"Alright…" Noel opened his eyes and said, "I have finished treating all the severed veins. I have tried going around your entire body and there doesn't seem to be anything missing. The conditions of your entire body are more or less fine, but the part around your Spirit Veins is critical. So, I will continue treating those gradually. For now, how do you feel?"
Anna looked down for a moment before releasing her Spiritual Energy. The surge of energy was so strong that it released a small shock wave.
"…" Noel furrowed his eyebrows. Even he could feel the difference. To think that just repairing the severed veins changed her this much. With his current sensitivity, he could notice there was about a ten percent difference.
So, if he did this again after the holes in her veins had been patched up, she would have an additional twenty to thirty percent increase.
Even though Noel was healing her, he couldn't help but feel challenged. It seemed that Anna had been holding back due to her injury this whole time. If they fought again, he didn't know if he could win against her.
'Tsk. I'm not going to lose.' Noel muttered inwardly before saying, "I think it's better than before."
"Yeah…" Anna looked down in shock. "I have never thought that my injuries could be healed like this. In fact, I originally thought that I would need around six months to recover after becoming a Spirit Grandmaster."
Noel would definitely catch up or even surpass her during that period. However, it seemed that fate had prepared a present for her.
"I wonder how you want me to pay you?" Anna smirked, teasing him. "Money? Status? Influence?"
Noel snorted. "I don't need them. Just think of this as me settling my debt. With this, I don't owe you anymore."
"…" Anna couldn't help but scratch the back of her head when he said those words. This was the only thing she couldn't comment on. "In any case, I'm grateful for your help."
"Yeah, yeah. Since we have some time, let's continue practicing. We'll go with the schedule starting from tomorrow."
"Alright." Anna smiled and rose from the bed.
Noel also got off the bed, but when he fully stood up, his consciousness shook and his body trembled. Before he knew it, his body had started falling. "Eh?"
"!!!" Anna caught him out of reflex and panicked. "Eh? What happened to you?"
"That's…" Noel didn't know what was happening as well.
"It seems that you're exhausted." Old Ru's voice suddenly echoed from the entrance.
"Old Ru?" Anna looked at him, concerned about Noel's condition.
"Force Control is taking a toll on his mind because his consciousness needs to support him in sensing the damage and everything inside your body. Just let him rest for a moment and he will be fine," said Old Ru before going away. It seemed that the situation wasn't that concerning.
"Is that so?" Anna frowned. She didn't think that Noel would endure the exhaustion in order to heal her. He had been healing her for the last three days.
Now that Old Ru mentioned Noel's exhaustion, she remembered that during the last two nights, Noel ended up going to sleep right after treating her.
He always put up a tough front, so she didn't realize it. It turned out the reason was exhaustion.
When Anna glanced at Noel, he had actually fallen asleep.
"I don't know what to say…" Anna made a wry smile, feeling moved by his action. Just like her, he had been enduring things. "What am I going to do with you?"
Anna gently put Noel on the bed. There was no sweat or anything on his body as a sign of exhaustion. Even his face didn't become pale in the slightest.
Looking at his sleeping face couldn't help but put a smile on her face. Noel looked vulnerable, yet, after doing so much for her, the lingering feeling warmed her heart.
She subconsciously reached out for his head and pushed the hair that covered his eyes. "This time, I'm the one taking care of you. Rest up, Noel."
It seemed that Dimitri was aware of their movement the whole time. It only took him five minutes before entering the room with a basket of water as well as a towel.
"Huh?" Anna was startled.
Dimitri only put down the basket on the table and said, "He might get sick if he doesn't take care of his body properly. At the very least, wiping his body and changing his clothes can make him more comfortable."
After saying those words, Dimitri hurriedly left as if he was trying to force Anna to deal with the rest.
"…" Anna was completely speechless. "What's wrong with the butler of the Ardagan Family."
Though, it did seem that she had no choice. She was the one who caused him like this after all.
…
The next morning.
"Mhm?" Noel gradually opened his eyes and remembered how he fell unconscious. "Ah?!"
Noel hurriedly pulled up his body and realized that he was on the bed with Anna still sleeping next to him.
It was still dark outside, but Noel knew that it was about to brighten a bit later.
"To think that the exhaustion caused me to fall unconscious… No, more like… I became too sleepy to even lift up my eyelids." Noel sighed.
Noel couldn't help but notice that his clothes had changed and there was a basket of water on the side.
There was only one person inside this room.
"Don't tell me…" Noel scratched the back of his head. While looking at Anna's back, he remembered the time they met. At that time, the anger in his heart swelled up to the point where he had a hard time making a rational decision.
Yet, slowly but surely, the hatred disappeared. And currently, she was considered one of the people he could trust the most. She even dared to sacrifice her life for him and vice versa.
"To think that hatred has now gone… I don't know what to say anymore… I wonder if everything will be different if there is no such misunderstanding. Maybe we would have gotten closer."
"Should I hit my parents for this? While I do appreciate that they have prepared everything for me to tackle the problems, they should at least tell me about it so that I can prepare. But I guess… because of it, Anna can be beside me now."
"The alternate life, huh… In that life, I was supposed to hate and bully her all the time, right? I wondered what I was thinking. No. I think that's what was supposed to happen if not for the fact that Anna abruptly changed and intruded on my life."
"I guess I now don't feel bad about it. Thanks to her, I can become like this. Thanks, Anna." Noel made a genuine smile before deciding to leave the bed and prepare for today's training.
Unbeknownst to him, Anna had actually woken up. This might be the first time she heard Noel's genuine feelings about her. Her face was red, but the smile on her face expressed her feelings fully.
…
Now that everything had been arranged, Noel and Anna could continue working hard like normal. Although there was no mention of what happened that morning, they seemed to become a bit closer.
Noel focused on his Force Control training and continued treating Anna. On the other hand, Anna slowed down her pace to get insight from Noel about the Force Control.
Noel had no intention of spreading this ability as it would be too dangerous. It could fit as Ardagan Family's secret ability, but that was about it.
Even Anna didn't ask him to teach her the Force Control, fully knowing how dangerous it was.
They spent the remaining days on three things. First, they hunted the demons nearby and gathered a lot of Demon Crystals and continued absorbing them. They could feel that they were approaching the last barrier of a Spirit Master.
Secondly, they continued mastering the new abilities. Anna had a lot of things she wanted to try now that she learned this ability. She combined her experience from her previous life with this ability and either evolved the abilities or made them anew.
On the other hand, Noel focused on Force Control since it was a powerful ability. If he had to face the Serpent with the rest of the Demon Relief Squad, he could confidently tell them to face them head-on because he would dispel the poison for them later.
Last but not least, Noel was advancing his mastery in rune while Anna had a breakthrough in her Spirit Link. She also mentioned the pill that could help his spirit to transform. It came from the pill that Noel had given her previously. She promised to take him to that person to retrieve the pill once they went back.
Dimitri, Damian, and Nicole had done a lot in the past few months. They might be watching from afar, but they had been taking notes, thinking, and discussing the techniques. Noel and Anna might not reveal the complete technique, but those three should have no problem creating a lesser technique of Old Ru's ability.
Time went by, and the end of the training was approaching.
