As soon as they reached the house, Old Ru said, "Alright. With your current condition, it's impossible to utilize Force Control. But even if you have the knowledge, unless you have a mastery over it, it will be extremely hard."
"You don't have to worry about that." Noel shook his head. "While it's true that I might not be adept at it, I have a certain degree of mastery."
Noel got the Force Control from the system. So, it was possible to increase the level of Force Control by using the Skill Point.
In fact, he had been playing with it on the way back.
[Force Control (4/5)]
[Requirement: 100SP]
But because the last stage required too many Skill Points, he ended up postponing it for another day. However, with the knowledge he had, he believed this was enough to treat Anna.
Though, he only got the knowledge of the technique, not how to apply it. So, he asked, "What should I do to help her?"
"You should know that Spiritual Energy can invoke self-regeneration to speed up your recovery, right?" Old Ru asked.
"Yes, to some extent." Noel nodded while glancing at her.
"I could fix my problem within a long period of time." Anna nodded. "It's just…"
"Yes. The level of self-recovery you can receive from being a Spirit Master is weak because you have a hard time controlling your Spiritual Energy to do it. However, it will be a different case if we're talking about a Spirit Grandmaster."
"The Spirit Heart might be the one increasing the output of your energy, but the Spirit Mind is the one controlling it. By having the ability to control, you can move your Spiritual Energy around to fix the damaged area far quicker."
"This is why only a Spirit Grandmaster or above can use the True Spirit Body. More like, even if they can, the risk is too great that it's better to wait."
"However, it will be different with Force Control. You can actually wrap your weapon with your Spiritual Energy, right? In addition, the technique you learn here should have helped you with the control outside your body."
Noel looked down, contemplating. "Now that I think about it, yes… Are you saying that I'm going to control the Spiritual Energy inside her body like I'm using my energy to wrap a sword?"
"Yes. It requires a huge attention to detail and by moving the energy into the damaged part, you can help her repair the veins a few at a time. According to my prediction, if you manage to do your part every day for about five hours, she should be able to recover within a month. That's just how much damage her body has suffered."
"Five hours, a month…" Noel roughly calculated the time. On the one hand, he wanted to help her recover in the fastest way possible. On the other hand, he could somehow understand why Old Ru suggested five hours.
"I think it's fine. It's painful, but it's not something I can't bear." Anna nodded with a serious expression. "Besides, I'm grateful enough that this injury can be healed, even though I'm prepared to endure it until I become a Spirit Grandmaster. And five hours every day is not too long and too short. We still have enough time to practice."
Noel let out a long sigh. "I understand. Let's do it this way. Two hours in the morning, and three hours before sleep. The rest will be spent on training."
"I don't have a problem. Thank you in advance." Anna smiled gently. "This is the first time you care about me."
"…" Noel's eyebrows twitched. He had always taken care of her safety during his planning. But she probably never saw it because it wasn't apparent unlike this time. He looked away, "Just make sure you recover as quickly as possible. I don't want to pull my punches for a long time."
"What?!" Anna glared at him. "You should treat a lady better. You are going to end up single for the rest of your life."
"If you act like one, I might do it. But are you even a lady?!" Noel glared back.
Old Ru could only shake his head. These two always fought over all small things. But at the same time, they looked happier when they did that.
Since he didn't want to bother them, he left after leaving a message. "The treatment will start tomorrow. Go get a good rest for today."
"Hmph." Both Noel and Anna snorted while crossing their arms.
"I'm going to wash myself then." Anna hurriedly left.
Looking at her back, Noel couldn't help but sigh. He closed his eyes, recalling what happened during the hunt.
Anna was extremely overwhelming, especially that True Spirit Body. She managed to eliminate all the demons in an instant. After that, she overwhelmed the earthworm, allowing them to defeat it quickly.
"So, that's the strength of the True Spirit Body. If I had it, I wouldn't have to suffer all these defeats. I should focus on becoming a Spirit Grandmaster as well as evolving Heisk."
"Although I don't want to rely too much on this external power, it's something necessary if I want to move forward. I don't think my enemies will just allow themselves to be killed by me."
"In addition, I can't keep relying on her to protect me. It seems that I have to be adamant about leaving alone after returning to the base. This will be a perfect time for me to amass my own influence as well as search for opportunities."
"That's right. Dimitri should know about other vassals who are still loyal. Maybe I should use this time to find them. After all, the moment I become a Spirit Grandmaster, it will be the time I leave the Demon Banner Army and become a noble."
Noel realized that he should carefully plan his future. After all, the moment he was separated from the Demon Banner Army was the time for the Supreme Devil Organization to come to him. There was no way the army would protect him afterward.
"I have a good grasp of my situation. The only problem will be how I should approach the royal family. After all, they will be the ones giving me the noble title… There's no way it will be that easy for them to grant me the title and territory… they might even give me random territory just to kill me… A random territory?"
Noel fell into deep thought.
…
Meanwhile, Anna was preparing a bath for herself. She was boiling the water inside a barrel to relax her body.
"Mhm…" Anna let out a soft moan when entering the barrel. The warm water made her body relax and diminished the pain for a bit. "This is what makes me feel alive."
Anna wanted to relax, but her mind couldn't help but wander to the previous scene where Noel stood in front of her, protecting her from the impending doom.
This was the first time she felt helpless and got protected by someone.
"His back…" Anna muttered. "He is hard-headed most of the time. Besides, all that bullying…"
Anna remembered how she fell for a lot of his tricks during their travels. In addition, the memory of her past life resurfaced, making her remember all the tortures Noel made her go through.
In fact, this might be the first time that Noel's back looked so broad that it could tower everything to protect her. And somehow that feeling was nice too.
"If he only acted that way the whole time…" Anna looked down. Her cheeks were slightly reddened. She was so embarrassed that she dipped her head into the water.
"Aaaahhh!" Anna gritted her teeth, trying to shake off that thought from her head. "No. Since when did I become this weak? I don't need his protection. If I become so weak that I need his protection, then what will be my role?"
"The only advantage I have as a reincarnator is the memory of my previous life, the experience, and the knowledge that allows me to move faster than anyone else. If I let him slip past me, I will lose the only thing I have… Still, there must be another reason why I went through rebirth. Before I find it, I will walk ahead of him. No, even if I have found it, I will still walk ahead… beside… AAAHHHH!" Anna submerged once again.
…
After having dinner with the rest of the people and telling them that they were alright, Noel and Anna returned to their room.
"As much as I want to continue our little competition, it's better to have a truce right now. What do you think?" Noel asked.
"Yeah. I just want to get into the quilt and sleep." Anna nodded.
"Then, let's separate our beds first. The truce will last until you recover. We can join them together again."
"Let's do that." Anna agreed with him.
They moved toward the beds to return them to their original locations.
But before they pushed them away, Anna noticed something. "Say Noel… Since when did our bed sheets become one single piece?"
Anna pointed at the bed cover that somehow covered both their beds. They should have had a separate one before they left.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Noel asked while pushing his bed. But surprisingly, the sound of the friction the bed feet made came from both his bed and Anna's bed. "Huh?"
"That sound…" Anna frowned. "Don't tell me…"
Noel fell silent for a moment before lifting up the bed cover.
What they saw actually made Noel shout at the top of his lungs. "DIMITRIIII!!!!!!"
After all, they could see the bed being sewn together to the point it became one giant bed. In addition, when they looked even closer to the bottom part of the bed, they realized that the bed's wooden frame had been nailed together, so it was impossible to separate them anymore.
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