane?" Erakin hisses in a whisper, the shrillness of his voice growing higher at the end!
"Well with his mana regeneration... plus a sealed one would consume less and actually be unlock-able if he fulfills the conditions. The association also would freely give him a compatible one if he were recommended and successful in gaining one they couldn't use anyways."
"Why do you want to help this kid?" Erakin gave Herald a suspicious look.
"Well... he's cute and I feel sorry for him."
Erakin sighed. "Why do you get attracted to the weirdest guys... whatever. Maybe he actually will amount to something."
"Mm" Herald hummer in agreement, and continued, "we can use this outing to test him of course. Not going to give a strange kid our trust on such a thing."
Erakin arched an eyebrow. "Here I thought you were just being stupid."
Ryth walked on, oblivious to the conversation behind.
And deeper in the woods, webs were spun, in many numbers. Perhaps our "infestation" is not so small or simple...
In a certain goblin outpost, a certain goblin woke up to find his toes regrown and his injuries healed. He jumped about in surprise, and went out amongst his brethren.
Surprise ripples through the small green humanoids, for this one survivor of the previous days failed Hunt was a good inch taller, with more muscle and a less round belly!
Not to mention his skin was slightly tinted red!
Boontho looked down at his hands, his nails a shade darker and a few millimeters longer.
His instinctual and primal mind was faster now, and he could understand he was different.
The leader of the outpost came down with a sword looted from a human of decent quality. He looked in confusion at the hubbub about the unusual goblin, and Boontho's gaze lifted to meet his.
The leader shivered as bloodlust hit him, the changed goblin's eyes shining with interest.
When a pack animal becomes stronger than its pack...
...it will no longer submit as a follower.