I Hate Systems

Chapter 422: The Middle-Aged Healer

Boom!

In the back was the sound of the rock pillars collapsing as a lady gasped for breath, having barely exited the Temperate Refinement Zone, noticing her Origin Essence begin to move little by little.

Soon, she fully left the region, sensing that she was able to freely use her Origin Essence once again, “Hah!”

She unleashed her presence, relaxing a little as it felt suffocating in the Temperate Refinement Zone, making her feel as if she had been drowning all along. Now, she gasped for breath like she had surfaced.

Hiss!

Suddenly, the lady was alarmed when she was able to feel hundreds of gazes on her, causing her to turn around, only being confused as she wasn’t able to sense anyone that could have been the cause of the stare.

There were cultivators around here, all of those that had barely escaped the Temperate Refinement Zone, currently heaving a collective sigh of relief, thanking their lucky stars to have survived that disaster.

“Man, what a waste. I had been looking forward to growing stronger here.” A cultivator muttered in pity.

“What the heck happened to result in the destruction of the rock pillars?” Another cultivator exclaimed, baffled at the scenario.

The lady observed everyone, unable to notice anything amiss. All of them were just cultivators with their respective selfish desires and schemes in effect.

‘Strange…’ She frowned, turning around when she shuddered instinctively once again, feeling hundreds of gazes on her, “What the fuck?”

When she turned around, she only saw the figures of the cultivators beginning to go away while lamenting about their sordid fates.

This was the first time the lady was experiencing such a phenomenon, alarming her, causing her to feel as if she had changed genres and plunged into a horror world instead.

“Excuse me, lady.” Suddenly, a middle-aged man approached her, asking, “Do you mind selling me a couple of your arrows? I’ve run out of mine, so was hoping you could sell some.”

“I don’t mind.” The lady nodded, taking out five arrows from her quiver as she handed them over to him, “That’ll be 100 Essence Stones.”

“Ah…” The man had just extended his hand, intending to grab the arrows when he paused after hearing the price, gazing at the lady as he said in shock, “That’s expensive!”

“Demand and supply.” The lady smirked, “The number of arrows is limited. So, their price goes up accordingly. Maybe after a few more days, each arrow would be selling for a hundred Essence Stones.”

“…fine.” The man sighed, taking out hundred Essence Stones from his spatial pouch as he handed them over to her, “I’m Fisksher. What shall I call you, lady?”

“Holla.” The lady said, counting the Essence Stones before dropping them into her spatial pouch. She gleaned based on Fisksher blatantly displaying his spatial pouch that he had enough confidence in his strength.

And indeed, as she had expected, he had an Earth Martial Spirit. And judging by his age, he had been delaying his cultivation just to gain benefits from the Folkan Secret Realm.

The man then gazed at the injury on Holla’s left hand, frowning, “You’re injured.”

“A sneaky bastard shot me before,” Holla said, only now noticing that she had forgotten about the injury, forgetting to stop the bleeding. Even the arrowhead was still lodged in her hand. And as she had strained herself while climbing down the rock pillar, it had become entangled within her muscles.

“I can heal you,” Fisksher said, causing his hand to emit a gentle radiance as he motioned for her to extend her hand.

‘A healer?’ Holla was surprised for a moment before grinning in response, extending her injured hand, “Perfect timing.”

Fisksher slowly began to treat her injury, pulling out the arrowhead as he only noticed a mild grunt from Holla, stating in surprise, “You have spectacular tolerance. Most would be trying their utmost to endure this pain.”

“It’s nothing. I’ve experienced worse so many times that I’ve become somewhat numb to them.” Holla said. “Aren’t I making it easier for you to treat me?”

“That’s not good.” Contrary to her thoughts, Fisksher shook his head, “The more you become numb to things, the weaker you get.”

“Then, you mean that I should cry and make a mess of myself every time I get injured?” Holla snorted, watching her injuries beginning to close gradually.

“I don’t mean that.” Fisksher sighed, stating, “What you must focus on raising is your endurance. You should be capable of enduring pain, no matter how unbearable it gets. But, once you shut yourself from such things, your body gradually becomes less and less human. And in the end, even if it might look like you’re becoming a cold-blooded killing machine, in truth, you’re numbing your instincts.”

“What do you mean?” Holla frowned.

“Think of it like this…” Fisksher extended his index finger, touching it on his palm, suddenly causing a needle of Origin Essence to pierce through his hand, surprising Holla.

“Did you see my hand flinch?” He said while his brows creased, obviously enduring the pain.

“Yes.” Holla nodded.

“For an amateur, their bodies would react in many ways, at times each of their limbs reacts in different manners that results in them ending up doing nothing.” He said, “But you see…this reaction is our body’s instinct, our muscle memory of sorts, our fastest reflex. It’s something ingrained in our core, handed down from our ancestors for generations. And, there is a deeper level of instincts buried within our muscles. The greater you dig, the stronger the instinctual reactions.”

“An expert would be working on harnessing this potential buried within us. But, numbing yourself would only cover up these instincts.” Fisksher made eye contact with Holla, stating, “Do you understand the point I’m making?”

“At present, you’re burying all this wealth to react logically.” He said, patting her hand that had returned to its pristine self, “Instead, you should be focusing on harnessing this wealth and tuning it to help you at all times.”

He then frowned, “Strange, I’ve become a lot more talkative than usual.”

He then sighed, extending his hand, causing Holla to tilt her head in confusion.

“My services aren’t free, you know.” Fisksher smiled, “That’ll be 1000 Essence Stones.”

“Now, pay up.”