Seeing that Link and Anna were still hesitating, Riya put a hand on her chest and spoke with absolute confidence.
"I will take responsibility for this plan; if something goes wrong and the situation worsens, I will abandon being a healer! I will abandon my path and will bet my life on this!"
Rio’s jaw almost fell on the ground after hearing those words; Riya’s face was filled with determination as she was ready to even bet her own life on the matter.
He never thought that the matter would escalate this much; he was only proposing the plan as a possible solution.
There was no need to agree with his plan, and he would accept whatever decision the loved ones of the patients made.
Riya’s courage was admirable and very impressive.
Link and Anna, who couldn’t make up their minds, were now silent and had no words to speak.
Messing with a person’s soul and sea of consciousness is a very delicate task; one wrong move and everything can go down the drain. Completing it successfully is as difficult as pulling a miracle.
The main reason why this miracle was even proposed as a possible solution was because the ones who will perform it both possess legendary skills and have immense mastery of their skills.
The silence in the room stayed for a long while before Anna gritted her teeth and spoke.
"I don’t want him to stay in this half-dead state for his entire life... I have been hoping and worrying for nearly half a year now... I don’t know if he will ever wake up this way..."
"I... I just want him to be happy... he’s already suffered enough in his life; he’s fought in wars, seen his comrades die in front of him... I don’t want this long-acquired peace to vanish..."
Anna’s eyes shone with determination, as if she had finally made up her mind.
"I have decided... I will approve your plan; don’t do it on Link’s father first, he still has hope of waking up naturally; do it on Jin first..."
"That way... at least he would have died doing one more favour for humanity even if something goes wrong..."
If Rio and Riya operate on Ashtel first and things go wrong, the ’absolute deterrent’ of the nation will be gone forever; it’s more feasible to operate on Jin first, as he’s already half-dead, and figure out if the plan will even succeed.
That way, even if the plan fails, Ashtel’s life will be saved, as Rio and Riya will not be allowed to operate on him after that.
Anna’s resolve was admirable, and everyone felt ashamed looking at her determined face.
Link clenched his fists so tightly that his nails started to bleed, but he had no words to say.
Although he knew that his father was quite strict and he even feared him a bit, Link respected his father from the bottom of his heart; he would rather not put him in danger.
Letting Jin become the test subject was a better outcome for him too, but this thought process made him feel ashamed of his own powerlessness.
He felt weak and helpless; for the first time in his life, Link could only stand still and stare at the ground in shame and regret.
Seeing Link in this state, Raji sighed and spoke in a fatigued voice.
"You can understand this feeling of shame and helplessness, right?"
"Yes... this is exactly the feeling when your loved one’s lives are on the line and you are powerless to do anything..."
"If you never want to feel this kind of situation again, then become stronger, become better and prevent anything like this from happening in the future..."
Raji voice was quiet, and only Link could hear it, as she was using her magic to isolate the two of them.
Her tone carried the fatigue built up from the burden caused by the previous half year’s worth of troubles.
"The person lying unconscious could be Riya next time if you are not strong enough to be a shield for her... if you don’t want this situation to happen ever again..."
"Then become strong! Stronger than even your father! So that you can protect him too one day!"
Raji’s voice gave Link the push that he needed, and he felt that something inside him had changed, and he seemed to have a subtle feeling, and his intuition told him that his opportunity was not too far away now.
He looked at Rio, who had already started to leave him far behind; he looked at Riya, who once used to be a timid girl but has now found enough courage to take a gamble of life and death head-on without hesitation.
He looked at Anna, who had found her resolve to bet her entire future on this one decision, and he looked at Raji, who was encouraging him, and a single thought came to his mind.
’I must get stronger...’
[Ding! Congratulations! Your mastery over ’Dao Rhythm’ has been increased to 75 percent!]
Ignoring the thoughts in his mind, Link clenched his fist and spoke with determination.
"I have made up my mind... if you succeed with Professor Jin... I will allow you to use this same plan on my father... I will bear the consequences of my own decision..."
With Link’s approval, the plan was finally put into action.
Raji summoned all the S-rank healers currently present in the capital city and used her own skills to hide their whereabouts.
This way, no one would find that the S-rank healers of the entire nation were being transported over to the Rex Mansion overnight, even if they tried their best.
Jin and Ashtel were both moved to a secret underground training hall of the Rex mansion, and hundreds of high-grade mana potions and healing potions were brought over.
Several mage-type S-rankers who are good at casting powerful buffs were also brought over, and all the soul-stabilizing artifacts available in the Rex Mansion’s treasury and the association headquarters were transported over in a matter of minutes.
It was a plan that involved the safety of the entire nation; there was no place for even the smallest mistake or miscalculation.
Hundreds of powerful buffs were cast on both Rio and Riya as Anna and Link watched the two of them prepare.
All the S-rank healers overdosed themselves with high-grade mana potions and established a mental connection with Riya as they all sat down in a meditative pose.
A powerful support-type artifact was used to combine the mind power of all those S-rank healers, amplify it several times, and channel it into Riya’s mind.
Riya used her legendary skill to manage that overwhelming amount of mana and power surging in her body, and her rank was temporarily boosted to be that of a peak S-rank healer with all those boosts.
Hundreds of soul-stabilizing, space-stabilizing, and support-type artifacts were laid down in the hall to boost Jin and Ashtel’s recovery speed and increase their safety.
Raji brought an SS-rank artifact from the treasury of the association headquarters.
The artifact was a powerful support item in the shape of a bracelet; she lent that artifact to Riya to increase the chances of success.