"Uhhh..." Max didn't know what to say, the offer had been way too sudden and unexpected. He knew for sure he didn't want to join the Healing Department, that much was assured, but what could Professor Narain offer him? She seemed very sure Max would want to join after showing off wathever she wanted to show him.
Max sighed and then spoke. "I- What do you want to show me exactly?"
"I knew you would listen to me! Those brutes at the Short Range Department don't deserve someone of such talents on their ranks, I told Edward that you just had to be on my Department... but he rejected me, preposterous! You would usher in a new age for the Healing Department, I just know it, preferably bringing more funding too..." Professor Narain boasted about the Healing Department for a solid half hour, yet it only took a minute for Max to start tuning her out, it seemed the only person paying attention to her was Edward, who was already massaging his temples 10 minutes in.
"Enough, just get to the damn point!" Edward slammed his fist on the desk and almost screamed.
"Oh right... Sorry about that, I got carried away..." Professor Narain gave Edward and Max an apologetic look, the former was already feeling a migraine incoming while the latter had been too engrossed on looking at a pencil that was on Edward's desk to notice how much time had passed.
"What I was going to offer you is... A better way of using your Life-Force, could you show me your strings please?" Max obliged and formed some Life Force strings on his fingers.
"Marvelous... I don't believe you understand how rare visible Life Force strings are, I'm sure that they taught you that to actually heal injuries Plant Elementals need to refine their Elemental Energy in middle-school, right?" Professor Narain tentatively asked.
Max looked at her with confusion for a split second, which turned into dread, he had completely forgotten about that part, regular Plant Elemental Energy could not heal, only after being refined and compressed could it turn into strings of Pseudo-Life Force. That was also the reason only either Plant Elementals with ample storage of Elemental Energy or great Manipulation of said energy could become healers.
"I see you had forgotten about that part in the heat of the moment... I'm sure you didn't know Pseudo-Life Force even existed much less that it can't be seen by the naked eye, so that means your regular Elemental Energy as not only naturally refined itself once, but twice! Did you have any difficulty in your Healing classes in middle-school? Maybe ending up over exerting yourself while practicing?" Professor Narain looked at Max like a Whirlwind Wolf would eye a particularly succulent steak.
"Yeah... Refining Elemental Energy was always hard, it was like trying to put more water inside an already full water bottle, I just couldn't do it and ended up lightheaded just by trying..." Max could remember the other Plant Elementals in that class calling him useless as he couldn't even heal a snapped branch of the sapling they were using as practice.
"That explains it... And I'm sure your Teacher never taught you how to decompress Life Force then, am I right?" There was a glint in Professor Narains eyes as she asked that question.
"Say what now? You can do that?" Max looked at Professor Narain completely perplexed, he didn't know that was even a possibility.
"Yes, it's something that every Healer and Hunter needs to learn to make more use of their Elemental Energy supply... They refine all of their Elemental Energy into Life Force and then decompress it when needing to heal someone, only using pure life force in extreme situations... That's why I was so surprised when I saw you, a Plant Elemental barely 15 years old and with no real training in healing using Life Force strings." Professor Narain explained as the glint in her eyes became more noticeable, making Max uncomfortable.
"That's also why Healers don't make good fighters, Life Force is good for healing but not so good at manipulating plants like regular Elemental Energy..." As Professor Narain said that the gears on Max's brain started churning as he realized something just moments later.
" So that- That's what happened to me- That's why I was always do bad at controlling plants-" Max held the sides of his face as the realization hit him, two life changing events had happened in such a short time.
"Exactly, And that's why you need to join the Healing Department! You're a once in a lifetime genius born with natural Life Force, you could be the best Healer of your generation!" Once in a lifetime genius was really saying something, considering how long Elementals live, those that aren't Hunters that is.
Professor Narain smirked, everything was according to plan 'Soon he'll be begging me to let him join-!"
"Drop the act at once and teach the kid how to decompress Life Force, Regina." Edward grumbled and called Professor Narain out by name.
Regina gasped at Edward and acted shocked. "I was going to do so! For who do you take me for?" Yet she gave him a dirty look for a split second before teaching Max.
The older Plant Elemental's expression was if she had eaten a lemon as if it was an orange. "Uh... so it's like pulling apart string cheese..." how Max described the process only made it worse.
After the end of the impromptu lesson the chair Max was sitting on had sprouted small branches with green leaves even though the wood it was made of was supposed to be dead, the cause was that a tiny bit of Pseudo-Life Force had escaped Max's core as it was filled to the brim, which entered the nearest object that could house it, making the wooden chair come back to life.
"Uh... sorry for the chair Sir..." Max gave Edward an awkward smile, who responded by shaking his head.
"Don't worry about it, you should head back to class now though..." That got Max on his feet and rushing for the door, yet he hesitated as he touched the knob.
"Uh... Sir?" Max looked back at Edward and the sulking Regina. "Could- Could I still join the Healing Department? Not full time, but a few hours each week, if that's possible..."
Both Edward and Regina looked at Max in surprise, The former took a few seconds to respond while the latter was still in shock.
"Oh- Sure! I'll take care of the paperwork, what hours are you thinking?" Edward spoke as he quickly put a few papers to print.
Max took a few moments to think the question through, the first 3 hours of a day were spent on Professor Bronn's class with a few breaks in between so no way he was missing those, then came lunch, after that either Professor Pate's class on Winsday (The 2nd day of a week) and Fyrsday (The 5th day of a week), Professor Oberis' class on Watesday (The 3rd) and Eortday (The 6th), both for 3 hours also with breaks inbetween... then came 3 hours of Cooking class as his elective on Stelesday (The 4th)... Max's schedule was very simple all things considered, that's why he didn't want to complicate it.
"Uh... maybe the last two hours of Stelesday?" Max said, unsure about his own decision.
"Are you sure? That would leave you a single hour for your elective..." Edward gave Max a worried look.
"I know, but I don't want to sacrifice hours on either Professor Pate's or Oberis' classes..." Max replied as he changed the schedule on his phone.
"If you say so... Get going then, I'll have this ready by tomorrow." Edward shook his head and got to writing the paperwork.
"Thank you Sir!" Max said as he opened the door and rushed to Professor Bronn's class.
•••••
When Max got there it was business as usual, on his way to the locker room he saw other students doing regular exercise with the few sparring matches going on in the sand-filled area.
Max entering the building didn't attract much attentions as everyone was busy doing their own things, except for a familiar Wind Elemental.
"Hey Max!" Gareth called out as he walked over to the Volcano Elemental, his voice and eyes carried a hint of curiosity. "So... why did the principal call you? Did you get in trouble or something?".
"Uh- No, it was for another thing... Actually...." Max's neutral expression turned into a grin. "Wanna have a sparring match with me? I want to show you something."
Gareth's curiosity was already spiked as he also grinned "Sure!"
After quickly changing from his regular uniform into his gym clothes Max got into the desert-like area with Gareth, it was pretty big, with more than enough space for all the sparring matches going on, something Max was going to remedy.
"3!" Max started decompressing the Life Force inside his core the second those words left his mouth, the anticipation was already killing him.
"2!" Gareth made his own preparations, one wind blade for each hand along with the strange wind that made him faster.
"1... Go!" Max jumped back while Gareth jumped forward, they had opposite plans for this fight.
Yet just as Gareth got closer to his target the sand shook, revealing the hidden root system underneath, although they were dry it was still more than enough to give Gareth hell as the mass of writhing roots grew bigger and healthier with noticeable speed, and thus faster and more durable.
It was all bad news to Gareth, no matter how many he cut down twice that amount would come out of the ground, their fight started taking more and more space, forcing the other students on their own sparring matches to get out of the arena.
Meanwhile the cause of Gareth's despair was cackling at his opponents futile struggle, controlling the roots like a masterful puppeteer, although there wasn't much skill at doing so, he wasn't controlling each root individually after all. It was more like a mindless gigantic jellyfish thrashing its tentacles around in hopes of catching an agile little fish.
As the root system started growing bigger and bigger Max started to feel the toll, yet the exhilaration of finally being able to use plants properly blinded him to the fatigue.
The whole gym was now watching the spar with bated breath, the massive amalgamation of roots now reached the roof, cutting down on Gareth's wiggle room and blocking access to the side with the equipment, but leaving the sparring area was considered a loss, and Gareth did not accept defeat easily.
Gareth began using riskier and riskier maneuvers to evade the abomination of plant matter that threatened to catch him at the slightest mistake.
Yet as the fight carried on the movement of the roots started to become sluggish, going from backing Gareth to a corner to missing him entirely and reacting late to his movements by almost a full second.
The cause was none other than the previously cackling mastermind, now haggard and tired, it was like he had used up all of his energy, yet Max could feel that his core wasn't empty at all... what was going on...?
'Need... to... catch... Gareth...' And then everything went black.
•••••
When Max regained consciousness he was welcomed by a head-splitting headache, the worst one he had ever felt.
Max didn't even want to open his eyes, fearing that the slightest stimulus might send him a shockwave of pain, the constant whispering he heard did not help at all.
After what felt like hours but was probably minutes Max felt his headache subside, he took the chance to open one eye, what welcomed him was the view of the nurse's office, the same one he had visited on his eventful first day of school.
After the pain faded more and Max could finally form thoughts without feeling like needles were piercing his scalp he started to wonder what had happened, and it didn't take long to piece everything together.
He had gone overboard on his spar with Gareth, his body was not used to such an amount of Elemental Energy going through it, the pressure was too much and it ended up giving out.
'I should have stopped... So much for being a genius...' Max was ashamed of himself, finally being able to control plants like a proper Plant Elemental had gone to his head too quickly.