As I smile towards everyone coming into the ward, contrary to my actions, they give a massive grimace and look of horror.
For the briefest moment I feel hurt, but I quickly realize that it’s because of the surrounding patients. Shi is the first to recover and heads over to me.
“Are these… people you need to heal? I’ve heard stories of such torture done to others from my working days, but I never thought I’d see it in person.”
She moves over to me, grabbing my hand, while placing her other one on the nearest person’s tanned flesh. The shiver that goes through her from touching them is strong enough to be seen.
Lin speaks up next, as she cautiously moves over, keeping some distance.
“… those are humans?”
Yeah… I felt the same way when I saw them.
“Are you guys okay if I heal you? I needed to help with this myself.”
Absentmindedly, each of them nods their heads.
I direct healing over each of them to help with any potential trauma that could come from this. As expected, there were some seeds of it.
It might be better to direct their attention away from the current state and to the future one.
“They’ve gone through a lot. It’ll take some time to get them back into a more normal state. At least mentally. The physical aspect will be the easiest part, luckily.”
I see some more nods as they seem to understand what I mean.
Gradually, I’m realizing I can’t just leave this here. I should heal these people now, to start the process. If not only for my sanity, but for theirs. First, I’ll need more staff, though.
Within a few minutes, Wei comes back with some recruits among the group, for people interested in being healers in the hospital. That means taking on a cultivation method and training that will assist in such things.
A quick count shows that there are 18 people have come along with her, including two people I know well, Shi Ji and Ming. They both stand out quite a bit, with Shi Ji’s bright red eyes and Ming standing head and shoulders above everyone else.
As they all walk in, each of them has a variety of reactions, similar to everyone else, at the sight of the victims in the room. Like the others, I ask them if they want healing. After confirmation, I send it over to them to help with dealing with it.
But beside me, as I send it over to them, I hear something I wasn’t expecting. Mei Lin speaks up,
“…Brother, I want to learn how to heal people as well. I-If that’s okay with you.”
Hmm…
If I remember correctly, she didn’t really have a huge preference towards any one cultivation method. With that said, she has her special ability that allows her to read the qi aura of a person, letting her see their emotions and some aspects of them.
If she went for a mental manipulation-based method, even without her cultivation having any bonuses to it, she’d be a monster at it. Simply because she could know what the person is currently feeling or thinking, letting her change it at will.
… Maybe I’m thinking of this wrong.
My new sister in this world wants to go for something and I already know it wouldn’t be something bad for her.
I should support her.
“If that’s what you want, then sure, I can teach you.”
Right as I say that, her face lights up in happiness, distracting some people around from the current view. While I may be used to it, she is pretty adorable.
She runs over to the healing team to join them.
I turn towards them, while waving a hand at the new patients behind me.
“As you all can see, there are plenty of terrifying things to be healed in this world. If you are looking to be a healer, you will need to be prepared for this and more.
“If you don’t believe you will handle something of this nature, or worse, then it will certainly be a more difficult profession for you than others. I won’t stop you from still pursuing it, but you will need to ready yourself, nonetheless.”
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The grim looks on each of their faces as they look at the people behind me show me they are taking this seriously.
Okay, I need to use this to show them the right way to view the healing profession.
“For those interested, listen closely, as this is one of the most important lessons I can teach you about being a healer.”
I turn toward the patient in front of me, with everyone else naturally crowding around the medical table. I begin my lecture.
“It is generally understood that the most important quality you can have as a healer is your integrity.
“If your patients cannot trust that you will look after their interests and follow through on your words to the best of your ability, then they won’t allow themselves to be treated by you.”
At these words, there are several nods. Most people can understand that, both from the side of the healer and of the healed.
Waving a hand toward the patient, I continue.
“With that said, I believe the second most important quality is to have empathy for those you are treating.
“You should always seek to treat the person as a whole, in addition to the ailment in question. As an added aspect, treat each patient as an individual.”
There’s visibly much less agreement to this statement.
In this world, there is a class system. Certain people are typically valued much higher than others. And to value others more than them is a slap to their faces.
But I can’t let them get caught up with that.
“I understand some of you may have misgivings about this. However, I want you to imagine this.
“How much more would you value a skilled healer, who you know would focus on your care and do whatever it takes to get you healed, regardless of your status… rather than a healer who will treat you only the minimum amount, to jump to a much higher valued patient?”
There’s still some apprehension about this. Coming from the position of the weaker person is normal, but many know of the vengeance of those who view themselves as slighted. Spiting a stronger person in favor of a weaker person is easy to say, but hard in practice.
I sigh loudly, to gather everyone’s attention on me. I look over to Shi Ji, who I know will answer me honestly. Her face brightens at the attention.
“Shi Ji. Considering your position as a noble, I’m sure you’ve been to the main auction halls before. What are some of the basic rules and assumptions there?”
She seems quite eager to prove herself and quickly responds.
“Yes, Master! The general rules are to bid fairly and not pressure other bidders. And for those who believe they can pressure the auction hall into giving up items, they are- oh.”
She figured out where I’m going with this. I’ll let her continue.
“… anyone who believes they can pressure the auction hall is taught a lesson by their backers.” Those behind them back the integrity of the auction hall.”
“Exactly. So, to bring things back to my point, the main thing to consider here is that it is okay to maintain your morals. My job as your leader is to make sure you have the strength to not compromise them. And if the issue is pushed, I will take action to enforce it.
I give them a smile as I look over all of them.
“And my personal goal is to make sure that each of you can rely on yourself first for that backing… despite being healers. If you can’t handle it after that, then we can move to the second layer. Me.
“And if I can’t handle it, we’ll just keep going up the chain. If others can bring in their big wigs for the wrong reasons, then so can we, for the right ones.”
I’m seeing some hope rise within them, but this is all talk until they see results. That’ll only come with time, so I won’t push this any further.
Directing my attention back to the patient, I raise my hands over their body.
“What I will teach you now is the initial steps to providing care for a person.
“First, and most critically, check the situation for any dangers. In our world, there are several things that could be hidden and hurt us, as we attempt to treat others. I know some of you have heard of parasites that have launched themselves out of victims and onto the people trying to help them. So, always be aware of your surroundings.”
As I say this, I display an obvious action of caution by first looking around the room and then checking the holes and skin of the patient for any dangers.
“Next, follow the three P’s of performing first aid. Preserving life, Preventing deterioration, and Promote recovery.”
…
…
And from this point on, I go through several first aid and analysis tips for treating patients. Showing them using the patient’s body as an example, ranging from treating bleeding to tools that should aid in their work.
As the patients are unconscious, their consent is implied as I take the steps to heal them.
Rather than just using my healing abilities, however, I am using a combination of them and other steps that my new fellow healers can understand and potentially look for.
Things like surgery, first aid, anatomy, and other aspects that they can memorize.
This should help them when they learn their own healing cultivation methods.
In terms of memory retention, considering everyone’s optimized bodies, I have no worries that they won’t be able to remember these steps and tips.
Since they’ll need more than just a visual, but also deep research into anatomy, body functions, alchemy, chemistry, and other aspects, I call back out to Shi Ji.
“Shi Ji, could you write down the following references and information I’m saying, along with the examples? Anyone else that wishes to take notes can also do so.”
I list a huge list of books, in order, that I am requiring them to read. She immediately starts logging them down, but it’s a dauntingly large one.
The only saving grace is that everyone here is equivalent to a high IQ person in my world now, from their optimization. They’ll be able to learn and retain the information at much higher speeds than even skilled medical students in my world.
As I do so, I continue to list out what I’m doing and why, as I treat people.
It is in this way that each patient is slowly brought back into a normal human shape. Quite a few have some abnormal features now, but that was only because there were beneficial aspects that made it better for them to keep those changes.
While this is so much slower than my normal pace for healing… this feels really rewarding. I think I can make a bigger impact here. Not just as an individual, but as a group.
And if I can do this with this specialization… I can only imagine as I do so with others.
But first, I need to take care of the people here.