Ye Buyu shook her head in bewilderment. "Didn't understand a word. Can you speak human?"
Little Whale lashed the air with its tail in fury. "It means other people have to pay the price for your ability! How do you think I got here? You think I wanted this?"
Little Whale roared angrily. "I gave up being a perfectly good level-ten [Calamity] to come be your instruction manual! Am I just a glutton for punishment?!"
Ye Buyu tried to soothe it. "Calm down. Just calm down."
"Calm down, my ass! You couldn't awaken earlier or later. No, you had to pop awake right when the [Whale of Wailing] came crashing down and start frantically healing it, forcing it to split off a remnant to pay the price..."
Little Whale trembled with rage. "Does a level-ten [Calamity] need you to heal it? Are you even capable of healing it?"
It stared at Ye Buyu in despair and posed a soul-searching question. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Ye Buyu gave an awkward laugh and said nothing. It wasn't as if she'd done it willingly. She hadn't known about any of this... Surely she couldn't be blamed.
She picked at her fingers, sorely tempted to pat the Calamity remnant in front of her, which was practically red with rage. If it was the price paid for her ability, then she could be certain Little Whale couldn't hurt her.
Didn't that make it her cheat?
"Do you have any other abilities?"
Little Whale conjured a large sofa and flopped onto it with its tail propped up. "Oh, so you've figured out I can't hurt you. I do have other abilities. Aside from being your instruction manual, I can protect your mind and consciousness.
"Unless a level-ten [Calamity] targets you, no other Calamity can invade your consciousness. Satisfied?"
Ye Buyu chuckled. "Then how do I use my ability?"
"The usual ways. Sprinkle it around, gather it into a halo, make up some mystical-sounding incantation. Whatever you like. Whoever you heal gets bad luck anyway."
Ye Buyu couldn't smile anymore. She was doomed. Her ability seemed a little rude. Would she even be able to find teammates in the future?
Little Whale floated over and raised a fin to pat Ye Buyu's head. "All right, here's the simplest healing skill. Go learn it. Off you go!"
Knocked out of the consciousness space by its tail, Ye Buyu woke up with a skill in her mind: Thousand Tides Tracing the Moon.
It conjured fragments of moonlight to heal wounds through a tide-like reversal, not only rapidly restoring injuries but also replenishing the target's strength.
It could also place moon-phase marks on teammates to provide continuous healing, gradually fading as the moon phases changed.
This wasn't healing. This was rewinding, wasn't it?
You called this the simplest healing-type ability?!
While Ye Buyu was still thinking, Mu Bingge quietly spoke beside her. "How did it feel?"
"Hmm... I did learn about my ability, but it still feels a little strange."
"Mm. Want to try it?" Mu Bingge held out her hand.
Ye Buyu shook her head frantically. "No, no. I'll wait until I've found a teacher and had some proper instruction."
Who knew what side effects her ability might cause? If she drove away the roommate she was counting on to carry her, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
Mu Bingge nodded. "All right. I'll be going home for a few days to take care of some things. If you have any problems, you can call me."
Ye Buyu gazed at her cool, seemingly unapproachable roommate. The campus breeze swept up emerald leaves and gently brushed through Mu Bingge's hair. Those blue eyes, which reflected no one, didn't seem quite so much like stagnant water anymore.
"Sure. If anything comes up for you, remember to call me too."
Mu Bingge blinked and replied a little awkwardly, "Mm."
The next day.
Under the warm sunlight, one of them headed home while the other went to receive systematic instruction according to the course schedule Lan Huaiyu had arranged.
When Ye Buyu found the healing-type teacher, she was busy treating an upperclassman who had returned from a mission.
Her movements looked exactly like she was sprinkling cumin powder. The patient wore an expression of bliss, while the students observing beside her scribbled furiously in their notebooks.
An upperclassman wearing glasses approached and said quietly, "You're Ye Buyu, right? Teacher Zhang Ying is treating someone right now. If you're here to learn, watch from the side first and save your questions for later."
"Okay. Thank you." Ye Buyu joined the row of students busily taking notes.
She watched the teacher named Zhang Ying expertly sprinkle healing radiance, the drifting motes of light landing on the wound and gradually closing it.
Ye Buyu couldn't shake the feeling that the pose looked just like the barbecue vendor outside the school gates. No matter how she looked at it, that technique was pure cumin sprinkling.
Did this teacher... have some unusual side job? The kind where she got chased around by city enforcement officers, perhaps.
As she treated the wound, Zhang Ying explained, "Although healing-type abilities are relatively gentle, you need to pay attention to how you use them. Especially when dealing with Calamity power that has invaded the bone marrow. If you're too rough, you'll stimulate that power into growing wildly and cause further injury."
"So you need to sprinkle it evenly?" Ye Buyu blurted out without thinking.
Zhang Ying nodded. "Exactly. Once you're proficient, you won't need to be so careful. All right, treatment complete. The next student's affliction isn't serious. You can give it a try."
Zhang Ying turned to Ye Buyu. "You go first. Don't be afraid. It's a good chance to get some practice."
The upperclassman lying down smiled. "Go ahead. We're used to it. Everyone at school practices on each other anyway. You're a healing type. What could you possibly do to me?"
Ye Buyu looked awkwardly at Zhang Ying. "Teacher, my ability has side effects. I'm still not sure what they are..."
"Perfect. Let me have a look."
Resigned, Ye Buyu held out her hand and copied Zhang Ying's movements, starting to sprinkle. But despite moving her fingers for ages, she couldn't produce a single mote of healing light.
Just as she began to panic, Little Whale suddenly spoke in her mind. "Slap his wound directly."
Ye Buyu thrust out her hand and slapped the upperclassman's wound. A squeal like a pig being slaughtered rang through the classroom.
"AAH?!"
The upperclassman sprang up, clutching his lower back and staring accusingly at Ye Buyu. Are you trying to murder me, junior?
As he felt around, he realized the wound on his waist no longer seemed to hurt. Sensation had even returned, his whole body felt lighter, and the mental fog caused by the Calamity's invasion had cleared.
He dropped to his knees with a thud and looked up in shock. "Holy crap, it's healed already? Your first treatment worked this well?"
Ye Buyu slowly covered her mouth and looked awkwardly at the kneeling upperclassman. "Um, could you get up?"
The upperclassman tried... and failed.
The two stared at each other. For a moment, the awkwardness was enough to make everyone squirm.
Ye Buyu turned to the dumbstruck teacher and students for help. "I told you there were side effects."
Everyone looked at their fellow student, who was stuck kneeling on the floor. Wasn't this side effect a little too absurd?
The kneeling upperclassman, however, felt perfectly fine and even helpfully described his condition. "Not bad. Aside from being unable to get up, I don't feel anything else."
"I'm sorry!"
Ye Buyu hurried forward and tried to pull him up, only to discover that nothing she did could get him off the floor.
What was she supposed to do?!
Little Whale burst into uproarious laughter inside her mind. "Hahahahaha! That's a mandatory price! I told you, whoever you heal gets bad luck!"
Before you continue