Chapter 4
Chapter 4
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Divine Power
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Yuseong opened his eyes.
Almost no time had passed, and Jin Eunseon was still gazing at him with the same intense look in her eyes.
'Good thing she didn't fall asleep. Wait...?'
Yuseong sensed a change in his body.
At the center of his chest, a warm energy had suddenly seeped in.
With each beat of his heart, it felt like red flames were spreading, and a faint heat began flowing to his fingertips and toes.
It was as if something that had been dormant for a long time was awakening.
It was extremely faint, but it was exactly the sensation Yuseong had felt every day while living as a healer in Virtual Fantasy, a game that perfectly reproduced sensations.
'Divine Power! It's Divine Power!'
The Divine Power that had felt so abundant in Virtual Fantasy that he'd even sense emptiness upon logging out.
'I never thought I'd feel this again.'
Instinctively realizing this, Yuseong knew he could now use the healer's basic skill, [Healing].
Healing was a skill that could treat illnesses and wounds.
It didn't work on wounds severe enough to leave disabilities, but since it used the power of the gods, it could completely eradicate illnesses.
Joy welled up within him.
Perhaps he could even heal his dantian again.
No, even if not now, once he accumulated enough Divine Power to use higher skills, he could definitely heal it.
He could clear the game and return home, or even if not, use his cheat-like traits to live a life in this world that no one could envy.
"Yes, Eunseon. Come by tomorrow so I can check your condition."
"Yes, I shall take my leave."
After Jin Eunseon left, a servant came to report the situation outside.
"White-Clothed Physician. Shall I bring in the next patient?"
"Please wait a moment."
"Yes, Physician. Let me know when you're ready."
Thanks to the recent incident, a huge crowd was lined up in front of Baek Yuseong's consultation room.
He felt good seeing a line almost as long as at Yang Physician's, but right now, checking his dantian was the top priority.
Using the Healing skill was simple.
Place your hand on the affected area and intend to use Healing. The duration of the healing would then be determined by the amount of Divine Power you possessed.
Yuseong placed both hands on the location of his dantian, and Divine Power poured out from them.
"...!"
Perhaps due to his experience cultivating martial arts, he could vividly feel the Divine Power moving from his chest.
The amazing part was that he could use his acupoints.
The Divine Power traveled through the pathways he had forged while practicing martial arts, flowing from his chest to his shoulders, down his arms, and out through his hands with almost no loss.
He could even feel the Divine Power emanating from his hands reaching all the way to the area near his dantian through his abdomen.
It was a mystical experience.
Previously, he had only felt the Divine Power manifesting through his hands when using it.
Now, Yuseong focused on the changes occurring near his dantian.
He had only heard about it from Yang Physician, and since he had lost his inner energy, he hadn't been able to examine the area around his dantian himself. Now, through Divine Power, he finally learned what had happened to it.
And.
'So that's why Yang Physician compared it to a shattered and vanished self-illness.'
The Divine Power enveloped the fragmented pieces of his shattered dantian, but Healing did nothing to move them.
'I need a higher skill than Healing.'
Even this brief use of Healing had nearly depleted his Divine Power.
He felt disappointed that he couldn't heal it right away, but Yuseong withdrew his Divine Power.
His path forward was now clear. He needed to increase his Divine Power.
'I know how to increase Divine Power. But I'm not sure if it works here. Let's give it a try.'
Yuseong adjusted his posture. He knelt, clasped his hands together, and assumed a reverent pose.
From experience, this was the posture that raised Divine Power the most.
'Goddess Gaia, your faithful servant offers this prayer of gratitude. Bestow upon me your grace.'
The class he had played in 'real mode' in Virtual Fantasy was priest.
There was a reason it had taken him 50 years of in-game time to see the ending.
Accumulating Divine Power was extremely difficult.
By offering prayers to the goddess twice a day, morning and evening, in this reverent posture, his Divine Power would increase by a pittance.
Frustrated by how agonizingly slow the growth was, Yuseong had explored various routes in the game to find ways to increase Divine Power more effectively.
He had despaired upon learning them.
The gods increase their Divine Power by receiving prayers from the faithful.
They then return a portion of it to those same devotees through their prayers.
But only about 10% of what the gods gathered.
He had cursed so much upon realizing that fact.
This time, he wouldn't need 50 years. After all, he wasn't aiming for the healer ending.
Once he healed his dantian, he could quickly become a martial arts master with his cheat-like traits.
However.
There was no change in the absolute amount of his Divine Power.
To Yuseong, who could now detect even the subtlest movements thanks to his martial arts experience—movements he hadn't noticed before—nothing was felt at all.
He only sensed his used Divine Power naturally recovering.
'Goddess Gaia?'
"Goddess Gaia?"
He tried changing postures several times and calling the name of the goddess he had served, but there was no change.
A major snag had arisen in Yuseong's plan.
'I only know prayer as a way to increase Divine Power...?'
He needed to raise his Divine Power to learn new skills—this was a big problem.
"Um, Physician. Will it take long? Someone from the Murim Alliance has been waiting a while."
"I'm fine. I'll wait."
Yuseong snapped out of it at the servant's question from outside the consultation room and a woman's voice.
By agreement, in the absence of emergencies, Murim Alliance members had priority over other patients.
'I don't have a solution right now. I'll finish today's work and keep looking into it.'
"Sorry. Please bring in the patient."
"Yes, Physician."
Yuseong was startled upon seeing the woman who entered.
It was the woman in scholar's robes with a sword at her waist, whom he had briefly made eye contact with.
She looked quite fatigued due to the dark circles under her eyes, but her clothes were neat without a single wrinkle.
"I'm Jegal Yeongyeong of the Murim Alliance."
"You're the Chief Strategist, aren't you?"
"You knew. I thought since you're new, you wouldn't."
He didn't know her face, but he had memorized the names, positions, and common ailments of key figures.
Her age wasn't listed, so he'd assumed the Murim Alliance Chief Strategist would be quite old, but she was such a young woman—this was unexpected.
He knew she often got headache medicine prescribed through Jo Physician, and now she had come to him for treatment.
"Ah, since Jo Physician is off today, you came to me."
Jegal Yeongyeong opened her mouth in a calm voice.
"I knew Jo Physician was off. I was on my way to Yang Physician when I saw an impressive scene, so I changed my mind to have a chat."
She must have been impressed by the heart attack treatment method. Better to be humble here.
"Thank you for the kind words. But Divine Physician or his disciple, Yang Physician, would have figured it out soon enough."
"That's not what I meant. What impressed me more was the decision to openly share such a secret technique with everyone. Skilled physicians all have their own methods, but I've rarely seen them teach them to unrelated people."
In the world Yuseong had lived in, CPR was easy to learn and something anyone could become a victim of, so it was widely taught.
With that mindset ingrained, he felt no hesitation in passing it on to others.
Feeling a bit embarrassed for some reason, Yuseong changed the subject.
"Is that so. Anyway, what brings you here today?"
"Ah, I've taken up too much of your time. It's a headache. My head is throbbing even now. Because of it, my work efficiency has dropped a lot lately. I've seen Yang Physician, and recently Jo Physician often, and they prescribe headache medicine each time. It makes it bearable for a while after taking it."
After taking her pulse, Yuseong examined Jegal Yeongyeong's face.
Her dark circles were deep. No matter how he looked, it was chronic fatigue. Medicine only temporarily alleviated symptoms; it could never be a real solution.
On the contrary, using the same medicine long-term would build tolerance, which was bad.
"Do you have any idea what might be causing the headaches?"
"Probably lack of sleep. I can't sleep at all. My head gets foggy from fatigue, so I have to review the same documents multiple times, which takes even more time. It's a vicious cycle."
"You know the cause well. Then you must realize that sufficient rest is the only complete solution. Even temporary treatment will just let the fatigue build up again."
Yuseong clearly saw a flicker of worry appear and vanish on Jegal Yeongyeong's face.
"That would be ideal, but circumstances don't allow it. I can't say more because it's confidential, but could you prescribe something? Or, like with the heart compression, is there another novel treatment I could try?"
It was temporary, but Yuseong knew a way to treat Jegal Yeongyeong's headache.
'One shot of Healing should cleanly cure a headache like this. Of course, if she keeps up her current lifestyle, it'll come back, but it's worth trying.'
But there was a problem.
Just moments ago, trying to heal his dantian had consumed most of his already meager Divine Power.
Some had naturally recovered during their conversation, but it was an extremely small amount.
Divine Power's efficiency dropped sharply the wider the affected area and the deeper it penetrated the body.
Treating a headache required sending Divine Power deep into the head, but he didn't have nearly enough.
'What a shame. If my Divine Power was fully recovered, I could have healed the headache.'
He was about to just prescribe medicine and schedule her for next time when a thought crossed Yuseong's mind.
'Wait, I can sense Divine Power much better than before now? Maybe I can control it like qi.'
Yuseong glanced at the acupuncture needle kit on one side of his desk.
Before losing his martial arts, as a peak master, he could form sword qi. Perhaps he could precisely infuse Divine Power through needles, he hypothesized.
Conveniently, Jegal Yeongyeong had just offered to try a novel treatment.
'Using acupuncture won't seem too strange. Divine Power won't harm her. It's definitely worth trying. If it doesn't work, I can just prescribe medicine then.'
fiddling with a thin needle and lightly infusing it with Divine Power, Yuseong was satisfied with how easily the Divine Power moved through it.
'I can control the flow freely. This has real potential. Probably best through the Baihui acupoint.'
The Baihui acupoint was important even for martial artists, so it was best to explain the treatment in advance to avoid misunderstandings.
"If you're saying that, would you like to give the treatment a try?"
Jegal Yeongyeong looked at the needle in Yuseong's hand.
"Is that acupuncture? Where will you insert it?"
"On the Baihui acupoint. It's safe, so rest assured."