Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 143

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Successor or not, I just want to heal – Episode 143

Spirit Summoning has risen this high?
Lion was quite taken aback.
He’d been aware that his level was climbing steadily, but he hadn’t expected it to reach this threshold already.

‘Well, my level did jump considerably this time.’

But then… what did “specific conditions” mean?
He still didn’t have a clear grasp of it.
The fact that Crafting and Spirit Summoning had different textures to them played a role too.
Lion had been channeling his efforts into the Crafting side, but Spirit Summoning was technically classified as a combat talent.
So normally, to advance Spirit Summoning to the proficiency stage, you’d have to engage in combat—or so he understood.

‘That’s something I’d rather avoid.’

Lion gazed at Nature with a long, thoughtful look.
He knew well enough that she was an ancient spirit whose hidden power was extraordinary.
He’d tasted her performance in the game itself, so there was no way he could be ignorant of it.
But right now, he didn’t need raw strength of that caliber.
Make that tiny chick fight?
Combat was absolutely out of the question.
Lion shook his head with firm resolve.
This was a decision made by him, Nature’s owner.
Because…

‘That girl will do whatever I ask.’

Nature prioritized her master absolutely.
The proof was that no matter what request Lion made—even if she pretended to balk at it—she ended up granting every single one.
During the “Old Bottle” incident, hadn’t she protected him even by pouring her own strength into it?
For an ancient spirit, that couldn’t have been an easy thing to do.
Which was why she’d slept for quite a long time afterward.
And at that moment, a certain thought had crossed his mind.
If my Spirit Summoning had been at the proficiency stage back then, would Nature have struggled so much?

‘…So I have no intention of giving up on reaching the proficiency stage.’

Nature still couldn’t tap into anything more than a fraction of her true power.
It was no different from being shackled.
How frustrating that must be for her.
Lion wanted to loosen those constraints, even if only slightly.

‘There has to be a way to reach the proficiency stage without combat.’

The fact that his Spirit Summoning level had risen until now was proof of that, wasn’t it?
There was definitely another method.
He simply hadn’t found it yet.
What was fortunate, though, was…

‘I have a hunch about it.’

It concerned the very nature of Spirit Summoning itself.
After all, in In the World, the Druid class handled both spirits and beasts comprehensively.
If he were to pursue that skill tree, wouldn’t Lion be in a position where he’d only leveled one branch so far?
Of course it would inevitably hit a wall.
And the way to force through that wall would be to accumulate massive experience through combat.
But then again.
What if… he also started raising a beast?
Lion stared at the finely ground deep-blue Camentum.
He couldn’t be certain, but it was the most promising option available to him now.
And even if it didn’t work, Lion was resolved to free the Beast Egg from its suffering anyway.

‘That doesn’t mean the Beast Egg will hatch immediately, though.’

Still, he thought the incubation period might accelerate compared to where things stood now.

“Well, either way—you won’t know until you try it, right?”
“Chirp.”

Nature flew up as though she understood everything on Lion’s mind, settling onto his shoulder.
The gesture felt so reassuring that Lion let out a quiet laugh.

“Thank you.”

All right, then…
Let me finish what I started.
Lion filled the potion bottle he’d prepared with a suitable amount of Alchemy-Grade Purified Water.
Fortunately, the purified water showed no signs of degradation, as the instructions had promised.
The only difficulty was gauging how full the bottle was, since the pitch-black container reflected no light at all.
But that was manageable—he could simply keep track of how much he’d poured in.
Fsssh…
Lion poured the prepared Camentum into the potion bottle, now heavy with purified water.
In the moment he wondered if there was too much liquid, the Camentum began absorbing the purified water with voracious intensity, and the mixture instantly grew thick and paste-like.
And he hadn’t even stirred it yet!
Lion gently worked the interior with a thin muddler until the purified water and powder became one.
The volume shrank, and the texture transformed into something viscous, like wax.
What was remarkable was that despite appearing stiff and dry, there was no resistance whatsoever to the stirring motion!

—It does not adhere to objects without Sacred Power.

That was precisely the characteristic of Camentum.
Thanks to this property, Lion could easily adjust the consistency even with his exhausted hands after all that grinding.

‘Fascinating…’

How should he describe it? Liquid yet solid in appearance, viscous yet adhesive to nothing.
It couldn’t quite be called slime—it possessed a firmness entirely different from the squishy texture of ordinary slime.

‘The closest thing would be like potato starch suspension.’

But even that wasn’t quite right, since this only adhered to objects imbued with Sacred Power.
In any case, it was safe, and the effect should be certain.
Lion returned to the bed, retrieved the Beast Egg from where it lay buried in blankets, and set it carefully on the desk.
The white discoloration still covered more than half of the shell.
Lion scooped a generous handful of the liquid Camentum and, before it could slip through his fingers, spread it over the egg like an offering.
Then something remarkable happened.
The fluid, which had been drooping and about to spill, stopped its flow as if possessed of intent, and spread naturally across the Sacred Power-infused portions, adhering with a soft click.
Then, as if greedily consuming the Sacred Power, the color began to shift gradually.
The Camentum, which had been nearly black, slowly grew brighter.
It never quite reached pure white—its essential nature prevented that—but it became a distinctly lighter gray than before.
In exchange for drawing away Sacred Power, it released moisture; the damp paste hardened into something like cracked, brittle mud, and soon fragments of it fell away onto the desk.
And through the gaps that appeared…
The egg beneath showed a faint—but unmistakable—violet shimmer beneath the white portions!

‘Success.’

Lion grinned widely, watching the situation unfold exactly as he’d anticipated, and gently brushed away the dried mud-like outer layer.
The Camentum, having fulfilled its purpose, vanished without a trace.
I wondered if the Sacred Power had been completely neutralized and become part of the Mana itself.

“Well, that’s good.”

I’d been worried about how to clean up those fragments, but it seemed my concern had been groundless.
Moreover, the egg’s surface hadn’t cracked at all.
If anything…….

‘It’s shiny!’

The eggshell definitely had a bumpy, textured surface before, but now it gleamed smoothly like a boiled egg!
And I’d only removed a small amount of Sacred Power at that.
Now that I’d cleared away the blocked Sacred Power, I suspected all the nutrients that had accumulated were finally working as they should.

‘Damn thing…….’

How suffocating it must have been all this time—unable to receive proper nourishment or even breathe freely.
Part of me wanted to use all the remaining Camentum to strip away every last bit of white discoloration…….

‘But I need to space it out.’

After all, this was a kind of potion.
Take too much at once and you could fall into Potion Addiction.
Of course, used properly it could help in a crisis, and honestly a normal dose wouldn’t be much of a concern—but this was still a four-star grade potion, and even though it was a Beast Egg, it was still a delicate, fragile thing. If something went wrong, it could be disastrous.
I couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

“So I’ll administer it in doses.”

Like how a feverish child takes medicine split across morning, afternoon, and evening—sometimes even at dawn.
Lion set the egg back on the bed and applied Camentum at appropriate intervals.
After applying the final amount and brushing it away…….
Not a trace of white blemish remained.
The Sacred Power had been completely purged.

‘That was close.’

Toward the end, that opaque white coloration had stubbornly refused to fade.
I’d been debating whether to make more Camentum or try a different approach when, at some point, the egg began restoring its color on its own.
Apparently the Beast Egg had managed to absorb the tiny amount of remaining Sacred Power and convert it into its own sustenance.
Truly, a Beast Egg was resilient no matter the circumstances.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Lion gently stroked the distinctly healthier indigo-purple Beast Egg with his hand, then set it back on the bed.
Using Expert’s Eye just to be sure, I confirmed that even the notation about being covered in Sacred Power had vanished.
It was fully healed.

“Hm?”

As Lion checked the description, a notification flickered briefly before updating with new content.

[Beast Egg]
-A being that traveled a great distance to find you and arrived here.
-It is most curious about your face.
-An exceptionally healthy Beast will likely be born!
-But…… it might hatch sooner than expected?

All good news, but one detail troubled me.
This “sooner than expected”—by whose standard was it?
By human reckoning, it might be a matter of days, but if it went by Beast or other long-lived creature standards, it could take years.

‘……Well, that’s fine.’

That didn’t mean I’d rush to crack the egg open.
The world outside the shell was beautiful indeed, with plenty to show, but there was something to be gained from the comfort of the egg itself.

“I’m not going anywhere, so take your time being born.”

Lion spoke the words aloud, then laughed to himself.
He’d never dreamed he’d say something like this.

Whoosh.

Lion stored the Apgrund Potion Bottle in his inventory, then pulled back the curtains he’d kept drawn and threw open the window.
A fresh, crisp breeze poured in—nothing like the stale air trapped inside.
His hair tousled about in the wind along with the curtains, tickling his face, but strangely it didn’t bother him.
Lion stepped out onto the terrace and leaned against the windowsill, gazing out.

“Though I suppose hurrying things along a bit wouldn’t hurt either.”

Warm sunlight, soft and moist grass, the earthy scent of soil. Good food. And time spent with people who mattered.
There was so much he wanted to show.

“Chirp!”

Nature seemed to agree, darting out past the terrace and catching the wind currents to wheel through the broad sky before returning to him.
In that brief span, she’d moved so quickly that a thin twig was now caught in her beak.
A branch with leaves and a few berries still clinging to it.
Nature carried the branch over to the egg on the bed and set it down with a soft plop.
Then she turned to look at Lion, clearly pleased with herself.

“Ha. You’ve got a point.”

Even if the egg couldn’t experience things directly, I could share them indirectly like this.
What the grass smelled like. What the outside world looked like.

“……Say, wouldn’t it be nice to bring the egg along on this hotel trip too?”

That’s not a bad idea at all!
Even if things happened fast, the egg wouldn’t hatch in such a short time.

“Let’s see—could I just wrap the egg in a cloth pouch and carry it along?”

Lion began conceptualizing an “egg pouch” in his mind before suddenly clapping his hands.
Right, he’d forgotten something first.
He needed to make a treat for Nature, who’d worked so hard all day.

“So, what kind of snack are you in the mood for?”

Lion sat on the edge of the bed and gently scratched Nature’s thick feathers as he asked.
And then……

[Make your Familiar Spirit Nature the perfect snack!]

A new notification appeared.

-Your Familiar Spirit Nature hopes to enjoy a snack together that even you have never tasted.
-What is the snack you have most wanted to try?

This looked just like that Hidden Quest from before.

‘Huh?’

Could this be one of the conditions for leveling up Spirit Summoning?
Maybe Nature has been dropping hints all this time.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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