A Saintess on the Mound
Gyuri looked incredibly excited. "Congratulations, Gyuri!" Ah-young congratulated her friend with genuine warmth.
"There might not be a lot I can teach you right away... but even mastering the basics will make you a decent healer." The Murim Alliance was already desperately short on healers. If they found out Gyuri had acquired healing skills, they would be absolutely thrilled.
"B-but Nix, what brings you to the training room today?"
Oh, right... Come to think of it, I did have a reason for coming here! I suddenly remembered the tennis ball tucked inside my pocket.
"Ah, now that you mention it, I do have something to do." As I pulled out the tennis ball, Ah-young and Gyuri looked at me as if giant question marks were floating above their heads.
"The date for my first pitch has been set." Neither of them was a huge baseball fan, but we had watched a game together once.
"Oh, congratulations!"
"It's not really something to celebrate, but thanks." I explained that I wanted to practice a bit before heading to the stadium. I tossed the tennis ball up and caught it a few times. "Shall I give it a throw?"
I roughly mimicked the form of a professional baseball pitcher. I stood sideways with my left shoulder facing forward, lifted my left leg slightly, extended it, and twisted my torso. Supporting my weight on my left foot, I whipped my arm forward like a lash and released the tennis ball. The kinetic energy generated from my entire body channeled directly into my fingertips, and—
Whoosh! The ball flew at a terrifying speed, slamming into the training room wall. Pop! The tennis ball exploded. It literally burst into pieces, unable to withstand the sheer force of my throw.
"Uh, ah..." Ah-young and Gyuri stared at the wall, their eyes wide with shock.
"Well, then..." I guess I really do need to work on my power control.
"Y-You're so... strong..." I hadn't even used my full strength; I had just wanted to lightly test the motion...
"Sigh, and here I was trying to practice throwing." Now that the ball was obliterated, there was no point.
"Well, since we're already here, Gyuri, let's get started on your Divine Arts lessons."
"Oh, are you sure it's okay?"
Sure, why not? I diligently taught Gyuri the basics of Divine Arts. The core of Divine Arts stems from faith—the power of belief is paramount. Unlike casting standard magic, when you use a healing spell, it must be infused with a genuine, heartfelt desire to cure the target for it to be truly effective.
"Belief..."
"Yes, an unwavering belief. I can do this. I will heal them. That kind of mindset directly influences the potency of the Divine Arts."
"I see..." I still didn't know how Gyuri had managed to awaken Divine Arts on Earth... But because she was already accustomed to using magic, she was a quick study. However, it felt like the pool of skills she could actually learn was quite limited. Perhaps her talent hadn't fully bloomed yet?
There was also the issue of proficiency. She had the intuition to cast the spells, but it took her quite a bit of time to actually channel and activate them.
"It would be so nice if there was some kind of reference book," Gyuri murmured. Just as she said, if there were a grimoire or a manual, I wouldn't have to teach her directly. It was a shame. But writing a book myself sounded like way too much effort.
Teaching her step-by-step like this was tedious, but putting it down in writing carried the risk of information leaks. Since Divine Arts were deeply intertwined with religion, they weren't easy to pass down purely as a technical skill. When I was right next to her, I could guide her mana flow and demonstrate it directly, but a book couldn't do that.
"There are no books, I'm afraid."
"I know..." She looked disappointed, having only just figured out how to utilize her new skill.
"What you need right now isn't a wide variety of Divine Arts, but mastering what you've already learned. Especially with healing—you need to be able to cast it from a distance." That was the absolute baseline.
"Yes, so proficiency first, right?"
"First, your basic heal." I decided to teach her the other spells gradually. Hearing my advice, Gyuri threw herself into training. Ah-young watched her friend with a warm, proud smile.
Apparently, Gyuri had been struggling with her slow progress lately, which had taken a heavy emotional toll on her. Naturally, Ah-young had been worried and wanted to help.
"But I'm so glad... Now Gyuri will finally have a power of her own." If she became a proper healer, she would easily rise to C-Class... and if she mastered just the basic Divine Arts, she could easily reach B-Class. I figured I'd keep teaching her whenever I had some free time.
Whenever I had spare time, I practiced controlling my strength with the ball and continued teaching Gyuri. Honestly, because Divine Arts was such a vast skill tree, there was an overwhelming amount of material to cover. There were various types of buffs, offensive spells, detoxification, purification, holy water creation, and consecration. I agonized over what to teach her next, and eventually, I let Gyuri choose for herself.
"In that case... I'd like to learn an offensive spell." Offensive?
"Are you sure? Since you've learned healing, wouldn't it be better to learn buffs next?"
"But... at our level, buffs don't make that much of a difference..." Oh... I suppose that's one way to look at it. The boost from basic buffs was indeed minor—usually only about a five to ten percent increase in strength. Compared to that, I could understand why she felt an offensive spell that directly aided in combat would be far more efficient.
"But you can already use your existing magic skills for offense," I pointed out, tossing the tennis ball from hand to hand.
"It's always good to have a wider variety of options." Is it? Well, I decided to teach her Holy Light, the most basic yet potent offensive divine spell.
Holy Light was an incredibly versatile, all-purpose spell. It could be used to blind enemies with a flash of brilliant light, and it packed enough raw power to be used similarly to fire magic, even though it wasn't fire-attributed. It could even be detonated. Furthermore, it could be applied to weapons or one's own body for defense, and it dealt devastating extra damage to the undead. It was one of my personal favorites.
I spent the entire day teaching Gyuri. Holy Light wasn't a spell you could just learn and immediately use effectively; it required a high level of mastery...
"You're really struggling to get the hang of this." Even considering that mastering it in a single day was a tall order, her progress was painfully slow.
"I don't think this spell suits you." It was highly likely that Gyuri simply lacked compatibility with Holy Light. While I didn't have such limitations, other priests and nuns in the other world always focused on the specific branch of Divine Arts that matched their innate talents.
"I-Is that so?"
"Yes. Your talent probably lies in healing or support buffs rather than offense." If we were in the other world, there would be a way to test her exact affinity, but no such method existed on Earth. Although I possessed all the knowledge regarding Divine Arts, there were many techniques that couldn't be manifested through mere knowledge alone. Gyuri looked deeply disappointed.
"Ahem! Don't look so down. Let's try a different technique." Gyuri refused to give up and resolved to keep trying. For the next few days, I gave her intensive, focused lessons, but... she made very little progress in any area outside of healing.
Still, I managed to teach her most of the basic spells. Mastery was the only issue; she could technically cast them now, so she would at least be able to react if an emergency arose. Honestly, I wanted to teach her more, but I had other obligations to attend to. Before I knew it, the day of the first pitch had arrived...
"Time really flies." I sat in the passenger seat as my sister, Seohui, drove us toward the baseball stadium.
"Tell me about it. I heard you've been super busy teaching Gyuri lately?"
"Yeah. I still can't believe she ended up with the same skill as me..." It was still mind-boggling to think about. Gods probably existed, but for Divine Arts to manifest on Earth—a place where the Goddess Hemera's influence shouldn't even reach...
"The guild is absolutely thrilled that we have a healer now," Seohui said. I had heard about that too. "She still has a long way to go, though."
In my eyes, Gyuri's skills were still severely lacking. Since she didn't possess a convenient cheat like my divine eyes, she would need to study actual medical science if she wanted to function as a proper healer.
"Just being able to perform emergency first aid is enough. As long as they can make it out of the Gate alive, they have you, after all." A smug grin tugged at the corners of my lips.
"Right? With me around, there's absolutely nothing to worry about."
"Yeah. I heard you healed someone the other day, too. Thanks." That happened quite a while ago, and she's only bringing it up now? Some hunter had been injured inside a Gate but somehow managed to clear it and get out. Afterward? They had run straight to me, begging to be healed.
"Come on, they're a fellow guild member. Of course I'd heal them." For me, it was just a simple wave of my hand, but... "Besides, we're somewhat acquainted." Ah, so they're basically friends?
"By the way, did you practice your swing?"
"Why would I? I have absolutely no intention of trying to hit a ball thrown by you."
"Is that so?" My sister glanced at me from the driver's seat. "What about you? Did you practice?"
"I did."
"Really? Just how hard are you planning to throw that you actually needed to practice?"
"It's the exact opposite. I practiced so I could hold back." Seohui burst into laughter at my response. "Holding back?"
"Yes." When I told her about the exploding tennis ball, she cackled.
"Well, to be fair, you are ridiculously strong."
Looking at my body from the outside, I seemed slender, delicate, and completely devoid of physical strength. But beneath the surface, it was as if my muscles were incredibly dense... or highly compressed. I possessed physical power that transcended ordinary humans by a landslide, even without channeling a single drop of Holy Power.
"Anyway, did you get the hang of controlling it?"
"More or less? At the very least, I won't end up killing anyone." Well, even if I do injure someone, I can just heal them on the spot...
We arrived at the stadium shortly before lunchtime. The players had already arrived, and a staff member guided my sister and me on a tour of the field. I didn't have much interest in it, but the passing staff and players kept stealing glances at me, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable.
"First, here are the uniforms we've prepared for you." There was both a top and a bottom. "People usually don't wear the pants, right?" The staff member gave a wry smile. "Yes, very few people choose to wear the full uniform." Apparently, most female guests only wore the jersey.
"What about you, Sis?"
"I don't really want to change into the pants either." The pants they had prepared looked like incredibly short hot pants... and the jersey itself looked exceptionally tight. This was going to be a struggle to put on...
"Well, I should try it on first, right?" Since there were only women in the dressing room, I casually whipped my shirt off. Seohui looked utterly scandalized, but I ignored her. Anyway, as I slipped the jersey on... "It's a bit tight." They had tailored it to my general size, but with breasts as massive as mine, it was bound to be uncomfortable.
"Ugh, that's just indecent," Seohui grumbled, picking a fight the moment she saw me.
"Hey!" Indecent? Seriously? This body is a work of art!
"It's a bit much to show in public, though." Just as Seohui said, it felt a little too provocative for a family-friendly baseball game. It wasn't like I was exposing any skin, but because of my chest size, my voluptuous curves were on full display.
"W-We are terribly sorry." The staff member explained that they had prepared the female uniform in the tight, form-fitting style typically worn by celebrities. "I assume it's too late to change it now?"
"We are so sorry!" the staff member bowed deeply. Well, nothing could be done about it then.
"Do you have a jacket or something I can throw over this?" I figured I could keep covered up with a jacket and only take it off right before throwing the pitch. Seohui tried on her uniform as well, and it fit her perfectly. I wasn't exactly jealous, but she did look comfortable. Next up was learning how to throw the ball. Not that I really needed lessons, but...