There were few things that made Julius this happy in the world. Food was probably the main thing. Fighting came a close second. But annoying healers and doctors might be a close third.

“Why are you still here?” Healer Gui asked exasperatedly.

“I wanted to see if you needed any help with patients?” Julius said with an unfazed grin. Healer Gui was technically an elder, but the man was a healer first and foremost, hence the title. He was also the man Julius found himself annoying more often than naught. Firstly, because Healer Gui was an amazing healer, like seriously amazing.

He was able to heal in a way that Julius hadn’t seen before. The man's ability to leverage his fire affinity alongside his life affinity was something he wished to learn from. Unfortunately for him, Healer Gui didn’t seem to appreciate his tenacity or presence.

“I told you that I don’t want your help,” Healer Gui repeated for the hundredth time, looking like he had aged ten years.

“But I want to learn how to heal people. Shouldn’t a healer like you appreciate that and want to help the younger generation?” Julius pointed out.

“Perhaps, but I don’t want to teach you.”

Julius held his chest in mock pain. “Ahh, you don’t really mean that, do you?”

“Yeah, I do. I don’t have time to waste teaching a junior healer as shitty as you. How do you call yourself a healer? You don’t even know the basics of the healing arts. Go learn them first and then come back in a thousand years.”

“I’m a fast learner.”

“Okay, then perhaps you can come back in five hundred years instead.”

“I just want to watch you work,” Julius said with a pout.

“You don’t stop asking questions, though. The entire time, you insist on asking stupid things. Things that even the worst healers in the Medical Hall would know.”

Julius grinned. “But you must admit, I am persistent, right? Don’t you think that is a great quality to have in a healer? Someone who would never give up on a patient?”

Healer Gui looked up from the unconscious patient with an irritated grimace, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked relatively young for someone of his position. In a way, he reminded Julius of Elder Sarei, only more grumpy and less patient.

“You are so lucky that Elder Malric spoke up for you. If not for him, I would have beaten your backside black and blue and tossed you into a pit of snakes.”

“That seems a bit extreme,” Julius said with a knowing smile. He had personally gone to Elder Malric and Cassandra to ask for permission to study at the Medical Hall. They had no issues with that and easily gave him access to the hall whenever he wanted. Much to the displeasure of Healer Gui and some of the other staff of the hall.

But there was nothing they could do. Elder Malric had already officially declared that he was allowed to stay. Apparently, Elder Malric knew the Medical Hall Master and got him to agree to it. That meant that nobody other than the vice sect leader and the sect leader himself could get Julius to leave.

That said, it wasn’t like the people at the hall were very pleased about it. But Julius kept on annoying them. He was allowed to watch stuff, but the healers weren’t instructed to teach him. It meant he was in a weird position, forced to observe as much as possible while asking many questions.

Healer Gui might have complained about it, but Julius suspected that the man wasn’t as bothered as he might have come across. The reason he believed this was because Healer Gui still answered many of his questions.

“Why are you folding your mana like that?” Julius asked, spotting something interesting when Healer Gui infused life mana into the unconscious patient.

“It is essentially a slow-release mechanism. This way, small bits of life will heal them even though I won’t be around to help them,” Healer Gui answered distractedly.

“Is that the only way you can do it?”

“No, but it is one of the most efficient methods. When it comes to healing, simple is often the best. Less of a chance to mess up.”

Julius nodded and noted it down on the pad of paper he stole from Healer Gui.

“I heard you found a new way to terrorize the disciples of the outer court,” the healer suddenly said to him.

“Terrorize? Where did you hear that?” Julius cocked his head. Did he need to punish some of them for having loose lips and spreading vulgar rumors about him?

Healer Gui stood up from his patient and looked at Julius. “Apparently, one of your students came in earlier today and had some signs of soul stress. Are you really pushing them that hard? Soul damage is difficult to heal. Even for someone like me.”

“Trust me, I am making sure I don’t actually injure their souls. I know the repercussions of that more than anyone else.”

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The two of them walked out of the treatment room and headed to Healer Gui’s office. The man opened the door, and without being welcomed in, Julius followed and sat down at his normal seat, already making a pot of tea he knew Healer Gui enjoyed.

“Oh, believe me, I can see that for myself. I don’t know what you managed to do to your soul in the past, but it's a mess. Has anyone told you that?”

“Maybe a few,” he said with a smile and took out a few of the cookies he knew the man enjoyed, too.

Healer Gui couldn’t keep his eyes off the cookies and didn’t even bother to wait until they were plated. He reached over with mana and grabbed one for himself. Julius held back a laugh when Healer Gui perked up as he nibbled on it.

“You know, for someone with your level of mana control and astute senses, I expected you to be better at healing,” the man noted after a few moments.

“As I told you initially, I have only really healed myself. I don’t specialize in healing others.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t explain why you suck so badly at it,” Healer Gui said and looked down at the tea. “You could have steeped it longer.”

Julius flicked a crumb at the healer. “You could have waited longer. And I don’t suck, you said so yourself, my mana control is quite good.”

“Yeah, which is why I am confused why you haven’t been offered a healing skill.”

Julius sipped on his tea and smirked. “Who said I haven’t?”

Healer Gui set his teacup aside. “And you didn’t accept? Why? It’s obvious to everyone at the Medical Hall that you want to learn one.”

“I have a healing skill.”

Healer Gui stared at him as if there was something wrong with him. “You’re telling me that you’ve had a healing skill this entire time?”

“Yep.”

“And you don’t use it?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Trying not to over-rely on it.” There were several other reasons, one of them being to hide the nature of his Phoenix Concept. However, he also wanted to figure out how to use Tezuko’s technique without leaning on his phoenix skill too much. Healer Gui may have been blunt about it, but he was right regarding several things.

Julius sucked at healing when he couldn’t use his phoenix healing skill, at least compared to a professional healer.

Furthermore, his healing skill was so potent now that he had advanced to Tier 4 that he was in danger of killing or maiming his patients again. He needed to gain some semblance of control before he felt comfortable using other people. Hence, the reason he was annoying Healer Gui.

The older guy let out a loud sigh. “There is nothing wrong with relying on your healing skill. It’s better than you manually fumbling your way in the dark like what you’ve been doing these past several weeks.”

“I’ve been fumbling better,” Julius said proudly.

“Hmm. I don’t know about that, but at the very least, you haven’t killed anyone. Yet.”

Julius knocked on the wooden table in front of him, rattling the tea set. “Knock on wood,” he said with a wide smile.

Healer Gui rolled his eyes and got started on his second cookie. “Well, luckily for you, there is something that you might be interested in. Elder Malric talked to me earlier and asked me to bring this up to you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, there is a large group of inner disciples going out on a mission, and they need healers. I am already sending two people from the hall, but he wanted to know if you were interested in going with them.”

“As a healer?”

“As a healer in training. More of a combat medic than anything else. Aaron and Nora will handle the important healing. You are there as support and in case someone needs to be stabilized, but for some reason, Aaron or Nora are unavailable.”

“Will I have to fight?”

“Maybe. Why? Are you worried about that?”

He hugged himself shyly. “I don’t know. I’m not much of a fighter. There’s a reason why I want to learn how to heal people. I consider myself more of a lover, rather than a fighter.”

Healer Gui brought up his half-eaten cookie as if he meant to throw it at Julius, but must have thought better of wasting such a delicious morsel and pulled back. “You might try to convince some of the other gullible elders that you are just a healer who focuses on aura manipulation, but most of us aren’t that naive.”

“That’s a shame.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Healer Gui rubbed his face. “Do you want me to sign you up or not?”

Julius thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t mind. I’ve been feeling a little cooped up here for the past several weeks. What about my willpower classes, though?”

“Trust me, I think your students will love the break.”

Julius harumphed. “You make it sound like I am torturing them.”

“From what I heard, I don’t think that’s too far off from what they feel.”

He waved his hand. “I keep on telling them they can leave whenever they want.”

“You do realize that if they do, they will look bad to their peers and to the sect as a whole, right? Some probably think that if they give up on your lessons, the sect will note their actions as a weak will or lack of perseverance."

“They just need some toughening up.”

“They are only Tier 3s; they have time to toughen up.”

“Yeah, and I am giving them time, plus, I’m already taking it easy on them,” he said with a confused look.

Healer Gui sighed. “Yeah, I feel bad for the poor kids.”

“They’re my age, you know,” he pointed out.

“Just go to the Mission Hall; they should have all of the details regarding this mission. Go bother them and leave me in peace. Maybe when you get back, you will have learned something about healing. That way I don’t have to listen to your questions all day.”

Julius gave a lazy salute. “Yes, sir. I will make you proud.”

Healer Gui stared blankly at him. “Scram before I throw you out.”

Julius held back a grin. “Okay, okay. I guess I’ll see you when I get back.”

He got up to leave, but when he opened the door, he turned back around.

“Please, no more questions,” Healer Gui pleaded before any words could come out of his mouth.

Julius shrugged. “Okay, I was just going to ask you if you want to have some extra cookies before I leave, since I won’t be around for however long this mission lasts.”

Healer Gui’s face brightened. “If you don’t mind.”

Julius hid a smirk and handed over a bag of cookies. He had gotten a few dozen packages of them while he was at the capital. He had more than enough to share. Plus, this was one of his ways to keep Healer Gui trapped. He knew better than anyone else the dangerous allure and addiction that cookies presented.