Healing

**Healing magic** is the practice of recovering injuries, lost limbs, lost organs, and revitalization. Tiers 1-3 mends broken bones and heals injuries, Tier 4 replaces lost limbs and organs, and Tier 5 deals with the study of life force. Becoming a fully fledged healer requires at least triple casting.

**Healers**: Arthan Griffon, Duke Marth, Faluel, Friya Ernas, Krishna Manohar, Kalla, Lith Verhen, Nana, Quylla Ernas, Solus, Yurial Deirus, Zogar Vastor

## Low-Tier Healing Magic

**Lower tier Healing magic** (Tiers 1-3) has 2 insurmountable limits:

1. Light magic can only enhance the recovery of the patient - if they suffered from excessive blood loss or are already on the verge of death, healing magic is useless. This can be overcome by infusing the patient with an external source of life force, but this cannot be done with only light magic, as it cannot pass or create energy, only nourish what is already there.
2. It cannot regrow lost limbs or organs. Clean cut fingers or extremities can be reattached, but only if well preserved and within an hour from when it was severed.

Up to Tier 3, Healing magic simply speeds up the natural recovery process of all kinds of injuries, but it is incapable of treating organs damaged by an illness, regrowing missing parts, or even fixing a badly healed fracture. To do that requires the intervention of someone who has access to the Healer specialization that only the army, the Association, or one of the six Great Academies can provide.

## High-Tier Healing Magic

The key to Tier 4 healing magic is **darkness magic**. Dark magic takes the energy from the donor, while light magic allows it to enter the patient's body without backlash. Balancing them is the key to success.

The ideal procedure requires using the **Scanner** spell twice - one for the patient and one for the healthy subject (usually the Healer themselves), while the **Chisel** spell is only used on the patient.

For delicate procedures, it's vital to provide the patient with a constant supply of nutrients and enough time to metabolize them. It's the only way to prevent the rapid cellular regeneration from feeding off the patient's body and avoid complications during or after the treatment.

High tiered light spells are designed to allow the imprint of a spell to be easily changed in the case the starting healer needs rest.

## True vs Fake Magic Healing

**Fake healing magic** spreads to the whole body before focusing on the injury, thus requiring several seconds to take effect. The spreading and focusing process also causes the spell to lose some of its effectiveness. On the other hand **true healing magic** directly affects the wound. The On/Off nature of fake healing magic strains both the healer and the patient, while true healing magic allows the caster to divide things into steps.

Fake mages tend to have shallow knowledge of **anatomy**, only taking note of the shape and position of bones, what and where various organs are, and other basics. Before Lith introduces the study of anatomy, even treating a comminuted fracture required Tier 4 magic. By leaving to the patient's body the task of putting the bone fragments in place, they would usually do a lot of damage in the process. Now, however, a Healer can determine their position and decide the best course of action. If there is a clear path to the bone, the fragments can be guided, dealing minimal damage. Otherwise, it's better to break them down to their components and regenerate the bone by using the fragments as nutrients.

## Regrowing

The human body actually has capabilities of regrowing lost limbs or organs, but they are normally dormant. To awaken them temporarily, a huge amount of energy is required - so much mana that it is impossible for a single mage to perform the spell alone. Typically, there are two teams, one to perform the spell and set the regeneration process in motion, and the second to give the patient enough energy to survive the procedure, like a life force IV. The drip rate of energy has to be manually adjusted depending on the circumstances, as too quickly results in a waste of energy, and too slowly the regeneration drain will kill or permanently incapacitate the patient.

Regrowing limbs and healing severe wounds causes a heavy strain on the body, draining it of its nutrients in minutes; without a proper source of nourishment and energy, the patient will die immediately. Organs are even trickier than limbs; a single mage can regenerate small organs such as the kidneys, but bigger or vital ones require too much energy.

Originally, to regrow a limb, the healer needed to take into consideration the sex and build of the patient, then choose a wooden arm model that best matches as a template, since the spell requires specific measurements to work properly. Additionally, each template has a different spell. However, this resulted in new limbs being weak and out of proportion to the originals. After Lith shares a Tier 1 fake magic personal spell (*Vinire Mark Urth*) that allows the caster to 3D image body parts (able to view a body similarly to Invigoration but only the physical body), Manohar devises a method of using the info from said spell and generating a new limb accordingly. This idea revolutionizes fake magic limb regrowth.

Regrowing a limb requires two teams of three Healers each. Hiring six mages at the same time is something beyond even a noble household's abilities. The six Great Academies are the only place that provide such services at an affordable price.

## Body Sculpting

The first four tiers of magic are useless against natural deformities because there is nothing wrong in the first place - they simply give the body a means to revert to its original status. **Body Sculpting** uses a mix of light and darkness magic and requires the Healer to manipulate their own and the patient's life force. Darkness magic is used to remove the excess parts or to clear the way, so that light magic can start the healing process while the Healer teaches the body its new form, permanently altering its natural state. Everything has a purpose; organs have a "voice" that must be listened to before applying the smallest modification - a hand wants to grab, to touch, a leg wants to walk, a nose to breathe, a heart to beat. Healthy organs have a healthy life force, meaning their voice can't help with modifications. Internal organs are even trickier, as cutting and reshaping can take a toll on both Healer and patient, and if complications arise, the patient's body might not have enough strength to make it through the procedure. Despite all the atrocities he committed, Arthan Griffon laid the foundations of Body Sculpting.

Theoretically Body Sculpting can be used to change the shape of a nose, to make someone taller, slimmer, or increase bust size. Altering life force can have unpredictable consequences - making a nose longer can cause trouble breathing, affecting the ability to cast spells; becoming taller can imply that all bones, organs, and the body must be reshaped as well. Body Sculpting is a controversial ethical matter, as it can be used to transform a human being into something else or breed all kinds of hybrids.

Body Sculpting can be used to repair damage to life force by redistributing the life force without altering its flow, though this procedure is slow. The fastest alternative is to transplant life force from a healthy part to fill the hole to halt the draining of life force. Even transplanting the life force of the same individual is a very delicate procedure - a Chisel is used to disconnect each single block unit's connection to the healthy part; then a few Chisels use mana strands to weave it to the healthy life force near the hole. This process must be done quickly, otherwise the dead zone will drain the energy. The slightest mistake when operating on the space near the hole can result in a partial or complete loss of the transplanted energy. Manipulating life force requires focus at all times, exerting surgical control over one's own mana as well as on the patient's body.

### Shapeshifting

**Shapeshifting** is nothing but Body Sculpting applied to the whole body to change the structure of the body, including flesh, bones, muscles, etc. The smallest mistake while altering someone's life force can have terrible consequences (i.e. brain damage, organ failure, deformities, etc.). Shapeshifting is very dangerous for humans since they have frail minds and strong sense of self, typically going mad when attempting to change form.

All Emperor Beasts learn how to shapeshift sooner or later, but it only changes their appearance, not their mass. Therefore, in order to live like regular humans they must learn gravity fusion.

Unlike most others, Demons and Tiamat are able to shapeshift without altering their life force, since both their human and non-human forms are part of their life force much like hybrids. By following and amplifying the red thread representing the human melody of their life force they can shift into their human forms, compressing their mass back into a human form while their life force folds to resemble one.

#### Principles

No matter how big one makes oneself, the mass doesn't change nor does one's strength. On top of that, moving with a body that's not one's own messes up muscle memory, creating a need to get used to it every single time. Aside from making someone taller, slenderer, or more beautiful, shapeshifting doesn't change the nature of things, only their appearance. For example, shapeshifting can be used to give a person gills, but they wouldn't work if they have no idea how to extract oxygen from water and then move it to their lungs without giving themselves an embolus. On top of that, their body never learned how to breathe from gills so they would just die the moment they instinctively used their nose by mistake.

Those who keep a fake appearance for too long often forget about their real self, about how they really are and become unable to revert to their original state. No matter how good-looking or muscular one becomes, it's a lie and as such, it limits one's natural potential. In the long term, such deep changes in the life force end up affecting the development of the individual. The body isn't meant to be like that and the changes applied might as well suppress rather than enhance one's natural abilities.

It is also possible to shapeshift vocal cords to change one's voice.

Since true mages can weave spells with their minds while fake mages needs to speak and form hand signs, any mistake with the hands, voice, or even the tongue will leave the fake mage blocked in an imperfect body with no way to fix it. True mages, instead, as long as their brain is not affected, can always cast spells and correct their mistakes. It's the reason why learning how to shapeshift is so dangerous for fake mages and relatively easy for those like Awakened or the children of Emperor Beasts who can use true magic.

#### Beasts

Once Magical Beasts evolve into Emperor Beasts, they can shapeshift at will. However, though their appearance is that of much smaller humans, their stomachs remain the same and they require the same amount of sustenance as in their Emperor Beast form. Changing into another race is easier because it's too different from the original form to affect the mind. Usually, beasts only have one human appearance and they stick to it all their life. On top of that, since their mass is much greater than a human's, compressing their forms helps keep their life force stable and retain most of their skills. They lose their fangs and claws, but their life force remains almost the same. Having a bigger body makes so that when they turn into a smaller figure, they can retain most of their abilities - they only need to affect enough life force to shape a new form whereas the rest remains the same.

Shapeshifting is easier for beasts and more dangerous for humans because turning into a smaller body allows one to keep the extra life force in its original state whereas turning into a bigger one means to stretch one's life force and making it frailer. It's not because beasts' life force is simpler or easier to manipulate, but just a matter of mass. Life force works exactly like metal - getting smaller just means to increase its density, like bending and folding this plate on itself over and over until it becomes no bigger than a toy. Getting bigger, instead, means to spread one's mass to the point that even the weakest impact can shatter the body.

## Rejuvenation

**Rejuvenation magic** is a rare branch of healing magic that allows a mage to restore an aged body to its prime condition by detecting and fixing all the marks that the passage of time inflicts on the human body. Even the three Great Countries have very few mages capable of using it, and they are all as elusive as Manohar. Awakened can use Invigoration to spot and fix all bone, muscular, and even intervertebral disc damages in the body.

However, rejuvenation magic has its limits. While it is the only thing that can rebuild rather than repair, rejuvenating an individual with a damaged life force will do more harm than good.

The difference between a professional Healer and a rejuvenator is that, unless they alter its life force, the former can only help the body of their patient what it's supposed to do whereas rejuvenators don't need Tier 5 magic to cause changes. For example, when treating someone that suffers from the consequences of aging, only a rejuvenator can stimulate the body to fix itself according to how it was when it was younger. The information is still there, but it has been overwritten over time so that some conditions are now considered normal. What they have to do is to restore that information by spotting every single anomaly and making the body stop considering them as normal. That way, the patient's metabolism doesn't just heal the damage, but returns the body to the state it was before being injured.

Another example is a badly healed fracture that leaves a leg crippled. Tier 3 magic is useless at that point because the fracture has naturally healed. A professional healer will be forced to break the bone again and then fix it properly, but then the patient will still bear the consequences of both fractures. A rejuvenator, instead, will make the body remember how the limb was supposed to be. The bone will then reassemble itself as if it was never broken in the first place.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chapter 270: Body Sculpting (Part 2)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 287: Chisel (Part 1)
3. ↑ Chapter 978: Plans and Preparations (Part 2)
4. ↑ Chapter 57: A New Lesson (2)
5. ↑ Chapter 919: Spirit and Light Magic (Part 1)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 1179: Conflicting Forces (Part 1)
7. ↑ Chapter 28: Hunter and Prey
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Chapter 59: The Importance Of Status (2)
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Chapter 979: Gods Among Us (Part 1)
10. ↑ Chapter 91: A True Genius Worries
11. ↑ Chapter 975: Madness for Hire (Part 1)
12. ↑ Chapter 1186: Mindscape (Part 2)
13. ↑ Chapter 367: Transplant (Part 1)
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Chapter 1054: Shapeshifting (Part 2)
15. ↑ Chapter 167: Reunion (2)
16. ↑ Chapter 1315: Weak Points (Part 1)
17. ↑ Chapter 1417: Paying Your Dues (Part 1)
18. ↑ Chapter 1212: Under the Sea (Part 2)
19. ↑ Chapter 938: Genius and Madness (Part 2)
20. ↑ Chapter 1056: Shapeshifting (Part 4)
21. ↑ Chapter 573: Catching up (Part 1)
22. ↑ Chapter 613: Travels (Part 1)
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Chapter 1055: Shapeshifting (Part 3)
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Chapter 650: Tough Calls (Part 2)
25. ↑ Chapter 513: Bearer of Gifts (Part 1)
26. ↑ Chapter 83: Solus’ Surprise
27. ↑ Chapter 288: Chisel (Part 2)
28. ↑ Chapter 1185: Mindscape (Part 1)