From the very moment that Riya awakened and became a healer, she always had doubts in her mind.
'All the teachers and all the senior healers say that 'healing' those in need is the duty of a healer... But how do you 'define' that person in 'need'..'
Even when fighting in a dungeon, you are ultimately attacking other creatures home and killing them mercilessly.
Wounds inflicted on those beasts can also be considered wounds, and they can also be considered someone who needs 'healing' magic.
However, no one goes ahead and heals a beast that you need to kill to conquer the dungeon. Because every creature in the world is inherently 'selfish'.
If it benefits you and you think that it's morally right, then you would not hesitate to hurt others.
That's the way the world works.
Trying to run away or trying to not acknowledge this fact is pretty useless. You can't run away from something that is an inherent part of your existence.
To exist is to be selfish, and to be selfish is to find benefits for yourself.
Awakeners conquer dungeons by killing all the beasts that live there, and it's considered morally right to do so.
This situation always used to cause doubt in Riya's heart.
She walked the path of 'healing every wound', and such a goal would be theoretically impossible to achieve.
From the very beginning, Riya's 'Path' was already one with no real ends in sight. Her 'Path' itself was already extremely unique and strong from the very start; very few people can walk on such difficult 'Paths'.
This is also one of the reasons why even the 'World' itself was forced to acknowledge her and protect her from the 'heavenly punishment', when she awakened her legendary power.
But if there's a 'Path', there must always be an 'End' to it.
The 'Path' that Riya chose has no 'End' to it theoretically, but if there's no 'End' then you can always create an 'End' by yourself.
Creating an 'End' to an 'Endless Path' with the help of your own talent and mind is also one of the unique abilities of people who walk on 'Paths' that have no real 'End' to them.
For example, when you know that the road ahead of you is endless, you will go as far as you can and consider it the end point for you, and that's exactly what it means to be 'Creating' and 'End' yourself.
If the 'Path' is 'Endless' then create a boundary and set up the 'End' point for yourself according to your abilities.
"The reason I always wanted to become strong and wanted to heal wounds was because I wanted to protect everyone I can..."
"I want to be strong enough to protect all those whom I care for and all those whom I can care for... My goal is simple: I will save the lives that I can..."
"Also, if the life that is in need of saving is trying to hurt others, then I can consider not
saving that life, as saving it will only harm others..."
"There is no such thing as endless kindness; I acknowledge my own shortcomings and my selfishness; that's the 'End' of my 'Path'..."
Riya's expression turned serious as she said all those words.
Although it's the job of a healer to save those in need, the healer itself is a creature with self-
awareness.
As all creatures are inherently selfish, the healer can choose who to heal and who not to. Riya acknowledges the fact that she can never become truly 'selfless', she can never heal someone who tries to hurt those she cares about.
When conquering a dungeon and when fighting those who want to inflict harm upon you, your fight is always for selfish goals, but that's the way people are supposed to be.
And Riya can't justify this.
If a healer can simply say that they are truly selfless and will heal even their enemies, then that means the healer is hurting their own comrades.
You can never truly be selfless and can never truly heal all wounds that exist; thus, the way to put an 'End' to the 'Path' is to create boundaries that you will not cross.
Riya decided that she would heal those in need as long as the other party wasn't aiming to harm her or those she cared for.
She basically created a proper boundary for herself and figured out that to prevent as many wounds and heal as many wounds as possible, she would need to have these boundaries.
While acknowledging herself, Riya's eyes never flickered, and she looked straight into Aria's eyes as she answered the question.
"Healing all wounds that exist is impossible, but all I can do is try my best as a healer who has aimed to become the best... Maybe it's selfish, but that's how it is..."
[Ding! Congratulations! You have found the supposed 'End' of your 'Path'!]
[Ding! Congratulations! You have made great progress in mastering the power of the 'Heart of Eternal Nirvana'!]
As if the world itself trembled in acknowledgement at Riya's words, and the wind in the surroundings sped up for a few seconds and caused Riya's hair to wave in the air.
The rare look of seriousness on her face added a unique charm, and Riya seemed to have matured even further now.
Aria, on the other hand, nodded her head and said, with a smile,
"As I thought, I didn't even need to ask you about it; you are indeed the best healer I have ever seen in all my years of experience..."
Aria sighed and said,
"I already told the other evaluators that there was no need to even test you, but I guess it's not bad to hear everything from your mouth either..."
"As a result of your excellence, I give you 'Excellent' as my evaluation... I didn't give the 'Genius' evaluation because even I don't have a legendary power like you..."
"Thus, I myself am not worthy of measuring your potential in just mere words, so the title of 'Genius' won't suit you anymore..."
"You have an 'End' to your 'Path', but you have yet to walk to it, so just keep working hard,
and you may achieve that 'Genius' status one day..."
Aria got up from her seat and patted Riya's shoulder.
She glanced at the horizon and told Riya everything about how she suddenly got teleported
here and what was actually going on.
Riya was confused at the beginning but then understood everything eventually.
"Hehe, I wonder what evaluation others will get; I am certain that Link will get the 'Genius'
evaluation, though..."
Aria shook her head after hearing those words and said,
"No... You can't even evaluate that guy; the power he holds in terms of physical capabilities alone is enough to make him a genius..."
"But things are not that simple... Peak SS-rankers have a unique intuition... and my intuition tells me that Link is not that simple... Evaluating him is like evaluating the world itself..."
"It's basically impossible... That's the reason why he wasn't even teleported; he was sent directly to the dragon temple because there is no one in this world who is worthy enough to evaluate the 'world' itself..."
Riya couldn't understand the big words that Aria was talking about, so she just changed the topic and asked.
"By the way, Link is not the only one who is strong... There's also Rio; he even defeated Link
once, you know..."
Although Riya felt quite shocked when she found out that Link lost to Rio in the finals, she wasn't particularly worried about it.
It's been nearly two years since the group started to adventure together, and by now, Riya has already considered the members of Team Astra as her friends.
Thus, she wasn't unhappy that Rio won, as he is also a friend. She was just worried about
whether Link would be depressed about it later at that time.
"Haha, I know what you want to ask... You want to ask, If Link can't be evaluated, then what
will we say about someone who defeated even Link?"
Aria just sighed and said,
"The thing is, Rio, that kid is a unique case... I had a look at him properly when we were
teleporting you guys away..."
"We were able to teleport you all, including even Link, except for Rio... The evaluator literally
had to carry him on foot..."
"I don't know if the 'Sleep' spell even worked on him. The teleportation spell of an SS ranker
is already extremely strong, but it didn't work on Rio at all..."
"If I have to evaluate him, I would say he's an 'Anomaly'...."
Riya tilted her head in confusion and asked,
"What do you mean by that?"
Aria just shook her head at that question and replied,
"The problem is that even I can't define what I mean by that; an 'Anomaly' is not something we can predict or define; it happens randomly; sometimes it's bad and sometimes it's good..." "Even my intuition is useless on him, and I can't tell what's going on with him, so I have no way to describe him..."
"His existence is as weird as it is fascinating..."
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
It seems we can finally see some deeper details on the secrets behind Rio's existence. Let's
goo!!
Question of the day:
What would you like to become if given chance?
1. A Genius that can't be evaluated.
2. An anomaly that can't be predicted.
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story.
Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.