Refrain from Obsession - Chapter 8 - 3. Crisis is an Opportunity

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Crisis is an Opportunity

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“Ah!”

With a dizzying sensation, Aer tightly closed her eyes, then suddenly opened them as she remembered one item.

Hurriedly taking out a magical tool from her spatial bag, she immediately pressed the button.

Then, from the magical tool that looked like a small bead, an enormous amount of water poured out like a waterfall.

Splash-!

Aer sank deep into the water for a while before flailing her arms to the surface.

Although it was a magical tool she had hastily taken out, the sensation of falling into the water again wasn’t particularly pleasant.

“Haa… I didn’t even want to get close to water if I could help it.”

In her previous life, she liked water and was good at swimming. But the accident that made her recall her past life briefly flashed through her mind.

As if trying to shake off the memory, Aer shook her head and looked around.

When she couldn’t see anything because it was dark, fear suddenly crept in. Unable to open her spatial bag underwater, she swam around the vicinity.

Feeling a solid surface with her hand, she climbed onto it without knowing where it was.

After taking out a non-used lamp from her spatial bag and turning it on, the surroundings brightened.

“Haa…”

Sitting down at what looked like a cave entrance, Aer looked at the well she had created.

Even with water, her whole body ached from the impact of the fall. She didn’t want to imagine what it would have been like without it.

“Ha, I won’t die before manifesting, right?”

Not knowing exactly when she would manifest as a healer made her even more anxious.

“I want to live…”

She muttered vaguely with a dazed mind.

Who would want to die?

In her previous life, she had died absurdly in an accident, and in this life, she had almost died senselessly in another accident.

“If there is a God, I want to grab Him by the collar.”

Why did she have to be born into this role and experience such pain when she hadn’t done anything particularly wrong?

“Huff, it’s cold.”

Her body temperature seemed to be dropping rapidly from being soaked in water. The water itself was also cold, making the situation serious.

Aer had no choice but to get up and move deeper into the cave. She intended to at least avoid the wind.

It seemed better to wait quietly until the rescue team arrived.

As she walked, trying to remember if there were any fire-starting supplies in her spatial bag, she suddenly noticed that the cave’s appearance was a bit unusual.

On the white limestone cave walls, there were round clusters of deep, shimmering blue minerals, as if blue paint had been dropped onto a sketchbook.

It wasn’t just in one place; the deeper she went, the more numerous they became.

She had seen such a place in the original story. It was characteristic of a cave where healing stones, the jewels that appeared countless times in the original story and were essential for Awakened ones, grew.

“Oh my God. No, my money!”

Those healing stones, which were said to be worth their weight in gold, were here.

Her wide-open pink eyes rolled around. Aer checked several times to make sure what she was seeing was real.

“Is this the cave where healing stones grow?”

Even in the original story, the origin of healing stones was unknown. Instead, the male protagonist was often shown using them before meeting the female protagonist.

Healing stones were essential for Awakened ones, as the more they used their abilities, the more impure energy accumulated in their bodies.

But healers were always in short supply.

Moreover, receiving healing from a healer with incompatible attributes wasn’t very effective, so Awakened ones sought healing stones as an alternative.

However, healing stones were so expensive that Awakened ones without money couldn’t use them freely.

Only someone like the male protagonist could use healing stones like water.

The reason why just discovering healing stones is a jackpot is that they don’t need any processing. That’s because the method of use is very simple.

An Awakened one holds the healing stone and transfers the impurities accumulated in their body to the stone.

Although it doesn’t provide fresh energy like a healer would, Awakened ones feel significant improvement just by discarding impurities into the healing stone.

Healing stones that absorb impure energy lose their original color and turn black. Although the colors differ for high, medium, and low-grade stones, they all look the same once they’ve lost their usefulness.

Similarly, awakening stones also existed. These were items Aer desperately needed.

Jewels that allow healers who haven’t found their match to discard their energy.

Awakening stones were even rarer than healing stones.

The reason they weren’t as famous as healing stones, despite their rarity, was that the number of healers was significantly less than Awakened ones, so unless a healer had a particularly unusual attribute, they could usually find a match easily.

Aer let out a short sigh.

“What kind of attribute could it be, that I couldn’t find a proper match?”

Even for a hated character, she was still a healer… Did all Awakened ones reject her?

It was frustrating that there was no proper information about a character who appeared in just one sentence in the side story, but Aer decided to focus on the present.

“Can I determine the grade in advance by the color visible on the cave wall?”

Aer, quickly forgetting her miserable feelings from earlier, walked deeper into the cave with lively steps.

“Wow…”

When she reached a dead end, it was nothing short of paradise. It might have been because of the future income, but the healing stones themselves were also incredibly beautiful.

“Blue means low grade, right?”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a high grade, but she still felt good.

Aer smiled ecstatically as she looked at the healing stones protruding from various places like tree branches.

She had been worrying about how to multiply the money she received from her father, but that worry seemed to have diminished a bit.

To live without financial worries in the future, she needed to earn as much as possible. In this world, it was difficult to earn money and live without a proper social class.

However, even without social class, if one has enough money, there should be no problem in living.

So, she needed to accumulate more money before her family fell into ruin.

“Hmm… What should I use to strike it?”

As she rummaged through her spatial bag, she found the dagger she had separately tucked away in her pocket.

“Will this do?”

It didn’t look particularly hard, so it might work. She moved the dagger back and forth against the healing stone as if cutting a radish.

“Is it not working?”

As it seemed to only make scratches, Aer lifted the dagger and struck it down like a hammer.

After repeating this a few times, the healing stone fell off.

“Wow, it works!”

Excited, Aer diligently gathered the healing stones into her spatial bag, not even considering the situation above.

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Meanwhile, Louis, who had pulled Anna up, was hiding his displeased expression behind his shaggy bangs and glasses.

The thoughts flowing from her mind were utterly vulgar. She was cursing Aer, who had thrown herself to save her, in every way possible.

Saying that she felt dirty because Aer had touched her, or how dare Aer shout at her.

A normal person would be more worried about the person who fell instead of them, but she showed no concern at all.

Louis felt like he was going to be sick. How could all humans be the same?

There were occasionally different individuals, but in the end, when their own safety was at stake, humans would disregard others.

Louis considered his ability to read others’ thoughts a curse.

The thoughts constantly transmitted from those around him were louder and more blatant than spoken words.

Living with people harboring dirty thoughts they couldn’t express out loud often made him feel like he might go crazy.

Wouldn’t it be better to just go mad?

Whenever such thoughts occurred to him, he would recall his late mother.

Her last words, worrying about him and telling him to survive no matter what, even as she was dying, remained etched in Louis’s heart.

“I’m so scared… Call Ian, please.”

Anna, who was still inwardly continuing her slander and contempt for Aer while pleading with a pitiful expression, gave Louis the chills.

Louis bit his lower lip hard at her two-faced behavior.

In fact, he had been going crazy with worry about Aer who had fallen down there earlier.

He wanted to go down and find her, but he thought it would be best not to make the situation worse by first bringing the healer to the Awakened one.

“Are you listening to me?”

Anna, who had instantly erased her pitiful expression when he didn’t respond, shouted venomously.

Letting out a small sigh, he answered briefly and turned around.

“Follow me.”

“I’m hurt and can’t walk!”

“Then stay here.”

“What? Ha, you’re quite insolent. You seem to have some misunderstanding because the academy protects you. You’re a commoner, and I’m a noble. Do you understand?”

Anna flushed and panted. She didn’t like how a mere commoner dared to order her around informally.

Louis shrugged with a bored expression.

“If everyone is equal at the academy as you say, what’s the purpose of speaking like that? Are you denying the will of the founding Emperor who established the academy?”

“…What?”

Anna opened her mouth in surprise at the word ‘Emperor’.

But that was only for a moment. Thinking that she had been insulted by a mere commoner, Anna got up, fuming.

Just as she raised her hand high to strike Louis’s face mercilessly, she froze as if time had stopped.

In that brief moment, he hooked his removed glasses on his fingertip and muttered.

“She’s dumber than I thought.”

Brainwashing was easier on simpler minds. Those who could be brainwashed just by making eye contact with him without his specially-made glasses, regardless of his will, were also foolish beings.

Louis felt dejected for using his ability out of anger.

He briefly looked at the sky to gauge the time, his eyes shining like brilliant amethysts.

He commanded the frozen Anna.

“Go find Ian on your own. Then say this. Because of you, Aer fell instead, and I fell together while trying to save Aer. So say that urgent rescue is needed. Apologize and say you’re sorry.”
T/n: No! This was the perfect opportunity…you just have to say jump. (ಠ⌣ಠ)

Anna, who had been standing still like a doll, moved naturally upon hearing the clear, sweet voice.

She walked away as if it were her own will.