Judgment

A trial was underway in the corridor between the treatment room and the common lounge.

The other Healers watched the slightly short 222, the gazes behind their raven masks filled with complex emotions.

They had no doubts regarding the accusation that 176 had "stolen a spell formula"; in fact, they found it entirely reasonable.

A healing spell formula was not merely a set of operations, but a method for learning a miracle.

Unlike Combat Arcanists, Healers and Creation Arcanists did not need to engage in PVP, so they could lower the difficulty of their miracles by extending the casting time. Combat Arcanists could not afford this—their enemies would blast them to pieces while they were still chanting.

Therefore, Healers and Creation Arcanists broke miracles down into many steps, and by combining a sequence of these steps, a miracle was formed.

These steps were the spell formulas.

Thus, as long as one learned the spell formulas, mastering the miracle was only a matter of time.

Spell formulas were naturally regarded as important intellectual property. For an arcanist who created a new spell formula, no matter how narrow the scope of its application or how uncommercial it might be, the royalties earned from licensing it to other arcanists for study were enough for that arcanist to order a 50-year life-extension package at one of the Four Great Institutes.

This was also the reason why Ash found only one Healer in the treatment room every time he woke up—Healers were not allowed to have others watch them while they performed treatments, to prevent their healing spell formulas from being stolen.

The Healer looked at 201, "Were you sent by the teacher?"

"I am a graduate student following your senior; she is my boss."

201 phrased his words carefully, not revealing any names, "The Broken Lake Warden is a friend of the boss... however, the boss instructed me not to disturb you under normal circumstances. If this scum hadn't gone too far by stealing the institute's property, I wouldn't have appeared."

The Healer asked, "Now that my identity is exposed, does that mean I have to leave here?"

201 laughed, "Miss, you are joking. Who among those who come to Broken Lake Prison for the 'Blood Embrace Ritual' isn't a prospective bloodkin from an organization under the Four Great Institutes? How could we betray you? How would we dare to betray you?"

The other Healers bowed in unison to show their respect.

They had no choice but to lower their heads. There were thirty-six research institutes in the Blood Moon Country in total: twenty-four small institutes, eight medium institutes, and four great institutes.

Most of them were merely "prospective bloodkin" from small institutes, while the young lady before them was a new bloodkin of the "Blood Tears" of the Four Great Institutes. The gap in status between the two sides was like heaven and earth.

To put it bluntly, after they completed the Blood Embrace and left the prison, the best result they could hope for was to become Golden Bloodkin, gaining two hundred years of life and stopping at the Two-Winged stage for the rest of their lives.

As for the new bloodkin of the Four Great Institutes, they were almost all Saint Domain Bloodkin with five hundred years of life, or even Legendary Bloodkin with a thousand years!

The Three-Winged Saint Domain was the starting point they had to reach; Four-Winged Legendary was not unusual, and it was even possible to touch the realm of Divine Spirits and become a Demigod Saint, standing above all living beings in the Blood Moon Country!

"Miss, how should we deal with this scum?" 201 asked.

The Healer was silent for a moment, looking at 176.

"Do you have anything to say?"

176 raised his fish head and glanced at the Healer, the familiar crimson radiance appearing in his large eyeballs.

"Audacious!"

201 let out a cold snort and crushed a vein bubble.

176 shuddered, his already pale fish face turning as white as a sheet of paper.

"I refuse to accept this."

"What do you not accept?"

"I do not accept that you can become a new bloodkin of the Blood Tears Research Institute, while I have to struggle and crawl in a small institute."

176 almost bit through his sharp teeth, "I am clearly also a heaven-sent talent among the fishmen, I could clearly also become a supreme bloodkin, but why is the gap in resources between you and me so large?"

"I refuse to accept it. The Blood Embrace opportunity I exhausted all my schemes to obtain, you received so easily; I refuse to accept it. The spell formulas I crave are knowledge you can obtain at will; I refuse to accept it. Why is it that the best prisoner materials are handled by you, while I can only get some flavorless scraps..."

"What I refuse to accept most is why your talent is also so good!"

176 became increasingly hysterical, "I cannot watch you surpass me... I cannot!"

"Truly a piece of scum without a shred of remorse."

201 popped another vein bubble, and this time, 176 nearly fainted.

"There is no need to listen to his trash talk anymore... Miss, how do you want to deal with him?"

201 paused, "Generally speaking, it is immediate execution."

The Healer watched 176, who was almost collapsing to the ground, and pondered for a long time.

"He hasn't made me dislike him enough to want him dead, but if he died, I wouldn't care much either."

"So, your meaning is..."

"Find a soft club shaped like a geoduck, beat him until he is covered in bruises, do not allow him to be treated, and drive him out. By the way, isn't he a Blue Scale Fishman? The finger sharks shouldn't kill him. Throw him into the sea tonight and let him swim back himself."

201 was stunned for a moment, "But Miss—"

"This is my decision." The Healer looked at 201, "If you do not agree, then proceed according to your own ideas. I don't mind."

"I did not mean that." 201 bowed deeply, "Your will shall be carried out."

"Then I am going back to rest."

The Healer walked past the crowd and left quickly, as if wanting to escape this suffocating atmosphere. But soon, a slow, heavy footstep quickly caught up to her pace.

The Healer stopped in front of her dormitory door and looked at 201, who had caught up.

"Is there anything else?"

"Since I have already disturbed you, I thought I might as well take this opportunity to say a few words... a reminder." 201 weighed his words carefully, "Just a few words of reminder."

"Go ahead."

"I have noticed that the time you spend with the prisoners in the Treatment Room is slightly... against regulations. Of course, this is perfectly fine; I guarantee no one would use this rule to offend you, and I am not here to warn you."

"If it weren't to avoid trouble from the Human Rights Association or the Racial Rights Association, we wouldn't need to pretend to be Healers to conduct the ritual here. Those rules only lower the probability of us encountering trouble, but you, Miss, do not need to worry about encountering any."

Every sentence 201 spoke emphasized his own humility.

"I am merely worried that while you are playing, Miss, you might develop unnecessary feelings for those materials and delay the Blood Embrace Ritual. If there is an issue with your Blood Embrace progress, the Boss will hold me accountable."

The Healer shook her head, "I have not forgotten the Blood Embrace Ritual, rest assured."

She paused, "Every prisoner I have treated has already been implanted with a Blood Embrace Seed. As soon as they die during their trials, the Blood Embrace Seed will naturally coalesce their knowledge and Spell Power, converting it all into my Source Blood."

The Healer walked into her Dormitory and reached up to remove her Raven Mask, revealing a pair of eyes as crimson as they were violent. She stared at 201 like a predator, sending a chill down his spine.

"We of the Blood Saint Clan never develop feelings for our bread."