Assimilate All Talents

Sol stopped in his tracks as he thought of a solution and was about to call the other healers, but someone bumped into him.

“Woah Sol! Why did you suddenly stop?”

“Sorry about that, Caroline, but I just got an idea. Can we gather all the healers for a minute?”

“Are you sure? We are all kinda busy.”

“Yeah, I know, but these people aren't critically wounded and I just need a minute. It will save us a lot of time later.”

“Ok sure, I'll let the others know.”

Caroline and Sol split up to gather the other healers, and it did not take long as most were shuffling between their patients.

“Why did you gather us all?”

“Well, I’m sure we are all tired of having to run between patients and bumping into each other.”

All of the healers nodded in agreement, even though it has not even been an hour since the battle started, they have been bumping into each other left and right.

“In that case, instead of us taking turns with who gets the next patient and placing them in the nearest bed, let's assign each of us a work area. There are 30 of us and 100 beds so if we all have 3 beds that are next to each other we won't have to run around anymore and can just stay in one spot.”

A surprised expression appeared over the healers. One healer in blue mage robes spoke up.

“Damn, why didn't we think of this before? But what about our current patients?”

“We are going to have to change who is taking care of them. Once we reorganize we will have a much easier time managing new patients.”

“Makes sense, but how do we make sure we all get patients equally? We can’t just send them to the nearest bed.”

Not having thought about that, Sol could only think of one solution.

“Someone will have to stay near the entrance to guide the patients to where they should go.”

Nataly then asked, “Who would be willing to do that, though? We are supposed to heal the wounded. Wouldn't the person directing not have enough time to take care of patients? They might get penalized.”

“Well, this was my idea, I will do it. I think I am able to take care of one person while also guiding people in.”

Another healer worriedly asked, “Are you sure you wanna risk that?”

Sol nodded, “I will take responsibility in case anything happens.”

With everyone agreeing to the new setup, Sol assigned all the healers to 3 beds and he took a single one by the entrance. As more wounded came, Sol assigned them where they should go, and a semblance of order finally arrived at the medical ward. Few people walked around now, freeing the area and saving a lot of time having to run around.

This didn't mean there weren't any problems. Every so often a healer had difficulties with a patient and they didn't know what to do.

A healer was having trouble removing an arrow wound and went to ask Hilbert what he should do.

“Hey Hilbert, one of my patients has an arrow wound lodged in his tendons. I would remove it but it's a barbed arrow and I don't know if my healing spell would be able to restore torn tendons.”

Hilbert, who was at the moment casting [Healing Light] did not stop and while healing answered.

“Don't know, busy. Ask someone else.”

“But it-”

“Not now, I need to concentrate to not waste mana.”

Coming no closer to solving his problem he began looking around to someone who was free to help him. As he scanned the room he saw Sol just finish leading a patient to another bed and went to ask him for his help.

“Sol, can I borrow you for a second?”

“Yeah, something wrong?”

“Well, this patient…”

After explaining his dilemma Sol did not know how to help.

‘I am the worst person to ask this… How am I supposed to know…’

Either way Sol decided to see the patient to see if he could come up with something.

The wounded soldier was just as the healer described. An arrow was lodged into his right arm and penetrated deep into his tissue. The barbed arrow was designed in such a way that pulling it out would tear tendons and that kind of damage would require a much stronger healing spell. With no one here having access to such spells making such actions ill-advised.

After staring at the wound for a long minute Sol got an idea from his hunting experience.

‘When I was experimenting with different types of traps for the wolves I once tried to use a barbed spear that once attached to the wolf they couldn't remove it. Although it succeeded it was hard to land the spear half the time and when I was done trying to remove it was a pain as well. I found it easier to just push the spear all the way through the body, but would that work here as well?’

Sol saw that the arrow was already more than halfway through the arm; it seemed easier to just push it rather than drag it all the way back.

“What if we push it out instead of pulling it?”

When the wounded man who was lying on the bed heard Sol’s suggestion his face paled. The healer on the other hand put his hand on his chin as he looked back at the wound pensively.

“You know, that actually might work. From the wound the arrow made in the entrance, it seemed it entered cleanly. If we just push it out the exit should be the same. Let's try it.”

The man wanted to protest as he wasn’t really in the mood to experiment on treating his wound but it seemed the two healers made up their minds.

Sol looked at the healer and instructed, “Alright you prepare the spell I will push it out, on my mark.”

The healer nodded and prepared to cast, “Water filled with life gather in my hands as I pass your blessing to others-”

Sol then pushed the arrow out the other side and then completely removed it.

The wounded soldier yelled, “Mother fucker!” before passing out.

“Now!”

“[Sacred Water]!”

Casting the healing spell the moment the arrow left the body the wound started closing before blood could escape the wound. The hole on both sides rapidly closed leaving only a small scar where the wound used to be.

The healer, done casting the spell, looked at Sol and smiled.

“Thanks Sol, I was worried since no one was available to help me.”

“No problem, if you need anything else let me know.”

Sol glanced back at the now healed soldier who was still passed out and left to return to his duties.