Chapter 176: Fusion
Hua Tuo examined the decoction Ethan had made from various angles.
First, he smelled it, then tasted it slightly, and finally swirled it around to check its condition.
“What are you doing?”
“Incredible. This is truly remarkable. You made something this amazing in such a short time? Where on earth did you learn this?”
Hua Tuo’s eyes sparkled.
“I don’t need to teach you anything.”
Then, in a firm voice, he said:
“I should be learning from you. That decoction-making technique, what exactly is it!”
At first, Ethan thought it was just excessive praise, but Hua Tuo was asking sincerely.
“I learned the decoction technique from Lord Heo Jun.”“Heo Jun, I certainly know that name. I had no idea Heo Jun was such a skilled god.”
Hua Tuo was similar to many gods of the New World.
Confident in their own abilities, they don’t bother to check on other gods.
So he only now realized how skilled Heo Jun was.
Hua Tuo, still muttering, took out ingredients from the pouch at his waist.
“Here, I’ll give you these ingredients. Can you show me once more?”
Hua Tuo settled in to observe Ethan.
Ethan demonstrated the true essence of the True Heo’s Decoction technique to Hua Tuo. He floated the Donguibogam in the air and used both hands to create a decoction.
‘As expected of Hua Tuo. I didn’t think he’d just hand over ingredients like this.’
The herb Hua Tuo provided was called Flame-Quenching Herb.
It was an herb that had a cooling effect, and if used to make a decoction, it could raise fire resistance to the maximum of 100 percent.
In other words, it could create a decoction that made one invulnerable to all fire attacks.
‘This might even produce a result above S-grade.’
Splash.
Ethan unleashed the True Heo’s Decoction technique to its fullest and created the decoction.
Although it might have been intimidating to do this in front of such a renowned medical god, Ethan wasn’t particularly concerned.
He had already stood at the academy podium dozens of times. This level of pressure disappeared with just one deep breath.
-You have created a Flame-Quenching Herb decoction!
-Determining grade……
-Flame-Quenching Herb decoction [S]
As expected, the completed Flame-Quenching Herb decoction was S-grade.
‘The sensation was a bit different.’
Ethan looked at his hands. At the very end, he felt a sensation that was slightly different from before, one he had never experienced.
‘I feel like I could make an even better decoction. Just one more step, if I could take just one more step….’
“Good heavens.”
Hua Tuo’s hands trembled as he received the completed S-grade decoction.
“Do you fully understand this power?”
“Yes, while I haven’t perfectly learned everything from Lord Heo Jun, I’ve certainly grasped its essence. I may not be able to produce exactly the same results as Lord Heo Jun, but I can come close.”
Heo Jun was still breaking his limits and growing even now. So Ethan couldn’t say he had learned everything from Heo Jun.
But he could confidently say that he had learned acupuncture and decoction techniques from Heo Jun.
Hearing Ethan’s confident words, Hua Tuo let out a short sigh.
“Well… this is embarrassing. I thought there wasn’t a single flaw in my skills. But seeing your decoction technique, I realize how mistaken I was.”
Color gradually returned to Hua Tuo’s pale face as he self-deprecated.
Grin-.
Hua Tuo laughed heartily.
“I’m burning up inside. It was worth participating in the New World.”
As Hua Tuo acknowledged Heo Jun, Ethan felt a strange joy for some reason.
‘It’s not like Heo Jun is a god who would kneel to anyone else.’
“I’ll pass on my power to you during the remaining collaboration time. You said you wanted to use Heo Jun’s power and mine together, right?”
“Yes. I believe that both Lord Heo Jun’s and Lord Hua Tuo’s techniques are of such high level that they can’t be easily ranked against each other. If these two techniques could be fused and used together, their level could be raised much higher.”
Hua Tuo didn’t ask Ethan if he could handle it.
He had seen Ethan’s skills with his own eyes.
With that level of skill, success or failure would be entirely up to him.
“Let’s give it a try.”
***
“You’ve been meditating for a long time. I think this much is enough healing.”
“…It seems teacher is trying to completely cure Lord Tror’s wounds.”
“Complete cure, huh.”
In truth, Tror was already quite satisfied with this level of healing.
The excruciating pain was gone, and the cracks from the stigma had disappeared.
Moreover, the unpleasant energy that had been wrapping around his body was completely gone, so he could now draw out his original power as much as he wanted.
Of course, his internal body was still not fully recovered, but that was just a matter of time.
The medicine was so effective that he could feel his body improving in real-time.
“To be honest, I’m satisfied with this much.”
At that moment.
Ethan suddenly opened his eyes.
“Tror, I’m ready.”
“Did you come up with a good idea?”
“Yes, a very good one.”
As Ethan spoke with a confident voice, Tror couldn’t help but feel expectant.
Until just recently, he had been in despair, thinking he would never be able to recover his power for the rest of his life, consumed by this stigma.
But now, he couldn’t even recall that feeling of despair.
Following Ethan’s words, he truly felt he could completely escape from the clutches of this stigma.
“Can I… really be completely cured?”
“If I was going to leave it half-done, I wouldn’t have started in the first place. Don’t worry and trust me.”
Tror nodded at those words.
“Hand.”
At Ethan’s words, Tror extended his hand again.
-Using Pulse Diagnosis.
-Analyzed constitution.
-Constitution: Soeumin
“Hmm.”
Spirit King Tror was a Soeumin. Of course, since he wasn’t human, it would be more accurate to call him a Soeum spirit.
Ethan thought for a moment and then took out several ingredients.
“That’s a good smell.”
Just like when Ethan was making the potion earlier, all the ingredients he took out had exceptionally good smells.
The quality of the ingredients was evident from the smell alone.
As the Spirit King of Earth, Tror could particularly strongly sense the smells and energies of herbs.
“Something’s different.”
Roanna said, slightly narrowing her eyes.
“Different?”
“Yes, it’s definitely different. It’s not the same as when he was making the potion earlier.”
To Tror, it looked the same, but Roanna could clearly see the difference.
Especially, that faint flow of mana was different.
“Did you realize something during your meditation?”
Whoosh-.
Ethan was in deep concentration.
He felt like he would lose everything he had gained from the fusion with Hua Tuo if his concentration wavered even slightly.
‘It’s too difficult. Heo Jun and Hua Tuo use similar treatment methods, but they can’t be easily fused.’
Therefore, Ethan discarded what needed to be discarded from the two gods’ abilities and combined what could be combined.
‘Creating a decoction.’
Putting everything else aside, he focused solely on the decoction technique. There was clearly a part of the decoction that could be fused.
‘When I made the Flame-Quenching Herb decoction. Something felt different then.’
Heo Jun, Yi Je-ma, Hua Tuo.
Combining the techniques of these three medical gods.
‘Create a decoction!’
Ding-!
-You have created a Sundrake decoction!
-Determining grade……
-Sundrake decoction [S+]
It was a realm he had never reached before.
‘I did it.’
S+ grade, surpassing S grade.
Ethan exhaled with a satisfied expression.
-You have achieved an achievement!
-You have gained likes for achieving the [S+] achievement.
-You have gained ‘7’ likes!
Having achieved the achievement as well, Ethan immediately stirred the newly created Sundrake decoction once and handed it to Tror.
“This is… amazing! It’s a much more extraordinary potion than the one you made earlier!”
Tror immediately drank the decoction.
“Concentrate. I’m going to completely remove that stigma now.”
After taking a deep breath, Ethan immediately inserted a needle into Tror’s side.
Pssh pssh pssh-!
“Huh?”
Tror looked at Ethan with a puzzled expression.
He clearly remembered the feeling of being needled earlier. But this needle felt different somehow.
What on earth had happened to Ethan during that short meditation?
“Your energy will be suppressed. Just accept it naturally.”
Ethan used True Heo’s Acupuncture infused with Sasang medicine.
As a result, the powerful earth energy that Tror possessed began to weaken momentarily.
Guguk-.
Accordingly, the Stigma of Exile that had been deeply seated in his body began to show its force again.
“Ugh.”
Tror slightly frowned.
Bubble bubble-.
Black energy began to creep up again on his side, which he thought had been completely healed.
Ethan didn’t miss this.
He spread his index and middle fingers, placing his hand on the black energy as if capturing it, and immediately used a skill.
-Using Hua Tuo’s Surgical Treatment Technique.
Shaaaak-!
Suddenly, a powerful energy spread from Tror’s side.
“!”
Tror looked at Ethan in great surprise. Although he couldn’t see it, he could tell that Ethan was doing something.
Ethan too was amazed at using Hua Tuo’s Surgical Treatment Technique for the first time.
‘Incredible.’
He could clearly see inside Tror’s side as if it had been opened up.
Of course, he couldn’t actually see everything inside the body.
But the energies permeating inside were clearly visible to his eyes.
‘Tror’s energy is a deep earthen color.’
Most of the visible energy was Tror’s. This was because he had primarily boosted Tror’s energy through acupuncture and the decoction.
Swish-.
But that was only for a moment.
The earthen-colored energy, suppressed by the needles Ethan had placed, began to fade gradually.
-Eye of Horus is activated.
Ethan focused his eyes.
He was looking for another energy that would be wriggling between Tror’s earthen-colored energy.
‘Found it!’
Shook-.
Ethan inserted his hand between Tror’s energies.
“Cough!”
Tror let out a painful groan for a moment.
But Ethan didn’t stop. He rummaged through the energy and caught the energy trying to escape inward with his hand.
Grab-!
At that moment, the black energy caught in Ethan’s hand tried to climb up his arm.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
Ethan tightened his grip on the black energy.
-Treatment Confirmation: Stigma of Exile
-Can be removed.
He pulled it towards himself as if tearing it off and ripped the black energy apart.
-You have completely removed [Stigma of Exile].
-The proficiency of Hua Tuo’s Surgical Treatment Technique increases!
“Huff
As Ethan completely cured the Stigma of Exile and stepped back, Tror, who had been breathing heavily, slowly raised his body.
“How is it?”
Tror put his hand on his side.
“…There’s nothing. I can’t feel anything.”
Shaaaaaaak-!
Suddenly, Tror’s energy began to strengthen. At the same time, the corners of Tror’s mouth rose slightly.
A smile unconsciously appeared.
“It’s completely cured.”
He could feel it clearly. It was a complete cure.
The Stigma of Exile that had been in his body was completely gone.
Tror’s eyes, which had been smiling, soon turned bright red.
“Thank you.”
Tror expressed his gratitude with all his heart.
-You have cleared the quest!
-It’s an overwhelming result!
-You have perfectly cleared the quest. You will receive additional rewards!
-Your reputation increases!
-You have achieved an achievement!
-You have gained likes for achieving the [Quest Hunter] achievement.
-You have gained ‘7’ likes!
-Due to the perfect result, the quest reward has been strengthened.
-You can obtain a heroic grade reward.
‘Heroic grade reward?’
Ethan’s eyes widened.
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