Mythran's Master Of All

Deresdra motioned to the long cut on the male giant's leg. She'd already prepped it and stopped the bleeding, but it was jagged and torn on the edges.

“It's from a tree that he stumbled over.” Deresdra said, then shook her head. “That sounded really odd saying it out loud.” She chuckled. “He stumbled... over a tree!”

Ren chuckled, too. “What do we do?”

“Unfortunately, we'll have to cause him some pain.” Deresdra said. “There's nothing we can numb the wound with before we probe to see if there's any underlying damage.”

“You need numbness? I got that covered.” Ren said, and took out the crate that was nearly full of Brain Arthropod Grub loot. He picked out one of the mandibles and stored the crate.

“What is that?”

“It has a numbness venom on it.” Ren said, then looked at the size of the wound. “Um, I should probably dilute it to spread it around.” He said, sewed up a sack, then changed the enchantment on one of his Screaming Terror rings to Water Spray. He held the mandible above the top of the sack, and sprayed it with water. He was careful not to get any on himself, because the last thing he needed was to have a numb hand, and half-filled the sack with water. He dropped in the mandible, closed the sack, and shook it up.

“What are you doing?” Deresdra asked.

“Making sure there's an even mix.” Ren said. “I learned that while mixing building materials.” He smiled as he stopped shaking the sack. “It was pretty messy when I added in too much water a few times.”

Ren opened the top of the sack, and slowly poured the mixture over the wound. He'd emptied about a third of the sack, and the male giant visibly relaxed.

“What in the world made you think of doing that?” Deresdra asked.

“When I picked up my share of the loot from the Garrison.” Ren said. “The Commander told me that the medical staff wanted to experiment with the venom, to see what they could do with it's numbing properties.”

Deresdra shook her head. “Why didn't you tell me this?”

“I just did.” Ren said. “I haven't had them for long, and this is literally the first time I even thought of using it since then.”

“You can be really frustrating sometimes.” Deresdra sighed. “You know that, right?”

“Yep.” Ren said and grinned at her, and she couldn't help but smile.

“By the gods.” Deresdra said, then chuckled. “Watch closely, okay? It's a little different, since the patient and the wound is so big, but the theory and actions are the same. Understand?”

Ren nodded, and watched her as she gently worked on the wound and checked for any underlying damage.

“Okay, now you try.” Deresdra said, and Ren stepped up and did the same motions as she did. “No, not like that.” She said. “You're only repeating what I did.” She shook her head and took his hand. “Like this.” She put his hand on the skin, and pushed his fingers in the correct motion. “Don't just do the action. You have to feel around to see if anything might be wrong.” She explained. “Every wound, every person, is different. The action itself doesn't change, but the motions do every time you use it.”

“I... I see.” Ren said, and realized he couldn't grind Healing like he'd been doing everything else. He wouldn't be able to constantly repeat the same actions to level it up faster. “Thank you for making it clearer.”

“You're welcome.” Deresdra said. Her hand was still pushing Ren's around, and she let him go. “We don't have to hold the wound closed, and it can be healed as long as there's nothing inside or in the way.”

Ren nodded slightly, and Deresdra took out her Major Healing wand.

“This is going to take a few charges to knit the skin back together.” She said, and took aim.

“Wait.” Ren said, and she looked at him. He took out a Level 2 Web wand, absorbed the charges from it, and filled it with Major Healing spells instead. “Use this one.”

“What's the difference?” Deresdra asked as she stored the old wand and took the new one.

“It might be nothing, but it could cut down on how long it'll take to heal.”

Deresdra nodded slightly, and concentrated on the wound. She used a single Major Healing spell, and the wound half-closed. She used it again, and it was like the wound was never there.

“By the gods!” Deresdra exclaimed and looked at the wand. “How can it be almost twice as powerful?”

“It's a Level 2 wand, and I think it only made the spell 20 to 25% more powerful.” Ren said. “It made my webs last longer and made them bigger, so I hoped it would boost the Healing spells a little.”

“How many of them do you have?” Deresdra asked, a little excitedly.

“Level 2 wands with Healing spells? Just that one.” Ren said, and her face went from excited to blank. “You can keep it, though.”

Deresdra's face lit up. “Thank you!” She said loudly, put a hand on his arm and gave it a tight squeeze, then let him go. “Let's go over to the next one!”

For the next half an hour, they worked on healing all of the cuts and bruises, scrapes, and fatigue that the 19 giants had suffered. Deresdra prescribed food and rest for the fatigue, and she and Ren healed everything else. When they were done, Ren had leveled up Healing to Beginner Level 7, and walked with Deresdra out of the camp. He cast bridge across the moat, and took her back to the medical tent.

“Now that you've healed the sick, here's your reward for the battle.” Ren said, and took out the sack of prizes. He handed Deresdra a sack of gold, and she stared at it.

“What's this?”

“A reward from the battle.” Ren said and chuckled. “I just told you that.”

“But... I didn't do anything!”

“I could argue just being there helped the morale, and some of that is reflected in the money; but, even though I was busy, I know you ran to each artillery team to make sure they weren't over-exerting themselves, or getting too excited.”

Deresdra opened her mouth to ask how he could see out of the back of his head like that; but she was afraid she wouldn't like the answer, and decided that she didn't want to know that badly. It was Teepo that had seen her and told Ren about it.

“Thank you.” Deresdra said, and dumped the money into her coin pouch. She stopped breathing when she saw how much was in it. Ren let her ogle at the money, while he examined the item she had been awarded.